furkew

A bit late with my reply, but as far as I know all/most states will only raise issues with vehicles 50mm lifted higher than official stock vehicles so you should be fine. If you decide to add bigger Tyres once over here you won't have any major issues with the boys in blue. I run 4" lift and 35" Tyres and here in Vic have never had issues. SA seems to be pretty easy as well. QLD is far more anal when it comes to legal lifts etc.

I agree with pumpkin. Either the boss wants to keep you with the company as long as possible on a 457 to stop your partner leaving once PR has been obtained or they are being given the wrong information. Unless something has changed, you can apply for PR after 2 years. (We did the same a few years back)

for anybody looking for a decent tent, but wants the best deal, Anaconda do price matching. Find the same item anywhere in stock in a store and they will match the price. I was researching prices a couple of years back, and found what I wanted in NSW in a camping store with online ads. I knew that Anaconda also sold the same brand, so I dropped in to see how much they were asking. The NSW store was asking $799.00 and Anaconda was $1195.00. When I commented to the sales assistant about the difference, he asked for the details on where the tent was being sold. Rang them, asked if it was in stock at the price and when he was satisfied, he matched the price for me

My idea of camping is to take a swag and live out of the back of the jeep. The wife does like her luxuries. Admittedly we are normally an hours drive from the nearest stores somewhere in the bush camped next to the Murray, so having as much on hand makes it a bit more comfortable.

give everything a good clean and make sure there is no grass or dirt on them and you should be fine. If in doubt, camping here is massive, and prices on good camping gear is reasonable, and basic camping gear is very cheap. when we go camping, we are similar to tonyman, we have LED light strips, esky's, battery boxes for power, 2 fridges, massive canvas tent etc etc. camping aussie style is definitely a lot different to European camping if you are heading bush (normally free camping as well BTW)

As BB says, If you have broken lease, and its only costing 1 weeks rent extra, I don't think you have done too badly.

We have had many new arrivals stay with us initially, many of whom have owned either cats or dogs, and none have had any major issues finding a rental (all within 3-4 weeks of arriving) If a rental doesn't state "pet friendly" it doesn't mean pets are not allowed. You just have to ask. As Tina mentions, I would personally wait until you arrive before buying another dog (unless its a very specific breed that is not often found in Oz)

drop into the life in Victoria forum as well ( http://www.lifeinvictoria.com/index.php )and say hi. You might find families there that are local, and fancy a meet up.

If you don't like the heat, then Adelaide might not be what you are looking for. It is not unusual for them to get 8-10 days in a row of high 30's and low 40's in the summer.

Im not into the track day scene myself, but its very big as far as I know. When I was riding a motorbike, a lot of the guys I knew loved going to Philip Island for the track days. Winton is another place that does them. checked their site, and they have test & tune days every week, Heres a google link to track days in Melbourne https://www.google.com.au/?gws_rd=ssl#q=track+days+melbourne As you can see, plenty of choice.

A few mates went out last Sunday to play. I'll be heading out for an overnight camp next weekend. Hope there's still plenty of snow around.

a few more: 15. Australia has the highest electricity prices in the world. Due to the iniquitous carbon tax. 16. There were over one million feral camels in outback Australia, until the government launched the $19m Feral Camel Management Program, which aims to keep the pest problem under control. 17. Saudi Arabia imports camels from Australia (mostly for meat production). 18. Qantas once powered an interstate flight with cooking oil. 19. Per capita, Australians spend more money on gambling than any other nation. 20. In 1832, 300 female convicts mooned the governor of Tasmania. It was said that in a “rare moment of collusion with the Convict women, the ladies in the Governor’s party could not control their laughter.” 21. Australia is home to the longest fence in the world. It is 5,614 km long, and was originally built to keep dingoes away from fertile land. Strangely, it's known as "The rabbit proof fence" 22. Australia was one of the founding members of the United Nations. 23. Melbourne is considered the sporting capital of the world, as it has more top level sport available for its citizens than anywhere else. 24. Before the arrival of humans, Australia was home to megafauna: three metre tall kangaroos, seven metre long goannas, horse-sized ducks, and a marsupial lion the size of a leopard. 25. Kangaroos and emus cannot walk backward, one of the reasons that they’re on the Australian coat of arms. 26. Speaking of which, Australia is one of the only countries where we eat the animals on our coat of arms. 27. If you visited one new beach in Australia every day, it would take over 27 years to see them all. 28. Melbourne has the world’s largest Greek population outside of Athens. 29. The Great Barrier Reef is the planet’s largest living structure. 30. And it has its own postbox !

I know what you mean. I love my offroading and to drive 200km's to get to the start of a days driving is not unusual. It's bloody big country and I love it!!!

1. Australia is as wide as the distance between London to Moscow. 2. The biggest property in Australia is bigger than Belgium. 3. More than 85% of Australians live within 50km of the coast. 4. In 1880, Melbourne was the richest city in the world. 5. Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest woman, earns $1 million every half hour, or $598 every second. 6. In 1892, a group of 200 Australians unhappy with the government tried to start an offshoot colony in Paraguay to be called ‘ New Australia’. 7. The first photos from the 1969 moon landing were beamed to the rest of the world from Honeysuckle Tracking Station, near Canberra. 8. Australia was the second country in the world to allow women to vote (New Zealand was first). 9. Each week, 70 tourists overstay their visas. 10. In 1856, stonemasons took action to ensure a standard of 8-hour working days, which then became recognised worldwide. 11. Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke set a world record for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds. Hawke later suggested that this was the reason for his great political success. 12. The world’s oldest fossil, which is about 3.4 billion years old, was found in Australia. 13. Australia is very sparsely populated: The UK has 248.25 persons per square kilometre, while Australia has only 2.66 persons per square kilometre. 14. Australia’s first police force was made up of the best-behaved convicts.

for buying tools over here http://www.totaltools.com.au are very good, and on ebay there are a couple of very reasonable sellers (Australian based) that sell electrical power tools. I din't think prices are that much different once to start shopping around. If he does bring new, just unpack them and you will be fine.

Landy's are quite common and plenty of places for parts so that shouldn't be a major issue. I think that a 7-8 year old vehicle that will cost a few grand to get here plus getting it compliant will probably cost as much once it has arrived as buying second hand here. You won't have the issue of getting a grey import insured, possible lower resale value for that reason, issues getting compliant and don't forget as well, it has been subjected to the British weather for the last 7-8 years.

Wanted, a fully qualified experienced beautician to work approx. 20 hours per week in my wifes growing beauty salon in Monbulk, Victoria (Dandenong ranges) Our present beautician is moving on at the end of this month and we are looking for an experienced beautician to join our friendly staff at fairly short notice to take over our existing clients in our salon in the main street of Monbulk The salon has been open for 8 months now and the clientele is growing weekly. The days that the beautician would need to be present (at the moment) are Wednesday, Thursday (inc late night till 9) and Saturday mornings. There is a hairdresser & nail tech full time in the salon, so requirements would be waxing, spray tanning, massage, facials etc etc. If you are interested, and would like to know more, please PM me with your name, experience/qualifications and contact details, and my wife will give you a call. Paul.

http://media.theage.com.au/travel/travel-special/our-patch--the-yarra-valley-and-dandenong-ranges-5440577.html a few ideas here. Olinda is a great place to stop for a meal, but not the views you are after while eating, but great scenery when driving through on the mount Dandenong tourist road. The dairy farm in the yarra valley is a great place to drop in as well. In the main street of yarra glen is a restaurant/eatery run by a local micro brewery as well with some great local beers. cant remember the name.

A bit misty this morning. Temps will be dropping to 3-5 at night for the next few days. Off camping in the high country today, so I had better take a few extra clothes I think.

this thread is over a year old, so I assume that the OP has found something

Most of my wife's family live and work in and around poeldijk. (Bloemen kwekers) I worked in the flower auctions and still work in flowers so I know what you mean. When we moved 7 years ago my boys where 9 & 12 and didn't speak English (always Dutch at home) and were talking English in just a few weeks. The eldest still has no problems with his Dutch but the youngest prefers to talk English now and speaks Japanese almost as good as Dutch now. Australia is a massive change from holland, especially when comparing with where you are living now, but if you decide to live in Melbourne itself, it is still a big city with the same kind of issues (but not anywhere near as bad) We live in the hills and it is a small community spirit, small schools with 100/120 kids max, and everybody knows everybody else (sometimes good, sometimes not so good ?) Last week was cold and miserable with lots of rain, for the next week at least (late autumn) it should hopefully be 20+ every day. It can get very hot and dry in the summer (40+ is not unusual) but generally the summers are very similar to the Mediterranean temps with a few heavy storms and rainfall thrown in for fun. The lifestyle here is very laid back with a great leisure lifestyle but long working days and hard work are not unusual. I loved it from day 1, and although my wife took a bit longer to adjust, we have never really looked back. We still love holland, but now only as a holiday destination to see friends and family.

The view this morning

Shorts, thongs and tees then.

That's an excellent salary for rural Vic/australia. I'm in the horticulture industry and I would love that kind of package. Any other jobs going LOL.

Love a good bonfire. Up here in the hills we can have decent sized ones as well. 3-5 degrees at night at the moment but great daytime this week. Eldest lad has his 19th party Saturday so well have a few beers with his mates around a fire I expect.