fourcorners

Wakeboard1980 is correct, you should be able to get a nice chunk back!

Have a good think about how much you're going to lose by selling it all so cheap. Does the amount you'll lose exceed the total for shipping it all home? Especially if you can get a bit of help of friends and relatives back in the UK by borrowing some furniture from them until your stuff turns up. I could never sell everything. We have made 4 international moves now, 2 paid for by us, 2 paid for by companies. Usually the only thing we sell is the car, and give away anything that may give us hassles through customs. When we go back this time we may even take the car with us. Our friends have just left and they owed more on their car than the thing was worth, had to accept a ridiculous price from a local dealer but at least they could keep it until a few days before they flew.

You are still a resident for tax purposes. We submitted our tax returns early in 2008 in April when we left Australia and we were still classed as resident for tax purposes, got a nice little refund. As you were a citizen of Australia, and the UK and Australia have a tax agreement, you may have to declare how much tax you paid in Australia if you get asked to do a tax return in the UK. But I would only worry about that if you get a letter from HMRC asking you to do one, just make sure you keep all your paperwork for your Oz tax return safe.

I'm on a 457 visa, in fact it's my second. There are some obvious disadvantages, mainly that if you get laid off you only have a short time to find someone else to sponsor you, and it's tricky getting a mortgage. But there are also advantages. For example if you left Australia you can get all your superannuation paid back to you. Being in the resource industry you wouldn't find it hard to get another employer if necessary, as long as the mining boom continues which it is certainly looking likely.

Came on a three week field trip to Perth, Southwest and Kalgoorlie. That got my OH an interview in Kal and we didn't really think about other options apart from that. Stayed there for 18 months. Then a Phd opportunity came up for OH and we left, probably a bit too soon looking back, but you have to take these things as they come. Phd didn't work out so we went back to the UK at the start of the GFC. Could never quite make it work in the UK jobwise (loved living there) as a couple, so ended up coming back out to Kal to earn some dough. Had I not gone on the field trip (I know in years since they have gone to Namibia instead....) I think we would still have ended up in Oz, maybe Kal, maybe not. I'm glad we both had a little bit of a taster before coming out to live, but I don't think it would have been the end of the world if we hadn't. Plus I don't think the fact that we visited previously had any bearing on us leaving - we would have gone anyway given the same opportunities.

Yes I find that going through winter without the big events to look forward to, is much harder. I don't feel Christmassy at all here. It can feel fun and party-ish but not Christmassy. Hard to define what that is but it hinges around cold weather, warm fires, smells of great cooking with cinnamon and citrus, scenes on Christmas cards and wrapping paper that reflect what you see outside! It's very odd seeing all the usual symbology here but in 40 degree heat... But most of all what lacks here is often the presence of family. Growing up Christmas and New Year were the only times our extended family got together. Now there are cousins of mine I haven't seen for 5-6 years because of some of us living overseas.

After exercising which is about 4 times a week, or if it's been really hot at work. My hair is very thick and curly so I rarely even brush it, just a comb through with the conditioner and then leave to dry naturally (get too hot under a hairdryer!). I try and avoid washing it too late at night as don't like going to bed with wet hair.

This is nothing new. That's how it works anyway, if they can't find an Aussie for the job they start looking further afield. Many employers have to prove that a position has been widely advertised here before they can recruit from abroad.

Internet/phone/cable providers. There's basically Telstra, but they are awful to deal with and very slow to get anything done. They do bundles for Foxtel cable as well. I'm with iinet, which has cheap international calls (as you get a VOIP phone which calls over the internet). Been very pleased so far no hassles, internet seems pretty quick too. There are a few other providers out there but not a massive choice. We just have poor man's tv and are doing just fine. Still get about 20 channels but we don't watch it much anyway.

Whilst the type of fraud that the OP describes is probably not that common, there is another type that is. Just about all of my UK friends here in Australia still owe on their student loans and all have lied to the Student Loan Company saying that they are 'travelling' and not declaring their true incomes (which for some of them is now well over $120k). They seem to believe it will just get written off after a certain amount of time and they will never be chased for it. The thing is, Student Loans, contrary to popular beleif, are real debt. They accrue interest and as soon as you set foot back in the UK they will bite you on the arse! Personally since I'm making more money in Oz I am taking the opportunity to pay it off as quickly as possible, and the exchange rate really helps at the moment. I spent that money whilst studying - it fed and clothed me and I feel a moral responsibility to pay it back. Hopefully in July next year I will crack open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate it being paid off in full! And some of those friends are in the process of moving back to the UK. I think they might feel a twinge of regret for not paying it back when they were earning twice as much in Australia for 5 years! I think after 25 years the loan is written off but none of them will stay here that long, plus the student loan company do chase people every so often. One friend who has been here for 7 years said they phoned her mum in the UK asking about her financial situation. Can't get away with it!!

Well that's great news that they've arranged a rental property for you! It is such a headache here and a cause of much stress and grumpiness! Even if it's not great at least it will give you time to find somewhere you like more. A couple of the mines have public lookouts where you can watch the trucks come and go, and the Superpit also run tours but I don't think they go down to the pit floor. It's fantastic watching a blast go off in a pit!

Hi Tom, Yeah sure we'll be happy to meet you for a drink. We're off on holiday but will be back in town on June 2nd (though probably quite jet-lagged!). Would your job be based in the Kambalda workshop or would you be in Boulder? If you can be based in Kalgoorlie-Boulder do not even consider living in Kambalda, and I would say that if schools are important then probably consider living in Kalgoorlie anyway. It is 60km between Kal and Kambalda, I know many people that work in Kambalda but live in Kal. There is so much more to do in Kal and more opportunities for kids in terms of sports and hobbies, plus there will be greater opportunity for your wife to earn money. Property is much cheaper to rent there but there is a good reason for that!

Yes there is! Sorry for the late reply! Most Poms in Kal are involved in the mining industry, I myself am a geologist here, my partner is a geotechnical engineer and most of our friends are geos or engineers. But that's just because that's who we know through work and previously through uni. Kal is now a much more family friendly place than it used to be. Lots of Australian mining professionals are now moving here because they're fed up with flying in/out for work and want to spend more time with their families. It is a shock to the system at first but we're happy to help and can point you in the directions of all the places you'll need to go at first, like registering for Medicare and getting your driving licences sorted out. Also it will be hard finding a rental, competition is fierce and the rental agents aren't great. This process can be very off-putting and demoralising when you arrive but I promise you once you have somewhere to live everything will get better, you've just got to get over that hurdle. And it's great if you already know someone who'm you can ask for a bit of help. When we arrived here the first time we didn't know anyone, but it didn't take long and before you know it I was in a local hockey team and making lots of friends. Keep in touch and feel free to ask any and all questions! Lauren & Andy

Get on with you! I live here in Kalgoorlie, 6 months now although we lived here for 18 months from 2006-2008. There must be a reason we came back! Plus sides are: well paid jobs coming out of your ears, everything you need (just about) is in town, doesn't take long to drive anywhere in town, free parking everywhere, quite a few nice restaurants considering the towns size, lots of sports and activities to get involved with, people in general are really friendly. Bad bits: Yes it is a bit scruffy, most of that is due to the amount of dust, council is pretty backwards looking about many things, rental market is pretty fierce right now. Put it this way, I went to Perth recently and couldn't wait to come home! Everyone is more laid back, no traffic jams, no long commutes (unless you work at some of the mines), the town has a great deal of character and interesting history. To make the most of it, you really need to get out in the bush and explore the local area. We go out collecting firewood with our chainsaw and 4x4 and have experienced some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets (the skies are big!). You've got to get involved with the community otherwise you will end up being bitter and twisted like old Grassface! I'm a geologist here and have quite a few pommie friends - we all knew each other at uni 6 years ago and quite a few of us moved to Kal. Some have since left, but I reckon the average time spent in Kal by a Pom is about 5 years. I seem to be incredibly busy, I play hockey, go to the gym, we go out for dinner at friends houses, have Cornish pasty and Indian nights (the Indian here isn't great but at least there is one now). If anyone wants to meet up especially when you first arrive - we're happy to show you the sights and help you settle in. Best thing you can do is just accept Kal the way it is and make the most of your time here, no-one's forcing you to stay if you don't want to.

Oo where were you in the Arctic Circle? I worked for a couple of weeks for Newmont at Hope Bay. That was monotonous as hell hence me scarpering off to a more interesting project. I think mine production can be pretty boring but I'm now a Resource Geo which is pretty cushy, although later this year I'll be applying for Competent Person status and will sign off all the resource for our company, eek! Which is a hell of a lot more responsible than any miners position, but I'll still be earning a lot less than even a jumbo operator. Hope they give me a decent pay rise... Also the monotony is why I went for a residential job when we moved to Oz. I'd had enough of FIFO! But those of us on a 5/2 residential roster end up working 6 hours more per fortnight than the miners, and 10 hours more per fortnight than the production geos and engineers. Ah well! But then again whilst geo's have the potential to earn far more over their career, you still don't come across many geos in the 40's or 50's. Particularly not in Oz. Our Exploration Manager is 32 years old, and thinks he knows it all unfortunately. I heard that in the last mining crash all the geo's went to be taxi drivers in Perth and never wanted to come back when it started picking up again!

$75k is about right for truckies/nippers just starting underground. This is still a lot of money for someone with no experience! Our miners work 7 days on, 7 days off then 7 nights on, 7 days off, they have it pretty cushy. We are advertising for truckies right now but only looking for people already living in Kal with truckie experience. Our graduate geologist started last year on $80k. Her wage will progress more slowly than a miners, and she has a 4 year Masters degree for which she is $100k in debt. So $75k for a job with no prior experience and no qualifications is pretty good in my book! The big money comes later on when you're an experienced miner using the more technical machinery like the twin boom jumbo or long hole blasthole rig. Unfortunately, and this is life, but even in mining booms you can't expect companies to ship whole families across the world who are unskilled. For unskilled positions they're going to try and hire from as close to home as possible. Our company will only relocate technical staff, and even then try and hire locally if possible. It's taken me 10 years (4 years of university and 6 years working) to get to the position I'm in.

It's totally different experiencing the heat on a recce or holiday when you're by the sea or the pool or simply have access to air conditioning. Working in the bush in a hot and dusty open pit or on a drill rig certainly gives you a real appreciation for the heat!

Hi Cartertucker, You're obviously very torn at the moment judging by all your posts on MBTTUK! I totally understand though, being a ping-pommer myself having moved to Australia twice now. However my story may not be as relevent as we have moved purely for work reasons and not because we hoped for a better 'life' or lifestyle. Especially the second time! We first moved out to WA in 2006 after uni as it was and still is one of the best place for geology graduates to get their first job. Australia usually uses best practice in mining (or tries to), so it's a good place to come to learn how everything is done properly. So we moved out to Kal and both got decent jobs, our move was sponsored as well so we didn't have to worry about moving costs etc. I don't remember it taking very long to settle, it was more to do with settling financially as when we came we both had 500 pounds and that was it. But a year later we started to get pretty bored here and sick of the landscape. Though having said that we had great friends and were pretty active, but life was all just a bit too easy. So when in 2008 an opportunity for my OH to study for a Phd in Canada came up, we decided to go for it. We ended up having to move 6 months sooner than originally planned, which really annoyed us as we had wanted to stay a little longer to earn a bit more money. But off we toddled to Vancouver, where it felt freezing! OH started his studies and I got a FIFO job. I hated it! Hated living in Van, being away from home so much and unable to make real friends. Kept thinking 'life was so much simpler in Aus!). Due to one thing and another that didn't work out, and we decided to move back to the UK at the start of the GFC (which also prevented us from returning directly to Oz as they stopped hiring from abroad). We spent 3 years in the UK, most of it in Cornwall where we bought a cottage and I had a good job in a consultancy. My OH got a job with a drilling contractor and guess what? The first job they sent him on was in Karratha! So he started commuting to Australia, and we saw even less of each other. He was being paid a UK wage and was earning less than the cleaners at the camp in Karratha. Made us re-think things. So we started making plans to come back out here and make some hay whilst the gold bullion sun is still shining. It won't shine forever though, and in a few years (we're going to try and stay long enough this time to get citizenship), we're going to head back to the UK and start our own business. I get homesick every week, for people and places. And I know that will get tougher when we start a family probably at the end of next year. But hopefully it'll be worth it in the end, as we'll be able to buy the kind of property we really want but would probably only be able to achieve in our 50's if we stayed in the UK. We have our plan, going to try and stick with it! It doesn't help that in May four of our friends are moving back to the UK, they're couples who have done 7yrs and 5yrs in Oz. When they're gone it will be a little emptier here. So I guess in a few years we'll be ping-pom-ping-pommers! I don't regret any of our moves though, each one has made us stronger and made us realise what we want in life. We have moved strategically in order to be able to achieve those dreams. I understand how much harder it must be for folks with children, trying to decide how to give them the best future and opportunities. But even if you move back before getting citizenship all your lives will be richer for your experiences and you will look at things in a different way.

We are ping-poms, on our second stint in the glorious town that is Kalgoorlie! For us it was never negativity that pushed us away from the UK on either occasion, more to do with the greater opportunities available in our line of work (mining) in Australia. I haven't regretted any of our moves (we lived in both Canada and the UK in between our Oz stints). This time we've come with much more purpose, we have more experience in our professions and are capitalising on the mining boom. I've never hated living in Oz, but I have always had the feeling here that I don't really belong and that sense of belonging is firmly planted in English soil. But we now have a master plan, and mapping out about 10 years ahead has really helped us to be at peace with our homesick feelings. We're here for a purpose and that really helps to just make you get on with things. For some people that purpose may not revolve around their careers, it could be anything. Maybe that's what you're lacking now you've returned to the UK. You were only really happy in Melbourne once you had a purpose (i.e. leaving), so you need to direct your energies towards something new, and that will help you settle and relax. Because if you decide to return to Australia, by the time you get back on that plane you may have gained a purpose in the UK and have the same regrets about leaving! A vicious circle! So, your plan needs to involve something other than moving countries. Maybe you could move to another nicer part of the UK (after all it is so very diverse), find a new hobby, do further education, get a dog. Anything that gets you out and about and meeting new people.

Redruth is one of the most deprived areas of Cornwall and therefore of the UK. House prices in Redruth and Camborne are much lower than the rest of the county, I know because we bought our cottage one mile from Redruth yet only 3 miles from the sea! Our water rates were £270 for the year. And just because Cornwall is surrounded by the sea doesn't mean it can't have water shortages - you can't drink the sea!! My partner and myself lived off £24k and £32k very happily and comfortably, he paid for his brand new £8k motorbike straight off and we were able to save money easily. We had two cars as well. I think once people live in Australia their idea of 'value' becomes horribly twisted and they forget how cheap some stuff is in the UK. Anyway, better go to work I guess...

Nothing to do in winter! You have to be joking!! Cornwall is an outdoor person's heaven. I played hockey, went horse riding, together we surfed (better conditions in winter) and went rock climbing. My friends all go gig rowing and do surf life-saving. I also loved the craft fairs around Christmas time, or just going for a walk on the beach, pasty in hand. But then I don't mind the rain, really miss it here in Oz, bloomin' sun! Yes there is a lot of poverty there and lack of well paid jobs, but that's starting to change now with it becoming a centre for technology for marine, renewable energy and geothermal energy. I find people in Cornwall much more entrepreneurial than other counties, prepared to get stuck in and start their own businesses.

No, we've done it without TV help! We're both in mining (I'm a geologist, other half is a geotechnical engineer), and in 2006 as part of my masters I came on a field trip to WA. Got a job for my OH whilst I was here on the field trip and he worked at the Superpit for a while. I worked underground for Barrick. Now I'm on surface doing exploration and he's underground working for Barrick. I have a theory that it takes about 6 years in this town to work your way around all the mining companies! There are loads of Poms and Irish here, and Kiwis and Swedes and Philippinos, actually there aren't many Ozzies here at all! Most of our friends are European or African. In my OH's departments there are 2 Poms, 3 Africans and 1 graduate from Tasmania. We have developed friendships much more quickly with non-Australians, we just find it's hard to get beyond surface-deep with Aussies, conversations are always pretty banal and short-lived. The ones who have travelled a bit are better, but I meet some peeps here who have never left the Goldfields!

Actually it's really calmed down here over the last few years, Back in 2006-2007 when we lived here the first time there were fights every night. Now the Exchange is empty (it actually went up for auction last week and got no bids - anyone got a spare $4M?), and fights are rare. I swear this place is actually becoming a family town! And.... the brothel closed down too. Questa Casa is now becoming a hotel! They had a garage sale but we didn't dare go inside! It's an ok place to live, and a lot better than many people think. They come here and see the brothel, the Superpit and fights in the bars and write it off. Spend a little time here and you realise it's got everything you need, but it's certainly not perfect. Makes you really appreciate getting away for the weekend though. We're off to Esperance at Easter which is very eagerly anticipated! I think deep down a lot of poms in oz feel exactly the same way as you do. I think a lot put up a brave front and say they're totally happy, loving the lifestyle and never want to go back to the UK. But in reality they all miss a lot of stuff and deep down our sense of 'place' is ingrained within us at an early age. I know Poms who've been here 10 years and still refer to the UK as home!

Don't worry about Cornwall! I am originally from Yorkshire but first moved to Camborne in 2002 to start Uni. Have lived there on and off since and we have a cottage just north of Redruth. We made friends easily there, particularly amongst workmates who were so much more friendly and open compared to our Aussie ones. Also I used to go horse-riding and even though I only went to one particular stables for about 10 months, going once a week, I made some fantastic friends (not just acquaintances) who I will keep in touch with until we return, and then hopefully pick up where we left off. I was never made to feel like an outsider by anyone. However I did used to get annoyed in July and August when I couldn't get parking for all the Grockles! You're only a Grockle if you go on holiday there not actually live there! I miss Cornwall like heck and your post really struck a chord. But I'm going to stick it out for a few more years here so we can afford the kind of house we really want either in Cornwall or Devon. Australia is great, and I appreciate what it's giving to me. But it isn't my home. I feel like I've pulled up my roots out of the earth and stuck them in a plant pot for a while. Doesn't help that 4 of our really good friends (2 couples and their babies) here are all moving back to the UK in May, will be quite different when they're gone.

My friends are about to go back to the UK and have two lab x's that they're taking with them. I think the cost is $6,500 from Perth to Heathrow. I have no idea if you can just split that cost in two or whether they have saved money because there are two of them.