Returning to OZ

[hoppy]

I will be interested in seeing how you get on after so much time away (I'm at 13 and counting) so I hope you keep us up to date even on non boat matters.

Did you exchange a tassie license for the Swiss? Sweden would not exchange mine so I had to resit the driving test but at least now I have two licenses.

Did you get any marina prices? My old man is paying I think $10,000 for his 40footer in docklands.

There have been a couple of live aboard threads for aus and I think the conclusion is a big NO for the bay.

[Jamel]

You can contact Cruising Helmsman editorial staff by going on their website , I think it's called mysailing....articles and poss contact, check it out!

[Capn Morgan]

Originally Posted by TassieBloke

Man, if knew how much drama this was going to be, I would have kept all my official documents valid during the years away. Maybe someone here has a few other bright ideas? Maybe VIC is a little more lienient to 'foreigners'?

Bloke

I've a few mates who have returned in the past year or two. They found that the only easy thing is to start paying taxes again.

[sctpc]

Victoria do not want live aboards and parks vic will harass anyone they think are. docklands will let you stay for 3 months so you could live there but as HOPPY says its not cheep 45 a night for the council marina and you will mostly be the only one there due to the BS. and then you have to find a boat.

The guy bring a boat from Fiji ant going to live on it.

[rusky]

Hey tassie,
Welcome home. We have been in Brissy for a year now. NT is the place to be for easy living. QLD has heaps of rules and regs but as said before, have a low profile and move now and then and its all OK. However as QLD is broke, the 'cow pats with legs' aka water police/fisheries/customs etc only hover about populated places like brisbane,Cairns, Townsvile etc and I believe they dont seem to be on the water after hours - maybe no overtime paid. Therefore, a clean boat and a low profile and you are fine.

I think NSW has more rules and dont know about VIC.

Marinas can be found in QLD for live aboard, but you pay a bit more.

[TassieBloke]

Hi All,

Thanks again for the comments so far.

@ Hoppy: It is a long time ago, but the Swiss RTA accepted my Aussie licence for Car and Bike without any ado. All my other endorsements (HR, HC, BD, RT) were not transferred. I went to the RTA a few months ago in Hobart and found out they have finally linked all RTA's together on a national database. Since my original Tas licence has expired for more than 10yrs, I have lost all endorsements in Aus as well.

@ Jamel: They do not have an online edition or ebook version (how archaic is that?) so is not so readily available for me.

@ sctpc: Boat is almost sorted. Will sign off next week after a long drawn out procedure. Marina is also almost sorted. Will fly out tonight back to MEL, and go there tomorrow.

@ rusky: Thanks, glad to be back (almost). That is the key, keep a low profile.

I see this as a interesting challenge to see how I can do it in the Bay without any major dramas. In the end, just can just move on. This yacht will be my home, and I am not running from anything.
I just want to live a quiet life, considering I currently spend 70% of my life travelling all over Asia for my work. So when I back on her, i want just go out on the water, and let the wind blow the concerns away.

I will give you updates as I go along.

Bloke

[sctpc]

Originally Posted by TassieBloke

Hi All,



I just want to live a quiet life, considering I currently spend 70% of my life travelling all over Asia for my work. So when I back on her, i want just go out on the water, and let the wind blow the concerns away.

I will give you updates as I go along.

Bloke

30% you may get away with that, im considered bad as I stay over on weekends the club dont want to know (talk about making you feel like a criminal) I got warned not to let parks vic see me or they will take away my mooring and im only taking max 30 nights a year.

also be aware docklands is extremely noisy on weekend as there are clubs over the water so all you hear is BOOM BOOM.

[TassieBloke]

Just wanted to give an update on how things are travelling here.

I was astounded how it easy it was to get my VIC drivers licence. I went into VicRoads, made an appointment with all my paperwork (except the official translation) and it took about 20mins to get it all done incl. the photo taking session.

I needed:
Current Drivers licence (in this case Swiss).

Passport

Filled out form.

Proof of Address. Since I didn't have one, I had one of my mates give me a letter saying that they have known me for more than 1yr, and signed with their address and licence number. I simply gave them address of the office as my residential address and problem solved.

Bank Account was dead easy. The dude was already trying to get me into the home buying treadmill. Yeah right mate, just bought my house, and she has 2 sticks

Swing Mooring. I have realised that this is going to be practically impossible without much more investigation. Amazingly Westernport Marina has a waiting list of 20 boats are the moment. Pier 35 on the Yarra has a few places available, but is expensive, about $15'000 per year, and is right opposite the live sheep transport wharf on the other side. So any Northerlies will get you the aroma of sheep crap.

PM if you want to know any other stuff. I found out a lot more, but I aint telling here

Bloke

[SimonV]

PM you.......Just move to Brisbane problems solved.

[beneteau-500]

no wonder i love the med all the bull dust you have to go through back in oz would do my head in having said that when i sailed back in 2006 i got ticked of big time at port welshpool for living aboard for two weeks but fortunately my brother is big boss for esso so he arranged for me to moor up where the rig boats come into plus they didnt like the idea my yacht is britished flagged boat , i bet now they will try and put the smart energy meters on your boat