Here's a list I flung together on what you need to do when you've landed in Australia. As I live in Victoria, it has a slant towards that State but the general gist is the same for all States.

I've had to publish this in 4 parts as it's quite long.
Sit down, get a cuppa, it's a long one!

Pick up a copy of "On Arrival" magazine at the airport; it contains lots of ideas, information and helpful websites.

Collect hire car and check into accommodation. Try not to sleep through the day.

Take a few days to get over the journey and explore the area.

Activate bank account
Set up a savings plan for emergencies, ie. Dental work, unexpected trips back to the UK etc.

Explore the area or suburb you think you would like to live in and ask the locals as many questions as possible

Guide to Public Transport (timetables for trains and buses)
Viclink - Your guide to public transport in Melbourne and Victoria

Arrange a house rental and start reviewing some accommodation property options.

When filling out application form, put at the top of the rental application form “recently emigrated from the UK and will offer 3 months rental in advance in cash”

Viewing days are often arranged rather than an individual viewing, most agents won’t let you come and pickup the keys and view a property straight away. They tend to have days where several interested people go along but they tend to have them every few days.

Build up a list of estate agents and their addresses, ask when calling if they have any other similar properties. They may not be that forthcoming so the best thing to do is drive to their offices, go to the front desk where they will have printed lists of all properties. Once you have these lists drive to the house and see what its like from the outside. If its good (and many aren’t) call the agent and find out when it can be viewed.

Its very exhausting but you can get maybe 3 or 4 viewed a day if you can get the timing right.

When you’ve found a rental:
* go through the inventory with the Rental Agent etc so any damages are logged down- be scrupulously detailed
* Take a video of EVERYTHING
* Turn on taps to see if there’s good water pressure.
* Check how much the water tank holds (160L for 3-5 people, 250L for 4-6 people)
* When moving in, make sure that all existing defects with the property are marked on a sheet with both you and the owner (or agent) having a copy. Ask the agent for the checklist used in final inspections and work from this. In particular pay attention to anything like carpet stains, wall marks, oil stains in garage, scratches on windows/mirrors, hooks on walls, etc
* If buying a plot of land, get a soil test done or put in an offer for land ‘subject to soil test’

Once you’ve decided which house you like, the agent will give you an application form, get it filled in (these are handed out at each viewing) and back to them asap. Now depending on the agent and the circumstances it may take only a couple of days to process and you then get the keys. Easy as that.

There may be a delay if the agent has to send your application to the owner who then takes a week to decide before saying yes or no. If there is a delay like that just carry on viewing properties until you know for sure if you have it.

Short term furnished rental
Short term furnished lets comprise of accommodations available to let for relatively short periods of time (e.g. weekly, monthly). Corporate let or serviced apartments and holiday lets would fall under this category.

A variety of standards are available, but usually they are relatively well equipped with everything you would expect to find in a basic house, such as kitchen equipment, furniture, and sometimes bedding and towels. They are often quite highly priced, but with the added convenience of a living layout (a full house or apartment all to yourself), rather than just a room, so you can just do your own thing. This often makes a particularly attractive proposition over a hotel to families with children. Some short-term furnished rentals include a weekly or twice weekly service where the living space is cleaned and the bed linen and towels replaced. Some are specifically for migrants, and will provide a food package and pick up from the airport on arrival.

A big advantage of this option is that, as with hotels, you can arrange it easily before you leave the UK, making one less thing on the to do list once you arrive.

Longer-term rental
In some areas, in particular inner city, rental properties are at a premium, so you have to be quick off the mark once they are listed if you find something you like. Be prepared to make a quick decision and have deposits and applications ready to roll asap or you could miss out.

Each agency has an application form which you will need to fill in, an example can be found here, http://www.rhm.com.au/forms/tenant_application_form.pdf

The forms are unlikely to differ much from agency to agency, but you will need the form from the agency the accommodation is listed with. You should be able to get a form when you view the property, but if you are in a high demand area and want to be ahead of the game collect a few forms from each of the rental agents offices first. Some agents will require one application form for each adult living in the house.

Regarding documentation, most agents work on the 100 point check (like the banks) so you will need documentation to add up to 100 points. Take photocopies of the relevant documents with you so you are good to go. For a list of how many points your documents are awarded see here:

Document Points
Passport
(current or expired within past 2 years, but not cancelled) 70*
Birth Certificate 70*
Citizenship Certificate 70*
Australian driver's licence 40
Public Service Employee ID card 40
Social Security Card 40
Tertiary Education Student ID card 40
Mortgage documents 35
Letter from employer (current or within last 2 years) 35
A Rating Authority eg. land rates 35
Utility bill eg. electricity, gas or telephone 25
ATM card, credit card, bank book, bank statement 25
Council Rates Notice 25
Medicare Card 25
International driver's licence 25
Marriage certificate 25

* Only one of these can count towards your 100 points

You should also carry evidence of rent/mortgage payments in the UK or references from those companies.

Rent is often listed per week, and you are likely to be required to pay the first two weeks rent in advance along with a bond (deposit), which is usually four weeks rent. Some people find that due to their newly acquired zero credit rating, paying several months rent in advance is the best option.

Unfurnished rental
If you manage to find an unfurnished rental for the medium term soon after you arrive you will most likely be keen to move into it as soon as possible. If you decided to ship the minimum of personal items from the UK and are planning to buy new once you arrive in Aus then you can start your purchasing frenzy and furnish your new accommodation with everything you need immediately.

If, however, you have chosen to ship your belongings from the UK, there are a few options available to you:

Ship early and stay with relatives in the UK before you leave, so that your belongings arrive around the same time as you.

Buy the bare essentials that you could make do with for the weeks until your own furniture turns up.

Rent some furniture - furniture rental is a lot more common in Australia than it is in the UK, and can therefore offer a suitable short term solution for some. Below are a few Aus-wide furniture companies, and you may also find local companies in the area that you are moving to.

Furniture Rental and Relocation Furniture Hire Australia - Living Edge Furniture Rental
Furniture Rental Australia and Furniture Hire by PABS Furniture Rentals
PHD Rentals :: Furniture Hire Sydney & Brisbane Australia :: Electrical Appliance Rentals :: Car Rentals
Furniture Hire Sydney Appliance Hire Furniture Rental Appliance Rental Lounge TV Washing Machine DVD Dryer Sydney
Furniture Rental Australia. Hire Office Furniture, Rent Relocation Furniture, Rent Event Furniture Hire. Valiant Hire Rents Furniture Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane.

Others have found that they can get by with buying a few items to keep them ticking over until their shipment arrives. For example:

Garden furniture which can initially be used as a dining table. Airbeds which can be used for visitors in the future. Cheap kitchen equipment which can be purchased from Ikea, Big W, Target or similar. A small TV which can be used as the main one then moved to the bedroom once the shipment arrives.

Yard/garage sales also tend to be more common than in the UK and offer a good opportunity to buy temporary solutions at knock down prices.

Now go to Parts 2, 3 & 4 which incorporate buying a car, health insurance, australian school system etc

Dolly