2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

I'm not sure if my info is accurate but according to my online currency converter the AUD to GBP is currently 2.28. If this is true it doesn't have to go a lot further to enable me to go home even with a big loss on the house. So fingers crossed, keep falling. At 2.1 I can go home!

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Hi Arkon

Have followed your travails. Hope you are able to get home, whatever it takes to get there :)

Faye

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Thanks, and a nice low 2.1 would be just the ticket. 2 to 1 much better. It actually went to 1.9 to 1 a few years back so it is possible.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Good luck with it all mate - don't forget to do a post on being back in Blighty!

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

So I'm guessing the Auckland house exchange didn't work out?


S

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

For your sake I hope it goes your way. For everyone moving out here now - I apologise :D

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Looks like we've just sold our house in UK - fingers crossed AGAIN.

Guess we'll be leaving our money in UK until the exchange rate goes back the otherway - we hope!

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

No, I felt I would be swapping one lemon for another.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

I can't say what the historical exchange has been but I remember being funded here in the early nineties at around 2.09 - 2.18 or so.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

not much help for those looking at going out though

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Yea I know, Still every cloud and all that... Still it was up over 2.5 just a few weeks ago and anyone that turned that down and didn't do a forwards transfer only really has themselves to blame. I'm even thinking about doing a reverse forwards transfer as my assets are not sold yet but that's not really an excuse to miss an exchange rate that suits you.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

I hope you can hold your nerve....:omg_smile:

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

arkon,

i think you are mad, i am sure, got the t-shirt of coming back to the uk...

cant say its all that great...

be cool with your decisions..

oam

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Not too sure which bit is mad, going home or waiting for a nice low exchange rate. If it's the going home you think is mad then I'm not so sure. This place has now bored me witless, the idea of being close to Europe and the states again plus all the great places actually in the British isles to me is just so much more fullfilling than here.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

But won't you miss the efficiency of everything, the way everything runs so smoothly, the fantastic health service and transport, lack of crime and grafitti, the way all the tradesman turn up on time or ring you back, the competent politicians who, selflessly and without any personal agenda run the states and country so well?

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

PMSL :rofl:


Arkon give us a nudge in the MBTTUK forum if it gets that low as i got a few bob to bring back too, but i not really been watching the prices. Fingers crossed for you.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

In a word NO. You just about summed up the whole place perfectly. Except the incredibly poor educational standard, a major reason for me to go home with the boy, There's just no way he's getting schooled here.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Just move to the USA, there currency is worthless at the moment :)

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

I actually reckon that America would be a good place to invest in property at the moment. Their currency might have weakened but their economy is basically sound. As their RE market has taken a big hit, I reckon there would be some good bargains there - and the exchange rate against both AUD and GBP make it even more attractive. The RE market there is going to rebound at some stage.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Yep there was something on 4 corners the other week, RE in Cleveland being auctioned for 2k and didn't sell, ok it's was not in the best location but that could change over time.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

He definitely won't miss any of that. ;)

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

I could just about cope with it (just) if it weren't for the constant "Australian is best" mantra. I suppose we Brits are not given to the constant bravado attitude and don't like it.

I shared a rail carriage the other day with a physics teacher who as starting his vacation: he was originally from Belfast. That morning they had their final assembly of the term and he said there were four hours of "we are the best" American-style hoopla. The children certainly have plenty of self-confidence - it seems sometimes that's all they are taught <g>.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Just had an email from a great friend in Florida: an apartment which was on he market for $800k sold for $500 last week.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Half the population of the mid north coast will be watching the exchange rate
praying it keeps rising.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Is there anywhere on the planet like that, or are you considering a career in fiction? :lol:

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Outside of certain hotspots - SF, parts of LA, Miami, NY etc - property in the US is relatively cheap - and getting cheaper! I was reading on CNN that houses in Florida that were on the market for $750k are now $500k and still no-one is buying.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

I think it depends on what your life was like in the UK, For me there is no comparison, My life in the UK was just so much better that there is no comparison. All these bad things happen back home as well as here but for some reason they are all just so much worse here. I knew where I was there, here I'm left everyday just wondering what are the rules to living here. Nothing goes smoothly, whereas back home only occasionally things didn't go smoothly. I've not had a singe good experience here (Apart from my boys birth) and even that Australia tried to mess up.

Here it's like I only get things done dispite the countries best efforts to thwart me. At 2.1 I'm transfering it all back and going home regardless. Not sure how to actually achieve it with the farm still to sell but hey ho, I'll manage it somehow even if it involves a balaclava!

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

No, Hutch: but I've never ever been in a country where so much incompetence exists side-by-side with so much selfsatisfaction and boastfulness. One small example of many many: the insulation contractor who spent an hour saying how good he was, how Australian insulation is the best in the world (WHAT??) and how his standards were impeccable - and then did what he had come to do, which was to re-do the whole loft which was the biggest mess of bits of insulation and gaps and torn pieces I've ever seen. I'm still not satisfied that the R4 we paid for is actually up there - it seems half the spec thickness. But since I've just come out of hospital after my fourth stay this year - and that's another series of stories - I can't get up there yet to check. Anyway, I'm fully involved with attempting to get our $40k plus double glazing done properly, a year after payment in full and after many many promises to replace the units.

But no, all's well with the world............

Arkon doesn't say half of what goes on in this place and you have to be blind or very easily satisfied to think otherwise.

And that's what many Australians, born here, tell me as well.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

So True, I only tell a fraction of what happens here, not only that but it has become so frequent that it's no longer a suprise or shock enough to be arsed to write them up on here.

Also those that know it to be true don't need re telling and the others just refuse to believe it anyway no matter what you say. So I've pretty much given up on telling all the guff that happens here.

On a lighter note and to re emphersise the 'Australian' mentality....Has anyone actually heard much about the Aussies slaughter in rugby? Here where I am it's no even mentioned, it's like it didn't happen. No congratulations on your win from the locals, just head down and pout like children. Contrast this with what would have happened back home in the same situation (which is quite a lot).

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Are you trying to suggest that they are poor losers sir?

Well, maybe you have something there. We ventured out to watch the match on Saturday night, and some of the locals did get particularly unpleasant in the closing moments and post match analysis. One guy got particularly animated and started gobbing off about not deserving to win as we hadn't even scored a try etc, and another group were throwing things.

On the whole though, I have found that most of my worthwhile friends have been pretty good natured about it.

S

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

What rugby is this?

Certainly they do treat what is in fact professional entertainment - not to be confused with sport - as barely legal warfare, from what little I've seen on TV. Now, if it were amateur games I suppose you could support one side or the other but for the life of me I can't see what's so important about one group or another playing the equivalent of WW3.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Totally agree! I remember last time we won it was the same with "Johnny Rotten" splashed across the papers the next day. They can't handle losing. It's like someone who constantly goes on about how fabulous they are - you can help love it when they are taken down a peg or two!! ;)

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Poor losers! That is the biggest understatement ever. I thought the Americns were bad but at being bad losers the Australians really can brag about being the best at it. It's like when a six year old loses the egg and spoon race and crosses her arms and storms off in a huff. Except here it's a national sport.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

I remember John Howard's face the last time they lost, he had a real frown/sulk on his face as he handed out the trophy.
Even the guys at work thought it looked really bad.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

No worse then what the Sun prints every time England plays Germany :)

I once accused an Australian of being a bad looser, his reply was "well we haven't had as much practice at it as you lot" to which I couldnt really argue :(

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Is that just not his normal face?

Imagine the look when he has to hand over the keys to The Lodge...

S

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

In fairness, the English media's response would (will) be to slaughter all the English players and the managers and coaches regardless of what chance they had before the tournament. Let's not get carried away here - there's bad on both sides and good. Just because Arkon and Wol don't see the good doesn't mean it's not there for others.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

I think that is the point Arkon and Wol are making. The British papers slag off their own teams regardless of winning or losing. UNHEARD of in Oz they would never slag off the best teams in the world. The Ozzies just can't accept that they are NOT the whole world just one big country in it. This is most Ozzies I have come across, if I tell them I don't like something here they look at me as if I am mad and when I justify why they look as if they are going to burst into tears as they can't defend themselves.

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

Yes, I've just experienced this in the last 10 minutes. I was bemoaning the lack of 0% finance deals on cars here, and they all just started protecting the dealers, saying "What's in it for the dealer to offer you 0% finance?" A complete lack of and willing to understand that somewhere else may do some things better...

S

Re: 2.28 and falling, Yippee....
 

You know mate - it's a cyclical argument. I haven't encountered anything like the problems that you and Arkon have here - so what does that prove? You guys are shit magnets and I'm not? I don't know, life hasn't been one big dreamy joyride here, but the problems I have had are no worse than the ones I had in the UK.

For instance, I had a horrific time of it with BT in the UK (we ended up paying for a phone line 8 months after we emigrated, amongst many other hassles due entirely to BT's ineptness). Despite great efforts on our part we got paid child benefits for many months after we left the country and when we finally got them to accept that we'd emigrated they sent us a nasty letter demanding immediate payment of over three thousand quid. We had building work done on our UK house which lead to the roof collapsing in above my son's bedroom. We had sewage pipes that backed up and belched effluent all over the garden which cost several thousand pounds to fix and which required four return visits from the contractor due to shoddy work. I bought a car (fully checked by the AA prior to purchase) from a main dealer for 7k which cost me over 8k in repairs within the space of two years. We had a tree surgeon round who managed to fell a pine tree on top of my next door neighbours two month old Imprezza. We had a power-cut for five days straight and received 50 quid in compensation from the power company (try running a home Internet business from McDonalds). The road we lived on subsided and partially collapsed due to heavy rain and badly neglected drains the year we moved in - I have just heard from my neighbour that it's currently being fixed, six years later!!!!

I might also add that I know many born-and-bred Brits who have had similar problems.

What does it all prove? Sweet **** all. That's life mate - whatever planet you live on.

See above. :)

I genuinely wish you all the best back in the UK Arkon and, since I don't have any sterling that needs moving at the moment, I will join you in praying that exchange rate down to the two-for-one territory. :)