allan37

For people within Australia wanting to pre-purchase rail tickets and have them delivered check this site: http://www.raileurope.com.au It's great! Allan

Thanks for that link cooperlola. The SNCF site certainly is rather confusing. I was amused they had listings of every country they could deliver the tickets to but Australia and NZ - even the Antarctic was on their list! Richard, I think you're right about the fresh start regarding furniture and belongings. Our furniture atm is very modern, which was fine for our former house, but the houses we've been looking at in France are so different in style, it would have looked rather out of place. III send you a pm with my email, since I didn't get your website address. I was looking at the Visa card atm locator site http://visa.via.infonow.net/locator/global/jsp/SearchPage.jsp and it seems the machines are pretty much everywhere, even in the smallest villages. You forget how close everything is in Europe and how massive the distances are in Australia in comparison.

Thanks so much for the detailed reply. We actually like smaller cars (we drive a Renault Clio at the moment) so we'll probably buy something similar in France. I didn't think of ordering a car from Australia - you guys are so organized! You really did your homework. Once we've bought a house I think that might we might try the same idea. Did you find the cars cheaper in France? The viaMichelin GPS system is now on our shopping list.     Our dog and 2 cats will be getting the door to door service, which I think is going to save us allot of stress not having to worry about picking them up from the airport. We were thinking about taking a train from Paris into the region we buy in and then picking up our rental car from the destination station and from there to our rented short term accommodation. Does that sound like a reasonable plan?  We'll be coming over on a house buying trip for 2 weeks once we've gotten all of paperwork and such translated and organized. We want to get as much sorted out as we can before we embark. We won't be going over until we see our ideal house (and a few others just in case) then we'll book an appointment with the agents. It's pretty scary stuff thinking of selling most of your belongings and going for it... We're wondering whether the Internet connection is going to be an issue living in some of the smaller villages? I'm not particularly Internet savvy (I'm only used to dial-up atm) so I'm not sure. Allan

That's interesting - so did you have some short term accommodation near the house you bought until you bought your new things? Even though our new house will be renovated, I assume we'll have to rent a gite for a week until we can buy the essentials. So the rule when shipping is only pack the things you can live without for a while..! We really need our computer straight away so I think III have to buy a laptop. Do you mind me asking what shipping company and Internet provider you used?  Did you rent a car until you bought one in France? I was just wondering what the best option would be on arriving... We were thinking of renting a small car for a month through Auto Europe. Your poor dog must have been delighted to hear your voice in that warehouse! So many questions - I feel guilty for asking so many! We really appreciate your help. Allan

Hi Richard, How much did you have to buy again once you had arrived in France besides furniture? Did you buy all of your whitegoods again? Will Australian 240 volt electrical items such as fridge and toasters work okay on 230v providing I use a French adapter plug? I had a look at the Dogtainers site and they look perfect. We'll have to put our dog on a diet I think! Sounds as though the CPAM will be an adventure all on its own! III let you know how we go once we're over there. We'll get all of our main documents such as birth and marriage certificates translated before we go. Sounds like it might be handy. Re: the driving licence swap. At least for an Australian licence to be exchanged there's a list at http://www.france.embassy.gov.au/pari/driving.html Looks like you need to have to have your Oz licence translated plus the letter from Vicroads. Thanks for the help everyone. Allan  

A very clever solution re: the CPAM issue! Sounds like you have the right attitude to living in a foreign language country. We can't wait to get going... Only a few more issues to research - drivers licences, shipping our belongings, getting the pets over... This forum is fantastic. Thank goodness for the internet! Allan

Interesting thoughts on the language barrier. After living most of my life in Australia, which is quite an isolated country, I'm actually really looking forward to exploring some new challenges. One of the things I find limiting here in Australia is the distance - you just can't  fly over for the weekend to test out your French or go house hunting. Of course, it's impossible to know how we'll cope with the language, but being retired and being keen to learn I think it should be an enjoyable experience. I just want to get the paperwork sorted out and then we can relax and tackle the language at our own pace. Allan

Excellent. Thanks Sunday Driver!

Hi LyndaandRichard - we've been living in Ballarat in Victoria, which can get quite cold in winter,  so the change in weather in Normandy won't be as dramatic as for some! We'll definitely visit the Commonwealth bank first to make sure everything we work smoothly before we go. We might use TT as well, we'll mention it to our bank. I'm in the process of asking questions about the health care system in France atm (see my thread in Health in France). How did you cope with the registration process? Language is my biggest concern when dealing with government departments. What do you think was the most challenging aspect of your move to France from Australia? Thanks for your advice. Allan

Thanks Sunday Driver. To my delight, I noticed that the CPAM has an English speaking advice line. Will we be able to get everything organized with them with our limited French? Our French language skills are questionable atm! Allan

Re: money transfer from Australia, the way I think we're going is by using Commonwealth Bank's IMT (international money transfer). It's $22 per transfer and takes 2 to 5 days. Our online interest will be providing the bulk of our income. Once we settle in we might move the money  elsewhere, but for now we'll just transfer from Australia. We're comfortable financially here in Australia atm, but we live simply. Hopefully we'll be okay in Normandy too. I emailed Sextant French Property and they said we could pay for our house using an Australian cheque and that we didn't need a French bank account straight away, which is good news for us. We'll probably want to open an account with CA when we arrive in France. We're slowly gathering the information we need - thanks to everyone who's helping. Allan

Thanks so much for that information - that's just what we were looking for. Will our birth and marriage certificates need to be translated into French? Allan

My wife and I will be retiring to France. We both hold British passports, but I have lived in Australia since I was 14 and neither of us have worked in the U.K. My wife holds an Australian passport as well as British. We both receive a part Australian age pension. What sort of health care will we be entitled to? Can somebody point us in the right direction? Thanks, Allan

Hi Mel, Unfortunately, having looked at the Britline application form it looks like they won't open an account to anyone who doesn't have a U.K/French address. We're thinking of using Normandy Property Assist (www.normandypropertyassist.com) to buy a house since they will set up a bank account for us. There is a charge for their services but in our situation, being in Australia, it seems like a more practical choice for us. Allan

Thanks for that Paul. Australia is such a long way away everything seems more difficult! I have a few banking/financial questions - we would have liked to set up our French bank account before leaving Australia - is this possible through a bank such as Britline Credit Agricole? Also, we were thinking of keeping the majority of our money in our Australian high interest online account and then transferring money over to our French account, as we need it until we can find a better arrangement. Any thoughts?

Hi ian Thanks for replying. We love the Normandy region as well for the reasons you listed above. Our budget would be 200,000 euros and we've found plenty of properties. Are there any real estate agents that you would recommend? What about agencies such as Normandy Property Assist, which are tailored towards the U.K market? Allan

Hello all, My wife and I have sold our house here in Australia and now we're interested in buying a property in France to retire to. We're both British passport holders claiming a part Australian pension and have never worked in the U.K. Could anyone give us some pointers as to where to start our move? Thanks in advance for any assistance. Allan