HibiscusDreams

Though it sounds horrible I'm glad I lost my dog a few years ago, as I'd have been absolutely torn apart if I had to leave him behind - which I'd have had to, given his age - no way he'd have been up to the flight, especially given he was always, well I won't say giant coward, but lets just say a tad anxious about pretty much everything!

I use TorFX for sending relatively small amounts monthly from my UK salary. Typically GBP250. No fees and a fairly competetive rate as far as I know (certainlly compared to what high street banks offer). Trasnfers are quite slow though - typically 4-5 days to our Bendigo savings account from Lloyds in the UK, but I think that's more to do with Bendigo than TorFX - they're a bit behind the big banks in terms of real time processing it seems, but I'll take the hit in return for the easy to reach call centre and pretty good cust service.

I know the feeling - keep us posted!

Will do! I'll be in the Blue Mtns, it's a lovely neck of the woods Bit of a trek to town though!

Thanks!!!! It's been a whirlwind the last few days - so happy - been on Skype pretty much the whole time lol. After all the agrro it went so smoothly Cheers!

Main thing to bear in mind is that rego costs go by vehicle weight. The 4WD might look great fun, but if you aren't going to use it off road, you are getting hammered for it every time you renew. Exact categories for the weights and charges are a state thing though and it varies. NSW is talking about giving rebates if you run up a lot of tolls.

Don't give up on something worth fighting for. Same with me and my s/o all the way downunder. Had to save like crazy to get over just to meet up when we have - been crossing fingers and praying for the plebecite/survey/whatevs to go our way, no saving like crazy to relocate and cough up for visas. But we belong together so never give up on that, and we are getting closer to what we want bit by bit So yep, fight for Brissie like she's the love of your life!

This is all very dramatic, but to be honest Australia's economic vulnerabilities are pretty simple - namely the Aussie economy is a two trick pony - mining and real estate speculation. Both are viciously cyclical, and given the current strength in the economy it'd be easy to have a gradual transition away to a balanced, diverse economy. Though the pollies like to dismiss it due to their desire to keep the mine owners happy - Australia has a well trained and talented pool of engineering and scientific expertise that are easily on a par with some of the best. If you look at the work CSIRO and some Aussie startups have done in everything from the field of computing to energy and transport you can see the lost opportunities and wasted talent as they struggle to work on promising projects with next to zero government help, or even interest. Australia deserves to be seen as a powerhouse of ideas and thinking outside the box, but the world just sees her as a source of a fuel that has reached the end of it's life in a world of renewables, and a tax haven for investment properties.

sweet - that's good to hear! Fingers crossed we'll get the legislation though soon too. I'm hoping to put in for it by March, as it'll take till then to get the money sorted I think. Is it possible to put in all the paperwork before paying the fee - or does it all have to be done at the same time?

I see the stats on dropbears are too bad to even publish..... LOOK UP. STAY ALIVE.

Just to update you all - thanks for all your advice. Me and s/o talked it over the other night, and we've decided to put in for a 300 once the law is updated Fingers crossed processing time won't be too long, as we're hoping to have our big day in October!

Just a head's up for anyone else following this. Called my bank (Bendigo) and it is not possible to do this unless you visit the branch in person to confirm A tad inconvenient.

Hi Chef, Thanks for the heads up

HI Ken, Thanks for that, really useful info - Yea, my fiancee is Aus resident, just got back from visiting a few weeks ago!

I've tried emailing their customer services but no reply. Calling them is a real pain so before going down that road just wondered if anyone here had done something similar.

I have a non-resident savings account with Bendigo (i'm still in UK), which is currently solely in my name. I'd like to add my fiancee to the account, but wondering if this is possible, given she's an Australian resident and I'm not?

Also because everyone *knew* that the No campaign were going to go for peak bigotry and it would be a brutal campaign of dirty tricks and smears. Greens and Labor wanted to avoid it. Turnbull too, but he was and still is always more afraid for his political survival than he was for looking out for his own people. In some ways he is worse than Abbott because he *knows* what he does is wrong... Abbott seems to actually believe his own BS most of the time.

Hi Angelpie, I know what you mean about waiting time - though for us it's not too much of a burden. We are hoping to tie the knot in about 12 months. The main issue for us is financing it. Virtually all my money is tied up in my house, so until I sell up we are definitely hard up - finding $7k for the visa along with the other costs *before* selling up in the UK would be a major stretch, and why we were hoping the E-visitor would be viable... but like you the thought of being banned is just horrible - the whole reason for this is to be with someone I love, and risking that is scary.

Oh yeah, I know what you mean - but this does make legislation all but inevitable, the real fight now is over if/how much they to kill of anti-discrimination legislation as "payback" - but looking good

Can't go wrong with beaches around Newcastle, they are *amazing*. Lots of good places around there. You'll get a lot for your money too compared to richmond, especially if you go for towns/suburbs near the cost but not on it - bearing in mind that traffic isn't as bad as sydney.

No need for defacto anymore!

YESSSSSSSSSS! Chatting to my g/f now about it.... Or to be accurate right now, my fiancee

Thinking of the work. The career break would be good if we have no alternative - thanks for that brainwave! However I main problem would be that my better half would need to be here for a year and not able to work - so we'd be stuck on one income whilst trying to save for both the visa fees, wedding etc

She wouldn't qualify on age or ancestry grounds unfortunately, her family were already established in Aus in the 19th century and neither of us are fortunate enough to be under 30 - those were the days! Young and carefree...

We did consider it. The problem is the visa issue and also work. We both work but neither of us are super well paid which makes it hard to go a year without work, especially if both our jobs are getting disrupted (her coming here for a year, then mine when I make the move), and her chances of getting back into her same role (not high paid, but a secure public sector job with good medical/retirement benefits). Another issue is that though I've lived and worked abroad before all over the place, she hasn't travelled outside of Australia before. It's a shame that neither side let's visitors / tourists work as that'd would make everyones lives so much easier!