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If you were working in Adelaide you certainly wouldn't want to be living in goolwa, victor harbour or yankalilla. They are nice spots to visit, but perhaps a bit too remote for many.

Moneycorp,are helpful, but you will pay a few more cents in the dollar to them than you would a company like ukforex for doing exactly the same thing. Set up accounts with a few companies and compare the rates.

I'd just like to echo everyone else on the thread. I'd only been in the country for less than 2 months and they helped me get a mortgage sorted. Really helpful and efficient.

I have a brand new (unused) IKEA single mattress. I bought the wrong size (rather than a kids one) and never remembered to take it back. If they want it, happy to donate it. edit - just saw the last post. Ignore the above!

I get a car allowance and have a long term rental in place with Aussie car rentals which I pay monthly. get in touch, they're really helpful.

They may be built as beach shacks, but this one sold for near enough £500k to our landlords, and is intended for year round residence. It's incredible really, just a timber frame with some cladding and a tin roof. It's basically a 500 thousand dollar garden shed.

Got vented ac and heating if things get too bad, with solar to offset bills! the insulation has already been done, not sure how effective it will be...

I think the newer seaford estates like seaford meadows are very Similar to British estates.

We are currently living in a Rivergum home which was built in 2010. I would not recommend it at all. The roof is made of a cheap tin that rattles in the rain, there is no sound insulation and generally it's like living in an oversized beach hut. It looks beautiful from the outside, and is finished nicely within, but these aesthetic positives are what they use to sell pretty shoddy homes in my opinion. The prices are higher on new homes, despite them being of incredibly poor build quality. We've arranged to buy an older house which is double brick and I cannot wait to get into a properly built house again!

Would he do paving around a pool area? Any idea of rough costs per m2?

That's a very good question! A mongrel of about 100 different breeds mixed into one cute little furball...

My goodness, that dog reminds me of my previous (and last) dog. Still miss her. heres puppy and grown up pics:

This is right. I've owned properties in the uk, but my financial advisor here has applied for first time buyer grant as it is only in Australia.

I love Port Noarlunga, (it seems most people on here do!) which has a beatiful beach and jetty, good shopping locally, access to city by train (about 40 min drive). The primary school is very good, and cardijn is a good senior school, but is fee paying (not extortionate).

I'm pretty sure there isn't. The local courses are mandatory - id book them now, this way you can complete them as soon as possible after arriving.

We took the train from port noarlunga into the fringe last weekend with the kids, and it was great. Adelaide railway station is really nice.

I don't think you can. You have to complete the child protection and first aid courses locally. have you completes skills assessments? My wife is having to do another years training as well, because despite having taught for nearly ten years in the uk, at the time she qualified the teaching degree was three years and the rules here demand a four year degree.

I know now what you mean, but I love being literally one minute from the beach, we spent nearly all day there today and just love it. I'm not a great fan of hallet cove, it's a nice area house/view wise but the rocky beaches don't appeal to me at all. i guess everyone has their own internal shortlist of things we like in property - having worked up in the hills, it is certainly pretty enough but we moved here to be right by the sea.

I find the the beach pretty beautiful! I guess it's taste, I lived in wales which is full of rolling green valleys and it never took my breath away, but every time I drive down the esplanade from christies into port noarlunga I am stunned by the beautiful view. That website is good though, and it lists the median adelaide weekly HOUSEHOLD income as 1380, which equates to only about 70k per annum, and the median income for a port Noarlunga is around 1047, which is a. Household income of less that 60k. It also shows that Port Noarlunga house prices have risen 5 percent over the last 12 months, which seems to buck the local trend... it just shows that you don't need $100k+ pa to survive.

Diane has raised a good point here. As much as I love the southern beach suburbs (especially port noarlunga), employers will look at your location and may rule you out if the job is north and you are based south.

Is it worth transferring UK pensions out here? I have two final salary pensions from the UK - one I paid into for 5 years and another for about 2 years, should I just leave them?

What a lovely little dog. What breed is it?

You're right Tyke, it really isn't something you want to fail at purely because you had no real idea what you are doing. That's why threads like this are a good idea - the more research and planning you do, the more people know what to expect. We had a tough week two weeks ago, when we agreed to buy the house. It finally made things seem 'permanent' and made a real psychological difference - probably similar to the way a couple scoots along living together happily and things change when they marry!

Congratulations on the imminent new arrival! From having experience working in both systems you get really poor GP's in the UK as well - along with excellent ones. I've spoken to a number of UK doctors out here with experience of both systems and I'd say opinion is split as to which system is superior (the NHS probably edges it in their opinion, but you'd expect that as it's what they are used to.) The good thing here is that if you are unhappy with your provider, you can just go elsewhere. The bad thing is that medical records aren't stored on a national server (excepting vaccinations I believe), so your records won't follow you unless you request them.

Agreed 100 percent. The median FAMILY income for Australia is only $68k, and SA has lower than average wages. (source: http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2013/05/what-is-the-typical-australian-income-in-2013/ )