Moving to Australia - Part 1

Hi guys, welcome back to my blog!

First of all Happy New Year! I haven't posted in a long time but I have a good reason. If you follow me on instagram you'll know I've made a big move across the world to Australia with my boyfriend Jake. This is something I wanted to do since I visited last year on holidays so what better time to move than the new year.

As there is a lot of time, money and planning that goes into moving I thought I would start a mini blog series of everything you need to know. In this blog post I want to talk about everything I did before moving over. This is my own experience and I may miss some details but that's all part of the journey, here's all the important things you need to know before moving to Oz!

1. SAVE!!!

Moving abroad is never going to be cheap and it takes a lot of time to save up (unless you're loaded, in that case skip this point). Myself and Jake made the decision to move about 7 or 8 months ago. This isn't actually a lot of time, we really had to reign in our spending. This means cutting down on nights out, eating out, shopping, travelling, etc. This was a lot harder than I expected if I'm being completely honest, I love eating out and shopping and it was so hard to completely stop but you just have to keep thinking of the end goal.

You will need as much money as possible, the more money you have the more time you have in the sun before getting a job. It really depends on what kind of lifestyle you enjoy for the amount of money you decide to take with you.

I highly recommend you get a Monzo or Revolut card before you move. I used a Monzo card and moved all my savings over. The app is so handy to track what your spending your money on and it's great for transferring money instantly. A Monzo/Revolut card will do until you get set up with an Australian bank account.

Just a heads up there are some hefty expenses to get out of the way before saving, listed in the points below!

2. Book Your Flight

This is the most expensive part of the entire process before moving down under.

My best advice is to book your flights as soon as you possibly can. Not only is this a big chunk of money out of the way, it means your actually going and there's no turning back now.

I remember when me and Jake finally booked our one way ticket, it was so exciting and such a massive weight lifted off our shoulders.

We booked our flight with Etihad, I've flown with them before and they were great so I just thought it would be better to stick with what I know. I've heard great things about Emirates and Singapore Airlines too.

You can make a trip out of the journey over and stop along the way in Abu Dhabi or Dubai (depending on your airline) but we decided we would head directly to Sydney - we were very eager to start our adventure in Oz.

3. Apply For Your VISA

As this is my first time living in Australia I was eligible for the Working Holiday Visa 417. This visa allows you to stay in Australia for one year and work to help pay for your 'holiday'. It costs about 300 euro ($485).

There are so many websites you can apply for a visa, a lot of them look a bit dodgy and it's a lot of money to risk. I asked a good few people I knew living in Australia for advice before I applied and most people recommended the Australian Government website so thats where I got mine. Click here for the website I used to get my visa.

I received my visa within a week of applying but it says on the website it can take 35 days for 90% of applicants.

4. Book Short-term Accommodation

It's definitely a good idea to have somewhere to stay once you land even if it's just for a few days to get your feet on the ground. When you land you will be so happy of a bed because the flight is LONG!

We booked a room at the Meriton Suites in North Sydney in advance and got a really good rate. Of course there's other options like Air B&B or hostels just make sure you book ahead as prices go up and hostels sell out really fast, especially if you're arriving in summer time.

5. Admin Bits and Bobs

There's lots of bits and bobs that may take a few minutes to do but so important to do before your trip:

- Cancel any outstanding subscriptions/memberships you have, ie. Gym

- Get references ready for apartments/jobs

- Update your CV, print it out

- Health insurance

- Get international drivers licence

- Make sure your passport is valid for 2 years!

- Make final doctors/dentist/appointments

- Buy adapters

6. GET EXCITED!

Once you have the above under your belt you can sort everything else out once you get over.

The excitement can turn to nerves as the adventure approaches but remember this is probably going to be one of the best years of your life so enjoy every minute!

I'm not going to lie, the goodbyes were a lot harder than I had expected. It's tough and I did feel a sense of guilt for leaving everyone but you just need to remember that "it's not a goodbye, it's a see you later" as cringe as it sounds, it's true.

Make a list of things you want to do while you're in Oz, I found planning things to do make you really look forward to it. Talk to people who have moved over, get advice and you can always DM me if you've any questions.

Now that I've covered the main things to do before the move, next week I'll do a blog post on what to do when you arrive like setting up a bank account, getting an Australian phone number, a job and a place to live!

I hope you found this useful. That's all from me!

Besos,

Zoë Elizabeth

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