Well...

I really hope that in the last year, Ben has learnt the difference between a Sergeant Major and a full out Major! As it was a Major I'd been speaking to, but that's by the by...

So, in what may sound, to some of you, like a complete change of plans:

BEN, JESS and ROO are coming to Aus!

Now it's still in the very initial thought stages at the moment, but this is what we're working towards.

Those in England will have heard, and those in Aus may not be so aware but the British Military is suffering massive cutbacks at present. Not only does this mean that Ben may not have a job for much longer, but it also means that recruitment, particularly in the music corps is coming to a standstill. So after weighing up our options of staying in England, such as Ben not having a fulltime job full stop, Jess being stuck in a job with no chance of a career for a good long while, increased rent as we'd no longer be entitled to army accomodation, or moving to Australia and joining the military there. It almost seemed crazy that we hadn't thought of it before!

We're definitely not going to go into this with our eyes shut, blinded by the fact that we've both had a persistant cough since before christmas and the weather's crappy and we go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. We want to be as well informed over the move as we can possibly be. Everyday we're doing research, we plan to be in Aus in 2012, although who knows with the army job front being so up in the air.

We've decided that, at least to start with, we will base ourselves in Sydney. Jess' company have an office there so should be fairly straightfoward to transfer should a position be available, but it would also be the best bet for Ben (and Jess) to find music work. We will then get our applications to the Australian Army on the go as quickly as possible, and then who knows where we will end up!

We know that it's going to be a hard struggle, saving up the money to make it possible whilst still in England and then to get ourselves set up in Aus. But having weighed up the pros and cons, we feel that we don't really have much other choice. We're going to use this blog to record our research and thoughts throughout the process and to keep everyone updated of what it going on. Feel free to comment or just leave us to it, it's up to you. But if you have some words of wisdom, maybe something we need to consider then please speak up. The less surprises once we arrive in Aus the better!

So the first thing that we've looked at is the cost for a visa. We're hoping to be able to arrange a spousal visa with permanent resident status straight away based on the fact we've been together for quite a while. This will really aid joining the Army too as the minimum citizenship requirements is a permanent residence visa. This visa costs $1735aud which based on today's exchange rates works out to £1080gbp. Am very much hoping that the GBP will get stronger by the time we apply for the visa/leave as it will make our savings go a bit further. The plan is to apply for this visa as soon as possible, as we've heard the wait times can vary drastically before a visa is granted.

We have also received a quote for Roo to come over to Aus. For the "gold" service, which includes the vet work too, it will cost approx £3000-£3500gbp, plus around $900aud for her quarantine of 30 days. We are hoping that Jess' bonus will go some way towards this, although she has no idea of how much it'll be as it's her first year with the company! So Roo is most definitely going to be the most expensive member of the family to get across to Aus, and we're already telling her that there is to be no picking on spiders/snakes/toads or anything of the sort! She is worth it though, and we wouldn't be without her.

We have researched flights, and should be able to get one for around the £550-£600 mark. However Ben is looking into going on ships for three months so that they essentially pay him to make his way down to Aus, which will save a fair bit of cash.