deryans

hmmm, having lived next to them for 4 years, I don't think so.

leave on the valid travel document that works, enter on the valid travel document that works. They do not need to be the same document. Postal vote deregistration can be done online, you can't predict when the councils have their elections, we got fined I think it was 60aud for not voting in a adelaide council election, which went up to 128 and then updated to some silly number a few months later, since we'd moved it took time for this paper to be redirected. I sorted it out online - not in country nothing to pay..... issuing warrants/fines for people who are unable to be there for these petty local elections or jury duty for people who are not in the country is simply a waste of resource and time. besides being jurisdictionally unenforceable, they only serve to revenue harvest and clog the local gov AU machinery , which is the reason I suppose , now that I think of it.....

to be honest, quite a few 'strayans hide behind the "straight talking" curtain, when in reality the have bias, either unconscious or otherwise. Our next door neighbour in adelaide commented to us "oh, you're not going to sell the house to the chinese" ? Result ? We sold the house to a lovely young Chinese family and their parents. and there are (were) at least one or two other asian families on that street, so hopefully there will be some nice community for them.

it is what it is, your limits are what you think they are. enjoy

anywhere outside your perception of what australia actually is , versus what you see on media, western sydney, Lakemba, where they speak arabic at the Sahara cafe that's real australia, cessnock the wineries, where i did wine flights for couples for sydney, had 2 or 3 proposals on flights back to sydney, quite near pokolbin that bastion of jobs in NSW , Cabriatta in sydney where Viet is spoken as a 1st language, Not to be all doom and gloom about it, in sydney as a young man about town you can go up to padders in oxford street after a cricket match or a nightie game at SCG, great fun. But, you're retired, and you want to explore, great, there is an amazing vastness, a cruelty of distance and a tyranny of isolation, when you get to some of the more isolated places, the romantic view falls away, at least it did for me. Torress strait not a great place either, Weipa, Coon, etc, all just well, real australis..... There is a hill (400 feet odd)about 60 nautical miles ENE of yulara (the rock), I used it as a waypoint on one of my nav, i forget the name , it ends with "burg" it has a cross on it, the cross is there to commemorate the numerous local aboriginal teen suicides. Interesting waypoint. This is the real Australia. dunno mate, what ya looking for ? a Bun ?

It's funny you know, but an very fond old mate of mine (8th army north africa WW2) said to me the desert is a young mans game. Try 44 deg C aged 50+ and see how you fare, it's not do-able, especially if you've not become accustomed to it or done it in younger life ? Pacific islands look idyllic, once again, bit of hard work if your pushing 60 or not done it before. I'm not saying you cannot, I am saying it's more of an adventure than you might bargain for. I suppose you could drive around a cooler australia in the rain, which makes it a drier, less greener version of europe ? I wonder how many people have actually seen the real australia ? I've been around it x2 maybe x3 times by aircraft, including torres straight, it's vast , impressive, but harsh and boring, dull, hot, remote, unforgiving at the same time ? If you're looking for adventure in retirement, I'd say you're a little late.....

6-8 months average in adelaide, and that's for someone who is skilled, experienced and capable. Pity those who are betting on slender chances...

that's Pictionary !!!! apple auto correct! GRRR

in east sussex we had snow, quite a bit of it in fact in mid Jan this year,my aussie kids loved it, made a proper full size ball rolled snowman with charcoal and carrot and named him reginald, he lasted for a few days - we're about 300-400 feet above the main village so would be at least 1 deg colder over time. recon we're about 700-1000 feet amsl here. No issues really wife has the 4x4 - kids decidedly unimpressed with our constant capability to deliver them to school, Local primary did close for 1 day, 8 year old in heaven winding up older siblings, although I did skid around a bit on my little zetec on the way to the station so took it really easy. It's amazing to see how far up the embankment into the forest on the A road cars can go when they lose it......... I actually like snuggling up on the sofa with a warm fire , mulled wine and a book or a game of Dictionary

we definitely went to a smaller house in the UK, but much larger land (farm) in east sussex, weather has been fine, doris day killed our trampoline last weekend by moving it 2-3 fields away twice. We've been back here less than 20 months and the kids have been on many adventures, Spain, Greece, Egypt, France numerous times, Ireland, Scotland and am planning mid term for disneyland paris. We were in Adelaide Oz, and no matter how much the sun shines, you simply can't have a life without a livelihood.

ha ha , us too, mind you was in 2004, I was on a 475, child born in the midst of applying for PR, so my 457 was invalid, had to interview face to face at the Rocks immigration in sydney, hilarious interview to apply for he bridging, Immigration officer was clearly embarrassed at the process as he had to ask about dependancies - My wife and Child, the form then went on to ask, why do I think I should be granted a bridging visa and why can't the dependants work for themselves. Not room spaces in the form to fill in a 2 week old child and a mum recovering from a quite difficult natural birth. I'd arrange a face to face, this can be sorted in 10 mins at immigration provided you bring the necessary docs.

I'm on a VAT flat rate supplier scheme at 14.5 percent, I collect at 20 and pay at 14.5 gross, to me it is simple, straightforward and a great way to manage my Quarter VAT return as my supply is of professional services and I do not have a large COS, GST on the other hand was an absolute pain in the derriere , each bloody month collecting receipts , 2.5 cents here, 1.1 dollars there, loads of work, inefficient, myopic and wholly open to abuse. by contrast , VAT takes me about 10 min each QTR here the the UK

x3 babies in RPAH Sydney, 1 natural, x2 caesar, same midwife for all, private health but in a public hospital, same obstetrician for all private. Advice from our obstrician was private (room) facilities in a public hospital, otherwise the people, drugs, care is all the same, it benefits the hospital financially as they can recover from the private health fund. woman nearby us in Syd had a home birth, went horribly wrong and had to be ambo'd to hospital. Why take risks when you can avoid them ?

to be honest, if we had stayed in Sydney we would almost definitely still be in Oz, it was moving to adelaide that finished it for us. (even though we owned our house there!! lol)

Have to agree with some of the school comments, I do feel for you, My Aussie daughter has commented the same , make-up, handbags etc ,there are a few Chav's as she calls them in her classes, however she has made a good small set of friends (3-4) same as in adelaide and to be honest, she also had Chav's in Adelaide even in her private school - just different accents and different clothes, it's life skill to be able to spot these people and navigate around them wherever you live. The clothes and appearance do not indicate the integrity of the person. Here projected GCES'a are looking mid-top band and that's where she needs to be. We applied in-year, and our location was dictated by schools (minimum ofstead outstanding in all categories at least the preceding year) and not work (I work up in london , so any rail working network is fine lol ), we also had the kids baptised catholic in Oz which was very useful as our two teenagers went to the top of the queue and we had 2 Catholic schools to choose and one Grammar for each (had a bizarre father ted style interview to get them in lol, my CoE aussie wife thought it was hilarious)! Our youngest goes to the local village CoE, and that's been fine so far, except there is a little small mindedness amongst the local villagers on a certain topic, which my wife as an born and bred aussie stays well out of. Our big key thing is that the school we have chosen is excellent at pastoral care, tuition and managing learning difficulties, our child is doing far far better than in Oz. We had no issues with banks, security etc, I worked in law/criminal in Oz (lol that sounds wrong) but you get the jist. I also know how to push through the process and get things moving, even with no history of rental, no credit rating (which is a scam here to be honest) we managed a beautiful cottage in east sussex, pets no problem, bbq and open firepit, boys learning to shoot, and now a cat that hates me.... As regards friends, my wife is not entirely delighted that most of my old mates are still around London and we catchup whenever we can, but many have moved away and our life now revolves around the children - as it did in Oz, no difference there. As regards Tuition fees, I don't think Australia is any cheaper , even with CSP , I had two chaps working for me in sydney in 2012 that had debts in the low 100's, and that was for a basic degree. Weather is what you make of it, I've cycled in 38 degrees in Sydney/adelaide and -4 here in UK/Europe and the saying that there is no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing. the big difference we notice with UK (east sussex) vs australia (adelaide) is the options presented, options for work, travel, play, courses, experience, learning, experience etc, we felt intellectually stifled, narrow and closed down in adelaide. Our network of friends that we have now regular contact with extends to Ireland, Africa, France, Channel Islands and the US (might pause on that while things settle down).... For us its a journey, we are both Aus and EU citizens having lived in UK for many years prior to going out to oz, and it is always valuable to have options, right now Europe/Uk is where we choose.

exactly, bets friend is a partner in a london law firm, lives in Ireland works 3-4 days a week in London or client meetings, other is a barrister he lives in a small village in dorset and also works in london when he needs to, I work up in London and live in rural east sussex. but I also work from home at least 2 days a week and when I choose due the nature of my work or inevitable train strike. :frown:The london I left 18 years ago has a much more improved working ethos, 4 day week is norm in city for senior, I am paid by outcome and not hours. I know one guy who lives in spain and does 4 day weeks also. I can work a full billable week and also spend 1/3 of that week in France with the kids during mid-term.finally, London is superb for work, culture, variety and opportunity, but the arbitrage formula is to work/live in a place that allows a good house to income ratio of 3:1 or less ......That's very hard to find in certain parts of Australia due to the lack of good rail and broadband.Do-able here.

we've had no issues with NHS, 7 year old tonsils/adenoids, wife is seeing x2 specialists next week, daughter thrown off horse broken arm seen immediate. But it does probably depend on where you live, we are rural but close enough to a fair few hospitals in both kent and east sussex. as regards choice and variety for our activities, travel, education and experience, it really does put where we lived in Oz to shame, and as to work ? I'm freelance so I work from home 2 days a week and have broadband at 8-17mb per second which is more than enough, I was at my sisters in rural Ireland last year and they have broadband of 22mb a second !!!!! how do they do that???? This week is mid-term break the kids just wanted to lounge at home as last year we'd been to Ireland, France x2, Greece, Belgium and Egypt. I still dragged them to Brighton which they find really interesting, weather was lovely and that old mechanical victorian penny arcade enthralled them! As regards weather, we had some good snow a few weeks ago, kids built a snowman, no effect on us as I can WFM when i need to, the weather here in the SE can be quite mild, today we're mountain biking and dog walking with not a car in sight! Last friday week Caught up with a super old friend I met in a US flight school 20 years ago, who is now a senior barrister and in between one hundred and one IPA's we plotted a re-creation of the glider flight from Shorham to Ranville, at Pegasus Bridge by the Ox and Bucks. The only complaint I have is the train strikes, it's ok for me as I can work from home, but I do feel that it is probably unworkable for some folks who live here and *Have* to commit to work either by vocation or an inflexible boss.

if your dissertation is on that subject, then could your proposed occupation be in that area or strongly related ? In which case you may zero in on the occupational shooter category ?, I think that's certainly worth a shot despite what bureaucratic turrets you may have to climb. all awful puns intended........

Dail Heil more like! :biglaugh:

Airlines have no problems with firearms as long as they are packed correctly , with correct paperwork (usually sealed, and prepared properly for transport) I used to work for Qantas amongst other airlines. ) you know you've fired a rifle when you've shot a lee-enfield :

the Climate I was referring to was the "social and public" perception and thus the jurisdictional differences between the UK and Aus, for example a .22 air rifle is classed as category A in Oz, same as a Remington/BRNO .22 which is about a 100 times more powerful ???, high capacity magazines and semi-auto, including shotguns with round capacity are restricted to government agencies and primary producers (i.e. farmers), not impossible, but difficult. Can't comment on sidearms, you'll definitely have to join a club and be a member for a period of time (I think it was about 6 months). Totally agree with you on the regulation, saw first hand a haul of illegal weapons in a storage facility in adelaide when I was there working for the justice dept, crazy stuff and not a serial number to be seen.....

It's not impossible, just hard. Your sequence is about right, but in 2008 broadly we went for : 5) Join a club, you'll meet other people who will know the sequence, South African/Irish etc 2) after some time (the club will advise, but it varies for categories and types), including in our case we had Citizenship we used a gun dealer/shop to guide us through. The dealer will organise and manage the transport end to end (as in dealer to dealer), as I recall, no ammunition is advised transported (much more paperwork), or if you make your own, so use it or lose it before shipping, the dealer will charge for storage but it is reasonable (was reasonable) Our case had added complexity in the fact that it was a deceased estate with a number of firearms, rimfire .22 and centre fire 222, despite the Australian Police being very helpful and also the gun dealer in sydney, we just could not manage to tie the ends without a face to face, so the firearms went into storage in europe. We also had rights to shoot on land, which if you are not in a gun club is a substantive reason to have a firearm. You will also need secure storage, I would join a club immediate and tell them what you are doing, they will have storage facilities which meet the federal and state requirements. e) The firearms will come secure by freight and will be signed for by the dealer or his representative (hence no ammo or ammo in a different consignment requiring separate paperwork) Unfortunately the climate is not (as you are probably aware) kind to shooters, lower north shore in Sydney is no place to have a hunting weapon, I cannot advise on side arms and pump action, suffice to say , they are even less popular than the rifles due to their popularity with certain members of society :mad: The issue you will have is that you may need to join a club and be a member of a club for a certain period and have supervised/curated access to your weapons before they are released To be honest we're back in the UK now, boys are having huge fun with a .22 and optics (firebird exploding targets anyone ?) , but the paperwork to move our heirloom rifles (yes they have huge sentimental value) is just as much a phonebook as before.....

Savoy is very good, in another life (sans l'enfants) I stayed there for a weekend with my wife ,Have a cocktail at the american, a popular meeting place for the USAF WW2 bomber boys during the war. Harry potter world for the kids, and adults too, it's very impressive, I'd echo what others said about east sussex and kent, Leeds castle is excellent, so too is Hever, and Bodium castle is a complete intact moat castle used in plenty of movies..

Near Ashdown Forest, 20 min to Woyal Tunbridge Wells , 15 to East Grin, Our requirements were in order of priority, Schools, stations to London (there are 3 lines within 20 mins ) and rural enough to be away from it all but reasonable access to London (just under 50 mins train time - lol when it works) ,we're on a farm, loads of bike trails, horse riding, great local pubs, but close enough to get to a major airport and or port, Chunnel is 1 hour away, Gatwick door to checkin including long term is about 1 hour-ish, brighton 50 mins, portsmouth just under 2 hours.

What say you.....http://indaily.com.au/news/local/2017/01/24/adelaide-named-one-of-worlds-least-affordable-housing-markets/Melbourne came in at six in the study, while Adelaide (16), Brisbane (18) and Perth (20) were all ranked in the top 20 least affordable cities.