Raychelsb

Thanks everyone! I will have a look at your recommendations.

Hey All Any advice on best Pet Insurance companies here? I used Petplan in UK because they paid 100% of the bills (minus excess) and straight to the vet too, but don't think I will be that spoilt here! Heard good things about PIA, any other recommendations? Thanks as always

Hi All My retired inlaws would like to start coming over for a few months each year, and tour around the place for a few weeks at a time, so are thinking of buying either a motorhome, or car and trailer tent which we would store at our house here. My question is, would thevehicles have to be registered and insured in our names, or could they be in their names with our address on the policies? I am reluctant to have more vehicles registered in our names, well insured anyway, because if anything was to happen when they are driving the motorhome or car, I presume it would affect our insurance on our own vehicles? We were thinking if they bought a relatively cheap car that they only use when they are here, we could just have it rego'd in our names, and they could top up the insurance in their name when they are out?? Has anyone any experience of this? Thanks as always for your help and advice.

I've gotten used to th bacon, and don't like the English style bacon here. Hate the sausages too, and I've spent a lot of money on a lot of different ones lol! And agree the chicken is terrible, not a patch on an organic chicken from the UK with the yellow tinge. But, the pork, lamb and beef are all delicious! And two years in, we are used to missing lots of things from the UK, but wouldn't swap places for anything Ps, being a northerner, I also miss a good pork pie

Hi, we bought an old house last year, and hardly had any deposit, 5% in fact, and the LMI was loaded onto our mortgage. I can PM you the bank, not sure if I am allowed to state it on here? It's one of the big ones. Two other big ones didn't want to know us, including one we actually bank with. Building was of no interest to us, we wanted a big old house to renovate, and the bank helped us with that dream.

Thanks guys!

So I've just bought some tickets to go to the KFC Big Bash in November with my cricket fan family who are visiting with kids from the UK. Has anyone been? How is the travel to and from the WACA? I'm thinking it's going to be a nightmare getting back to Mandurah on the train, or do they put extra ones on? Looking forward to it, looks like a good family evening out though. Thanks!

We too have spent a fair bit of money on food places as we like to eat out too and have found that a lot of the money has been a waste! But here's a list of places we like, and have enjoyed more than once. Cobblers in Halls Head - a more upmarket pub/trendy bar and restaurant and very good food. Irish Bar in Mandurah - family friendly and honest pub grub. Golden Tandoori for our favourite curry place, Oyster Bar - both on Dolphin Quays in Mandurah. Catch 22 Tapas bar in Mandurah - I love their tapas menu and pizzas. Ravenswood Tavern - easy pub food, generous portions and usually tasty. We are yet to try Salt Bistro in Mandurah but it has good reputation. A few people I work with go on about a Mexican in Safety Bay that's really good and family friendly too. We like the Italian in Rockingham just set back from the foreshore called Three Wishes.

Hi Derek my husband is a carpenter here (joiner in the uk lol) and got his job by just sending in his CV to lots of maintenance and building companies by email. He got lucky that one company needed someone for a few months and they then kept him on perm, he's been there almost two years. They are definately seeing a slow down in work but have enough to keep them tickin over. So our advice would be to google firms and send you cvs off. Also, worth asking in your local building supplies shops. We bought some bathroom stuff from a sink and bathroom place, got chatting to the owner who is English and she said the firm they use to install bathrooms are always looking for good joiners. good luck, hope you find something soon

Finally found a helpful local solicitor who only asks for a gold cold donation

Oh my goodness I know, it should be a simple process and they are just making science out of it! I honestly think it would be cheaper and less hassle to fly home haha!

HI All I am getting conflicting advice elsewhere so decided to consult the oracle of you guys for some help please. We are in the final stages of our UK house sale, and our solicitor in the UK has asked for a certified copy of our passports for money laundering laws. They have said it HAS to be a solicitor or lawyer over here that does it, not just anyone that can certify such as JP or Police etc. I have emailed several solicitors in Mandurah to ask if they offer this and the cost. A few have come back to say they either don't do it or that they would need to offer us advice and consult with our UK solicitor at a cost of $100 (per document!) Then we have been asked if we are sure we don't need a Notary Public to certify them..... This is driving me mad, I thought it would be an easy (and cheaper) process to take in 2 colour copies and our passports, check it is in fact me and my husband, sign and certify..... Has anyone else gone through this process? Thankyou as always

Thanks Druid and Walkabout, really helpful posts for me, much appreciated.

Hey there Bean, yes we are very settled here thankyou. It's taken a while for me, I was very unsettled for the first 9 - 12 months and it's really only been the last few months that I have felt at home - changing jobs 6 months ago and making friends, plus buying our own place here has played a big part in it all. Good luck to you, hopefully we can meet up soon when you get out here xx

I posted a similar thread last week, didn't get any replies so hopefully you will have more luck, and I may learn something too My main concern is insurance for an empty property which seems expensive and not many place offer it. Plus we will be paying council tax for a unused house! We will also have to pay capital gains tax, as we own a house here too. And we too declare everything on our tax returns here in Aus as we have PR. Good luck with the whole process. Ours goes up for sale next week when our tenants move out and I am dreading the whole stressful process.

My husband brought all his tools over (he's a joiner/carpenter) and sent them airfreight on a pallet which had to be a plastic pallet and cost about £400 from memory (18 months ago). He couldn't bring his power tool batteries so had to sell those in the UK and he bought new ones on ebay Australia and had them shipped to a friends house over here before he arrived. The pallet took a few days and then he had to go collect it from customs. He too didn't want to sell and re-buy, he has a LOT of things, even handtools that are not easy to replace. He cleaned everything with Jeyes fluid, but to be honest, they barely inspected anything.

Hi everyone Our uk house is about to go up for sale and the tenants are moving out. So, I need to sort empty home insurance and looking online it looks like slim pickings for choice! I'm with tower gate for our rental insurance and could ask them for a quote but looking online their rules look strict (over the top) and excesses high. Has anyone any recommendations? I've heard Adrian flux may be the best option? I also need to sort putting the water rates, gas, electricity and council tax back into our names, oh what fun. hoping for a quick sale ! thanks as always for any tips

Yeh, I've done the two and half hour stopover, it's really is a case of get off the plane, get a bus to the other terminal, get your bags checked again and then maybe ten minutes sitting at the gate waiting to board. It's flying back you usually get more time. Good luck and safe journey

We too still convert to pounds, before buying anything, I say, would I pay that in England?! Like, would I pay £4.00 for a tiny block of English cheddar?! No I wouldn't....but I do here lol! Some things are worth paying here. Others not so ha!

We enjoy the ravens wood tavern a few km's out of Mandurah. Also, cafe 158 for a nice brekky in Mandurah. And cicerellos in Mandurah, which is cheaper than the freo one, and lovely views too.

I use unblockus and it's a few dollars a month after a free trial. Brilliant service, let's you watch Netflix in any country and we also watch bc and channel four etc. but not sure on sports. We stream love football when we can get a link. We play them on the laptop and use a HDMI cable to watch through the TV. The instructions from unblockus are very good and they also reply to email queries super quick.

Hi everyone, My Mum and Dad are due out in October, and it will be their 40th wedding anniversary when they are here. My husband and I would like to treat them to an 'experience' rather than buy them a gift so I am picking all of your brains on ideas and secret gems you may have. I was thinking of champagne afternoon tea at the C restaurant in the city, but I am open to something more original! They are not big 'foodies' but something like a Sunday lunch/afternoon tea in a fantastic setting would be good. Or a lovely scenic drive and call somewhere for lunch....Their anniversary is a Sunday so that will be the day we plan something. Thanks as always

I was so happy when all the southbound lanes around the roe highway junctions opened last week. I work off the leach highway, so join the kwinana from there to travel back to Mandurah, and the first day was a breeze, made such a difference not having the 80 zone, I was home in 45 minutes....but then the rest of the week its been hell - not helped by the rain, which seems to turn everyone into even worse drivers. The traffic 'jam' seems to just have moved further south - Cockburn all the way to Thomas Road has been horrendous all week. Going north, I set off just before 7am to get to Booragoon for an 8am start, and I have started coming off at Anketell and going up Stock Road parallel to the Kwinana, as its just crawling traffic from Rowley until the city pretty much. I wonder if they are going to try to improve the traffic situation.....the population is only going to expand.....

Thanks everyone. Gone with CommBank. They were pretty much the same as RAC but slightly better cover and with recommendations, went with them. Didn't bother with accidental damage though - everything we would probably have to claim for in that department is covered under glass breakages.

Hi everyone, I'm in the process of getting quotes for home insurance and finding it a minefield - a big difference in the quotes for the same level of cover. Best quote so far is with Allianz, but they get a slating on a review website I've looked at. Any hints and tips from you guys? Who has paid a claim out fine, who are hard to get anything from? I don't want to pay the cheapest premium to then find in the event of a claim that they are a waste of space.. Thanks as always