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Missed flight - hmm, maybe Cancelled flight - it's cancelled - having insurance won't make it fly. Lost luggage - it'll turn up. Again, insurance doesn't stop it getting lost, and I can borrow stuff in the meantime. Medical drama - again, maybe. But why wouldn't that be dealt with under the reciprocal medical agreement? Not dismissing your points, but just wondering if there really are any 'must have' reasons. Would you get travel insurance if you were to, for example, fly to a different Australian city for a long weekend? If not, what's the difference between this and going to the UK?

Is there much benefit in getting travel insurance to visit the UK, considering that's where I'm from? Going back soon for a few weeks to visit friends, family etc, but am not sure what I'm likely to need it for. After all, I've got a much bigger support network still in the UK than I've managed to build up in Aus since I've been here. Medical bills would be the only major concern, but my understanding is that there's a reciprocal medical agreement with the UK, so I'd get treatment through the NHS in case of any injury. Otherwise, I can't really think of anything else that I'd particularly need / want it for. Thoughts?

We're heading back to the UK for 4 weeks next month. I'm trying to book a hire car, but will need to put 2 drivers on it (ie main driver plus one additional) Has anyone come across a website / search engine that makes this easy to find? I'm trawling through lists of cars and having to go to the small print on each option to find out if they charge for additional drivers - and when it's £10 per day it soon turns a cheap 'headline price' into a much more expensive deal. Ideally, I'd like to sort by price INCLUDING an additional driver. Any ideas? Or any recent experiences of reasonable prices including an additional driver?

I'm not suggeting that declaring income and profits is far fetched. But what you're suggesting is that the ATO / HMRC may check to see when the money was put into the UK account and tax you on the difference between the value then and the value now based on the exchange rate. That's a totally different thing - there is no 'income' or 'profit' involved. So how long would it need to be left in the UK before the ATO / HMRC want to tax it? The exchange rate can change a lot in just a couple of days. Is it 'tax free' for a week? A month? Again, any links to any official documentation detailing this ruling?

Really? So are you suggesting that when you transfer the money from a UK account (via a money transfer service) to an Australian account, the ATO will then look back to see what dates you originally put that money into the UK account, identify what the exchange rate was at that time, and see if you've made a 'profit' by waiting until now to do the exchange? Seems a bit far-fetched to me - any links to anything official stating this?

If an item is new enough that you need to pay GST on coming into Australia, wouldn't also be new enough to enable you to claim back the VAT when leaving the UK? I thought the whole point of the ruling was that you had to pay tax on items somewhere - either the UK or Australia - but you shouldn't have to pay in both countries. What's the ruling on claiming back VAT when you leave the UK - does it mirror the Australian ruling for imports ie less than one year old?

It's obviously better than going into the city, but Parramatta road is pretty bad even going against the flow, and there's not a lot of alternative between Newtown and the M4. So even on a good day, I reckon it'll take you at least an hour to Penrith. I'd imagine that the West Connex will make it better in the long term, but it'll probably be a lot worse over the next few years whilst they're building it. Not sure about getting down to the M5 for Campbelltown, but for both journeys I'd seriously recommend trying it sometime before committing. But if you do do it, at least you can claim back the M5 toll (well, almost all of it) It's normally about 30 - 45 minutes drive at the weekend for us to get to a beach - again, it's the weekend traffic that's a nightmare. I may be wrong, but I don't think there's any public transport that gets you to a beach easily. I don't mean to be down on the Inner West - it suits us as we work in the city. But I think you'd be wise to check out the journey times before committing.

Just out of curiosity, why would you move to the inner west when you've got to commute to Penrith and Campbeltown? I live in the inner west, and the only real positive thing (in my opinion) is that it's convenient for commuting to the city. The downsides are the traffic at weekends (and weekdays, even if you are supposedly going against the peak-time flow) and the high cost of property and rentals, all of which you're in the perfect position to avoid.

I'm pretty sure 'Plane' is a generally accepted abbreviation of the word aeroplane. And I think you've missed the gist of the question. I fully understand why they have to dump fuel before landing - that's pretty obvious. But I was asking why, if they had established what the problem was (ie 2 blown tyres), they didn't make the emergency landing at the end of the journey rather than turn round and land straight away. I suppose it depends on how reliable the info is about the rest of the aircraft - maybe they couldn't confirm that it was just 2 blown tyres and no other damage. I don't know - I don't fly planes / aeroplanes / aircraft / airplanes.

Haven't checked the full story, so maybe it's answered somewhere but .... Why did the plane have to dump all it's fuel and land back in Sydney? Once it's in the air, the blown tyres aren't going to affect it at all, so why not just carry on to where it was going and do the emergency landing there? Seems a waste of fuel and a lot of hassle for the passengers to turn around and come back to Sydney.

Sounds like they're doing a good job then :- "Residential electricity prices have risen by 91 per cent across Australia over the past five years, while gas prices have risen by 61 per cent over the same period, according to the Australian Energy Regulator." Taken from http://www.afr.com/p/national/power_price_hikes_from_gas_boom_hxTOyltdZNB18GAP4S20FJ

No need to drain the hydraulic fluid. Definitely make sure the bikes are clean though, especially the tyres (assuming you don't also go for new ones) You're also supposed to deflate the tyres fully, but if you're running tubeless you'll be fine just deflating until they're a bit soft - it saves breaking the bead.

Not really - it actually gives you the opportunity to not get ripped off - ie by waiting until the price is at a low point before buying. If they wanted to rip you off, why not just keep it at the high point?

Can anyone explain WHY there is this petrol price cycle? It's often talked about (on the news etc) but I've never heard a good explanation as to why it goes up and down the way it does.

If you'd asked me that question in the UK I'd have agreed with you. But that seems to be exactly what's being advised by this guy in the paper. I mean, if you were on a salary of $50k per year and had no savings, where else would you borrow $100k from?

Perhaps I should have been clearer in my original post - I'm not talking about borrowing money to invest in houses, but borrowing money to invest in stocks and shares etc I'm not looking to actually do anything - I was just raising for discussion what I thought to be an odd concept ie that it's accepted, even encouraged, that you should borrow money and then, in effect, gamble with it.

They seem to be happy to help investors buying multiple homes (ie with negative gearing) so I was just wondering if there were some other tax incentives for borrowing for investment eg loan repayments being offset against tax?

In the Sydney Morning Herald they do a 'Money' section, and there's a bloke who answers readers questions with financial advice. On several occasions I've seen questions along the line of "I earn $50k and am considering borrowing $100k to invest" - the advisor generally tell them what a good idea this is, and gives them some options. I've never heard of this in the UK - maybe that's just me, but I'm sure this wasn't a recommended 'investment strategy'. It does seem a bit like borrowing twice your salary and just gambling with it. But are there any tax breaks in Aus, or other differences between the UK and Aus systems, that make this a more accepted strategy here in Aus?

I've found that most mountain bikers are not necessarily worried, but are very aware that they're out there, especially in spring when they come out of the bush to find open sections to sunbathe in - such as the trails that we ride on. I've been out riding with Aussies friends on several occasions when we've come across snakes, and it's interesting to see how much respect the locals show Red Bellies, and especially brown snakes (which are the 2 main types that you seem to come across). I thought they'd just throw a stick at them or something similar to get them to move on, but they're a lot more cautious than that - generally suggesting a detour or a very wide berth if possible rather than risk annoying it. Whilst I don't carry anything specific for a potential snake bite, I'm aware of the "do's and don'ts" if someone does get bitten. As for spiders and other wildlife, they're not really a problem. Although I did hear about someone who got taken out by a wallaby ...!

Couldn't agree more about the 'K-Mart specials' - I'd stick well clear. I'd also take issue with a few comments here about bikes being expensive in Aus - not at all in my experience. Compare a reasonable spec mountain bike with the UK prices, and where you'd pay $5k here, it'll be around £4k in the UK. But of course that may all change over the next few months now that the dollar has taken a tumble. And to refer back to the original subject of the thread (Canberra), it's a fantastic place for mountain biking. There trails on Mount Stromlo or out at Kowen forest are world class, and there's plenty more tucked away which you can find out about with a bit of research.

Can I add another question to that - as the house is in the UK, but you're a resident for tax purposes in Australia, which countries CGT rules apply? Because I don't think there is any such thing as the 6 year rule in the UK.

Have to say, this doesn't seem to be an overly complicated question. You leave the UK and have X pounds in the bank - when you decide to move the money over, the exchange rate fluctuation means it's worth X + Y (Y being the gain due to the exchange rate). The simple question is - Do you have to pay CGT on Y? I don't know the answer, but if it's true then I want a rebate for the money I've lost by not transferring it before the pound collapsed!

I'm sure it will come to their attention without too much effort on their part - what about the letters/statements they send you that get returned because you no longer live there? Or if you have a query and have to ring them from abroad etc My mortgage is with the Woolwich - I had to fill out a "request to rent" form and pay a £25 fee - that got me the OK for 2 years. When the 2 years was up, I sent them another form and another £25. Not sure how long they'll allow me to continue, but I'm happier with this arrangement rather than not telling them and having that "what if" in the back of my mind.

As BigD has said, it's the difference between the 'buy' and 'sell' rates that are important. Say, for example, you had £10,000 to send to Aus - you may get 1.5 to 1 on the transfer, so would get $15,000 Even if you sent this back immediately, the rate they'd give you may be 1.55 to 1, so you'd get £9677 (the 5 cents difference being the profit for the transfer agent). So from the start, you're over £300 down. However, if you left the money in Aus for a year you'd get $630 interest at 4.2%, but take off tax and you might see $400 of it. If you then sent that $15400 back to the UK (and assuming the same exchange rate of 1.55 to 1) you'd get £9935 So for it to be worthwhile transferring money, you'd need to a) keep it here for more than a year and b) be confident that the exchange rate wasn't going to move against you.