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Hey all

I’m testing a couple of new designs on our Blog to see if they work any better or not.

Feel free to provide any feedback or comments on the design currently in use on the site.

When implementing any new site design I’m trying to make the information within our site as easy to find as possible so If the currently site design doesn’t work for you then please let me know

Cheers

Mark

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The latest release of the Wordpress blog software we use on our site has been released.

Wordpress 2.1 Ella, named after Jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald brings with it a number of features which I hope to see employed to great benefit here at getting down under.

I’ll be upgrading to 2.1 very soon so expect to see me playing with some new toys in the very near future

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Bugger, I’ve just been checking through our Archive and I’ve just realised that last Wednesday the 17th January, Gettingdownunder turned one!

Since making the first post way back then, quite a lot of stuff has happened in my life.

I guess the biggest and most obvious change is the fact that I’m now writing new Blog entries whilst residing in sunny Perth. A little different then Bradford in the UK I must say.

We’ve launched our forums which appear to be getting well used and I hope that some of these Blog entries provide a useful introduction and insight to life down under.

Feel free to post a comment in relation to any of our posts. I love reading your feedback and welcome any suggestions on ways in which I can make this Blog even better. Continue Reading

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Hi everyone, just a note to wish you all the best for 2007.

If your currently in the process of applying for your Australian visas then best of luck.

I hope this year brings you everything you are looking for.

Regards

Mark

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One of the things that really attracted us to Australia was the lifestyle.

Now we have finally made our way out to Oz I thought I’d create a new Australian Lifestyle category to which I can assign posts where I write about many of the great things we’ve done during our time in Australia.

I hope you find this new category a useful addition.

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Well, I’ve been writing quite a few updates recently but I’ve always intended to share some of the photographs that I’ve taken whilst going on our Australian travels.

You’ll find in the menu on the left a link called Gallery, clicking on which will take you to some of the many piccies I’ve taken over the years.

I will still include pictures (where appropriate) in my posts but the new gallery section seems to keep them all in one place.

They are not fantastic pictures by any means but most will give you a good idea about how beautiful Australia is as a country.

When you click on the tab, click on the thumbnails to see a larger version. To see a full sized version of the photograph, click on the (enlarged) picture again. To speed up loading times I have reduced all the pictures to 1024 x 768 pixels which should still be sufficient for most viewers, if you want to use any of the pictures then please let me know

More and more pictures to be added over time. Both from previous visits to Australia and in relation to the new visits we undertake after our move in a few weeks time!

Cheers

Mark

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Hi Guys

Just to let you know that we added the .com and .net domains to gettingdownunder today and although the .co.uk domain and all pages will continue to work, we have decided to adopt the .com as our main URL.

Therefore, please use http://www.gettingdownunder.com as our primary address

Hopefully everything should still continue to work ok (and any old .co.uk bookmarks will still work) without any issues but in the mean time please let me know if you have any problems. Continue Reading

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Hi Folks

Well, I’ve grown a little tired of the old grey look that we were using here at getting down under so I thought I’d start with a clean, fresh look.

Hopefully everything works as it should, if it doesn’t please do me a favour and let me know by leaving a comment.

Cheers all

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I’ve been dabbling with websites for a number of years but this is the first time that I’ve run a website as a diary or blog as they are more commonly know.

Since we launched the site in January visitor numbers are slowly starting to increase. The stats for the number of people currently visiting the site stand at:

January – 32, February – 90, March – 374, April – 513, May – 800 (at time of typing).

I’m tring to make the content light hearted and provide some useful immigration advice for folks wanting to emigrate to Australia. The forums are proving quite popular since I added them last month to.

My web site logs enable me to see what people are searching for when visiting gettingdownunder via a search engine such as google or MSN..

What do you think they are searching for? Visa Advice, info on where to live in Australia?

Nope, our good friend Laura Bingle from the “where the bloody hell are you” Australian tourist board adverts seems to be one of the biggest draws to the site.

Our more artistic *cough*pervie*cough* visitors are coming here trying to find Laura Bingle Topless or Laura Bingle naked.

I’m sorry guys but if you want to see see a picture of Laura Bingle Topless or Laura Bingle naked then you’ll be looking for a very long time. In an attempt to provide a service to our visitors,

I did some ‘research’ and the nearest Laura came to being naked is in some older fasion model shoots which have since appeared in a mens ‘entertainment’ mag called Zoo. Clicking on either of the images in this post will present a larger version of each picture

Following on from the now infamous Laura, the next (slightly more relivant terms) are:

taking cats to australia
taking pets to australia
evaluation of the general skilled migration categories march 2006
noosar australia
australian migration forums

Now thats more like it.

I’ll post further updates on numbers and obscure surfing habits as the site continues to mature.

It’ll also be interesting to see how many new Laura Bingle fans this post will bring to the site. Perhaps browsing around the site may encourage some more folks to start the journey to a new life down under.

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There was a small security update for the wordpress software we use here at getting down under.

Everything appears to be working OK but if you notice anything strange then would you be so kind as to leave a comment to this post

Ta

Mark

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Hi Guys

Today we are pleased to announce the launch of our Australian immigration advice forums.

I have had quite a few enquiries from folks using our contact form with questions relating to their move down under.

I’ve answered these questions as best as I can but thought it would be useful to have a forum so that everyone can see the responses given.

In addition to this, a number of our new forums act as gateways to the Usenet communities. You can therefore use these forums to access the Australia and New Zealand immigration news groups from anywhere in the world without having to worry about installing some fandangled newsreader software on your PC. Continue Reading

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I know that getting down under is a relatively new site and the stats that I’m seeing indicate only a handful of visitors to the site every single day. However I’ve been thinking about adding a discussion forum to the site to enable folks with similar interests to ask questions and network with each other where appropriate.

At the end of the day I’m only giving you guys my version of events, I’m sure there are plenty of folks out there who have already made the successful move down under and may have some great advice, hints and tips to share.
Continue Reading

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Getting down under was created by me as an online resource for people within the UK (and anywhere else I guess) who have a yearning or an interest in emigrating to Australia.

2006 is going to be a massive year for my family and I. We have our permanent residency visa’s but we’ve still to pack a single box. The house hasn’t been put on the market yet and we still have tons of stuff to do.

I thought it’d be a good idea to launch a website which documents the highs and lows of our journey from the UK to Australia. I’ll aim to update the site regularly with updates and will add as many snippets of useful information and advice that I can along the way.

Unlike many folks who emigrate to Australia. We did everything ourselves. We didn’t utilise the expertise of a Migration agent so we had to do tons of digging along the way.
Continue Reading

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