Martinbjulieb

We came back in March after 10 years in Perth. We decided roughly where we wanted to be as we were not going back to our original town. Our decision was based on being central to get the most out of an area when looking for jobs. We therefore based ourselves in Derbyshire which is pretty much smack bang in the middle of the Country. From there my husband could apply for jobs literally anywhere from York to Coventry. We booked a holiday cottage for the first few weeks which means you have everything you need to hand and no extra bills to pay. We were lucky in the fact that it was early season and they had not many future bookings. We ended up staying about 10 weeks there and moved out twice for weekends when they were booked, we simply stayed somewhere else and then moved back in!! I am happy to say that we made 2 new friends who are now regular visitors to our new house!! AirBnb is another good option. We simply put our belongings into storage at the removal company's depot until we were ready. If you have pets to collect it might be an idea to fly them slightly ahead of you as I believe the delay at this end is now slightly longer. We picked our dog up 90 mins after landing but I believe that has now changed and it takes longer. Don't know where you are flying into but we came into Manchester and booked a night at the pet friendly Britannia Country House Hotel before travelling on the next day. Good luck. PM be if you have any questions or want advice about the move [emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

I would say it is cheaper here on the whole. I was spending up to $300 per WEEK for a family of 4 in Perth and now I am spending between £80-£100 per week, including wine. Utilities are cheaper, most definitely electricity! Mobiles and internet are a fraction of the cost here with unlimited broadband. Rates, yes a bit more expensive as is petrol, but I don't drive as much as the kids get the free school bus from the village and we have local, very competitively priced shop/post office! Car insurance and home insurance definitely much cheaper for us. Eating out varies, but on the whole cheaper than Perth. Clothes/household shopping much cheaper and much better quality. Vets bills are cheaper and so are the flea tablets and the like that you buy from pet shops in Australia. Our vet actually does a payment plan where you pay £9.50 per month (for a dog under 10kg) and this includes all boosters, 6 monthly check ups, flea tabs for the year and worming tabs for the year and a discount off other services. Rent is about the same but we are living in a Grade 2 listed farmhouse, by choice, but it is our dream house and hopefully will buy it!! And don't get me started on the price of school uniforms!!! I know this doesn't apply to the OP but others maybe interested. I just bought my two children uniforms for September, including blazers for about £150, for both! Nothing like the around $600 we spent on our son(so just one set of uniforms) for his first year in high school in Australia!!! Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

Maybe, yes. 10 years ago so don't remember. But that makes sense. Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

Welcome home Pixie 77 and family[emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

So who put the visas in in the first place?? I assumed it was the British passport office. Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

When we renewed our children's passports the PR visas were not transferred. Actually we never even thought about it as we assumed everything would be recorded electronically and their passports would be linked to ours with the visas still in. It was only when we were at the airport going to the UK for a holiday it was pointed out to us that we might have trouble returning with the children without the visas in our passports!!! We had to call up a friend to go to our house and find and scan the old passports to use just in case! Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

We have just moved back after 10 years in Perth, with kids aged 11 and 13. They have settled extremely well as have we. We are 52 and 49 so you are definitely not too old. We were in Perth too. Any questions or help on the move feel free to ask or PM me. Good luck, the deciding is the hardest part! ?

Fantastic post Phil&Vikki, very well thought out and spot on for our reasons on moving back after 10 years too.[emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

Any advice please? We returned to the UK in March. Our belongings, including my husband's beloved HD bike arrived early April. We had it transferred straight to a HD dealer to have the exhaust pipes and other technical things changed (things that I don't claim to understand) back "to standard" The bike was imported and noted on our TOR forms and we have the NOVA number that we need to register it. HOWEVER apparently we need a Certificate of Conformancy from HD to register the bike with the DVLA. For some reason HD are unable to supply this and have supplied a Statement of configuration instead. This simply states the vin number and the bike details and says that it conforms to AUSTRALIAN standards surely this is not going to help with the registration process. Has anyone else been through this? Hubby just wants the bike on the road!! Any advice gratefully received?

I agree about 20 mins. You only need to do ONE though. We thought we had to do one each but it is one per shipment apparently. I found that out when we only got one reference number and I rang to query it[emoji4]. Good luck Pixie77 when is your move date? Suesmalls, I know when yours is!!!!![emoji847] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is a thread about back in the UK from Perth, not about Guinness! Let's not sidetrack from the original thread. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We used "Insure4less"online. But you can also call them up to discuss.[emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ours did, and I made sure it was in force for 6 weeks after we got here Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree with LKC regarding the phone contract. I kept mine going for a few weeks and simply bought a pay as you go SIM from Vodafone. They do good bundles and a £20 "big value bundle" gets you 4gb of data, 500 mins of calls and unlimited text messages. I just used to put the new SIM card in my phone and occasionally change them over to check my messages. However be aware of carrier roaming charges!!Definitely look on Money Supermarket to compare just about anything. We got our car insurance through Confused.com and the insurer we chose was underwritten by Aviva and accepted our Australian no claims. Can't help with pet insurance, sorry. Get yourself on the electoral roll as soon as you can this can help with credit scoring etc. It doesn't matter if it is not at your forever address you can easily change it online when you move. Also register with Gov.UK, you can access lots of info through here and you will need a National Insurance number to register. You can get good one way travel insurance through Insure4less. Some people might not know that you can't get normal travel insurance on a one way ticket. This means that all your luggage and any belongings you take with you will not be insured until you set up home insurance. On one way insurance, which includes health insurance you can choose a date in the future and extend it online if you need to. [emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We left on our Australian passports and arrived using our British ones and that way you get to stand in the (generally) smaller and faster moving queue![emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey Sue, I also threw my old receipts out before we left!! AND the company we bought from no longer exist! To be honest they base the claim more on the value to replace, so you just choose something from a website here that you think is equivalent. I guess they would only contest that if you chose something ridiculously expensive[emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi all, Following on from my "Moved back" update I have more information to share! We had some slight damage to some of our furniture during transit, of course when we are moving overseas many people handle your belongings so blame cannot actually be pinpointed on anyone. Anyway we insured with Letton Percival who were very helpful from the off. We had our furniture, belongings and a motorbike insured. Three pieces of furniture had damage to them, nothing so big that it totally spoilt them but one piece had particularly noticeable damage. We also had a smashed table lamp. I have to say that LP were fabulously easy to deal with with our claim. We emailed them as per the instructions on the policy. They replied setting out what they needed. Basically we had to supply photos of the damage and provide links or screenshots from furniture shops showing prices and pictures of like for like replacements. We also had to email the removal companies in Perth and here advising them of the damage. They usually come back and say they are not to blame, you simply forward this onto LP. LP then got back to us within a week advising that the claim was upheld and that we would receive a payout. If items are to be replaced, like our TV unit you simply provide them with a receipt and you get the full amount back. Alternatively they are prepared in some instances to give an upfront payment to help with the cost, depending, I guess, on how much you need to replace. If items are not too badly damaged then they offer you a percentage of the value that you have shown them on the like for like comparisons (so choose wisely on these!) so the more damage the more of a percentage you get. Today, less than three weeks after my initial email I have received payment. So I can definitely recommend LP. I imagine if I had insured through the moving company things might not have been so quick. Also worth noting is that your goods remain insured for 90 days (but do check the wording of individual policies) after docking or until delivered to your home, whichever is sooner. So for goods in storage they remain covered.

We have just returned to the UK and have the crate that our dog flew over in for sale. Supplied by Dogtainers Perth. Suitable for a medium sized dog. Including a removable door and water trough with spout for access from the outside. Comes apart for easy storage. We are in Retford, Notts. I can't seem to attach photos, but if you are interested let me know and we can sort something out. The measurements are:- 56cm high, 63cm long and 36cm wide. Price £30.

We kept our Royal Bank of Scotland account open when we moved to Australia and we were there 10 years. We had new cards sent to us when necessary and they were fine with an Australian address. We used to use it just for ease really when family wanted to give us or the children money for birthdays etc. Every so often we would either transfer the money to Australia or use it for online shopping. Of course when we moved back in March we then already had an account set up with credit history! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Will do, LP have been great so no problems with them at all. Just can't understand how someone who packed the stuff can't be liable! I assume that once LP pay us they try to claim against Chess? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We have recently returned to the UK and when our furniture was delivered there was some damage to a few pieces of furniture and a smashed table lamp. We took out independent insurance with Letton Percival. We have submitted our claim and Letton have told us what we have to do including emailing our removal company to tell them about the damage. We did that only to be told by Chess that because we didn't take out insurance WITH THEM they are not liable for damage incurred!!!! Surely this is ridiculous!! That is like saying if you don't take out our insurance we won't take as much care with your packing!!! Or am I completely missing the point here?[emoji5] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You have to do it before as you get a unique reference number that you then give to your shipping company for them to complete their side of the paperwork. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Steve, don't panic!! We printed the forms off and then scanned and emailed. We emailed everything through on the email address stated by OP. We attached copies of our passports, planning permission from our shire when we built our house (because that was all the evidence we had of owning a house, other than getting official copies from Landgate) We used my parents address and chose "other" where we did not fit the criteria- i.e. Employment etc and just stated that were would be seeking employment on arrival. Selecting "other" on the questions then gave us space to write things. If you have a quote from a removal company where they list roughly what you are taking use that instead of the packing list they request, we did and it was fine. As the number they provide has to be supplied to your removal company PRIOR to packing they can hardly expect you to have an inventory anyway. Good luck and PM me if you have specific questions. Julie. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes we have used this too. Chess removals said we were the first ones of people they had moved to use the ToR online form. When you get your reference number you need to pass that onto your shipping company for their paperwork.

I will probably think of something to add later but for now I would advise NOT to close your bank account. If you do it is not as easy to re open from over here. Especially if you are not sure you will stay. We have been here 9 years and have kept our RBS accounts open with no problems. We have online statements and replacement cards are sent through the mail. Very handy to use when you go over on holidays also. Family pay money in for birthdays and Christmas etc which we leave there for spending when we go over.