Hi from the UK

[fridayman]

Hi all

We (my wife, my 1yo son and I) are currently living in the UK (I'm from South Africa and my missus is English). Our plan is to emmigrate to Australia in the next 18 months. Depending on how much we save before we go, we will take the first 6-12 months off to travel around Australia and get to know the country a bit better. I am already kitting out my Colorado (UK Prado) and will be buying and kitting out a camper trailer when we get there.

Looking forward to learning all about well set-up camper trailers on this forum - they are just starting to become available here and are fairly basic.

[HEM19X]

A big "G'Day Mate",

Welcome to the forum, I hope you learn lots & have a great time when you get here.

Regards

Hem

[Muso]

Welcome friend.

We have a CUB hardfloor/fliplid (operated by handwinch) 8ft x 6'6" wide, and when open 16' x 6'6".
Very light for towing and very compact for garaging. This camper fitted our requirements best.

Might see you in S.A. (South Australia not Seth Ifrika  :laugh:sorry, couldn't help myself)

[hargs]

Hi...............lots of good info here...You'll love us here down under !!!!!

We too have Cub camper, but there are a host of campers out there to choose from. Good luck !!!

[Snow]

Every forum should have its man Friday...   I digress

G'day Fridayman and welcome to Myswag. I hope your plans go smoothly.

Do you plan to bring your tow buggy with you 

Easier to buy a kitted out buggy here that already complies with Aussie Design regs, and no rust......we don't use salt on our roads

[nisnav]

G;Day Fridayman

Welcome to the forums as said lots of great info here,
As someone who has made the move from the UK all I can say is ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Best thing we have ever done, NO regrets,
From your post are you kitting your car out ready to ship to Oz ? as I know that will be very expensive,, but saying that used car prices here are very expensive compared to the UK , Check out this site www.carsales.com.au and see what you can get here as it could be better to buy a already sorted 4x4 here, I know when we shipped all our belongings (no cars) it took about 18 weeks all up, and we were told no more than 10 !!!
Also a good site if you are looking at the job scene is www.seek.com.au

anyway good luck with everything, I must admit the idea of traveling when you first get here is a good one as we are a bit too settled now , Jobs, schools, mortgage etc to be able to give it all up and do the big trip,, but hey you never know whats round the corner

Graham

[gunna]

Hi fridayman & family
welcome to myswag
sheeds

[Hairs]

G'day fridayman,

To Myswag.
I think you'll find 6 months maybe to short, 
You'll get the bug to travel more.
Happy a safe travels.

[Heiny]

Hi fridayman and welcome to My Swag

bubba

[weso]

ahhhhh the internet only here can i say "Hello Fine Sir" to a bloody Pom
welcome along fridayman please dont take any "digs" serious here we all love a joke

[Wandering Tassie]

Hi Fridayman and welcome.
I am sure you will love living in Aussie. You can spend a lifetime exploring this great land.

Trevor

[fridayman]

In response to the question about bringing my tug over - yes, I am bringing my Colorado (Prado) over. I've been spending time and money on it over here so that I can ship over a truck that is near ready to go - the plan is to set off on our trip as soon as possible (the longer I need to spend modding the truck over there, the shorter our trip will be). This is my first 4x4 so I've used it to learn how to do most things myself as well, and I now know this truck almost inside out. I have thought about selling it and buying one there, several times, but the Prado's in Oz cost a lot more than over here. I don't look forward to the shipping and paperwork though! As things stand at the moment, we will most likely send all the household goods by container just before we leave here, and send the truck over RORO about 12 weeks in advance (although I have  theft concerns as the truck will be kitted out for the trip).

EXCELLENT NEWS!!! Our visa has been approved, and we now know for sure that we will be in Australia in January 

[sol]

G'day fridayman and welcome to MySwag
Look forward to some pics of your vehicle.
Congrats on the visa too mate.You're coming to
the best country in the world. 

                                                             

                                                 

[Chris F]

Welcome to Myswag fridayman. There is a huge selection of camper brands and styles to choose from here in Australia. It took me months to make a choice so you should probably make a start asap. Good luck!

[GU_Thomo]

Welcome to MySwag Fridayman,
Well done on the visa.
I hope you enjoy your time here.

Cheers
Parry

[Victim]

Hi Fridayman!!

Be sure you put some pics of your rig on here also when you know where your going it would be good to see your itineray so you can get some good adivce for where to go and what to do from the seasoned swaggers on here (full of good ideas!!)



Victim

[grc]

welcome to myswag fridayman
and this great country soon
enjoy your trip around oz and start planning now
as you will be arriving in the middle of summer

cheers grc 

[Jenko67]

Welcome Friday Man... you will love this country... just need to pick the best place to live.... Queensland..... 

[Dreama]

Welcome Fridayman and family,
Wow what an adventure you have ahead of you.
Posting up an itinery of your travel plans would be a good idea.
Over here in west aus, we are going to try and break a 115 year old record for the hottest summer this weekend and well, all those poor buggers over east are having to use floaties to get anywhere, due to the floods.
But man, what a great and diverse country we have here 
Enjoy yourselves

Cheers Ray

[snakehips]

Welcome!

A Prado is a Colorado?  That's gunna confuse the beejeebus out of your mechanic when you get here!

[fridayman]

I'll post up pics of the truck as soon as I have the drawers done. Just waiting for the fridge jacket to arrive so that I can draw up the plans - it's an 80l Engel so I don't have space to waste...

We haven't set our an itinerary yet, as we didn't know when we would get our visa, and so didn't know what time of year we would arrive. I have been reading many posts on several forums and each time I hear about an interesting place, I drop a pin on this map which will become a rough guide to where we want to go to:


http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=209141723216547224231.00049cef0c4f41c00ef70

[Wandering Tassie]

Hi Fridayman, doing a great job with the pins, but I hope you have a big box of them as you have plenty more great spots to go.
If you are arriving in January start on the Southern ones and then head North for our winter when the wet season is finished.

Trevor

[BigJules]

G'day & Welcome. 

A year to explore would be fantastic, and you'd need much of it to see all those places. You're a Saffa so you'll know, but plenty of poms come out here for a holiday and have no idea how big the country is. I used to rent cars, 3cyl Daihatsu's to pommy tourists who intended driving from Sydney to Cairns in three days. It's only 2700km!