Thread: Australia Posting - thing you might want to know

hi

have copied this from the welcome forum, if you want the truth about a posting to Oz please contact me, I will try to add things as and when....

Junglelynx asked me about some of the hic-ups:

With regard to an accompanied posting, firstly it is an very expensive process. Disturbance allowance doesn't even come close in covering costs.
You need to sell your car in UK, buy a new one here - with no credit history you will not get a finance deal -cash up front!

Mrs Junglynx will need to totally restock all those kitchen bits that normally get moved from house to house everything from spices to birthday candles (Oz quarantine laws are really strict).

If you are going to any of the big cities you will have to house hunt for accommodation, especially if you want to live close to where you are working (and not have to buy 2 cars). Housing hunting here is a competitive sport, you queue up with other prospective renters to view a property, the agent opens the house, you and the other 10 couple look around for 15 mines then the agent opens the bidding on what people want to pay....Oh and if you are successful the agents expects a cash deposit of 2 weeks rent there and then to secure the deal! All rather stressful and as usual needs the $$$$.
Yes we do have the British Defence Liaison Staff (BDLS), whom are s'posed to help with stuff BUT they are very reactive rather than proactive (I think I am being very kind in this description!)

Depending on which unit you are sent to you may or may not get an Aussie sponsor, we didn't, for the OH it didn't seem to matter as he just went to work, but for me it was a little lonely to start with and I muddled through! Things got much better when a friend from UK came out who had lived here for 10 yrs and she showed me around (and where all the good shops were, much to OH’s worry!) I also eventually got (from BDLS) all the other exchange wives (RN, RAF ) details and got together with them.

I do not have sprogs so can only be very brief on that all I know from the other exchange wives is that pre-school and nurseries are expensive and there is no way for the voucher scheme to be implemented here...(or that BDLS are not interested in making a case for some sort of conversion)

Distance from UK is a cliché but the 10hr time difference does make it difficult to coordinate phone calls, I phone my sister once a week on a Saturday morning, which is my Saturday night, as I know she is not trying to get the kids to schools etc.- I use to chat to her about 3 or 4 times a week before.
Calls however are really cheap with phone cards, a $10 card gives me 1,000 minutes, OH says I will run out of oxygen before using it up.

This isn’t sposed to be all negative, The weather is great, the country is wild, unspoilt and beautiful, the wine is cheap…if Mrs Junglynx works in any profession such as health, education, banking, accountancy, etc she will get a job no problems…and most likely be asked to stay!

Getting Out Here

The first problem starts back in the UK in that anyone dealing with your admin etc. thinks that you are a 'lucky bugger' to get an Australian posting, and in that asking or demanding things you are just being ungrateful.

In reality, very few people now want a posting to Australia, OH was phoned while on leave to ask if he would come out here, he wasn't even due posting and ended up as the sole candidate for the job!
Friends who have just completed OZ staff college put it down as their 3rd choice, and got it; the only other candidate (put it as 2nd choice) said no as it would effects his children’s schooling (they were 2 & 4!)
The RN wives out here tell similar stories, to the extent that they are on 3 yr postings and these are often extended to 5 yrs.

The next problem is with the unit RAO; they have ‘not posted anyone to Oz before’, it is the blind leading the blind, everything is geared to NW Europe postings. The Navy seem to get around this as all of their postings out here are orgainised by HMS Nelson. With JPA couldn’t RAOs talk to Nelson to get some help/guidance?

We were entitled to 10.5m3 of airfreight to bring personal stuff out here, we took the decision to send our effects by sea. Despite the fact that sea freight costs significantly less than airfreight, the regulations only allow sea freight instead of air freight by volume not cost. The MoD would only pay for the 10.5m3. The LOA team remarked that this should not have been the case.
As the majority of families who come out here have young children sea freight would allow them ship out larger items such as bicycles, highchairs, and the little tykes collection (all things not includes in the overseas furnishing scheme) This would have the effect of enhancing our quality of life at no cost to the MoD. It is also worth shipping out your washing machine as the Aussies like top-loaders which are pretty basic!

We are meant to fly directly from the UK to Australia, yet DPRC book flights according to cost than rather speed. Families often are often traveling for 30+ hours. DPRC are incredibly slow in sending out paperwork, issuing travel orders, booking and confirming flights, and are not forthcoming when suggesting possible alternatives to a journey of 30+hrs.
We broke our journey for a two-night stop in Bangkok,
We flew at times that were convenient to us, leaving London after 2100hrs and arriving in Sydney at 1800hrs to try to avoid jet lag.
All of this was within the regulations - we paid for the hotel.
In order to get this I went to the DPRC offices in London in full uniform and stood over the clerk while he issued our travel orders, booked and confirmed our flights with the dates and times I gave him.

Families who fly on from Sydney to Canberra or Melbourne or anywhere else fly economy. This causes the problem of excess baggage. The UK to Australia flight is ‘club class’; you have 40kg per passenger, and up to three bags each, with 10kg added to your husband’s allowance. Flying economy you have 30kg per passenger and one piece of luggage, leaving families at Sydney Airport with the choice of re-packing to bring themselves within the weight limit or paying for it, which at $20 per Kg becomes expensive (and this cost cannot be claimed back). The obvious answer is to allow families to fly ‘club’ the whole way or for those going to Canberra for them to be collected by car/MPV from Sydney as the drive to Canberra is only 3 hours.

Okay get the idea,
I have sent the above to AFF, to try to get SOMEONE from MoD to listen.
As I have said before as I slowly gather mine & others experiences I will let you all know.

Duchy

We had a similar sort of problem with transferring fights. The first leg was Club Class, the second cattle so the baggage allowance changed. We paid the excess baggage but we could claim it back. Maybe someone was just being a bit jobsworth in your office that day!

Bodger

Not sure if you are still out here....in the great BDLS 'cut as much money as poss' budget flights to and from Oz are now 'premium economy'! the only good thing is that the only 2 airlines doing this are Virgin or Qantas.


I would advise anyone coming out here, get yourself a credit card which earns points for either Virgin or Qantas, with all the costs of getting things sorted in the UK you should have enough points to at least get into the lounge at Heathrow - you would have got this automatically with a Club class ticket - It was one of the very few times I have felt that the Army cared as i sloshed back the wine after 6 hectic months of getting ready to come out here.
Perhaps they billed for all the wine I consumed!


Duchy

Duchy,

I haven't done the Oz posting, I'm elsewhere right now but it's the same sketch with us where we are.

You're definitely right with what you say though. Re-stocking the kitchen is a shock to the system when you pop to the local supermarket! The price of herbs here is criminal! Still it's not all bad. I hammered the hell out of the Executive Lounge thingy on the way out! I'm preparing to do the same on the way back too. I'll get my money's worth as pure revenge for having to skip probably 200 quid's worth of kit from the kitchen!

Hi,
I`ve been looking to see if there was any info on a move to Oz from the wives/partners perspective on here as there`s quite a bit from the blokes perspective on the ARRSE website. I was interested to know because my OH is considering transferring to the Oz Army after he reaches his 22 year point next year. The paperwork has gone off already and I know it`s quite a lengthy process but I`d really like to know about other peoples experiences.....good or bad.
I have only one concern at present and that`s whether or not my son would be able to move with us if we do go. He`s 18 and although on ARRSE someone else queried about their daughter going, the answer wasn`t a definate one as to whether over 18`s are considered a `non-dependant`. By the time everything could be sorted (IF we are successful and my OH is offered a rank similar to what he has here), hopefully my Son would be settled in the UK but if he`s not I know it would be a major thing for us to leave him here.
OH and me have talked a lot about the possibility but it would be good to have the `heads up` from the womans side of things if there`s anyone here who`s made the move?
I`d be really grateful for any advice or info please.

Thanks in advance, Lisa xx

Lisa

Try this link and see what they can tell you. Dunno about Aus but when emigrating to Canada children are classed as dependent until 22 (yep I know) and they have to be declared up until then whether going or not.


http://www.familyassist.gov.au/

Originally Posted by lawlady

Lisa

Try this link and see what they can tell you. Dunno about Aus but when emigrating to Canada children are classed as dependent until 22 (yep I know) and they have to be declared up until then whether going or not.


http://www.familyassist.gov.au/

Thanks very much for that lawlady, much appreciated! :thumbright:
I`ll have a nose and see what info is on there.



Thanks again.