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Review what you are going to pack, then ditch half of it Seriously though look at what you are going to pack and bring, as if you are moving around a lot, you want to look at how your clothes can combine outfits. Review the possibly travel route you may have and work out the weather. Also remember you could be carrying this stuff multiple times over a few days. But as I wrote that, are you planning to settle in one place for a while or keep moving? If the latter, keep shoes to a minimum probably two, less weight. This can/could be a useful item especially if you are hostel living(bedbug alert): https://www.amazon.com/Cocoon-COCO-01-Cotton-TravelSheet/dp/B001DX803W For the 2nd year visa, are you prepared for the work that is involved to secure that. You may be, but is the wife up for it. Others may be offer advice as to what places to contact the work to get the 2nd year extension. Any tips, have fun and make the most of it. One of you may even be lucky enough to find someone to sponsor you, if that is your desire.

Things like towels(I found half decent towels expensive in Oz), yellow dusters if you still use them, hit up M&S for some basics, hair products(if you use them as hard to find a replacement as less choice). Clothes and shoes depending on what you wear and what type of shops you go to, as some things here less choice and more $$ if you can actually find them. If you are bringing you bedding over ie duvet, covers etc get some extras in the UK, much cheaper and the bedding here will not fit the UK measurements. If you are bringing you bed, check out what size it is as the previous comment also applies. Do a search on wikipedia for bed sizes. This is one thing I wish I brought, as impossible to find but so useful: http://www.diy.com/search?Ntt=folding+crates Also things like 4 way adapters are very useful, just buy a new plug in Oz and swap it over and then no hassle. Maybe some extension cords. As a few other poster's mentioned bring as much as you can afford in the shipping costs, will work out cheaper in the long run.

subscribing as would like to keep track of updates, and hopefully has some questions myself on a similar subject.

Welcome and true, jumping here with no work experience would more than likely find you returning home and hopefully you can Take some time in the UK to beef up your skillset and experience, it will go a long way in the long run. If you can find/land a grad role in a multi national, that may also be a way to get an international transfer

Your best bet, from my own experience, get a few years work experience in the UK then start looking to Oz. Possibility come out on a WHV and see if you can can get some one to sponsor you. Pimp up your linkedIn profile, work on your githib profile contributing to projects as well as your own. Without a few years experience, I suspect you would find it hard. Especially when they throw in the local experience required card! Make sure you keep upto date with the current tech, docker, agile, scrum and so forth. Also check out the free accounts that Amazon and MS offer for AWS and Azure, not sure if that is the direction you want but every little bit helps. The job market is pretty tough and competitive here at the moment especially for new grads. Look at the roles currently posted and get a feel for what they are they are looking for and upskill yourself over the next few years to accommodate.

Grads in Oz are struggling to find positions, your best bet find a job in the UK to gain some work experience at least a couple of years. You are young enough then to come over on a WHV and test the market for yourself. Take a look at some of the recruitment sites in OZ, seek.com.au being one of the main ones to see what type of roles and skills being asked for. The IT job market is changing rapidly at the moment, and what skills may be flavour of the month now, could be replaced very quickly next year. Do you have an idea of what direction you are looking at in your career?

Personally get citizenship, even if decide you do not want to return. If you have children, they would also be entitled to Australian citizenship. Which would then give them options if they ever decided to take the plunge to move to Australia.

As Tulip mentioned, interest rates are higher in Oz than the UK. Check out some of the main bank websites to get a feel, Commonwealth, ANZ, NAB. Search google for brokers to get an idea of the rates they offer. One thing to note, tracker mortgages are not really offered in Oz. I think banks will do them, but best to ask them.

WOW two grand that is steep!!! Not sure why you need 47 payslips, seems a bit excessive to me. I came over on a 457 visa sponsored by my company, and do not recall that many documents that needed signing. I was lucky, I suppose, in my office building we had a law firm on one of the floors. I popped in and asked the receptionist if I could see one of the lawyers. He signed them for free. Simon, cannot confirm your question but if you do not get an answer here best to go with what they ask for, unless you contact them and ask what options you have for the verification. Best to get it done correctly first time round.

Hi Michael, Good luck with the move. I cannot help you overall with your questions but hopefully can provide some feedback. For work as a BA or SA, you may find it tough to find a position in SA or QLD, the majority of work is really centered around Sydney and Melbourne, and with citizenship Canberra. If you are going to retrain as a BA or SA, to compete in this market you would need a good few years experience under your belt as well as certifications plus experience with Agile. As for qualifying for emigration, cannot comment, but the job market is pretty tough and competitive in Australia at the moment. Take a look at seek.com.au for roles and what experience they are looking for. Maybe reach out to a few recruiters to discuss what you would need to to compete in the current job market. If you can get your employer to sponsor you, that would be the best bet as long as they can justify the position and role and why they cannot find someone suitable local to fill that position. Do they already have an office in NSW or Australia? Can they justify the position? I doubt your wife's uncle would be able to sponsor you, but others can confirm if this is at all possible. Would not hold my breath about this though.

Scotland(Glasgow) -- SE England --- Melbourne -- Mississauga(Canada).

Had to look up Brookfield and the homely.com.au(helps if you put the correct site). 3 reviews and hits the 4th best suburb!!! It is pretty far out and what would be considered the Melbourne experience compared to living in the outskirts. I think would be a bit of a culture shock to you both if you have have a Melbourne experience in mind. If open to the outskirts then yes cheaper housing and still within a reasonable commute. A nice trip, but not really a day trip, would be the great ocean road and the grampians. Hire a cheap camper: https://www.jucy.com.au/ The drive on the great ocean road is amazing and one of the best drives in the world. The Grampians are just mind blowing. You could see Koalas and Kangaroos, pretty easily but the trip would suck up most of your vacation. Parts of Melbourne: Fitzroy, Lygon Street(Italian), Queen VIC market. A lot of the experience can be found by just walking around the CBD Melbourne is full of suburbs which offer different experience's. For Mountain Biking, Lysterfield(SE Melbourne) Kinda a very opposite direction to where you want to live. While climate may look warmer on paper, it can get cold here. Houses do not have double glazing or insulation, so it can feel colder than it is.

Ageism is rife in Australia, unless I have have missed something. Once you get over 40 the job market kinda dies for you. Seems to be a common topic on some local forums. I cannot comment on the UK, but if less rife that is a good thing. Note paragraphs in your OP help to make your post more readable!

Maybe in Cairns they are anal about car servicing, but in Melbourne VIC they do not care. When I was looking to buy a used car the amount of people that said they would prefer not to get a road safety cert and chatting to friends who have not bothered with any type of servicing as no road worthy required until you actually go to sell your car. God bless the UK and the MOT requirement! While not perfect, it does mean cars have to actually pass a valid road test every year. I have friends whose cars I have discovered are probably death traps since I started to look into buying a car.

As Collie mentioned, they have been in the area for a very long time. If I had managed to secure a job in 2001 in Sydney(WHV and IT dot com crash had a big impact) and stayed I would be laughing now as could be a millionaire on paper by now if bought around then. As Collie mentions, these are areas are great but unless you have some serious cash, buying is pretty much out of the question unless you are seriously loaded or have a huge deposit.

I agree with all the comments above, but think 6 months upfront would be more preferred over 3 months if you could actually get an estate to sign you off in the current market. The pictures shown are very deceiving and the majority do not look like what has been posted! Personanlly wait till you get here and view the properties and areas. On a side note, you are selling your property in the UK to fund your relocation. Have you considered how much it will cost to buy in these areas you have mentioned? Unless you have tens off thousands in equity already, can you afford to buy in these suburbs you mentioned(had to double check and you have mentioned, some of the most expensive suburbs in Sydney which is already one of the most expensive cities in the world). When did your friends move to Balmain, as over 10 years ago would have been great for an expat with the conversion rate. Sydney while still an amazing city is now not anywhere I would want to move too, unless you have a very amazing salary to cover the actual living costs(Australia gerneral high cost of living, but the actual rent and more so the actual costs of buying a property). Sorry not trying to be negative, but please review your locations for rentals and then buying to be firmly settled since you mentioned you want your kiddies settled in school and guessing/assuming you do not want to move from this/these areas.

Yep, the same applies to both cities. If you are struggling to buy in London, then you will struggle here(Melbourne and Sydney). Due to the way house buying works here, Auction market you really have no idea of what the property is actually valued at. The real estate agent will give you a rough guide, but in reality the owner will be wanting more. Auctions these days are driven by local and foreign investors with first time buyers not able to keep up and have a set price limit. Where as the investors have deeper pockets. Two properties on my block went for 200 to 300k over the initial asking price bid.

Hey Cal, what is CTF? Actually just double checked the forum topics and figured it out. Some people might not be to familiar with the topics so may be worth while expanding on the acronym when posting.

I assume you have no jobs to come too? If so the estate agent may want 6 months rent in advance, since you mention kids you probably are looking for at least a 3 bed: Unit, house or apartment? I am in Melbourne, and in the suburb I am in you could be looking at around at least $2k/m+, then factor in the bond which would also be around the $2k mark depending on the actual rent. Obviously the further you are prepared to move out you can find better deals. How much stuff would you be shipping across and would it arrive not long after you moved into your rental. You could cut costs(reading many other posts(on here and other expat sites)), by buying airbeds, camping gear and living on the very basics. Use gumtree, free cycle, facebook, even go neighbour walks to see what people have left on the side of the street(well this is big in Melbourne, cannot comment on GC). I have found some really good stuff. I went to Fantastic Furniture to kit out my first unit, cheap and cheerful. The mattress I got is still surprisinly very good for the actual price, better than some I went to look at for 3 or 4 times the price. The frame, mmmn! Other items pretty OK, and done the job. Cannot say anything bad about them, as they performed and worked as expected just not fancy furniture or handmade. Ikea is also a good option, as cheap and cheerful and pretty good quality. Another thing to check out is the reject shops, kinda like the pound shops in the UK, you can pick up some good bargains. Another thing to note, rentals do not come with white goods which can be expensive. So factor that in. Mobile phones, just look at PAYG(some very cheap deals here now) and get an ISP that offers free local calls(ISP could range $40-80/m) and then use Skype, etc on Wi-Fi when you are at home to call back to the UK. Since you are looking to buy second hand cars, maybe factor in road side assistance. Not sure of the price as get mine free due to the deal I had when I bought my car from a dealer. Food shopping, hit the farmers markets, Aldi, local grocers to keep costs down. Fruit and veg tends to be cheaper than the major 2. Another thing I noticed here more so than the UK, the large number of butchers/fish shops which tend to offer better deals/choice than Coles and Woolies. The first few months are going to be expensive and then subsequent years are the insurances you set up are all going to fall around the same period.

Sorry to hear you situation. I am in Melbourne and construction appears to be booming, lots of new flats being built in my suburb and lots of surrounding suburbs, the work to remove the level crossings. I hear Sydney also the same, but only hearsay. The CBD is continually changing since I came over 7 years ago, some parts I do not recogonise now(hardly venture into the CBD much these days). Maybe put your feelers out to check them out, contact a few recruitment agencies. As for rentals, suspect you will find some very similar 70's style in Melbourne, with similar pricing Cannot comment on going back to the UK, even though I have considered it the last year, as I am now moving to Canada. Similar situation with my line of work, found myself in a niche role and IT is outsourcing or offshoring a lot but still immigration is high for IT overall. The IT market is pretty swamped and focused on some key areas. Good luck with your decision.

Searching google.... https://www.freeview.co.uk/tv-guide And yes you can get "normal" TV channels plus some additional ones that are not available on free to air.

Sounds about right. The tuner in the AU TV will not decode the signals sent in the UK, making if pretty much defunct. Options: Sky or Virgin Media or the like. Freeview box Be done with standard TV and cable and get hooked on Netflix, Amazon Prime and the like. Some countries sell the TV's with an option to reprogram them to another country, unfortunately the UK and AU are not part of this. Did you research this before hand? DNS settings will have NO effect on the free to air signal, this is only relevant to your network settings and then the DNS settings are set by your ISP.

Haha so agree, Skype, google hangouts, whatsapp, facetime etc. As long as you have a smartphone and a decide plan(in case you are not at home for a quick chat). Wifi and a decent broadband connection will suffice at home. I find Whatsapp and hangouts excellent voice quality. Dropped using Viber as was painful to move chats to different platforms. Video is still very dependant on your ISP, Skype etc can be great one day and not so good another day. But hey its free, take the bad with the good. I suppose the older generation find it harder to transition. My mum in her 70's is all good with it, sometimes to good. But my Dad will not touch the stuff.

Hi Kurt, Front and back end web dev, pretty strong in both Sydney and Melbourne. If you have any Scrum, Agile, DevOps, big data experience that will certainly help. Salaries I think will tend to be slightly higher in Sydney due to the higher cost of living. Aside from the weather, I think you may find the same hustle and bustle as London in Sydney, where as Melbourne a slower pace and believe people tend to be more friendlier. Take a look at seek.com.au to gauge the market, due to the Christmas break it won't really start picking up till after Australia day. Could you move your stuff back to your parents and brother, get a flat share here so you only have to buy the minimal of stuff and ship a couple of boxes to keep the costs right down. You could then give yourself a year or two to decide if the decision is right before fully committing. EDIT: As an after thought, do you have a github account, if so add that to your CV, if not already.

Tough choice...and agree with LKC. An hour on Skype just does not beat a weekend with family and friends or even a night out! What are your reasons for moving back? Do you have a good job here, Melbourne? Plenty of places close to the UK to fulfill your travel bug, much closer and much cheaper, greater choice. I completely understand your reasoning for moving back, especially as I have gotten older and see the difference in age more in my friends and family as not so easy just to pop around for a weekend visit. Missing watching my nephews grow up. Australia is certainly a wonderful place, but it is far far away from the rest of the world if that is where you come from. I too going through my own dilemma, of relocating to Toronto, similar reasons as to yourself. Bonus part is so much closer to the UK as family getting older and much quicker to get back in case of an emergency. Good luck with your move and I hope it works out for you.