Ridz84

Me and my girlfriend live in Rhodes at the moment, if you need any information etc give me a shout, I'm happy to help

We bought an IKEA sofa bed for around $500 for guests, as we knew that we were having quite a lot of visitors of varying ages (from my friends in their mid-twenties to my girlfriends parents in their mid sixties) come over and stay with us, most of them for approximately 3 weeks and it's been absolutely fine. We spent 3 weeks sleeping on it when my sister in law, her husband & 2 young kids came for 3 weeks and I thought it was very comfortable. Although it's probably not ideal if you've got a constant stream of visitors, if it's just to cater for the odd mate staying over and visitors occasionally staying for a few weeks I would definitely head down the cheaper sofa bed route

Hi Jessie123, It all depends on your circumstances really - If you think that at some point you'll be moving back to the UK it may be better to leave it where it is. As it's a Civil Service/Government Final Salary scheme then i'm pretty sure it'll be inflation proofed and subject to "Revaluation in Deferment" (ie specific annual growth rates that are outlined in the scheme booklet) and ""Increases in Payment" (once you retire it will continue to keep pace with inflation). As you have 23 years service, it's likely that you'll get a relatively good income in your retirement (as opposed to through a normal "Money Purchase" pension scheme, ie a personal pension). However, if you intend to settle permanently in Australia, it may be worth looking at transferring the funds over to a QROPS Compliant Super (Qualified Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme), as the tax situation is generally less restrictive than UK rules. One way to get an idea of what it's worth in "cash terms" is to ask the scheme for a "Cash Equivalent Transfer Value" (CETV) as this should give you both the expected annual income at your retirement date and also the actual monetary value on transfer. That's a basic outline, but there's obviously a lot more in depth rules and regulations depending on the value of the fund etc. I've worked in Financial Services in the UK before emigrating and now I work in Australian FS, so if you need any help or info give me a shout and i'll see what I can do :-)

Living in Rhodes at the moment, but hopefully moving to the North Shore once our lease is up in January to be closer to work

You can't move it from an Australia Super back to the UK in "pension form" before accessing the fund/retiring, as there's (currently) no reciprocal agreement on transfers, although you can move funds from UK pensions to a "QROPS" registered Australian Super Fund. Once it's actually been accessed though, you can effectively do what you want with the created income!!

Hi, I would say it depends if you're driving or commuting on public transport. Personally, I find the Sydney traffic absolutely horrendous and would use public transport as much as possible (just my personal preference!). When me and my girlfriend moved over we started by picking a few areas that we liked the sound of or had heard good things about, walking around areas that were relatively close to main bus routes or in close proximity to a train station, viewing properties to get an idea of the rental prices to see what we could get for our money and to see how easy the travel to and from the city was. A good place to start would be to look on this site http://www.domain.com.au/?mode=rent as you can do filters on what facilities that you'll need (ie train station, supermarket etc) and you can also set your budget. We found this method really good for researching areas, working out travel times into and out of the city and it helped to give us an idea of the areas and properties that were suitable for us

Hi & welcome! Just a brief one on the recruitment side of things: Harsh truth is that recruitment companies won't even look at your CV or contact you back unless you already have the right to work in the country/have a visa in place already. I do know how frustrating this can be!! My girlfriend works in recruitment, and basicaly they deal with so many applications for each job (average number is 200+ she tells me) that they have to filter out the candidates that aren't qualified/suitable etc, which is very time consuming. If you don't currently have the right to work in the country, you won't even get the CV looked at unfortunately. I had the same problems initially before I moved out here. I'd sent CVs, spec letters etc and because (at that point) I didn't have a visa in place the CVs didn't even get read. Sorry that this probably isn't what you wanted to hear at this point. Good luck top both of you anyway!!

Sounds good. Me & the missus will make one!

Hi fellas, i'm a massive England Cricket fan & try and get on tour as much as funds permit. Got my tickets booked for Adelaide & Sydney tests in December & January, really looking forward to heading down to Adelaide Oval, i've never been there before. It'd be great to watch a few days and have a beer with some other England cricket fans where possible

Hi, me & my girlfriend are on a 457 visa have been living in Sydney for about 9 months and it would be great to meet up with other people in the same situation. I work for a small company in a small office so i've not really got a large circle of workmates. I'm 28 & Rachel is 33

I think it's a little open-ended depending on which route you go down - Myself & my girlfriends are on a 457 Visa (she's sponsorer by her employer and i'm de facto on her visa) and it took us around 10 days from applying for the visa to having it granted, however we did have use of an immigration lawyer in Australia who was in regular touch with us and told us more or less what information she required from us. Good luck anyway!!

Me & my girlfriend are originally from Barnsley (via Leeds/York/Harrogate for work purpoes!) and moved out to Sydney in October, so if anyone wants any help or assistance please feel free to give me a shout... It'd be nice to make a few more friends & hear the Yorkshire accent a little bit more too!!