gaz n family

Another attendee who would highly recommend you attend before you start your house purchase - so much to listen about from those that no and not those that think they know.

Sorry, meant to add. We asked about sedating out dog before the flight and was told it could be the worse thing to do as she will be looked at and assessed prior to being loaded on to the flight and if she wasnt alert and "normal" she wouldnt be allowed to fly. My only gripe was i could claim the Virgin Airmiles ;-)

we used Pet Air in 2011 and the animal arrival reception centre in Sydney. it was a long 28 day days but when she came back to us she had never looked so good. we were so worried about what we were doing to our poor dog and leaving her to do this journey alone. I can honestl say, it looks like she had the best 28 days than all of us, she was rested, clean had a lovely coat, lost the excess weight she had and was so bright and happy to see us. i couldnt recommend Pet Air enough.

Who said we didn’t like SA, I cannot see anywhere in this post or any others I have added on this forum to say or even hint this? come to think of it, we love it here and don’t want to be anywhere else, I just don’t walk around with rose tinted glasses or always focus on the negative, I try to see each side and give my opinion on what I observe. Thanks for your advice, but please don’t be offended, I am choosing to ignore it..... Oh and on the subject of Defence budgets. What happened to the $5.5 billion cut last year, the $15 billion project delays to the Defence industry not just those in uniform? So this year’s Defence budget was an increase? - strange it was minor and a drop in the ocean to what’s required (see PIC reports) and in no way will it support the development of indigenous Defence equipment..strange it went against all that was expected by those in the know, wonder if there is an election this year??????....Why wasn’t the 4th AWD approved to prevent the “valley of death” in the ship building skills forecast to happen before the Collins replacement starts, if spending in defence is improving Try telling the 8% of BAE employees now looking for other work Try advising the heads at DSTO on their $12 mill cut, reduction in manpower and almost total ban on travel What about the 30 at SAAB and the ?? Numbers at NOVA not to mention the number of SMEs closed in recent months as their main focus was Defence and they didn’t have the knowledge/ability or foresight to diversify, that there is an increase in spending in Defence. Must be great to think all is well.....

Of cause Australia is suffering financially, whether they at the top define it as a recession is another matter. In my experience what i saw/see every day at work and sadly now hearing the same in the news and seeing it in the local shopping precincts is exactly what the UK went through 4-5 years ago. Reduced spending on training staff - in some cases total ban Reduced spending on travel - in some cases total ban Huge reduction in research spending no budget for R&D This is across the auto manufacturing, defence, mining and telecommunications areas (no mining or auto industry expert so relying on others info on this) 2 years ago we couldn't find suitably qualified individuals to perform tasks/projects with the relevant experience with the time available, now we are inundated with applications and constant friend referrals of people looking for work in the defence industry. Defence spending reductions Staff being laid off or contracts not being re-issued in defence companies as the major projects within defence either cut or delayed. Shops closing down, local business downsizing/mothballing or closing. Slow housing market Its there every day so i cannot see how we are not in a "recession" now albeit the idiots in charge and economists haven't declared/defined it as yet? ​

it depends on what you'er after and why. If its a short term to start off then there are plenty of short term lets by fellow migrants who understand and accept you don't have much in the line of local references (but you will pay a little more) but their homes have everything you will need to get established whilst waiting for your items. ​If you are after a 12 month or longer then local references do become a must (not essential, but you stand a better chance of winning the application. short term letting will give you the chance to get that first local reference, get the the chance to demonstrate your commitment to staying and gives you the chance to get established (driving licences, jobs, medi care, schools and all the other essentials that you need an address) If you need any help with the short term i know where we stayed was great and could recommend it (but might be a little pricey for what you may want) ​Good luck.

It really depends on what you are after. Adelaide some will say is a little bit of a sleepy hollow, but that's how we like it. Its a very small city but has everything you could want, plus it being small means you don't have too far to travel. Everyone has differing likes and dislikes, for us we thought we would like to live very close to the beach, we have and find we don't get there too often with everything else going on in our lives, our next step is the find our own home, ideally we want to find a bit of land (no change of finding space near the beach unless you are a multi millionaire) in or near the hills to build our own home. With it being Adelaide/South Aus we can do this and still be close to the city and still be able to get to the beach. Another thing we love, when we do go to the beach, its not like the UK (for the 5 days a year its warm enough to get to the beach) you don't spend 2 hours driving around looking for a parking space, then another hour carrying everything to the sand to find no space to sit. Every beach we go to we just rock up anytime, park close, or even drive on the beach (depending which one we go to) . If you listed your likes and dislikes i am sure you will be able to get an answer about each of the cities in Australia to match them. We have so far seen Brisbane, Melbourne and a small bit of WA and we are glad we chose SA and Adelaide (although Perth/WA is a close second)

sorry, some reason it posted twice

Why spend your days wondering, if only? As i have said before on here, i want to go to my grave at 110 at least, and be able tosay "wow, what a ride that was" life is not a dress rehearsal I understand you having second thoughts with children involved, i am sure we all did/do. We live in SA and our only regret is we didn’t doit sooner. If your kids have any interest in sports, this is the place to be (Australia). Our daughter is loving the opportunities presented to her in her chosen sports. Beach life isn’t that bad, for $200 you can get yourself a decent shade to put up, we never travel to the beach without one so we always have shade. you learn very quickly to live with the extreme sun, only 1 day in 2 years have we really had to think about our day due to the sun, it was 46 degrees and we were planning on going shopping (secretly i had booked a resturant and hotel for our anniversay but i had to tell her we were shopping to get her out of the house) , so instead we had an hour in the pool before taking her "shopping" then had a nice evening in our hotel with the air con turned to its coldest setting. We even have relaxed somewhat about the spiders, when we first arrived we wouldn’tgo into a room without looking in first, never mind in the dark in bear feet. Now we don’t seem to care, but have occasionally had to step back out quickly andgrab the spray and broom!!!! Honestly we have had some bumps on the way, but we didn’t come into thisblindly thinking the road is paved with gold and all our problems would be sorted. But expecting issues helped get over them. I appreciate its expensive, again, you cannot take it with you when you havegone - plus you can always start again if it doesn’t work out. We have our 2ndanniversary coming soon - the time we agreed we would sit down and look at whatwe have done and the decision to move and assess if we made the right decision.I don’t think we are going to bother as its already known what we are all goingto say. it hasn’t been easy but its been the right decision and we certainlyaren’t going back. Good luck with the choice you make.

With a step father and brother both driving instructors in the UK i was alwaystaught (and pestered) to drive defensively, here it is the opposite, mostpeople seem to drive aggressively and god help if you’re in their way. I observe this daily. 1 When on a multi lane road and the car(s) infront are going slower than you, I was always taught to mirror, signal and waitfor space. Here you cannot wait for a space;if someone sees you indicate they accelerate hard to close any gap. 2 Merging lanes, if you are in front for somereason some aussie drivers still think it’s their right of way, if you don’t stopthen you will be subjected to finger and fist signs for the rest of yourjourney (while they are heading in the same direction). 3 The lack of giving cyclists space alongstraight roads. 4 The cyclist riding to the front of queuesat light (don’t have any issues with this) but their inability to adhere to thetraffic lights, or when it does change to green their insistence of cyclingdown the middle of the junction lane until they reach a point at their convenienceto get back into the cycle lane. 5 The inability of drivers to be aware ofother road users, if you are in a queue and someone is either waiting on theside road to enter the road in your direction, or even crossing the lane why dothey always block them in, I will always let others out (if in slow moving traffic,or stopping) but they are so not used to being let out.

Does anyone have a way of getting something simliar to work on a smart TV?

Great post Warrior Steve. Why go to your grave wondering what it would have been like if i has just given things a go. i want to go to my grave at 100 mph say WOW, what a ride. You have to plan for some bumps along the way on your move down under, if you dont, it will bite you. life isnt all sun sand and sea, but its a darn sight better than a chilly, windy day in Scarborough (N Yorks), maybe not for the icecream and fish and chips ;-) If you want work then you need to keep trying, no one is going to call and give you a well paid job without you earning it. As for Aussies, try integrating yourselves into their communities, show them you are willing to do things their way and you will be rewarded with friendships. BUT, dont come here expecting it to be like the UK, it isnt, this is why many of us live here and not the UK.

But, basically what % will we be paying in tax here in Aus as opposed to the UK?

pm sent

We all moved over and stayed in a furnished 3 bed home for 12 weeks, still in the same place with 1 week to go. We choose 12 weeks to ensure our belongings had arrived before we needed them. 2 weeks ago we seriously started to look for an unfurnished rental and secured 1 by the end of the first week, signing the contract last week. Our belongings arrived in Adelaide on the 7 sept and cleared customs last weeks, with delivery due at our mew home the day we pick the keys up. We have a 4 day window where we will have both properties so should be able to make a good home before we move in fully. We have a dog with us so the hardest part was finding the initial furnished place that allowed pets. Best of luck, Anything else keep asking.