runslikeafish

There are a range of tourist visas that allow you to stay for up for 12 months. Have a look on the DIAC site here for the details. A subclass 600 visa looks to be the place to start from. Whilst you're there I'd suggest having a good look around the whole DIAC site for a better idea on what visa options there are in general. Good luck.

Fantastic! Where in Aus are you headed?

Congratulations! You're right in that there is a HUGE amount of things to sort out - it's all do-able though. What we did was make a big list that we stuck up on the wall. The list means you won't forget and ticking things off it is really cool. Good luck!

Never ever feel silly for asking! That's the whole point of the forum to ask questions I think it's a really good discussion point actually and cool to hear other people's thoughts on it.

We're going to apply as soon as we can, for all the reasons stated so far (I really want to vote too!). I will NEVER support Australia in the Ashes though!! We're just about to have a baby here (due date less that a week away!) so being citizens ourselves is an obvious next step for us.

I agree with pretty much everything that's been said so far on the thread. Did we do the right thing? Absolutely. Is Australia perfect and the answer to all your problems? Of course not. What we did was made a conscious effort to make the most of the move, which in our case meant making a few changes to ourselves as people. Yes we could have made those changes back in the UK but as moving to Aus was such a big move, we had an extra incentive to make it work. That said, I do genuinely believe that our lives are considerably better here than in the UK and most of that is down "Australia factors". The economic situation, the people, the weather... I wrote a very short blog post on this last year and here is another post that talks about things that might make the move a success. Sorry for the shameless plug for my blog! It may be an interesting read though as the posts start from before we moved here in November 2011 so emotions before and after the move are captured. Good luck!

My software only goes back to 2003 and the highest in that time has been 2.685.

Just adding another voice to the "I've never seen it either" crowd and I look pretty frequently too.

Hope so!

Only a small one in the hopefully long upward trend...

$1.63 and counting! Bound to have a pull back at some point but it'd be nice if it does get to 2:1. Or <gasp> beyond!

Personally I THINK it has quite a way to go yet (Cue massive reversal!). I hope so as if and when I sell the UK property it'll make a massive difference to how much we get over here for it...

In a word, fantastic! Before we came we obviously had high hopes that we'd make it a success but it's been even better than we hoped. Australia in general and Hobart in particular has been absolutely brilliant for us. We've both changed as people too and for the better. As you say, the people we've met have been fantastic and the lifestyle is exactly what we were after. We've seen a bit of Tassie but VERY far from all of it! We both absolutely love it here and would highly recommend it. Forgive the shameless plug but if anyone is interested in our time in Tas, starting from a few weeks before the move in late 2011, then check out my blog (also linked in my signature). It might be more interesting to read it from back to front, i.e. earliest posts first to get the story of the move.

A recent thread on this is here http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/renting-real-estate/187065-break-lease.html If you have a look through the renting and real estate section there are quite a few threads with some good info on breaking leases. Good luck!

No heat related problems on any of the items we shipped.

I agree that 10 pages is WAY too long for a CV. With a lot of jobs, particularly for government and larger companies, they set out specific selection criteria as Quoll mentions above. Much more important than the CV for these jobs is how you address those criteria. In my experience from sitting on both sides of that interview in Aus, employers much prefer specific examples of how the criteria are met with these examples ideally being drawn from previous, relevant job experience.Again to agree with Quoll, err on the verbose side for the selection criteria, particularly when it's a government job.Good luck

Our first rental here was from someone else's broken lease. The previous tenants showed us around so as to avoid advertising costs etc from the property agents. Try advertising the rental yourself or asking around etc as some people want the shorter lease period that the remainder of a broken lease gives them.

As in the UK, you get the choice of 12 or 6 months, with 12 months being cheaper than 2 x 6 months. From this year (in Tassie at least) you don't even get a rego sticker (tax disc equivalent) to display. Feels weird!

Love the spreadsheet! We do stuff like that all the time. Fail to prepare and all that... Most advertised salaries - or at least, most of the ones that I've seen - don't include the super. So in your example the salary would likely be $120k with super on top, thus giving you an extra $9.9k p/a. Your figures look realistic although water and car repair look a little high to me. Mind you, we're only a family of 2 (changing soon!) so we'll use less water than a family of 5. In general terms, a salary of $120k is pretty good, most people should be able to be reasonably comfortable with that. Good luck!

Sorry we didn't make it last night, I hope you all had a fun time and enjoyed Maldini's! I'll look out here for the next one.

It's great in Tassie! The weather is great, I can honestly say a whole different league of weather to the UK, and I'm from Cornwall. Regular warm sunny days all year round without the lengthy really hot periods of the mainland. I don't know about employment for teachers, in my industry (IT) it's reasonable and in my wife's (health) it's pretty good. You will need to check the rules for teachers though if you do want to work as a teacher. As a minimum I'd guess you need your skills assessed. Good luck!

We've moved reasonable (not huge!) amounts of money both ways and haven't been charged to send or receive - other than the foreign exchange broker (HiFX, TorFX, MoneyCorp etc). As someone mentioned earlier, it's worth checking with a few currency brokers for the best rate at that time, it does make a difference.

I've heard that a lot! Thanks for the good wishes!

Thanks a lot! Bags are packed, car seat is fitted and kitchen cupboards are cleaned!

No children but one due two weeks today! It will be interesting bringing an Aussie into the world. We may fall out at Ashes time in years to come...