Hi, we arrive in melbourne next week after three months travelling around SE Asia; we've got a sofa to crash on for the first week, but then need to start picking up a normal life again!
We'll need transport, a place to rent, jobs... in fact pretty much everything you can think of except an ANZ bank account (which we've already set up).
I was wondering, I'm pretty sure we're not the first thirty something childless couple to have been in this position, what's the best order to get this ball rolling and how? I mean: do we need to get driving licences sorted even? Any and all advice gratefully accepted!

Been in Sydney for about 6 weeks now - main things we have sorted are rental, plus, lecky, gas accounts etc. Bought a car, got insurance for it. not changed the licenses over yet, plan to do this next week. We have had to buy some basic furniture, fridge and washing machine until the container gets here. Dont forget to get out there and meet people. Next big thing is finding a job.

Good luck

Cheers. We both have full UK car licences but not international ones as far as I know. Is that enough to go and buy a car with? Did you need your permanent address etc. First? So many questions it's unreal!
It all seems very chicken and egg to me right now...

We just showed them the UK licences, we did have a permanent address to give them. You also do not fill in the log book with the dealer, but have to take the paperwork to the RTA to register it and pay more tax to the government.

We made do with a rental car from www.nobirds.com.au for the first month.

Hi, when we land in Sydney we want to travel about to view areas/houses between Melbourne to Queensland for a few weeks, if we have no permanent address can we; 1) buy a car, 2) get insurance?

or will we have to hire a car?

My guess is the latter but it seems very expensive to hire, we'll have 4 cases and a bike/bag as well as hand luggage.

Anyone

Wouldn't it be better to hire a car until your settled anyway, because it is a huge distance Victoria and Queensland?

been in melbourne for about 3 weeks now luckily didn't have to find a place to stay as crashing with my sis but first things I did was start looking for work and sort out my tax file no (already had a bank account sorted) haven't done my drivers liscence yet as you have a year on a uk one before you need to change it so that's low on my priorities the next thing is medicare for me

Just a heads up for you Paul....

If you are in Victoria on a temporary visa, you can drive on your overseas licence (provided it is a current, valid licence) for an indefinite period provided your overseas licence is in English (or you have an English translation), or you have an International Driving Permit.

If you are in Victoria on a permanent visa, you can drive on your overseas licence for only three months from the date you entered Victoria or from the time a permanent visa was issued to you. If you want to continue to drive in Victoria after that time you must apply for a Victorian driver licence.

http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/...rsLicences.htm

Have you got a friends address that you can "use" for now? ie what address are you going to give the bank...?

We were backpacking for about 6 months and this is what we did... (tho we continued to travel in Australia so slightly different)..

1. hired a car for a week so we could get around etc etc..
2. opened our bank accounts properly (id etc)
3. went and got our medicare cards
4. got a proper WA driving license (even tho we didnt intend to stay there)
5. bought a campervan and headed on out

We were lucky... our friends said that we could use their address until we got settled.. it helped a lot..

Melbourne to Queensland is a 24 hour coach journey.. in otherwords it is a long way.. bit like travelling via coach from UK to Spain.. suggest that you might want to hire a campervan... OH knows of a company that will pay your petrol if you bring back their campervans from obscure places... he used them when he had to travel by land from Perth to Melbourne.. cost him hardly anything..

Will ask him for the url link and then post info.

Em x

http://www.standbyrelocations.com/default.aspx

These are the people who deal with the campervans and motorhomes that need to be driven back to locations.. you might find it cheaper than trying to backpack?

Em x

From my understanding when you buy a car you will need 3 pieces of I.D. Medicare card is a great form of I.D so it would be a good idea to get this sorted asap. Can be done at any medicare centre and wont take long, they will give you a temp number untill you get your card. When we got our car we also used passports and bankcards.
The cost for changing our licenses was around $70 each.
Tez

No worries, thanks for your help. Been in Aus. for a month now and have an appt. at VicRoads to get my Vic. driving licence. It's probably also worth noting here that VicRoads have specifically asked for:
UK drivers licence,
Passport,
Proof of signature,
Proof of address (lease, etc.)

Just gotta decide what kind of wheels to go for now!
BTW, can you recommend any insurers ? I was with Admiral in the UK.

Hi again, we got a really good deal with Bingle. Think it was about $350 for me and oh for 12 months. Be warned you pay the whole amount, not monthly installments like you can back home, Happy searching

Terri x