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any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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I live in newcastle! Which hotel were you in? I was at a golden wedding anniversary party on Saturday night at a working men's club and a G&T was around £2.20 which is very cheap!!!

Me and my OH have 2 years left on a 175 PR visa but are currently facing a dilemma in the fact that my OH has started to doubt if we can afford to live in Australia. He is a maintenance Fitter and currently earns 30k but if we follow the 2.2 conversion rule it means he would need to earn roughly 66k AUD but all of the jobs we are seeing advertised in and around the Brisbane area aren't for that much. I currently work for the local council on a part time basis but would be prepared to go full time if need be. Any advice from any fitters or just any general advice with regards to the cost of living would be greatly appreciated. :wink:

Yes, if you check the date on the back of the card part in box no 11 it will have the full expiry date on, this should be the same as your paper part. It's only the photocard that expires as they like you to update your photo every 10 years. Unless you have a medical condition that restricts you. My husband is diabetic so he only gets a licence for 3 years at a time.

Hello, I have just been reading through old posts for some advice and stumbled across yours. My husband is a maintenance fitter and we are looking to move to the Brisbane area but he is struggling to find work whilst we are here in the UK, did you have the same problem? I noticed you said your husband secured work within a month, would you mind if I asked where and if he knows of any places that are recruiting at the moment? My OH currently is working in a hygiene factory making toilet rolls but has a lot of experience in the print and packaging industries fixing machines and doing routine maintenance, etc. It would make my life so much easier if he could secure a job before we came out. We only have 2 years left on our PR 175 visa. :wubclub:

Hi my OH is a maintenance fitter. We have 2 years left on a PR 175 visa but he has struggled to find work whilst here in the UK. Have you managed to find anything yet? I am currently in the frame of mind that we won't make it out there and will end up staying here I the UK due to the higher cost of living in Oz as OH thinks we will be worse off. It's such a big move, how do you know if your doing the right thing and don't end up homeless, jobless & pennyless if it doesn't work out?:wacko:

That sounds great, I never thought of using someone to help you move. Do you mind me asking how much that all cost? I know exactly what you mean about saving money in the long run on expensive short term rentals and stuff. :rolleyes:

That's for that, didn't even notice the date!!

Would yo mind if I asked where you worked as a maintenance fitter? We are currently looking for work for my husband. We have 2 years left on a PR 175 visa and he is a fitter. He has worked in packaging and now is making toilet rolls!! He thinks we won't be able to afford living in Oz as all of the jobs advertised seem to be around the 60k AUS mark and if you use the 2.2 conversion that everyone is saying you should to be comfortable over there it doesn't really work out but your wage seems good. Do you think there is much work out there in Brisbane for a 45 year old fitter with print experience? And would you take the chance and make the move :wink:

Again though, do you mean we would need to be earning the equivalent of 90k English for similar lifestyle or 90k once it's been converted into dollars?

I know this seems complicated but I can't get my head around it! When you say as long as your salary is 2.2$ to the £ do you mean once it's converted? ie 30k in £'s is converted into 49k$ If you use the the current rate or do mean that you would have to be earning 2.2 x your salary ie 2.2 x 30k so you would need to earn £66k and then convert it into $?? I have confused myself now!! The reason I ask is that we have 2 years left on a PR visa and are thinking the exact same things with regards to the cost of living but we are thinking of Queensland areas possibly near Brisbane. My hubby earns 30k here and me 10k working part time but he thinks we will struggle in Oz due to the high cost of living. We came over 2 years ago now for a reccie and did find things were expensive but we had earned our money as £'s and spending it as $ made it seem a lot more expensive. Even things people have mentioned already, such as bread and milk I thought were extortionate. I feel we will manage but do we want to just manage after moving to the other side of the world and giving up your relatively safe job and selling your home (renting isn't an option for us) and all of your possessions?? So many questions, my head is rattling!!!:wacko:

I would be interested in this information also

Thanks for that, you have been really helpful.:wubclub: