Gough Whitlam

Having grown up in a Queensland bush town in the 1960's I am not surprised by this. My abiding memory was the sheer dullness. I understand that obesity is a big problem in country towns as well now. I suspect that the roots for this would be similar to the drug problem?

Our lump of a 7 bedroomed house in Bucks finally went for £1.6 and prices at this low upper end are certainly not going through the roof. But anything from £200,000 to £1 million are increasing all the time. You should aim to get 1% for sole agents from estate agents

Try Winkworths in Beaconsfield

I too find physical exercise as a way of coping with difficult times. My thing is swimming as I do 2 kilometers 5 nights a week and I have become addicted to it. There are worse things that I could be addicted to though!! Good luck.

Some, like me, are returning BECAUSE of the British weather. I love it.

I grew up in Western Queensland and the Gold Coast and here I am 40 years later utterly loving a cold frosty UK winter's morning for a run and workout! Figure that out.

We are in Bucks and are down sizing from 7 bedrooms to 2 bedrooms. Smaller properties ie 2 and 3 beds are selling within a few days of being put on the market. I would advise that you ask for prices in excess of your asking price and hold an open day. After the open day you look at the bids and ask for another round of bids with the highest bid taking the property. I can't see this situation changing soon. Houses at the higher end ie over £1.5 million are taking time to sell. This refers to Bucks and not London - please note.

Our 21 year old daughter was diagnosed Type 1 when she was 3. Since that day the last thing on our mind has been the cost of medical care, as it will be yours too. Thank goodness for that. As an Australian who is long term resident of the UK I suspect that we are far better off here in the UK with the much maligned NHS than in Australia.

All that is good about UK music. A true legend.

If you like foreign travel I would avoid Sydney like the plague. Apart from a few destinations in the South Pacific and NZ everything seems to takes hours to get to.

My children went to both private and grammar schools in the UK. They were all very good however I have a feeling that government schools in the UK have improved out of sight in recent years. Perhaps others might have a view on this? In London I am sure they have improved out of sight. I wonder if UK government schools are not on a par, if not better than Australian government schools?

Pommy bloke fronts up to Australia House in London to get a visa to visit family in Australia.

Bloke behind the counter asks "Do you have a criminal record?"

Pommy bloke sighs and replies " is that STILL a requirement

I think that Australia is perfect for tradespeople and UK/Europe offers far superior possibilities for anyone else. A generalisation I know.

I have always loved radio drama and can't seem to find it here.

I adore the BBC for its plays and short stories. Don't think there is another station like it in the world.

Can only give my own experiences. Lived in Australia for my first 20 odd years and UK for next 40 years. Broken into twice, both times in Australia (Brisbane) and been threatened physically once, in Sydney. Lived in London for many years as well.

I’ve been meaning to write an arrival report for ages now, to hopefully go some way to repaying some of the advice that’s been given to me on this forum over the past couple of years…

 

Flights – my partner left the UK before I did, to do some travel as I finished up my notice period at work. I flew Cathay Pacific, premium economy to Sydney via Hong Kong. We spent a week in Hong Kong and Taipei, which sadly coincided with a lot of bad weather towards the Philippines, so it was raining most of the time. But it was a good (ie, bearable for me) temperature because of that.

 

I like Cathay but still find the premium economy seats to be uncomfortable on a long haul trip, and there’s still the problem of scrambling out over your neighbour, if you are in the window seat. But they were a good price (1600 GBP return) and I’ll be using the return part of the ticket to go back to the UK in May 2016. Ideally I’ll upgrade but will see how much it costs.

 

I was overweight with my luggage but wasn’t charged extra and no comment was made (both in London and HK).

 

Bank account – I opened my account with CBA from the UK. When I arrived in NSW, I went to the branch that I nominated, to pick up my debit card. I got the usual sales pitch for other products but that’s to be expected, and not too much of an impost. No hitches at all and I’ve just got a CBA credit card as well, which was approved almost immediately and sent out in a few days. I’ve got a fairly generous credit limit as well.

 

Tax return – had to do my first tax return almost as soon as I arrived (started work on 9 June). I used H&R Block to complete the return, as I thought it might be complicated due to having arrived from the UK. Turns out I could have done it myself but it was good to have peace of mind and I also got a refund (due to overtaxing on my first salary payment).

 

Superannuation fund – to make life easy, I joined the super fund offered by my employer.

 

 

 

UK finances – I still have a small amount of money in my UK bank account, which I use now and again and also have some payments made into. I’ve also kept one of my UK credit cards, as it doesn’t incur overseas transaction charges and is useful for internet shopping from time to time. Both accounts are registered to my parents’ address. I still have two pension funds (NHS and private) and they also have my parents’ address assigned to them.

 

Medicare – as I’m on a 309 visa, I’m classes as a visitor, for Medicare purposes. All this means is that my card has a short expiry on it. I applied for the card at my local service centre, and received the number immediately (the process took about 15 min). The card then followed approx. 1 week later.

 

Health insurance – my partner and I have taken joint BUPA health cover, including hospital but no extras. I’m still confused by the mass of different options, but don’t have the inclination to explore it at the moment…

 

Work – I was lucky enough to be offered a role starting immediately, covering maternity leave. The salary isn’t quite what I was looking for, but it’s about the same as my UK salary so I can easily live on it. My contract was due to end in November and has been extended to February, so provides a little more financial security over the Xmas period.

 

Accommodation – we are fortunate enough to have been able to stay with my father in law from arrival until now. My partner started work at the start of September so we are now in a position to get a place in Sydney (currently in Wollongong so a bit of a commute!). We are due to move to Chatswood next week, in a 2-bed apartment, which will put us in a good position for catching the train to work and the commercial / food-related delights that Chatswood has to offer.

 

We’re lucky – in a funny sort of way – to have come from London where rents are roughly the same for what we’re looking at now. My share of the rent is the same proportion of my salary as it was in the UK and my partner’s will probably be slightly more, as he’s now earning less as a permanent employee (he was a contractor before).

 

Culture / Australians / Australia – I haven’t found this to be much of a struggle so far, but with our long commutes, there hasn’t been much time for after work drinks or doing stuff outside of the weekends.

 

I love the coast and inland areas of south NSW and the harbour / waterside areas in Sydney are just lovely. I don’t rate Sydney particularly highly, and I think the water setting is something that sets it apart from being a fairly average low/medium rise city. Yes that are some nice areas (and plenty that I haven’t seen yet) but there is so much sprawl and areas devoid of anything interesting, that I struggle to see it as a ‘world city’. I don’t want to sound disrespectful about a city that is still very new to me, but that’s my feeling on the subject thus far. But I look forward to exploring more once we are in our new home and taking the time to visit different areas.

 

I can’t say I find the Australia people to be amazingly different from any other people I’ve met around the world (they are good ones / bad ones / chatty / quiet etc). They are a diverse bunch, represented by cultures and backgrounds that come from different parts of the world, with a good dollop of Asian influence.

 

I struggle with the AFL / sports ‘culture’ but then I had no interest in sport previously so not a big shock.

 

TV – terrible. When I look forward to seeing ‘New Tricks’ I know there’s something wrong… News reporting is pretty shocking as well. There are a few things I watch but otherwise my viewing is pretty low.

 

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If anyone has questions about a specific item or area I might be able to help with, please let me know! Happy to help if I can.

Apart from the harbour setting and beached I have always been very underwhelmed by Sydney. Would agree it can't claim to be a world city. as most of is as you say, "an urban sprawl" with little of real interest.

I think everything that you have described seems a possibility. Never say never.

Sounds very sensible. It's amazing what you can save when you really try. I spent years wasting money and than had a major financial problem. I have since learnt how to live on a shoestring budget. I dont drink, smoke or buy processed foods. I buy all my shopping on 90% reductions from supermarkets and live on, wait for it, £15 a week for food! I live like a king eating salmon, a lot of other fish, sirloin steak, paw paw, mangoe and all the fresh fruit in the world. I am an extreme case but it's amazing what you can save by making the effort and looking around and asking, above all, asking! Trips to Europe cost me £200 all in for a week. Theatre can cost as low as 20 pence - yes 20 pence ie standing tickets. I have never been fitter and am almost 60.

Maybe the one other thing could be an early vote (March 2016) to stay in the European Union.

I think you are absolutely right.

"UK has yet to raise rates. US is about to raise rates. Australia is looking vulnerable because of south east Asia links"

If Australian were to cut rates as well, which is a possibility if the economy continues to do badly, and if one other thing were to happen (!!) - perhaps a really negative global warming report - than I think you will get your wish.

Aussie dollar on a real "roll" at the moment.

Coal will never pick up again thank goodness.

Sorry you haven't had a reply. London is booming at the moment as is much of the South East. At least you are coming to part of the world where things are on the up. I guess the commuting will be a pain and I think Melbourne food is better than here. Government schools here are improving all the time.

You might need to sleep to Xmas.

Australian dollar seems to have utterly collapsed - don;t think anyone saw this coming.

Go Aussie Go