Collie

That's why i said you'd have to fly.

Your daughter is about 6 months older than mine. Feel free to reach out if/when you move over. As expats, it does take a bit of extra effort to get to know people and you need to put yourself out there a bit more. You will find that you will make friends through your daughter, particularly as she starts school, clubs activities etc. Also meetup is a good way to meet people - can be a bit hit and miss but worth the effort. With Perth - I would be more concerned about work and job opportunities at the moment tbh.

You need to separate the issues. One is about what is best for the child in bonding and knowing both parents, the other is a financial issue. The child should have contact with both parents as often as they can. In the vast vast majority of cases it is in the child's best interests. There is some pretty strong research on this. Contact is an issue for the parent and the child (and the other parent should support it). This is completely separate to the financial issues of child support. Contact should NEVER be witheld as a weapon/tool for child support. Child support is an issue between the parents and the child should be unaware of any dispute or difficulties.

If you have already done Margaret river and down south, maybe head north. What's your budget? Given the distances, you may want to consider flying though. Have a friend who just spent some time up on Ningloo reef (speeling may be out) and the pictures looked amazing. I think it is pricey up that way though. Virgin do a Happy hour sale each thursday 4pm to 11pm (East coast time), worth keeping an eye on

That's great news. Congrats, what type of work does he do?

Hi guys, I have pingponged back and forward a few times between Dublin and Sydney. Moving countries is a big deal, particularly when you are starting to get settled and as you get older. Doing so twice in 5 years is difficult as you won't settle properly in the inbetween period. Also it is bloody expensive, both financially and emotionally. I returned to Sydney in 2011 at 37 and it takes longer to settle back in (c.18 months). To help with you decision-making do a pro's and cons list for each option. Items to consider may include family, careers, quality of life, finances, costs, healthcare (particularly in planning a baby), Bexit impacts (both good - eg currency for AUD and bad - earning in GBP if UK, job losses, uncertainty) I think if you move "home" now there is a high chance that you will get settled in Ireland/UK and will lose your PR. I know a few people who did this and they have always regretted it. You say that you are enjoying life in Melbourne right now. IMO, carry on in Melbourne and live for the moment. The new citizenship rules are not yet law and there is resistence to them in the senate. There may be a row back on them and it will be only 1 year as a PR to get your citizenship (the current rules). Stay, enjoy life, get your citizenship and then re-assess. Kids will change everything though. I will say that the Healthcare (& maternity care) in Australia is fantastic. So option 2 for me of the ones above. I think at least wait until the citizenship laws are passed (in whatever form) so you are making a more informed decision. Kids are the gamechanger and it would be good to be settled somewhere by the time they start school (which gives you plenty of time). Good luck

Hey Luke, I second the migration agent suggestion. A good one can talk you through the various options and help you come up with a strategy. You are young enough so have that in your favour, it may require getting some additional qualifications, experience etc. It will cost you some money but long term it will be worth it if you get your PR.

I think if the payer parent is working for a UK company in Australia, you can do so through the employer. Otherwise it can be very difficult. I assume you have tried Google for answers and have spoken to the Child Support Agency in the UK and Australia. The CSA in Australia has quite strong powers but I'm not sure if they deal with international claims.

To the OP, Australian cities are all very different from each other which is great for travelling and having different experiences. Embrace the whole experience as the adventure it is and don't compare to the Uk or US or anywhere else. Everywhere is different and has +'s and -'s. I spoke about Sydney above. Melbourne is more like a European city with lots of alleyways and lanes with hidden gems. Melbourne has better nightlife, is easier to get around and is about 10% cheaper than Sydney (so are salaries though). Melbourne a bit more relaxed, has the big sporting events and a better food scene. But, the weather is unpredictable, you get the extremes, often in the same day. Perth is about the beaches with miles and miles of golden sand. A much smaller (& quieter city), the CBD is a bit souless but Freo is quite cool. Economy is struggling at the moment and work is hard to come by. Haven't been to Brisvegas in quite a while, it was more like a big country town. Ultimately though, if you are travelling, you will want to get out of the cities. The East coast is a well worn traveller trip (Sydney to Cairns) over a few months. Again, I say embrace it and enjoy it. Forget about the UK and London for a while, it will still be there when you are done with Australia.

Hey mate, Facebook marketplace and gumtree are good for 2nd hand furniture. Regarding the cooking utensils, pots & pans etc, I wouldn't bother. You can get that stuff fairly cheaply in Kmart, target etc Also the bedding etc may be differnt sizes when you get here. Won't need too much in Cairns (ie no point bring a winter duvet or many winter clothes) Just book an airbnb for 1-2 weeks for when you arrive and then you can sort that stuff out when you are on the ground and have had a chance to look around. Good luck

Hey mate, Sydney is a great city, particularly in summer. You are the perfect age for it also. It is smaller than London though and very different. Embrace it for what it is and don't compare it (particularly prices). You will probably find that you will end up socialising a lot with other expats/backpackers. Sydney is all about the harbour and the beaches. With the great weather, it is very much an outdoor city and socialising is on the beach, bbqs, beer gardens, parks etc It will not be as busy as London and you don't have as many options (but still plenty). The nightlife isn't as good as it used to be (thanks to the stupid lockout laws). It is the biggest city in Australia and gets a lot is gigs etc. It is very good at putting on festivals etc - The Sydney festival is in Jan and is great, then Vivid is is late May/June and is awesome. Lots of smaller stuff happening all the time. Australian cities are a bit different to Europe in that the scene and nightlfe isn't necessarily always in the CBD but often in the inner suburbs. In Sydney you have the beach/eastern suburbs scene (bondi, Coogee, Paddington etc), Surry Hills is quite trendy and spreads to Darlinghurst (traditionally the gay scene but much more mixed these days). The Inner west is another good area - a bit more grungey and down to earth (and cheaper). Newtown is normally fairly good, Balmain used to be great but is a lot quieter these days. Then you have Manly and the Northern beaches - Manly wharf hotel is great for a Sunday session overlooking the harbour. The city has the rocks (old Sydney) and Darling harbour which can be a bit touristy but worth a visit Go for it mate - don't die wondering, no regrets. Happy to answer any specific questions. I lived in Sydney for over 12 years and only moved to Perth earlier this year. PS - be wary of some posters on here who don't really know Australia or have lived here in quite a while - eg pretty sure Simmo spent a year or 2 in Qld, never lived in Sydney and has been back in the UK a long time

I had one in Sydney and loved it. You can legally use the bus lanes and lanr filter when traffic is <30kph. Easy to find parking too (& its free). Should have got one years ago. Only way to get around inner Sydney. Would't go on a long journey though. Mine was $3k new, rego was about $120 and it cost about $5 to fill (100kms)

Very nice area, I have family in Greenwood and my cousin's son plays for Sorrento football club. Good club, well run with a strong community feel. Have teams for all ages and standards and joining a club is a great way to integrate into the community. I do like the area, it is a bit pricey and a bit too suburbia for my taste. I suppose you have Hillarys (I am not a huge fan but some people love it). I think long term it will do well as a middle ring family suburb close to beaches and not too far from the city. It is pricey but will be resilient IMO, I've not seen any anti social behaviour around there. My personal taste is more inner ring suburbs with a bit more life, I like to be walking distance to cafes, bars, restaurants, shops etc. That's just me though. Good luck, espeically on the job front - it's tough out there.

Buy it here, it is much cheaper and designed for Australian conditions (the sun burns hotter here due to the lack of ozone) Sunscreen does go out of date, never put on out of date sunscreen, it has the opposite effect, it is like putting on baby oil, you will burn. Out of date sunscreen should be binned. The locals are very wary of the sun, cover up and try to stay out of it (no hat no play in schools). I remember Australian work colleagues giving out to us when we were backpackers for getting too much sun. They have much more respect for the power of the sun.

Hey mate, I think job wise you would be best off in Sydney or Melbourne, while your rent will be more expensive so will your earnings and the availability of work, particularly in construction. Regarding, transport, I think anywhere outside of inner Sydney, Melbourne and maybe Brisbane you will need a vehicle. Even in Perth, public transport is not that great and a car/M bike is needed. If you are determined to go to a smaller centre, of your list, I would go for Newcastle. You will want to be near the coast, espeically in summer - it gets hot here. I don't know Toowoomba persoanlly but anywhere that is a few hours drive from the coast is too far for me. Your written English seems ok, where are you from? Maybe brush up on spoken English before arriving. As a civil engineer, look at the big Australian builders and developers in advance (Lendlease, Mirvac etc)

Yep, I agree, sounds like a complicated case so a good migration agent would be your best bet.

Yep - different definitions in different countries and depends on concentration of population also. No hard and fast rule. Ireland has something about having a cathedral which classifies places like Kilkenny and Waterford as cities (which is ridiculous). All about scale for me. Personally in 2017 and thinking in international terms, anywhere with <500k people within say a 50km radius for me is a town (large, medium, small) not a city. If you can walk around the city centre in 15 minutes, that doesn't count either. Being large enough to have direct international connections could be useful another criteria. In Australia I would classify the following as cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide. Some of the next tier may qualify in the future although not if Mr Dutton has his way. Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Newcastle, GC (although really an extension of Brizzy), Townsville. Geelong (although is this an extension of Melbs) Ireland effectively has 1 city by an international scale, Dublin. Belfast would be next (technically NI), then Cork, Limerick, Galway etc (all great places but hard to call them cities by international standards). I worked on a regional franchise strategy for a national business about 12 years ago. Our (self defined) benchmark was 100k residences within 100km for it to be viable. Not necessarily cities but regional towns large enough to be able to support a franchise. Cairns was actually our benchmark.

Hardly a city by international standards. How many actually live in the "city" area? IMO Australia really only has 5 cities worth talking about with another 4-5 decent sized towns (you could potentially argue for Canberra) Anything < 500k people can't really be called a city IMO. A decent airport with international flights is needed also (I know Jetstar touch down in Cairns on some flights to Asia) Still a nice part of the world though

Opening a GBP with Westpac (or anybody else) will not hedge against a fall in the currency. If you expect the GBP to continue to fall (as many experts do), then transferring to AUD sooner (and let it sit in the account until you move) will protect against a fall in the GBP. Of course, if the GBP strengthens, you will lose out (but most market commentators expect a further decline, certainly against the Euro.

Mortgage interest is the big one and any expenses incurred in renting out the property (advertising, agents fees etc) The big difference is that if you make a loss on your rental property you can offset that against other income in Australia (Negative gearing)

Yep - 90%+ of rentals are unfurnished. You will get a cooker, maybe a dishwasher and sometimes there may be an odd piece of furniture left there. In units, you often get a dryer. 2nd hand stuff sold on gumtree, local noticeboards and facebook messenger, watch for garage sales. Kmart is great for cheap crockery, pots & pans, basic appliances (toasters, kettles etc.

Maybe change your post title to Looking to borrow a Natwest card reader in (whatever city are you in?) I have heard that those card readers are generic so you may get away with a non Natwest one

Based on your answers above, I would say $50-$60k to make sure you are ok. Depends on what you spend on a car. You can do it with less but will want to be quite frugal Brisbane and the GC will be cheaper than Sydney, Melbourne or Perth but the cost of living in Australia is still higher than the UK. Expect your costs to be about $5k per month for a normal standard of living Obviously the sooner 1 or both of you start working the better. Accomodation will be your biggest expense and will be very much dependent on the area and quality of property you are looking for. Check out Domain.com.au to get an idea of the market in your chosen area, rents are quoted in weekly amounts and properties are normally unfurnished. As said above, look at stayz or airbnb for short term accomodation when you arrive. I think allow for 3-4 weeks. Don't be afraid to ask for a cheaper rent for a long stay. Another thing to consider is the f/x rate. Since Brexit it has tanked and is currently about $1.62, who knows what it will be in the future but many forecasters (investment banks etc) expect a further 10% depreciation by 2018 based on the Brxit negotiations leaning towards a hard Brexit. It may be worth opening an AUD account (you can do this from the UK with any of the big 4 - CBA are my preference) and transfer some GBP to AUD (use moneycorp, currency fair, Halo etc for a better rate) from time to time to mitigate this risk. Good luck

Hey mate, Welcome to Perth and yes it is outrageously expensive for leisure stuff (drinks & meals out etc), believe it or not it is about 20% more expensive than Sydney. I think it has something to do with having no pokies in the pubs here (which is a good thing). It is rare to pay <$10 a drink IME in anywhere half decent. The cheapest place I found was a bowling club on a lawn bowls day out. It was a pretty depressing place but great value booze so have a look around for your local one. Some boozers/restaurants do good midweek meal deals, particularly Mon-Weds. Sienna's in Mount Lawley and Leederville have a cheaper menu mid week and the Oxford does a $20 steak and drink on a Weds. What part of Perth are you in? The cabin in Mount Hawthorn is a really nice small bar and they do $12 cocktails on a Friday, I used to think what the hell is so special about $12 cocktails until I ventured out a bit more. I find Freo a bit more reasonable (not much mind) for prices (& a lot nicer than Perth) A lot of people in Perth do the home boozing and invite people around or visit other houses etc purely based on the cost of drinking out v in.

I have a friend who got PR in July 2016, had been here for 7 years on 457s before that. Under the old rules, he would have been eligible in July 2017. Under the new rules, it will 2020 and only if he stays in Australia. His company closed down last year and he has been out of work for quite a while (Perth market), he could have left for Europe but he stayed as he wanted to secure his citizenship so even if he went to Europe for a few years he could come back (post 2021). Then they moved the goalposts on him. He got advice from a good migration agent here to apply as soon as he was eligible under the old rules and see how it plays out which is what he did. Worst case scenario he loses the application fee (c.$300). This was good advice IMO. If you are eligible (under the old rules) apply. In Perth it is taking about 12 months to process after application anyway.