I remember when we first arrived in Australia back in late 2006 and I wrote about the problems we experienced trying to find a rental property here in Perth.

Speaking to friends and work colleagues who are currently in the ‘Rental market’ it seems that similar problems still exist, however compared to the other side of Australia in New South Wales the job of getting a rental here in Western Australia seems a relatively easy one.

The shortage of available rental properties in Sydney is such an issue at the moment that some agents have made complaints of being abused and threatened by frustrated prospective tenants.

The frequency of such events isn’t a low figure either with an Institute survey finding that 32 per cent of real estate agents had been threatened or abused within the past month. Read the full story

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Well, after becoming seriously vexed with the Crapifax yesterday, I’ve finally managed to compose myself enough to take a step back and see where we are after finally getting a call back.

The buyers who had their mortgage app refused at the last minute by the Halifax when their P60 couldn’t be obtained have now completed a second mortgage application with a broker which is going to be sent off this week.

They will also be instructing a survey (once they have paid the fee’s….again) which should take place within the next couple of weeks.

Hope of all hopes that they get the mortgage this time. If they do then great, we’ve only lost a couple of weeks.

If they don’t then arse! We’ve lost months.

The house has been under offer in one way or another for the last couple of months now. If this falls through then we really need to ask the question. Is there is any real value in remaining with the Halifax?

The answer to this is a pretty big no, unless of course we can avoid paying any fees due to the astronomically poor service we’ve received so far.

Back to the waiting game…

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The Yarra Valley is located a short 90 minutes north-east of Melbourne, the capital of the southern Australian state of Victoria, and is an idyllic destination for a day tour or weekend getaway.

The Yarra Valley’s rolling green hills are brimming with vineyards, boutique wineries, orchards, cheesemakers and quality restaurants, and the whole region is quite simply a gourmet’s delight. Whatever your interests, Melbourne’s Yarra Valley has something for everyone.

The Yarra Valley is home to many excellent food and wine festivals. In January, raspberry lovers can enjoy the Kinglake Raspberry Fair, while May offers the Kellybrook Cider Festival and the Grape Grazing Festival. In November, the Victoria Strawberry Festival is held in Seville and the Country Harvest Festival is held at the Warratina Lavender Farm. In December, the Victorian Cherry Festival is held at Wandin.

The Yarra Valley is home to at least 23 wineries which are open to visitors and where you can sample their award-winning produce. The wineries range in scale from large operations such as Rochford’s Eyton and Tarra Warra Estate to small boutique wineries such as Ainsworth Estate in Seville and Warramate Wines near Healesville.

If history interests you, the historic Yering Station-Yarrabank winery near Yarra Glen claims to be the first vineyard established in Victoria.

Pioneer history can also be experienced with a visit to Gulf Station, an early farm in Yarra Valley now managed by the National Trust.

Lovers of Australian animals can pack a picnic lunch and visit the world famous Healesville Sanctuary to view a large variety of native animals including kanagroos, wallabies, wombats, emus. echidnas, goannas and platypus.

On a sunny day the Healesville Sanctuary is a great place for a picnic, and there are plenty of picnic shelters for damper weather. Opposite the Healesville Sanctuary is the Galeena Beek Living Cultural Centre, where you can learn more about the cultural heritage of indigenous Australians from the Melbourne region.

Healesville is delightful country town nestled in the Dandenong Ranges and is a haven for lovers of art, crafts and cafes, making it the perfect place to while away a relaxing day. Healesville is surrounded by charming picnic places, including the Maroondah Reservoir Reserve, which has barbecues and bush walking tracks along the Badger Creek. Visitors of a literary or historical bent can visit the magnificent two hectare Singing Gardens of early Australian author C.J. Dennis, located near Toolangi. C.J. Dennis lived in Toolangi from 1915 until his death in 1935, and wrote his famous work The Sentimental Bloke there.

The Yarra Valley Regional Food Trail allows you to independently explore 14 ‘farm gate taste and buy’ gourmet experiences and 11 ‘pick your own’ produce farms. With more than thirty top quality eating places dotted throughout the Yarra Valley, there’s plenty of gourmet experiences to choose from. And all that is before you even consider the Yarra Valley’s world-renowned wineries!

Whether you love fine food and wine and abundant fresh farm produce, are seeking a relaxing, therapeutic or romantic getaway, or are inspired by natural beauty and want to walk through towering eucalypt forests, an unforgettable experience awaits you in Melbourne’s idyllic Yarra Valley.

Miguel Scaccialupo writes regularly on Outback Australia Tour topics, including Alice Springs Tour destinations and Yarra Valley Tour itineraries.

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As I mentioned on Friday, we were waiting for a formal offer to be made on our house.

It was supposed to be made at around 4pm so I made sure my diary was free for the latter part of Friday afternoon.

At 4pm – nothing! Diddly-squat, so I waited, checking through my e-mails, conscious of the fact that I needed to pick junior up from nursery before 5:30.

Then, at about 4:20pm, we got the call.

The chap from Halifax estates pipes up with something on the lines of ‘well, we have an offer and its a little lower then we were expecting’.

My stomach sunk to the floor when he confirms that the offer will be £12,000 under the asking price.

Prior to taking today’s call, myself and the missus had agreed the minimum we would accept, in fact we’d agreed and stuck to this figure from the day we were awarded our Visa’s and it’s formed a pretty key part of our ‘plan’ I.e. If we don’t get this much for the house we don’t move.

With this key point in mind, the declined the offer.

The chap from the Halifax remained upbeat saying he thought it was just a ‘shot across the bow’ to test the water. He also asked what the minimum figure we would accept for the property, which I told him.

I also give him an idea of what kind of figure we would accept. Most importantly I told him not to disclose any of these figures to the buyer.

He confirmed that he would go back to the buyer and advise we were looking for something nearer the asking price and happy with this, he went on his merry way.

It was about 4:25pm by this point; I hung around for another 25 minutes without another update. At 4:50pm I tried to call the branch.

Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring…no answer (very often the case with this branch).

So, off to pick junior up from nursery, 5:20 still no updates so back on the phone again…

Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring…you get the idea….

The buggers had gone home for the night and I was livid.

To me this is basic customer service. I couldn’t believe that they had decided to go home for the night without giving us a formal update. Even if the update was that there was no update, this would be better then nothing.

What was the buyers reaction to our decline? Were they going to make another offer? Had they decided it was out of their price range?

Who knows, we didn’t and after over 24 hours of emotion and anticipation there was nothing we could do until the branch opened on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning came. One of our son’s nursery chums had a birthday party at one of these wacky warehouse type places so we were all out of the door on the way to ‘Geronimos’ at about 9:45am

Shoes off and away he went with all of his little buddies. Time for a cuppa and a call back into the Halifax.
The chap who I had spoken to the previous night was on the phone but thankfully became available just a few seconds after his colleague answered our call.

He came on the phone… So what’s happened?

‘Hello sir, well we tried to call the buyer to advise that her initial offer had been declined but were unable to get in contact with her. We’ll be giving her a call later today’.

Phew! OK, the service was still crap (he could have phoned me on Friday night to let me know this) but not being able to contact the buyer was a reasonable enough reason for things not to have progressed at the kind of pace that we wanted to on Friday night. At least the buyer hadn’t been scared off!

Another plus point was the Halifax chap also confirmed that the buyer had referred to her initial offer as being a ‘provisional offer’ which indicated she might have a little more cash to come.

Relatively content with the update, I let the Halifax chap go on his way and I updated the missus.

Time went on, the kids played (I never knew a three year old could sweat so much) and hotdogs/chicken nuggets were eaten.

Back home for Saturday brunch (Sausage sarnies) and back to the waiting game.

Then, at 2:28pm on Saturday the 29th of July we got the call. It was a revised offer! More importantly it was at the bottom of the range that we’ve always said we’d accept!

Now lets just take a few seconds out here. When we planned to sell the house we always had the original asking price at one end of our scale and the lowest price we’d accept if desperate at the other.

Between these two prices would be multiple reductions over a period of weeks to enable those who had shown an interest but couldn’t afford the full asking price to have renewed interest at a slightly lower price.

Only if we were still here at Christmas would we make the final reduction to the lowest possible price we’d accept.

Since putting this faultless plan into action, we’d noticed that the housing market wasn’t as buoyant as we’d expected. Offers that had been made previously were massively under the minimum we’d ever consider selling for.

So here we were, still with a house being advertised at the same price it was advertised for on day one. With a house that hadn’t been re-advertised at one of our incremental reductions.

Here we were at the end of July with an offer we originally said we would only consider if we were still here at Christmas.

What did we do? We bloody bit their hand off, that’s what!

At the end of the day, if we were selling our house for millions then the difference in the top of our range and the bottom could be into the tens of thousands.

With our little home the difference in the top and bottom of the range was into the thousands and we’ve had enough hanging around now. The buyer was also a first time buyer (with a lot of financial assistance from her folks) so no chain = more control over when we need to vacate.

So we accepted their offer with a smile and toasted our new buyers with a glass of champers that very night.

There are still a few more hurdles that we need to get over before we can fully relax. The buyer needs to get a mortgage sorted and then we need to exchange contracts.

Once contracts are exchanged then we can fully relax and I can hand my notice in at work.

Oh yes. I’m sure the Halifax disclosed to the buyer the minimum figure we’d accept just so they could get the sale. Nothing to prove this but just a thought!

Anyway, mustn’t dwell on this. Things are finally starting to happen again so bring it on.

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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.

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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. Read the full story

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Ok, for starters (and because I didn’t start this site until we actually received our Visa’s. I thought it might be a little useful to give a little background about how and why we ended up getting to the stage where we are now

Please also keep in mind; I’m a pretty typical bloke with an average education. I may not necessarily have the literally talents of Shakespeare or J. K. Rowling so please stick with me through the typo’s. Please also keep in mind that we’ve done a lot before we got here. As a result, some of these earlier sections may be a little long but I’ll type as fast as I can to try and get up to date

Anyhow, I won’t get to heavily involved in the specifics about how we did this, how we did that. However as the site matures I’ll make sure that all these areas are covered and will link to and from certain sections of this article to help you guys navigate around the site.

I guess it all started in the summer of 2004. I took voluntary redundancy from the company I was currently working for at the time. My wife and I had been to Australia (Sydney) in 2002 to catch up with my brother-in-law who has lived and worked in Sydney as a permanent resident for over 7 years.

We fell in love with the place, the weather was fantastic, the sky was blue and probably most strikingly, the friendliness of the people and the Australian culture as a whole took our breath away.
Read the full story

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Most of the estimated 20.4 million Australians are descended from 19th- and 20th-century immigrants, the majority from Britain and Ireland. Australia’s population has quadrupled since the end of World War I , spurred by an ambitious immigration program.

In 2001, the five largest groups of the 27.4% of Australians who were born overseas were from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam and China. Following the abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism. Australia’s population has increased by about 60 times since European settlement.
Read the full story

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