BendigoBoy

Hmmm... Damned interface won't let me edit my last paragraph. Mea culpa, I meant to say `That would be 3` at the end of that one.

According to the conditions on the Home Affairs website, it seems you can move to another regional area without hindrance. https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/already-have-a-visa/check-visa-details-and-conditions/see-your-visa-conditions?product=491#. (That seems to address 1 & 2, and 4 - it's the government's own website) If you sign an undertaking with your nominating state or territory, then I would imagine they'd probably be a bit miffed if you just moved without explaining why (can't find work after a prolonged attempt etc). What consequences might come from that, I'll yield entirely to the MARA team. I do understand that the states and territories have been getting mightily miffed with folks moving over on a 190 then disappearing before completing their time in the nominating state/territory - but have no idea what (if any) undertaking you might be asked to make. (That would be 4)

Not according to this document from the Department of Home Affairs that was the first result in a Google search from pasting in your question. https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/form-listing/forms/128.pdf I'll yield to a Registered Migration Agent who may be able to provide clarity on nuances; however, it looks like you'd get an ex-citizen visa allowing you to remain onshore, but not re-enter.

Things will start cooling around end of April. It'll get properly chill by late May, and spring will generally start to get out of bed late September / early October. But much like weather patterns right round the world, things have been a little higgledy piggledy in recent years.

I think a lot of this falls down to what people have in their mind for what counts as "Australian" weather. Melbourne's certainly not going to have the all year round warmth of Queensland, but it will be blissfully free of the humidity: which can be a real killer for some. At its worst in the average winter, you'll probably end up with four or five nights that just creep sub-zero if you're around the bay area in Melbourne. Further out, maybe a week to ten days until you get up into the high country (Macedon Ranges, Bright, etc). I'm originally from Kilmarnock, and I'm out and able to garden all year round: it never freezes. Yep, have to pop the heating on for a bit over the colder months, but all in all, it still works out a lot cheaper than what I had to pay back in the UK at any point. And if you're out in the sun even on a winter day, you can normally get by with just a jumper on. I'm no longer in Melbourne, I'm further out into regional Victoria; but when I was living in Caulfield, I had a perennial crop of capsicum growing on my balcony. If it's warm enough to keep those plants alive over winter, it's warm enough for me. You'll need to equip yourself with clothes for all four seasons in Victoria, but for some of us, it's a lovely climate. Much more Mediterranean than Blighty in climate.

That's better than me. I just like to be nosey and keep count of how many others have become disenchanted with Blighty and decided to hop to Oz since things started going insane about 10 years ago. Although it's nice to occasionally chime in with a nice bit of helpful advice if I ever can. I do have to very (genuinely) respectfully disagree with you on amazing and inspirational places costing a fortune. The Clare valley is a great example of an amazing and inspirational place to live. But for a lot of folk who can't work remotely, that part of South Australia just won't have the same realistic feasibility as the Big Smokes. Some damned cracking properties out there for pennies, though...

I suppose that's no different to anyone else living in Swindon: hardly done willingly.

Oh I have complete sympathy. We had one of those a few doors down until a few months ago. Damn thing rattled the house. Honestly just sounded like the engines were about to explode. 530am every weekday morning. I was literally sat outside sipping champers when they got evicted. There's no excuse for that sort of behaviour or skulduggery.

Oh - and enjoy your activation trip, mate. I'd heartily recommend you check out WonderBao if you're after a little mobile lunch while you explore the city. And Shanghai Street is always my top choice for quick and easy (and affordable!) dumplings of an evening for a little refuelling.

No harm in taking a paper copy just in case. I did. A check on VEVO will confirm your visa is all aligned to your passport - I'd hold that in higher regard than a paper printout, myself. As for a week, that's longer than the three day trip I took to activate my 189 back in the day. All your visas will likely have been granted in their own right - so unless there are any marked conditions on the visa grant notice, your wife and son will be fine arriving on their own. Nothing different for them to do on arrival. It's extremely uneventful and underwhelming to be honest. Just scan your passport at the gate and walk through. Not even a tacky little flag to wave: just head down to Swanston St for the Australia Day parade your first January and load up on them there...

This will be state dependent, really. As an example, in Victoria, you can't renew a licence that's expired by more than five years: https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/licences/renew-replace-or-update/renew-your-licence#:~:text=If%20your%20licence%20is%20expired,meets%20the%20Licence%20photo%20requirements. So in that case, you'd need to do an exchange with your New Zealand licence. If you're arriving in Australia prior to the NZ licence expiring (as suggested above), I'd suggest just exchanging on arrival. If not, then certainly in the case of Victoria, you'd need to renew your New Zealand licence and then do the exchange. I can't speak for other states or territories, but I imagine their respective Roads Dept websites will have details on hand for how they handle such situations.

Is it worth checking VEVO to see if there are any conditions attached to the visa on there, mate? Edited to add: that said, if there aren't any conditions on your grant letter, I'd be surprised if there were some on VEVO. Although happy to stand corrected if anyone is more in the know on that front.

Not all of the UK. Whilst there are still some outliers, for the most part - and as far as any "normal" person buying a flat would be concerned with now, Scotland did away with leaseholds in the last twenty years or so. Then again, there are plenty of other reasons for not wanting to buy a flat in Scotland...

I get the feeling some people would be convinced they were surrounded by meth labs whether they were in Brighton, Mount Martha, Manley, the Clare Valley, or even up in Ayr.

Sounds pretty par for the course for how Blighty's gone over the past ten years or so...

I'd have renounced my citizenship already, except it's money better spent on Sunday lunches than giving it to HM Treasury to fritter away.

That's a fair comment. I am a bit of a heat baby, so it works for me. I'd kill to be able to be a bit closer to Melbourne in an ideal world. But I'll be buggered if I'm lumbering myself with a mortgage to buy a shoebox anywhere near the Arts Precinct.

Might need to explain that Kilmarnock is a plaice in Scotland for the benefit of the broader community, though

It's the fact they moan about being stuck in traffic for 90 minutes plus to get from home out towards the ranges and into the CBD. Yet will not even entertain the prospect of living somewhere like Bendigo, where rush hour means the drive takes about 90 seconds longer, and the train will get you into Southern Cross inside 2 hours for the same cost of using the tram / metro network down in Big Smoke. Some people just can't be reasoned with, @Marisawright

Simple life for me. - Being within a thirty minute walk and twenty minute roll along the ground to the local winery - Being able to finish dinner, open the patio doors, and sit under the verandah watching the kookaburras in the evening - Fresh plums, pears, apples, cherries, peaches, almonds, lemons, limes, kumquats, guava, strawberries, raspberries, jostaberries, boysenberries, kaffir limes, oranges, tangerines, olives from the garden (and that's not even starting on the herbs or veg) - Neighbours over on a weekly basis for a light lunch or dinner party Just not the sort of thing you get in Kilmarnock, really...

It's not just that it's a different winery on the peninsular, either; the earth can be *SO* different from one side of the road to the other between wineries that a pinot on one side of the road can have utterly and entirely different properties to the other. It is a lovely, lovely little area to go awandering. Especially with that Steinway to play in the Port Philip Estate dining room when you've had one too many over lunch and feel like pummelling out a bit of Les Misérables... I am a bit jealous of you guys all the way up there, though; the wife can't handle the humidity, but I'd love the true perennial growing for a lot of my foodstuffs.

And let's not forget how dashed lovely it is to just go lounging around for a weekend lunch at the vineyards, either. It's funny how quickly you adjust and get used to having world class vineyards a short drive (or... for some of us who are putting on far too much weight, a short walk) from your home.

Yeah, but the wetsuits to stop hypothermia kicking in don't come cheap...

So in terms of cost of living, we're in a peculiar situation, as ours has actually gone down quite dramatically over the last couple of years. We moved out from Melbourne between the final two lockdowns. As much as it was for a bit of garden space, it was also to just be within a ten to fifteen minute drive of pretty much anything we would need access to. Rather than having to drive to work each day from the suburbs, working from home is a major saving as well. So dropping rent/mortgage and commuting costs, this is where our outgoings really started to come down. Plus, it's pretty damned near impossible to go and put solar on an apartment... We grow about 80% of our fruit in the garden, and about 40% of our veg, but we opted to grow mainly the royalty stuff with big ticket prices in the stores: sugar snap peas, parsnips (yes, parsnips), capsicum for the warmer months when the price is up (absolute blessing in winter when it's down to $4 a kilo, mind you). And we can do a fair bit of trade with friends and neighbours for produce that we don't / can't grow ourselves. The solar takes care of all of our heating and power requirements. So, on a monthly basis, breaking it all down over the year: Council rates: $150 Insurance (inc health insurance): $550 Internet & Phone: $125 Streaming subscriptions: $40 Supermarket: $400 Car Rego & Fuel: $100 Gas: $60 Water: $100 Bunnings Supplies for the garden: $200 Round it up to the next hundred and you're looking at around $1800 a month for the two of us. I pay the bills out of my salary, leaving the wife free and clear to indulge her sewing hobby with hers. Even after the bills, and having cut back massively on my hours, it's still leaving a comfortable amount over $6000 a month post-tax in my deposit account. And that's where it's a tale of two countries. With house prices still pushing up, rents going insane, loads of folks being unable to access solar either through apartment living or being in a rental without it, there's a hell of a lot of hardship presently, and I dare say a hell of a lot more to come in the coming years.

Do you know what grammar is?