Barbaran

Yippee - Congratulations and another step closer for us all on the timeline. I think they will speed up as the year goes on

sirmatt101

I don't think they could go much slower than at the moment if they tried!

Cheers

Matt

sandch

Absolutely spot on. Any "advice" given in a free forum like this is very different from paid advice. People reading these threads should know that and if they don't, well, they alone accept the consequences. But advice for valuable consideration (eg money) is entirely another matter.

Back into a rather lovely autumn in England, and the weather in Melbourne deteriorated markedly after we left; Geelong won the AFL final, but we missed it because it's on a channel called ESPN here which costs more money.

We opened Westpac accounts when we were there. What a pleasant change from doing it in the UK. Just the passports (with visas of course) are needed.

Things seems to be moving as slowly on the CPV administration as usual; and the exchange rate is still a big concern. If it stays at these levels or deteriorates, it will have an impact on decision-making for some of us. Pensions and assets held in sterling have effectively declined by 15 - 30% depending on when we did our original sums. It may be important to recalculate costs of living to avoid later shocks Downunder.

Good luck all.

Steve

sandch

You'd have to say something quite radical to offend any statute on a free forum Les! Keep posting, your input has been extremely useful.

sirmatt101

Welcome back Steve, I expect it will take you a bit of time to settle back into the routine here! We look forward to your postings and comments.

Cheers

Matt

sandch

Cheers Matt - it's always good to be back in one's own home, but we're looking forward to getting to setting up properly in Australia. We saw some very enticing land plots with views of distant ranges; too expensive naturally!

Barbaran

Welcome back Sandch, when we return from Aus we always say we are another goodbye closer. Come the day, and sooner rather than later there will be no more goodbyes for the family! Aus does seem to be having a colder, wetter Winter and Spring seems longer coming. Are you seeing things from a different prospective now that you have your visa and exploring all the possibilities?

sandch

Thank you. Yes, we do feel empowered somewhat!
We do have a daughter in the UK, so the future will be something of a challenge I think!

sirmatt101

Yes that will be a bit of a challenge for you. Does your daughter here have any inkling to emigrate also?

As from 2nd November both our son & daughter will be in Oz, so we won't have that challenge.

Cheers

Matt

miscellaneous

Welcome Back Steve, I am trying not to feel too jealous of your trip to Melbourne, and your family, stirs up the longing to be up and off with PR in hand, which seems a million billion miles away at present.

Also hope you get some good news soon Matt, as it is being so cheerful which keeps you/us going

Elaine

sandch

I'd like to think she could be "encouraged" one day Matt; but not at the moment

sandch

Thanks Elaine - I know exactly how you feel because we've been through the frustration. But with luck the processing should speed up a bit in the future (more visas, less applicants); unless DIAC reduces staff numbers of course!
Best wishes

ARIOMART

I have a question about sending my application forms to Oz. Sirmatt said in June that he sent his over by DHL for the price of 19gbp, was that from UK? as It seems to be 29GBP now for Global, 19gbp is in EU. Any help to save 10gbp at this early stage would be appreciated. I have been reading this forum and with its help have managed to fill in the application form and found out so much information that I feel confident to do it now (I didnt at first).
Many thanks Moira

sirmatt101

Hi Moira

If you go to http://www.interparcel.com/ you will see on 1st page "quote & book", click on that, next page put in sizes & weight, I have just been on there, change country of destination to Australia and put 1kg weight, 30cms x 30cms x 10cms for size as its only a large envelope. Click next and on the next page you will see several services available, DHL document express is coming up at £25. I am a registered user of Interparcel and that gives me a discount each time, its free to register so try it. Just logged in and it gives me 5% discount so £23.75 so you would save approx $Aus 2.6 at todays rate!!

Good luck

Matt

donovandenese

you could also try www.parcelmonkey.co.uk who are usually pretty good for uk to oz courier prices