meaks

No problem, make sure you clean the boxes as well. I used jayes fluid then lubed up with some silicone lubricant with mine, that stops it rusting and gives it a 'as new' shine. I used jayes as when they open the box a good whiff of that is proof you have given it a good scrub. I brought a spindle moulder and surface planer amongst pretty much every bit of kit you can imagine and had no worries.

It varies immensely depending where you are and when, there are a lot of places you can camp for free, with toilets and even a shower, but if you stopped in a holiday resort style camp site over Christmas ( which is peak, peak season) on a powered site you could pay $50 a night. Normally you'd find a good place somewhere in the middle and when it is peak season the hostels are also expensive and full. We would camp in the free sites for 2 or 3 nights then stopped in a resort style for 1 so we could refill our water and enjoy the pools etc. we used a portable battery jump starter pack to power 12v lights and a little tv and found having a pop top was great as a lot of people with converted vans couldn't walk around or cook indoors on bad nights like we could. There are a lot of places where you can park next to the sea, wake up in the morning and enjoy the view on a deck chair with your feet in the sand. Priceless and free!

We used a camper an and it's definitely worth it. There are tons of free campsites and national parks that are amazing to see that you would miss without one, and the camping atmosphere is great here as most sites have great communal areas. I would not use a car as a lot of nights it may get dark quite early and its nice to be able to sit somewhere and hide from the mossies or rain. Good luck.

Don't want to worry you but if they know when your in and out have you considered that they may have a camera in the house? !!!

I would have liked a wrangler for a bit of off road fun but it costs nearly twice as much in fuel as my Holden combo van to run so maybe not yet.

If you go to Frankston Mitsubishi's website they have a section where you can compare the fuel economy of any car, you select the brand, model and year and put it your mileage then you can compare several different cars and work out how much extra it will cost to run. I have found it very useful.

There are plenty of comparison websites ( go compare etc) but I went with GMHBA as they are non profit making.

Hi Chris, Is your income taxed under Australian regs, ie permanent resident? If so Oz and the UK have an agreement that you only pay tax in the country from which your main income is earned. I rent some properties out in the UK and have to put any earnings into my Australian tax return. I don't know the in and out of it but you may be liable to Australian tax laws and fees not British ones. Will be interesting to see as I'm selling my workshop in the UK soon and I'm curious how and who will tax me first! ;(

I worked for an international recruitment agency on commercial shop fitting in Melbourne with a WA white card and was told that it was no problem.

My bad, Someone told me a pork pie it is 12 months as Ken said, But 10 dental check ups In a year, the odd filling, a trip to the physio once a month and the fact you get a quality doc in a quality hospital if you or the kids get injured with no waiting, its well worth it. You also get tax relief on it.

Ours is $180 a month silver hospital and silver extras

For every year after 30 that you take it out , 2% is added to your private insurance ie if you take insurance out at 40 it costs 20% more. If you take insurance out within 2 months of arriving in the country there is no loading. So over the years could save you a fortune. We are with GMHBA and took a basic cover when we arrived to stop the loading but now have extras cover that helps towards dentist appointments, physio, chiro etc. With 3 kids and myself doing a physical job it about pays for itself and if anything serious happened the kids would get the best care, (1 has a nut allergy and 1 an egg allergy). Best of luck what ever you choose. Mark.

In your jobs you don't need to be in the city. We live near Mornington which is classed as an outer suburb of Melbourne. In reality it's about an hour away from the centre and I'd say more like a Cornish town than a city suburb. If your in jobs like yours I'd forget the city and look at suburbs with nice beaches and things to do. Check the website alljobs.com and the local paper(which is usually online) for the availability of work. Don't fret if you can't get work before you get here, they don't usually even consider you until you have an ozzy address.

Good luck to you all, I live near Mornington on the peninsula and you'll all love it when you get here.

Perhaps ask them why they live there then!

Check out the adverts in the leader paper on-line. I have found everything is about the same apart from you have to be more selective with food and hunt bargains, but you can't pack that and going out for drinks, alcoholic and coffee are expensive. If your container is delayed by just a week or two then the furnished accommodation will probably cost the same as buying all new beds. We paid for a container but we had a fairly new sofa, fridge, beds, etc. What I'm saying is if you have it bring it, but don't buy anything special.

The open expo's ( I went to one in Birmingham) are terrible but if you go on the embassy website you can apply for the embassy's invite only expo and they are excellent.

Chill, Think of it as an adventure as nothing is reversible. Don't think of it as leaving for life, think of being here one day at a time or an extended holiday. You will always regret never giving it a go once you have got to this stage, if you change your mind I'm sure England will be just the same if you go back in the future and at least you wont regret not trying.

Well we are finally here and unfortunately both our washer and dryer are not working ( they were only a year old) ;( We have three children under 5 and need to wash stuff daily. We have had a repair man out and the washer parts will take about 3 weeks to get ( Hotpoint are rare over here) and the dryer is knackered. The insurance company have been speedy in helping us but I am just hoping the insurance company are not going to really tell us we have to go three weeks without a washer or accept $440 towards a new one ( the cost to repair it) we obviously will have no choice but to buy one as we could not go that long without one and I would have thought they can understand this. They have offered $500 towards the dryer which is fair and to refund the repair mans call out fees. I will keep you all informed.

Hi Jon Just a quick update I'm in Victoria, but if the rules are the same you need clear 10amp plugs, your kit tested every three months and if you use extension leads they have to be trade standard and tagged as well( they are cheap anyway). You will also need a white card and obviously to convert your qualifications to Australian ones.

I have been over here for 2 weeks now, my tools arrive on thurs/ fri. I was going to put some plugs on extension leads and use them to run my tools. The only slight concern is plugs are 10 or 15 amp, no 13amp, I looked in the stores and most kit runs on 10 amp but as all tools have to be tested and tagged before you start work I'd best get it right. I guess I'll find out at the end of the week.

Hi chaps Just been taken on by Hays today fitting out Masters DIY stores and they say my card by training stars meets all the criteria and is acceptable.

Hi ftmummy My wife fell pregnant just after we got our case officer, but we were told we had to put it on hold as my wife would not be allowed to have the x-ray in the medical. I don't know if this is always the case but if you have not had your medical yet then this might be worth checking out. either way I wish you the best with the little one and a safe trip over here when you do come.

Hi JKK I sent my shipment with pickfords and ended up insuring it with insure your move.com, it was a fraction of the cost of pickfords own insurance and you didn't have all the big forms to fill out. There also seemed a lot less get out clauses. Good luck with the move anyway.

We have just booked our flights and someone put us onto the IOM ( international organisation for migration) they got our tickets £400 cheaper than going direct to the airline and with a 40 kg baggage allowance each. You can probably find my old thread on here.