Stellathedog
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Hi Mike and Sue Wow! In the housing market over here you are beyond lucky! Well done and good luck with the packing...... To anyone else that may be interested....... I am going to be a Grandma again in October!! So excited!! Daughter, sil and Harry are coming over here in a couple of weeks for a couple of weeks and I am going back over to Aus when the new baby arrives. Flight booked, but going on my own this time. Hubby says 'it's a long way to see a baby and they don't do anything do they?" Men!!! So many exciting things happening for the pio parents!!!!!!!! Cheers all, Pam
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What great news! Not envious at all..........not much!! Will come and find you when I visit again! My family there are looking to buy in Curl Curl or Collaroy. Have a great new life. Cheers Pam edit: Sorry that reads like I am "coming to get you" ha ha Should have said 'would love to come and meet you when I visit again.
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Hi Val and Matt, I wish you luck with the house viewings, sometimes luck is the very important factor! Your medicals I am sure you don't need luck for! I just wish you well for these!! Look forward to hearing good news. Cheers Pam
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Ha ha ha Phoebe!!! I do hope 'on the streets' is just an expression!!!!????? Do you find this just another confirmation of wanting to leave? Cheers Pam
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Hello Hitchers, Sorry, I can't answer your question, but am very very interested in the answers. You have gone down the route I am about to start. I just feel I have to do 'something' towards getting to Oz at some point in the future and the 103 seems the cheapest option. If everything falls into place before the 15-20 years is up, I would hope to do the same as you and change to a 143. Good luck with the next stage. Cheers Pam
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As always Les, a great post. Thanks for updating us and most importantly.......CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! Grandparenting is wonderful, you won't believe the difference from first time round!! Cheers, Pam
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Hello. Thanks for posting this, it is really good to see someone who has gone down this route. I follow the other thread for the CPV, but realistically I (we) could not go for that one. I have one daughter here and two granddaughters, one and four years old. Also have another daughter in Sydney with my one and only grandson! Usual dilemma!! Having just spent 10 weeks in Oz, I was all for sending off for a visa, but had to back track! I have decided now to apply for a 103 for both myself and my husband and will see when the time comes whether we can actually go! If, in the meantime, we have to move quicker, will have to change to the 143. I understand that any time waiting is taken into account if you change? Can I just ask, between 2003 and 2005, did you hear anything from 'them' about how the application was going? Did just see your other thread about transferring pensions and QROPS, will follow that with interest. Thanks again for your post, Pam
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David I am assuming the Gill you are writing to is Gollywobbler. If so, then I think you will be waiting a long time for a reply. As far as I know she only writes/advises on the Poms in Adelaide site. If you are still about Gollywobbler Gill, then I do apologise, and also would say to you "You are missed"!!!!!!!!!!! Pam
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Hello Phoebe Happy New Year to you! Wow what a year you had, this one will hopefully give you more of the good things in life! Get well soon, keep up the physio exercises. I had the pleasure of meeting some of the PIO members in Sydney last week and your name came up then. We were all wondering what was happening with you. It was quite surreal talking to people who had previously been just names on a web page!!! Glad you aren't giving up on the cpv. Wish I could say I was still hoping to move, but 10 weeks out there made me realise there is no way my daughter here could afford to live in Sydney, so I have to have half my grandchildren here and half there. Looks like jetlag will be part of my life for the foreseeable future:arghh: Hope you're feeling better soon, Cheers Pam
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To John and Eirian, I am sure Fiz and Marian and maybe Sue and Mike (if they are still in Oz) will be a great help to you. To Fiz and Marian and Ian and Sue and Mike, thank you all for allowing us to join you today, even though we aren't actually 'on the road' to a cpv........yet!! It was so nice to meet you all and to get lots of tidbits of information that may well help us in the future. Good luck Fiz with your new job, hope the grandson liked his book! Marian, hope you manage to keep Ian out of the water until the sharks have gone! Sue and Mike, hope all goes well in the transition from 173 to 143, your experience will help many others I'm sure! Thanks again to all of you. Cheers Pam ps The youngsters are looking at places in Collaroy and Mona Vale now, we had a quick tour of places they fancied....very nice!
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Hello all Sydneysiders and Happy New Year! I will definitely be there, probably with the other half, John. I have short grey hair, John is blondish, both are bigger than we should be, but are both clean shaven! Can't even think about what I will be wearing, today is enough for me at the moment!!! Looking forward to meeting the faces to the names. Cheers Pam
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Thank you so much for thinking of including us, but please don't change anything that you would not otherwise have done. That said, depending on the time of day, we may well be there too. Daughter and son in law have both taken that week off of work and taken grandson out of daycare for that final week! This is why I am in a quandary. We are all off to Coolum Beach tomorrow for a long weekend, so I will put it to them then, if they would mind a few hours without us. As I said, don't change what you might otherwise have done, but I will keep an eye on the thread and if we can we will be there! Thanks again, Pam
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Fiz, Thanks for including me in your list of who is where. I am in Russell Lea, which has pretty good access to just about anywhere. Sadly, we leave on the 6th January, our 10 weeks will be up, so will have to opt out this time. Hope you all have a great meet up and maybe we can come to the next one when we come back again! I'm sure you'll make it a regular happening, after the first one! Cheers Pam
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Hello Fiz and Mike and Sue! Congratulations on your validation Mike, although you go in and out regularly, this must have seemed a very special entry into Oz! Fiz, you seem to have got so much done in your first 3 months. Do you feel like a local now? We have been here for 6 weeks now, and have another 4 till we have to leave, so if you do a get together , pretty please can we come and say hello too? It is exciting to see our grandson for his first 'real' Christmas, he was only 6 months old this time last year. I must admit, I expected to be having a warm Christmas, but not sure now, let's hope and enjoy whatever we get, especially as we can't change it!! Merry Christmas to all, I'm sure it will whizz round in no time! Cheers, Pam
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Hi Ann, Sorry to contradict you about NAB, but you can transfer money to them before you arrive to validate the account. I opened a NAB account online and then used Ozforex to transfer AUD into it for our holiday this time. There were no problems at all, once I had the account numbers, I entered them as the beneficiary from Ozforex and hey presto, money to spend when we arrived. It has actually been a godsend having aussie currency to draw directly on, they even gave us a visa card so we can buy online etc. You sound very organised with Westpac, but I just wanted to say NAB are good too! Must be 23 weeks now??????? ha ha Counting in weeks is much better isn't it? Our holiday is 10 weeks long, sadly we're over half way now, maybe I should go back to counting in months and say it's still another month here!!!! Cheers Pam
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Hello Mike Where are we? In the Hunter Valley, giving our daughter in Sydney a break from us!!! We have been in Aus for 5 weeks almost and sadly, the only thing we have realised is that our other daughter in UK would not be able to afford to live here. So I guess we are set for the travels between here and UK for the foreseeable future. Still, on the bright side, we won't have to go through the visa process!? We do both love the life out here and it's not just the weather, as that has been dire for the last week! There are just so many parks around for the children and safe places to walk/run for the older generations. Love it! Do you think the Aussies in general appreciate all these things? Small in the grand scheme of things, but so nice... Anyway that's where I am. As to where everyone else is, we will have to wait and see! Cheers Pam
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Hi Moira, Just to say that we opened an account with NAB before we arrived, albeit only on a long holiday. They were brilliant when we went to validate the account and opened a savings account to go with the current, and also we had a visa card sent within the week to our temporary address here. It helps when you want to order stuff online! We could not use internet banking until the account was validated, but now we can, it's a doddle moving money between savings and current, instantly where you want/need it!! Have to agree Forex is very good and very simple, thanks to all those that recommended this way of transferring money. We have only been here just over two weeks and have had a couple of days with 'sole charge' of our grandson. It was scary at first, but absolutely everyone we have met has been soooo helpful, even down to advice on what to buy for a 16 month old for Christmas! I could so easily stay here and become a fulltime grandma.............maybe one day????? Cheers Pam
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Thanks Fiz We certainly are happy here! Such a novelty to be able to travel so easily, especially on the air conditioned transport! How about you? Was all the hassle you had to get the visa worthwhile? Is there anything you would have done differently? Hope you don't mind the questions? Cheers Pam ps Saw The Jersey Boys at the Theatre Royal today and, if you haven't already seen it, I would recommend it! This was my second visit and it was just as good this time, but it finishes in December............
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We are here for 10 weeks with family in Sydney. Making the most of the $2.50 all day (anywhere?) tickets. City, Cronulla etc Going up to Terrigal on Sunday for a couple of days (treating to ocean view room at Crowne Plaza), hope it's worth it! We are going house hunting from there and wondered if anyone had any recommends of where to look for realistically priced areas. Will have to be nosy and look up in Woongarrah, as it looked so nice on Phils show! We've been here a week now and seem to be getting acclimatised already. Is this possible, or have we not had the best/worst of the heat yet? We will have a car so probably no further than an hour from Terrigal is the area we would be looking. Thanks Pam
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Well, after nearly a year planning this we are off to see Harry, our grandson, (and his parents)!!! We had an excellent flight here with Singapore Airlines, all the recommendations were great. I was somewhat p**ped when we arrived, all the tension about have I done everything etc???? We booked into T3 transit hotel for a few hours and that helped. The airport has a tremendous amount of things to do and 'stuff' to see, whatever age you are. Can't wait for the morning when we arrive in Sydney for 10 weeks with Harry. He wasn't walking last time I saw him, so that will be just so.........well all you ladies know what I mean (my OH can't understand why I get so emotional about it all!!) Have just skyped our granddaughter back in UK and she is excited for us too, although at 3 years old, she doesn't realise how long we will be away. Maybe it was the singapore sling in Harrys Bar, but really don't want to do this journey again, too emotional, give me the visa application forms and just wont go back:confused: Anyway, let me be the first to wish all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! See you in 2012 Cheers Pam
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What a gorgeous little girl!!! Hope her health continues to improve............ Cheers Pam:biggrin:
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Hi Phoebe I really feel for you having to make the decision to pull out. We too have just had problems with our business. Although OH had retired from it, we still had links and payments into a pension and we had hoped to sell our interest in it at some point! The economy and mostly the banks and their charges put the final nail in the coffin and the receivers were called in a month ago. As long as the banks don't come after us for guarantees we will walk away with our health, but nothing else, no pension, no future nest egg. Our health is the main thing and again, sorry to hear of your family health issues! Will you still visit for holidays while you are making your mind up? We are off at the weekend for 10 weeks with our grandson Harry, another sort of 'link' with you. Since we last saw him he has started walking and looks to be a real character when we see him on skype! I do hope to convince OH to think of applying for a visa while we are there, although we have 2 granddaughters here to consider. I just feel that this country is looking after the wrong people and sadly we pensioners, who have kept people employed for years and years, are not the ones! You are younger than me and you will have more chances in the future to start again. The right time will come for you and Harry will wait!!!!! Keep strong, Pam
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Oh my goodness!!!! You certainly don't let the grass grow under your feet! Good luck with the survey and have fun in your new home................the story continues.............. Cheers Pam
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Hello Phoebe As I intend going over as often as possible, to see only grandson Harry, I wanted to have some access to aussie funds and yesterday tried online to open NAB account. The process seemed really easy. Then, when I was making tea at 4 this morning!!, I saw an email from them, asking why I was applying as their 'rules' say you have to be going there for at least 6 months. I sent a reply back saying that the account would be for hopefully frequent holidays and also to buy Harry presents at any time. Had a reply from them by the time I got up again, saying they were going ahead with the application. Heres hoping!!!! Cheers Pam
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G&T on the central coast from K and M, meet up in Melbourne with you Moira..........any other offers??????? We are visiting from beginning of November till early January, so plenty of time to take up offers!!!! We will be with our daughter and family in Sydney, but will be trying to leave them on their own for a couple of days a week, although if we are needed for babysitting???????? I'm always up for that. Moira, this will be my 7th time of visiting and leaving each time gets harder. Won't stop me though, until I'm too old to travel!!!!!! I'm trying Singapore Airlines this time, as so many on here have said they are the best. When I booked back in January they were also the cheapest! Have a wonderful holiday, and if we venture to Melbourne again, I'll give you a shout!! Cheers Pam