Fisher1

Yes I spent a few days in Winchester just before I left the UK and I really liked it. Very attractive town, but I think it might be a bit expensive too. Have you ever considered Chester? It’s a beautiful town, only forty minutes or so from the North Wales coast. The historic rows in the shopping centre are, I think, unique, and although Chester is not cheap, it should be cheaper than down south.

You are lucky to have been able to travel all over Australia. I’m still nibbling round the edges!

Thanks.

Sorry to see no recommendations ... I was hoping to pick some up from your question too!

You know it really was a lighthearted post written by someone who believes their life is much better here than the UK. It was meant to be a humourous look at things which the poster personally liked and disliked. I found it amusing, just as I would if someone wrote a similar post about the UK.

Interesting. When we moved to Luxembourg from the UK 30 years ago we were horrified to find tbat the only frozen food on offer consisted of burgers and fish fingers. Finally we could afford to buy ready meals and there werent any!!! We always bought them from Marks, as a dpecial treat. Tbh we had thought that the Marks stuff had gone down in quality and variety over the years ... cheaper and not so nice. But Woollies really need to not bother selling theirs! I did have some rather nice ravioli fro. Aldi the other day - it actually tasted of cheese!

If you can find an NHS dentist!

No not many ready meals around but have bought them in an emergency and they really are grim.

I go in Harris Scarfe but have never seen clothes from Debenhams in there. It’s my new favourite shop though because they have great kitchen stuff. And Hush puppies.

Do you want to live in a town/city or countryside? Shropshire countryside is lovely, Shrewsbury is a lovely town, as is Ludlow (history and great food). Bath is nice, with many pretty little towns in the environs.

I did enjoy reading this, been here two years now and totally agree about ready meals, clothing and bread. We knew what we were in for with bread and make our own (bread machine) ditto cakes. One thing you didn’t mention ... does Aussie chocolate all taste strange to you? Agree about all the plus points too. we’ve been made so welcome by the Australians we’ve met and had a lot of help along the way. So far so good - thank you for making me smile

If I can offer you a chunk of light it’s this: some people do drop out, for various reasons. So the wait might be a little less than you think - but you are still looking at about four years. I’d get my name down ASAP if I were you, then concentrate on long visits and making the most of your home country till the visa comes through. Difficult, but you’ll drive yourself nuts if you keep thinking about it.

It’s difficult to say. We did get used to it ... sort of ... and made longer visits once we retired, but the last days of visits were always horrible. I once burst into tears in the middle of buying a souvenir in a shop in Sydney - mortified! It does get easier though,and this may sound hard but you stop howling more quickly. I cried halfway to Singapore after our first visit, but by then end I was usually okay by the time we got on the plane. I know it’s a cliche but Skype and FaceTime really do help as well. Something you might want to consider is meeting “half way” We all met in Thailand a couple of times, shares the cost and the travel. Something I would add though, which was a big part of our reason for moving out here. I didn’t want to get used to it. I didn’t want to forget about my daughter for chunks of time while I went about my daily life. I’d rather get used to missing friends and the life we had in Europe ... much less painful!

My daughter came to Australia in 2004. We were lucky enough to be able to visit regularly and she was able to visit the UK so between 2004 and 2017 we saw each other on average about once a year. Longest time without a visit was 21 months but we met up twice in six months after that. We moved over in 2017.

We have acquired a group of friends who have all come over to be near children ... including one I “met” on here! After 18 months we feel more settled every day, but again, having moved around a bit in the past we were very aware of the need to get out and meet people ASAP. “Join everything” is our general rule of thumb and it seems to be working so far!

Actually we thought about it quite a lot. Probably because we’ve moved around a bit ourselves we were very much aware of the way a great job can come up and you might want to take it even if it means a big move. We wouldn’t have decided to move over if our daughter hadn’t had a child, but figured she was less likely to move during the baby years. The potential for our daughter to move was one of the factors influencing our decision to live two hours away. Not just house prices then, but a need to have our own lives and make our own friendship networks that are totally seperate. The truth is, there is no easy answer. Had our daughter moved to somewhere a bit closer we wouldn’t haves considered following, but that 24 hour flight is just going to get harder. Everyone is different and we all find our own solutions, imperfect as they may be ... although I think it’s easier if you have a big budget.

Yes it’s really important to try to consider how things will be when you get older. I’m one of the grandparents who has moved and is very happy with the choice I’ve made BUT there are many things that might come up and bite me on the bum as I get older. The main consideration is, I think, mobility. I currently live away from Sydney because of house prices but also because I didn’t want to live in Sydney! I’m happy to live two hours away by train from our daughter knowing we can go over to babysit for the day, there’s a bed for overnight stays and we can turn up to all the birthday and Christmas events. Our daughter grew up at a distance from my parents so we are well aware of the way visits tail off as grandchildren get older ... but we think it’s important to live in the moment and after thirteen years of visiting from the UK it is a delight to be only two hours away.

I’ve been here eighteen months, having moved to be near our daughter, who is our only child. We’ve found it easy because we are retired and the only work we do is babysitting. However, we’ve noticed how hard everyone here seems to work. Observing our daughter and friends, the hours seem long and the holidays shorter. just a subjective view but something to consider. We spent years tossing the idea of moving out here back and forth and I can honestly say we are happy here - but we are aware of the things we have given up to make our new lives happen: Friends. Quick trips to interesting European countries. The money spent making it all happen. Good luck with whatever you decide, but like other posters, I’d give some thought to what you think Australia could offer that you don’t already have.

Well yes, you made that very clear in your first reply. Thank you for the factual information.

Hi Tom If you look through the forum threads there is one entitled “brand new parents’ visa”. It is a great thread and there is always someone who will answer just about any question fairly quickly. Yes it does take a long time so you need to be patient but it can be done. First thing your parents need to do is get all the information they can about the various visas. You can pay an agent (I believe Alan Collet, who posts regularly on here is very good) or it is possible to organise your visa yourself. My OH and I moved over about 18 months ago, having first considered the possibility in 2012. However, the waiting time has increased since then. There are currently four parent visas, two which are applied for offshore (the 103 and the 143) and two with references in the 800s that are applied for onshore - I.e. a person visiting Australia might decide they want to stay and apply from here. You have to be over a certain age to do this. Three things to consider now: do you have siblings? The balance of family test precludes anyone getting a parent visa if they have more children living outside oz than living here. If they pass the balance of family test, how is their health? You have to pass a medical. Are they aware that if they do come to live here permenantly their UK state pension will be frozen at the rate it was when they left the UK. Good luck with it, and remember it can be done. PS Alan Collet is also a fantastic accountant.

I did say that I thought the visa cost was fair enough. I’ve no idea “what way that covers it” ... that’s why I asked the question - I had heard that funds are paid by the UK. So I thought your answer was a bit sharp.

I’m curious. It’s true that newcomers haven’t paid into medicare or the tax system and I think it’s fair that our visa cost reflected this - but surely at least part of the cost of Medicare is covered by the reciprocal agreement between Australia and the UK?

We have our internet and tv package with Optus and the prices are reasonable. As long as everything is going well they’re fine but when there was a problem (we moved house) we weren’t happy at all. Impossible to get through on the phone when the service wasn’t reinstated as promised, promised technicians didn’t turn up at the house on the morning arranged and we found they had cancelled them without telling us ... I sat in a phone queue for forty minutes one morning listening to all the usual “your call is important to us” messages, then someone just hung up on me. If you go on Facebook there’s a page called something like “Optus exposed”. I’d shop around a bit if I were you.

It’s on the UK govt website ... although I wouldn’t believe a word anyone in the UK government said at the moment ...

So glad to hear that Ramot, good luck with it.