elizawilliam

http://www.standbyrelocs.com is one but there are lots of them!

Also we did a one way camper return and it is cheaper. Will try to dig out the website where there are pages of them listed. The only problem with them is you do have to do the journey within a set time limit and a set mileage so not so many options but half the normal price!

Yes you def need more than 15 days to explore, but we had already spent 3 weeks in the Darwin area and then spent a further 2 weeks in Melbourne. So a total of 7 weeks travelling around Australia.

It took us about 15 days. We didn't take our time in the sense that we drove for 5 hours a day, split into two chunks. Up very early to do the first 2.5 hours driving before it got too hot and then stop at a place of interest for lunch and explore then another 2.5 hours driving. It was too hot to sleep in the van at night so we bought a tent and camped alongside it. You can legally free camp in Australia (along the roadside) but my husband felt unsafe doing that so we mostly paid to stay at proper campsites. It was all a learning curve, in the mostly sweltering van we had to sleep with the door open and the kids got eaten alive by mosquitoes. My youngest was so bad it looked like she had chicken pox so we had a 'luxury night' in a motel to recover and then bought the cheapest tent in Kmart. We also splashed out on a night in an underground motel in Coober Pedy for the novelty factor. We ate breakfast and dinner from a cool box and a mini cooker (provided with the van) but often ate bought pies or similar for lunch stops. I think the areas you want to cover are huge and you may have to scale it down a bit! I think mainly due to the cost of such a vast trip. The distances are considerable and you cant really appreciate the vastness of the country on a map. On the Stuart Highway you can go hours without even seeing another vehicle! If you intend to stay long term in Aus you will have the chance to see more. once you are earning Australian dollars it wont seem so expensive to do. I guess ultimately it depends on the budget you have available but relocating is costly and you may want to save more of the pennies for that. My husband was fresh from 22 years in the navy and it was our trip of a lifetime with the payout you get on leaving otherwise it would be something we could not have afforded on top of the cost of relocation. As it was we opted not to stay.

Hi! We did this with our two kids age 2 and 7 years at the time (last summer). We spent three months flash packing (posher backpacking!) through Malaysia, Singapore and from Bali into Darwin. After a few weeks exploring around Darwin we hired a camper van and drove across the country to Adelaide and then to Melbourne. Sadly we decided not to stay in Australia (I am Australian) and came back to the UK. We found it very expensive to travel in Australia and spent about £3000 (on the road trip part) of our Australian leg. Our Asian leg cost not even half that and included a few flights! We had an amazing time and saw so much. Many of our Australian friends hadn't seen as much of Australia as we did on our trip. The kids took to it perfectly even the long journeys in the camper van. I think kids take things as they come and as long as you are accepting of the situation they will be. it was all a great adventure and we have lots of interesting stories that we still share with the kids like the time we stopped and helped a minibus full of Aborigines who had broken down. We stopped off all along the Stuart Highway and detoured to Uluru (Ayers Rock) as well as seeing Litchfield National Park, Katherine Gorge, Mataranka, Tenant Creek, Alice Springs, Coober Pedy, Woomera, Adelaide and surrounds, the coast road, Melbourne. Any questions feel free and I will try to help.

I would go out on your own and find work first before sending for the rest of the family. If you can't get work easily you have not risked everything and can return. Just too risky to consider without any job and children who are dependent on you.

Also renew your UK passports while you are in the UK its much cheaper.

From my understanding its illegal to enter a country of which you are a national on a foreign passport. Therefore its illegal to enter the UK on your Australian passport and vice versa. As previous poster says you can book the flights using your Aussie passport but show whichever immigration you are at the relevant passport.

I don't think you will find housing for that amount of money. Rents are more like 300 a week!

Hi. You can get a copy of your marriage certificate from the register of births deaths and marriages (RBDM) in the state that you got married in. Easy to find on the net and think you can apply online.

Hello! Taken a while to update as we are in Bali at the moment but we got our visa on September 18th! Our co was SV and we originally applied on April 4th, cant remember other dates off hand (our dates are wrong on the spreadsheet as it says we applied in May, cant change it now as it all appears in Indonesian). We used a migration agent, unsure if that made any difference to timing. Good luck to others waiting, we arrive in Darwin on the 23rd September.

Hi - just to add we had no wills or stat decs from Australians and we have had no problems/requests for them.

Hi. Sounds good but I'm no expert! Same situation as you (married with four children been together for years) but we used a migration agent and they made us find a piece of evidence for every month from the past two years - which seems a bit much. We included no photos or joint invites (don't keep invites) and our migration agent said no need for photos. Ironically, we moved from Helston in September 2010 having lived their for five years! Our stats are as follows: Application submitted on 05/04/2012 Request for meds and police check 12/04/2012 (It seemed to be a long wait whereas others hear back within a few days) Medical done on 10/05/2012 CO confirmed nothing else needed and visa grant would be mid September (Case officer is SV)

Hi Steve Thanks so much for your reply - its exactly what we needed to know. Do you know how much it costs (approx) to do the licence in Australia? OH has done a few modules while we wait for his spouse visa so definitely not doing any more. May get him on here as I expect he has lots of questions! Thanks again

Hi we will be in Darwin late September all being well so can't help you at the moment but glad to hear its good! Never been there and you hear so many negatives its a bit worrying.