M1cha3la

Thank you :wubclub: good luck with your move, it's exciting times ahead for you. It's only natural to worry and feel stressed but it sounds like you have all of the main things sorted so I am sure you will be fine. There are quite a few members on here who live in Melbourne who I am sure will be able to give you advice and info on the city and areas too. Hope your furbabies get the all clear on their rabies :cute: xx

There was a blanket on each seat on our flights to Perth last month, and extras from the empty seats too :cute: x

Hey everyone, So we have been here for just under three weeks, I have been waiting to do our arrival report until we had a decent amount to post about. We arrived on 19th June, flying with Etihad from Manchester via Abu Dhabi. I'll start by saying how good Etihad are, and they have a great luggage allowance/excess luggage policy. In economy we got 2 cases per person at 23kgs, but you could upgrade each case to 32kgs for 77 usd which for us gave us plenty of kgs and it worked out far cheaper than sending a case with an excess luggage company. We were also extremely spoilt as I managed to get us upgraded into business class via the 'bid for an upgrade programme' and it was truly an amazing experience. Not sure how we will go back into economy now :wub: Customs - we had no problems with customs at all. I was a little worried as I had a few items I was unsure would be allowed; some wooden masks/ornaments, 3 wedding albums made of banana leaves and two boxes containing pet ashes. We declared it all. Customs checked over it all and everything was absolutely fine bar the albums. I could of had them treated for $100 but I chose to have them destroyed. All in all we got through customs and the airport in around 25 mins. Short term accommodation - for the first six weeks we are staying in West Perth in an apartment I booked via Airbnb. It's a great apartment and is right next to Kings Park and two free CAT buses. I had booked a city apartment as I envisaged that we would be going into the city a lot whilst setting up but this has not really been the case, so whilst it's a great apartment I wish I had booked something further out/closer to the beach (I am not a city girl). Long term accommodation - we have spent a lot of time driving around suburbs. We considered a wide area looking at Mandurah all the way up to Butler, and viewed about 5 houses. I had previously read comments on here that the rentals are not as good in real life as in the pictures and boy they are not wrong :twitcy: We have settled on NoR and have secured a rental near Ocean Reef/Mullaloo and pick up the keys on 25th July ready for our container arriving on 27th *praying customs are kind and quick*. Bank Accounts/Medicare ect - We already had bank accounts so just popped in to update our addresses and get statements ready for I.D purposes. On our first day we popped into the Social Security Office in the city and completed our TFN and Medicare applications. It was super easy and straight forward and the cards came through in around five days. We couldn't apply for our driving licenses until we had them (five forms if I.D?!). We have now completed the applications and are awaiting the cards. Car/Transport - hubs, I, 4 huge cases and 4 hand luggage bags got a taxi from the airport to West Perth on the first day, it cost around $40 ish (I forget the exact amount). We brought a car on our second day from John Hughes in Victoria Park. The only reason we chose there is 1, it was the only big dealership we had noticed on our reccie and 2, it was easy to get to on the bus. They have a huge warehouse full of cars for under $10k though and we brought a little run around for smack on $10k. Mobiles/internet - we have just brought PAYGO phones for now from Telstra. Currently doing research on internet providers for our long term rental. Work - I have managed to secure a job in a similar position to what I did in the UK as a contract administrator. I have been applying for jobs directly via Seek. Hubby has signed up with the big agencies, nothing has come up yet but the agencies are confident that he will find something soon. Weather - It has not stopped raining and it is freezing! :shocked: I am sitting here in a jumper and my dressing gown. We were prepared for it to be cool, we purposely chose to move at this time of the year so we can hopefully acclimatise as it starts to heat up, but man it is cold. Overall - it is still really early days but we are very happy that we have made the move. We love Perth and are enjoying exploring and getting to know the more intimate side of it that we did not get to see on our reccie. We (I) have had a few moments shall we say, I am not used to living in an apartment or a city and I am missing my bed so much :wub:. But even during my moments it still feels like we have done the right thing and we are excited for the future. I am looking forward to starting my new job and meeting some new people and once we are in the rental we will join some clubs and hopefully make some friends too. Hopefully this post sort of makes sense and is helpful, I am not very good at this big post malarky. I think I have covered the main stuff, but if there is anything else I can answer then just ask and I can waffle on some more :cute:

We have the proceeds from our house sale in £'s still, we completed on the 19th June so couldnt get the funds through before the vote :cry: luckily we don't need the money yet as we won't be buying for 12 months or so, hopefully the rates will be a bit better by then. I know exchange rates are never guaranteed, but I cant help but cry to myself over it. It is good for many other things/people though, swings and roundabouts. I remember our first visit to Aus, the rate was around 1.79 and we thought that was amazing (being used to the rubbish euro at about 1.18). I think we got a bit greedy when the dollar got up to 2.18, nothing else will do now :rolleyes::twitcy:

Good luck :wubclub: we arrived two weeks ago today and it has flown by, your hubby will be with you before you know it. Hope you have a great flight xx

I apologise in advance for the awful quality :frown:

So my container left yesterday with all my worldly goods on it, a very strange feeling :wub: We are using PSS and their guys were absolutely amazing from start to finish, so I thought I would share our experience which I can update as we progress and our container arrives the other end. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I was a little concerned as when the 4 different companies came in to quote, all 4 said we had more than a 20ft could hold. Also all of the companies had quoted 3 days to pack and load the container except PSS who said 2. The quotes had about £1k difference in them from cheapest to most expensive and they all offered very similar "free extras". We honestly just didn't know who to choose, but I have heard really great feed back about PSS and ours sales coordinator in the office had put up with and answered endless questions off me, so it kind of just progressed with PSS. My lovely packing guys arrived promptly at 8am on Wednesday and we did an inital walk around and then they got stuck in. They deserve medals, except for the odd coffee break they did not stop once. They were polite, efficient and genuinly nice guys who helped us feel at ease during such a stressful time. Yesterday they called in a 3rd gentleman to help and the container arrived around half 12. I was a little shocked to see the inside of our container was filthy. After weeks of non stop cleaning all our possessions ready for customs, I could of cried :cry: but the guys got straight onto it with brooms and cleaned it as best as they could. It is not PSS's fault at all and I know the containers are used for anything and everything but I was still surprised. I am putting it down to my emotions :laugh: Anyway, the guys loaded the container with such skill and speed and we had room to spare! They must be tetris masters :laugh: I really can't praise them enough and if the experience in Aus is the same then we will be very happy bunnies. Hopefully that all makes sense, I am not feeling very coherent today :rolleyes: so I'll leave it there and finish off with the mandatory container pics :laugh:

I am really surprised by peoples experiences at webuyanycar. We have sold 3 or 4 cars to them, the last one being hubbys bmw. They quoted £19k online, we got £18,700. We could of got £21k privately, so not a huge difference and hassle free. They do have competition by us though with wewantanycar. We just stand firm on what we want for the car, yes they do try to knock you down but it is also discretionary, you can get them back up to the online quote.

We have a webuyanycar and a wewantanycar by us. We usually get a quote off each, then play them off each other when they try and knock the price down (which they annoyingly always do). Hub's also got them to waiver the admin fee (£50ish) for his last month. Ultimately they do pay less than selling privately but it is a quick guaranteed sale, just play hardball with them.

Great update, thanks for sharing. We fly over on the 19th June, so it is nice to read a positive post and lovely to read that things are falling into place for you. Did you purchase your car with your UK driving license or did you have to change it for an Aus one first? xx

Congratulations, she is beautiful. :wubclub: xx

Amazing pics JD, thanks for sharing them. You really are talented.

Beautiful photos, thanks for sharing :wubclub:

It was a question in jest... seems to be a running joke/debate for my hubby and his CIMA colleagues. At the end of the day I am sure each professional qualification has pro’s and con’s and suits individual career paths differently. My hubby has chosen to do CPA, that does not mean he believes his ACCA is inadequate or anything along those lines. He is Head of Finance for a FTSE 100 company and has spent a lot of time discussing options with his counterparts in the Australian division and CPA was the recommendation that consistently came out on top for his circumstances. As you say, sometimes it is dictated by employers and because of that he has also spent a lot of time researching independently and felt that was the way for him to go. Beyond that I can’t comment as I am not an accountant and will not even begin to pretend to understand the detail, but I trust his judgements and decisions when it comes to his career. The OP was enquiring as to if it is possible to study the Australian qualifications in the UK and my post was merely to advise that they can, not to debate which or what is better, becase I really do not know :embarrassed:

Is CA vs CPA the Aus version of the ACCA vs CIMA battle by any chance? :wub: :laugh: :wubclub:

Yes no probs, drop me any questions and I will get hubby to answer them when he is home tonight. X

From his conversations with recruitment agencies so far it does not sound like it will have much benefit to be honest as ACCA is fully recognised in Aus. We felt it may give him an edge though and hopefully it shows his commitment to all things Australian if you know what I mean. His current company have also paid for the majority of it (with no training contract) so he would of been crazy not to really. It has been hard for him getting back into studying though, oh how I have not missed the long evenings and the studying mood swings :laugh: Good luck if you do decicide to do it :wubclub:

My hubby is ACCA (with degree) and is currently studying the CPA in the UK before we move, so that could be an option for you. DH only has to sit 4 exams in total as he was exempt from the rest. He has one exam left to do and it's a resit, he only failed by one mark :confused: His general feeling is that CPA is harder than ACCA, but whether that is because he is now out of the "habit" of studying ect I don't know. Im sure he passed his skills assessment on the ACCA alone and not any experience, but can ask him for more info if you need any. We also got through when it was still only 60 points required a few years ago. 70 points does not seem like fun, I'd try your hubbys job if possible. Good luck in whichever route you choose xx

How exciting for you, I hope everthing goes well :wubclub:

Good Luck. Will look forward to your updates x

I had never heard of the BYO - Bring your own wine thing either and sadly we only found out after our reccie and I read about it on here :laugh:. I really like it, it's such a good idea.

Thanks both. I wasn't sure if parcels via Parcel Monkey ect would go through AQIS, so its good as it seems they don't. I was hoping you would read TPQ as I knew your hubby uses Parcel Monkey and may know, thanks :wubclub: PSS, Anglo et al do put their excess baggage/air freights through AQIS from what I can see on the quotes, so I will skip those. Not because we have anything to hide (its just extra clothes) just to minimise costs. I will go have a read of your thread Patphillips, thanks for the heads up :wubclub: I think while Etihad have such good prices and flight times to suit, I may just go down that route as its the same price as the Emirates flight we are looking at. I think I can pool the allowance, so will aim for around 25kgs per case. In theory it plenty of kgs to tide us over until the container arrives and hopefully saves everyones backs :wub:

Sorry if this has been asked before (I am going around in circles) but do you have to pay AQIS fees with an excess baggage company or someone like Parcel Monkey? I did a quote on Parcel monkey and there was no mention of it, but I am not 100% sure. The shipping companines are all saying if I airfreight boxes with them it will be around 100aud AQIS. So I'd be looking at about £250 + AQIS (and any other charges customs seem to like to add on) for airfrieghting two large suitcases 25kgs each. Looking at flights, Etihad have quite a good standard allowance in economy value of 2 x 23kg cases per passenger (so already 46kg) then I can upgrade each of those to 32kgs each for 77usd. I'd upgrade 2 cases (which we would of been shipping) we would have 4 cases with a total of 110kgs for 154usd. No custom fees and benifit of cases with us from day one, just sore backs for a few days :twitcy:. http://www.etihad.com/en-gb/before-you-fly/baggage-information/allowances/ http://www.etihad.com/en-gb/before-you-fly/baggage-information/excess/ That is loads cheaper, I have to be going wrong somewhere? Surely flying the stuff we me as excess baggage can't be the cheapest option..