vickyplum

Haha, I felt quite sad I didn't get a 'welcome!' or any sort of fanfare as others have mentioned. But nevermind :cool:

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That's so funny !!! Perth is nowhere near Singapore .....Singapore is 5 hours flight away !!!! ,

 

When the tedium of suburbia and the whole retirement vibe of Perth gets too much, catch a plane to Singapore to get a taste of civilisation again and some great local food. Then come back to the sleepy retirement town and save up for the next trip to Singapore.

Using your same logic, Sydney isn't in the same part of the world as Singapore either. I guess those Perth folk don't get to visit Sydney very often...

People see to think that if the UK leaves the EU, there's suddenly going to be more say... The political situation won't change - there'll still be spin and lies. And when you say "we want our country back", what does that mean? Its your country now and it will always be. Unless you want the pre-EU UK back, which would be quite a shock to back-pedal 43 years.

Think about your words, don't just regurgitate the tabloid headlines without a thought about what they mean.

For goodness sake don't turn this thread into poster argueing against poster.

 

A woman in her prime has lost her life in dreadfull circumstances, 2 children have lost their mother, and her husband has lost his wife, that's where our sympathies should lie, and we should spare a thought for the family of the man who sadly appeared to be suffering a mental illness.

Agree @Kavanagh seems determined to keep the argument going!

The Surry Hills side of Redfern is indistinguishable from Surry Hills.

 

Just avoid the immediate vicinity of Redfern station and keep to the residential streets on the eastern side and you will be fine.

Yes I'd be happy to go live on that side too. Great spot for public transport and would be walkable to CBD also.

I get mine from M&S and am happy with them. I picked up a few nice T-shirts in there when back in the UK recently, and thought they had a nice range for the summer season.

I also order online, as it all comes from UK warehouse so no different to what's in the shops.

I use Parcel Lockers. They're a great way of doing things and you get a SMS and email notification, when anything arrives for you. The postal service still remains unreliable but at least there are no excuses not to deliver if you are not at home, etc!

Be aware they are only supposed to be for AP deliveries, and anything else (from private delivery companies) will still go to the post office and you'll have to pick up (I haven't experienced this but it's what I've seen on other forums + it's on the AP parcel locker website).

If moving isn't a 'life or death' situation for you and you can't get the area you want, them I personally wouldn't bother. Seems simple to me but ultimately your toss of the coin / decision to make

I live in Chatswood, so very close to Lane Cove. It's a nice area but my reservation would be the public transport links - depending where you're looking within Lane Cove of course. Maybe do a bit of Googling on walking times from Chatswood / Artarmon stations and see what bus routes go through the area.

It might also be worth looking at Willoughby / Castlecrag / Cammeray areas, as they are close to Middle Harbour and also fairly green and open. But less apartments so rental costs will probably be higher.

Wollongong. Lots of beaches, train to Sydney or drive in 90mins, close to the Southern Highlands which are lovely. Not cheap but more affordable than Sydney (where isn't?!). Large employers such as hospital and Uni + other mainly public sector.

I think that was a bit of a cheeky comment, from the friend, @Endlesswinter! I know in some places, there is still a sense of 'community', but that's not generally the norm these days. You go to work, the children get an education, taxes and bills are paid, presumably you contribute to the local economy by spending your wages on household goods etc. You seem like you and your family would be good neighbours, not rowdy etc. Apart from everyone becoming clones of each other, I'm not sure what more would be expected!?

The mind boggles.

Great - any top tips from anyone, they'd be most welcome. We've not moved from one rental to another, so any gotchas, advice and ways to make it work best would be good.

 

Here's some questions:

 

Would we need to pay the bond on the next place before we get the bond on the current place back?

We'd ideally like to avoid paying on 2 places at once (even for a week, as it would cost a lot!) - can it be worked so the overlap is minimal?

 

Thanks in advance!

Q1 - you will only get your bond back after you've moved out. So in order to secure your new place, you'll need to pay the bond before you move in. So yes, I can't think of any other way in which you'd get your bond back before paying the new bond (unless you were in non-rented accommodation in between rentals). Ideally you would have a few days overlap, so you have time to move out and get the place cleaned up, and it's not being done in one big rush.

Q2 - you probably could work it out so you get only a few days overlap, but of course it would mean finding somewhere to move into, that dovetails with your move out date. It can be done but you'll limit your options when looking for new places and probably cause a few more headaches on the way!

wow..I had better get used to the prices over here...wild prices for a cleaning per hour...up to 45 dollars per hour.. Paying 25AUD per hour still feels too much...I think I will be spending part of my weekend cleaning for a lot longer until I can get my head around that...I would have thought people would be crying out for the work for 15-20 dollars per hour? In UK there was something to be said for the massive influx of Europeans who were happy to be paid 10 per hour for cleaning and that was the going rate really without feeling like they were being taken advantage of...

Minimum wage in Australia is $17.29. In UK it's £7.20 for 25+. Hence why services tend to cost more in Australia.

Not sure how that works for the self-employed, and if they can charge less if they choose to.

Haven't you only just moved from Oz to the UK?

I thought that too, but maybe they didn't leave Brisbane and are coming to Sydney instead? Only @MelanieJS can tell us for sure!

I am going to submit a postal vote (at least I plan to, assuming the ballot papers arrive at my parents' house during the time I'm there in May & June!). Didn't want to risk a postal vote from Australia, after hearing many stories about how the card doesn't get here with enough time to return it.

I thought about it but unless we move around in roughly the same area, we'd end up having to travel back to the PO box all the time.

I had four statements - two Australians and two Brits. The Australians filled in 888, and so did one of the Brits. The fourth did their own statement. Three got people from work to sign and one (Aus) used the Post Office service. I didn't keep a copy of that one so can't check the details. This was for my 309 application in 2013.

The people who did mine, used the post office service or got people from work (in-house legal counsel etc) to do them.

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/document-certification-service

Also, if the people writing the statements are not Australian, they don't have to use the 888,which might help with the 'foreign document' problem.

Plus, Australia has a public holiday for the Queen's birthday... but England doesn't.

i was surprised and slightly annoyed by this! But it all balances out at the end of the year (in NSW anyway).

Before it got through customs to be exported, I'm assuming? I've tracked it and it's supposedly left the UK. I did phone up before and was told if there was an issue, I'd be contacted. So I guess UK customs were okay with it. Will phone up to double-check anyway. Whether or not it gets through or is taken aside seems a bit 'hit-or-miss'/luck of the gambler.

Yes if it's held up, it will be at the AU end. I don't think the Royal Mail are too fussed about what leaves the UK...

I'm with @dmjg on this one. Yes it would be a shame if the items don't get through, but it's too late now. I think your items sound innocent enough, but who knows what customs will make of it all... :policeman:

As a distraction from your scarf, I will tell you that I once sent a piece of the Berlin wall from the UK to Australia (very small piece in a plastic display container) and it got through, but took a long time. I think I recall customs opening it but can't remember if I described it as 'a piece of the Berlin wall' or something more vague...

Usually the airline specify the weight per bag - and how many bags are permitted per person. ie, Qantas business class is two bags per per with max weight 32kg per bag. Economy is one bag at 32kg per person. Emirates looks like the same number of bags for each class but 30kg for economy and 40kg for business class.

So if you fly with Qantas in economy, your one bag can weight max of 32kg but business class would be two bags @ 32kg each per person.

My wife and I can earn more in australia.

Yes you can earn more, but you will only truly find that out when you're offered a job here. We all look at recruitment websites and coo over all the higher paying roles, but reality can be somewhat different, particularly when unemployed and keen to become employed!

There are less bills in australia.

Just not true. Yes renters don't pay rates and sometimes water, but it's not free - it's part of the rent. There's still gas, electricity, car expenses, insurance, petrol, groceries, childcare, taxes to pay etc...

It's sunnier in australia.

It is. At the moment it's beautiful: cool mornings and sunny days. But during summer it can be so sunny that just a 5min walk to the shops and back, can be sweaty and unbearable.

it's an english speaking country.

True dat. English is not actually the official language and there are many other languages and cultures here. But yes, everyone will understand you.

Depends what you mean by 'Central Business District' - if you're talking West End, it might well be only 20 minutes travel from Chelsea. If you're talking The City, I'm afraid it's about the same travel time as from our place in Zone 5... In which case, Stratford would be a better comparison and you can certainly get a lovely new one-bed flat there for under £1,250 pcm.

I'd personally say that London doesn't have a CBD. There's the West End, City of London, Canary Wharf...I suppose the CBD could be summarised as zone 1 but definitely not as compact as the Sydney version!

Geographically there's not much between the two, but I'd personally choose Mascot. Walking distance to Alexandria, lots of new apartments being built (as there is in Wolli Creek as well), a few nice pubs in the area and should be possible to walk or cycle to work for your husband. There's quite a lot going on in the Mascot / Alexandria / Rosebery type areas, I really like it - a bit industrial still but interesting at the same time with lots of small/indie type businesses popping up. If you're into shopping, Alexandria is a big area for factory outlets! Depending on where you end up, the rail line(s) shouldn't be too far away either.

Check the flight path though. Someone I work with says it's not too bad, but a few streets across from her is really noisy (this is in Mascot itself). I saved this link ages ago:- https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?msa=0&mid=zKMXRFKrFd7g.kkbkkbIDE2Lo