Another tick on our checklist towards our travel — we've set up travel insurance with Real Insurance. You can't get travel insurance for more than 12 months, but got around it by taking out two policies, the second starting as the first one ends.
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Doctor Who! The Brisbane Chorale's contingent of 40 singers had an absolute ball performing with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular, to an audience of over 8,500 in the Boondall Entertainment Centre. (You can find some pictures here or here.) Warren spent a little time in a queue for coffee in the Green Room chatting with Peter Davison (the fifth Doctor, but also The Last Detective). In the performance, his sound was directed towards the audience and away from the chorus, who mostly heard what was coming back as echoes from the hall — often rather difficult to decipher! Nevertheless, wouldn't trade the experience for quids. Must say, the show, and the chorus itself, got really good reviews! Sadly, this was Warren's swan song for the moment with the Chorale — their next performance is after we fly out on our trip.
There was a possibility that there might have been two performances — if ticket sales were brisk early, the venue had been reserved for an afternoon performance as well. Typical Brisbane — leave everything to the last minute as usual. The trigger point for the second performance wasn't reached until the deadline had passed. Good news for Warren however - he wouldn't miss out on Lilly's first birthday, held that afternoon!
Tuesday, 21 January 2014
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
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| A van similar to the one we're getting, |
Found a suitable campervan by trolling the internet. Motorlands, a dealership near Preston in Lancashire has a 1997 Holdsworth Valentine Volkswagen Transporter 2.4 litre Diesel Left-hand drive manual transmission vehicle — a little older than we were looking for, but with only 70,000 miles on the clock — a reasonable mileage for a diesel — this looks pretty good. It's less than 6 metres long, so will be charged as a car for any tolls and ferry fares — bonus! Phoned Carl McCormack, and have started the process of buying the vehicle. (We'll post a photo of the actual van once we get to Preston!)
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
Friday, 3 January 2014
We received a reply to our email from the British High Commission, saying 'We do normally recommend that you have a return ticket when to travel to the UK as a visitor. However, if you do not have one, you are going to need to satisfy the Immigration Officer on arrival that you only intend to visit the UK for a maximum of six months in any one year period. Having no return ticket, or an open dated one can cause issues. I cannot say how an Immigration Officer at the border will view your intended trip, but the onus will be on you to satisfy them that you are genuine visitors.
'I realise that renting a campervan and travelling around Australia for six months to a year is not uncommon here, it is not necessarily viewed the same way in the UK. If you have concerns, you may wish to consider applying for a one or two year multiple entry visa (depending on your intended time away) and provide a planned itinerary, expected costs, evidence of funds and a full explanation of what you intend to do. If you are retired you should provide evidence, and if you are using this as part of your long service leave, or an agreed break from work, you should also provide evidence of this to show you intend to return.'
We are sure that we have ample documentation of our intentions, so will go over on one-way tickets. At worst, we can simply buy a return ticket when we're over there, but odds are that we will get through without any trouble. We'll find out on April 14!
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