KOKORO

Being off season I would have thought if you email a couple of the agents who do holiday lets and explain your situation they would be able to offer you some good deals, I used to own a holiday let and would often get approached through the agent to do similar deals. As most of the holiday homes will be sitting their empty they will be happy to just be receiving any income so open to deals. http://www.rwnoosaholidays.com.au/ have a lot of properties in the area, and are a local company rather than a national agent who doesn't know the local market. Good luck.

The tourism definitely drops significantly in the winter months but in Noosa they are good at planning events all year round to keep it ticking over and a constant flow of visitors, I think a lot of people also come up from places like Melbourne for short breaks to escape the colder weather down there. I don't know much about the hospitality industry though so maybe someone else might come along with more info for you Good Luck!

There are no bad areas around here but each one has slightly different positives/negatives so its really just depends what you are looking for. As the different areas are so close to each other you are only a short drive from everything anyway so unless you really want to be close to something in particular like the beach, river or a school I’m sure you will be happy wherever you rent. Like everywhere else in the world prices vary depending on how good your view is, how close you are to the water, Main Beach, etc so you will probably find that your budget helps narrow down the search. If you’ve not already found it, http://www.realestate.com.au is a good site to look at to get an idea of the market. Below is a little breakdown on how I view each area Sunrise/Sunshine The main attraction for this area is the proximity to the beach and Duke St which has a good Surf club, restaurant & bars. The further away from the beach you go the more suburban it gets but that means there is a good selection of houses available that are still only a 15 minute walk from the beach. Sunshine backs on to Noosa Junction where there is a lot more shops, restaurants, cinema, etc. Noosa Waters I live here and I like it as its close to the Mountain bike trails, I have the canal at the bottom of my garden so can go paddle boarding or kayaking any time (cant afford a boat yet), and most importantly for me it’s an easy walk to Noosaville which has lots of restaurants and things for the family to do in the park or on the river. As the majority of the houses face on to the water the roads have a quiet suburban feel to them, but the area is not that old so the houses are all fairly decent. Noosaville A lot of people like this area due to its proximity to everything on Gympie Terrace and that its only a short distance to Hastings St, but as there is a lot of holiday accommodation here there seems to be less long term rentals available. Noosa Springs This is a newer development backing on to a golf club, it has very nice houses but has always felt a bit isolated to me. Pergian Beach/Peregian Springs The Beach/square area is lovely with a really nice vibe to it which is good for families. Its further away from Noosa so you would be doing more driving, but if you like a village feel its worth looking at. Perigian Springs is inland from the beach and as it’s a fairly new development seems to always have a lot of newly built good quality houses available to rent Hope that helps, let me know if you want more details on anything.

Well you've made a good choice in Noosa, it is a lovely part of the world and definitely has the lifestyle and outdoor activities already mentioned in this thread so you won't be disapointed. I moved here with my family 18 months ago and had to arrange a house, cars, schools, etc so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

There was another recent thread about refunds, hope it helps. http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/207597-withdrawing-visa-application.html

Hi, My situation seems similar to yours. When I originally applied for a 189 visa I was wrongly advised what I should put as my level of education by the recruitment consultant who arranged my job in Australia, and when this came to light my Case Officer contacted me saying I had to withdraw or risk being turned down as I no longer had enough points. As soon as I found out I didn't have enough points I took the IELTS test which gave me 10 more points than the original application, but I still needed to withdraw and re-apply as they will only base your application on the information stated on the initial Expression of Interest. When withdrawing my application I requested a refund and sent in copies of old emails showing how I had been wrongly advised by the recruitment company, and around a week later they contacted me to say they will give a refund. It takes up to 12 weeks to received the refund though! If you read through all the information on the Immi website it does say that you will get a refund if the application was mistakenly made, so I suggest you send as much information as you can to back this up. Good Luck!

When we started applying for our 457 visas we were really worried about pre-existing medical issues my partner & child have, we spent a lot of time searching sites like PIO for any information we could get, so now they have been successfully granted we want to post about it incase the information helps anyone else. The medical issues were: -My daughter was born with only one kidney & has hydronephrosis & reflux with that kidney, she needs to take antibiotics every day to avoid infection. Her best case prognosis is that the hydronephosis & reflux will correct themselves as she gets older and she will live a normal life, and the worst case is they deteriorate and she will need dialysis & a transplant. -My partner had a malignant melanoma (skin cancer) 4 weeks before submitting our 457 application (great timing!), it was successfully removed and the consultant gave a good long term prognosis. With the above issues we were obviously very concerned that we would get turned down, but after researching on PIO we made sure we got letters from their medical consultants listing exactly what the situations are and took these with us to the medicals. Because they were classed 'B' the medical results automatically went to review & after a very nervous wait of 4 weeks they got passed, and 2 weeks later the visa was granted. The doctor carrying out the medicals confirmed that the most helpful thing to do is take as much information to the medicals as possible, so when it's reviewed they have all the facts to work from. Hopefully this information can help anyone who's going through something similar. Kokoro

It was Sydney.

No the case officer didn't contact us until the 26th Sep when he requested further information.

Hi Pavy On the 17th it just updated on the IMMI website to 'Processing Further', no one contacted us until the 26th when we got an email directly from the case officer asking for more information. When he emailed us directly on the 26th nothing was updated on the website, from that point on everything was handled directly with emails. Until today when it went to approved. Hope this helps in some way.

We got our visas approved this morning six and a half weeks after applying, below is our timeline I hope it helps the people who are waiting as I know how frustrating it is! 22nd August - applied for 457 (we uploaded all relevant documents on this date as we had everything ready) 7th September - carried out medicals (which went to review due to medical issues) 17th September - medicals approved & website updated to 'processing further' 26th September - case officer contacted us via email to ask for some further information 3rd October - case officer asked for further proof of De-facto relationship 7th October - submitted De-facto information 8th October - Approval! Good luck everyone with your applications!

Our next step from this point was our Case Officer contacting us via email to ask further questions, which wasn't updated on the website as another step. Are you sure they haven't sent you an email thats gone to your junk mail?

Hi, Can you please let me know your thoughts on the below. - year of manufacture -2000 - make, model & variant - BMW 330 Touring - body type - Estate - engine size & fuel type - 3 litre petrol - transmission - Manual 5 speed - drive type (4WD, front wheel drive, etc) - Rear wheel drive - mileage - 85,000 miles - any special features, options or modification - no - does it have aircon - yes - realistic current UK market value - £2,000 - Australian RedBook value - They dont seem to do the 3 litre engines in Oz, but the 2.2 is $10,000 - Australian market value - There is a 2 litre diesel on there for $16,000 - which Australian state/city - Queensland Regards Kokora