My Oz Diary

sammy115

Hi Marc
Just wanted to say hi and well done....and good luck.

My friends emigrated to Perth. It took them two years from the day they applied to actually getting there. I want to go one day!

Can you make your own cups of tea at work or do you have to use the canteen...

hypno06

One of my problems is the amount I spend when at work too. I am surrounded by lovely coffee shops and the temptation for a latte is just huge!

My "compromise" was to buy the Nescafe Cappucino instant sachets from the supermarket - they are usually on offer £3 for 2 boxes and with 10 in a box it makes it 15p a cup.

OK, they are not as good as the "real thing" but they are not too bad really, and certainly the cost difference is substantial!

I also take in my own jar of instant.....they do have instant available at work but it is not the best and I am fussy

marc.faulkner

Evenin' all

Not quite cold turkey today, as I spent £1.00 on 2 cans of coke (as I forgot to take a bottle of Pepsi in with me), still a HUGE improvement though and it means some money in the savings pot already.

I've reviewed my cashback accounts and have payouts of nearly £150 due to me and other transactions worth at least £100 either tracked or validated. That gives me 2.5% of my target figure in the very first day!!

I've spent much of the day reading around about Oz (shh, don't tell my boss ), and in particular about the area's I was interested in moving to, and I'm just about settled on QLD, somewhere near enough to commute to Brisbane if necessary, but preferably with easy beach access too.

It's all slotting into place nicely.

marc.faulkner

I was just about to start a new thread, when I remebered that I had started this one at the back end of last year.

Unfortunately my Oz dreams have had to take the back burner for a while, as I had to focus a lot of energy (and money!) on helping my family through a particularly difficult period. Things are back on track now though, so I can get back to the business of getting to Oz!!

My savings are now thoroughly depleted, so it really is like starting from scratch - well, to be fair to myself I do have about £500 in my "Move to Oz" account, but that's still nearly £3k down on what it was - so I've got a lot of making up to do.

As you can see from my sig, my ambitions have grown slightly, as I'm now aiming to have enough money not only to move to QLD but also to put down a deposit on a house once I'm settled. It is ambitious, but due to a small pay rise I have got a little extra money to save now and I really want to get back into matched betting, as the last time around my profits bought me a nice car!

Okay, I'm off to the GIOL board now to brush up and see what offers are around at the moment.

arkaussiecat

hi Mark,

Good luck with your personal challenge, it will be worth it in the end.
We have been in north qld for 18 months now and love every minute, keep focused and you will achieve all.

marc.faulkner

arkaussiecat wrote: »

hi Mark,

Good luck with your personal challenge, it will be worth it in the end.
We have been in north qld for 18 months now and love every minute, keep focused and you will achieve all.

Thanks, and glad to hear your enjoying QLD!!

Where abouts are you?

marc.faulkner

Any chance a helpful board guide can move this into the new diary board please? That wasn't around when I started the thread.

marc.faulkner

Another fiver in the pot today - sold a DVD to a mate in work.

Have got a few MB offers lined up now, only problem is that I transferred some money from my savings account into my current account last night to fund them - and due to some "downtime" at Barclays the funds didn't go via faster payments, so I've got to wait a few days for them to clear!!

marc.faulkner

Okay, a bit of a collaboration of my targets, current position and everything else -

Target Savings - £12000
Target Date - October 2010

Current Savings - £508.74

Things to do over the coming 18 months
Obtain Skills assessment from ACS (Australian Computer Society)
Investigate and apply for QLD state sponsorship visa
Arrange visit to QLD for March 2010 to explore suburbs and get to know the area a bit
Try and secure a job to start in November 2010 (giving me a few weeks to settle in)
Investigate employer sponsorship opportunities ^
Organise my UK finances - make sure there is some money left in UK for things that need paying for
Sort AUS finances, open bank accounts etc.
Search for a property to rent in QLD
Decide what's going and what's staying
Investigate and arrange shipping of my possessions
Sell items which are not going to AUS to supplement funds
Sell UK car
Buy AUS car

So, all in all, a pretty packed 18 months!

I've set my target savings at £12k, as this should cover all of the expenses that I expect to incur - as well as a fair chunk towards my house deposit.

arkaussiecat

sorry for the delay mark, i lost the thread

anyway, we are in Townsville in North Queensland, the dry tropics, if you love the heat its the place for you, if not probably somewhere further south