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There are certainly Van Life pages on FB. Can't think that I've ever obviously seen the equivalent of a New Age Traveller in Australia though I guess there would be somewhere. The whole living in a van thing is not viewed as a fringe here; selling your house and just travelling around in a van is becoming something of a rite of passage for young and old - however, such people tend to have halfway decent vans and tow vehicles as the outback tracks like the Tanami and the Oonadatta will destroy your gear if it's not suitable. I've been to some caravan parks that have permanent residents, but whether there's an associated community, couldn't tell you.

Far as I can see rules are: Bounce ball every now and again. I suppose there's an increment but frankly are the refs counting?; Jumping on someone's head is allowed, encouraged and will guarantee Youtube plays forever; Flamethrowers are not allowed, but the teams would like them to be. Husband is Victorian, and I spend many an hour asking "what did he get a point for now?" In response, I get asked why the ball goes backwards in rugby. This is why I like Alpine skiing - you either get to the bottom in a good time or you get limbs torn off by fences - nice and straightforward.

My tenants are pretty much always initially put on a six-month lease - simply as, if they turn out to be not that great it's easier to end a lease than to try and get them thrown out - works for the tenants too; if your house turns out to be a lemon or the landlord is not good you can get out without having to break lease. After that I let the tenants choose what term, most of them elect for a year.

Wouldn't worry about it too much; it's going to be a completely meaningless concept for her. She might understand that she won't see her friends anymore but in reality that's no different to going to a different school. My brother is autistic and has that whole hate of change thing on a different level, a major life change was easier for him to deal with than a simple break in routine. And yeah, with ping-pong parents I got the "we are moving halfway around the world" several times, I remember really resenting the last move when I was in high school, but wasn't given the choice so had to lump it. I don't actually remember the earlier moves too much.

Can't speak for the UCAS route but the majority of OS students applied directly to us or through their agents, we were set up to not care about GCSE as many nationalities don't do exams at 16 and there simply isn't a plethora of equivalents out there. Nowhere in the UCAS application is there anything that says "No GCSE's then no go" - frankly people have all sorts of qualifications like BTECs , NVVQs, even O-Levels still pop up; you have the option of "other" and you can put in there Year 11 and the subjects. In the Personal Statement make a big thing about how you experienced overseas education and the richness and diversity you saw etc and that will be of good standing with the assessors. If in doubt then please talk to the universities themselves - UCAS is a centralised administration portal who don't actually make calls on admission - the universities may be able to put your mind at rest.

Not exclusively no; I have CEFR B2 in French. Of course you can get CEFR in English but I don't think it's recognised for immigration purposes.

We used to offer a flat rate $10k for senior professional staff; and that was expense reimbursement, not handing over the cash . It's been a few years since we took on anyone international so I don't know what the current go is - we allow $2k for interstate relocation though.

When QLD gets it's 90% double-dose vaccination (predicted to be early-mid January), international borders are open with no need to quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers. You need to search for the International Travel Roadmap - it's a bit harder to find that the domestic one.

My parents were ping-pongers and I moved between the school systems four times. The only issue I had was that we moved back part way through GCSE years and I knew nothing about the history syllabus nor had ever done a European language. Survived fine, took a little to catch up but school was willing to help me out with some after-hours tuition; can tell you all about British Political History (1884-1924) and am conversationally fluent in French to this day. Moving at the start of schooling will have zero effect later on. Don't worry about it.

Swim between the flags and you'll be fine. The most dangerous things in the sea is the rip and people who overestimate their abilities in the water.

In terms of automation, it will drop the amount of boneheads needed, but as the machines are remotely controlled from Perth or wherever as soon as a light comes on they get parked up and the fitters have to go see them and whack them with a hammer - no crew to do diagnostics on board, so trade qualified staff are in increasing demand. It's only haul trucks and I think some of the larger rotary shovels are being automated: graders, scrapers etc are as far as I know still using operators. I know people who are setting up the systems in Queensland and they take *a lot* of setting up - one bloke I know has been at the same mine for at least 5 years trying to get it underway. Mining in Australia is not going away and there is always going to be a need for qualified professional staff and mech eng is needed for the basic day-to-day; upgrades and installations etc, not necessarily the futuristic things like full automation; I've been doing mine geotech and longwall design for 17-odd years now and there are no indications that the sector is slowing down. Saying that, there don't tend to be massive numbers of engineers full time on site, not compared with tradies (and if listening to Fitter OH's complains are anything to go by, they are just there to make impractical changes to his machines and get in the way, but anyway...) But many consultancies have specific mine-related staff who specialise in the area too so there's always that option.

Nope, in QLD you can only charge maximum 4 weeks' rental for bond and you cannot charge anything more than that for pet bond, key bond etc - if they are going to be held then they have to be integrated into the total maximum bond. - up to a weekly rental of $750 (or was last time I looked), it's fair game what you can be charged for bonds after that amount.

Would you believe that my company has the contract for the shutdown and remediation of Argyle? Full lifecycle between you and me hey. Have you been along the Tanami track? I don't think it's as rugged as it used to be but they've been making noises about sealing it recently and would like to see it while it's still got a bit of mystique about it. Just had a look at that zebra rock place, how intriguing! Hahaha, the croc thing made me laugh - I work with a lady who's from a real old north QLD family; she goes bush a fair bit and has all these photos of her in various rockholes. I asked her if there were crocs and she said "yeah, but only freshies, no salties". They've all got big teeth, that's a nope from me.

That all sounds fantastic. Gibb River Road is very much on my radar - more I look into that part of the world the more I realise you could spend years there and not scratch the surface. Good to know about help being on hand, vehicle is a Colorado so should have readily available spares, husband is also a mechanic which helps if the facility and bits are available. I once knew a bloke did a lot of off-roading who insisted that he'd only carry zip ties and duct tape because if it can't be fixed with those then you need to be carrying the spare part and he wasn't about to load his vehicle down just in case. I admire his spirit, though I haven't seen him for years and there's a chance he's still waiting for RACQ to find him out Woopwoop.

I knew you'd have some words of wisdom! Honestly some of your stories are so awesome. Thanks for the offer matey, no doubt I'll be hitting you up for some spots and ideas. And don't worry about the barra spots - one time husband said "I'm going fishing. There's chicken in the fridge for dinner" which pretty much sums up what happens when he wets a line

Hey all. So next year our mortgage is paid off and we've decided to rent the house out for a year, take off with the kids while they're old enough to appreciate it and young enough to not actually be teenagers and see the country for a year - it'll be early-ish 2023 after wet season as we plan to go anti-clockwise starting in North QLD and the Top End. We've got the physical gear we need after many years of camping and upgrading from tent to camper trailer to hybrid caravan so there's no real outlay we have to make, maybe airbags in the ute suspension and fit a compressor. It's the logistics I'm interested in from people who have done it; bearing in mind we'd be travelling at the same time as everyone else to beat the heat: how far in advance did you have to book accommodation or did you have to free camp a fair bit? Did you bother taking bulk spares for your vehicle? wheel bearings and filters I'd take but one guidebook I downloaded basically said to take the entire contents of Supercheap - necessary or overkill bearing in mind we aren't exactly going to be trailblazing through unexplored areas or anything. Kids will be first year of high school and last year of primary respectively - did you effectively homeschool or subscribe to one of the school of the air services? Got a year and a half to plan it so tell me your stories!

Has it really been a year? Wow. Sounds like you're really settling in. Thanks for the update! (oh and congrats - one for the (new) country and all)

For me, I came with zero expectations other than hopefully being able to do fieldwork without my fingers freezing off. As I had citizenship from birth I didn't have to go through the visa process or anything, just decided to move and a couple of months later there I was - maybe as it wasn't a hassle for me I don't have the same appreciation of the emotional load emigration has on people. Ultimately it's another first world country with much the same advantages and disadvantages. I still have to work, pay the bills and go to the toilet. It's always been as normal as the UK, just with more things that bite. My parents were also ping-pongers and we moved back and forth to the UK several times; Australia therefore has never had a particular cachet for me - just somewhere I spent several years in as a kid and now live.

Love my induction. My mother in law recommended one when we reno'd the kitchen as the kids would have to make a real effort to burn the house down with it. I have no issues with burning at all - you do need decent heavy-bottomed pans though, and pans with a large indent for a name brand can cause them to get hotspots and shut down. The one thing I wish I realised before doing the reno is that the prettiest stone surfaces aren't necessarily the best choice. I pretty much clad the entire kitchen in stone and selected a very nice looking surface which unfortunately is very soft and gets damaged easily.

Really? There's my savings account having to go elsewhere. Went them as thy have no overseas withdrawal fees on their debt cards. Bummer

I had one of these from Citibank, I questioned it with them as it was going on about declaring taxes for the US and it seemed a bit scammy. Citi confirmed it was actually genuine and gave the reason for it : "Please be advised that the form is required to enable Citi to determine our customers tax residency(ies) to comply with our obligations under CRS. Penalties may apply (under local and other laws) if you provide false or misleading information". I basically told them it was stupid as I've never had anything to do with the US and don't bother me with it again. Nothing has happened since. If it's the same thing you can probably safely ignore it.

Picked up the brand new wobbly box today. Just in time for end of school holidays, but oh well, manufacturing is outside of the control of the dealer. Planning on some local stuff first - up to the Whitsundays and so on, then start venturing inland and seeing some more of this great country. So exciting - not having to wrestle with wet canvas!

haha yeah. Apparently they are trying to swap everyone over to AirNZ but there's currently nothing that doesn't involve a massive layover in either Brisbane or Auckland. Hoping that they'll be upping the number of flights into something convenient soon!

I've had a trip booked since way before the announcement - missed out on skiing last year so the credit carried over. of course Virgin is not coming to the party who I have my flights with so in the midst of trying to rearrange actually getting there.

Don't worry about it - he'll be fine. There's no meaningful distinction between the two countries from a 6 year old's perspective. It's more important that his parents are happy and settled. If he's got a very close friend he might miss him/her for a couple of weeks but kids are highly adaptable and will move on fast.