Mr Coeur de Lion Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 In terms of brand new cars, they'd be pretty much the same price, although the ones I was looking at in that European car yard were slightly more expensive, probably due to the fact they were shipped out from France to Oz. No idea about second hand cars I'm afraid.Taking the train sounds a good idea. Never taken a train here, but I understand they are pricey (certainly compared to the excellently cheap Queensland Rail I was used to), but it would save a lot of stress getting around Paris and you can get your rental car and get used to the roads in peace, once you arrive in your chosen area. We were going to bring our two dogs and cat over, but one of our dogs got hit by a car a couple of months before we left :( As for the cat we decided to leave him with my wifes son. Six months later, the cat took on a brown snake in my wife's son's back yard and promptly lost! We ended up buying another dog over here as a pet for the dog that did make over!It is a big thing selling most of your belongings, but at the same time, it's extremely freeing knowing you have little baggage attached to you, and when you get your house, you know that everything you buy to replace will be with the new houses decor in mind and will fit in much better. I'm now of the attitude, well it's only stuff, it's all replaceable.As for internet, we also live in a tiny village, and when we first arrived, we only had a 1mb broadband connection, and have only recently been upgraded to 2mb. France is quite rural, but no where near as remote as Australia is! :)By the way, did you see the personal message I sent you with my website on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandrine Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 Hi, for all your moving needs from the UK, I suggest you visit www.mistermove.com - easy and free to use, this allows you to receive quotes from professional movers. Quick and easy :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 The train and hire car idea should work well. The trains are excellent here, particularly between large cities. They are pricey if you book on the day but there can be some really excellent offers (some even including discount car hire) if you plan in advance.The only snag with SNCF is that they seem to have positively the worst website on the planet - but you get there eventually so it's worth persevering! The "Voyages sncf" pages are the easiest to follow, click on the Union flag, bottom left.http://www.voyages-sncf.com/leisure/fr/launch/home/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan37 Posted May 5, 2007 Author Share Posted May 5, 2007 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted May 5, 2007 Share Posted May 5, 2007 [quote user="allan37"]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. [/quote]Very true, especially when you consider the country Australia is bigger in land area than the whole of the continent of Europe! In rural France, you might have to drive perhaps 30 to 45 minutes to the nearest major town, which is obviously nothing. In Australia it could be that distance to the next minor village, if you're lucky! I remember having to do a 30 minute drive to my nearest post office in Oz. Having said that, there is so much uninhabited land here. I take it you've visited France before? Lynda had only visited France once before we moved here and that was a couple of days in Paris and she hated it. And yet, France was the country she most wanted to move to and she loves it now.The ATM in our village is actually inside the bank. Very useful when the bank is closed, I don't think. But a short trip to the next village 10km away sees one in a more useful position, outside. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samdebretagne Posted May 5, 2007 Share Posted May 5, 2007 [quote user="allan37"]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![/quote]But yet they still won't deliver to the US! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan37 Posted May 16, 2007 Author Share Posted May 16, 2007 For people within Australia wanting to pre-purchase rail tickets and have them delivered check this site:http://www.raileurope.com.auIt's great!Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suky Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 Hi Just seen your post and wanted to touch base. We lived in Ballarat for 20 odd years, Lal Lal and then Clarendon. We have lived here in France for 2 years now in the Vienne. We're in our late 60's and find the going hard learning the language and believe me you do need to speak some French unless you're prepared to pay someone to start off to assist you. There are many people who are willing to help so no problems there.If you want to email us privately we'll be happy to assist you where we can. Not sure how safe it is to advertise our address on the forum so no doubt someone will post and confirm.All the best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suky Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 Sorry just seen I can email you privately but will await your reply first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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