I always liked reading the posts and articles detailing how other members of this site have got on in Australia after being here for a length of time. We have been here for 6 months now, so here goes my attempt of putting down on paper what this has meant to us.

We left England on 29th December on a very cold night with snow around, flew with Singapore Airlines to Brisbane via a 3 hour stop off in Singapore. We had already been over to validate our visas, so only had standard baggage allowance.

Upon arriving in Australia we stayed with my sister for 8 weeks and were out of work for a total of 10 weeks. Here are some of the things from our to do list with hopefully some helpful tips.

Tax File Number

In my opinion the Tax File Numbers should be done as soon as you can. This can be done online and takes about 6 weeks to process. Don't forget to let your bank know the numbers when they arrive, or else you will have to pay extra tax on any interest you earn.

Choosing a Bank

We chose the ANZ and had it set-up before we left the UK. All we had to do was go to our nominated local branch in Australia and show our passports. Too easy! They are a good bank because they only charge $5 a month and you get unlimited transactions and when you first arrive in Oz you can expect to have to make a lot of transactions, so this is something you should take into consideration. Make sure you get a cheque book, and that you organise the ability to internet transfer large sums of money. When buying all new white goods and TVs etc etc, you need to be able to pay large sums out!!

Driving License

Another thing you should get sorted soonest is your new Oz driving license. This is used everywhere for ID. It saves having to take your Passport out and about with you.

Medicare

Go to your local office and register. You will be given a tiny slip of paper with your details on it. This can be used until your card comes through. Chose bulk billing wherever you can so you have no outlay. Use the chemist as a medical source instead of the doctor where you can as they are free, but be prepared to pay more for your medication than in the UK. Chose chemist own brand wherever possible to keep costs down.

Child Care Benefit

We have been having problems with our benefits because we were given invalid info from Centre Link. Everyone is entitled to some benefits. To get them Centrelink must have immunisation details for your child. They do not accept a copy of your child's book. You need to go to a doctor and get them to write a letter confirming that their injections are up to date. We are still waiting on ours, but the good news is that you do not lose the benefits; they pay them out at the end of the tax year.

Mortgage

We used the RAMS lo-doc mortgage, and used an advisor from Aussie, (very good). We had 30% to put down as a deposit and although we did not have jobs ours was agreed within 3 weeks of entering Australia. Be aware that we were originally led to believe that our $100K bond money with the government could be used when buying a house. This is not the case. They will only take cold hard cash.

The mortgage was sorted out very quickly, but the solicitor we dealt with was not very proactive. You have to keep on at them. Also, check the figures. There are three levels of stamp duty and if this is your first Australian house then you get the reduced rate. This is a few grand lower so check they charge you the right one. Our $7k was sorted out with the paperwork, and the whole process, from finding house to it being ours took 4 weeks.

Shopping

Barter for everything over $50!! When buying a lot of stuff i.e. electrical, play the shops against each other- get written quotes. It's amazing how it brings the cost down. Supermarkets are not the same as the UK. They do not stock meat or alcohol, and in our opinion the fruit and veg is more expensive and not as fresh. We use the butchers, the supermarket, the fruit/veg farm shop and the bottle shop. We also bulk buy detergents and the like. It's just a matter of getting used to a different way of doing things. In the UK to shop around was to choose which supermarket to go to. Here it means what item to buy where!! K-mart and Target have some kind of sale every weekend, so don't rush to buy anything not on sale!

Jobs

Be prepared for some frustration here. We used Seek and other online resources to find our jobs. Almost everything seems to go through agencies and the agencies are not the same as the UK. They will ignore emails. They will not respond to applications. They will promise you that you will get a job quickly because you are so brilliant and then you will not hear from them again. Resumes tend to be wordy and not concise as in the UK. We re-wrote ours completely. There are examples on the on-line agencies so this can be done before you leave the UK. If at all possible get managers to write references for you to take with you.

Summary

All in all it's been good. Throughout all the chaos and the frustrations here and there, the sun has continued to shine and that just seems to make it easier. Strangely, you start to forget things in the UK quicker than you might think. I don't mean friends and family, but the local pub or high street. We are often asked "What do we miss?" The answer to that is simple, friends and family. No we don't miss certain types of food or drink or the like. Ok, the TV here is bad, but the summer is on its way and we are having a pool installed at the moment, so TV will be redundant soon!!

I remember the days leading up to us going and the feeling of almost terror at the prospect of starting again. Of leaving everything we have achieved and become, and everyone that was close to us. It just seemed so daunting. But you know when you get here you have a list of things you need to do, and you find you just get on with it. Day by day is the way to view it. You don't have to get everything done on day one, and it's not the end of the world if you kick back a little bit. Rome wasn't built in a day as they say.

At the end of my day, as I sit in Roma Street station waiting for my train home I almost have to pinch myself, I'm actually living in Australia, now how did that happen?