Originally Posted by lightr0d2o

I guess the place to start is at the beginning and it is likely to be long, so if ya wanna read it get a cuppa.

We Myself Rob, ER indoors Shell, daughter no 1 Zoe and daughter no 2 Jessica. having left our worldly goods in the more than capable hands of the shipping agent (Copsey) left our family home on the 6th October and moved into our local hotel for two nights. we had decided to have a leaving do, to be held at our local rugby club. We on reflection think that this for us was a good Idea. Although a very emotional evening, my principal tack tick of drinking as much JD and coke as i could worked well getting me through the night. The real tears and hart break came the next day as we left the hotel, some of our friends and family had elected to stay the night at the hotel and see us off. Wow now that tests your metal as a man, probably the hardest thing we have ever had to go through as a family. mums, dads, Nan's, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews, friends. Crikey if I could have bottled the tears and brought them with us, Oz wouldn't be in a mess with water.
After spending two nights with some friends near Heathrow they kindly took us all to the airport on 10th October.
Emirates I have to say made the most hideous of flights just bearable. it is amazing how worn out and sore you can get doing nothing for 23 hours. the food was good the entertainment was good the flight is long very long.
arrived in Sydney 12th Oct to be greeted by a friend of mine with a smiling face, it is nice to have that at least. Problem no one, because we had spent a few quid on our bank card in the last week, you know flights hotels parties and things, our bank in there wisdom had put a hold on my card thinking it had been stolen or cloned. this I found out trying to pay for the hire car at the Avis counter. After a few frantic phone calls to the uk the bank allowed us to use our cards again and after saddling up the Toyota people carrier we headed of to our holiday apartment in Umina on the central coast.
Now Umina is probably a very nice place, just not for us. the central coast overall is a very nice area, but due to work we had to be closer to Sydney. We spent the next four weeks holidaying and looking at possible areas to live. boat trips in Sydney harbour, dolphin watching, zoo's, the harbour, the beaches, you name it and we had a go at it Sydney is a city for all. there is always something to do.
We eventually managed to start to come back to planet earth and get going on the real life things. jobs, tax numbers, Medicare, cars, mobiles fones and a place to live.
Our bank account we had opened from the Uk We decided to use the Commonwealth bank, they made it easy to transfer money and gave us a good rate of exchange. when you get here you go to the bank and activate the account and they do the rest cards and all comes in the post as usual. Be aware though that debit cards unlike the uk have a limit on them ours is set at $800 per card per day, so $800 on mine and $800 on Michell's. but also unlike the uk if you buy anything for big money like a car or furniture you can go to the bank with your ID and get it out over the counter either cash or bank draft.
Tax file numbers we did on the internet and take about 4 weeks to come through. there is a thread on here with a link to the site I have seen. it is pretty painless.
mobile phones are a head ache getting credit is hard and so we are all on pay as you go, Vodafone. 20c connection fee to each other but the call then is free. we called the uk a few times as well and I was surprised it was costing about $10 for a twenty min call to a land line in the uk. but also it could cost you that to call another mobile in aus such as Telstra. we brought two unlocked phones with us and Michell had purchased two Ozzie sim cards on ebay, so we had a phone when we got off the plane.
We finally decided to set up camp in caringbah, we found the shire as it is affectionately called by the locals by chance we were out looking for cars, and thought that this was the very place for us. The kids think it is great that me being short fat and not so hairy have called me a hobbit for some time now, saying I have come home to the shire...
We rented a house, sounds easy ay, dont be fooled. estate agents are estate agents no matter where they come from. Now there is a problem in Oz it called franchise. You will see estate agents every where massive company names in every suburb and town. ah good I here you say. Not good. the estate agent's you are standing in only know about that area, and although they have an office in every other suburb, because of franchise they know nothing about what is going on in any other area. They dont link offices to help them selves or any on else for that matter. So be prepared you have to use the GOYA principal ( get off yer arse) and do the phoning and driving and walking yourself. Oh yeah if they ask for a number to call you back on, dont waste yer time just tell them you will call back cos you will anyway, cos they very rarely do call you back.
If you are looking to rent you have to be sharp. the good properties can come on the books in the morning and be gone on the same day.
Medicare is easy as well, most shopping centers have an office and you can do it while you wait. again ID is all you kneed.
At this point I would say that if you have an address and a Uk driving licence then go to the local RTA office and sort out your Ozzie drivers licence, it was painless, no test or any thing they just looked at our uk licence and wrote out our new Ozzie ones, a note here for the girls, take some lippy and a hair brush. you gotta get yer photo done.
once you have this it seems to help you every where you go as proof of ID.
We are now becoming settled with two out of three at work and the fourth at school..
just a note here for plumbers. If your apprenticeship was done in England then you will have to go to the office of fair trading to get your quals ossified. So everything you do for the TRA get a certified copy for, you need a comprehensive cv to send off to the fair trading people. plus you have to do a health and safety course called the green card, its about $120 and they are easy, but boring.

any way I will have to go now. my one finger typing has taken its toll on me and I cant write any more.

wishing you all well with your dreams and christmas

Cockney Rob......

Originally Posted by Vin 'n Bin

What a great post Rob ...hope you continue to settle in okay. I think it's very strange too...about the mobile phones. I have an Optus pre-paid and I phone my son in England on his mobile phone...I can talk for half an hour and find it only costs about $12 ...much less for 15 minutes which is all I need really...it's always a nice surprise to find it is so cheap