Tina G

My husband and I moved just North of Belconnen almost a couple of years ago and we've been very happy here. The Westfields in Belconnen has everything you need and there's a good few restaurants. I particularly like it round the Lake, we've just started kayaking round there and sometimes visit the haha bar on a friday evening. There's a number of buses that go from Belconnen to the city, making it easy for you to get around when you first arrive. Though it's good to get a car, makes it much easier to get out and explore! Good luck to you and your wife with the move and feel free to message me if we can help with any other questions you may have! Tina

Thanks so much for organising the BBQ, really enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends. Looking forward to the next meet up!

Sounds good to me. My husband and I are moving from Melbourne to Spence a week on Tuesday and are looking forward to meeting others!

Hi all, We are planning on moving interstate soon and were wondering if anyone had any reccomendations on insurance firms to use. In the Uk we moved with Crown and insurance with Letton Percival. Are there any similar companies to Letton over here in Australia for interstate removals? If anyones interested we have recieved quotes from Crown, Grace and Kent. So far Kent's come in around $700 cheaper to move the contents of a three bedroom house between Melbourne and Canberra. cheers in advance. Tina & Scott

Thank you for all your comments it's been so helpful. I went to Spence the other day to see a house. really liked the area, very pretty, and a short taxi ride to an English pub! on a more serious note we loved what you get for your money. so I think we've found or area and maybe even a house! my husband and I should be there by June, maybe a few meet ups in the belconnen area!

Hi We are currently relocating from Melbourne to Canberra and looking to buy a house. I spend a few days a week in Canberra and have been visiting houses in the evenings. So far I've visited properties in Palmerston, Nicholls and Flynn. I found Palmerston and Nicholls very nice but you don't get so much for your money compared to the Belconnen suburbs and I wasn't sure if the road infrastructure is going to keep up with the amount of development. I am going to be visiting properties around Belconnen this week including Melba, Spence and Fraser. We don't have any children but we want to take into consideration child care and schools for later in life, hoping to buy a nice size house with a good garden, lots of walking tracks, and hopefully a few shops or even a restaurant or two within walking distance. Would love to hear your views or suggestions Tina

Hi Steve I saw your other post too, and hopefully this will reassure you. I came over on a partner visa and didn't use an agent. It was estimated to take 6 months. The case officer we had was extremely efficient. I never phoned him but emailed him (that we you have a record of the conversation) a few times either to clarify he had received the information or to find out how long we had. He always responded within 24 hours and didn't seem to mind us enquiring. Sometimes he did give the stock standard answers, but at least we knew our application hadn't been dropped. He finalised our application within 5 months, and even noticed that he was able to provide me with a permanent residency visa straight away rather than a temporary residency. I was very impressed and they never came across that I was hassling them. Hope this is useful, and hope everything works out for you T

Brilliant, thanks Kathryn

I think I'll grab something to eat as I won't have time beforehand. Will be great to meet you. We started living with my husbands parents in Viewbank and commuting from Rosanna, so know the area a bit. it's a lovely place.

So we're meeting 7pm Monday at Cellinis in heidelberg. Would be great to see you there! http://www.celliniloungebar.com.au/ Tina

Great to see more poms living in the area! I know Anna is arranging a meet up, I think she said this Monday coming in Heidelberg, but don't know the details. I'll find out and let you know or will get Anna to post. Looking forward to meeting more poms!!! Tina

Hi Keglin, My husband and I arrived in Melbourne in September and will shortly be starting a new life in Canberra where we are planning to buy. A few things I've learnt. Ideally you need 20% deposit or you end up paying a massive insurance on your mortgage, its quite hefty. For example on a $550000 house, with only 10% deposit you pay $13000 mortgage insurance, by paying 20% deposit you pay no mortgage insurance. Most banks and brokers will only consider you after 3 months of being in a permanent job, though you can try somewhere like Aussie homeloans who go out to brokers for you. Although we owned in the UK, you are entitled to the first home buyers grant if its your first home in Oz, but you don't get this up front. We found in Melbourne, and from what I'm hearing it will be the same in Canberra, its hard to get short term rentals at a decent price. We have a 12 month rental and the only way to break the contract is to find someone else who wants to rent it. The other thing to watch is stamp duty, wowsa it's quite a bit. However you can build that into your mortgage so you don't spend all your deposit on stamp duty. For instance on a house for $550,000 stamp duyy is around $26500 (check online for latest amount). I've also started to understand the process much better as its very different. We almost bought a house in melbourne last month (before I got the job in canberra!) When you make an offer, you make it in writing, meaning its legally binding (at least this is how i understand it). You can say its subject to building and pest inspection, but if all that comes back clear (usually takes up to a week) you have to pay 10% deposit straight away, that could even be within 3 days of making an offer. You then agree a settlement date of 30, 60, 90 or 120 days. At this point you'd need the other 10% deposit and your mortgage commences. (somebody please say if you've heard different). So we're saving for 20% deposit and in my new role I'm going to be based in melbourne for the first few months, hopefully giving us time to buy a property and live a bit longer in our current rental property. Hope I've helped rather than confused. I'm by no means an expert but feel like I'm learning a lot going through the prcoess!

Hi Serendipitty, Congratulations on making it! Where abouts are you based? Any advice or tips you can share?

Hi Tommo Regarding visa application, I was applying for a partner visa through the London embassy. I didn't use an agent and had no problems. I think using an agent may even slow things down. The case officer I had was excellent. Whenever I sent documents he responded within 24 hours of recieving to confirm reciept and he posted everything important back to me. I think having an agent may give you piece of mind, but I think they would slow things down and all they would do is duplicate the case officers job of reviewing what you send and making sure he doesn't need more info, whatever time it takes the agent to reviewing the documents is the time it could have been with a case officer, and however long it takes to pass on any information the agent recieves from the case officer is wasted time (and I guess more money!!). From reading other posts it may depend on which case officer you have, but hope that helps. Regarding where to live, wow what a question! I'm currently in Melbourne and about to move to Canberra. I love Melbourne, its awesome, and there's so much to see and do around Victoria. However, there seems to be tons to see and do around Canberra and in particular NSW. Although at first I wasn't sure whether I wanted to leave Melbourne, I've spent 6 awesome months exploring here before seeing more of Oz. There seems so much to see all over Oz its a hard decision as to where to live. So unless you want something specific i.e. great nightlife, or great for kids etc its a bit tricky to say.

Hi Richard and Selina, My husband and I are planning to move near the Gungahlin area in June, starting to get really excited. One of the things I can't wait to do is visit the coast. We did a trip that was meant to be from Melbourne to Sydney along the coast, it was our honeymoon and all the places my oh used to visit on family holidays as a child. But I got asked to start a job and we had to finish it half way through (we've decided to have a second honeymoon at some point!!!) We got as far as Merimbula, and the coast and towns were getting better and better. I can't wait to visit Bateman's Bay and drive down the coast, it's meant to be wonderful. Bateman's Bay is two hours from Canberra, but could be worth it, especially if you're not going to see any other parts of Aussie coast whilst you're here. Whatever you end up doing, hope you have a wonderful time. We moved to Melbourne in September, so this is our second move. We found these forums and google maps really useful to get a feel of an area. Hopefully the same will work for this move! May see you in Canberra, enjoy the reccie!