Les Avalook
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Everything posted by Les Avalook
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Still a few rats left then. :biglaugh: That's no way to speak about the Mods :policeman: :wubclub:
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That was from 'Wanted Down Under' this week and referred to a couple moving to New Zealand. Chinese whispers? If it's on the BBC 'Wanted', the most thoroughly researched prog on TV it must be true. :wink:
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Using a quote from UKForex as of now ($1.59) they would charge £43,160 for the $68,660 needed for 2x 2nd Vac payment, if paid in London the cost is £44,620. The forex rate moves around all the time and can change by a few hundred in a day but the London rate is set for 6 months. The other option is your credit card payment to Perth but you never know what rate the c.c. charge until you have paid it and most people have to preload their card.
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:idea: Nothing to do with removals, Steve, but at the moment with the better rate, it is now £1600 cheaper to buy the $s than to pay in £s in London. If this rate holds and we are offered the visa we would buy the $s with UKForex or one of the brokers, that would be sent to our son's bank account and then he would send a bank draft to Perth.
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You beat me to it Matt, just got back from the Meds, they didn't send for an ambulance to take us home so we can't be in too bad shape. :eek:
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Hi Matt & all. Our letter has 49 days to provide the requested information, but that may have been because they (CO) knew they would be away for more than 28 days. Just to be clear, we have no personal need to hurry our application, (but our CO does not know that) I posted the information just to let people know if you are in a rush and have pre-loaded your meds etc, it may not help you get the visa done quickly in some circumstances. Sorry if I gave the impression we were upset about things. We will not be making the move until our house is sold so the post Xmas timing of our meds and police check gives us the chance of a validation trip to Oz right up to next Christmas if the housing market slows even more. To be fair they have given a email address for any general inquires will the CO is away. They have said they want the Aos sorted within 28 days, but in Qld that is out of our control.
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As some of you may know we got our CO on 23/12/10, as our son cannot get an interview with Centrelink for Aos we felt we should update our CO. Imagine our surprise to get a email reply today that they are out of the office from 24/12/10 until 07/02/11. :chatterbox: Good job we did not get the Meds, and Police checks carried straight away (if Xmas had not got in the way) as they would have sat on the shelf for at least a month. I guess another way to look at it if we had not sent a 'how are things going' email a few days before that then we may not have got the CO until February. It is useful to check on Steve's tracker to make sure you remain in the time frame of your fellow CPVs, i.e. when we had dropped more than 2 weeks behind Framboy who we were 1 week behind on acknowledgment we gave them a nudge. It will be interesting to see who and when the first new CO of the year appears (unless they all have the same time off:shocked:). Regards Les
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When speaking to our son and d-i-l yesterday (who live in Loganholme and work in Underwood area) they said it is very surreal for them only having the rain and few areas that have higher than average water levels when an hours drive away people are being flooded out. Lucky for them the Logan river is fed from a different source. Fingers crossed that you can still make your journey safely.
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Our son was due his Aos interview today but has just emailed to say they are safe and well but all centrelink offices (i guess he only means in Qld) are closed until the floods stop as they are only dealing with flood victims.
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:idea: Now approaching a £1000 cheaper to buy the $s and pay in Perth for 2 x 2nd Vac payments this a.m. £43,693 to buy $68660 on UKForex or £44,620 in London.
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Hi Matt We went out to the Wvenhoe Dam (bit of local interest for us:wink:) 2 years back when it was looking like a puddle in a dried up valley. I am not sure if they said the water had ever got high enough to overflow at that time. Our son lives close to the Logan river next the Alexander Clark Park were he sometimes fishes and he said that is up about 3-4 metres higher than normal. :fish2: Have you packed your wellies? :wink:
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Best of luck to you and LadyMatt, hope the flight goes well for you both. Another job they keep advertising is bus drivers, big depo near where your daughter lives, bit bigger than a moped, but drier working conditions :wink:. May see you some time, if we ever get there. Meds this coming Saturday and our son has an appointment at Centrelink this Wednesday to make an appointment for the interview for Aos, (not allowed to do it over the phone) don't ask. :cry:
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..yes and you used to be able to sell them on ebay until they changed the rules. :wink: I was thinking M&S points or maybe Tesco. :idea: Just found out M&S will not allow pre-loading of C.C., but Tesco will so have applyed for C.C. just in case we go down this route, possible 11,155 points.
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Thanks for the link Steve and the info Matt. Still very close at the moment with the Forex (quote $1.54) option just in front but only by about £150 as I write. Things to consider: If you Forex out the money some Oz banks charge a % of the bank draft and someone quoted $170 just to pay the bank draft. There appears to be no charge for using a credit card in the UK (or Oz but then you never know the rate you will pay until you have paid it) so depending on the card you have you could earn a nice collection of points. There must be as many posts on the web saying the £ will go up as down so there is no clear direction at the moment. We live in interesting times.
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More likley the news from China who may just be slowing up. Nice to see our London payment expert up and about. :biggrin: We may be needing your help. :wubclub:
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Hi Guys, Happy New Year to one all whatever side of the globe you're on. Thanks to Durhamlad's post on the 'other side' it appears that the Oz government has felt sorry for UK visa applicants and set a rate of exchange for payment in the UK that today is just a bit higher than the floating rate. If the web site is correct and they have set a rate of $1.538 then this will be the first time they have not dropped the rate below the floating rate at the start of the 6 month fix. :thumbup: Currency Converter At least there is a floor under the 2nd Vac payments for the next 6 months. We are lucky on this site that there are some experts at getting the payment made in London as London put up lots of barriers last time this occurred. I think this may help Framboy first.
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Interesting, they feel destroying a Grandmother clock is easier and cheaper than a B&Q bargain Christmas tree. :wacko: P.S. how much was your 40ft container and from where in the UK?
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Even though they are talking Aus $ to USA $ if you read their reasons for the current level of exchange one could easily conclude that there is very little to change the £ to Aus $ from around $1.50, give or take 10%. $1.50 is the rate we now need to base our expectations of life in Oz on, as there seems very little chance of a return to $2 to £, for that matter there also seems very little chance of the UK base rate rising by more than 0.05% through 2011 so we are :Randy-git: which ever option we chose. P.S. From today you can leave £85,000 per banking group with full UK protection, the only thing you won't protect is the value of the £. :no: P.P.S. Happy New Year which ever end of the Globe you are. :wubclub:
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As well as 2 years resident you must be of 'pension age'. Commonwealth Seniors Health Card or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
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Thanks Phoebe, at the moment its Coody Avalook at this, Coody Avalook at that, just no peace, still while she is sleeping the rest of us are off to Midnight Mass. :wubclub: Merry Christmas to one and all. :yes:
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The pressure is telling as next year will be 2011. :swoon: Enjoy your Christmas rest. :wubclub:
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The Workhouse house? :eek: Happy Christmas Matt, if the weather stays the same in Brisie you may be flooded out. Certainly not camping weather out there at the moment.
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Hi Steve, I guess you are busy with Christmas as I haven’t seen you post lately, hope all is well for you down under. We have at last got our CO on 23/12/10, just in time for the Xmas shut down! If you can update the tracker or send me the login. I did notice I gave you the wrong acknowledgement date, I gave you the payment date when it should have been 10/09/09 for Ack. We felt that we was slipping behind Framboy on the tracker so we emailed Perth last weekend and said would we get a Christmas present or would we have to wait for the new year? They emailed us Tuesday and said they would pass the email on to the team leader and we got the CO Thursday, so the little nudge worked. Regards Les
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Pay them with artificial money. :wink: Thanks for your good wishes, on our second cup of tea already. :wubclub:
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It's a Girl:jiggy: Wanda and Les Avalook are pleased to announce a new addition to our family. After the normal 15 ½ month gestation period we have a new arrival that we have decided to call COody Avalook. COody just popped into our world in what was a painless arrival and I am pleased to say Wanda is doing very well even though we were both becoming restless towards the end. She is a welcome addition to our two sons Willy in Oz and Diddy in the UK. Wanda is surrounded by bottles but we are making sure COody does not touch them. COody Avalook is living up to her name right from their first day. Looks like a few sleepless nights for a while. Must dash as COody is after something else and she seems to want everything ‘now’. :chatterbox: