Here at Getting Down Under HQ we frequently get emailed by various folks and organisations that are looking for our help in promoting their products and services to the many visitors and subscribers who visit our site.

As many of these services aren’t particularly appropriate (or simply smell like a bit of a scam) then in most cases we don’t bother.

Recently however we were contacted by an agency asking us to help promote a competition being run by ‘Tourism Australia’. As the competition tied nicely into the concept of ‘Getting Down Under’ and was being run by the Aussie tourist industry then we thought it seemed worthy of a mention. Read the full story

Article Popularity: 10%

If you’re flying out to Australia after the 30th of March this year you’ll need to be aware of a number of new enhanced security procedures the Australian Government has introduced.

From 31 March 2007, the Australian Government will introduce enhanced security screening measures to limit the amount of liquids, aerosols, and gels that can be taken through the security screening point for passengers who are flying to and from Australia.

Liquids, aerosols and gels include, but are not limited to:

Carry on Baggage Restrictions

All containers must fit comfortably in a transparent, resealable plastic bag.

Medication and Baby Products

Prescription medication and prescribed medical devices may still be carried on board. Reasonable amounts of non-prescription medication required for the length of the flight are permitted.

Baby products to be consumed in-flight including baby milk, sterilised water, baby juice, baby food in liquid, gel or paste form and wet wipes may be carried on board. All medication and baby products may be subject to additional security checks.

For further information on the Australian regulations you can visit dotars.gov.au.

Information source: Qantas.com

Article Popularity: 4%

Well, we’ve decided to go for it an book our flights.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to plan accommodation and what not when we had no idea what day we’d be flying out their so we’ve decided to go for it (despite the fact that we still haven’t sold the house) and book the flights with Singapore airlines.

We now fly out from Manchester Airport to Perth Australia (via a two hour stop at Singapore) on Friday the 24th November, arriving in Perth at 2:25pm on Saturday the 25th.

One thing that nearly scuppered our plans was the fact that we didn’t get the double baggage allowance with Singapore Airlines that we were expecting.

We would have done had we emigrated when we validated our Visa’s in February, however as our Visa’s were now classed as ‘used’ we no longer qualified for the double baggage allowance.

This proved a big problem for us as the stuff we were shipping out to Australia wouldn’t be there for 14 – 16 weeks so having two cases each would have effectively enabled us to take sufficient ‘stuff’ for the first couple of months.

I must say though that the customer services at Singapore Airlines is as excellent as the airline themselves.

The lady offered to increase our baggage allowance to 30kg per person which would have given us an extra one and a half bags. Personally though I thought their policy was a little short sighted as I’m sure there must be 1000′s of people who go to Australia to activate their Visa’s before moving permanently so I politely declined and said I would write into Singapore Airlines customer services to see if I could get our full double allowance.

Then, there was a light at the end of the tunnel…. In my current line of work I do a lot of flying within the UK (mainly between Leeds and Edinburgh) and have clocked up quite a few air miles. I’ve managed to gain Gold Frequent Flyer status with BMI who are part of the ‘Star Alliance’ (sounds like something out of star wars).

Having gold status brings with it a few perks, Business lounge access, faster check in and Double baggage allowance.

Guess who is also a member of the ‘Star alliance’ Yep – Singapore Airlines and thankfully I can use my Frequent Flyer Status to get us double allowance anyway.

Really glad that I bothered collecting all those air miles now.

Article Popularity: 4%

Bollocks, B*stard and Sh*T!

Had a call from the Crapifax this morning (aka Halifax estate agents) to advise us that there is a problem with the mortgage.

The buyer has lost their P60 and even though the Halifax Head Office gave the buyer the go ahead to proceed with the survey, it now seems that unless they can find their P60 the Halifax isn’t willing to lend them the cash to buy our house.

So, they have now been passed onto a mortgage broker (the same broker that the girl used who couldn’t get a mortgage) to try and identify a lender who’s criteria for lending isn’t so strict!

I am totally and utterly dumfounded. I had a bit of a go at the girl who is looking after (using the term looking after loosely) the sale of our house, explaining that I have given my notice at work on the basis that things seemed to be progressing so well, but don’t worry. When you feel your down there’s always someone at the Halifax to make you feel even….worse!

Well, I wouldn’t go booking any flights says the advisor. We recently dealt with a customer who had booked his flights to Australia and he was in a chain of four buyers. When his house was surveyed he was told that he had over valued it by £20,000 so had to drop his price by £20k in order to catch his flights.

Great! At least its unlikely that we have over valued our property, however we need to get the house surveyed again! So its going to be a number of weeks before any thing positive happens.

We’ve gone from a high to a barrel scraping low! We should know in the next couple of days if our buyers can get a mortgage with another lender but in the meantime its legs,arms,toes and fingers crossed.

We’ll probably try and phone our buyers direct tonight to see if we can get any inside news on whats really happening.

Article Popularity: 3%

Perths Transport System

Perth is served by Perth Airport in the city’s east for domestic and international flights and Jandakot Airport in the city’s southern suburbs for light aviation.

Perth has a road network with three freeways, nine metropolitan highways and no toll roads.

Perth metropolitan public transport, including trains, buses and ferries, are provided by Transperth, with links to rural areas provided by Transwa. There are 59 railway stations and 15 bus stations in the metropolitan area.

The Government of Western Australia has significantly increased metropolitan public transport funding in recent years. Initiatives include progressive replacement of the bus fleet and the SmartRider contactless smartcard ticketing system. Additionally, the rail network has been expanded in the northern and southern suburbs as part of the New MetroRail project.

The Indian Pacific passenger rail service connects Perth with Adelaide and Sydney via Kalgoorlie. The Transwa Prospector passenger rail service connects Perth with Kalgoorlie via several wheatbelt towns.

Rail freight terminates at the Kewdale Rail Terminal, 15 kilometres south-east of the city centre.

Perth’s main container and passenger port is at Fremantle, 19 kilometres south west at the mouth of the Swan River .A second port complex is being developed in Cockburn Sound primarily for the export of bulk commodities.

Article Popularity: 7%

Some interesting snippets of information that I found out in preperation for our rekkie to Perth is the discounts and additional allowances airlines will offer travellers when they make their final, one way, emigration flight down under.

Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines and Qantas all offer new migrants discounts on one-way airfares for flights departing from the UK to Australia. Singapore Airlines also offers the discount on flights departing fron Amsterdam.

Qantas and Singapore Airlines provide an extra 20kg baggage allowance per person when emigrating. This should prove useful when waiting for the rest of your possessions to arrive. Something tells me we’ll need two trollies at the airport though!

Article Popularity: 8%