Sideshowdeb

That's brilliant! Despite having sold loads, the garage still looks just as full! I might give Facebook a try too. Anything to avoid the dreaded car boot sale

Gumtree has been great for us! No selling fees and no trips to the post office! We've nearly paid for one airplane ticket with what we've sold so far, and it's just unwanted stuff from the garage.

There's been a lot in the press about poor standards and staffing levels at the HMRC over the last few of years. I'd start off by querying it and getting them to show you exactly where the error occurred and prove you actually do owe that much. They get things wrong so often I wouldn't accept anything without checking it out. Whatever happens after that there's lots of free advice on things like this available online and the Citizens Advice Bureau is a good place to start. Good luck x

Wow, that looks like an amazing development! We've settled on a month's holiday let initially, so we'll be hopefully we'll be in a lease house by September. Are you staying in Mandurah? Ultimately we'd love to build our own house, but as usual I'm getting ahead of myself.

We've added Mandurah to the list of places we want to explore and it tipped the balance in favour of a SOR holiday let. I've managed to convince my OH to book it for longer to give us more time to check out areas and schools etc. I can't wait to put the iPad away and see these places for myself though! Still, there are worse ways to while away the hours of my last ever wet and grey British winter :smile2: Deb x

Yeah, 15 and 6. We've (finally) decided to base ourselves SOR to start with, but I believe there's lots of building work north of Clarkson so we're totally open minded and will definitely have a day or two exploring that area. I have a 3 hour+ commute here and I've promised them I won't do that again so we really have to go where the work is, and then of course, find a lovely suburb, great schools and our dream house! Easy peasy!? :smile2: What about you?

When we went through this (years ago), my OH had to complete an AQF III as they wouldn't accept his NVQ3. It has since changed for his trade and they now accept the NVQ in certain circumstances. Unfortunately a colleague who is currently using an agent wasn't made aware of the change. He spent a lot of time and money unnecessarily. I don't want to knock agents but I would check what they tell you yourself if possible. I must say we had to deal with the TRA, not VETASSES and I don't know if there have been changes across all the agencies or just the TRA? Deb x

Fingers crossed :smile2: What area have you chosen to start off with?

http://www.western-australia.com/alkimos.html That's a link that Rivera posted about a huge development north of Clarkson. I'm sat on my sofa in Gloucestershire, so I can't comment personally but it looks promising, especially if you're planning on being NOR. Deb x

Unless you don't mind being there all day, have a good excuse at the ready and ask if you can if you can go first for the speaking element. The first time my OH did his he had 5 and a half hour wait between the two parts. The next time he told them at registration that he had childcare issues and asked if he could he leave early. Also, if you're sitting it at a uni campus be prepared that there may not be a great selection of food and drink available at the weekend. Other than that, good luck guys!

Just out of interest, how long should one book a holiday let for? My OH thinks it's best not to commit too long, however I think the longer the better. I've heard so many people saying how difficult it can be to lease a house without a job and that even offering 6 months up front hasn't helped?! Deb x

I actually looked at Mandurah for the first time yesterday because I saw it on TV (yes, I'll admit it, I was watching Wanted Down Under). I was pleasantly surprised at the house prices and it looked lovely. It's good to know there's work there because my OH really likes the thought of a beach suburb/town and he definitely favours being south of Perth. Beach, building work, hospital and Good mountain bike terrain ticks quite a lot of our boxes! Thanks, Deb x

It's an amazing feeling isn't it! Congratulations!

Good call! Much cheaper than stayz.com. For us it meant we could book a holiday let for an extra couple of weeks so that we don't have as much pressure to find a rental. Deb x

The lazy me could quite happily go for the dart option! I think you're right about the systematic approach. My research so far has been about as targeted as a shotgun and I really need to narrow it down or I'll be a Perth fact machine by August. I'm really aware there's going to be a limit to how much we can explore Perth before we have to start making some choices, so thanks for the advice. Debs x

Thanks Bibbs, my son will have to walk or ride to school until he's old enough to drive so the distance is a really big thing to take into account. Arriving in August, I probably wouldn't have thought about it like that :-) We don't have any close friends or family in Perth so that's not a factor and in the past we've been happy living in the country and in the city. The boys love mountain biking and the outdoors, but having shops, restaurants etc on hand would be great also, especially with a teenager in the family. Deb x

Thank you for that link, lots of info :0)

Howdy all, I'm hoping to get a little bit of advice on choosing a suburb. We've booked our flights and we land in Perth on 1st of August and I honestly can't wait. As problems go, it's a nice one to have, finally, but I really don't know where to start when thinking about suburbs. Some are off the list immediately because without a lottery win they're out of our price range, some because they're too far out or I've heard bad things. That still leaves a huge number of lovely family suburbs with good schools. My OH is a dry liner (or gyprocker, as I think he'll soon be known) and I currently work in a hospital pharmacy but could easily change to a local chemist if the hospitals are too far away or jobs are scarce. I guess what we need to know is whether the building work is concentrated in particular areas, or as I suspect, sub-contractors have to work all over Perth? Which areas are the most commutable and have the best transport links? We have 2 children (15 & 6) so I would like to narrow my search down to a few suburbs so I can check out schools etc. We plan on renting a holiday let and exploring thoroughly when we arrive, but there's a limit to how much we will get to see so any insider knowledge which would help us target our search would be greatly appreciated. We both drive and would love the kids to be close to the beach and/or a large areas of parkland Thanks in advance Deb x

We're in a very similar position, except our house isn't even on the market yet. I'm hoping things will pick up after Christmas and it will be sold by spring. They're extending the help to first time buyers in January, to include older properties so hopefully that will help us compete with the deals developers are offering. The demand for rental properties is quite high where I live so if it comes to it I might make some enquiries and see if I can find a buy to let landlord to take it off our hands. I'm sure they'll want a hefty discount but I don't think we'll be going anywhere unless we free up that money. Good luck and congrats on getting your visa x

For copies certified in Australia then there's a finite list of professions, but it's not so clear for the UK. We had most of ours done by a family friend who's a financial advisor. We also had some done by a friend who's a teacher and some by a colleague at work who's a Pharmacist. I guess if they would be accepted on a passport or driving licence application here in the UK then that would be fine, as they're recognised in UK law. None of ours were done by a lawyer and it was never questioned.

Congratulations, I remember reading lots of posts from people affected by a firm going into liquidation a few months ago. Stories like this are just what people need when it gets hard staying motivated! Good luck to you all, Deb x

My OH, who is the main applicant had skin cancer less than 2 years ago and he passed his medical ok, so I very much doubt a couple of lipomas will cause you any problems? Best of luck Deb x

Thanks for all the fab tips! We had toyed with the idea before but never had the guts, or the motivation....until now, but for the last 3 months we've been living on my salary and saving my OH's. It's been painful at times but nowhere as bad as we thought it would be. It's surprising how much difference it makes just paying attention to what we buy and where from. Some things that have really worked for me, are stocking up on bread and milk. I used to pop into the supermarket every day or so just to get bread and milk and come out with 2 bags of other stuff that I picked up on a whim. Now I buy enough for a week and freeze them, just be aware a large milk takes a very long time to defrost! Also, if you enjoy cooking, Jamie Oliver has a book out that's all about cost saving cooking. There's lots of recipes that make eating on a budget more interesting and it's full of tips about reducing waste and making the most of leftovers. A few things even brought back memories from my childhood, like stew on a Monday, made from the leftovers from the Sunday roast. It's nice to know that even though we can't afford to go out anymore, we can still feed our friends when they come over. Mostly I'm enjoying rising to the challenge and look forward to updating my signature with 'flights booked' very soon! Debs xx

Interesting, but scary reading. We're just about (hopefully) to get our PR visa to go to Perth on my partners occupation. He's a dry liner and has wanted to go to Oz permanently since a WHV more than a decade ago. We're not going for the money, but it would be nice to think we're not going to be worse off than we are here. Does anyone know what the situation is like at the moment for dry liners? Where is it best to be based for the work that is available? NOR or SOR? Any information would be great, Thanks Sideshowdeb

We haven't heard from a CO yet, but we had our medicals today for the same reason you mentioned. I've posted our ACPO forms as well because after so long I'm just excited that things are finally happening. We never engaged an agent (too scared if I'm honest) so I just went with the information on the DIAC website and there's the option to arrange medicals at the start of the process so we did. Don't know where in the country you are but we went to Bridge Clinic in Maidenhead and they couldn't have been nicer. Only took 2 hours for 4 of us which I didn't think was too bad. Good luck, Debs