Before we moved over, I spent months getting the below list together. It's really a work in progress as it changes and can be added to on a daily basis!

FLIGHTS

Get quotes for flights

Make sure you get increased baggage allowance in Writing (usually 40kg Eastbound, 64k Westbound)

Cheap Worldwide Flights and cars, Discount Hotels, Bargain Holidays to Dubai, America, Australia and Thailand
ASDA Travel - find cheap holidays, flights, hotels and travel
Travel to Australia & New Zealand with Austravel, the holiday and flight specialist - AUSTRAVEL.COM
CheapTickets: Cheap Flights, Event Tickets, Hotels, Rental Cars, Vacations, Cruises, Concert Tickets, Sports Tickets
Expedia.co.uk Travel > Book cheap flights, travel, hotels and package holidays
ebookers - Cheap Flights, Hotels, Car Hire & Holiday Packages
Flight Centre UK | Cheap flights, holiday packages, hotels, car hire, touring and travel insurance
www.leestravel.com
www.octopustravel.com
Book cheap flights, hotels, car rental, city breaks and package holidays with Opodo
Quest Travel long haul tailor made holidays
Trailfinders - The Travel Experts
TRAVELBAG: Deals on Cheap Flights, Hotels, Holidays and Tours
Holidays and flights to Australia, cheap flights to New Zealand, Hotels, Holidays and Tours Worldwide
Cheap flights & hotels | car hire | package holidays - TravelSupermarket UK

Prepare your belongings to be shipped. Get at least 3 quotes.
Doree Bonner Doree Bonner | UK and International Home Removals and Secure Storage
Crown Relocations Crown Relocations U.K.
PSS International Removal Company
Robinsons The Business and Home Removal Company - Robinsons International

EMPLOYERS
Give formal notice to employer and make sure you get P45 and work references

BANKS/BUILDING SOCIETY

Request credit references from bank, building society or any other lending agent

Once you’ve arrived in Australia your credit profile will in effect start from scratch. Make sure you source as many credit references as possible before leaving the UK so that you can use them as evidence that we are creditworthy. Your bank, building society and any other lending agency should be able to provide a reference. You may find a reference from your mortgage company will also be helpful.

You won’t be able to get a credit card in Australia until you get employment

Request up to date statements on any endowments, pensions and investments

Ask your doctor, dentist, optician, schools to prepare hand-over files

IMMUNISATION RECORDS FOR CHILDREN

Obtain a letter from your doctor confirming your child(ren) immunisations are up-to-date and give dates as they may be required for school and can also be requested for family assistance.


MOVING YOUR PET:
Pet travel services and pet boarding - Airpets Oceanic London UK
Airpets, Willowslea Farm Kennels (Heathrow), Spout Lane North, Stanwell Moor, Staines, Middx TW19 6BW (01753) 685571)

Golden Arrow,
01588 680240 (they don’t have a website)

Ruislip Kennels
Tel: 01344 424144
Fax: 01344 861460
e-mail: info@ryslip.com
The Ryslip Group Ltd | Welcome

Organise temporary accommodation in Australia for a couple of weeks.

Organise all birthday cards and presents for the next 3 months

UPDATE CV

There is not a huge amount of difference between a UK CV and an Australian Résumé. The content is by and large the same but the Australian version often tends to be a bit longer.

Most CV's will not need to be changed much to make them suitable for the market. Read through your existing CV and look for anything which is likely to cause confusion, internationalise your CV, and think of any negatives an employer may see in your CV and offer an immediate explanation to counter them.

Change the word CV to Résumé (and make sure it’s spelt correctly with the accents on the e)

Check for any commonly used UK acronyms, are they used in Australia?

Add a one line description of the companies in your employment history

Explain any gaps.

Give reference to your Permanent Residence

Set spell checker to Australian/English and make sure you run a check before sending the final document.

REFERENCES

It is standard in Australia to attach relevant references to your CV. Before leaving the UK it is a good idea to contact any potential referees and ask them to write a generic reference for this purpose. In the main body list referees with contact details, and attach any references to the back of the CV using a paper clip. As well as showing that you have nothing to hide, time differences may often mean that it is difficult to contact your referees during normal working hours so attaching your references offers a solution.


Inform employer and get P45 and references

Inland Revenue P85
Take these with you (for each adult), then complete and send them back to the UK within a couple of weeks of being in Oz to ensure that Revenue and Customs are aware we have left the UK and now Tax Resident in Australia. The form is designed to help you claim back any tax when we have left or about to leave the UK. This can be downloaded here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/p85.pdf

Order a phone card from: MelbourneConnect.com.au -- Prepaid Phone Cards to call from Australia
Works out at 1 cent per minute. Go Beyond card is the better choice.


CHANGE OF ADDRESS
Give your change of address to:

Banks
Passport office
Pension company
Inland revenue
Insurance brokers and accountants
Shares

DVLA
The DVLA require that you have a UK address on your driving license, so it may be advisable to change the address to that of a friend or relative who could forward any necessary communications to you, before you go.

RE-DIRECT POST
Arrange all post to be redirected

Royal Mail offer national and international redirection services for your mail for a variety of time periods. You can either apply in person at a Post Office or online and allow a few days for the service to be activated . You can renew online if you find that you wish to continue the service longer after the initial period ends. We signed up for a year and it cost around £70.


For more information visit www.royalmail.com and select redirection services.

It is cheaper to get mail redirected to another UK address, so if we are confident that we will need very little of our mail we could see if we have a trustworthy friend or relative who is willing to have it redirected to them and will forward on the odd piece of relevant mail.

If you get the mail redirected internationally make sure that you have one address that you can access for the entire period of the forward, as you cannot change it. If you expect to be transient during this time it may be better to have the mail forwarded to an Australian friend or relative, or to set up a PO Box. The only difficulty with a PO Box is that we will need to open it once you are in Australia.

For more information on a PO Box with Australia Post visit:

Welcome To Australia Post

Ship your goods

Whichever option you have chosen for shipping make sure everything is clean before the shippers arrive, as customs in Australia will not accept foreign dirt.

The timing that shipments leave varies with each individual case. Some choose to ship early and stay with relatives/friends/make do with things they will then dispose of, whereas others will choose to ship at the last minute and wait for their possessions to arrive at the other end.

Re Christmas decorations: on box write ‘tinsel, tree ornaments or fairy lights’ NOT ‘christmas decorations’ – and mark ‘No Pine Cones’. The customs guys will be on the box like greased lightening otherwise.

Make sure all the files on our computer are backed up

Make a copy of everything on our computer and keep it with our important documents, preferably in a separate bag to our computer.

If you are leaving your computer behind and using a new one when you arrive it is worth making two back ups of your files and keeping them in separate places just to be sure they are safe.

Start packing non essential items

(Part 2 to follow....post was too big so had to split it!

Dolly