Blue Manna

5 hours ago, Toots said:

I used fine fly nets over the pram when my sons were babies  ...................  in WA not Scotland.  

For midgets I believe.

2 hours ago, Toots said:

That is one thing I didn't get used to when we lived in Perth.  The bluddy flies.  Persistent and so very annoying.

Fly nets. Just like they wear in Scotland.

4 hours ago, ramot said:

My comments are based on our 2 weeks holiday in the south west region which we thoroughly enjoyed and I stress not in any way a real example of living there, only observations.
I wasn’t used to such different temperatures almost it felt day to day, 42’ one day, very very hot and dry, still 38’ at 5pm, the next day 22’ at 5pm. Most days anything from 22’-28’?, found the evenings chilly, but I come from QLD! 
My overall impression was how empty it felt, at times we it seemed we had hardly passed a car on the road, driving around, even though plenty of tourists visiting  from lots of different countries.. Again very different to the Sunshine Coast also a tourist destination.  More foreign workers in hospitality than here.
Everyone we came across was very friendly, plenty of  ‘older generation volunteers’ at tourist attractions. 
Lots of March flies and very irritating small flies around. 
I through my own fault, had a health panic, phoned Margaret River Hospital at 3am and had good advice from a nurse, but didn’t speak to a Dr, was connected to the excellent statewide poisons hot line. Since coming home, even though my husband and I think we are fairly healthy for our age? We both have  health specialists appointments this week, so access to medical facilities is an important consideration when retiring. 

Our friends of a similar age live in Mandurah and love it, and as suggested above, spend a few days  further south occasionally, but have also gone to the Cairns area for several months in winter, for years.
We took a big chance when we retired and moved to Australia, and have never regretted it, but had visited Brisbane and area many times, so had a fairly good idea of climate etc.

They did have a bad fly year this year and the end of last. Made the papers. Something about it not raining early enough for the dung beetles.

It is paradise down there. Obviously the coast is an attraction, but you don't have to go coastal. Donnybrook is a nice little town. Good community feel. Bridgetown also. Plus you can go further south.

Big thing is hospitals, especially as you get older. Busselton does have a hospital, but they often defer to Bunbury. You might just scrape a small three bed in Busselton at that price. 

You can go below MR. But then you have hospitals and transport. You can get a coach from Busselton to Perth, but I don't think the train goes past Bunbury.

Busselton is actually pretty flat. Annoyingly flat actually. 

Lifestyle is second to none. Everything you want for the older person. Lots of arty stuff down there too. Bit cooler than Perth. Can get cold in winter, especially if you go inland. Still doesn't rain much in summer.

It does get very busy over the Xmas holidays. Tourists can be annoying.

If all goes well I'll be spending half my retirement there and half in the UK.

On 01/03/2024 at 16:24, WilkoPerth said:

Hi All!

I'm planning on moving to Perth with my wife & two kids in November this year,

What is the best way of finding somewhere to live?

Should i get an Air BNB for a couple of months and hope we find somewhere to live more permanently or are there companies that find somewhere for you to rent before you go?

I've only been to Perth for a few days whilst driving from Exmouth to Margaret river, so pretty clueless with areas/ schooling/ things to do, so any recommendations would be much appreciated!

Thanks in Advance!

Do you have any ideas of where you would like to live in Perth? It's a small city, (Manchester sized?) but it's a big city in area and it takes a long time to get from some places to others if you aren't taking the train or the freeways and highways. Will you even be in Perth? There are country regions, and the south west is growing rapidly. What do you and your partner do?

On 02/03/2024 at 00:48, InnerVoice said:

I'd be interested to know how that works in practice because the estate agents over here do a lot more than the ones in the UK, who simply advertise your house and arrange viewings. I recall that the one's here handle the contracts, and also hold the buyer's deposit until settlement. If you're completely dispensing with their services then how are you going to manage those aspects of the transaction?

And as a further matter of interest, does anyone know anyone who's actually done that?

Family member is a settlement agent, so that's all taken care of. But I guess it's probably not that simple for most people.

Family member also drew up the contract. They're not that complicated in most cases.

2 hours ago, rtritudr said:

 

Because the people selling you the water may not realise that you're flying to Australia, where a secondary inspection is required by the Australian government and liquids are banned?

Most people transiting in Dubai can take their water onto the plane.  For example, if you are flying from Australia to the UK then you can take your water onto the plane in Dubai.

Don't they check your boarding pass for purchases in transit?

I thought it was because they think you might be thirsty and want a drink in transit.

In Doha, they have drinking fountains. Do they have them in Dubai?

7 minutes ago, WilkoPerth said:

ok Thanks, I have a 7 year old as well, when would i have to start looking for him?

Term usually starts very early Feb. They have sixish weeks Xmas holidays.

17 minutes ago, WilkoPerth said:

Hi All!

I'm planning on moving to Perth with my wife & two kids in November this year,

What is the best way of finding somewhere to live?

Should i get an Air BNB for a couple of months and hope we find somewhere to live more permanently or are there companies that find somewhere for you to rent before you go?

I've only been to Perth for a few days whilst driving from Exmouth to Margaret river, so pretty clueless with areas/ schooling/ things to do, so any recommendations would be much appreciated!

Thanks in Advance!

Property in Perth in particular is very hard to come by. By way of example, a family member recently sold a house south of Perth for $50k over asking price, cash offer, within an hour of him suggesting on Facebook that he might be looking to list the property. No need to bother an estate agent. Sold. Rentals are equally hard to get. AirB&B a bit easier, but they're not cheap. I'm not living there ATM, so it may have eased a bit, but I'd be surprised.

Pretty sure she doesn't start until 2026, so you'll have some time.

Just now, WilkoPerth said:

ok Thanks for letting me know

Although I do see they are for different things so I do take that back, I had assumed they were all the same in different groups.

6 minutes ago, WilkoPerth said:

Hi All!

I'm planning on moving to Perth with my wife & two kids in November this year,

how difficult is it for my wife to get a job on my 482 visa? or does it not really make a difference? She will be looking for part time admin/ Pa/ Ea roles,

Thanks in Advance!

Also, you probably don't need to do multiple threads, as I assume most people just look at latest threads.

2 minutes ago, WilkoPerth said:

Hi All!

I'm planning on moving to Perth with my wife & two kids (7 & 4) in November this year on a 482 visa.

How early should i be researching schools before the February start?

& what schooling would my 4 year old be eligible for?

Thanks in Advance!

What month do they turn 5?

1 hour ago, AriannaC said:

HI!

Really hope to pick your wonderful visa brains!

My husband is an Australian citizen, I am British citizen. We were married 7 years ago in the UK and have relocated to Perth with our 2 kids (5 & 3) who both have Australian passports.

We are looking to get a  more permanent Visa for me  - I entered Australia on an eVisitor (subclass 651) visa valid for 12 months from 9 Jan 2024. We landed in Australia on 23 Jan 2024 and currently I have a maximum length of stay of 3 months at a time. 

 

We are aware of the subclass 820 / 801 route and understand the 801 may be granted alongside the 820 due to our marriage being longer than 2 years and us having 2 children together. This would give us 5 years on an 801 with full working rights and medicare.

However we are planning on returning to the UK in March 2025. We will still visit Australia every 18 months for about 4 weeks at a time for holidays.

We are reluctant to spend $8850 on a partner visa for the sake of roughly 1 year of residency if it is not going to roll into a permanent visa. But ideally we would like to know that we can return to Australia as a family without restrictions later on - say if we want to spend longer here when we get a bit older.

 

My questions:
Will leaving Australia after 1 year of being granted an 820/801 impact my application and is it worth even applying for it? ie. will the 801 result in a permanent visa despite not being in the country full time for 4 of the 5 years it is granted?
Is it possible to simply leave the country every 3 months during my current e-visa subclass 651 then apply for another subclass 651 at the end of the current one to gain access to Australia for the final 2 months of our stay?
Is it better to apply for the partner visa when we are back in the UK under a subclass 309/100?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated - ideally we are looking for a visa that allows me to come in and out of the country as many times as we wish and stay for however long as we have so much family over here with Grandparents etc. Ideally I would also like to work this year ( even casually ) so i'm not totally a lady wot lunches!

 

Thank you

 

 AC

I wasn't aware of the three months minimum stay. Doesn't bother me but it might do in the future. Don't have answers sorry, but interested in replies.

12 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

No, the loss of tax to the UK exchequer would be large and the employment agreement hasn't changed (in it's essence even if the legal construct has)

If they were moving from contract to employee there would be no issue as the tax take would increase, but the other way around it's significantly less

(Remember tax isn't just the employee the removal of the person from the workforce reduces the companies tax - well NI - bill 12.8% as well)

I would have thought it would fail ir35 and be taxed the same. Just sounds like an administrative difference to me.

21 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said:

To be honest I feel like doing a Simon Tucks with this forum! I don’t think it’s the place for me. 

Ok, I'll bite. What does Simon tucks mean? Rhyming slang?

All of the above. Plus Busselton museum is actually pretty good. Busselton pier is quite nice. Lots of breweries wineries and all that. I find Dunsborough and Margaret river quite crowded this time of year, but worth a visit if you don't mind searching for a parking space. No trip to the south west is complete without a trip to Gnome world. Bluff knoll if you fancy some exercise. 

On 25/01/2024 at 07:43, InnerVoice said:

I totally agree, one of my friends worked for Enron for several years and lost his job and all his company shares on the same day. Fortunately he took it in his stride and has done very well for himself since. If the OP has a mortgage with either an offset or withdraw facility, another idea worth considering is to sell the shares and pay off part of their mortgage. Current interest rates for mortgages are around 6% so that isn't far short of average long-term gains on conservative super funds, but the OP would have the advantage of still being able to access the funds if required.

Company shares are usually a no brainer. They are tax free and the company often chips in. You would be mad not to take them. But I also wouldn't leave them in for any longer than you have to. Once they are free to sell, consider diversification.

Not sure what happened there. Website gone a little doolally.

48 minutes ago, Auspicious said:

Have you tried contacting the HR department of somewhere like Woodside petroleum?

14 hours ago, Nemesis said:

Can I have a drag of what yer smoking?  

 

I did say "you" and not "me".

5 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

Anyone else seething at the fact albanese lied and has rolled over and altered the stage 3 tax cuts despite promising he never would.

I thought he was different but he's as bad as all the others... At least ScoMo was blatantly obvious about being a liar and generally scummy.

You should enjoy paying tax. It's a privilege. It's for the good of your country. You should be proud to pay tax. 

10 hours ago, Marisawright said:

You're right. If you're on a long-term visit to Australia from overseas, you can get Overseas Visitors cover which, like the British system, covers everything.  However the annual premium is substantially higher, and I'm guessing that's why they don't offer full coverage here -- only the wealthy would be willing to pay the premiums.  How do premiums here compare with the UK?

You are also right that the 'gap' payments can be very high, depending on what level of cover/excess you choose.   I gave one example already.  Another example is my own spinal fusion op.  The operation cost $35,000 of which private insurance paid only $25,000, leaving me with a $10,000 bill.  And that didn't include the fees for specialist appointments before and after, scans etc.  

I don't know. When I've had it it's always come with the job. 

The thing I've never really understood about private health insurance is that when you have private health insurance in the UK it pays for everything. You do have to check first, but I've never been recommended for any treatment that wasn't fully covered.

When you have private health insurance in Australia, you still seem to pay an awful lot of money for treatment. And I am talking quite significant sums for major surgery. It can be quite staggering. So don't think just because you take private cover you are done and dusted.

On 23/01/2024 at 09:17, Ferrets said:

Thanks for the thoughts, it's really appreciated.

We don't have any intention to move back to the UK, and no desire after a trip back last year but never say never as kids will have both passports soon.

The benefit in my mind is that if my wife make extra contributions it means our combined super starts getting to the level where an SMSF might make sense.  I'm weighing that up againstcontinuing to hold shares, being exposed to any company specific impacts and then potentially being hit with CGT down the line.

My wife does have some unused concessional carry forward which again is why I'm weighing this up, and noted on the co-contribution.

Definately some mulling over to do - I can't do anything immediately as we're in a trading blackout atm.

Thanks all!

I have effectively done something similar to what you are suggesting (in the UK) and it worked well for us. But obviously it depends on your circumstances.

I used to work with a guy who remortgaged his house, lived on the funds and over paid his pension to the max. That worked well for him, as the tax savings were substantial. This was over COVID too, when the markets dropped considerably.

It's worth thinking laterally sometimes. Good luck.