BendigoBoy

Honestly? Depends on the build of your house. A small outlay on decent loft insulation, and the beauty of the front and rear verandahs, I haven't needed the air con on at all for the last couple of months. It's never been above 26C inside.

Don't be so hasty. There are some lovely little 3 beds on not unreasonable 650sqm blocks up here in Bendigo going for the $525-550k region. It's $10.60 return on the train to Southern Cross, and that's less than 2 hours each way. Edited to note: apologies if you meant 2 hours in total. I read it as 2 hours each direction.

One big question amongst all the other extremely valid ones addressed already: where in Australia are you thinking of moving to? Could be you don't go backwards financially if you want to live right out in the regions away from the capital cities. If you're planning on a 4 bed in Manly, on the other hand, it very possibly could send you back quite a way (mind you, I know Cornwall's hardly cheap). In terms of leisure time being compromised: presuming you're still working over here, it could be you have to work like stink to re-establish yourself with a business of your own. That in itself would, perhaps, compromise more time than a few days of dodgy weather?

I think Great Southern still accept foreign cheques.

I did get censored. But thanks to the moderator for toning it down and posting it anyways!

I might get censored for this. Just saying. That. Is. F......d.

That's ridiculous. They expect a department to function on that?

£350k? (Not including salaries)

I concur. My first MA (Sanct. And.) was in Classics. I pine for the days that people could read subjects simply for the love of them.

Yes. And not for the better.

Not at all. Just that in the fields of work I'm familiar with and experienced with, I can relate far more easily to what they could pitch for and what they'd be rewarded for.

You've clearly not met my cat.

From some of those newspaper reports, teaching would be animals every day, @Toots...

I'm honestly surprised that there hasn't been an even larger exodus of STEM teachers into private industry. I'm hugely respectful and full of admiration for those who feel a true vocational calling to teach. I think there's a massive chasm between teaching and stressed-out crowd control bogged down with bureaucracy. If you can pick up better money, longer lunch breaks, and holidays whenever you want to take them versus some of the horror stories we see about what goes on in schools, not to mention being well treated and respected by colleagues and clients, then I really have to question whether some people have a misguided sense of loyalty in staying in such toxic and unhealthy environments that don't facilitate them doing what they trained to to begin with.

Makes it easier to dispose of the bodies, dude.

If you can, and if the lender will entertain it, perhaps look at a longer term with an offset account? That way, you could lower those monthly mandatory payments and - if means allow - bung some extra into the offset account to lessen the interest. It'd leave you some liquid cash just in case.

I resemble that remark.

How would they know? An explicit question on the application form? A cross check of your photo against those in the database of UK citizen passports previously issued?

You shouldn't have any difficulty finding a CX3 or CX5 second hand. And indeed so on your latter point. Jeans, t-shirt, middle of the road car, and a quiet cottage in the middle of nowhere. Keeps me safe and under the radar... Until I land in Singapore and switch out into my good garb.

You think that's a clanger? You didn't drop database tables in production this morning...

Not trying to derail, but while the subject of turkeys is raised... The Kia Cerato's a pretty solid runner (as is the Rio if you're alright with a hatchback). Neither will set the world on fire, but in 6 years, I haven't had a single thing go wrong mechanically with the Cerato. (Another benefit of our climates in general - no heavy stress on the components from a freeze over the winter months) And despite them being solid runners, I reckon the little teenage knobs who are currently doing the rounds trying to break into cars just avoid Kias because they're not flash enough.

I had an absolute storm of jitters the week before leaving. Glad I got them out of me. Fear of the unknown is pretty much one of the most staple shared human experiences we have. And no, it doesn't end the same way for all of us. However, I tell you what: there's nothing that would make me move back nowadays. Whatever you decide to do, @Simontucks the very best of luck with it!

Those figures look like the overseas renewal fees for an Australian passport.

Rego will cover compulsory third party in Queensland. I'd personally recommend picking up a fully comp policy if you've got a vehicle younger than ten years old, regardless. And in terms of car insurance premiums, I found them about 40% cheaper than the UK when I landed in 2016. So hopefully still a fair bit less: I can recommend Budget and AAMI: I've used both over the years when someone struck me on two occasions. Everything was righted in no time at all. Strangely, no incidents of bad drivers smacking into me since leaving Melbourne.

I wouldn't disagree. You didn't say there'd be no money left after paying the bills, though. Even if cost of living's a bit higher, it doesn't necessarily mean there's not a fair bit of folding left.