ramot

14 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

Save me.... It's probably time to give in and turn on the Aircon...

•  When it’s cold in UK, you put the central heating on, when it’s hot in Australia, you put the aircon on.

10 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

I know what you mean, first summer is AUS and it does get a bit "stuffy" after many consecutive days of just hot sun (and I realise by normal standards Sydney hasn't been that hot this summer)

On the radio we heard the Christmas song "baby it's cold outside"

To which my daughter immediately changed the links to 

"Baby it's oppressive outside"

Brits aren't made for more than 2 days of warmth a year unless they are on holiday at the time

And when on the 2 weeks holiday in the Spanish sun, so desperate for sunshine, they sunbathe like sausages under a grill, turning redder and redder. 

This Brit has spent the last 30 years in the sun, hates the cold, and struggles with the gloom after several wet days. Similar to SAD syndrome. 

Tried to add smiley with sunglasses, can’t seem to add it

What a nonsense this thread has deteriorated into. 

We should all apologise to the OP

9 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

I used to live in wymeswold hence I was very aware even people in Loughborough (10 minutes away by car) don't even know it exist!

We were near neighbours, I lived in Keyworth 

On 01/02/2023 at 06:44, Ausvisitor said:

Some of this depends on the situation though.

As a rough guide the Aussie credit card issuers work on a credit limit of around 1k for each 10k of income you earn. Most have minimum limits (generally 5k) so if your individual income isn't over 50k you aren't going to get anywhere.

If you can't show all your UK pension regularly hitting your AUS bank account then it isn't income it's savings or pocket money.

If you want it classed as income get it paid monthly (in full) direct to an Aussie account (like you would if it was a wage)

That said (as ramot) indicated loads of people are getting these cards with foreign income etc, so maybe the OP is actually failing one of the other affordability questions (given retirement is in play here it might be the fact they are applying for travel insurance cards which generally stop providing that cover at retirement age and AUS banks are scared of being hit with mis-selling scandal similar to the UK one recently)

 

We have all our income paid into UK bank, and transfer here as and when needed, so although we do transfer regularly, there is no fixed or regular amount. As previously mentioned we have had our cards since we retired here 20 years ago, and have travel insurance up to age 80 on our bank cards, so the rules might have changed, but my husband had no problem at all getting the Qantas card last year, So who knows 

12 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

I get your point, I was saying it from the point of someone who is a city dweller.

If I lived in London I'd say the same of wymeswold (which is lovely and very desirable but unless you really know your UK geography you just went "where's that..." and that's what I mean)

I lived 11 minutes away from  Wymeswold, so didn’t have to know UK geography to know where it was.

1 hour ago, ramot said:

Perhaps  someone who hasn’t been in Australia long and only experienced living Sydney or Melbourne, is under the misconception that this is the only real Australia. 
Nothing wrong with liking big city living, but lots and lots of us know that you can prefer to live a a healthier and happy life away from the major capital cities, and even earn enough to have a great life.

I certainly don’t consider the Sunshine Coast where I have lived for 20 years, as ‘nowheresville’  yes Regional, but what a great place to live. 

To add to the above

Locally. Good hospital , University, good sports facilities, good schools, some with accelerated learning and sports classes, plus all the usual activities clubs eg scouts, girl guides, sports clubs, dance schools etc etc for children . 

Plus plenty for adults as well, most activities are well catered for here. You are only bored here if you want to be.

The Coast is pretty amazing as well.

Housing isn’t cheap, but unlikely a problem  if moving from SE England, 

3 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

 (I guess as teachers you aren't limited to the cities but who moves around the world to live in nowheresville)

 

Perhaps  someone who hasn’t been in Australia long and only experienced living Sydney or Melbourne, is under the misconception that this is the only real Australia. 
Nothing wrong with liking big city living, but lots and lots of us know that you can prefer to live a a healthier and happy life away from the major capital cities, and even earn enough to have a great life.

I certainly don’t consider the Sunshine Coast where I have lived for 20 years, as ‘nowheresville’  yes Regional, but what a great place to live. 

4 hours ago, teejaybee said:

Many thanks to Quoll and Marisa for your comments,greatly appreciated.

Your experiences are invaluable especially in respect of serious matters like Healthcare.

Any further comments/experiences welcome.

We had overseas health cover with Medibank for 15 years while on the, now no longer, old  long term retirement visa, until we finally got PR almost 5 years ago, it’s very expensive, by my experience double the cost,  of regular health cover for PR and citizens, but on our visa we weren’t entitled to Medicare. From memory we last paid $10 or $11,000 a year then, but we were very well covered for almost everything, eg no gap to pay the GP or specialist on our policy, claim for prescriptions.

We knew quite a few people on the 804 visa, again going back 20 years, when the wait for the visa was  processed  much quicker, and they didn’t bother with private health cover, just used reciprocal Medicare . Quite a few had fairly serious health problems, and all were treated here with no problems, but as everyone we know now have PR, I don’t know if it’s still the same, as the wait is so much longer, and more and more elderly parents in the long long queue, things might have tightened up, due to the increased the cost to the government .

1 hour ago, Flyboy68 said:

Tulip1,

Your suggestions are spot on. I am now a secondary holder on my wife's credit card and we have agreed that I can treat that card as though it's mine. I will also be maintaining at least one UK card witha sizeable credit limit and will use it for foreign currency spend outside Australia. It's a solution of sorts, but not a great one.

I still feel that the banks' behaviour is nonsensical. Having spent years foisting credit cards on people who couldn't repay, banks have now retreated behind a set of rules, applied with a "tick box" mentality, which leads to them being unable to recognise good customers.

Looks like I will have to accept that for as long as I live in Australia I will be a kind of financial pariah.

 

Perhaps the rules have changed since we came 20 years ago ? We had no problem then, and recently considered changing banks, and there was no suggestion that our only income from UK was a problem, and as mentioned, my husband got  a Qantas card this year. 

11 hours ago, Marisawright said:

No, because they won't consider foreign pension income, full stop. 

We actually had no problem at all when we came, the problem is if it’s outside the ‘norm’ then it’s easier to say no. 

We even got a Qantas card recently with no problem, and our income is from UK pensions. 

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

@ramot, what makes it harder in this case, is that Squirly's husband will be on a 482 visa which is only a temporary visa (2 to 4 years).  So there's no certainty the children will still be in Australia for their university/college studies, if they decide to pursue further education.  A difficult one.

I agree, but staying apart for 2-4 years, plus add in cost of flights to see each other, isn’t much of an alternative. Some serious decisions need to be thought through. 

Wish you all the best Squirlies xM

1 hour ago, Squirlies said:

Thank you for your reply. We have taken into account the school fees and medical costs. I think I may have to stay in the uk until they both finish their schools here 

Not quite sure if you mean you will all stay in UK or just you plus the children? If you mean the latter? 

I had to balance part time living between Brunei for 10 years with my husband who was working there, and with our 3 children who had to stay in  England  as there was no education there for them past age 14. Unless there is absolutely no choice I absolutely don’t recommend splitting your family up unless there is no alternative. Unless you have lived that life you have no idea how hard it is on everyone. If you intend to make the move to Australia permanent, then accept the education system is different. I realise cost comes into it, but from my experience the cost to a split family life outweighs that. 

Expat children that we have known, have moved schools all over the place and have adapted and gone on to do well. 

3 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

I'm not a regular visitor to this forum and when I post it's usually to ask the advice of the PIO community, who I've always found very helpful and knowledgeable. In this case it's about the suitability of Tasmania as a retirement destination, and recommendations for places to visit whilst on holiday. In no way do I wish to discourage people from commenting, but if someone has never visited Tasmania then it's unlikely they'll have much to contribute to this thread.

When moving to a new location there are lots of factors to consider; climate, cost of living, and proximity to amenities, to name just a few. Given that we live in Cairns, we also considered the possibility of natural disasters like flooding and cyclones when we bought our current home. In addition, we could have considered the possibility of war, earthquakes, or our neighbour turning out to be Walter White. Yes, they're all possibilities, but not ones worth losing too much sleep over. Based on your comments I gather you've had a negative experience at some point which I'm sorry to hear, but that doesn't give you the right to hijack other people's posts and make them all about this issue.

If Australia's suburban drug culture is a major concern for you, then you might consider writing a separate post on the matter.

We loved our visit to Tasmania, which was purely as a tourist. Recommend visiting 

The Wall in the Wilderness at Derwent Bridge and                                                        Legerwood  Carved Memorial Trees                  and                                                                     the Creepy Boardwalk through Dark Forest Cradle Mountain                                                as  well as all the other stunning and interesting places.                                       Enjoy your visit, take no notice of negative posters who haven’t been there, Tasmania might not be for everyone, but unless you visit somewhere you will never know if it’s where you want to live.

8 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

@Marisawright thanks for getting it back on topic

We have some impressive mountains around Cairns. Walsh's Pyramid is almost as high as Sca Fell, with fabulous views from the summit - and then there's Mount Baldy and Bartle Frere (over 1600m). That said, they're not the same as 'real mountains' - you know the ones with trees at the bottom, rocks in the middle, and (sometimes) snow on the top. I've missed seeing those diverse landscapes. especially as we haven't been out of Queensland for nearly 4 years now. My biggest concern about moving to Tassie is how we'd handle the winter, given that we've have been in the tropics for over a decade. I think I might have gone a bit soft in our old age!

Personally I wouldn't make a decision about my retirement years based on what my needs might theoretically be in the last 3-5 years, and that's assuming we suffered a significant decline in health prior to death (and didn't just fall off the perch, as many do). Free public transport once you reach retirement age is great, but for us fare-paying passengers we've found that for short journeys, Uber isn't much more expensive than two bus fares - and a lot more comfortable too.

I think it does make sense to consider what your needs might be, as you age, irrespective of where you settle.

When we retired 20 years ago, we were fit, ready to take on a new adventure, which in our case was to retire to live in Australia, with no immediate family here, we admit we didn’t even think about the long term of our decision. We bought a 2 storey house, never considered we might not be able to manage going upstairs to bed one day. The good news is that there are actually 2 downstairs bedrooms and a bathroom, but that was just good luck. When that  day comes, we will have to leave towels and bed linen  for any visitors  on the bottom step!!! 

So think about buying wisely if you hope to be able stay in your home as long as possible. Honestly Moving house, the older you get is very hard work, as we have seen many friends go through this recently, and it’s a fact of life that it’s reassuring to have good health facilities fairly close as you age. We luckily bought somewhere that we love, and have great medical facilities locally, but that was sheer luck, as  like many people we didn’t really think it through.

56 minutes ago, Nemesis said:

Crew Resource Management is fascinating, so many differences between different nationalities, as you say. 

Need to remind my husband occasionally this applies to a domestic environment as well  

trying to add pilot emojis next to husband and smiley at end but I failed ! 

Joke

Whats the difference between God and a pilot

God knows he isn’t a pilot.

51 minutes ago, ramot said:

Known as Air Chance in the airline industry 

There is a lot more to understand about airlines, other than the obvious safety record.

eg The hierarchy on the flight deck can differ between different nationalities with differing attitudes to authority. 

I don’t watch the aeroplane accident programmes, but my husband does out of a professional interest, and the resulting conclusions include so many factors.

i agree that the awful incident of the Malaysian flight being shot down was horrific, but the mystery of the missing flight is ongoing worrying, considering all the technology on board modern aircraft.

49 minutes ago, JetBlast said:

I would avoid Air France then. They have had a lot of incidents for a major airline.

In 2022 the pilots had a punch up in the cockpit!

Known as Air Chance in the airline industry 

On 13/01/2023 at 08:18, rammygirl said:

They are good these days.  To be honest it can depend on the actual plane and the crew as much as the airline.  We had a ratty old plane and grumpy crew on Singapore and a brand new plane and a great crew with Qatar recently. I know which I preferred.  Also airlines fit out planes to different specifications so the same plane May give you more legroom and better toilets with some airlines.

We always fly economy, preferring to spend on accommodation on holiday so I can’t comment on business or first class!

The safety reputation of an airline is more important to me than the cabin service, (and the safety of some airlines can  be creatively interpreted.  The cabin service on any airline  can vary from good to bad to indifferent, but it only impacts on your enjoyment of that one flight.

The quality and  safety of maintenance of aircraft,  flight planning etc are actually the more  important parts of any airline.

Sorry Rammygirl, meant to post this as separate post not attached to yours

1 hour ago, benj1980 said:

They are the cheapest around. Is it time to get over the missing and shot down planes in terms of travel? I guess I'm interested in people's experiences as well!

Might be a good idea to google reviews. I wouldn’t fly with them, but that’s personal and not based on up to date airline talk but from when my husband was still working for an airline, which was 20 years ago. Perhaps worth paying for Singapore or Emirates

5 hours ago, unzippy said:

Went to my fave Tassie pub for a few.  It's the only time I've seen a real hand pump in operation in Aus.

And yes, they had the fire going, because Tas. 

Google the British pub The Duke of Clarence in Sydney, fairly sure they have them, and draft Guinness 

2 hours ago, Skani said:

Victorians are not "intrastate people" in Perth:  they are from interstate.

Strangely, my local area in Tasmania is also swarming with Victorian number plates. Let me think - would they all be swarming over on the ferry to pick up some illegal substances?  Or could it possibly have something to do with the strange coincidence that this is peak tourist season when all of the country is  on school holidays and much of the employed population is on regular summer annual holidays?   And, in addition, the first time in a couple of years that people have been able to plan interstate holidays without the threat of border closures? 

The very same reason Victorians are touring other parts of the country, including Perth.  

Some spotted  here on the Sunshine Coast as well!!

December 2010, the last time I spent Christmas in England. Looks lovely? It’s not for me anymore. It was Freezing cold, pavements were frozen and icy and dangerous. I was almost house bound for the whole visit as I had broken my arm and shoulder on the way to UK.

Ive lived in a hot country too long, to tolerate cold weather.

Here on the Sunshine Coast  we have  a lazy Christmas morning breakfast, lounge round the pool, and  or go for a beach walk. Still  cook the full traditional turkey roast to eat late afternoon. 

This year we were in Sydney with family, and even though I wasn’t overly keen, we went to Bondi Beach on Christmas morning. People were having so much fun there, enjoying the beach and the perfect weather, so who cares if there is a right or wrong way to spend Christmas, just celebrate it any way you want to.

55 minutes ago, pob said:

Sorry Parley I was asking about Christmas not my spelling.

 

You probably have found in life that some people do not spell as well as others. It's kind of rude to point that out

As long as you enjoyed Christmas that’s all that matters xM

16 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

All you can do is apply and see.  If it's rejected, they can apply again for a shorter length of time.  They will have to provide a good reason for their visit and explain why they need to stay so long.   It's hard to see how they could justify 12 months, frankly.  They could justify a few months to get the house in order and their belongings packed up, but then there would be nothing to stop them returning, as the whole house sale can be handled remotely.  

As for the Seniors Card -- they're not eligible, but when I applied, I don't remember them asking to see proof of citizenship or residency.  So it may be that they're lax about checking and some people get away with it.

I know when we applied for a seniors card 20 years ago, when on a retirement visa in our innocence when we were asked if we were pensioners, and knowing no better answered yes we were. Had a seniors card ever since. Don’t use it much though.