boganbear

Its been a while since I've had my English corrected by an Aussie (usually English place names where I used to live) but I have the perfect comeback when asked "How do you pronounce it?" I simply say 'correctly'. If they try correcting my French, I just speak in French to them for the next 2 minutes. I haven't met an Aussie who actually understands French yet.

I may be wrong but at one stage, if you had a child at Uni and they were living away from home they were not classed as dependent but if they were living at home they were dependent. Something to be aware of.

The problem is not the new railway line but the fact that Queensland Rail and the government are too stupid not to think that more drivers would be needed and not to plan properly, so services have been cut on all other lines. The first few weeks after the new line opened on the Caboolture line were great. Faster trains and more of them. Now there are fewer trains, more packed than before and they take longer. It's nearly as bad as London. I'm considering moving closer to town as I'm fed up of it

hahahah my plant is thriving but it was only a funny occasion as the MP sat on stage waswearing a short skirt and with her legs crossed in a way which didnt leave much to the imagination. There was a local 'singer' belting out aussie songs badly - "That's a no from me" but i did win a huge bouquet of flowers for getting the largest cheer so all was not lost!

I do t know why you think it is easier. I have no family here so if anything goes wrong, I'm in my own. Imagine trying to deal with cancer with no family or friends for support

I found the wait for the deer only the most infuriating part of getting citizenship. It took 3 days from submitting my application to get the paperwork and test done and I can't see why it takes 6 months to do the ceremony. The ceremony itself was laughable and in reality, pointless.

I would advise anyone to get all of their dental issues fixed on the NHS before you go. It costs a fortune here. However the quality of treatment is far superior to the UK...and look after your teeth!

LOL London has about 8 million people living in around 1500 sq Km. Sydney had 5 million in an area of 12300 sq km. Sydney is about 9 times bigger. I'm sure the motorways are just as clogged as the M25 and house prices are just as high as London if not higher. Hardly undeveloped.

What's wrong with Narangba? The schools are good, lots of new houses and facilities being built and crime is low. It's handy for the Su my coast and near all the shops and out of town stores in north lakes. D Bay on the other hand is not so good but it is improving as well

We are in narangba and like it here but it can be hard t get around. The trains are good for getting into the city and the new timetables mean it's about 35 min to town. You do need a car to get around, even to get to the shops at burpengary. It's easy to get to the sunny coast and plenty of places to go within 20 mins. The schools are good apparently. There are more Cafes opening and its near to north lakes and all the shops you need.

well a holiday in Jamaica is one way to get a decent rum. I've been searching for Woods for 8 years now.

My experience of Townsville might help you make up your mind. But it Depends on what you define as cosmopolitan. 1. I went io the Cowboy leagues club as I was told they do a good steak as I had been to a few restaurants there and wasn't impressed? I wore shorts, t shirt and trainers and felt very overdressed. Most guys were in footy shorts, singlets and thongs. 2. Nearly every time I came back from the bottle shop I was accosted by aborigines asking for smokes or some grog. A few even had plastic beakers with them. It's very sad. 3. There's a bar with a big sign outside saying cold beer, hot girls 4. The taxi had plastic covers on the seat so it was easier to wipe the vomit off. 5. The local disco had a Pink themed night playing nothing but Pink songs and videos for those who couldn't afford to go to Brisbane to see Pink

We built nearly 3 years ago through a builder and it seemed stressful at the time but looking back, it wasn't as bad as it seems. You do need to do your research so you get exactly what you want that is within your budget and stick to it. Think about what has to be done as part of the build and maybe leave some things for after the build. It was cheaper for us to get the aircon done afterwards buying the units in the sales and getting an installer to do it which only took a day. The builder wanted a fortune to render the outside but we got father in laws mate (who so happened to be a renderer for the builder anyway) to do it for a quarter the price in cash and a few bottles of bundy so we could afford o get the whole house rendered instead of just the front. The builder offers you a range of things like taps, tiles, colour of the grout, flooring, door handles, toilets which can be overwhelming and it can take over your life. We went for a higher spec on some things and lower spec on others and did some things in our own. Luckily the OH loves trawling the Internet and design mags and we got amazing bargains on almost everything so we could get higher spec for a price lower than the builder offered. Nearly 3 years on we have found the right outdoor tiles so the house will finally be finished soon. We did our own gardens and a neighbour said we have the best gardens in the whole estate which is a great compliment and she wants to copy some of the designs. Apart from the gardens we have done little work on the house itself. as with any build or DIY project we have made some mistakes (nothing major) but our house is exactly what we wanted and we would build again. Friends and neighbours say visiting is like going on holiday so the effort has been worth it

Why is your wife applying for a partner visa? They are for partners and families of Australian citizens or permanent residents. Your wife and child should apply as dependents on your visa

When it comes to Internet access, the old saying 'Australia is like the UK was 30 years ago' is certainly true.

Doing your tax return using the new online system is quite easy and not as scary as it looks but you can go to a tax agent and claim the cost as a tax deduction so it doesn't technically cost you. Just make sure you have your payment summary and a list of any other income such as savings interest. Enter them into the system and it tells you what you owe or they owe you. Do your returns separately but you need your partners final salary figures to complete yours. If you have settled your uk tax affairs there you don't need to worry about them here. In in your first year here you may get quite a good refund.

Another is correcting the pronunciation of English place names and telling me that I am wrong, despite growing up and living there before coming to Australia! I know how to say Launceston, Devonport, Ascot and Exmouth properly!...and Maroon!

A friend of mine in Adelaide managed to get a gammon joint. she had to go to the butcher, describe what it actually was and which part of the animal it was from and wait 3 weeks for the butcher to find a supplier. All of the people I know of who want gammon come from up north so it must be a northern thing.

Dont ever try to get rid of them as they do eat mozzies and other bugs. They are perfectly harmless. Just be thankful for that

I.ve just had a look at the Australian Customs website http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page5549.asp#Calculating. If you import goods over $1000 you are charged duty at 5% and GST n the cost of the goods and shipping and duty so make sure your goods are under $1000 and if they can be split up into smaller parcels, make sure they are not sent at the same time as they may consider them to be one lot of goods. Sending/ordering them a week apart might be a good idea. $1000 is about 680 pounds

Just use a UK website or send cash or lie about the value. It is pretty crap but you can blame the UK government AND the EU for that. At least in Oz you can buy stuff abroad up to $1000 before you have to pay duty etc. If you buy things from the UK or EU to go to Australia remember that VAT does not apply and should not be charged. Some sites I've been on still charge VAT when they shouldn't so I avoid using them.

We ended up buying nearly everything from Ikea as places like Nick Scali, King furniture, Adriatic were very nice but incredibly overpriced. Fantastic Furniture was cheap and looked cheap - think student houseshares, dodgy landlord cheap. Ikea wasn't too expensive and depending what you buy (some of their stuff is crap) looked not bad either. When you have to buy TVs, fridges, freezers, washing machines, dryers etc as well because they are not included in rentals you have to make sacrifices somewhere.

Thomy mayonnaise from Coles is lovely. Much better than that Hellmans crap. I think the bacon is cured or semi cured, probably to stop it going off and i find it lovely and its great to have huge strips of bacon too. I've not found gammon or a decent pasty