frogian

Hope you didn't get that info off an ('accurate') mapmaker website Bloby1000, 'cos if you did the speedo on my car is a very long way out - by around 4 times! - as we can get to PD from the south side of Cairns in just less than an hour (without speeding tickets ;-) ). To get to Cape Trib though it would take around 4 hours, so maybe that’s what you were meaning mate. Agree with everything else you and others have said about it! My parents (from the UK) love PD and reckon it's the best place they've visited in Oz (Cairns comes in second place) and so do we, hence we got married there and are heading up there first thing this coming Friday morning with a group of friends and family for a long weekend. Millers – I’d go for it (and also head north a bit for a few days)….but check out when the deal is on / what the weather may be like at that time before you book and, if you can let us know where you would be staying in PD, we should be able to give you info on the accommodation etc.

Just to throw another into the mix for you - have you looked at flights with Etihad? Have only flown internally in the middle east with Qatar, so can't comment on their long haul flights (internal was OK though). Have flown long haul with both Emirates and Etihad on a few occasions. I prefer Etihad as for us with them stuff always seemed to flow really easily - not much hanging around at all anywhere, they worked out more cost effective and they provide a great service (plus your air miles seem to build up fast compared to Emirates, so if you sign up to their scheme as a family you'll very quickly get access to their lounges (free food, drink, play room, extra baggage allowance, upgrades (if you're lucky) etc)). I'm not knocking Emirates though - they also provide a great service, but from our experiences I try to fly with Etihad where possible. All the best with the move!

When I used to come over for a visit I use to borrow one of my in laws car and drive on my UK license. When you take out fully comp insurance here, they ask the age of the youngest person who will drive the car, so, assuming they have fully comp insurance, as long as he's above whatever age they declared, he'll be fine (I'd just double check what the excess is, just in case!).

Depends on where you are and your particular situation. Where we are it's just under 35% of one banked pay each week (based on the highest paid). Add in the second salary and it then drops down to just less than 20% of our total household banked pay each week. (Above is based on 2 of us with a mortgage on a 3 bed house in nice area)

I have two hotmail accounts that are identical other than their ‘endings’ (no idea of the technical term) - one is ".co.uk" the other ".com". I've never had any problems at all with spam through the ".co.uk" account (which I've had for 8+ years) but the ".com" account (which I've had for just over a year) has, right from day 1, dropped me around 6 spam messages each day! Why?????! I haven’t done anything different with the “.com” account than I have with the “.co.uk” one, other than sign up with some job sites & agencies via it. Complete speculation here on my part with what I’m about to write but, having been told by a couple of people that I was a “hard case”, maybe there is an alternative way to make cash out of me? Then again, I do lean to the side of paranoid, so who knows….. 3FC - regarding the hacks, I completely agree. Complete tool(s).

Hi, Can't give you a firm answer mate as haven't been in that exact same situation, however, for info, from our experience (me a pom, the wife an aussie): When my wife left Oz she declared herself a non-resident for tax purposes. At the time she left she had a unit and we rented it out. Although she was a non-resident for tax purposes, she still had to complete a tax return each year, due to the fact that she was getting an income from Oz (i.e. rental payments each week). With a bit of negative gearing we didn't pay any tax on what was earned from the rental (if you can call it 'earnings' as by the time we'd paid bodycorp fees, maintenance fees, the mortgage etc - all of which were taken into account on the tax return - we didn't really make a much at all out of it. In fact we probably made a bit of a loss). We then sold the unit. Luckily without having to pay capital gains tax 'cos she'd lived in the unit for a number of years before renting it out and, from memory, also because it was sold it within a period of "X" years of her declaring herself a non-resident for tax purposes (and still not being at the time teh unit was sold). We then bought a house (at the time we were not living in Oz, so were still non-residents for tax purposes) and rented it out. We again had to fill in tax returns each year containing details of our 'earnings' from the rental income, what our costs were etc (same as for the unit). We moved to Oz last year and so are now both residents for tax purposes. Regarding the house that we bought and rented out (without ever having lived in it before we rented it out), we now live in it and, when we come to sell it, from the capital gains side of things we may have to pay tax on the period that it was rented out (assuming it increased in value during the period it was rented out - which I am pretty confident it didn't). On the savings we brought over with us, we haven't been taxed one cent. If you haven't been submitting an Oz tax return each year declaring earnings from your rental property in Oz etc it may be worthwhile looking into requirements to check if being a non-citizen (and not living in Oz) makes you exempt from having to do so. Good luck with the move mate!

My 309/100 took around 6 weeks to be granted after I had the medical and police checks completed (both were done around the same time). All up, from applying to getting the visa granted it took just short of 3 months. All the best!

Those 'graded' roads, as they call them, are BAD! We had similar not long back out south of Chillagoe, but we were only doing around 60 at the time - OH screamed 'what the **** are you doing, stop messing around!'. My calm reply as I was spinning the wheel crazily left and right to try to keep it going staight was (and I'll admit my bum area was twitching quite a bit at this time, so I think I did well to sound calm!) 'I'm not messin around, I'm trying to stop us crashing' You know what her reply was: "Don't hit the ******* breaks". My, again calm, reply (even though my bum area was twitching 100 times more than before as the car was not slowing at all and a hard left was coming up fast): "I'm not and I wont cos I'm not ******* stupid" (no offence to Rob 'cos it is DEFINITELY instinct to hit them when you loose control). Outcome: a 180 spin to a stop; quater of car hanging over a 6 foot drop into a ditch and a foot away from trees; my OH's friend in the back looking somewhat on the pale side saying "s#it, you did well to keep control there mate" ...and 2 new tyres when we got home. Surprisingly the dog didn't realise owt had gone wrong - she slept through it! The outcome was a lot more good luck than it was judgement - could have been a LOT worse........ Hope you have a great trip (am certain you will)!

Well said mate! I agree, "outgoings" are what you spend each month on what is needed to live a great life here, not what you actually spend 'cos of wants and fancies. I honestly say that with no disrespect at all to anyone who's reading and fully understand that the cost of living here does vary considerably dependent on personal situation, where you are living etc. I've seen others say they came here to "live the Oz dream" but find it too expensive - in general, dreams don't come cheap, so in going from normal life to dream life there may need to be a shift in what will be spent each month. Wonder if any of the people who say this have tried to live that same dream in an alternative place in OZ to where they are, or anywhere else for that matter (UK included, forgetting about the weather factor!)? Hadn't ever given a thought before now about what I used to spend each month in the UK but have just worked it out – on average $3000 per month (at current exchange rate for my 2006/2007 spending….when I was single). Almost 6 years on my outgoings are $1500 more each month than they were back then when I was in the UK, but there are 2 of us, we live in a lot nicer house than I had there, we have two cars rather than one and we have a far better lifestyle, great weather etc. And I reckon that if I take inflation into account I’m probably only spending around $1000 a month more than I was in the UK 5 years ago – can’t complain at that! Food for thought…………..but I’m reet good where I am so wont be moving back anytime soon!

Mate, that just goes to show the different cost of living in the various states and places here in Oz (most you'd pay for a beer in a pub or bar here is around $9, generally $7, but more often a bit less - when I say this I'm talking about a pint). If you are happy to do so it would certainly be of interest to me (and probably others reading this) to see where the major differences lie (I'm guessing mortgage/rent?), so any chance you could post a breakdown of your expenditure (excluding savings for a hol back to the UK) in a format along the lines of that which I posted earlier in this thread? If not, no worries mate and all the best!

I'll hold my hand up and say that, from our point of view, earning $100K + a year is way above what is needed to have a great lifestyle here whilst also being able to save $x K per year for a trip to the UK, however, I will add that what people need will depend on a number of factors, including where you live, how many kids you have (or don't), loans you have / need (or not) etc. From where we stand currently, a salary of $75,000 (before tax) would be ample, but in saying this I will point out that there are just 2 of us (currently) living in a 3 bed house and the only loan we have is for the house. We have a baby on the way though so am told by the wife that things will have to change when it comes to our current spending.....I'm assured by her though (she's a whiz with budgets and, dare I actually say this (and in public ?!) I trust her with what she's telling me...), that, if I stop one nasty habit (cough...) and cut down by around 50% on another habit (slurp!), all will be good, our lifestlye wont change one bit (other than mine a little!) and we wont spend anymore that we currently do now each month (see my earlier post in this thread for a breakdown). So, when the baby comes along and, including a trip to the UK each year if we wanted to do it (for the first few years anyway), for our circumstances, we'd still only need to be earning $75K before tax.

Completely agree with you and, as others say, costs will vary considerably dependent on where you are and the lifestyle you choose to live. Please note that the current popular poll answer of "Less than $6k per month" is leaving open quite large spending bracket - people who voted on this number could in fact be living well on anywhere between $4K and 6K per month. I can assure you that it is definitely possoble to live in Oz on less than $6000 per month (take home) - from our point of view, here's on average where we spend each month here in Cairns: $1665 mortgage (3 bed detached house in a nice area. No pool though….could really do with one today as I’m working on stuff around the house, sweating like a dog and so could do with a dip about now! As I can’t I’m instead sat in the shade drinking a couple o cold ones surfin the net ;-) ) $240 rates $140 house insurance $85 electric $7.50 water $670 on stuff for house (food, cleaning products etc) $145 rego (2 x cars, my toy and its trailer) $115 vehicle insurance (fully comp for all) $180 fuel ($80 my car, $0 wife’s car (we’re fortunate in that her work pays for all her fuel) and the rest gets drank by my toy) $110 mobiles (2 x - one that is ‘just a phone’ & one that confuses the hell out of me so I leave it to the wife!) $30 internet (we don’t have a fixed internet connection, just a dongle thing (pay as you go). Other than browsing, e-mailing, the odd skype chat and music download, we don’t hammer the net that much each month $120 private health insurance for the wife only (good cover) $1000 other stuff (clothes (you don’t need many up here though ;-)), eating out, beers, having people round for a BBQ, going camping etc) Our total spend each month is, on average, a smidgen over $4500. PS - if you were able to take home $1275 each week, the possible shortfall you anticipate (based on needing $6k) of $900 per month can almost be halved - you'd be pulling just over $5500 each month ($1275 x 52 / 12).

Have been through this exercise a few times now over the last year and, each time I do, I note our spending is creeping up as time goes by! I know why this is the case – it’s due to lifestyle and situation changes, all of which are beneficial so they definitely outweigh the additional cost each month. So, for the two of us (baby on the way) and a dog it's currently averaging at $4500 a month for us to live and have a great lifestyle here in Cairns.

Thanks Johndoe! If I get something wrong, my theroy and practice is to own up, be honest and therefore not end up looking like or being a....

Not aware of any particular optimum time to make the move and declare yourself as a non-resident for tax purposes - when you declare, from my and friends experiences, they give you back what they owe you. BUT, if you move offshore and claim your tax back / that you are a non- resident for tax purposes, you need to reside out of the UK for a full tax year, otherwise when you go back you'll get a bill from the tax office.... A tax year is NOT a calender year - a tax year runs April to April. If you were to leave the UK in October 2012 and declare that you are non-resident for tax purposes, you wont be unless you stay out of the UK until April 2014 - your full tax year as a non-resident would run from April 2013 and end in April 2014. Hope this makes sense! PS - There is also a limit on how much time you can actually spend in the UK and not pay tax if you have declared yourself as a non-resident for tax purposes. It was 90 days per tax year a couple of years ago but I have no idea if this is still the case or not.

If you are of the opinion that I was having a go at you with what I wrote I can assure you that I certainly wasn’t mate. When I saw the title of the post and read what you wrote, it made me think “What?” I read the article and thought “Eh?” I then realized you live in Sydney, at which point I got “Ahh!”, so I wrote what I wrote with the aim of enabling those considering moving to Oz who were reading the thread to get past “How much??? How can we survive if we relocate there?!” and onto “Ahh!”. Having re-read what I wrote it seems I didn’t word it well, so what I was trying to get across didn’t and I sincerely apologize to you for this. I have no disagreement at all with you or anyone else regarding the brokers statistics when it comes to the average cost of living here in Oz and, when it comes to moving here for "the classic pommy dream of a life in Sydney, near a beach and/or in a nice suburb”, I fully agree with you – this is going to be costly. I hope though that you don’t mind me adding to this by saying that there are a great deal of places in Oz where it is possible to live this pommy Oz dream on considerably less each week. Was surprised to hear what your friend thinks about the cost of living in London, but, as you say, things change over time – I’ve not set foot “back home” for just over five years and it’s a little over nine since I was living in London, so, from what your friend is saying, it appears that my comparisons are somewhat aged! Will definitely bear this in mind in future before I make any comparisons!

I’d say your $700 per month for cars is probably going to be sufficient! Figure that after you’ve paid for insurances and regos it will leave you on average around $500 towards fuel and any possible repairs etc, so as long as you’re not driving hundreds of kms per day or have gas guzzlers (or cars that are prone to break down), you should have some left over each month. For info, our SUV does around 400km on $85ish (2.4L petrol) and our 4x4 (3L Diesel) does around 300km on $55ish (both mixed driving).

It’s great to see that for once someone has done some research into what you can actually live on here in Oz, rather than just listening to the scaremongers saying you need to be earning 2.2 x your current UK earnings; $70k + etc just to be able to survive here! Reckon you aint far of there at all with what you’ll be able to live on (even if it is, as you are aware, a bit of a lean budget until you get settled and are able to go back to work). Some aspects you may find wont cost as much as you first think though (dependent on what you need / use), for instance: Our water bill has, after a year here, averaged out at around $20 per QUARTER (no joke!). Plus, if you are renting (we are home owners in QLD so we have to pay the bill), I was under the impression that you don’t pay the water bill at all, the landlord does (unless you have excessive usage), but maybe that rule and the fees for water varies from state to state(????). Mobiles (just for calling and texting): I pay $30 per month and this gives me 100 minutes of calls to any Oz number, 200 texts plus $30 of credit to use as I please (if I top up with a further $30 within 30 days of last top up, anything I have left (calls to Oz numbers, texts or cash credit) is carried over) Internet: We’ve got a 3G ‘dongle’ (plugs into the USB port on a PC or laptop, so you can take it anywhere). The dongle cost us $80 to buy and came with X amount of data usage (I forget what, but know whatever it was it lasted us from mid Dec ’11 to start of March ‘12). I put $150 credit on it at the start of March (for X amount of data usage, again which I forget) and it’s still going now, 7 months later. One item you may want to look at in further detail is ‘cars’ – your estimated cost could (possibly) be up or down by a fair way, dependent on a number of factors. If you are happy to let me know if you’ll be hiring them, buying them outright when you get here or else getting a loan for them when you get here and can also let me know the general type of each car you’ll be looking to have (i.e. small hatch; SUV; 4x4 etc); a rough idea of engine type/size and expected mileage for each car per week then I’ll give you an idea of how the $700 per month stacks up. All the best and I’m sure that all will turn out well with your new life in Oz!

Hello there, It is possible to get a 676 tourist visa that will enable you to stay in Oz for up to 12 months at a time. Have a look at this: http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/676/ Can't comment on where you'd stand on schooling for your son though if you were both to apply for and get this visa, but am sure if you contact them they'll be able to let you know. Good luck with everything!

Really? $2000 per week - where does that all get spent? Having had a flick through the article it says "Home loans or rent chew through an average $379.89 a week, followed by food for the fridge and pantry and eating out at $307.46, and insurance and other financial services at $168.64.", which on the whole I agree with (other than the 'financial services' aspect), so I have to ask where 'on average' is the remaining $1140 (ish) being spent each week????? We certainly dont spend that much a week living here and I can definitely say that we have a great lifestyle and social life and no, we are not hermits and / or living in a shack! I do note that you are living in Sydney so your outgoings each week will be similar (most likely more than) what it would cost to live in London. Do you mind me asking if, prior to your move to Oz, you lived in London?

I know that it's possible to get a six month tourist visa for Oz as my mum and dad got one recently. Have just jumped on the Oz Imi site and reckon this may be of use to you / your parents and it looks like you can also get a 12 month tourist visa.............please, just don't let MY mum and dad know ;-) http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/676/

Not sure but for info when we flew our Boxer pup from Sydney to Cairns (via Brisbane) last November it was around $300 to $350 (if that), including the vet cert to say she was fit enough to fly and us paying for the crate she travelled in (which we got to keep). At the time I'd say she'll have been roughly the size of a 'normal' YT and definitely bigger than the minature version. Sorry but can't let you know exact details of who we arranged it through as I really don't remember and can't find any of the docs! I do know that she flew up here with Skytrans though as I picked her up from the Skytrans terminal at Cairns airport (maybe contact Skytrans??).

Mate, am pretty sure that, particularly if it's a full time job, you'll need to be a permanent resident (I am of this opinion 'cos I'm on the 309 and have looked at applying for a few government jobs and when you read all the bumf about the job it says this in there). Having said that, if you've got an interview, go for it! So as not to pull the wool though I'd maybe mention that you've recently applied for the 100 visa and you expect a decision within X number of weeks. Best of luck and hope all goes well!

Not a problem mate! Easiest way will be for you to get a QLD driving license as soon as you get here, plus you’ll need one of these down the line anyway (note: from application it can take up to 14 days for you to receive the license) as if you’ve got this I’m almost certain that you don’t need to present any other identification or proof of address for where you live / the vehicle will be kept (I say ‘almost certain’ as I just registered a boat trailer, which required the same procedures and docs as when registering a car and I’m pretty sure I only needed to present my QLD driving license as proof of identity etc). Oh, while I think on, one thing to add to my earlier post is MAKE SURE the car you buy has a current roadworthy / safety cert with it (the seller should have got this done!) – without one of these you wont be able to register it in your name…..as I found out with a boat trailer recently, as I (and the seller) ‘thought’ it was exempt from needing to have a safety cert (should have done my homework properly!). Didn’t cause too much of an issue though, just had to get it checked out to see all was good with it, which luckily it was (cost me $35 to get one….the guys who did the check told me there were loads of people buying trailers, not realising they needed a safety cert and finding that when they came to get one the trailer was knackered and needed $1000+ of work done to it to get one!). Sorry for going off on a bit of a tangent there! To get a QLD driving license… Not sure mate as, although it was only a year ago, I can’t remember exactly what I gave to them to get it! I know for definite that I gave them my passport and UK plastic and counterpart licenses. Besides that, I’m sure I gave them something else - possibly a letter from the ATO that confirmed my tax file number and Oz postal address (which at the time was my in-laws address as that was where I was living) or else one of my UK credit cards or another current photo driving license from elsewhere in the world. Sorry to be a bit vague and honestly I can’t remember, but just to reassure you that you’ll be ok in getting it all sorted quickly (you’re going to be in the same position as I was when I first arrived, what with living with family), I know for sure that I got my QLD license within 10 days of me arriving here. Maybe add “apply to ATO for tax file number” (you do it all online) to the top of your to do list as the first thing to do when you get here so you have something with proof of your address on it! Again, good luck with everything – I'm sure all will turn out good!

Insurance rates will depend on the car you have and its value mate. To give you an idea my wifes SUV thats 3 years old costs us around $520 per year and my 4x4 thats 11 years old costs us around $370 per year. On the subject of buying a car privately, I've found it pretty straight forward - find the car you want, pay the owner the cash, fill in the ownership transfer forms (there are two sections to it - one part you get to keep, the other part the person you are buying it off keeps), drive off in the car with your copy of the form you have just both filled in and signed, the current roadworthy cert and the current rego docs for the car (which will be in the name of the person you just bought it from). Head over to the transport place, hand everything over and then pay them the new rego & stamp duty fees. Good luck with the move!