NR77 Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 Hi My Family and I are moving to Canberra at the end of September with our 2 young Girls, aged 3 years and 21 months, we are very Excited about our new adventure and would be great to speak/meet up. Any tips greatly recieved! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ptp113 Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 (edited) Car mandatory. PM if you need info Edited August 4, 2013 by ali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apickerell Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 Hi! we are moving next week! super excited! we have 3 kids 1 boy age 10 1 girl age 8 and our baby girl age 6 months! It would be great to meet other families! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABL275 Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 Hi My Family and I are moving to Canberra at the end of September with our 2 young Girls, aged 3 years and 21 months, we are very Excited about our new adventure and would be great to speak/meet up. Any tips greatly recieved! :-) Welcome - got plenty of tips - which ones do you need? :biggrin: But seriously - ask away; I arrived two years ago so can still remember all the pain of trying to get IDs, banks accounts, furniture, car and cat shipping so just ask away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunniecat Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 congrats - hope the move goes well! we're always pretty ready to give tips out, so ask away with what you want to know This time of year the best tip is probably: be prepared for chilly nights. By end of September it should be warming up though, so it might not be quite such an issue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NR77 Posted August 6, 2013 Author Share Posted August 6, 2013 Thanks everyone for your kind messages and tips! Very helpful and looking forward to the move! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nealmason1986 Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 I am 27 and my Girlfriend is 27 this month. We are both new to canberra and have been here just over 3 weeks. We would love to meet up and have a few drinks and maybe something to eat. When you get to Canberra some things can be difficult with no financial history here. Get your medicare card. Its easy and classed as ID. If you have a permanent address get your driving licence as well. Alot of stuff here works on a 100 point system. Passport, Medicare and Driving licence easy cover the 100 points needed to help you with applications. Get a tax file number asap. You can apply online and that way when you start a job you have the tax file number ready and waiting. We set up NAB accounts before we came because it made life a bit easier. They have a very good ATM coverage and you can also use REDI machines free of charge. This saves $2 a transactions as you get charged for using other banks machines. I also went with optus for my pre paid phone deal as for $30 dollars you get 250 minutes and you can use them for calling the UK for both landlines and mobiles so this is great. Broadband is a nightmare over here. Expensive and slow and i have had to get a mobile broadband device as i cannot get a contract until i have more pay slips. Again i used optus as telstra have been a nightmare to sign up with due to there strict rules etc. Canberra is really really clean and its a lovely place. Not as boring as alot of people describe it. Most people are government workers or students though so thats a bit boring. Let us know if you want to know anything as we are just going through what you will go through as soon as you get here. Hope you have a safe flight. Neal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunniecat Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 we've got excellent broadband, with iinet, but it does depend where you are and what services you can get. We're on their 'NakedDSL' and also have Fetch TV. our phone is VOIP through their system and we get cheap calls back home as well. They've always been really good, we've had excellent customer service, so I do recommend them if you can get them. I agree with Neal - get a medicare card asap, get a driving license as soon as you have a fixed address (you'll need to take in the tenancy agreement), and get a TFN (you can walk into the ATO office in civic and do it in 5 minutes, they'll post it out to whatever address you provide). And, yes, Canberra's a great place to live if you have somewhere short term to stay for a few weeks it's worth using that time to explore both sides as I find there is a very different feel between the north and the south, as well as investigating schools, childcare etc, so that you can see what will suit you best. Be prepared to apply for longer-term rental places on the spot as you see them (I heard people say it's worth making up an application pack with references, bank info to prove you have the income if you don't yet have jobs, that sort of thing - we did that, and it also meant I usually had the info available for filling out applications as needed). Competition is often fierce and if you can get to weekday viewings you're likely to be a lot less crowded out. Some of the Saturday viewings we went to would get 20-30 couples in, and maybe 10 of those would apply for the house at the viewing. Admittedly we were looking in February when the rental market tends to be at its busiest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nealmason1986 Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Be prepared to apply for longer-term rental places on the spot as you see them (I heard people say it's worth making up an application pack with references, bank info to prove you have the income if you don't yet have jobs, that sort of thing - we did that, and it also meant I usually had the info available for filling out applications as needed). Competition is often fierce and if you can get to weekday viewings you're likely to be a lot less crowded out. Some of the Saturday viewings we went to would get 20-30 couples in, and maybe 10 of those would apply for the house at the viewing. Admittedly we were looking in February when the rental market tends to be at its busiest! We did this! We saw a lovely townhouse and it was a weekday lunch so no one turned up for the viewing. It was being opened again on the Saturday so i applied there and then. I even submitted stuff like my british credit check and my police check for my visa. It all adds to your character. We go the townhouse the next day so luckily it didnt open on the Saturday for viewings otherwise we would have had competition. It was a brand new house no one had ever lived in. Nicely furnished as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NR77 Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 Hey Neal, thanks for all the tips - I will PM you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NR77 Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 Hey, Thanks for all your tips, I will PM you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABL275 Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 We did this! We saw a lovely townhouse and it was a weekday lunch so no one turned up for the viewing. It was being opened again on the Saturday so i applied there and then. I even submitted stuff like my british credit check and my police check for my visa. It all adds to your character. We go the townhouse the next day so luckily it didnt open on the Saturday for viewings otherwise we would have had competition. It was a brand new house no one had ever lived in. Nicely furnished as well. Well done! We ended up in a lousy place at first as we had no idea of how the market worked and had to wait a year before we could find somewhere nice. Renting can be a competitive sport here so we dressed well, polished the car and went with completed forms and credit cards in hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie2012 Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 Well done! We ended up in a lousy place at first as we had no idea of how the market worked and had to wait a year before we could find somewhere nice. Renting can be a competitive sport here so we dressed well, polished the car and went with completed forms and credit cards in hand. Just out of curiosity, do they accept the British credit check/ cards? We are flying out at the end of September too but it is difficult to research areas online. So we'll have to do it right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nealmason1986 Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 If you want to use your card. Inform your bank your travelling! Don't say emigrating or they will poo there pants and close the account. That way they won't stop your card for fraudulent spending abroad. Not to sure on cheques. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 Don't say emigrating or they will poo there pants and close the account. That isn't quite true, still have all my UK bank and credit card accounts registered to my Canberra address. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nealmason1986 Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 When i told my RBS bank they were worried i would run up debt and leave the country. I suppose if you give a new address they might be ok with you spending loads on your bank cards. I didnt have a permanent address so couldn't dot his when i left. Same with nationwide credit card. They just closed my account. I stopped telling banks and credit cards after that. I still have a few current accounts i use for my mortgage in england etc and there is not a problem with them as they are just current accounts and not offering me credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Fair enough, Sainsbury's Bank have up'd my credit limit twice since I left. I guess they make the rules up as they go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie2012 Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 That isn't quite true, still have all my UK bank and credit card accounts registered to my Canberra address. how???? Did you let Experian know that you are moving countries? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 how???? Did you let Experian know that you are moving countries? No I phoned Amex, Sainsbury's Bank and First Direct and told them I was moving overseas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nealmason1986 Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Talking about credit reports. Get a free experian report and bring it with you. Probably good for applying for things over here to help reinforce your finances Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABL275 Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Just out of curiosity, do they accept the British credit check/ cards? We are flying out at the end of September too but it is difficult to research areas online. So we'll have to do it right there. Hi - good question - when I was looking at the agent's rental forms in the UK they seemed horrifically formal and prescriptive. When I actually met the estate agents in person a lot of the requirements suddenly seemed to go out the window. I think (in my experience anyway) many of the agent's questions are there just to filter out some of the less desirable types and that as long as they know you've got a decent job with a reputable company and you're reasonably presentable then you'll be fine. As far as I know none of my references were ever contacted. On a more general note, they certainly accept British credit cards although I got some odd looks as some of the vendors got messages on their screens asking them to confirm that the exchange rate was accetable and this through a lot of them, which is surprising; with the number of diplomats and foreign military in town most businesses must see credit cards from all over the world. Don't know about credit checks but I sense that many Aussies take a quite pragmatic view from which Brits do well; many Aussies (even in Canberra) have British relatives or ancestors and so probably look more favourably on us than on many other nationalities and even those vendors with no British connections probably recognise that it's a stable country with trustworthy business processes and a common language so many will still look favourably on British credentials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABL275 Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 If you want to use your card. Inform your bank your travelling! Don't say emigrating or they will poo there pants and close the account. That way they won't stop your card for fraudulent spending abroad. Not to sure on cheques. Thanks Neal, that's just reminded me; we've found it really useful to retain our British cards and bank accounts to use to buy things on Amazon.co.uk and John Lewis etc. Two reasons - one is to buy cards and presents for birthdays/Christmas back home and second; a lot of things in Australia are sufficiently expensive to make it cheaper to have them shipped from the UK (we still have a UK DVD player and as Australian one's are of a different region we have to use UK DVDs which works for us as DVDs, CDs and video games can be a lot more expensive here). In fact in many cases it's actually cheaper to by British goods in Australia than in Britain as they knock off the 17.5% VAT and the postage is seldom more than the VAT saved so make sure you keep any British accounts for Amazon or other online stores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FamilyHughes Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Thanks Neal, that's just reminded me; we've found it really useful to retain our British cards and bank accounts to use to buy things on Amazon.co.uk and John Lewis etc. Two reasons - one is to buy cards and presents for birthdays/Christmas back home and second; a lot of things in Australia are sufficiently expensive to make it cheaper to have them shipped from the UK (we still have a UK DVD player and as Australian one's are of a different region we have to use UK DVDs which works for us as DVDs, CDs and video games can be a lot more expensive here). In fact in many cases it's actually cheaper to by British goods in Australia than in Britain as they knock off the 17.5% VAT and the postage is seldom more than the VAT saved so make sure you keep any British accounts for Amazon or other online stores. Ah! Been in Oz too long already. VAT is 20% back in the UK. It tends to be the smaller UK retailers that will knock off the VAT. The saving in cost though did outweigh the postage cost.... at the moment. With the £ rising against the AUD now then maybe it won't be beneficial to post over from the UK for much longer . Definitely worth buying online in the UK for UK F&F presents as the UK import duty kicks in at a ridiculously low amount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABL275 Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Ah! Been in Oz too long already. VAT is 20% back in the UK. It tends to be the smaller UK retailers that will knock off the VAT. The saving in cost though did outweigh the postage cost.... at the moment. With the £ rising against the AUD now then maybe it won't be beneficial to post over from the UK for much longer . Definitely worth buying online in the UK for UK F&F presents as the UK import duty kicks in at a ridiculously low amount. Hi FamilyHughes - have you guys moved over yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nealmason1986 Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Hahaha. I have already used debenhams and its good delivery prices to australia. We kept our accounts open for the same reason with a few hundred in each from presents etc. I did try to buy a modem router from amazon and get it posted here as it would have been cheaper but it would not post to Australia. Darn! I find paypal useful as well. I have it linked to my UK account and use it for ebay in Australia etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.