What Happens Next?

Well, I've got my residency visa. Yippee and all that.

But what now?

Well, there's quite a bit to organise so I thought I'd make a list and see how we get on:

1. Visit Australia. One of the stipulations for my visa is that I must travel to Australia by 7th July 2010. This date is not negotiable. So I'm on the look out for as cheap a flight I can find; I want to go at either the end of Feb, March or April (before the Southern hemisphere winter kicks in). I can't do it this year as I don't have enough holiday remaining. It will be a 10 day solo trip (Mrs Paulky and I agree it's a waste of money having to go, but the AHC disagree!) and I'll scope out recruitment agencies, open a bank account and get an Aussie mobile.
2. Sell the house. We want to wait until the Spring of 2010 to put the house on the market; we're waiting for the recession to finish and confidence to return to the housing market before we risk trying to sell. We obviously want to get as much as we can as this will be our primary source of cash until a job comes along. I'm also hoping the exchange rate improves.
3. Extricate ourselves from the UK tax system. This is going to be the difficult one. I can claim back the tax I pay once I permanently leave the country. This could yield thousands of pounds on its own, if I time it right! Plus I have to transfer all my national insurance contributions and pension contributions to Australia. Knowing UK bureaucracy, this will be difficult; I'm probably going to leave this one alone until after Christmas!
4. De-clutter. Though we are not habitual hoarders, we really need to pare down what we have to essentials. We don't plan to ship furniture and electricals to the other side of the world (different power requirements), so it will mainly be clothes, some books and personal items. This will start very soon. We also plan to sell what we can and give away the rest.
5. Plan the Exit Strategy. As mentioned in this post, we plan to get to Australia by flying west, across the Atlantic, across the USA, across the Pacific and then finally across Australia. We are already scoping out costs for this one. I'm very much looking forward to this part.
6. Say Goodbye to family and friends. Or more accurately, au revoir; I hope people will visit and keep in touch!