Celt Down Under

Congratulations. I hope that it all goes well for you. :wink:

We left for very much the same reasons as Marisawright and JockinTas, and at about the same time, 1981. Maggie Thatcher running amok. Main news each night was how many people had lost their jobs that day. A sense of hopelessness around where we lived, hence several families from the town emigrating around the same time. None have returned there to live, and all have done well since coming out here. It was an easy decision to make, even though we had a 4 year old and 20 month old children. I would do the same again without hesitation.

I hope that you made an effort to learn to speak the language. :wink:

Low crime, local to parks and good facilities, do not go hand in hand with rents that are not crazy. You will pay for what you get, so can you give an idea of what sort of budget you are looking at rental wise? Also, where you end up working will have a great bearing on where you will end up renting.

This is the most boring first thread I have ever read.

We had an old building society account from 35+ years ago that was still open with a little money in it. We wanted to get my UK pension paid into it, and tried to change it to an account that we could check on electronically instead of having the old passbook that they had to update at the counter. To do so, we were told that we had to open up a new account, and because we were not residents, we were not allowed to. So, we still have the old passbook, and decided to have the pension transferred directly to our Australian bank.

Thank you for the clarification. I will now hope that the talk about allowing the increases to us living in Australia comes to a good outcome for us.

Not sure if I am understanding this correctly. I am claiming a UK pension , and get 16/30ths of it for the 16 years that I was employed prior to emigrating in 1981. So, if I now provide evidence that I was employed full time in Australia between 1981 and 2001, my pension would then increase? Where does that fit in around the private company pension that I am also claiming from a U.K. company?

LL, can you provide an internet link to the post. Reason is that I want to repost it, but want to provide a link to the original post. My sister lives in the USA, and thinks that is the best country in the World to live in. I disagree of course. :wink:

We took several books of plans from the library, came up with a design that was close to what we wanted, contacted a builder who had been recommended to us, checked some of his recent builds out and spoke to the owners, then he went off and altered the plan to the ideas that we had in mind, brought them back to us, made some further changes that we came up with, then he gave us a price for the total build, which we negotiated on. ( I did all the painting). If you are using an existing plan that you have not bought, you have to alter the plan by a certain % to avoid infringing copyright. Be aware if prime costs items are not included, such as drainage connections, because they can take an unexpected bite out of your budget. We had soil tests done, and they showed stable soil, but unfortunately missed a corner where an old well had been, so we ended up with extra costs on concrete for the footings at that point. Make sure that old plans for the area are checked for things like that. You may find that rock removal will be costed in. Make sure you are there when they are carrying out any excavations. My daughter had a home built by a well known company, and she was in attendance taking photos when the excavation was done, and no rock was removed. When she told the building company that she wanted that cost removed, they were slightly miffed. It may be worth paying for a building inspector to check each stage of building before making the stage payment, just incase the builder or one of his contractors tries to cut corners. We found out ourselves that not all the roof tiles had been secured as per required, so they had to come back and do the job properly. The builder had been there when they started to fasten them down, but once he was out of sight, they stopped doing so to save time. A stressful time, but worth it in the end.

How do you reckon Tyson Fury would go against Anthony Joshua? I do not know a lot about either, but Anthony seems to have the goods to go a long way.

Me, in February also. BUT, it will only be for a holiday, and as usual, I will be glad to get back home to Australia after 4 weeks away. :wink:

My post is #102 on this thread, when the best response to the OP, with it being his first post, would have been to ignore it totally if you did not agree with what he had to say. :jiggy:

Life is so tough at times. :wink:

There would not be too many Taffs that would argue about that J.D. :jiggy:

He would not be allowed to carry out plumbing work in Australia without the proper qualifications, and only after having those skills assessed and plumbers licence issued.

Love your sense of humour Harpo.

:-)

34 years here, and still enjoying it. No doubt some will get bored, but not us. :jiggy:

So what if that persons house is worth that much? They paid their taxes, looked after their money, so why would they not be entitled to an age pension? Why should they be penalised just because they have prepared for the future? What you are suggesting smacks of jealousy.

Bollocks to Point 2 above. Why would you do that? Example. Person A, lives frugally and saves hard to buy himself a decent property which is worth a fair few grand when he retires. Person B, works in the same place as Person A, earning the same amount, and spends all his dosh living it up, not worrying about saving any for retirement or in buying a house. Why should Person A be penalised for doing what he has done?

Mine gets paid directly to my Australian bank account. I get the rate of exchange on the day of transfer, which of course can fluctuate month to month.

Just to help a Jock out. :wink: http://www.australianexplorer.com/slang/people.htm

Coburg an older area, but OK until you can find somewhere long term. It is on the train line, and 9 stops to Melbourne Central Station, so should not take too long. Check out timetables on ptv.vic.gov.au Sorry no info on airbnb as I have not used it.

I grew up with the water having had fluoride added to it, and now at 65 years old, still have my own teeth, as has Mrs CDU.