Les Avalook

Hi Peewit, loved the blog.

Have you tried a trip on the Hawkesbury River Post Boat?

Pretty lazy day out from Sydney if you don't mind getting up early.

Regards

suefb

Hi,

Our son had his interview with Centrelink in Sydney on Tuesday and all went okay - he is opening the account today another great step towards Sydney. I loved peewit's block recognising many views, which we hope to be visiting permanently this year. We have also had an offer on our bungalow with the purchasers requiring a completion date late May/early June.

Hopefully it will all come together and we can make our way to Oz this summer as I will be retiring at the end of June - hooray.

Steve please update our tracker.

Suefb

sandch

Great photos Phil. The quality of the light reminds us of what we are missing, languishing over here under the dense grey cloud of a perpetual economic winter.

Having said that the weather's not bad at the moment. Also, politicians are all trying to be very nice to us for some reason. The tea leaves show that this may change on around May 7, so we'd better make the most of it.

The F1 charts are particularly clever by the way. I'm a fan in certain conditions such as (a) a comfortable lounge and big TV, (2) iffy weather and a busy safety car and/or (iii) Hamilton starts down the grid and has to overtake a lot. Otherwise my attention is drifting by lap 3 or 4.

Cheers

Steve

sandch

Right-Ho Sue.

It sound like the timing is all about right for you.


Best wishes

Steve

Chris-Rob-PTK

Hi Steve, would you update the tracker for us please....AoS completed on 7th April, another step nearer .
thanks a million
Chris & Rob

sandch

OK folks, done!

nearly there....

Best wishes

Steve

Jimclevs

Hi

STOP PRESS

Now I have your attention (!!) - I realise this is not the right thread BUT it is one that a lot of us of a "certain age" check into.

You may wish to know that there is an E petition on the BPiA website - www.bpia.org.au - regarding the inequality of freezing the UK state pension in certain countries, one of which, of course, is Australia. This petition will be forwarded to all candidates, of whatever political persuasion, before the upcoming UK General Election. Every opportunity to air this grievance should be taken.

Please have a read and then SIGN it. You may also like to involve your family and friends in this just cause also and, if you are not already a member of BPiA, you may wish to join the fight.

You know it makes sense.

With many thanks

Jim

sandch

Hi Jim - thanks for that, it's a good initiative. For the busy, lazy or simply daft amongst us, starting with me, can you provide a direct link to the petition? I confess to not being able to spot it with the time I had.

Cheers!

Steve

rosalinka

I clicked on we need your help newsflash banner across top of page,Steve

sandch

OK thanks - I'll give it another go....

sandch

Yep - that worked. However as someone who doesn't yet draw a pension, frozen or otherwise, it's not something I can sign. I did read a summmary of the judgement last month and realised then how complex it can be; even to the extreme position that the UK may have no statutory obligation to pay any pension at all to people who have decided to reside permanently overseas.

It's an issue that really polarises opinion depending on one's personal situation and I can fully sympathise with those affected. We have a few years yet to try to ensure that we don't have to rely on it - we're running out of time though!

Cheers

Steve

peewit

Hi Eric
That area has a great coastline and I have visited it a few times on previous trips to Oz. I would love to own a property there but like you my funds are stuck in the UK with low interest rates and a poor exchange rate, while property prices keep rising here. If only I could have seen this exchange rate problem coming. In the meantime I will just have to enjoy the many benefits of being a permanent resident. Hopefully it will not be too long before you are back here in NSW.
Regards
Peewit

ancpar

We are now 10 months into our wait for CPV143, received a message from our agent today that DIAC are still not catching up and bringing down timescale and at present still at 15 months before C/O. Now both of us are fully retired we are thinking of applying for 676 long stay visa and spending rest of our wait with our Son and family in Perth. Can anyone advise what supporting evidence is nessessary to accompany the application, any advice would be much appreciated.

Pat & John:

Jimclevs

Hi

Glad you found the link. If you consider that you are ineligible to sign the petition because you do not yet receive any UK state pension - thats no problem - being a "pensioner" is not a prerequisite

If, however, you feel unable to sign for any personal reasons - fine - its not compulsory

Thank you for looking

Regards

Jim

miscellaneous

Dear Pat & John, I have just joined my family in Melbourne four weeks ago, and I applied for an e676 visa online, you have to pay $105 for a years visa at the time of applying, they then emailed a request for copies of my bank statement and I also sent my credit card statement, to proove that I could afford to be independant whilst here. I also stated when applying that I wished to have more time with my family and travel whilst here.(I was advised not to complicate the application by mentioning my CPV 143) and it does takes a few weeks for them to process it all.

As a matter of interest, when I checked into LHR they mentioned to me that I had applied for immigration??? so be aware it all seems to be connected with your passport, my son also said, if they question me at the Australian customs, not to deny it, but say that I am over here to check out whether, I wish to eventually live here! as it happened I sailed through with no problem. So I wish you the same luck.:
Once here I was able to get a Medicare card, by presenting my visa and passport at Centerlink, and I was also able to buy a car, by proof of address in my name, using the Medicare card, and a library card, and also my Uk driving licence. so all is good.

Best Wishes
Elaine.