InnerVoice

I can't think of any other reason why you would want to give up your Australian citizenship, except to become a citizen of country that doesn't allow dual citizenship (which always seems a bit wrong in my opinion). If you've already been living in the other country for that long that you can become a citizen then you're probably going to be settled there, and not that bothered about losing your Australian citizenship. If you're still living in Australia then it would seem prudent to renounce your Aussie citizenship while you're still here and retain PR. However, it's worth noting that if you only hold Australian citizenship then you can't renounce it because it would make you stateless, so you'd need to acquire citizenship of another country first. I often wonder how the government a country that doesn't allow dual-citizenship would know about your other citizenships, unless you told them? I've never told the British government I'm an Australian citizen, although I'm guessing they probably know anyway and I'm on a database somewhere!

Never mind, you'd have lost to the Lions in the final anyway.

That's funny. One of our Teacher Aides is retiring at the end of this year and I asked her the other day what her plans were. She said, "We're off to God's waiting room - Bribie Island!"

I had a UK friend visiting on one occasion and we were down at the beach having a swim. He said it's lovely here, I could live here if it wasn't for the snakes and the spiders. I replied, well they're the least of your worries - all the really deadly creatures live in the sea! You should've seen his face If you're living remotely I'd say your biggest challenges are going to be boredom, feeling isolated, and the heat in the summer time. In terms of creepy crawlies the worst thing are the bush flies and the mozzies. If you're living in a predominantly indigenous community that can pose challenges too, although that's a can of worms I will avoid opening. You haven't mentioned what kind of work you do, but if at the end of the two years you have the opportunity to move a permanent position back in civilization it could be well worth considering.

Totally agree with this, and would probably go a step further and say that if you're going to end up in the middle of nowhere then the best scenario is being in a couple, followed being single, then a young family, and the worst case having older children/teenagers. They'll probably never forgive you! The terms regional, rural and remote are used interchangeable and I think can be confusing at times. Here's my spin on it using locations in Queensland that I know. Metropolitan - major cities like Brisbane. Coastal Regional - decent-size coastal towns like Mackay, Cairns and Townsville. Regional/Rural - smaller towns which are further inland like Warwick, Dalby and Kingaroy. Remote/Outback - places in a galaxy far, far away like Longreach and Mount Isa. There are a few anomalies, for example the Gold Coast. I think the government classes it as coastal regional, but with a population of over half a million I'd say it's definitely metropolitan these days. Toowoomba is a pretty large town, although I'd still class it as regional/rural. Weipa on the other hand is in a coastal location but there's no way you could class it as anything other than remote. Some may argue that places like Mount Isa aren't really remote because it's a decent-size town (over 20,000), but anywhere that's a 1,000km from the ocean is pretty remote in my book!

I'd be asking myself am I up for an adventure and what have we got to lose? If the answer is 'yes, and not much', then I'd give it a whirl. Not many people who migrate get the chance to experience the real Australia. It's not for everyone but it's definitely authentic experience. Glad I did it when I was younger. By the way, the snakes and spiders will be the least of your worries!

The registration fee (or 'Rego' as most Aussies call it) includes Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance, which only covers death or injury to other people caused by your driving. It won't cover damage to your uncle's car, damage to other people's cars or their property, so if you have an accident (and your uncle doesn't have comprehensive insurance) then you will be liable for those costs. If your uncle has comprehensive insurance then asked if he can add you as a named driver for the duration of your visit. It's also worth looking at what's covered under your travel insurance policy.

That's right, and why I referred to it as 'rent' before.

We will have to agree to disagree on this one because I've seen many listings here in Queensland that explicitly state 'no entry or exit fees'. I am happy to PM you links to listings I have seen, or you can search for yourself on Domain or Realestate. You and Parley are in Victoria, and as we all know each state has its own rules and regulations on these matters, not to mention that Queensland is more developed as a retirement destination than other states. I appreciate I'm the one who took the thread off on a tangent but I can't imagine this conversation is of any benefit to the OP, so we should probably wind this one up.

There's just my wife and I and neither of us have any family in Australia, so we'd probably be in that category of people who would benefit from the companionship in our golden years. The rules you describe sound pretty good from my perspective. The last thing I'd want would be to find that I'd moved to a place where my neighbour's are subletting, are allowing younger family members to stay for extended periods while they are away themselves. I've nothing against noisy parties, and people having fun - just as long as I'm invited. Driving within the speed limit would seem to be a considerate thing to do, especially given that many of the residents are elderly and vulnerable. As I've spent my working life trying (not very successfully) to get people to follow rules, I would probably be one of those people who would enjoy reporting others for minor misdemeanours. I can picture myself with hard-hat and clipboard as we speak. I'd know idea that these places had a cinema, social events, and a bar too. It just gets better and better!

The media is full of these hard luck stories, and at the risk of sounding unsympathetic you can't really complain about being ripped off if you haven't read the small print. A house is the most significant purchase any of us will ever make, so if you don't fully understand the terms and conditions of purchase then you should take professional advice. I would never consider buying a place that had an exit fee or where the rent could be increased by more than the rate of inflation, which I understand is the standard practice.

Not at all, but given how expensive higher education is these day I think universities have an obligation to provide students with a high-quality educational experience, which prepares them for their chosen careers. The aforementioned activity is something which you'd expected to see hosted by a Taylor Swift fan club, not an academic institution.

Another couple of factors that can affect the strata fees significantly are whether the building has elevators (they are expensive to maintain), and if for any reason it's a high insurance risk. One of my colleagues bought a fabulous apartment with sea views right on Cairns Esplanade, but after Cyclone Yasi struck her fees went up to $12,000/year. She really wanted to sell the place but couldn't because no one was interested. In the aftermath of a Cat 5, waterfront living can suddenly lose it's appeal.

The retirement properties we've looked at so far have been on reasonably-sized plots, which although much smaller than the average Australian house are still pretty comfortable for two people. They were also advertised as having no entry or exit fees, although I'm sure others do. Listings tend to be pretty comprehensive about what is and isn't included, and my gut instinct is that if the listing is incomplete then the agent is probably hiding something. The possibility of dodgy neighbours is a cause for concern wherever you live, although I'd suspect it's less of an issue in an over-50s community - and there's a process to address it in Queensland. https://www.qld.gov.au/housing/buying-owning-home/housing-options-in-retirement/retirement-villages/steps-to-resolve-dispute-retirement

Thanks, that's a great explanation. Our next move will most likely be into a residential retirement complex, or 'over-50s living' as they like to call it here. Some of the accommodation is superb and nothing like 'old folks places' they have in the UK. As a sweeping generalisation based on the one's we've looked at, you pay a weekly rent or site fee of around $200/week (although this is about $140/week if you're on an Aged pension and can get a rebate). Although this works out at $10k/annum, you don't usually pay for water, council rates, or body corporate fees, so there's several thousand you're saving straight away. There isn't usually any stamp duty on the purchase either, so that's another big saving. They say that sometimes they can be hard to sell on, but less face it, that's probably going to be someone else's problem. All in all they seem like a pretty good deal when the time is right.