Red Rose

There is something peculiar about Perth. I lived there for two years and really struggled with the people and others had similar experiences to me. Not just ex-pats but Aussies from Eastern states struggled with to fit in and make friends. You hear it so often on this forum too. I don't think these people are outliers, they are noticing something about the place that stands out to them. I personally noticed an undercurrent of aggression with people there, not sure wny. I can't talk about my experiences in other cities except for Sydney which I found so much friendlier. I will always love Sydney.

The south downs is beautiful. Was your village anywhere near Lewes?

Sounds like you have lived a lifetime in Perth. Has it changed for the better since you arrived in 78? Are there parts of Perth / WA you do still like?

Look at what people say about the quality of life in Perth on the numbeo site, it’s pretty enlightening

I love Australia, but if you keep scratching the surface there is just not as much underneath as the UK. I don't want to use the word sterile, but I just don't think it has as much depth as the UK. I had to live away from the UK for 10 years to realise how much I actually took it for granted.

A lot comes down to whether you have a relationship / family in Perth. If not, and you are by yourself, then you are possibly in the worst place on Earth to be: Perth is isolated and if you are not building a future there, then quite frankly you are wasting time. Life goes by so quickly, so don’t waste it living from day to day somewhere where you know in your heart of hearts you have no future.

This is a really easy question to answer. All you need to do is ask yourself one simple question: Does the thought of coming home excite you to any extent?

Life is so weird. It took me 7 years of living in Australia to realise how much I missed the UK. Coming home has felt like getting back into an old pair of slippers and it’s so good to have Waitrose again

Never too hot, never too cold, doesn’t rain that much (not like Vancouver anyway), hardly snows, September is always beautifully sunny, we do have occasional flooding but nothing extreme. If nothing else, it is fairly variable. I lived in Perth, WA for a couple of years and granted it’s a lot sunnier but the weather there was mind numbingly boring because every day was the same: blue sky, no clouds, big yellow blazing ball of sun, day after day after day!!!

Thanks Susan that was the information I was after. The market is extremely volatile at the moment but I’ll wait a bit longer to see if the rate of exchange get inch closer to that 0.56 level -

Hi all Probably pretty subjective but would you say around 56 pence to the dollar is a good rate of exchange? Its currently sitting at 55.1 pence which seems OK but I’m hoping it might go up. Just waiting for the right time to bring my AUD back to the U.K. thank you!

Hi all, So arrived back in the UK March 2020 after 7 years in Oz. I was unemployed for 2.5 months and decided to apply for jobs outside of London, and applied for one in Cambridge (I have never been to Cambridge!) and got offered the position. Still working from home (well my parents' home) until such time as I relocate to Cambridge later on this year. Started earning UK income from 1 June 2020. Rookie mistake when I got back btw was getting rid of my Aussie sim (well the Vodafone guy took it when he gave me my UK sim) and it was a nightmare setting up ATO accounts again, as my OTP (One Time Password) to log into the system is sent to my Australian number. Now that I have logged into the ATO, I need to submit a tax return. I permanently moved back to the UK, so do I need to declare the one month's UK income with the ATO for June 2020? My assumptions are: * I declare myself an Australian resident for tax purposes for the tax year 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 * I declare my UK income for 1 to 30 June 2020 even though I have already paid tax on that in the UK. Is that correct?

Thanks Rammy Girl yes good point, ANZ only charge a $30 fee but their exchange rate is crap and even after I factor in transfer wises much larger fee, I still end up with about £600 more in my bank account going through transferwise than bank to bank.

Hmm so the daily limit is $25000 so if I do the transfer via transfer wise I would need to do four seperate transfers. If I factor in their fee over four transfers, I’m not sure how much I’ll really save compared with just transferring the whole lump sum bank to bank

Through TransferWise?

Thanks both I’m just on my way to a branch by the airport to arrange for them to increase the limit as I want to transfer up to six figures and want to minimise costs by doing it in smaller multiple transfers

Hi all, I'm returning to the motherland after 7 years in Oz, flying today from Sydney. I have no knowledge at all of the best way of transferring AUD to GBP. I plan on transferring all my savings from my ANZ account to my mum's account (as I don't yet have a UK bank account). I rang ANZ today to check their rates for transferring bank to bank and I would save about 1k using TransferWise. I have left it too late now to go into my ANZ branch to organise this as I fly this afternoon at 5pm. Will there be any issues transferring my AUD from the UK, using someone like TransferWise? Thanks!

Marisa thanks I might do that actually; selling to a dealer would definitely save a lot of hassle

Hey guys would you let someone test drive the car with you in the passenger seat?

Thank you!

All, I need to sell my Ford Fiesta and hope 4-6 weeks is long enough as I want to leave Sydney (for the UK) by Feb. It is a 2014 model, I’m the only owner, and it’s only done 21,000 km. I have never sold a car before... A couple of questions: It was last serviced in Feb 2019, and is due another service in a couple of months. Would you bother getting it serviced again before selling? Are there any other tips you guys have for selling a car in NSW?

How’s the move going Denny? Are you in the UK yet? Do you think you will ever return to Oz?

I think I’m going to sell mine and not bother shipping it. Only thing is, I’ll be lucky to get a quarter of what I paid or it. I paid 2k AUD 2.5 years ago for it and it is now out of warranty. I reckon I’d be lucky to get $600 for it now.

Thanks Marissa, the TV is a tricky one, it is curved, which makes it difficult to pack. I may have to take a hit and sell it for about 40% of what I paid for it....

Hi guys I will be shipping from Sydney to East Sussex about 8 boxes of personal effects and clothes and a TV. No furniture or anything else. By the looks of the small move cube, I don’t think it will be even more than quarter fill. Is movecube still the best value even for very small moves?