jo.b

I'll send John Mason a message. The £6000 from PSS was based on 734 cubic feet. I'll see what they cost for that in comparison.

Hi - we just got a quote from PSS for part of a container (about 3/4) for £6000! Double what I'd budgeted for, so also looking for other options... England to Brisbane.

Thanks so much, that's really helpful. Hope your jetlag isn't too bad. Enjoy

Hi - As you've been ping ponging for a while, wondered if you could answer me a question? We're making the move (first time around) from UK to Oz later this year. I'm just weighing up and costing options e.g. shipping containers v renting our house out here fully furnished etc. and wondered what you'd consider worth shipping? Think we're going to have to ship some bits as have bikes, surfboards, kayaks etc that we'd want out there, but just not sure what to do with main house contents, as we won't be selling our UK home until we've 'tried before we buy' and our visa would mean we'd get hit with Foreign Investors Tax anyway, so we'd wait until we had PR. Just curious if you've done it a few times now, what makes the list...

Good news about flies and cockroaches, but oh no - Huntsman spiders!! Had a terrible experience when I went to Melbourne as a child with my parents and one plopped off the top of the fly screen door onto my head and ran down my arm, only to be annihilated by my Dad's slipper! None of us had ever seen a spider so big and hence my lifelong fear began!

Originally we really wanted to go to SE Queensland but seeing all the flooding has been totally off-putting. And before that all the fires. I definitely still want the seasons but just with longer, warmer Summers, so think Melbourne fits the bill nicely there. Also don't think my husband could stomach the flies, but I'm sure they're in Melbourne too. Thanks for the info re: costs I'll have to do my sums regarding the pensions. We have the savings for the move and weren't planning on buying until PR comes through due to the FIRB surcharge. Only downside with that is that's it means it's probably at least 4-5 years away before we could buy, as need to fulfil 2 year visa requirements, then PR visa processing time was around 24 months last time I heard! Think I could be better off salary wise by the move, but that all depends on being able to secure a job! It was always the lifestyle that was the draw for us.

Hmmm well food for thought here...thank you all. The rose tinted glasses that were off, are now in the bin! but it's good to get other people's perspective, especially those on the ground or recently returned or even ping ponged! One of things that we were thinking might be better was the cost of living, as the UK is at the start of what is going to be a bit of a hard time I think and we were wondering if jumping ship would help us ride out the hard times ahead here. There's the current energy crisis and food price hikes that are going to result in a big cost of living increase. Is Australia facing the same though? Not sure if what's happening here is currently affecting Oz or likely to? Pension wise, it's not something I've really considered, though realise I should have. We do have rental property that we've kind of banked on giving us a small pension, but not sure what kind of pension/income you'd need to live out retirement in Oz and no doubt they'd be tax implications involved in that! As with the schools, I did also think that we probably have a couple of years to try it. Was thinking maybe my eldest could do Year 9 and 10 to 'give it a go' and if it wasn't working come back here for her GCSE's, but appreciate we already seem to then be going with a plan for coming back! None of this was in our original plan of moving when the kids were in primary school and to do that to my eldest daughters education seems risky and not ideal for her to be honest. As for the 'ageism' in job hunting, I did contact a recruitment agency a while back for advice on job prospects and two of his bits of advice were to remove my date of birth from my CV and change the fact I had over 20 years experience to 'extensive'! Although I've worked in project management/admin related roles I kind of thought I'd probably be able to pick something up, even if it's not my ideal job? From reading what I've just written, I'm now thinking we might be mad to even be considering it, but it's soooo hard to give up on such a long held and hard won dream. But sounds like if we do decide to go, Geelong gets the thumbs up as a good place to try.

Oh well welcome home! Can I ask what prompted your move home after 15 years? We need to live regionally due to visa requirements. To be perfectly honest , we started on the migration journey when the kids were young and we had rose tinted glasses on and were 10 years younger! We're really now in two minds about what to do. One side says you have an opportunity that you probably shouldn't pass up and have worked hard to get. The other says the kids are now older (11 and 13), we're closer to 50 than 30 and is it all now a bit too late and a bit too much effort!!! I do like the sound of Geelong. Small city vibe, near good surf and bay beaches and close to Melbourne. Work options and pay seems good so think we'd have a fairly good quality of life and we're looking for a bit of a lifestyle change. Plan B was Cornwall, which has always had a soft spot in our hearts. Where have you returned to?

Was originally looking at Geelong, which to be honest, would be much more affordable for us to buy. Torquay seems really expensive to buy but similar to Geelong to rent. Just fancied living on the surf coast, but maybe Geelong would be the better option? Are you local?

Hi All Now Covid restrictions have been lifted and our visas extended, we're back in the game for moving to Oz!! Quite fancying Torquay, Victoria and wondering if there's anyone out there that can give first hand advice on Surf Coast Secondary College? I have two girls that will likely go into Year 7 and Year 9 by the time we move. Looking at Better Education trend of the school it seems to be ok, but some first hand knowledge would really be appreciated. Belmont High School and Oberon High School seem the better schools stat wise, but on paper I think we'd prefer to actually live in Torquay (closer to the beach) and appreciate the schools are all zoned. Any feedback welcome. Thanks in advance. Jo

It certainly is. Checked mine last night too. Now for the big decision - do we stay or do we go? @Dazspy Can I ask what made you leave if you were there previously and also why you'd go to South Australia if you go back instead of back to North Queensland?

@Dazspy How's France going then? Presumably Oz is off the cards for you now or is it still lingering in the back of your minds? I'm not sure where our heads are at. It's great news that the time has been added on, the news they could have given way back at the start, but chose not to! We went ahead and got a dog :) We also managed by hook and by crook to get our daughter into the same school as her primary friends, so she's happier now and more settled. Now my husband and I need to get our heads back in the game and psych ourselves up for emigrating again. The concerns we've always had (will it work out, will we get jobs, will the kids settle) are still there, plus we're now 2 years older and harder now eldest is at secondary school. Really wish we'd been able to do the move when the kids were younger. But it's not off the cards for us. We keep saying we'll regret it if we don't go, so I hope we decide to give it a go. There's just more to give up now so it feels riskier. Who knows. How's everyone else feeling?

@Eagle2020 Thank you

Need somewhere to rant, so apologies in advance for this! Feel like I'm stuck in a vortex waiting for information about when they're going to reopen border and when they do, if they're going to add the time onto our visas that we've lost. I have a daughter in Year 7, who ended up at a different secondary to her entire primary school and all her friends because of catchment and the fact that we didn't think she'd be starting secondary school here and she hates it. Younger one desperate for a dog. And two parents who feel they've been having the same conversations and getting nowhere for the past 10 months! It's beyond depressing. I'm struggling to give up on my dream of emigrating but it would be so easy right now to move, get my eldest into the school with her friends, get a dog and just get on with life. The expense of all that would eat into our Oz fund and then maybe we'd be too settled to go, and I know I'd always think 'what if?' Sorry to not add anything positive to this thread but I know you're all in the same boat. I'm still scouring the internet daily. Vaccine rollouts sound promising but it's the frustrating lack of solid information to be able to base any decisions on that's seriously doing my head in!!! That's me done. Would like to say I feel better now that's out, but I don't!! Didn't mean to drag you all down. Sorry :(