robfromdublin

I know Melbourne is more expensive but that seems totally fine to me for two people. Depends on your expected lifestyle of course, but I would have thought you'd be pretty comfortable. We nearly live off my salary of ~$5300/month after tax in Brisbane (my wife's goes to savings) and we have a 1 year old so more expenses in terms of childcare, etc. You won't be living like kings with a new car and foreign holidays every year though. If you have a comfortable lifestyle where you're coming from, you would probably want to do some careful sums on living costs.

Good question. I brought my UK boots with me but I rarely use them. Maybe once per season and usually during pre-season when it's summer and the ground is more likely to be wet. Usually though, if it's raining it's REALLY raining and the game will be off. His best bet are 'mouldies' with short studs moulded into the sole of the boot. I would still bring the UK boots as a spare set anyway though, unless baggage allowance is an issue, but he'll find them uncomfortable on hard ground. Also note that I have found that I go through more boots here than I did at home. Not far off one pair per season! I think the hard ground means there's less give and it puts the boots under more strain. I've given up buying expensive ones anyway, and he should invest in some 'Shoo Goo' which is a glue designed to repair boots/shoes. It gets me a bit more time out of mine.

Glad I could be of help Ceri! I see that that link was fine but the other one for you was not Lianne (figure that one out; before it was just FB links that weren't allowed. I wasn't told about it either). Lianne I realise this makes things difficult for you but PM me and I can send you the contact details. The club is Kangaroo Point Rovers and you can find the website easily enough by appending '.com.au'

Mine took over a year and I applied in 2011. I wouldn't worry. Some people's take a few weeks, some take the advised time. The inconsistency is annoying but such is the public service

Ours has either a heating mode or cooling mode that you need to set it to first. It doesn't do it automatically.

Hi Lianne, The season has started and 6 games have been played. My team is full but there are other teams in the club with spaces, depending on your partner's level. If he's keen then get him to jump on the website and get in touch. Link has been removed from the OP but here it is again: ***club website link removed per forum rules*** City (social) teams train on Wed evening, Capital (competitive) teams train on Tue & Thu evenings. The differentiation is more down to commitment levels than ability. There are guys in the social teams who would be good enough to play in the higher teams. Ceri, the season will be over by October but it's a good time for your boyfriend to arrive. Many clubs will have off-season 5aside comps that are cheap to play in and will help you find a level and a club that suits. Often teams fill up quickly so by arriving before pre-season starts he gives himself every chance to find a spot. I'm not familiar with the Sunny Coast comps but here's a list of clubs and contact details that may be able to help: http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=1-9393-0-0-0&sID=265619 R

My wife refers to them as the 'hanging on' years for just that reason. Hope it works out for you anyway. You'll feel like a millionaire when the car is paid!

We're very close to your situation financially and with an 18 month old and we pay about the same on housing costs. We are relatively comfortable and putting a bit into savings each month. Your main problem is the $11k you are spending per year on a car, you can't afford it (although you may not be in a position to sell it now and downgrade). You also need to carefully do the sums on whether full time work for one of you is worth it. We found that doing 4 days a week was borderline, but doing 5 days a week wasn't worth it. Centrelink can help you with the sums. If you want to keep the car and have some savings then you are going to have to cut back. Buy home-brand groceries, eat less meat, cut back on alcohol, etc, etc. I don't know what you're like as a saver but saving approximately $8k in 6 years in Dubai suggests you were either on the bread line or not a very good saver. I'm not a good saver either but what worked for me was putting 10% of my income straight into a savings account when I got paid and leaving it there. I then contracted my lifestyle to live on the remaining 90%. It's certainly doable to live on your income but you need to change the mindset that makes you dump $10k on car depreciation. And budget, you desperately need a budget.

So the big banks will do it then?

Probably the uploading script won't work and those files won't be attached to the application. Is it really that hard to remove spaces? Open the png in microsoft paint and save it as a jpg.

http://www.priceusa.com.au/index.html http://www.myus.com/en/ship-to-australia/ A couple of sites that can arrange for shipping of most goods from US to Australia, even if the website does not allow international shipping and/or international cards.

Although you are eligible for medicare (assuming you are a UK resident) technically you need to have your own insurance for the time between when you arrive and when you sign up. I had a special kind of insurance but you may be able to just use normal travel insurance, assuming you sign up to medicare quickly before the travel insurance is invalid. I got specific insurance to be on the safe side. I just cancelled after a month. I can't rememeber the details though, sorry

PM sent David. I'm not sure if any of the firms listed have knowledge/experience of the UK but that can form part of your questioning when you first meet them.

Just so you are aware, Brisbane Airport is close to capacity and experiences a lot of delays during peak commuting hours. See the following from the airport website: http://www.bne.com.au/sites/all/files/content/files/Delays%20at%20Brisbane%20Airport%20-%20The%20Facts.pdf A second major runway is under construction and will ease congestion but it'll be a few years until it's ready (2020) so expect to have a number of delays. I know someone in IT who lives in Brisbane but works for a Sydney company. He basically works from home though, and only goes to Sydney occasionally for specific reasons. It's probably several times a month but it's not really a commute and the company pays. He's very happy with the arrangement.

Work for yourself. If you do a trade or similar then you can work as little or as much as you like. If you are available to customers outside of normal hours then that could be an advantage to you. It's hard work workign for yourself though. But yes, you should first and foremost find something you like doing, then find a way to make it pay enough and/or give you the non-standard hours you want.

They are two very different things. I'll give my two cents for financial advisors. Someone else can chime in for investment brokers. Basically you want a fee-for-service advisor who is independent from the banks. Two of the major banks (CBA & NAB) have had well-documented issues with advisors screwing over their clients and from my understanding their cultures haven't changed much since those advisors were sacked. There have also been issues with advisors giving advice based on the commissions they receive. Hence, a fee-for-service advisor who charges you up front for the cost of the actual work, and has no vested interest in where you put your money, is best. It might cost more up front, but you'll know you're getting the best advice. I know of a few in Brisbane and can give you some numbers if you want.

Hi Tony, I don't have any experience of moving to the UK after such a long hiatus but here are my thoughts: Your wife needs a visa, so investigate a partner visa to the UK (costs, timelines, eligibility) Your income: can you still be paid the aged pension while abroad? can you survive if the exchange rate moves against you? NHS - I would imagine you will both have access to the NHS if your wife has an appropriate visa, but look into this. Future needs - what if either of you needs some form of social welfare? If you haven't worked and paid tax in the UK then you may not be eligible for a lot of payments. If you aren't living in Oz then you may get nothign from the Australian government. I would think very carefully about this. As you will be living on income from one country but residing in another you are exposed to a lot of risk. The exchange rate might move against you as noted above, but also the government of the day might change policies. Australia has a big pension deficit and it is conceivable that they might restrict or remove the aged pension from people outside of the country. I'm certainly no expert in either pensions or moving to the UK but those are things I'd be looking at in your situation. Cheers, Rob

Oh yeah, bit of a reading fail from me there! OP, I would start collecting the info you need for a partner visa now and apply when you're eligible (you probably already are). Fees have changed since I did it and I believe the onshore visa is now considerably more expensive than the offshore visa (Just under $7k springs to mind). Citizenship by descent is easy to apply for and quick (1 month according to the website) so that's no impediment. I guess it comes down to where you want to have the baby. We had our kid through the public system (medicare) in Brisbane and it was an excellent experience. Bear in mind that the first 6 months of the kid's life will probably be stressful for you and your partner, so consider carefully whether you want to add a migration into that mix.

Is your partner Australian or did you just meet him/here here?

No they haven't. They've said they'll look at it but that's all. It is questionable whether they have jurisdiction. I would imagine it will eventually go ahead after legal battles or in a different form. My understanding is the cultural precinct (QAG, etc.) flooded but collections were broadly undamaged (barring a couple of military installations).

I live in The Gap which has great state schools and borders National Parks so very leafy. Commuting time varies for me. If I cycle I take the bike paths which adds about 40% to the distance. This takes me about 40 minutes. The express bus takes about 25/30 minutes but you must be on or near Waterworks Road otherwise you have to take one of the slower local buses and that's a pain. My wife drives and this takes her around 20 minutes but she works 7-330pm so misses the worst of the traffic. Ferny Grove/Ferny Hills has the train line which is a great way to commute, but I've no idea what the schools are like in the area. Samford has much more of a country feel that either of the above if you're looking for that, but is a good bit further out so a longer commute. Note that a 'mega-suburb' is being planned for the area with the main entrance/exit being along Samford Road in Ferny Grove. It's not a worry if you're just renting, but it will likely have a big impact on congestion if you decide to buy. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/brisbane-megasuburb-gets-final-green-light-20141209-123pce.html

I've seen 4 snakes in 4 years in Brisbane, and another 3 in more rural locations. None were dangerous, although 1 was venomous (red belly black). Most people I've spoken to haven't seen anything like as many snakes in that time period. I was just lucky, or unlucky dpeneding on your viewpoint! Never seen a red back spider, but there are lots of harmless spiders in the garden. None in the house since we had it sprayed. The media loves to report on snakes/sharks/crocs/etc. but you won't be affected by them unless you've been watching too many Arachnaphobia/Jaws/Anaconda type movies and get scared at the slightest rustle of leaves in the dark (usually a cane toad or possum).

If you're very keen on IDing it then just take a photo with your camera. The most common snakes are different enough from each other that most people would be able to ID it off a photo or video. Certainly a better than 10% chance of getting it right. I would not fck about with an adult brown or taipan. If you don't know what you're doing you will not be able to kill one without significant risk to yourself and anyone else nearby.

Yeah it's cool isn't it? Only found it myself this morning. Hypnotic

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-219.98,-26.68,722 Here's a great graphic of the approaching cyclone.