[QUOTE=louise4] Just plodding on really, Louise. Taking care of a sick elderly cat and having enormous strata problems including half a million dollars worth of building defects to be remediated and hoping the government insurance rescue package from the HIH fall-out pays out. All taken its toll on me this year. Had a big legal battle going earlier on in the year, me and one other owner against all the others. I got a compulsory management order and successfully fought off an appeal. Cost me $$$ but my unit is about 35-40K below market value as it stands. Crap bl**dy building regulations here which you can drive a bus through and strata schemes act that is so tortuous even the people administering it have trouble understanding it. I think I did pretty well to study it and structure my case in order to win.

Apologies for Louise and me hijacking this thread!

As you were, everyone.

[QUOTE=TopCat3] Oh Tanya, it never rains but pours does it.
You need a big pat on the back for defending yourself like that. aussie law (life in general sometimes) seems to be made complicated i don't know it benefits.
Is this the same cat or the other one. last year you had one unwell. i hope you have healthy one at least

[QUOTE=louise4] Same cat, she turns 18 next month. Kidney and thyroid, on medication and put her on fluid drip 3x a week. Love her to bits, had her with me almost all the time I've been here. Other cat nearly 8, going along well I think.

[QUOTE=TopCat3] sending healing k to your poor kitty. really hope he/she gets better. pets turn into one of the family don't they.
trying to find some comforting words and failing

[QUOTE=louise4] Succeeding! Thank you.
Have to go to bed now, very late.
This is the extent of my Saturday evening entertainment, a couple of English TV programmes and a whinge on a website.
Sad, sad, sad.
Lovely to hear from you again though. Cheers for now
T

[QUOTE=TopCat3] nitie nite Tanya. chin up. things can seem so bleek and then they turn around. speak soon

same with smoking if they are such a problem don't sell them

[QUOTE=TopCat3] I think you said you were 54?

At 54 in the UK I and my husband had both been working half-time for two years (He a teacher, I worked for the Local Authority).

We took early retirement when I was 54 and he was 55 and now live in Spain solely on his teacher's pension.

We couldn't live on it in the UK, or in some parts of Spain, but can live on it in southern Spain (and I believe in Asturias and Galicia {northern Spain}).

I'm not trying to make you feel bad....I'm just counting my blessings.

Hope it all works out for you. xx

[QUOTE=louise4]
We have had a lot of things go wrong with companies etc and when you write to them and complain you never get a reply.It seems rip of Australia is more appropriate than rip of Britain.At least you have some rights in the uk we don't seem to have any.Aussie law?? I am begining to wonder what law?

Yes I think this seems to be the case.I have jusr signed up for a womens gym(put on the pds while I have been here) so I wait to see what happens with bated breathe.The manger has already asked me where I'm from let us see how long it takes for aren't we great blah blah.

[QUOTE=TopCat3] sorry about your cat.I have 2 I brought from uk.Animals are a very amotive issue aren't they?

Hi there TC - we've checked absolutely everything that we can think of because so many people were saying that it's cheaper here. I'm not sure if it's just that we timed in wrong - we only arrived in January this year plus in the UK tradesmen have never had it so good. We used to be able to save loads each week but now we are still dipping into our UK account to pay certain bills.

Items on my list included fruit & veg (didn't include bananas for obvious reasons), toilet rolls, washing powder, tinned soup, sauce, cheese, milk, eggs, bacon, chicken etc. I did a really equal balance so that it wasn't distorted at all.

Our income is way below what we earned in the Uk because hubby is a bricky - at home he earned twice what he earns here so that doesn't help either. We knew before we came out that his earnings would be less but thought that food and other things would be much cheaper.

What about the rainforests of Qld?
The beaches?
The Outback?
The green farmland of Victoria?
The Blue Mountains?
The cosmopolitan city of Sydney?
THe Kimberley?
A complete variety in my opinion.

England is a tiny little country with landscape all the same, with practically no wildlife and M6's etc everywhere. It is very pretty but I can't tell one village from another.

Of course, I understand that Australia is not your bag. Serendipity plays a huge part in where you will feel home. If you feel stuck and want to go "home" then I feel for you, but that doesn't mean Australia is a crap country. I think if you adjust your attitude and work out a way to get home, you will feel a lot happier. As an Australian, we have an in built "whinging Pom" alarm, as soon as one is in the vicinity we all get scurrying. Who wants to be around such negative people, who just want to look for, and find faults (often faults that are minor or the same in the UK)

The same in Qld what is that all about? Rows and rows of machines awith rows of people sat at them and I am not talking pennies either. I was horrified when a saw a women get$100 changed I thought that was a bit scarey. never really plyed them before,didn't know what I was doing played with $10.00 and walked away.