deryans

 two engines good, four engines bad  to paraphrase island of doctor moreau,  380 way too expensive, engineering overhead,  difficult revenue optimisation,  nightmare weight and balance with internal constant fuel calc trim,  same cargo capacity as 744 which means you have to fill it with annoying talking self loading cargo pax,  belly cargo is the sweet 20% bottom line bumper  + infrastructure at airports to manage the beast is mad,  drop two into say fiji or even Adelaide and you're stuffed for 4 hours   

Love it back in Europe, despite the brexit debacle, having lived in both North Africa,  western Europe, northern Europe (Norway),  Oz (15 years),  I actually prefer the cold, I can always put layers on or take them off,  I can't when it's too hot , there is no respite at 50 deg, and everyone puts their air con on,  you just have to get used to it,  I'd prefer -50 to  +50

what a great career you have chose, certainly Oz and the near pacific will provide you with a rich landscape to work in,  only advice I'd say is to start now,   commence your application and proceed as well as you can, don't listen to people who will say you can't or it's too expensive, it isn't and it's not relative to what other people on this planet are suffering.

Only issue is that industrialisation can often be on an immense and frighteningly depressive scale  in Oz  (Fish farming,  Zinc mining - slurry,  oil and mining ) and do gigantic damage that is very often not made visible to the public.

Subclass 190 might also tie you to an area, i.e.  Adelaide, which may or may not have anything to do with your degree or expertise so you'll have to get to Oz, wait a few years and then move to a place that is more suitable to you.

Don't be afraid of the application process, it's somewhat easier than the UK, Irish and Canadian one

Bit of comprehension check I think,   if  they don't know the outcome at the time of the application , then why guess at the diagnosis,  there is a potential outcome, not certain.

Tick the unknown box on the application form, move on, next.

By all means declare that there is treatment that has commenced,  ongoing and leave it at that,  but drawing a conclusion at this stage when there is no certainty or a firm diagnosis is naive,  when the person reviewing the application will see the "trigger word"  and likely take the process off down a route based on their own conjecture/bias.

have you or are you likely to be asked the question during the medical process ? If not , why declare and do not volunteer any personal information whatsoever unless specifically asked - and that includes the catch all  "is there anything else [that we cannot predict] that you may know about that may affect your application"  , the simple fact is that there may be no diagnosis and yet there also may be a diagnosis, and unless you can tell the future, you don't know, so the answer to the question is , you don't know, otherwise legally you are guessing.

This is interesting,  remote working or indeed most recent generation work can be remote, i..e  you should not need to be in the office 5 days a week to use your knowhow and expertise ( to be fair, easy to say with 25+ years experience - I agree a lot harder for someone just starting out)

The pre-requisite of course is a mature and capable comms network (aka NBN) and a mature and visionary company/leader  that trusts its workers to behave professionally and work remotely 

I think certain parts of australia  (i.e. adelaide) has some way to travel on both these counts.

If you like cycling you are probably in one of the best places in Australia. I haven't ever seen so many cyclists in one city and somewhere so well though out for cyclists. 

I'm not sure if you are a cyclist because whilst adelaide looks like a bike friendly city on the surface in reality it has some distance to travel,  I spent 9 or so years in Sydney and just under 3 in adelaide , cycled to work consistently for 8 of them and was in an Sydney inner west cycling club, southern highlands and hawkesbury (arkuna),   Tour de Bright in Victorian highlands is an exceptional climbing comparable to a category 2 or 3 french climb.

Adelaide ?   Hills , after that nothing and that's it, the city is flat and bike lanes are in place to segregate casual cyclists from traffic, why ?  ignorance and road rage ?  I've never seen more road rage in adelaide in my time as a cyclist, the drivers are simply the worst in the country (maybe gold coast ?) ,   Clubs ?   Clubs in adelaide are a social strata thing and not a cycling club, that is, they exist for say a bunch of work colleagues at a management consultancy firm who all ride 10K pinarello's and drink late's after an easy 50km local hills ride,  contrast that with some clubs in western sydney and you'll get a much richer demographic and a 130km ride on a weekend is norm.

Tour down Under,  ?  SA's desperate chance to try and keep it on the map,  everyone in the cycling industry knows Victoria has better routes, better climate and better scenery, yet politically the TDF is stuck in adelaide.

On 22/09/2018 at 10:41, Bulya said:

Went to school there and later time in the military in Sadelaide.  You pretty much nailed what SA is like and why expats call it 30:30.  30 mins and 30 years behind the rest of the country.

30 year is being kind tbf i'd say more like 130 lol . and the most progressive people I  worked with in adelayed were the judiciary ...  not kidding

On 22/09/2018 at 06:40, Plumboz said:

Yes I remember a lot of people had that view, can I ask where you now and I assume this place doesn’t have these issues??

yup,  SE UK, London, East Sussex tbh there are still nepotism/cronyism/ issues everywhere but they are easily avoided and have less influence in a global gateway city/larger market and if you are close to the top of your game or your kids have ambition then a small minded parochial town  anywhere is not the place for your family.

7 hours ago, Plumboz said:

What was it that you disliked, most people say it’s too cold in the winter, I personally worry about restricting opportunities for my kids in Adelaide or am I wrong? It’s kinda why I ask for others opinions, where did you end up?

restrictive opportunities for the kids, is exactly the reason we left adelaide, but in essence it's too parochial, very small minded and restrictive,  very thin labour market and nepotistic/Cronyism barriers to entry , general mediocrity in the main, massive resistance to change from incumbent employees who underperform at an astonishing level, quite an alarming youth (and professionals) exodus from the state which then exacerbates the lack of creativity and change appetite.  as some people are fond of saying about adelaide  "its not what you know, its who you know"  and this sums the place up,  similar to many small and remote places I guess, it's very common for secret and the old  "commercial in confidence"  deals done by local councils and the state government, infact they became a laughing stock about it,  in short we found it unsuitable for our family.   

Plenty comments on adelaide about its a great place to retire,  to be honest,  given the recent care home scandals I doubt even that.

On 18/09/2018 at 08:02, Plumboz said:

Thanks again for all your replies, but really wanted to hear from anyone who has relocated from Adelaide, their reasons and their findings and of course anyone who has relocated to Adelaide from other parts of Oz and try and make a bit of a comparison, it’s always nice to hear why people like or dislike an area, and I can then decide if I agree or disagree with that point.

thanks again

we relocated to Adelaide from Sydney,   it did not work out.  10 years in SYD then 3.5 in Adelaide,  could not wait to get out of the place.

gold coast.....

I think 2 years savings is a wise decision, but an expensive drop for what could prove to be a most ineffective use of your funds ?

The step back you speak of is more than 2 years, that's best case scenario and a minimum, 2 years is simply the visa requirement and has nothing to do with career, if you are an accomplished IT professional, you may find that your "step back" is considerably larger than 2 years, then again it might be that you thrive, it's something of a lottery to be fair, but with higher stakes. At least you don't have family, please tell me you're not gambling on adelaide with your family ?

if you are going to be economically distressed, then move.

2 hours ago, lynney45 said:

 

Are employment prospects in Adelaide as bad people portray on these forums?   

Are jobs plentiful as long as you are willing to do any kind of work?

 

Infact , prospects are likely to be worse,  a new government was returned this year and they are busy clearing out the 16 years mediocrity of the last administration who have steered SA and Adelaide into an economic corner.  over 5000 public servants to get he chop as a result.

Adelaide is a public sector town,  over 12% of the population is directly employed by the government, and another substantial percentage indirectly, which means over a the decades, the same people, same families and same groups of people attain control of certain functions, barring any newcomers.  

Adelaide has a reputation for nepotism, cronyism and mediocrity,  and being somewhat backward, this is a well earned reputation and it's largely true.

Jobs are certainly not plentiful,  which is a rather general remark to make,  I'd say good jobs with prospects are very scarce, low level jobs with limited  prospects are common, it is also very common for people at good level of experience and competency to take a minor role reporting to someone who's a fraction of their experience in the hope that they'll be rewarded and or promoted - this does not always work : see above

I think Brexit is primarily an economic impact and an impact to people who are in thin markets with lesser options, therefore it does not make sense for car workers (for example) to vote for brexit and then accept the economic risk that follows, it's simply unfair.

by and large, there is significant cad-ism by Farage and Bojo to better their own political agendas, at the expense of the people who voted for their "ideal", it looks and smells misleading and it is becoming rather obvious that it is.

The NHS takes a schlocking each and every day from the media with a bias, yet hundreds and thousands of people are treated each day, brexit caused an overall funding (forecast) crisis at the home office and they are now preparing for the worst trying to cut costs in advance of delivering the services, same across many departments who now have to begin to reduce costs.

Yet the NHS is a superb and fantastic institution , delivering care far in excess of any other public system on the planet.

Fear plays a lot in this, ISIS is driving cars into people and killing innocent civilians, yes, and that is appalling, the terror attacks in London are a disgrace, but to suggest that ISIS has any capability to effect any of their goals in the UK or any other european country is to give them far more importance than they actually are, they are infact a nuisance when compared to the likes of the IRA or similar organisations that did far more damage.  So we need to stop villifying migrants with an ISIS tag and stop this anti-muslim rhetoric as it simply is not true and not real.

Right wing policies are a product of inexperience and desperation, and often short lived, Hungary is making it illegal to help migrants, yet many (and I have hungarian friends)  people say its simply un enforceable in hungary,  Poland is trying to undermine the judiciary, this is common stuff, the NSW AG disliked the current Chief justice when I was there it was an open secret.

The big diplomatic winner in all this distracting schnozzle, that he US and Britain and Russia seem to be handwringing  is actually china, and when she gets the idea that she wants to say build a base 50Km off the coast of australia,  who is actually going to stop her ?

I simply don't think brexit as an executable program is possible without significant changes that diminish the whole point.

My tip ?   start a Brexit consultancy and sell shovels, snow shoes and pans to the gold diggers on the way up the klondike.

UK Economy could come to an almost  complete stop and still be 100% faster than South Australia.

The sheer volume and momentum of the UK market is astonishing,  yes Brexit is a shambles but presents amazing opportunity for us, but by and large, its very vibrant here, way more than adelayed or safe-astral-leeya.

We returned with a 11 year old high functioning aspergers,   bar the usual county council compliant documents, the services here in East Sussex/Kent  are pretty good, although it must be mentioned we have light requirements. What snifter says about needs referral and high levels of support particularly in primary schools is a challenge as the size of the school (cohort sizes) dictates the capability and capacity to engage SEN's. (assistants)

Visit to the local GP and paedriatric specialist who will provide assistance and will have knowledge regarding the best schools and or facilities, our GP turned out to have an aspire child at the same school as our boy attends, and the same GP's wife was on the board, so we benefited from her previous efforts and a fantastic pastoral and student wellbeing capability at the school.

Just this week we visited a school for our last child who is moving up from primary , and  this school was combined with another much smaller special needs school but the regard and compassion for the care of the vulnerable was evident.   Sadly we saw none of this in Adelaide, our experience here as LKC mentioned, is far far better than in South Australia

On 14/06/2018 at 10:50, Jon the Hat said:

Land Rover is moving Diesel production to Slovakia, but will convert Solihull plant to make electric models.

Rolls Royce are slashing jobs because they are under pressure due to engine fan blade issues.

Generally confidence is a little low due to uncertainty around BREXIT.

I think Land Rover have to do that, no future in diesel so best tactic is to offload it to slovakia,  electric and hybrid models are the key to the future,  I understand initial job loss, but future more employment, the trick will be how quickly they can convert the production line, I would suggest there will be much VS in the short term.

Yes, Brexit is an absolute shambles,  where we work in and around the city, GPDR, Brexit and Mifid including the multitude of euro based disengagement and cost saving programs, never been busier - quite a lot of work, but also quite a lot of frogs to kiss too , but you are correct there is an underlying uncertainty and that's not ideal.  

hope you like midden-europa pork products   

Ah love Venice ,  there this time last year,  took a private motor launch from the airport direct to our apartment near the arsenale (about 200 euro for 5 return as apposed to 100 euro return on  the vaporetti with over 10 stops, )  10 min walk to st Marks, but quiet enough to be away from the throngs of tourists ,   for local events check out https://www.vivaticket.it/ita/search   and search for venezia  , there are quite a few events on and we were lucky enough to see hieronymus bosch at the palazzo ducale which included a VR descent into hell experience my 8 year old delighted in  

The cipriani also provides a courtesy boat to and from a private dock near the Piazza san marco should you need any brownie points with her indoors

It will be busy the time of year you are going , the cruise ships are definitely a  problem, as they disgorge a huge amount of tourists into the foreshore, I can see why the locals get pi55ed off.

4 hours ago, Metalhead_89 said:

Haha! Yes after living in sleepy old Adelaide, i'm not sure I could go back to living in London! 

you don't have to live actually in london, public transport is pretty damn good , we live on a farm on edge of ashdown forest But less than 1.5 hour away from London.

I do like London , but it does not suit our family maturity and needs at this stage, in the same way adelaide fell short of our expectations once the older kids reached 9 and 10.

we left adelayed with the expressed intention of picking life up again (as it had stagnated in adelayed), and we've definitely taken advantage of the proximity of europe and travel options , in less than 3 years we've been to more than 10 european/african trips, and this april  the family of 5 went on our first ski trip, amusing since only my aussie wife had skied before, but by day 3 the family as  whole skied back over 4.5km to the bottom of the lifts (me last of course!!!) and my aussie  9 year old  telling me to hurry up!!

I think having experienced the lack of options, opportunities and closed nature of one place, it motivates one to get up and do things and not fall into a routine of same same  every day. 

8 hours ago, Tindog said:

Sorry, more questions for anyone who knows the answer...

I'm looking at the points breakdown on the homeaffairs site:

First question - does an English bachelors degree count for the 15 points? I'm hoping I haven't  misinterpreted the wording. 

Secondly - "An award or qualification recognised by the relevant assessing authority for your nominated skilled occupation." 

Does anyone know if this includes internationally recognised certification rather than those awarded by industry bodies? Specifically, I'm thinking about Microsoft Certifications which I'm studying for over the next 3 months. 

If the answer to both of the above is yes then I'll have 90 points. 

I'm guessing I'll need a migration agent to help me figure out which occupation I technically fall under, it's a weird one! 

two things here,  Immigration who follow the regulatory and quite often ridiculous assessment. If you're anglo, english speaking, under 32 (someone jump in and correct me) and have a basic BA degree, you'll make 100 points in your sleep.

and

The likely hiring manager at a place in Sydney or Mlb who has a skills shortage who will themselves have likely worked in London, Dublin, Dubai, Hong Kong ..... you get the idea, well they'd offer you a job tomorrow.  certifications are nice, but , 1-2 years or even 12 months at a big name investment bank trumps them all.  

Problem with certifications is that 1/2 the indian subcontinent and eastern europe has them, so their value has diminished, I'm not intending to discriminate, just to illustrate.

You don't need a migration agent if english is your first language, you need precision, patience and persistence , its not hard,  migration agents like to make it seem so.  we did it all on our own , took us a few months, but we did it. Then again, if you have the cash ?  splash.

20 hours ago, Marisawright said:

You would have no difficulties contracting in Australia but I think it would be easier doing it within Australia, rather than through your UK company.   You would need to get an ABN (Australian Business Number), and then you can operate as a sole trader.  It's very simple - you just invoice the company, quoting your ABN, and they pay you. 

The only catch is that if your gross income for the year exceeds $75,000 (which most people on WHV's wouldn't have to worry about, but in IT you might), then you'll have to register for GST and do monthly reporting, which is a pain in the proverbial.   Since it is a working holiday, you might decide to limit your work commitments so that you keep it under that threshold - much easier all round.  

If you don't have to register for GST, then all you do at the end of the year is include your business income and expenses in your personal income tax return, nothing special needed.

What marisa said is pretty spot on; 

Might try and explore consultants umbrella outfits,  they're pretty much the same as the umbrella's in the UK, and designed to keep you below the threshold and outside of the Aussie version of IR35  - aka  - alienation of personal services act 2007

This is a well trodden road by many including myself  x2 times, and with your skillset  Sydney or MLB is the only choice, you'd be wasting your time in Adelayed or Bris-vegas.

Best check out contractoruk.com and ask around, you'll never know who might have the answers....

https://www.contractoruk.com/contracting_overseas/it_contracting_in_australia_money_tax.html

https://forums.contractoruk.com/accounting-legal/98775-short-term-contract-work-australia.html

On 11/02/2018 at 14:37, LKC said:

Towards the end of year 5 eldest started having anxiety attacks occasionally, and school were always very quick to phone and ask me to fetch her.  She spent a few weeks doing part-time school, because they wouldn't allow or support her with the coping strategies that her psychologist had taught her.  It was easier for them to phone me to collect her than it was to allow her to go to a quiet place and use her meditation etc.  The school she is at now is a complete breath of fresh air, and she is happier for it.  In fact now I can see how happy she is here, it makes me realise just how unhappy she was in Australia.  I hadn't fully realised at the time because it had just kind of crept up, if that makes sense.

LKC, crept up makes quite a bit of sense,  when you have (as we do) a child with wonderful differences, as a family and a parent, you cope and   "accomodate",  often  this masks the effort as parents or a family you are putting in and reduces the challenge the child has to overcome (not great either) ,  in some cases it eats into your capacity to cope, often causing  stress and in extreme cases despair/illness.

In hindsight we should have been much more direct and adversarial with our school in adelaide (exclude him because I can't think what else),  they simply did not have the training, skills , nor the motivation and the will to help our son with his coping strategies, the competency  simply was not there, it was a too-hard basket - which poses the question why are these people educators ?

 When we look at him now ,his achievements and his maturing even at aged 13, is such a delight (and I confess a relief) to watch.

What I did learn from our poor engagement with education in adelaide, is to trust my spidey sense - I was on or close to the money from day one, preferring to gain consensus before acting,  I now know what bad looks like, and I can inform and help other parents who are often bewildered in engaging educators to work for a successful outcome for the child.

after all , it is about the child.

4 hours ago, Tricky said:

Thanks everyone, we are trying to work out whether it's viable and we could survive. We've been looking at household and general costs compared to pay based on job ads. But we've been out of the UK for a while. Does any of this look way out? 

For info, 2 adults and a toddler, looking to live in a 3 bed house. 

Gas £35, Elec £35, Water £40, Council Tax £150, Tv licence £15, Internet £30, Car Tax £30 per car - all per month. 

Then a couple of annual costs, Car insurance £300, Home insurance £300

Then the biggy - childcare. Would need about 4 days a week. Looks like £150 a day so £700 a month? 

Grocery shopping £100 a week. 

 

we're a little more on " financial steroids" to be honest, so a family of 5 , two teens and 1 10 year old!

No gas, but oil central heating,  approx  300 odd per annum (cheaper to fill in summer), Elect is 300 per Qtr, so 100 per month, we also have open wood fire and we collect wood/choppings from the local forest - lots of tree-surgeons round here so no scarcity of logs either way,  just space to dry them out before winter

Internet (BT Openreach fibre, landline , Sports, TV and entertainment (not SKY won't touch it) + x4 mobiles on plans , 1 unlimited (me) and others for wife and kids)  about 150-160 per month

Council tax is 181 per month where we are I think, my wife pays it....

x2 cars,  1 landcrusier and 1 small station-car,   tax is 300 for the diesel and 75  for the other ford thing

Fuel is expensive,  but we spend less than 300 a month total, probably 60 on the ford thing and 180 on the cruiser (great on motorway, shocking round town)

Food,  hmmm,  you can go to town here, there is so much variety we have M&S, Waitrose, Morrisons and Sainsburys all with in easy reach (15-20 min drive), and huge range of choice, and it can be expensive if you don't watch it,  we do x3 big shops per month at about 130-150 per shop, so that's say 400 (includes all the non-food expensive items - dishwasher, cleaner etc) and about  3-4 occasional shops in-between  (milk, bread, spontaneous etc) which come to around another 200, so we're close to 600 per month for a family of 5,  2 boys 1 girl so you're close with the 100 per week.

40 per month seems high for water, I think ours is about 270-280 per 6 months ?

Beer is 4.05 at my local,  Harveys Best, 4%, deliciousness in a glass, and not too strong, but my other good colleague in surrey paid over 5 at his !!

Travel up to london on a season is about 450 per month or 95 per week...   55min to London Bridge (yeah right..... )