spanners

It happened to me too. You can't avoid it. I'm a photographer so was a little worried about theft. I asked the sales agent (who was the same as the rental agent) about their liability and I insisted that they covered any thefts during open house viewings. After they gave me a few vague answers I kept on insisting for a proper written reply. The agent dropped all open viewings - which was my main goal and I just removed the equipment. All viewings were at my convenience and I didn't bother cleaning as one would if you were selling ones own house. Being insistent / demanding but not obstinate really pays off.

Tony Abbott would say Baghdad was a great place to live if there was a sound bite in it. Adelaide is a great place but one of the world's top 10 - I would doubt it.

I know its been asked over and over again but I can't find it. How long do I need to be here for to get citizenship? I arrived here in June 2010 on a 457 Business visa and was given PR a few weeks later. Is it still 4 years with a minimum 1 year as PR (counted as part of the 4 years)? Thanks

We had to retune with the TV set to Germany but since the digital change over that nolonger works. You'll need a set top box. Remember if you buy any local DVDs they may not work unless your player is multi regional. You can get some makes of DVD players unlocked - its pretty cheap and quick.

Sounds to me like you've answered your own question - cut the plug off the TV, avoid the in laws and move somewhere with community spirit. Christmas is odd here as despite the heat, its still full of snowy cards and red Santa suits. Embrace the heat - take a tent, firewood and some good wine and wake up on Christmas morning on a deserted beach with no one else in sight and no fuss over cooking some dried out turkey. Its a wonderful way to spend Christmas.

One of the few things I miss about the UK is France. I lived near Cheddar, just south of Bristol, and used to go to France 4 - 5 times a year for weekends. I miss the ease of getting to a different culture - here I can drive for 1000's kms and be surrounded by the same lack of culture or take an expensive flight and be in a culture so alien I could be on Mars. Bristol airport was the closest but more often than not I'd get the overnight ferry from Portsmouth. One's perception of distance changes when you live here. In the UK I always wanted to go mountain biking up in the Scottish Highlands but it always seemed a long drive. Now I'm here I think nothing of driving 1500kms for a weekend looking at opal mines or a couple of nights camping!

Just be yourself. You may be the new foreign kid now but in a few weeks you'll be one of the rest. Being new sucks whether you're 5, 15 or 50. As an old fart its easy for me to say this and it has already been said earlier - stick to what you know is right and don't do anything dumb just to join the cool kids - they rarely are that cool anyway. Above all, try to enjoy yourself and if its tough just tell yourself it won't be in a few weeks. If all fails, score with the hottest chick in your class - just tell her you know Prince Harry and David Beckham !

Chill out and enjoy the process - its all part of the move to Australia. If you have a good removal company who are used to international moves then the men may have some advice. If you have done absolutely no research into shipping then the worst thing that will happen is that some stuff will get pulled out by AQIS and they will either charge you a fee for give you the option to bin it.

I came over on a 457 visa and non of us (2 adults, 3 yr and 6yr old) had to have any medicals. The only medicals we had were for the PR application and they were quite brief. Young kids just get their weight and height checked and maybe a quick eye test. My wife is a vet and I recall she had to complete a more detailed medical questionnaire just in case she had been in contact with some scanky diseases - which seemed odd as we had been in Australia for 6 months before we applied for PR !

........and all for 1/4 of the price of the adelaide show!

Not been to CP but have been to Lighting Ridge and am taking my elderly parents to the underground hotel in White cliffs in a few weeks. Theres nothing beautiful about the opal mining landscape but it is interesting. I'll tell you about the hotel when I return..

With the change in the buy back rate its only worth getting a small system to cover the background / daytime power usage - eg fridges, freezers, modems etc. Buying a large system will take years and years to recoup the costs. I think in the next month or so solar power will either substantially drop in price or suppliers will pull out of the market - remember what happened to the Solar Shop (nationally the largest solar supplier) when the tariff was reduced a while ago.

Try http://www.showbags.com.au

Forgot to say - If Rudd wins we'll all be bankrupt and if Abbott wins we'll be an international laughing stock.

They take my taxes but don't allow me to vote (PR only). My understanding was that you are required to have your name ticked off the polling register and its that tick rather than your mark on a ballot paper that fullfills the legal part. I don't think you legally have to be on the voting register but once you are, you're then required to turn up. As for the whole argument about voting as people historically battled for the right to vote surely its a circular argument. They battled for democracy which includes to right to do and not to do something - its the choice. Despite being male, I'm an ardent feminist and simply can't comprehend why women demean themselves and become possessions of their husbands by dumping their own name and taking a man's name upon marriage but I do understand that the feminist battle was for a choice - good or bad. So next time will I vote as I should be a citizen by then? Certainly if the Sex Party bring out another brilliant advert like the "Too much f**king" one currently released!

Yes but its only worth it is its quite expensive. When I first got here I bought a year old Ford Territory from a dealer in Melbourne. From memory it was around $38-39000. The saving against the same car in SA covered getting to SA in my wife's car and then me, wife, 2 kids and 2 cars spending 5 days along the Great Ocean Road and hotels, meals etc. The total was roughly 5 grand but the car had to be police inspected in SA and reregistered. Buy the car in VIC without the on the road charges. Its worth going into your local DVLA (or whatever its called here) to get an exact cost of rego, tax, etc. My car was inspected at the local police station in the Barossa but I think if you live in Adelaide you have to go to Regency which by all accounts is a bureaucratic nightmare. You would need to drive the car back without any plates - I think the dealer arranged the paperwork for this. We got stopped numerous times for having no plates but its all OK once the appropriate form is flashed. You then have a week or so to sort out the SA paper work. When I part exchanged the car there was no problem with it initially being VIC registered. This time I bought a car locally as the $ differential was not worth the trip but its certainly something I'd look at again. There is one drawback that Toni partly mentioned. If there is something wrong with the car that was not mentioned or noticed in pictures then you have very little on the ground bargaining power. The dealer knows you have just paid to get to VIC and going back without a car is just lost money. Why is it cheaper? - I just assumed its because theres more people in VIC therefore more competition.

Bike registration has always been a contentious issue for cyclists. I think it would be a good thing as it would make bikes trackable both for theft and traffic violations but above all it would stop views like "well cyclists don't even pay for the roads". I can't think of many things worse than eating a MacDonald's burger but I have to pay taxes to get the council to pick up the wrappers and hospitals to treat all the fatties having heart attacks.

Having demonstrated back in the late 80's against the introduction of student loans I'd say ... "do a runner, do a runner" However as the politically apathetic Gen Y all failed to do anything to stop the introduction of student fees I'd say its all your fault and the government should charge you all double !! Pleased I'm an old fart who got their education for free.

Hi Colin Colin - I ride loads but wouldn't dream of riding around Adelaide unless almost all my journey was on remote cycle paths (ie not just a painted line on the main road). SA driving standards are not good. For roads that are almost devoid of traffic (despite what the locals say about the 'horrendous' traffic jams) drivers have no problem in killing themselves and others at an alarming rate. Views like Scooterdan's prevail unfortunately. Being wiped out by a car door also seems common place. And then theres the trucks. If you can find a route through parks or tracks the biking would be a great way to commute. As mentioned you have to wear a helmet. You can get cycling info from the Bike SA website

Blossom - I think you must be living in the wrong area! Up here in the Barossa the kids lives are like mine was at school in the 70's and 80's in the UK. Kids do have a slightly limited range of jobs here but they have the outlook that having seen their parents move countries then they are not restricted by geographical borders.

As Beckdownover has said, I think it makes a big difference how you got here visa wise. My wife was wanted by the University so everything was easy and almost everything was paid for by the employer. The business visa came within a week or so and then PR was granted within 3 days of them receiving the application. Hearing / reading about people going through the long process of getting here without jobs planned etc just sounds hard. I've been here 3 years. I enjoy it. Most of everyday life is the same as the UK. Some things are frustrating and harder than the UK but I wasn't expecting the land of milk and honey - I wanted an adventure and a change. I dare say I'm financially worse off here and occasionally I do find being broken at the end of each month a bit depressing but I don't much care as life is easier and more laid back. The only real killer here is the cost of living / fuel / electricity / food etc - if prices rose in Europe like the rise here people would be rioting in the streets. The UK offers all links of things that you don't have here but they aren't the things I want. Will my kids stay ? - they are still at primary school but I wouldn't mind if they left Australia, after all thats what I did. I can't imagine anything worse than living in the same town as ones parents. In short, the good bits out weigh the bad.

I think it has changed. They now use the new formula of y +1 where y = the years you've actually been here and + 1 for the extra year they always add on!! Citizenship is always on the horizon you just have to keep running further to reach it.

Apart from the obvious fashions and haircuts it all looks the same! I think progress and development must have passed us by. Someone last week reply to a post about Adelaide being on the cusp of a boom saying that its been there since he arrived had still nothing had boomed - I think this video proves his point.

Lets just view it form the employer viewpoint. Why would an employer make his life harder and employ someone who is not ever in the country. Why would he want to wait for weeks or maybe months for the person to arrive. Once the employee arrives the employer will have someone who will take time to adapt to their new life. Isn't it easier to just get someone who is here already, whose references can be checked, whose paper work all tallys up? I know I must sound really cynical especially as my wife was given her job months before we arrived but then she's so specialised there was no one in Australia that could do here job.

Yes, I think Adelaide is a stagnant city. I think its introverted and small minded. It probably has the politicians it deserves. However if it was like Melbourne or Sydney then I couldn't afford 10 acres surrounded by beautiful vineyards - I'd be miles out with a dire commute. Adelaide wouldn't be the city of choice if you want a metrosexual lifestyle. If you want suburb life and to live as a dead commuter dreaming of their 2 weeks holiday away from the suburbs then thats much the same if all cities (only the costs vary). However Adelaide is pretty good at offering stunning countryside and affordable housing within easy driving from the city. Adelaide lacks all kinds of employment. I knew my work would suffer dreadfully and indeed it has. There just isn't the requirements for my specialism in a city of a million with no corporate HQs. I adapted. I changed the focus of my work. Maybe that was one of the reasons for moving to Australia - for the change and for adventure both good and bad. As for racism - I'm lucky. The worse I get is being told POMs are snooty and uncaring. I cannot begin to imagine the head banging frustration of always been halted or slowed by ones name, culture or skin colour. We can but hope that this will change. I find Australians' acceptable level of racism (by which I mean what someone would say and still think themselves as not racist) shockingly high but is Adelaide worse that other non major cities? I've lived in numerous rural cities and they are just more ignorant that central major cities. Will my kids live her when they are 18 in 10 years time? I bloody hope not! But then I'd say the same where ever I was living. I want my kids to spread their own wings and live where ever they choose. I figure if an 18 year old can afford a car they they can afford to leave home (on a bicycle). I'm probably rambling a bit and not being particularly cohesive but in essence you live where you choose to live. I used to live in rural Somerset and work in central London - it gave me the best of both worlds. Now, here, young kids mean I can't live here and work in Melbourne or Sydney so something had to be dropped and for me it was modern city life that went. BUT I gained an easier mellower lifestyle.