Should my wife and I do as planned and move our lives to the other side of the world for (hopefully) a better quality of life?

Or should we stay in Blighty and hope that it becomes a better place?

And am I mad for taking my S1 with me?

Comments no matter how daft or trivial welcome.

 

Can't fault the move but I would advise you to leave the S1 behind as there are a lot of tasty cars in Oz

 

seconded! get a Ford Falcon XR6T

 

seconded!

 

Thirded!

How serious are you about moving? you know its not as simple as just flying over and buying somewhere I take it?

 

I drove my friends Ute XR6T (who works at the Ford plant) and admittedly, its fairly quick, it just wasn't the same.

The XR8 one on the other hand....

 

shame that really Lee.. otherwise Id be there now :cool

Obviously not knowing what your circumstances are over here, but I say 100%, go for it.. and your probably regret not doing it sooner..

Its a cool place, which happens to have nice weather as a bonus

Been before?? as Id advise checking it out before you go for the long haul to get residency..!!

Where abouts in OZ to, as Saff Cossie lives in Perth or melbourne, cant remember .. the cold part

I personally loved Sydney for bits, hence overstayed by 6 months

 

Very serious, as in, we've been requested for medicals for our visa serious. Although they're now on hold until after our baby arrives in November.

We've been a couple of times so we generally know the score, but it still a huge move in anyones book.

 

me a Sassy were having serious thoughts about this earlier this year, as Porkie says, it not an easy process.

 

maybe so, but for £3300UKP, 500bhp is achieved!!!!

 

We're looking to head to Melbourne as we have friends there, employment opportunites look good, weather is better than England, plus they have seasons (albeit all in one day sometimes) which I'd rather have than being cooked constantly day in, day out as you can be further north.

 

We've used an agent, yes it cost us more, but it couldn't have been easier to apply.

 

Ford make better than the XR6T, thats almost a rep mobile here

Guy in my apartment block who has the space opposite me has a GTP Ford. There is also the Typhoon. Do a search on here, I put a link up some months back but can't remember it off hand. You want an FPV (Ford Performance Vehicle) tuned one, bit like Tickford.

There is an S1 here in the RS Owners Club but thats the only one I know of in the whole country.

Do a search for some of my threads and Australia. Most questions are probably answered in those, if not add me to MSN and I can answer most. My brother is currently going through the process to come over and using the same company as Pops did after his recommendation, cheers silver top

Much better quality of life, very happy here but does take courage to step outside of the comfort zone and leave all mates, family, potentially cars etc. Not for the faint hearted and most people I have met would prefer to only come for a holiday.

Westy - Its Melbourne and yep the colder part!

 

good luck id love to go

 

Spent some time in Aus in'04 on our honeymoon and pretty sure we'd move there tomorrow if it wasn't for family ties here

Loved it, Brisbane was a fantastic place, as was most of southern Queensland, wasn't that impressed by Sydney tho, probably cos it pissed down the whole time we were there.

Don't forget, theres more stuff can kill you in Aus than anywhere else in the world both in and out of the water...

 

can you post up links to the best comanies to use to arrange visa's etc.

many thanks

 

GO GO GO!!!! I wouldnt even need to think twice lol

 

Go mate. If youhave the opportunity then take it for what it is, although i guess its down to the employment oppotuntities. I desperately have wanted to go to Spain to live. I have been searching for around 15 months now, and all there appers to be is bar work and nowt else.

I guess i will never live that dream, and as for OZ i have never been and i guess i do go, its not on top of my list of places to relocate to , but i do notice more and more brits going.

As for taking the series 1, at least youd be well unqiue over there, but they do have some mad car laws etc that you may need to read up on.

Other than that, good luck, go for it

 

Do it mate, you won't regret it.
I have been out here nearly 2 yrs now and have no intention of coming back to UK.
I am not going to tell you its heaven or perfect. But believe me its better than the UK.
We speak the same language but there are a lot of differences..

Last month........
I actual found I was getting fed up with the rain then I thought hey its only been dull for a week then the sun came back out and its the middle of winter 25c
Spent this afternoon driving on deserted beaches

Can the UK get better???????????? The damage is done in my opinion

 

Sludge, if you´re serious about moving to Spain there is plenty of work available away from the bars.

http://www.recruitspain.com/

http://www.wemploy.com/

These are just 2 of the Recruitment Agencies that I know of, but im sure there are more. All depends what area of Spain you are looking at.
If you can speak Spanish you are at a distinct advantage, but it´s not the end of the world if you dont.
The English Newspaper for Southern Spain is a good place to look too:

http://www.surinenglish.com/

You cant expect to fall into the perfect job straight away, but there´s plenty to do until the right one comes along

 

One of the old supervisors from work is now a high up guy at the FPV engine plant (don't think he's too popular as he's already laid off 20 odd blokes ), so I'm going to contact him to see if there's any job opportunities there.

My mate who works at the Broadmeadows plant took me to meet a few people whilst we were over there and the prospects look good for next year .

I totally agree with you about taking the courage to move, we know it won't be easy but I think once we're there and done the initial hard bit of selling up and going we'll be ok.

 

go mate thats all i can say

 

my m8 oz coz has already posted i see,hes taken his cars with him and beatsnearly everything,also with 3 doors breaks peoples necks to look at him in them lol....go for it dude i wouls but they wont take me and my tribe of kids

 

my bro & sister in law went over for 2 years at Christmas 1999

they`re still over there & no sign of coming back

 

If i was you i would............... defo do it

 

I just hope where we are moving to has fuel better than the 91 RON they had when we filled the campervan up!!! Me S1 won't like that..... much!

 

If you’re genuinely in a position to move to Australia permanently I would take advantage of it. The laws are changing almost every 6 months and as time goes by it will be much more difficult to move here permanently.

Best of luck to you and you’re family.

 

DO IT DO IT DO IT!!!!!!!

if i could i'd jump at the chance.

mums cousin moved over there is late 70's, with just a 3 suitcases and 2 kids. was tough at first then he got a job in indonisia on a mining plant working 6 months in indonisia 1 month off.

he is now retired and getting a pension from the uk and aussie with a 70,000 pension a year from his old job

 

You have to go!

My brother and his family moved over to Adelaide in October past. They love it and theyre so glad they went for it!

Im going over in December for just under a month! Never been before but I know its going to be great! Not looking forward to all the evil spiders etc tho!

 

Same here....family is all thats stopping us!

We are opposite in the brisbane thing tho...we hated brisbane, there was nothing to do Gold coast and sunshine coast was nice. My fave holiday place is Cairns, but livable place is Central Coast NSW...

GO FOR IT and take the S1

 

We're deffo going next year, just got to wait for the sprog-let to arrive so we can add him to our visa, then get medicals done.

Think it's just nerves, I've only worked at the one place since leaving school (nearly 30 now) and it's a scary thought of just changing job. BUT, we know we should have a better less stressful life once we're settled in, and although we've wanted to make the move anyway it's more for our impending kiddy (and any more we have ) that makes the move even more important.

 

would love to go ... have done the points thing and im a bit short

dunno if its worth paying the sum of money i have been quoted to get the paperwork sorted out tho ...

 

do you know how many points you need? Ive just passed online(again i did it about 12 months ago too) and got 155 points....whats the requirement? Wondering if i pissed it or not.... Should imagine so as im a builder and Lindsays a nurse......

 

just found it on aussie government site....pissed it


Category Current pass mark Current pool mark
Skilled - Independent (subclass 136) visa 120 70
Skilled - Independent Regional (subclass 495) visa 110 110
Skilled - Australian Sponsored (subclass 138) visa 110 105
Skilled - Independent Overseas Student (subclass 880) visa 120 120
Skilled - Australian Sponsored Overseas Student (subclass 881) visa 110 110
Skilled - Onshore Independent New Zealand Citizen (subclass 861) visa 120 120
Skilled - Onshore Australian Sponsored New Zealand Citizen (subclass 862) 110 110

 

How much u been quoted? Ours was £1400 for agents flat fee. TRA assessment of £250 (now just over £100 I believe), and the main application fee of about £800.

Plus there's the medicals to do at about £500 for all of us

Also, the number of points you get for being a native English speaker is going up this year so you may get the points req'd after all.

 

i cant believe people still play to have this done. I did my visa on my own, and i'm the worst in the world at paperwork. You've just got to read the guide booklet a few times. People make it out to be a lot more complicated than it is, saying that i was doing it as a single guy with a trade, i can see the family being a bigger deal. It ended up costing me about £1100 all in

I want take my 3dr over.. are there any restictions on modifying over there eg engine, wheels, brakes, cage, as i cant find any answers online

 

think ur mad if u dont go this country is gonna get a lot worse imo before it gets any better , i know id leave this country tomo if my missus would come but she woudnt even move 2 hrs up the road let alone `half way round the world

this country will soon be in shit state due to all the big companies going to eastern europe for cheap labour. Not lookin good imo, the economy is gonna take a bashing.

and i blame the SOFT government for letting pretty much every johnny foriegner inc pikeys taking the piss and gettin away with it.

rant over

back to topic GO 4 IT

 

Money well worth spent IMO because if you make any mistakes on your application form then it's rejected and you have to apply and pay again.

As for car exporting, basics are: -

It has to be registered in your name and you have had to have owned it for more than a year.

If it was built before 1989 then it's not subject to any emissions or crash test etc legislation.

You also have to get permission to export first (about £50 or AU$50, can't remember which) or you'll be fined AU$12000 when it reaches Oz.

Have a look on www.dotars.gov.au it should have all the info you're after.

 

I agree, if this government even had something resembling a back bone to take on the scum of society and all the free-loaders who take all but give nothing back, then maybe I wouldn't be in such a rush to make such a move (although it been on the cards for ages, it's just now or never!).

I'll stop there before I get into a right old rant (cos I get all hot and bothered and it's not nice for the wifey ).

 

phil ram ask oz coz he took hi two ,a 3door and a 500 m8,hes been there two years so he can tell you all you need to know,