Johnny Kash

For smaller amounts Sevenseas Movecubes are excellent and good value. You can fit a surprising amount in them as long as youre prepared to pack it yourself. Part/full containers - We shipped a larger amount moving mums stuff over here and used John Mason. Overall very good and reasonably priced, but a couple of breakages on the way over - most of the stuff was packed immaculately but bizarrely they hadnt packed two glass tv stands that well in the UK and they arrived smashed to bits. Dont go with shippers insurance, would recommend you use a specialist - highly recommend Letton Percival, they dealt with above claim efficiently and fairly Good luck !

I have used Wise over the last 4/5 years and will continue to use them. Last year I had a significant GBP amount from the proceeds of my mothers house sale. Thought I would try some of the Forex companies to see if they could match or beat Wise. Neither of them could come close, Im talking around $2 or $3k difference when it comes to the larger transfer amounts. I found this quite surprising for large chunks of money but there you go. Service and transfer times decent, you can also cancel 2 or 3 times and re-submit if the market moves in your favour (there is a limit on this and they'll temporarily freeze the transfer if you do it 3 times I think so beware of doing this multiple times ).

It was the general air of resignation when I went back that people would have to settle for that which hit me on that stint in the UK. I remember talking to one of the lads from Latvia about how he went living in Kendal. He likened it to a postcard of the Lake District - very nice to look at, but practically not much use to you - so behind the facade of stunning landscapes, if youre living in cramped accommodation, generally toiling for minimum wage with no great future ahead of you, youre always going to be on the outside looking in. And the stunning views dont really make up for that. It was a rare moment of eloquence in the warehouse :)

My son is only 7 so Ill come back and report in 20 years Seriously though, with the cost of housing in particular in both countries its never going to be easy. I remember buying my first flat in Edinburgh around 2000 and I sold my old VW Golf, that was my deposit. Those days are long gone. We did a 2 year stint back in the UK 5 years ago and were living in Kendal, town in the Lake District. I was working for minimum wage in a warehouse. Almost without exception the young adults in that place were still living with parents as there was no hope of them renting somewhere, and buying there was completely out of the question. They were hit with the double whammy of high house prices due to cashed up retirees wanting to live in the Lake District and a lack of well paid jobs. Apart from one or two in social housing there were some Eastern Europeans who crammed a load of themselves into a rental, and they were managing to send pounds back to their homeland with the intention of returning after a few years doing that. I would say the young adults here (Adelaide) are far more ambitious and they all seem to be looking to get onto the housing ladder than somewhere like Kendal, where a lot of people just seemed resigned to a life of drudgery. To be fair Im comparing people working at a minimum wage labouring job to those in a well paid public sector job so the comparison is probably skewed.

It used to be 30 Lavers, now 35 to get the maximum. UK Govt keep changing things! Theyre continually looking at raising the state pension age as well, I think the only reason they didnt at the last budget was due to the backlash from voters and probably looking at the French reaction. And we all know the UK loves a good riot I do think at some point in the future the UK state pension will be means tested, similar to here in Oz. Im happy to hedge my bets and as mentioned before, if you can snag Class II contributions its ridiculously good value for what you get in return, and even Class III worth considering depending on your circumstances. Personally I think its not a bad thing to have income coming in GBP and AUD when you reach the old gipper stage

I got approved for Class 2 contributions after working on a casual (contract) basis up until around 2 weeks before we headed out here I got another qualifying year for working up until early August of that year which I was quite surprised at given my relatively low earnings in the UK and only part way through the tax year. Im not sure what criteria HMRC use to determine the applications but as others have said, definitely worth applying as theyre great value if you do qualify. Im just leaving mine ticking over until I hit the 35 years although theres always the threat the UK govt will change things again!

Agree with previous posts that quality and choice of clothing is far better in the UK. There are still a lot of the higher end UK clothing web sites that do international shipping and will knock off the VAT as we are outside of the EU. That usually covers the shipping costs or more in some cases. I ordered a pair of Kickers boots (trying to relive my rave days, haha) and got them sent over. Some random Welsh bloke spotted me in Adelaide CBD in them and stopped us, asking where I got em. The Aussies I was with at the time were utterly confused with the whole encounter

just with the worry of renting out your main asset on the other side of the world, tax implications, etc. I did it the other way around for 6 years (flat in Edinburgh rented out whilst living here) and to be honest it was a worry. Fortunately for me I never had non paying tenants or the like - if that does happen youre putting your faith in the agents to sort everything, so need to find a good one. Most just want to take their cut for doing very little work - just my experience and opinion, Im sure there are good ones out there. Theres not much you can do from over here if something major does go wrong. Its also less of a clean break and means you still have a huge financial commitment in the country youre looking at leaving behind. If you think the UK is the place you want to be then I would sell up and use that money to help with set up costs and then buy over there. Just my opinion of course - best of luck with it, at least you have options

With your current job, is there the option of taking 6 months or a year unpaid leave? That way its more of a low risk option whereby you would still have your job waiting for you if you decide to return. Guy at my work (Aussie) is doing this the other way around - going to London for 6-8 months, if he loves it he'll just not come back ! The tricky variable in this is your house which you own. Financially you would likely do quite well in terms of Aussie house prices (without knowing your exact situation) and the current exchange rate means you would be doing quite well again in terms of AUD to GBP if you did sell, giving you a decent sum to set up back in the UK. You could choose to rent it out whilst you decide but that just adds another layer of complexity IMO.

Hi, Looking for some advice. Mum is now over here permanently, albeit on a bridging visa. We have a certified copy of Power of Attorney drawn up (and certified) in the UK. I cant seem to get a definitive answer on whether this would still be valid in Australia or if we need to get a completely new one drawn up? Any advice gratefully received, cheers

Agree with the consensus it is worthwhile, even if no intention of going back. Also worth noting that its minimum of 10 years min to get anything so if your just under that definitely get yourself to at least 10 years. If youre able to get the Class II contributions theyre ridiculously good value (about GBP12 a month) but you have to have been living and working in the UK immediately before applying so need to plan ahead. We werent aware of this 'loophole' it was only because we ping ponged and were therefore eligible further down the line. Most of its done via snail mail, paper forms sent to HMRC but once the direct debit is set up you can just forget it. Like Dougster, I was amazed that some years counted when I was pushing supermarket trolleys as a 16 year old! Its quite interesting to look back at the history of your earnings and contributions on that site actually.

Youre fine to go on the Aussie Passports. I would try and get a UK drivers licence as insurance can be problematic using Aussie ones. If you have an old UK one, you can renew online with DVLA for minimal cost. Even if its lapsed, albeit there is a limit as to how many years. Benefits, you'll probably have to go through some kind of 'habitual residence' tests for things like unemployment benefit. To be honest I wouldnt bother as there are jobs out there if youre prepared to do anything. I got a temp gig in a warehouse within a week when we went back for 4 months in 2016 - I actually found it great fun after working in offices most of my life. Assuming youre UK citizens you should be entitled to child benefit payments, personally I would concentrate your time on maybe applying for this and getting some kind of temporary work on arrival. Good luck!

oops sorry, fat finger syndrome!. Those prices were all in AUD not GBP. So paid AUD 4,500 compared to AUD 1,700 earlier in the year. Still expensive

yes, its the top level of Economy, so at least its a fully flexible ticket and we get the 35kg baggage allowance. But still, its economy!! As I said it was just bad timing and if I didnt have to travel those dates I wouldve held off until things got back to normal.

I recently paid GBP4.5 k for a return flight with Emirates - jeez that hurt ! I paid GBP1,700 for the same route back in May. I do know people looking at travelling around March next year and theyre saying its back to more normal/reasonable levels so hopefully things will normalise. My hands were tied as I had to come back in August to assist family with some stuff but otherwise would have held off as those prices are ludicrous.