mungbean

This gets mentioned. No idea if it's any good. http://www.myschool.edu.au/

Yes. Getting employers' references with ridiculous levels of detail on exactly what you did, how much you earned, 2 proofs of payment for the employment... Applying, from 10,000 miles away, for university transcripts showing individual module marks from 30 years ago. (Back then they just used to put them up on a noticeboard and you copied them onto the back of your hand in biro). I never would have thought to cover all this if the MA wasn't dragging it all out of me.

OK Central to Coomera is more like an hour, but to GC it's obviously longer (e.g. drive from Helensvale).

BNE-GC is about 1.5hrs on a not particularly comfortable train that stops a lot, but IIRC has free wifi.

Check out http://www.seek.com.au/ for an idea of the job market. https://www.linkedin.com is pretty heavily used for recruiting here too.

Hey @alamo1998 I'm not a QLD expert but I seem to keep reading everywhere that BNE is growing faster than anywhere else in Aus, which you would think means good prospects for architects... Going to be much cheaper to live up there too. A colleague of mine just re-located (SYD-BNE) and is pretty happy with the decision. I'm kinda tempted myself... SYD house prices and rentals are just crazy.

Where are you looking? And are you both looking to practice? Big firms are here. Friend of mine from Germany just moved to Sydney for one. (Feel free to PM me)

Anglo Pacific screwed up with me. I got 2 quotes for shipping cartons, rather than a container -- one from them and one from PSS. I decided to go with PSS as they were slightly cheaper and customer service on the phone was marginally better. Next thing I knew, Anglo Pacific delivered empty boxes and tape to the house. I called them to say "oi, I'm not using you, come and take them back". They said they would rather just leave them as it's cheaper than picking them up. Then PSS deliver boxes and tape to the house next day. 2-3 days later I've boxed everything up in PSS-branded boxes. A third-party courier turns up, as arranged, to take the boxes to the depot. It was TNT I think. I asked him who he was collecting for but he didn't know. He had come on the day I arranged with PSS, so I thought all was good. He took my boxes away. An hour later another courier turns up. Says he's collecting for PSS! By this time I was already in Aus, so I had to leave my elderly mother in charge of sorting out the mess, and getting Anglo to somehow bring the boxes back, or deliver them to PPS's depot. Very messy, and unnecessary stress on my poor old mum, just when I'm leaving for Aus. I was very unimpressed by what looked like a combination of incompetence and very aggressive selling.

Never mind Chester, median house price in Sydney just went past $1m, overtaking London! http://www.afr.com/real-estate/residential/median-house-price-in-sydney-tops-1-million-for-first-time-20150723-gihqjk

And yet it was 21 degrees on Saturday and not a cloud in the sky. After having two -17C winters in a row in Scotland before I left the UK, I know which I prefer... ;-)

Cathay Pacific were also offering 40kg for migration fares via Hong Kong 6 months ago, telephone only, but they don't allow stop-overs with these fares.

Does it have to be a 189? I came in on a 457 at the age of 49 and am in the process of applying for "direct entry" route of 186 employer nominated scheme. My MA tells me that so long as I get my application in before I turn 50 it will be considered. Of course, to get the 457 in the first place you have to have a job offer from a firm who's able to nominate you, and who then will nominate you for the 186, but it is possible after the age of 45.

Welcome @buzzsparker This interactive guide is a sensible place to start with understanding the various types of visa (it's complicated): http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1 Lots of other info on that site too, including a browsable list of all the visas: http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/Visa-listing Good luck

Only if the airline actually offers it (not many do?), and you will probably have to phone them to get the deal. Have a look at this thread: http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/transport-shipping/226827-migration-airline-fares.html

21 degrees in the inner west yesterday, and a more-or-less cloudless sky. Beautiful day. Didn't even have to run my heating in the evening. (Unlike today) Back in Scotland that's a heatwave! And only 2 weeks after it was SNOWING up in the Blue Mountains. So when does spring officially start in NSW?

Another +1 for Commonwealth Bank... Applied for a credit card on Monday night online... no faffing or visiting physical branch required. Email saying "conditionally approved" received within minutes, confirmation e-mail the next day, and the card sitting in my mailbox when I got home Today, Thursday. Didn't have to supply any extra docs apart from the 2 payslips I uploaded with the application. Activated the card and set the PIN via their phone app, and we're good to go. First year is fee-free, and no fee after that so long as you spend $1000 in a year, which isn't hard let's face it. A good experience.

What a story. Disappointing that it doesn't go back any further than conception though.

+1 -- someone on POI was asking recently about how to open a UK account when moving back. Which begs the question "why did you close it when you left"? If you're not paying charges to have it, keep it open.

In Scotland they're usually 4. Rest of the UK they're usually 3. In the UK most people study for an honours degree, and receive non-honours if they achieve a 3rd class ("ordinary degree"). In Aus an honours and non-honours degree are specified as being different quals at separate levels in the Australian Qualifications Framework. The biggest differences in quality would be down to the institution where you study, rather than whether it's here or there.

Anywhere that's maximum distance from screaming and vomiting infants is a good choice, especially when you're on the plane for 17 hours. (Recent experience!) I usually pick equal distance between the bulk-heads, as they put the cots for babies next to those, but there's no planning against where the random small brats might end up. I always travel with earplugs. The headphones on Etihad when I flew on a 380 recently were surprisingly good and blocked out a lot of noise, but travelling with your own and an adapter to plug into the daft double-mono connectors can be useful. I always book a window-seat because I find it better for sleeping.

https://www.ato.gov.au/Forms/TFN---application-for-individuals/ I was still in temporary accommodation when I applied for mine, but I gave my work address and it was sent there no problem.

See https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/income-and-deductions/deductions-you-can-claim/self-education-expenses/

Won't they expect you to be resident in the UK and to provide evidence that you will be working there to pay it off? If I were a bank I wouldn't be lending money to someone who's about to leave the country.

NVQ 4 is apparently mapped into Levels 4, 5 and 6 in the UK National Qualifications Framework, which corresponds to AQF levels 5, 6, and 7. https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/compare-different-qualification-levels http://www.aqf.edu.au/aqf/in-detail/aqf-levels/ Presumably this is leaving scope for interpretation in the absence of further information.

I used PSS https://www.pssremovals.com/ - paid £515 for 4 boxes (16 cu ft / 73.3kg). Others here have recommended http://www.johnmason.com/ I also got a quote from http://www.anglopacific.co.uk/ but based on them screwing up (ie. sending a courier and taking my boxes away even though I told them I wasn't going with their quote), I wouldn't be able to recommend them.