Eera

I can assure you from personal experience that doing a PhD is *not* a restful time. I'm sure others will disagree but again, speaking from personal experience in engineering consultancy and industry, a PhD is really not necessary unless you're in a field that emphasizes research capability; research and development - maybe, general consultancy or trade, no. It's a difficult decision; once you've been in industry and are earning a decent wage it's very hard to step back and go back to the low amount funding pays you. You could do a PhD part time if you so felt inclined (though it takes forever and adds to your workload). if you leave entering the workplace too late then you're going to be behind with building up a career and other stuff like superannuation. If you really want to do a PhD because you have a passion for research then go for it, just don't be under the illusion that's it's 4 years of not having to do much, the stress can be horrendous.

If you buy through a dealer they do the transfer paperwork for you, it's if you go private you need to go to the TMR (equivalent of the DVLA) to do it yourself, not the council. If you don't have a permanent address there's a Form F4408 that you can fill out which effectively says as much, but the dealer should be able to best advise you - they would have seen people in your situation a thousand times before. I guess rego is pretty much like the road tax in the UK, it's the fee you pay for using your car on the road and varies as per the size of vehicle and whether it's a classic or limited use. Rego comes with compulsory third party insurance, which covers damage to people, not property, so you'd be best advised to get proper insurance coverage as well (it's not compulsory here!). There's no such thing as an annual MOT in Queensland either - you get a roadworthy inspection done when you sell the car, and you'll need the certificate to register the car in the first place, but no yearly trip to the mechanic. You can be slapped with a defect notice by the police if you're belching black smoke or something, so maintenance is still recommended.

In QLD the agent / landlord isn't allowed to take more than 4 weeks' rent for a bond (caveat rental amount <$700 per week), so effectively there's no point offering extra for a pet bond - legally they can't take it anyway. I once had a tenant do up a pet CV but generally the agent won't pass on anything like that anyway, the agent mentioned it in passing and said it was cute, but it didn't make any difference as I had said a potential renter could have two outdoor dogs and two cats which were not allowed in the bedroom. My agent basically doesn't advertise pets as welcome, but doesn't exclude them and will ask the landlords if it's acceptable to them.

If you're still thinking about novated leases I've had four cars that way. They aren't the great deal they used to be as the rules around them were changed a couple of years ago and they are now done by a portion before tax, a portion after tax (mine is roughly 50/50 by the looks of it). What they are good for, however, is if you don't have the deposit, plus you can novated secondhand cars as well - check with the individual company favoured by your company what their rules are surrounding that, some will only let the car be a maximum 7 years old at the end of lease, some 13. There will be a balloon payment at the end of the lease which is set by the ATO, something like 40% after 3 years and 37.5% at the end of 4. trick is to get a vehicle that doesn't depreciate too badly as you pay the balloon and pocket the difference if you sell it (or lose money if it is a high depreciation car) While they aren't a fantastic tax saving, they are convenient as most things are taken care of - lease, fuel, tyres, tax, insurance etc. Downsides are that you are largely stuck with whatever fuel company the lease people decide (my last car was Caltex only, current one is Shell), and with insurance as well. When you go for a service or whatever you say it's a novated lease and the company takes care of it. Generally they will work by you pay into a budget every month, and the fees for each line item will be taken out. My leases tend to be based on 25000km per year, but I've never done that, and any money left in the account at the end of the lease gets refunded.

A few years back when I was a minor I went to visit Australian relatives but when I entered the UK again I mistakenly used my Australian passport and got it stamped with 6 months. All my dad did was to ring up immigration, show them a copy of his birth certificate and residency and that was it. They just changed whatever was registered on the system and there was no comeback. I don't imagine your situation would be any different - they'd be dealing with this sort of thing all the time.

Are the motorhome people saying you have to get a different licence? Both Qld Main Roads and NSW Transport and Maine Roads state explicitly on their websites that "If you’re driving in Queensland on an overseas car licence, you may drive vehicles allowed under a Queensland class C licence. This includes vehicles up to 4.5 tonne gross vehicle mass that may carry up to 12 people, including the driver." I'd read into that you can just use your British licence unless you've been told otherwise by the hire people.

Depends what your triggers are; for me cold, dry air sets it off. Since moving to the humid tropics haven't had a single attack, but instead have really bad hay fever.

Mackay. been here 15 years so if you want to know anything please PM me

I'm in geotech and enviro consultancy as well, do a fair bit with TMR so I'll probably see you around the tracks somewhere!

With the affordability thing, Mackay is on the cusp of another big upswing in housing prices: there's been a dramatic downturn in vacancies for rentals particularly. We always say we pay over the odds for stuff because of the "mining tax" - the assumption that everyone's working out west and has spare cash to burn. I don't know what industry you're in but I've seen friends who appear trapped a bit in Cairns - the jobs market seems to be quote small from what they've said, and to progress they've been forced to move out of town. however, if you're within a company structure that might not be a major concern for you. Enjoy the glorious winter weather here, it must be really cold for you compared with Darwin!

I had only one reason - I was doing fieldwork in the sleet and my fingers were too frozen to hold my pen - one of those "screw this for a game of soldiers" moments. I was a citizen, single, had nothing to stop me and got on an aeroplane 6 months later.

Crocs are rare but do periodically turn up on the beach (mainly Blacks Beach where they come out of McCready's Creek, and the harbour). Every time a beach is closed due to croc sightings it makes headline news here so that tells you how uncommon it is. Stingers only come in at specific times of year and with particular winds from the north. There's several patrolled beaches which are dragged daily and have lifeguards present so really not that problematic.

Is that Monash? the university has an accommodation page which has several links and advice specifically for students seeking off-campus housing. Try them first.

It is illegal to remove shells or shell grit from national parks and nature reserves, and whether you can in marine parks depends on the local zoning. The vast majority of coastline it's fine, but there are areas where it's prohibited.

I've been in industry consultancy in Qld for a good few years, so may be slightly different in Victoria but the various companies I've worked for have all been much of a muchness when it comes to leave. 20 days is normal, my current company allows us to purchase an extra 5 or 10 days' leave per year through salary sacrifice (I've seen other companies off up to 20 days' extra). You will not be able to take personal leave as a vacation. Public holidays are paid extra days off, I think we currently have 10 per year, which tend to be heavily loaded towards the first half of the year. Long service leave varies state by state, from memory NT is the most generous with something like 13 weeks accessable after 7 years. Most states are 10 weeks / 10 years but you'd have to check with your employer. In some industries this is transferable across jobs - coal mining is one of them - but for the most part if you leave before your LSL matures you lose it (it can also be altered under industrial award, my OH got his after 8 years but that probably won't affect you if you're in professional services). It is paid out after redundancy after 7 years here in QLD (check with your state though). While leave accrues, your company may have a policy which forces you to take it after a set period, we technically do that after 2 years, though TBH I've never actually seen that enforced. My company allows you to take unpaid sabbaticals of up to a year after many years' continuous service, don't quite know what that is as a year without pay doesn't tickle my fancy so never looked into it, this may also be provided by other companies. In some industries, they allow you to get paid out on excess untaken sick leave but I've only ever seen people on Industrial Awards have this done.

As far as I know Poland isn't a signatory to the Washington Accord and there's a very good chance your degree is not recognized or accredited by EA. Approach EA direct and ask them what the procedure is - you may have to go through a Stage 1 competency assessment (Washington Accord degrees skip over this step and go straight to the Stage 2 assessment). They are very helpful and have a section of their website dedicated to helping potential migrants.

They either have a branch there or they subcontract it. I recall there was a thread a couple of years ago that asked the same thing, and at the time there was no QS in the UK who could do them, but as I understand it this lot started about 3 years ago.

Washington Brown does them, there's a link here: http://www.austexpatinvestor.com/australian-tax-implications-overseas-investment-property/

Procedure changed on 31st Jan, previously everything was done in NZ, but now it's Liverpool, UK. They say to allow 4-6 weeks plus postage time. Cost according to the UK government online calculator is 86 quid plus 20 courier fee (will be converted to AUD by your credit card). https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/apply/how-to-apply has the details if you haven't already found it. The passport fee seems to have lowered a fair bit if that's correct. Didn't it used to be over $300?

Have you checked out the migrant guidelines with Engineers Australia? be aware that Australia is a lot more rigorous in who can call themselves an engineer than the UK. Here's the relevant part of the EA website: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/For-Migrants/Migration-Skills-Assessment They are quite helpful, though they do state in black and white: "Candidates for articulation often feel that their work experience has enabled them to develop and demonstrate most of the practice competencies associated with the category to which they aspire, ie their target category. However, they must also demonstrate Stage 1 Competency – the breadth and depth of knowledge and enabling skills appropriate to that category. Without the relevant educational qualification, demonstration of Stage 1 competency can be difficult. It is certainly possible to develop extensive knowledge in ways other than a formal educational program, for example through experiential learning and self-study, but it has proved unusual for such pathways to provide the full range of Stage 1 Competencies, for example in the natural and physical sciences. Despite their years of experience, many candidates for articulation need to undertake some further academic study to fully develop their Stage 1 Competencies." Stage 1 Competency is basically the proof that you are qualified.

Dolphin Heads is the main one: two story units right on the beach. There's another one which is pretty much under the flight path of the airport which I probably wouldn't recommend. https://www.realestate.com.au/buy/property-unit+apartment-in-dolphin+heads,+qld+4740/list-1 This link has some of the ones currently for sale, they range from studio to 2 bedroom, though check insurance cost as beach front in a cyclone zone can be exxy.

I'm in Mackay and our winter in glorious: consistently around 24c and little humidity, though nights can get down to the low teens. Sunny pretty much every day. A very low temperature here is 14C which it might do over one week or so. You can buy holiday units in some of the resorts which they then let and manage for you for the rest of the year.

We've employed many skilled people on WHV, though mainly when we had project work on that needed some extra bodies.

Both of mine were in Aus so can't comment on the UK system, but my experience was thus: went through the public system, no complaints, no expenses. First one was in the old "you breed 'em, you feed 'em" system where I returned to work after 3 months as there was no support at all and company didn't offer maternity pay (nearly killed me). Second one came in under the 18 weeks at minimum wage system, plus my company had introduced a 6 week maternity pay by then. These, plus my tax rebate meant I could take 6 months off and not be financially penalised. Increasingly companies are becoming more generous with their maternity leave; mine currently offers 20 weeks at full pay, and in my industry (engineering consulting) companies are tending to offer more to retain trained staff. Of course, these are discretionary payments and aren't in legislation so will depend on how long you've worked for and whom. I have no complaints about the Aus system, but then, have not experienced the UK one.

Pure mineral clays are not organic and are not deemed a biosecurity risk. AQIS are the people who deal with this. This link contains the import conditions which basically states that if you have a manufacturer's declaration or commercial invoice it's not subject to quarantine: https://bicon.agriculture.gov.au/BiconWeb4.0/ImportConditions/Conditions?EvaluatableElementId=315442&amp;Path=UNDEFINED&amp;UserContext=External&amp;EvaluationStateId=f2d38f7a-8606-4fca-80d4-f32732704182&amp;CaseElementPk=865361&amp;EvaluationPhase=ImportDefinition&amp;HasAlerts=True&amp;HasChangeNotices=False&amp;IsAEP=False We import rock soil and sand an awful lot for geochemical testing, it is kind of hard to navigate the system.