peewit
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Hi all I did this youtube video on the CPV a couple of years ago. It is still relevent though and the current visa prices are in the description. Hope you get your visa. Mine took a while but I believe it is quicker these days. Peewit
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Peewit
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Hi I chose a health plan with HCF that I started prior to the 12 month deadline from my visa validation date in order to avoid the age loading on the premium. The loading would have been 2% times my age over 30 (in my case that would have been 70%) . As I spend time in the UK and Oz I wanted a policy that you could suspend when you are away from Oz. So I only pay my HCF premiums when I am living in Australia. Peewit
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As somebody said "Watching the FA Cup on ITV.Com It's like viewing a sh*t game of FIFA on a Nintendo DS embedded in a copy of Exchange & Mart" A bit like watching Formula 1 on HD One. By the way, streaming means watching it live where you are at the mercy of the broadband connection for quality and hence the frequent stalls and fuzzy pictures, whereas downloading means saving the programme to hard disk while you are out at the beach and then being able to watch the item in broadcast quality at a convenient time. Peewit
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Most newer pc's have a HDMI output that can be simply connected to a HDMI input on a modern tv. Even older pc's usually have a video out port than can be used to older style tv's. When in the uk I use a Humax freeview digital recorder. This is extremely easy to use with a program guide so you can choose in advance to record a program or series to the built in hard disk. Playback is also easy and a button on the remote will skip forward a preset time and can be used for jumping over adverts. I tried to replicate this setup in Australia. Humax is not available there so I got a Tivo that is supposed to be similar. This connects to most tv's and is also best if it is connected by a network cable to your broadband router. I must say the Tivo is cr*p. The Oz advertisers/broadcasters have had it altered so you cannot skip over ads although there is a fast forward button. However fast forwarding through 5 minuts of ads is still tedious. They are crafty and include ads that have similar content to the program you are watching so it is easy to stop and find you are still in the ads. The Tivo will let you choose specific programs to record and should let you choose the genre of programs that it will automatically record. This annoying feature meant it kept recording 'Dr Phil' which I do not want. Nothing I did would prevent this. The Tivo will only pick up local freeview channels (it seem to keep changing these on a daily basis) and so is no good for recording the uk channels. I used BBC iPlayer or similar to download uk programmes onto my pc and play them back on the tv. I found that that trying to stream live was often not great quality. I used Internode as my broadband provider as it suited my requirements of month by month contract, supply of landline, non metered uploading on internet (for my webcam). Sorry this is rather long winded and hope it helps. Peewit
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When in Oz I use My Expat Network This service costs £5 per month (paid using Paypal) and makes your internet connection seem as if it is in the UK. You can then view all inernet sites normally available to UK residents such as the BBC iplayer, UK version of BBC news, the ITV and C4 players, etc. I have used it to watch the BBC web coverage of the Formula 1 races rather than the dreadful coverage from Australian broadcasters. However, the 'Poms in Paradise' program is not so far shown on the ITV player list. There is an icon to switch this service on or off as you desire. So if you want to view .com.au sites it is best to switch it off although it will still work. Peewit
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I would have thought that bottles of alcohol were a fire risk in a storage container. Watched the 'Poms in Paradise' tv programme earlier and felt that the poms chosen were not very typical.
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here is an article about recent auction clearance rates http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/auction-clearance-rate-dips-20110326-1cap8.html It is saying that they have dropped to 63%. Peewit
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Hi Phyllis Glad that you made it through the visa system and are moving into an apartment soon. I also make good use of the pensioner excursion ticket for getting around Sydney by bus, train or ferry. I rent in Sydney and love the place. If eventually you consider buying a property here, these are my thoughts on buying a property and selling one if you happen to already be an owner. The majority of houses/apartments here are sold at auction. The effect of this that you as the seller spend four or five weeks wondering about what you will actually get for your current property. This is hard on the nerves. Then to make things worse, you need to start looking at properties that you would like to buy, but you do not know how much you will get for your place and you do not know (other than a price guide figure) what you will need to pay for your new place. Some agents set the guide price deliberately low in order to get plenty of bids at the auction. I read of a recent auction with over 60 bids. Most of the potential buyers had paid fees for building and pest inspections and having already spent this money, the agent is banking on them bidding above their original limit. The property actually sold for a figure that was 25% higher than the guide price and a lot of auction attendees must have felt duped. I attended a house auction 12 months ago and I found the whole atmosphere was very intimidating and I was only there as an observer. The auction took place in a public room and a dozen properties were being sold. As a property was being auctioned, the auctioneer could be like your best friend if you were bidding and trying to convince you to up your bid. Once you placed a bid, the auctioneer was suddenly your worst enemy as he was telling someone else that they only had to outbid your bid by another 10k and the property would be theirs. Once they placed a bid, the auctioneer switched allegiance to another bidder and so on. All around the room were about 15 agents all in their best business attire. During the auction they would walk around the room and up to potential bidders trying to coerce them into increasing or placing a bid. Only about 25% of the properties were sold as some had already been sold prior or had been withdrawn. I walked away from that auction stunned at the intimidation. Not good if your are of a nervous disposition. None of this sounds very good but in practice it is even worse. This is because if you are selling a place, all agents here demand an upfront marketing fee. This is a significant amount of money that will be lost if you do not eventually sell. On top of this the agent will want a percentage fee on the sale proceeds. So, if you want weeks of nerve wracking tension and to risk significant sums of money without knowing where you may be living, then try moving house in Australia. If an English style estate agent who works on a "no sale, no fee" basis came to Australia and employed some local people with local knowledge they would clean up. Peewit
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At the time when I validated my visa the exchange rate was around 1.8 and I thought that was bad !!! I think that Sydney houses prices might fall (maybe that is wishfull thinking for me, although it would not be good for my daughter). Some sort of generic spreadsheet for working out the "what ifs" would be really handy. Maybe our 'tracker' expert could devise something as he is obviously ace with spreadsheets. Peewit
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In my case I do have a CPV and a UK pension. I spend time in Australia each year but keep my UK tax status by observing their rules of the max time that you can be outside the UK. I am only in Oz for four months on this trip. Longer term I will change my tax status to Australia, possibly when and if the exchange rate improves. Peewit
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It seems hard to believe that. So if I reached retirement age and took my pension in England for say ten years, over which it may increase in payments by 40% (rising by 4.6% in April 2011) and then decided to emigrate to Australia, would they really knock 40% off my pension and take it back to a ten year old figure ? Peewit
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Hi Mike Unfortunately I do not have a Coles, Woolworths or Franklins near me. I did try online shopping with Coles but they did not deliver some of the items I ordered and instead I got 400 cigarettes and some dogfood. I do not have a pet and do not smoke. If anyone knows of a dog that smokes, and is located in the North Sydney area it would be helpful. Regards Phil
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Hi Living in Sydney, it does seem that everything is very expensive even with the import purchasing power of the strong Aussie dollar. I just compared a few items using a generous 1.6 AUD to GBP rate. Large tin John West Red Salmon $10.45 (£6.53) at local IGA, Waitrose price £4.38 Large sliced quality wholemeal loaf $4.59 (£2.86) at local IGA, Waitrose price £1.32 125ml Nivea spf30 sunscreen $17.80 (£11.13) at local pharmacy, Waitrose for 200ml Nivea spf30 sunscreen £6.67 I looked online at some USA websites for kitchen domestic appliances. The Oz prices online are usually double the USA price, even though there is parity at the moment between the Oz and US dollar. I guess it is the price you have to pay for living in a top ten destination. Peewit
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Hi Pam The lower north shore is the area of Sydney where most furnished apartments are located. Often these have superb south facing views over the harbour to the opera house and the city. Of course as the sun is in the north here, a south facing apartment is often cooler but with your skyline beautifully lit by sunshine. I use domain.com to search for properties http://www.domain.com.au/?mode=rent but there could be a problem with a short term let. I know there are some companies that specialise in short term letting of furnished apartments but the cost rises significantly. You could google for gardenview apartments who are one of those specialists. Hope you find something that meets your needs. Peewit
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As I spend time in both Australia on my CPV, and in England, I took out private medical cover in Oz to avoid the 70% loading that would have been applied if I delayed. I chose a company that allows me to suspend the premiums whilst outside of Oz. You need proof of departure and arrival dates on returning to Oz. I do not own a house anymore and just rent property in both countries. Works for me. Peewit
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Sorry, this seems to work Peewit
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Hi Nick I made a short video covering the cost and benefits. I will try to put a link here, but if that does not work you can see it at post #965 [YOUTUBE] [/YOUTUBE]Hope this helps Peewit
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My case officer was very helpful and friendly. When I got my visa approved she sent an email that included "The call of the Indian Ocean is nigh" as I had been saying how much I was looking forward to returning to the lookout at Perry Lakes (just north of Perth). Peewit
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It will also be my first time at an England/Australia test match. It is just one of the many benefits from having got my CPV. I did watch the England women's cricket team beat all the other national teams at various venues around Sydney at the ICC International 50 over championships early in 2008. I will also be at the womens Ashes match at the Bankstown oval in January. Watching cricket with a cold beer in the Australian sunshine is my idea of paradise. Good luck to all those waiting for the same opportunity. It is worth the wait. Peewit
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Hi Steve I'll be at the MCG on that day too. Hope the Barmy Army and us all have a good day. All the best Peewit
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Hi all For those who are wondering what is entailed in the Contributory Parent Visa, I made a short video with the help of the moderators. You can see it here :- [YOUTUBE]1VRbyyzHlcM[/YOUTUBE] This covers the basics and discusses the cost. Hope it is helpful for those considering taking the route that I followed. Peewit
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Many thanks for the welcome to your forum. I know that Perth is the current centre of the universe for many of you as that is where the CPV decisions are made. Today was also an important day in Perth for another reason. That was that the England cricket team got off to a great start in the 3rd match of the Ashes series. Whilst I am very happy to embrace all things Australian in most situations, when it comes to cricket I am definitely a POM. Peewit
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Many thanks Matt, I recognise your name too. It is 24C here in Sidders at the moment and 28C expected later today. The exchange rate is causing me pain too. When will the downward graph change direction ? Peewit
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Hi all I'm new here. A double migrant. From Uk to Oz and another forum to here. Although I have already got my CPV class 143 (did not use agent) I like to keep up to speed on how current applicants are getting along in the process and offer the occasional help if I can. I know that it is a long and slow procedure and that having regular posts on others experiences certainly helped me. All the best to those in the queue Peewit