richdownunder

We did the flight earlier his year and flew singapore first class and it was fine. It's still a long journey whether you are in first, business or economy, but once you're onboard, have watched a few films the hours pass. ​

Hi, I have seen a few threads on here relating to the cost of living multiplier and am still a bit confused over what this takes into account. Both of us currently work and have an income of over £225K PA in the UK, so if I'm reading the threads correctly then I would need to multiply this by around 2.5 to get an equivalent salary to maintain our same cost of living in Australia - so $560K PA. We know that our salaries combined in Australia would be about $300K PA, so approx $250K less than the multiplier. I believe that with an income of $300K PA and a virtually mortgage free house, then we will be able to live quite well in Australia, so am I missing something here? And yes, we maybe nuts giving up big salaries to move to Australia for lesser salaries, but sometimes you have to make a change to get out of the rat race! Looking forward to any comments. Rich

Hi, I'm trying to understand the costs involved with applying for a RRV once your existing PR visa has expired. I've looked on the DIAC website and can see under a sub-class 155/157 RRV the costs are $300. Does this mean that each time we want to leave Australia we will have to pay $300 each, so for the 3 of us it would be $900? All help most welcomed.

Hi, we are moving to Victoria.

Hi, I'd like to understand the costs of Ventolin and Seretide Asthma inhalers in Australia for an adult and whether medicine/creams for a 7 year olds eczema are free or f you have to pay for them. Thanks so much, Rich

Would appreciate understanding how long you can drive with a UK driving licence in Australia before converting to an Australian one and what he process is to get an Australian one. Do you have to take a etc? thanks, Rich

Hi, I've had my visa for a couple of years now and have been out and activated it, but for a number of reasons keep putting off the move down under. I definitely want to move and will move, but am considering delaying it further as the dollar is so strong and it hurts me to transfer my money at $1.45-$1.50 versus the $1.75 when I first started applying for visas, especially when all my planning was around buying a house at $700K versus now, when using the same amount of sterling, would be $600K. While I know I can still get a lovely house for that, it does hurt....a bit....ok a lot!! Is anyone else in the same position and considering delaying or not moving at all? Be great to get some thoughts on this. R.

Hello, I'd like to understand from local residents what area they consider to be nicer from Berwick, Frankston South, Ringwood North, Mount Eliza or Langwarrin and their nearby suburbs. We are a family with a 7 year old so good primary schools would be key as would commuting times into CBD although I don't mind a journey of an 60-75 mins as that's what I do at present. I know everyones view are very subjective and what may be nice for one may not be for the other and I understand that. We will be looking for a property in the region of $550,000 when we move in the next few months and really can't decide which is why we're asking. We've been to each of the areas and like all of them, although we did find Ringwood a bit too far from Mornington Peninsular where we like, but we know the commute times are better which is why we are still considering it. Would appreciate any views and comments or maybe suggestions on hidden gems that we may not have listed above. Thanks so much.

Hi, thanks for this. I'll take a look. We've set that budget as our budget as it will allow us not to have a mortgage - we know we can go higher, but we don't really want to be committed to a mortgage every month and instead enjoy ourselves a bit more and ensure that we have enough to pay for our daughters education etc. We're happy with up to an hours commute as that's what we do going into London each day, so anything around the same or less will be a bonus - especially when at the end of the day we'll be in NSW!!! My wife's job will be in George Street so pretty central. If it was you and you were prepared to spend say $800K on a 4 bed, where would you live? Thanks, Rich

Hi, we were all decided upon a move to Melbourne but have just been thrown a curve ball which is making us consider NSW. We are both accountants and our salary expectations in Melbourne are about $200-250KPA which is more than adequate to provide a nice lifestyle and house within our budget of $550-$660K. Here comes the curve ball...my wife works for an Australian company and she has been offered the chance to work in Sydney which would boost our income to about $300K PA - she'd also have the benefits of knowing the company, the role and some of the people she'd be working with. We've been to Sydney quite a few times, mainly as tourists, but never with the expectation of living there as we know how expensive housing is. Given this opportunity I've been looking on Realestate.com to look at houses around Sydney (about an hours commute) and you don't seem to get as much for your money as you do in our preferred areas of Berwick or Mount Martha in Victoria. We would appreciate any help on what areas we could look at which are family orientated and where we could get a nice modern 4 bed house for about $550-$600K (purchase). All help would be most welcomed and most appreciated. Rich & Steph

Hi, Is it worth giving the Australia High Commission in London a call and gain their advice. I've had some dealings with them in the past and they couldn't have been more helpful. Rich

Hi, We are probably settled on Berwick as a place to move to when we move to Victoria and would appreciate some comments a couple of points: - We have a daughter who has just turned 7, so is in Y2 in the UK and we would like to hear from anyone that has moved to Berwick with children of a similar age and what school they've gone to and how the settling in/transitional process went. - I run an online travel business in the UK which I will need to continue to have access to for a period of time after our move prior to the business being sold, so internet connectivity is key. Are there areas of Berwick that I should avoid if I want a relatively high speed connection? If so, what ones are they. - We've been to Berwick previously and have a good feel of the area, but what would you say are the nicer parts that fall within our budget of $600,000 for a purchase? Appreciate any help that can be provided. Rich

Hi, We considered Canberra for a while, even visited it this year for a few days to check it out, but it wasn't for us. We live near London, not that we are always in London, but it just didn't seem to have much going on and we also found it quite expensive, especially the housing. While jobs were available and salaries were reasonably good, it didn't make up for the difference in price of housing between some of the suburbs in Melbourne and Adelaide. I'm not saying Canberra is not a good place, it's very nice and I'm sure if you get into the hills it's a lovely way to spend a weekend walking and cycling. But for us one of the appeals of moving to Australia is to be near the beach and the further we drove from Sydney, the more remote it seemed. We drove North, South, East and West and amongst all that driving we found a couple of really nice areas, one was Manuka and that's somewhere that if I had a few hundred thousand more I'd happily live, but I think I'd still wish after a while I was somewhere else in Australia. I think for some Canberra is lovely, but so is North Wales, but it's not somewhere I'd choose to live if I was moving 10,500 miles. I honestly can't comment on Adelaide as it's the one place I haven't visited. However, from a lot of recent research it's certainly an area we would be happy. We've discounted Sydney, Brisbane and Perth so we are deciding between Adelaide and Melbourne. Melbourne we love as we've been there a few times and there are some lovely areas, but those areas bring a long commute. Whereas, there are some lovely suburbs around Adelaide that are closer and at the end of a day would allow more time to spend with the family. I guess all of these comments are subjective. I think what you need to consider the most is what you want and what type of area you want to live in. As I mentioned, we live near London, but we only go there, well apart from work, maybe once every six weeks as we tend to stay around where we live. But it's nice to know it's there if you want it. I guess the same can be said for Adelaide. It has most of the things that you want, but apart from work, would you go there every day? Probably not, as you'd probably spend the time around the suburb you are in. To me the suburb wins over the city. I'm not sure if this has helped.

Hi, We always fly via Singapore as they have more for children, but if I had to choose then I would say KL. Whatever happens, Changai, Singapore or HK I think they will get bored. I did a five hour stop in Singapore on the way to Sydney this year with a five year old and after a couple of hours it was "daddy when are we getting n the aeroplane again ?". It might be worthwhile getting one of the airport stopover rooms as thn at least they could have a sleep etc. They are usually quite cheap and are airside. Hope ths helps.

Hi, I know there are lots of comparisons between Melbourne and Sydney, but just wanted to get some thoughts between Melbourne and Adelaide including cost of living, housing, working, good areas/bad areas etc. Look forward to some interesting comments.

Hello, I always thought that the hardest part of moving to Oz would be obtaining the visa, but that was relatively straightforward compared to finding somewhere to live as we keep changing our mind each week, sorry day. We are a family of 3 with a 6 year old and we are in our 40s. We live near London and have both worked in London, so we are used to the big cities, but live in a small town in the country about 30 mins outside London so we have the best of both worlds. Here's our daily dilemma. We love Sydney and while it may be the best option for work (both accountants - yawn) we really know that a decent house is way off our price range - up to $600,000. We like Perth, but not sure whether it's too remote and it seems to be getting very expensive to live there. We like Canberra, but not sure whether after a while we would feel that we've made a wrong decision in moving there and it would be to isolated. We love Melbourne, but to get a decent house near good schools in an area we like (Mount Eliza or Berwick) the commute would be at least an hour each way and that's more than my commute here in the UK and that doesn't make sense. While I can probably get my head around the commute, I'm still unsure if after a month I would be saying 'I hate this commute' and want to go home. We've not been to Brisbane, but am not sure about it as the heat and humidity would probably be too much after a while. We've not been to Adelaide, but on paper and the internet it seems to be a nice place and one that always seems to get positive views. So where does that leave us - Probably Melbourne or Adelaide? It would be easy if we were in the UK as we'd probably just say Surrey or Hampshire, but from 10,000 miles away it's harder. I'd really appreciate some views on where people feel is the best place to live and why and how many people have moved and then moved again to another state once they have arrived/lived there for a while. Thanks so much - Rich

Hi, I've never been to Adelaide, but see some good reports so am interested in understanding where some of the best family suburbs are so I can look at schools, housing, transport etc. We are a family in our 40s and have a six year old daughter and most important to us on choosing an area to live would be schooling. We are therefore looking for a good suburb with a family feel close to the beaches, but also close enough for some biking at the weekends in the parks/hills. I would plan to work in the CBD and have a budget of about $550,000 for a purchase and about $400-$450 PW for renting (I don't like renting so would look to buy asap). I would be happy with a longer commute (anything up to 45 mins) if it meant being in a good suburb for our daughters schooling. Would appreciate as much feedback as possible to give a good feel about living in Adelaide and it's suburbs. Thanks so much - Rich

Hi, I'm relatively new to PIO, but have been reading threads relating to Perth and Melbourne which are two of our favoured locations for some time and still am confused about whether Melbourne is the place for us to move too (already done a similar post for Perth), so I'd like to understand from existing residents in Melbourne what is good about living there and what's not so good. We have previously visited Melbourne and stayed in Mount Martha and looked at Mount Eliza, Ringwood, Croydon and Berwick as places to live, so have some idea about the layout of the city etc, but as we all know holidays are different from living there. We are a family in our 40s with a 6 year old, so we need to be in an area with good schools and good commute into the CBD as one of us sadly will have to work - probably me:( I would really appreciate some views on the positives and negatives about living in the Melbourne area. Also, if anyone has some thoughts on good places other than what we've seen it would be most welcome - We will have a budget of about about $550,000 to buy and rent of about $400-450 PW as we want to buy as soon as possible as don't like the thought of lining a landlords pockets for too long and too much. Thanks so much and I look forward to some interesting feedback. Rich

Hi, I'm relatively new to PIO, but have been reading threads relating to Perth (WA) for some time and still am confused about whether Perth is the place for us to move too, so I'd like to understand from existing residents in Perth what is good about living there and what's not so good. We have previously visited Perth and travelled South down to Margaret River stopping at Freemantle on the way, so have some idea about the layout of the city etc, but as we all know holidays are different from living there. We are a family in our 40s with a 6 year old, so we need to be in an area with good schools and good commute into the CBD as one of us sadly will have to work - probably me:( I would really appreciate some views on the positives and negatives about living in the Perth area. Also, if anyone has some thoughts on good places where we could settle it would be most welcome - We will have a budget of about about $550,000 to buy and rent of about $400 as we want to buy as soon as possible. Thanks so much and I look forward to some interesting feedback. Rich