sandk

It is an interesting one and one we need answers to as well. I would say that nearly all policies will have a geographical 'british resident' clause and so I would expect the policy to no longer be valid. You will not be able to claim back the premiums as the policymaker was still offering you the service in good faith and it is you who did not conform to the policy requirements. However a nicely worded letter may get a different response and possibly a partial refund - just don't expect too much Check the wording of the policy either on paper or online for confirmation.

Dave, Firstly welcome to the site. You will learn a great deal if you, with bottle of your favourite tipple to one side, devote an evening to just reading through the many other posts specifically in this section. Secondly there is no such thing as a stupid question. It is often the small things that flummox the most. I cannot give any guidance about plumbing specifically but I would say that where there is a will there is a way. We did not use an agent and at the beginning were overwhelmed but by applying yourself to each stage of the process bit by bit you will soon find that you can cope! Good luck and hope you find the board as useful as I did (do!).

We wonder would we break even. we need a car straight away and know this one so as far as bangers go she has been very well looked after. 2005 (55 reg)- year of manufacture VW Touran - make, model & variant MPV - body type (coupe, convertible, etc) 1.9 tdi diesel - engine size & fuel type manual - transmission Normal ?- drive type (4WD, front wheel drive, etc) 80,000 - mileage 7 seater, heated front seats - any special features, options or modification climate control not aircon - does it have aircon £2000 - realistic current UK market value not listed - Australian RedBook value (www.redbook.com.au - click through to the page with 'Private Price Guide', 'Trade In Price Guide' and 'Price When New' listed, then tell us the 'Private Price Guide' range) - Australian market value (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/search.aspx - search for the closest matching vehicle) Perth - which Australian state/city

Just wanted to say that even though it is hard work for you posters to write posts with such a lot of detail, they become invaluable tools to help those coming behind you - so thank you!

Maruska Thank you for your reply. See I owuld never have considered Turkey, didn't sound exotic enough. However having had a quick google it is on my list!! Good pointers about not just going to St Petersburg and Moscow but also outlying places. We would love to do the Galapagos Island but think it will have to Peru or there. Mainly becuse there are few oppourtunities for going on a budget! Also whilst it sounds along time the 6 months soon goes when you start putting togethr the plan. We are very concious that we don't want to be on th emove here and ther for just a few days. Thank you all for your ideas. I will do sit reps of our journey

Scottishstacey we are lucky I know. Hubby deserves it mind as it has been one operational tour after the other. Mind if I had had to feed him all year round we would never have managed to save!!! Very much looking forward to it but am a little stressed at all the planning ...

wolvesaussie - in our family it is my husbnad who is the sensible one. He is very 'mission specific' and likes 'plans'. God gave him a daughter just like her mum just to make life interesting:) She wants to go to Makka Paka - I will leave you to guess where that is! Borneo is a good one - my dad did his jungle training there in the early 1960's - I will pick his brain. Very exciting but it is another load of admin!!!!

Melza - oh yes forgot about Nepal, can't see me trekking to Everest base camp but still... All great choices. We know we are lucky but we basically have lived so far apart from each other for the last years (Husband in military) that we need some time to regroup. We really worried about money but have decided to be bold and curious! It means that we have less time once in Australia before financial reality bites and we will need a bigger mortgage but I thought what the heck the memories will last a lifetime. My daughter is going to be 10 so a great age - young enough to be happy with mum and dad but also old enough to really enjoy the trip. I also think your quote sums up how we feel - I think the trip will be good to show us all how much we already have so when we get to Australia and have to make do without the goodies from home it won't really matter (that may be a step too far for daughter who wants to take ALL her playmobil and ALL her dolls, Tedybears etc....)

:wub: So notice to current school has been given, house has been sold, employer has been told.... All in all it is an exciting and daunting time. We have decided to take 6 months out. The job my husband is leaving is very stressful, long hours, away from home (lots!) and he has never had a day off sick or even his full entitelemnt of leave. So before I send him out to earn the pennies in Australia we want to have six months to reform as a unit. It is even more needed as our daughter has educational needs that can only be met at a weekly boarding school which we have all hated. (That will not happen in Perth). So where would you go or even better where have you been? We are thinking Russia, South America, America and then Peru and the Serengeti. We will be getting a round the world ticket so have to travel in one direction - usually they end up passing through Australia which we are not keen to do. Inspire me:notworthy:

Thank you all for your replies. The exchange rate is not great but I cannot see it improving short - medium term. We will not have enough money to buy a house outright in Perth and so know we will have to rent for 6 -12 months whilst we secure jobs in order to get a mortgage. I guess we want to know that the amount of cash we have is protected and will not be eroded by inflation. The best rates I can find over here is about 2.1% which is really low (some 4% accounts but the most you can put in is very low). The Australian rates seem tobe double the British ones. Ahh it's never easy is it. Thank you all again for the words of wisdom... i willsearch previous threads as well. :dull:

Dear All We have sold our house (yey!) for a pitiful amount (Boo!) We are moving over to Perth in december 2012. Can we open savings accounts in Australia now to take advantage of best interest rates. we will also have amilitary pension that will be paid monthly - should we have that in Australia or leave in paid into UK account? Anyone have any general/specicif advice. happy to consider a formal finanical advisor if any recommendations. Thank you :rolleyes:

Hi we are in Perth and have just looked at our fourth out of five schools. All Christian. Do you have a boy or girl - we have a girl and it does seem to depend on year group and how 'posh' a school you would like. Let me know whether you have a son or daughter and I can give you some more info.

Thank you Rupert and Nicola - airbnb seems to have fairly high charges added on, a well as a separate cleaning fee for the properties available. It is a good concept though and if we could have stayed in a more isolated position (cannot because need to look at school, banks, jobs etc in the 12 days we are there!!) then there are some bargains. Thank you all guys - it just adds to the excitement (stress:chatterbox:)

Ali we are looking anywhere and everywhere - just struggling to get a decent quote as we have made such a last minute decision. Thank you for the prompt :biggrin:

Hi we are validating our visa!!!! We need accomadation for two adults and a nine year old girl. Self contained with cooking and washing machine please. Ideally Fremantle, Swan River or CBD area. If you know of any where please do let us know as we are having a few problems finding anywhere in our budget! Thank you :laugh:

I tell the jokes.....

Thank you BritChickx - My daughter told it me and it was one of those that when she was telling me she was laughing so much that she coudn't quite get the pucnhline out. It's our favourite joke now...

Nobody wants me :sad:- I remember having some fillings done as a child on laughing gas and that helped numb the pain. So here is a joke to get you laughing: the snail kept losing the race so he thought 'I know I will take off my shell and then I will be able to run faster. He ran the race, came in first but did not win. WHY (Because the race was for snails and now he is a slug!) See how utterly helpful I am...:biglaugh:

Having finished skinning my husband (sunburn!) I am available 'Suh for any remedial medical works - have no experience and cannot be relied on to stop when the first scream of pain is emitted but am enthustatic and have watched all the series of House. Should things go badly I have also watched all the series of CSI and this email would disappear.... Let me know:emoticon_doctor_sna

So to all those who seem to know their stuff (and thank you for sharing really does help)... We have our visa (yey!) and are hoping to leave July 2013. Hubby is 43 just leaving HM Forces and we were thinking of going to Perth. Lots of reasons but a key one was that we felt he woud be able to mould himself into a job as his skill set is diverse (he is an chartered mech engr, but also munitions trained (bombs not guns!), project manager qualified, etc). The basis of that was that the mining industry would need and welcome more staff. He is not above sleeping on a camp cot for a few more months!! Do you think that we are flawed in our thinking - jobs will in fact start to dry up?

Just to say that posts like these are so very, very useful. Thank you for taking the time to write it all down. You will have made my husbands day as he loves to use his spreadsheets and has been trying to explain to me why his notebook computer was such a good buy! We are waiting for him to come back from Afghanistan and then we can power ahead with plans. Already behind the curve as we want to leave next July but as yet have not been able to sell UK house. We are going out to validate visa's probably January/February and want to visit Melbourne and Perth as we are equally split between these two. If anyone has any 'top' tips on getting the most out of a validation visit and how best to book flights then we would love to hear your experience. So again thank you for posting and please keep updating us :biggrin:

Thank you :yes:

Caramac thank you so much for your comments. We are validating our visa in Nov/Dec this year (hubby is in Afghanistan at the moment and drew the line to me and EB 'popping over' on our own) and so are looking at all three schools then. St Hilda's have said probably yes, MLC almost defintely no and St Mary's very much on the fence for January 2014 admission. Ultimately we may not get a choice! Could I be very personal and ask what swayed your choice of school? EB is not very academic or particularly sporty but enjoys school immensely. We find concentration is a bit of a chore for her! She is very good at Maths (high 90's in tests) but gaining very low scores in English/Spelling although has a very fertile imagination so does well in creative writing except for her presentation. She is left handed and was very premature so is a year behind in England but will be in exactly the right year group for Australia. She loves singing, plays piano and takes speech and drama. Whilst she likes people she also is very happy with her own company and at her prep school will often go and do some gardening or go on the computer on her own for breaks. Her prep school was originally just for boys and has lots of sport and outdoor play which suits her very much. She is a challenge! We want her to have a forever school as she has now had four schools (because of moving with the military) and Australia will be her fifth school.

Firstly I am sorry for the many spelling mistakes in my previous post! We have applied to St Mary's, St Hilda's and MLC. They all have class sizes of 22-24 and are about $20,000 - $25,000 per year. The one thing that is diferent is that you have to pay an endowment fee when you accept a school place - 50 - 75% of year's (not a term) fee and you do not get this back! This is on top of the registration fee. I would like to know about smaller class sizes but have had no joy - I did email about 10 schools and all of them were in the low twenties for class size. Ideally we would like a small school and would be prepared to sacrifice some facilities but there does not seem to be one available. If anyone has nay other information or research to share that would be most welcome.

me too, me too!!! We are hoping to move in August 2013, school to start January 2014. I have my daughter's (who wil be 9 and will start in year 5) name regsitered at three of the girls schools, however, they are not sure about availability. She is crrently in a private prep school and in a (for her school) large calss of 18. I am a bit shocked that in Australia te class ize at the three schools I have applied to is 22-24 maxium and they are always full! Does anyone know of any good schools that have small (ie 18 and below) class sizes? Thank you - if anyone wants to stay in contact that would be fab as it seems a lot fo our children are similar ages?