LizzyTinKnicks

Just to point out that after £118k or thereabouts (threshold might have changed since I did my tax exams in 2012) you don't get any personal allowances.

We went there for my birthday this year. Expensive, but great food and friendly service. HOWEVER I would hesitate to recommend it wholeheartedly because if there's a huge great cruise shop blocking the entire window frontage (as there was when we were there) the food and service alone doesn't justify the price IMO. You need to be very sure that you'll have a ship-free night (and also ask to be seated by the windows, not towards the back as we were) to make it worth it.

Radio Cairo in Cremorne is great- more of a neighbourhood restaurant than a flashy place, but great food. You could combine it with a trip to the Orpheum (Art Deco cinema) across the road, or with drinks in the beer garden at The Oaks in neutral bay. Fratelli fresh on bridge st in the CBD is lovely- gourmet Italian in a wonderfully atmospheric basement. However it's very popular, and they don't take bookings I don't think.

I didn't know you could get a label?? For me, a printout of my visa grant email has been sufficient all the times I've needed to 'prove' my PR

The 'live and work in Australia' book is ok for the basics and a few tips- I wouldn't say it's worth shelling out for but your library might have it. (Mine did) Is there anything in particular you want to know? Forums like these are good for specific questions!

Whether it should be provided on public health or paid for privately is a COMPLETELY separate issue to whether morally it should be 'allowed' in the first place, and you know it.

So by that logic IVF for hetero couples who can't conceive naturally for whatever reason is an abomination and shouldn't be allowed?

Yes that's pretty much it- states simply don't have the power to legislate as marriage is a federal issue, so it was a foregone conclusion really. However it's still a win for marriage equality as the court effectively confirmed that 'marriage' could legally include same-sex marriages, it's just down to parliament to sort it out.

Although it's a headline pay rise they're also getting cuts in pensions and expenses, so the total annual cost will be the same - and actually will save a lot of money in the long run on pension costs. But that doesn't make as good a headline as "SNOUTS IN THE TROUGH AGAIN WHILST THE REST OF US SUFFER", does it.

lol good luck trying to get a place in social housing! whilst you're right about the conditions, eligibility is limited and the waiting lists are a mile long. most people end up in private accommodation relying on HB (which doesn't necessarily cover all the rent, especially as it's capped now, and is subject to the whims of the government and private landlords). i'm not even sure that social landlords exist to that extent in australia? (PS I am a renter, have been all my adult life so far - it's suited us up till now but we'll be buying within the next year or two to put down roots and get some security)

What's wrong with renting? Well, nothing at if you're earning an income. (aside from the usual insecurity of being turfed out of your home on a whim, not being able to decorate the way you want, having inspections etc) But what happens when you retire? Can you afford to indefinitely keep up your ever-increasing rental payments out of your pension? What happens if you suffer an accident or injury, or terminal disease and can no longer work? The right insurance policies will pay off your mortgage in such an event, but will it pay rent for the rest of your and your family's life?

Depending on which institution you're studying at they might have some sort of on-site or subsidised child care scheme for students. I'd enquire with them as to your options - even if they don't have such schemes you might be able to fit your study patterns around your spouses work. Eg http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/child_care/about.shtml Good luck

Sympathies on your dilemma. If you're able to financially, practically and emotionally, one solution might be to take a 6 month "career break". Put your stuff in storage/rent out your flat etc and fly to Oz to activate your visa. Set yourself a mental limit of spending 6 months there to try it out for size. 6 months is no time at all and soon passes, yet is enough time to explore your options and enable you to firm up your feelings for Oz vs UK one way or the other. By allowing yourself a "career break" you're not giving yourself unrealistic targets to make a huge life decision that you'd feel you need to either meet or fail. At the end of 6 months, you can either restart the clock in Oz and do it 'properly', or slot back into your old life in London easily enough. Either way, you'll know that the decision you make is the right one. I know you say that you don't want to spend your life ping ponging around, but you're only 32 and 6 months invested now will set you up in the right place for you, wherever that is, for years to come. Good luck with whatever you decide.

We rent an apartment in Sydney and don't pay for water.

We subscribe to foxtel on a month to month basis and it's a waste of money! We don't watch sport so it's only really good for Showcase (the new HBO etc type shows) and the movie channels. Going to cancel it soon and instead pay for Quickflix (the netflix equivalent) and a subscription to BBC international iplayer. There are some good programmes on free to air (especially on ABC and SBS) but you have to hunt them out. Channel 10 in particular seems to have lots of up to date US shows, showing them just a few hours after they've been on the US. At the moment they're screening the new series of Homeland and Sleepy Hollow the day after the US and a week ahead of the UK. Overall though the offering is pretty dire. There are also lots of semi-legal and semi-reliable ways you can watch foreign TV for free but I don't really know anything about those.

Oh, give over surfndirt. Western Sydney has a population of around 2 million people, as with everywhere there are good bits and bad bits. OP: according to http://www.paycalculator.com.au and assuming your approx 65k is exclusive of super, you'd earn a combined $9,600 a month net. You can happily live on this but in my opinion and experience you won't feel as comfortably/well off as you would on an 'equivalent' £70k in London. I assume you've already looked at sites like domain and realestate to get an idea of likely property costs in the areas you're looking at? To give you an idea of those 'small' costs which easily add up - phone, internet, maybe even foxtel which will easily add up to $100-200 a month. Mobiles: $30-80 a month depending on the plan. An evening meal out for 2 adults with 1 drink each will easily set you back $50-70+. A cinema trip for 2 adults and 2 kids: $50. If you want to go for a weekend away eg driving to the Blue Mountains or Hunter Valley, unless you camp you won't find a hotel for less than $120-150 a night. Groceries are shockingly expensive! As are toiletries, haircare, skincare, over the counter medicines - try doing a price comparison between Boots/Superdrug and Priceline to get an idea of how much the everyday brands your family uses will cost you unless you switch to a much cheaper brand! Obviously with lots of careful planning you can bring the costs down by getting restaurant and hotel vouchers, going to the movies on cheap nights, finding and shopping at your local butcher, greengrocer and Aldi rather than coles/woolies, shopping online as much as possible etc, but it takes time to figure out this stuff so the figures above are a general indication of how much stuff will cost. Hope that helps

yep don't bother with date/time stamps on the image itself, if its a digital camera the date and time it was taken will be embedded in the 'properties' of the picture itself (as long as you have the right date and time set up in the first place!) so you can produce that if you need to. Alternatively just take the pictures and then email them to yourself on the day/the day after, you'll have a date record that way. If a film camera, maybe try taking pictures with the front page of that days newspaper in each shot? As for which photos to take, a couple of general room shots to get an idea of the general condition for each room, with separate close-ups of any damage is all you'll need. Don't worry too much - 'fair wear and tear' is expected during a tenancy and most landlords are pretty good about it.

To be honest I don't think there are any banks that let you withdraw from ANY ATM without a fee. ING does but you have to take out a minimum $200. (They have great internet banking and decent interest rates as well, but that's another question) You'll find that most current accounts are fee free these days - either without any strings, or on condition you have another of their products

This. Just pick one and go with it. You can always open a different one once you're there and settled. I personally have NAB and ING - they're both fine (although I have had some issues with NAB so ING probably edges it for me) For new migrants NAB, or another bank with a local branch, is probably the better bet as you can pick up cards etc on arrival rather than waiting until you have an address, but I mainly use my ING account these days. Bear in mind that most charge a withdrawal fee if you use a rivals' ATM, so check out the number and location of cash points in the area you're likely to live/work.

Top shop, Dorothy Perkins, new look and Asos all do good (and cheap) maternity stuff and deliver here. They often have free delivery promos or codes floating around. If you go via quidco you'll get cash back too!

Amazon don't deliver everything here but DVDs are one of the things they definitely do! Although they charge for shipping, they deduct the VAT which usually roughly covers that cost so you don't end up paying more (or, If you do, only a pound or so extra). Have you tried JB hifi though? I've found them to be comparable in cost to Amazon, for box sets at least, and there's no waiting for delivery!

House of Fraser deliver here as well, as do the higher end dept stores like selfridges and harrods. Most clothes shops (both high street and online only like asos) deliver, as do a ton of skin care, haircare and cosmetics websites. You can save an absolutely FORTUNE by buying stuff online!

Great list, thanks. Don't forget that SO many UK retailers now ship to oz for free or for not very much- All the dept stores, most of the clothes shops I use, online retailers like amazon or asos... The duty free limit is $1000 so plenty of scope to shop online and have delivered!

Yep you can also apply for a single person discount (off your council tax only). You don't necessarily have to be literally the only person in the house- eg under 18s and any full time students regardless of age aren't counted as 'people'. There are a few categories of exemption- the council website should have full details. HTH

Yes, absolutely. The tenant is responsible for council tax, water, gas and electricity. I know that some places advertise an all-inclusive rate but that's very uncommon. Council tax varies, in our flat in London it was around £120 a month but it totally depends on the type of property and the area. If you know which area you're going to be living in, go on that particular councils website and they'll have their annual rates for each 'band'. There's also usually a link to an official govt website where you can search the exact property by address and see what band it is. Water was around £15 a month from memory, could be wrong! Don't forget you'll also have to buy a TV licence (£140 a year?).