Rum & Dal

Its always difficult finding accomodation in a city that you’ve never been to before. From browsing the internet most of the places that we found were hotels but with Melbourne being a huge city these can be very expensive. We opted for an apartment with a kitchenette, as we knew we needed to save on eating out too.  Having searched and searched we found citylimits to have a reasonable price and a good location too.  We paid $48 to get from the airport to the hotel and it was a larger taxi as we had 4 suitcases. There is a cheap shuttle bus that will take you the city centre from the airport but after 24 hours of flying and with all those suitcases who needs the hassle hey?

(more…)

Finally our Visas have been accepted, so now what? Travel arrangements, short/medium and long term accommodation, finances and then finding a job… So much to think about and how time is flying by. How do we get our life saving across to Melbourne securely and safely with the best exchange rate? Well to be honest we had no idea. We had a few options but when you’re talking about thousands of pounds you start to second guess yourself wonder can you really trust a company that you have never heard or dealt with before? We came across a foreign exchange company called HiFX which was also recommended by a friend, now living in Canberra, Australia. After talking to HiFX we felt more confident about the whole procedure, they even recommended that we open an account in Australia with Westpac.

There are a few banks in Australia that allow you to open an account with them before you get to Australia e.g. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank. Unlike the UK there are many charges that Australian banks force upon their customers, make sure you read all the details and charges involved. Select the one that best suits your money management.

(more…)

Well we made it… and the flight was no where near as bad as the goodbyes.  A huge thank you to all of you for all your kind words and best wishes. For all the cards (even the hidden ones), the presents and the sentiments… we were touched to say the least. Thank you to Amy, Pav and Amrun for the gifts they made, we have bought them with us and will put them up when we have our own place.  Thanks also to Ranbir for baking us the goodbye cake, shame we couldn’t bring that with us. We were still reading heart warming text messages from you all as we boarded the plane… I knew it would be a tearful goodbye but i never imagined it would hurt so much…

(more…)