minkyme29

Hi all What is the best way to authorize a transaction from overseas (from Adelaide) between two bank accounts held with different banks in the UK for sums greater than £10,000. Currently banking with Natwest, requires a card reader to authorize transactions via online banking and limits sums to £10k a day. Telephone banking also has this limit. CHAPS not available unless done in person in-branch, and all phone numbers appear to be 0845 pre fixes which cost a fortune to phone! Your experiences or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Dette

We leave Frome, Somerset next Wednesday (house completes on the Friday) are flying from the UK on Dec 12th after spending two weeks with rellies in the Midlands. From Birmingham we fly to Bangkok and then will travel down through Thailand by train stopping at several beautiful places (5 days in Krabi over Christmas is going to be fab, bungalow on the beach yeah)and then into Malaysia and then to singapore for flight to Adelaide. We arrive in sunny Adelaide on 7th Jan 2008 at 9am. So there you have it... Thanks for all your best wishes everyone, we are so so pleased the house is sorted...just got to get through the next few days of preparing for the shippers, and the never ending goodbyes too See you on the other side someday soon Dette and family

Yes indeedly do, we have finally exchanged after a week or two of messing about (sols not buyers)! So relief all round in the Thornton household tonight and if it weren't for the hangover from last night, lots of vino too perhaps? So, so happy right now. Can continue packing, cleaning etc with a spring in my step. Good luck to all those still waiting for houses to sell etc... Dette and family

Hey Lisa I love that clip, soooooo soooooo funny. Can't believe they really made that. Have you looked at Not rude but very funny, the question is are they taking themselves seriously or not? Hope you're well, will be out in Adelaide 7 Jan! Take care Dette

Loved your post, thanks for the reassurance! Glad you're new life is working out so well for you. Looking forward to reaching Adelaide now, with a bit of Thailand en route. Dette and family

Hi Veronica Flowers, welcome to PIA! Hope you enjoy all that is on offer and some advice if needed. take care Dette

Hi Nikki Welcome to PIA. When we first considered moving down under I too had that sick feeling every time I thought of leaving family and tearing ourselves away from the life we knew. Despite the promise of adventure and a new life I just couldn't come to terms with the guilt of leaving ageing parents and taking away their grand kids (2 girls 5 and 1). Well altho' I still get the odd nasty sicky feelings, on the whole they have gone and I think this is because we have progressed so far through the migration process. We got our visa back in May and will be in Adelaide by Jan 7th next year. I think once we made that big decision to put the migration wheels in motion things started to feel less scary and much more pro-active and positive. What I would say is the rose tinted specs left us a long time ago and we soon realised that life in Adelaide like in the UK will have its pros and cons. For us the decision to leave was more out of a desire to fulfill our dream of living abroad, than to escape anything altho' there is stuff we dislike about the UK, it is not the main driving force behind our move. I wouldn't worry too much about how your kids will cope, Australia is a very postive friendly place and from what I've heard the schooling is good and more holistic than in the UK. Young children adapt well to new things as long as their parents are confident in the move being the right thing for the whole family. They are young enough to not have too much attachment to stuff here (not family but friends etc) and to open up channels for you via toddler groups etc, plus Australia is a child friendly place for eating out and less expensive/free options for days out plus the wildlife is superb and accessible. We went on a reccie to WA and SA two years ago and my daughter who was then 3.5 yrs can still remember her holiday and almost everyday asks "When are we going to live in Australia, I can't wait to get there!" It amazes me that despite being so in the present she can recall what a good feeling she got from her time in Australia...if that's not an indication of making the right move i don't know what is! Have you visited, if not I would highly recommend a reccie...a proper constructive look around at all things related to life as opposed to a holiday would give you a clear indication as to whether it is the right place for you and your family. I hope you take the plunge at some point because it sounds like you've got what it takes, just make sure you do it with your eyes WIDE open. Good luck Take care and maybe see you on the other side someday. Dette and family

Thanks for all your replies and best wishes, and to those of you who have yet to sell your homes good luck. Take care Dette and family

Amanda If you need any impartial help or advice about your house situation then please feel free to ask me.. for the past four years I have worked for an Estate Agent as a Saturday viewings person/negotiator so I may be able to help. That goes for anyone else who needs advice. In my experience the main reason a house is not getting any viewings is a) too expensive or b) dodgy location or c) combination of both. If you had a number of valuations and your current EA gave you the top price then he may have overcooked it to get your instruction and his suggestion of an £11k reduction may be in line with the correct value . Did you have any other vals? Hope this helps... Good luck with it and thanks for your congrats

Thanks everyone for your congrats! We are really looking forward to meeting you all sometime in January... Dette and family

Hi all Very relieved, today we have accepted full asking price offer on our house. Has only been on the market two weeks and all went quiet last week (Northern Rock effect?) but bouyant again this weekend and bingo second view today and a lovely offer. Very, very chuffed Only condition is that we leave the white goods which would have been a pain to ship anyway to happy with that. We are very lucky that the buyers have no chain and are in rented until mid December which works out great cos we are flying 12 Dec! Am keeping fingers crossed all will go smoothly. Altho' I have not posted alot recently some of you will remember my DIY dilemna posts prior to the house being marketed so to all of you thanks for your encouragment and good vibes... Good luck to those trying to sell their houses too.

Hi Lisa I absolutely love AdelaideBound, it is fantastic and has kept me sane (ish ) for the last few months. I congratulate you on this wonderful site and thank you so very very much for creating it! I can't wait to see the developments, Take care Dette

Well done Lisa, that's fab news and it's taken you hardly any time at all! So you can legally drive that wonderful new birthday car of yours! Take care and happy driving. Dette x

Hi Lisa Thanks for a very honest and 'real' post. I just love reading these long threads, reassuring and informative all in one. So glad you're having a wonderful time establishing life down under, sounds like you've got most things covered already. So glad Dawn is blossoming at kindy, I hope our girls do too. Thanks to for your help with the Thailand hols. Take care Dette:cool:

Hi Bev Uuuummmmm it's a bit tricky cos' of your hols, traditionally September a pretty bouyant month for selling, still early enough for buyers to complete before Christmas, altho' October can also be quite good...earlier on in October the better really. What we find is that mid July to end of August is pretty quiet cos' of the school hols but then there is a bit of a rush early Sept. I would recommend getting it on early Sept but it really depends on a) how long you'll be away for and if you will be contactable (if your EA's need to put forward an offer to you), and b) when you want to move to Aus or more importantly when your visa has to be validated by... In my experience late October through to the beginning of Jan can be rather quiet and that's based on a very hot property market in Bath, which is pretty similar to the London market. Having said that if your house is in a top location you might be ok particularly if houses in your road rarely come up for sale. Anyway I hope this helps, any other questions just ask away... Take care Dette

Yes we are going full steam ahead with the house...wish we'd known when we bought it back in 2004 that we were going to emigrate, could have bought a new build instead but hey! I am lucky that because of my job I know good houses and locations to buy in (Frome has been very up and coming due to it's close proximity to Bath) so am hoping it will go quickly...in fact had no end of fellow parents on the school run, say they would buy it if they could! One friend is desperate for it but can't raise the cash and it's a shame cos' I'd love her to have it but we need as much as we can get for making our new life in Adelaide. It is a great character house in the catchment for the best primary school in Frome with a very private huge garden with fruit trees etc and is only 5 - 10 mins walk from town. And if that's not enough we will have to pray that September is a normal busy month for house selling...and if not we will go anyway and keep it on the market. Anyway if anyone needs advice re house selling or marketing let me know. Bye for now Dette

Hi all Well we've only gone and done it, even though the house is not yet on the market or even finished for that matter! Yes indeedly do Chris stayed up till the early hours of this morning cruising opodo for the best deals for December and we are now officially leaving the UK. Fly from Birmingham to Bangkok 12 December, then chilling in Thailand for 3 weeks and then the last leg - Singapore to Adelaide 6 January 08!!! Can't get it out of my head and am very excited, scared and hopeful of a successful few months before we fly. Have also booked basic accommodation for the first three weeks through a contact we had from our stay on our reccie in 2005. So that's you all up to date...boy am I feeling good. Take care Dette

What's nice about it is that the Meeters and Greeters are usually expats...so can understand what you're going through and how overwhelming/exciting arriving in a new country can be. Dette

Hi everyone, Am a regular on another forum I'm sure most of you know and registered with PIA back in it's infancy but have been very busy so would like to say Hi again and re-introduce us. We are the Thornton family, I am Dette, I'm 33, a full time Mum and Saturday viewings person/negotiator for a family run Estate Agent in Bath (so if you're trying to sell your house feel free to ask for tips! . My husband is Chris (visa holder), he is a lecturer in Graphic Design and is a freelance illustrator,web and graphic designer. We have two fantastic daughters, Issie aged 5 and Flo aged almost 1. I hope I can drop in to see you all from time to time, in between major house re-furb and life with two very active little minks, and of course it's the school hols now too:eek:. Hope to be in touch again soon. Dette

Hi Hayls Welcome to PomsinAdelaide. Gosh so you're off beginning of 07, good for you. We have just submitted our visa application and are hoping to be out there by late 07, early 08 if all goes well, alot to do between now and then! We have two daughters aged almost 5 and just 9 weeks. We went on a reccie to Adelaide in Jul/Aug of 2005. It took us a few days to get used to as we had just come away from friends in Perth, who had shown us the sights and made us feel at home. Adelaide has a very different feel from Perth, in general it feels a little older because of the colonial style buildings, although many of the suburbs have new houses etc. Our general instinct was that it would be a great place to live and raise children. The locals are friendly and there is a lovely laid back feeling to life. I would recommend a reccie if you can afford it and have the time, just so you can seriously check out suburbs and schools, it can vary quite a bit. July/Aug tends to be a cheaper time to go out because it is the Aussie winter. If you can't get out there then join the well established AdelaideBrits website where there is heaps of info about suburbs etc. Odette

Hi Lisa We are not sure where we want to be. It all depends on good schools really. After our reccie last year we concluded that we preferred the Western and Southern suburbs and we're keen to be as close to the beach as poss. Brighton is really nice but a bit hefty on price so we may look at neighbouring subs. Odette

Hi Lisa Yes our application has been couriered to Oz so we are 'level pegging' with you. I'm starting to stress about saying the goodbyes already! Had my sister-in-law up from Brighton this weekend and she is so great to be around, I just don't know how we are going to cope with not seeing her and other family members from one year to the next! Wow so you've never been to Adelaide? Have you visited Oz at all? Or are you taking a leap of faith? Talking about getting organised, we have sooooo much to do. House needs completely redecorating, garden (or jungle should I say) is huge and needs a serious makeover, and with all the costs of the visa etc we are running low on funding it all....ahhhh. And with two little ones we're too knackered to DIY in the evenings. We need a miracle! :lol: Anyway...good luck with your organising...keep us posted Odette

Hi Lisa Sorry about the delay, very knackered with newborn and hyper 4.5 year old whose just started school! Boy she's a handful, decided to cut her own hair today! Thought I'd put the scissors well out of reach...um, must try harder. I agree that we would like our girls to have more of an outdoor active lifestyle, plus be raised in a generally more positive and relaxed environment. I'm not sure the cost of living will be much different, I suspect food will be the same price but housing, petrol and eating out may be slightly cheaper. We too are looking forward to less people and buildings...after our reccie to SA last summer I found it so difficult adjusting to driving here again - the volume of cars and the speed frightened me to death! Have you been out to Adelaide? And out of interest where are you in the UK? Best wishes Odette

Hi Lea and Lisa Thanks for welcoming me...and thank god someone else is going through the same stress! Although having said that my husband has handled pretty much all of it as I have just had our second child and was and am in no fit state to do paperwork! Good ole sleep deprivation! We are hoping to be out in Adelaide by Jan 08 at the latest. Not sure I want to arrive when it's scourching but may have no choice, depends how long house takes to sell etc. Out of interest what are your reasons for migrating? Best wishes Odette