Hi
Thanks Mike and Howard - I have a further question (in fact my head is full of questions)
Can anyone advise about redirecting mail. We will not have an address in Australia until we find somewhere to rent or buy. How do we have mail forwarded. Is it possible to open a PO Box No and if so any ideas how to go about it. With regard to medical insurance I think we will go with Medibank. Now just have to decide on Essential or Optimal. So much to do!!!!
Colette

Colette - here is a link to the Australia Post site on PO Boxes:
http://www.auspost.com.au/BCP/0,1080,CH2149~MO19,00.html

We had great problems with this. I contacted Australia Post who said I couldn't open a PO Box from outside Australia, but suggested that my friends could open one on my behalf.

When our friends tried to do this, they couldn't do it in my name. It was suggested that they opened one themselves, and included our namesamongst those who would receive post at the PO Box. Then when we arrived we could transfer it into our name.

When we did arrive, Australia Post tried to say that we couldn't transfer it without paying a significant fee (more than they had told our friends). Eventually they backed off.

It proved very useful to have the PO Box number before we left UK, so that we could tell everyone. We kept it for 6 months, by whihc time we had told everyone about our permanent address, and the PO Box traffic had dried up.

Do you have any similar 'friend' in the area you are going to? Otherwise, I am afriad you have a problem.

What we did was have our mail redirected to a family member in the UK and when we arrived in Oz opened up a PO Box. It can be done the same day. Had family member send bulk envelopes to the PO Box until we got addresses redone.

If you can find a way to cover the first few days, you could arrange a PO Box the day you arrive in Australia, then ask Royal Mail to redirect all your mail to the PO Box.

See http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content3?mediaId=50900693&catId=600008 for application forms etc. You could possibly prepare and pre-sign the application form before you go, and leave the required identification originals with a relative or friend. Then all you have to do is advise the friend of the PO Box address, and get them to fill in the details on the form and post the application to Royal Mail.

Maybe to cover the first few days until all this takes effect, you could get the new owner of your house to collect it all together, then send a bulk packet of it all to your PO Box? You could leave some money with them to cover the postage - assuming of course that they were prepared to do that.

(One possible snag is that in order to get the PO Box you may need some form of identity to show you have an Australian address. If you are opening a bank account which uses your temporary address - e.g hotel or similar - then this will probably be OK for Australia Post.)