RobD

Yeh same happened to me, company emailed me the contract and I signed the 1 relevant page, scanned that page and emailed it all back to my company which they then forwarded on with the 457 app. All done via email! I didn't need any police checks or medicals, only thing was I had to take out a private medical insurance policy for the 457 app, did it with IMAN Australian Health Plans Pty Ltd over internet, its not cheap @ $165/month for me & wife but you can cancel it when you get to Oz. I did application Feb 2010 and some friends here did their's 2 years before that and they didn't need health insurance for their app, rules change all the time! Application decision only took 2 weeks when all doc's were in place. best of luck Rob

Initial limit was $5000, a year later they upped it to $10,000

We opened accounts online with ANZ, a cheque account and a savings account. They sent back the account numbers within a week as they have office in UK. At that point we didn't even have an address in Oz. We could pay money in straight away which i did by money transfer using HiFX (great company) but we couldn't draw any money until we had validated the accounts at one of the braches in Oz by showing our ID giving them your address in Oz. We did this at Melbourne airport when we arrived as they have a branch in the departures area of the international terminal and drew money from the account straight away. By this point we had an Oz address as my company was providing an apartment for a month. Within a couple of months I also applied for a credit card with them and got without any hassle, didn't even ask for any sort of references or previous credit history. Could probably of got the credit card staright away! All in all I think the banks are all pretty much the same, you've just got to be aware that most charge you fees on your current account like they used to in UK many many years ago. Some charge per transaction, some a flat rate, some charge every time you use an ATM. We went for ANZ because they seem to have the most ATMs around and the account we have charges a flat rate of $5 per month. Though there seem to be moves for the banks to drop all the fees as UK banks did. Other thing to be wary of is that you can't use any ATM to draw from any bank like UK now, I used a NAB ATM to draw from my ANZ account and got charged $1.50 on $100. I know there are some of the banks that work together and don't charge to use other ATMs but am not sure which. hope this helps Rob

In Victoria the first time buyers grant only applies to permanant residents who have never purchased a house in Australia. I didn't qualify as I'm still on a 457 temporary 4 year business visa :mad: ! Though I still got $3000 discount as its my permanent place of residence rather than I'm buying to rent out then you pay the full amount.

check out this website, does all the hard work for you http://www.stampdutycalculator.com.au/

Hi, We've used the kennels at Coldstream before for our dog, not exactly near Seaford though. The do offer a pickup service on their website. http://www.vaat.org.au/pet-boarding.html I can definatly recommend the kennels for boarding, we also got him from there through the addoptions. May be worth a try Rob

Hi Olly, thanks for the dog bed. he was straight on it after getting it home. He spent a fair bit of time giving it a good sniff all over. Though he's flaked out on the kitchen floor at moment coz it tiled and on shady side of house so nice and cool. Was great to meet you and I'll mention your work to my wife and see if she knows your client. thanks again Rob

Hi I'd be quite happy to take it off your hands. Ours like to sleep on mat at back door so that'll be much better for him. I'm in Ferntree Gully and am quite happy to come pick it up as you're giving away. I'll PM my details. cheers Rob

My son brings his PS3 with him as hand baggage each time he comes for a visit from UK. He can't go anywhere without it :biglaugh: he's never had a problem. I carry my laptop for business and have never had a problem, always as hand luggage tho'. In the past I've had stuff go missing from my stowed baggage, bottles of beer and chocolates but that was from Moscow to UK, must be the perks of being a Russian baggage handler !

We got a Vodaphone mobile broadband dongle on PAYG to start with which was OK for first couple of months. At that point my wife was mainly using it to browse the jobs websites so didn't get much heavy usage. We use iiNet now mainly because the offered a 'no contract deal' whereas a lot of the others tie you to a 12 or 24 month contract, been with em now for 18 months. I'd say they are average price and reasonably reliable though the connection does drop of every now and then, not sure if thats iiNet or the exchange. Only prob I have with them is speed, when i started with them they could only offer ADSL1 as out local exchange doesn't support ADSL2, though since I've found out the exchange has been upgraded to ADSL2+ but iiNet can't offer it! Am going to look at TPG or there's a few more that use the exchange, moving house in 2 months so I'll sort it then. One thing to be wary of are the connection fees, they charged me $59.95! Some offer no fees. check out www.whirlpool.net.au it gives you all the internet providers and the deals they offer, also has a search facility to show you what's available in your area by entering your home phone number. pretty neat.

We bought a cheap kettle and toaster from Kmart for $10 each and we got cutlery, plates, dishes and pans from Salvation Army shop and also some temporary furniture (sofa for $40 !). We picked up some electrical stuf from Cash Converters, a CRT TV for $20, but as no-one wants CRT anymore we prob did em a favour, then when oiurs tuff arrived we threw out the TV with the hard rubbish collection. Also got a great Sony DVD player from there too, only $40 was probably top of the range a couple of years ago, plays all region DVDs too, still working fine 18months later. We're still using the second hand furniture as the houses here are much bigger than we had in UK, we have 2 living rooms here and a rumpus! So I'd put the elecrtrical stuff in the shipping and pack more clothes.

Hi Troy, I brought my KTM Superduke with me from UK. Am in Victoria so maybe a bit different for you but the steps I went through are: 1. Get import approval (which look like you've done) 2. Ship it 3. Pay duties, customs contacted me direct and I payed them via bank transfer. no import duty but had to pay GST (10%) of bike value and shipping costs! I gave then a copy of the original purchase reciept as I'd bought it brand new 2 years before, so they based value on the new cost. In hindsight it still worked out cheaper as the equivalant value of a 2 year old secondhand one here was still more than what I payed new! 3. I insured mine through eBike based on frame number for theft only, wasn't allowed to use on road as not registered. Catch 22 as how do you get it from port? I rode it on UK plates, got some funny looks when pulled in to petrol station to fuel up! 4. Send off for import sticker (1 of forms that you get with the import approval) and put it on the frame of bike where it can be seen easily. Put mine on frame rail near headstock. 4. Get it inspected by a VASS approved engineer who will stamp and sign a part of the import approval form. VASS is scheme by Vic Roads so there must be an equivilant up there in Queensland. The guy I contacted was a retired engineer who used to work for Nissan at the factory in Geelong, he now does approvals most of time for local classic cars clubs. He came to my house on a saturday morning and just visually checked it over, brakes, lights, tyres, brake lines, kmh speedo, etc. all standard so no troubles. Didn't even start the engine! 5. Get a Roadworthy test (like MOT) done, i used local bike shop as they are only half mile form my house and I could of pushed it there. 6. Took bike and all paperwork, including my UK logbook, down to the VicRoads office (Queensland Transport for you I think). You are allowed to ride to the registration without plates as they need to see the bike. Filled in a registration form, the guy checked the bike to make sure the frame and engine numbers match the documents, payed the fees (registration and 1 years rego and number plate fee) and they gave me a reg plate and a rego sticker (road tax) happy days hope this helps Rob

We used Crown as we were moving everything and it was my company's prefferred firm (they payed!) They were really good, packed everything and helped us fill in all forms. I know they do small shipments (even down to single boxes) as well because they have so many containers going back and forth all the time they will group many seperate smaller shipments together. Only downside is you may have to wait an extra week till they fill the container. Check them out, the warehouse for us was in Leeds as we came from near Manchester, but they have offices all over UK. http://www.crownrelo.com/uk

I brought my KTM Superduke (3yrs old owned from new) with me from UK to Vic. Had to get an import approval before shipping. I rode it from the importers in Braeside to home in Ferntree Gully on UK plates, insured it beforehand. I changed pipes back to standard. I had it inspected by an engineer to make sure it complies to Australian build regs (he stamps and signs the import doc) and then got a roadworthy test (same as MOT) done by local bikeshop. Rode it over to VicRoads office, they checked all paperwork, paid my money (bowt $650 altogether) and got license plate. happy days Was it worthwhile? financially, just about as new in UK was £8500 (about $14000 at current exchnge rate) and they are $20000 here new or $13000 for similar age. But it's my bike and I know it very well.

Hi, congrats on arriving safely. Luckily for us my company paid for a furnished apartment for 1st month in Ringwood, it was very expensive about $165 a night i think, We are in Ferntree Gully for 1.5 yrs which is not far away if you need any local info just PM me. Sorry can't help with schools as our kids (if you call 20yr old kids) are still in UK, but anything else. best wishes Rob