tomar

As the title says my husband and I landed in Australia 14 years ago today.
A bit of background, we are both British, and had both moved around a lot and lived in different countries.
Between us UK, Germany, Africa, Singapore, Brunei and finally Australia.
When my husband retired we weren't ready to return to UK, so as we had both spent plenty of time in Australia, and after 10 years in Brunei, aged late 50's (me) and husband 60, we decided to come here for a few years, enjoy living here, and go from there.
Our 3 children were in UK then, our oldest is still there, but our younger 2 have followed us here, one a citizen and other PR about to gain citizenship. Met their partners here and settled.
14 years later we are still here and have no intention of leaving.

We moved to the Sunshine Coast, and were made so welcome, like any new place it takes time to settle and make friends, we have a mix of friends, many Australians and plenty of "Bushies" who have retired to the coast, plus friends from other countries who have moved here like us. A real eclectic mix.

We live life to the full, enjoy our activities, prefer a warm climate to a cold one. Have a house we love, our own pool, situated by a lake, which feels like an extension to our garden, but the council maintains it!

Our only grandchildren are in U.K., so we go there most years for about 3 months, but have to be honest we left UK so long ago that we would hardly ever go there if it wasn't for our son and family.

Thought hopefully my story as a retiree settling here would make a change.

xizzles

What an encouraging, wonderful read!

Thank you for sharing, and may you and your husband continue to enjoy your retirement in good health!

not2old

OP, well done & congratulations

At the time you arrived & settled in OZ, what visa category was it that you emigrated on, if any?

tomar

We were lucky when we came here as there was a retirement visa in place the 410 visa. This visa was stopped in 2005, but those of us on it were not affected.
We now renew the visa every 10 years, and as we have to be totally self funded as far as we have been informed we can stay forever. No real hassle or cost to renew.
We are in a position to apply for a parent visa now, as 2 out of our 3 children have followed us here, but are weighing up the cost of the visa before we decide.

not2old

Thanks for replying.... sorted

What a difference in the requirements of the old 410 visa to the 'now' 405 visa that requires retirees to have $750,000 in assets + $65,000/yr in income

https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/405-

I reckon unless folks are at the top end of the wealth scale that Australia is not on the list of retirement destinations


.

windsor27

Hi Tomar, First tried to PM you but have not been on forum lately so blocked. Like you we came to Oz on 410 We arrived late 2003 and settled south of Sydney in the Southern Highlands, now settled Probus / Men,s Shed/ Various old car clubs etc. We were both 64 when we moved, all our family are in the UK. Like you found the life here most agreeable would not move back to UK and our grand children are in UK new one to visit this year. We have Friends in Caloundra and know the area well, We cruised in the UK and were pleased when the Major Cruising companies found Australia in about 2007.As you say great life, well apart from the huge hailstones which fortunately missed us recently, and our cars are under cover. Gee the wines cheap here Hic. Cheers

tomar

Thank you and other posters for replying.
Good to hear you are as happy as we are.
There is a fairly large group of us living locally here, and we meet up approximately every 2 months for lunch together. Exchange any new information though not much new recently.
We met with Peter Dutton last October, to see if there was any chance of us ever getting PR, as we had all been here since before the visa finished in 2005. There are approx. only 3500 of us here on this visa now.
Will post if we ever hear anything.

petetheringer

Hi,

Great to hear that you are so happy in Oz. We came out 11 years ago and are having a great time. However I wonder if you have any advice re health insurance. We have tried Medibank and are now with BUPA. The premiums are so expensive and we would like to explore other companies but haven't found any which offer cover for the 410 visa. Any tips?
Also we are puzzled by the cost of pathology - blood tests in particular. Our Australian friends don't seem to pay anything with the charges being bulk billed to Medicare but we get refunded only part of the cost. This applied to Medibank and to to BUPA. Again any advice?
Peter

tomar

We have to have health insurance on the 410 visa and are with Medibank and it's not cheap but we have top cover, and don't think it's worth changing, as we got a good deal that was only available for a short time. As far as I know everyone is on Medibank or bupa.
We get prescriptions at the Medicare rate, I think that was arranged by BERIA.
We use QMA for blood basic tests quote F2 and get it all paid by insurance, but don't know about other blood checks.
The cost of the health insurance going up every year is a big concern. Have been told 10% increase this year, taking it to about $10,000.
Because of the increases we are going to go down the parent visa route now.
We reckon we pay $5,000 more a year for insurance, so in 10 years time that's the cost of 1 visa!!!

Pollyana

You only have 2 posts, as a new member, that is why you cannot send pms. You need at least 3.

yafm

Thanks Pollyanna, not really new member joined in 2003 but have not been on this forum lately so pms blocked. We met you in Caloundra just after we came to Oz.Gee how time flies. Cheers Colin.

Pollyana

Ah, it was you? When you posted before under that new name you only had two pms, so they aren't blocked, you just can't pm till you have three posts. Under YAFM you'd be fine to pm cos you have way more than 3 posts

I remember meeting you years ago - sounds like things are going well for you

aries

Hello tomar, it will soon be 15 years since you arrived in Australia!

My mum and dad were your ages when they arrived in Adelaide in 1964, and they soon wished they had left England years before. At least my dad enjoyed 13 years of warmer weather before he died, but it took others of our family to make it first and give them encouragement to join us.

I can still envisage my dad in long trousers and shiny black shoes sitting on the beach, but such a life was totally new to him.

tomar

Weird I hardly ever pop in to expats, yes almost 15 years, about 2 weeks to go.
We applied for the parent contributary 864 visa March last year, and waiting for who knows how long for it to come through.
Still very happy and settled, had a lousy few months health, all covered by insurance, and hopefully 2018 will be better.
Windsor 27, we spent Christmas in the Central Highlands, Burrawang, loved it, such a change from the Sunny Coast.

Gold_4

Dear Tomar and also Aries,
Thanks so much for your posts, I am 58 although my husband is a real toy boy at 45
Been thinking about coming to Aus for about 20 years, even had a PR visa granted 2007 but let it expire for various reasons, got another one now for all five of my family, granted 2017 and want to come, but got a good life in the UK with many friends. Would love to retire to a warmer climate! We intend to come in 2019 when our youngest child is 18, of course he is not keen but I think if we don't give it a try, it will be something I regret forever. Do you know what I mean? It gets harder to be brave as you age....