Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Basics...

A week has passed and I've kind of progressed. I applied online for a one-year Visa to cover me for my year in Oz. It's a bit of a cumbersome process but I guess they can't be too careful. When we visited Oz in December 2006 for a month we secured a 3-month visa within days from one of the many cos. whose business is to provide visas; this time as it was for longer than 3 months I had to apply directly to the Australian High Commission. I paid my A$70 (about £30) online after filling a long form in, but received an e-mail back next day. This asked for a few things to support my application - bank details for the past 3 months; an account of why I want to go for a year (details of what I will do) and what I plan to do after the year. I hoped to respond electronically (the only alternative to this seems to be faxing Australia) but I'm not sure if I can send electronic copies of my internet bank account as e-mail attachments. I've asked the AHC for clarification. One has a month to complete the application.

What else? I continue to search for blogs about cycling in Australia and found a few interesting ones, including http://www.wildworks.co.nz/csr/home.php which makes for scary reading. In another blog the rider was camping on the Great Australian Bight coast and was surrounding by hundreds of determined-looking scorpions - hmmm, am I doing the right thing here?!