stevio

Thanks Keith, We are not necessarily set on the north side in fact we are open to suggestions for nice places to live that could cater for our family. Our daughter will be 3 years old in November and we are looking for a nice area that mum and daughter can enjoy whilst I seek work! Nice schools/playgroups,friendly community,parks and reasonable proximity to shops etc. Re the car, I have had a price for shipping my existing car over, I have a very low mileage Vauxhall Zafira but ideally I was looking at getting a diesel Mondeo or something similar,how do you feel that car prices in Oz compare to the UK Keith? P.S Noted that you are from Leeds, I am from Oldham.....are you a Leeds Utd supporter? Cheers Steve

Hi Folks, Has anybody got any information regarding short term rental furnished properties around Brisbane for around three weeks or so until we establish a permanent rental property. We will be arriving in Brisbane on the 31st October. Any advise will be much appreciated. Regards Stevio

Hi there, We are a family of five in the UK who will be arriving in Brisbane on the 31st October on permanent visas. At the moment we are still debating where to rent etc. I have been told that the transport links into central Brisbane and Southside from the North Lakes/Mango Hill area are pretty poor. Can anybody advise me on this please. Another quick question, I am looking to change my car here in the UK prior to the move but have been told that I have got to have owned the car for 12 months before I can ship the car to Oz. Again any feedback on this matter will be much appreciated. Many thanks Stevio.

Hi Folks, I have a life assurance linked investment/endowment policy which I know is free of UK tax if I surrender it whilst a UK resident. Does anyone know what the position is in Australia if I surrender it whilst resident in Australia. Many Thanks.

I thought the guy who's name I think they called 'Fungi' could make a brilliant salesman in his next life! Anybody that has got the nerve to go into a hotel, take their literature and sell it to members of the public by passing it off as copies of 'The Big Issue' or not quite as he told them, showed pure genius!!! He made £12.00 in about five minutes!!.....definitely a positive in my eyes, somebody should grab him, clean him up and utilize his potential!

Ha Ha we don't have the heat problem getting to Aldi at the moment, we have just got mass flooding throughout the UK......really bad in parts but surprisingly not too bad here in Manchester!

Thanks for the info Snowpod, I have been trying to convince my better half that I need to take all my kitchen equipment with me....and there is a lot, your advice may just swing it for her! Mentally I think i'm prepared to pay more for my groceries in Oz, but having said that the prices here in the UK are getting hiked up every time I go shopping, I would have to sell one of my kidneys to afford a cauliflower in Tesco at the moment so I too am a fan of Aldi!

Cheers Fairystar32, going to look at Deals Direct shortly.

Wow ABL275, I can't believe the trouble you've gone to with this information, thanks a million!

Hi, Thanks a lot nic1171, all this info that you and everybody is giving me is really helpful so thanks very much.

Hi FNS, Thanks for your reply, I think that doubling my estimation may be a great starting point...it really is proving to be a very interesting exercise! Cheers Steve

Hi tingtongman, It seems like you are getting a good deal! Alas I will have to bring my better half and the children........or will I??!!!!

Hi fensaddler, Very useful information and thanks for taking the time to reply, much appreciated.

Hi there, Thanks very much for your help, it certainly gives us some very good areas to now research. Where in Manchester are you from, we currently live near Bolton but I am from Oldham....where it is always -20c!!

I forgot to mention Brookey that we are a family of five so there was a heck of a lot of paperwork, I can't remember whether that has a bearing on our migration agent costs,worth looking at?..........but still worth every penny and we got our visas through within 8 months!

Morning Brookey, In early December 2013 we were granted our permanent residence visa for Australia! We have now got until NOV 20th 2014 to activate this so it is all systems go and very exciting/scary! In answer to your question, we used a migration agent and don't regret it one bit. The company we used are based in New Zealand but deal with both Australia and NZ migrants. They are called 'Workingin', i can give you a contact and their details if you chose to go down that path. I think we paid around £3300 in staged payments for their services but found it to be well worth it. We did think about doing it ourselves but there really is so much paperwork and research to do that we simply would have struggled to find the time to do it,couple this with the costs of your visa and the risk of getting something wrong on your application,I would go down the same path again if I had to. They are very very thorough and talk you through every step and answer any of your queries promptly....thus taking the pressure off! Good luck and if you need further details,don't hesitate to get back in touch! Steve

Hello there, I am looking for a bit of guidance from anybody who can help please. We are a family of five currently living in sunny England! In around eight months time we will be looking to move over to Queensland, possibly in the Brisbane area because we have recently been granted our Permanent Residency Visa's. Our family of five will consist of Dad (me), Mum, Daughter aged 22, Son aged 17 and our youngest daughter aged 2....yes a big gap! I would be most grateful if you could advise on what we could expect (roughly) to spend each month on property rental,food, household bills,car hire/purchase etc etc just to give us some idea of where we need to be with regard to our finances. Thanks very much Steve