Hi tsharkey, (Hi, the following really isn't about the car, just a tidbit of info on our love of Australia)
My granddaughter, Joslyn, is obsessed with Australia and rightfully so. Back in the 80's Jerry and I were so tired of the crime in the U.S. so we wanted to move to Australia, which turned out to be easier said than done. Went to the Australian embassy in Washington, D.C. to find out how to move there. Lots of hoops to jump through, we basically were told that Australia rules were in place because they didn't want a lot of deadbeats moving there living off of the country without contributing, so smart, the United States needs to get Australia's playbook on that one. Before even thinking about moving there, we had to have a job and housing waiting for us, we also had to have substantial savings in the bank to prove that we could support ourselves( I think they wanted proof of $50,000.in savings) and then we had to have a citizen there vouch for us. We didn't know anyone, but were told that if we secured a job then maybe the owner would vouch for us. So for about 3 months, at least 2-3 times a week, whenever possible, Jerry and I went job hunting at the embassy, at the time we only lived 25 mins away and knew what time of day to go to avoid D.C.'s rush hours. We thought we could easily get a job with our marine background. The jobs for marine mechanics were plentiful but we couldn't get one Australian to take a chance on us, the embassy guy told us that Australians were upset about the Asian influence taking over their jobs, working 80 hour weeks and ruining their laid back way of living. But we were so determined and hopeful to move to Australia, we had a young family and just couldn't fathom raising them in our beloved U.S. because the country we had grown up in, had just gone downhill so hard that we didn't see a future here for our children. Needless to say we never could secure a job, sad, but we don't blame Australians for not taking a chance on us, trust me, we understand completely Jerry and I want to leave the U.S. again, this country is going downhill fast! We both worked so hard all of our lives, we both invested in our governments Social Security retirement, and then find out that, when you retire and are married you only get one retirement fund, we chose Jerry's, so all of my paychecks over all of those years, all the money that I put into my Social Security retirement I will never be able to get a penny of it back! My money goes to supporting illegal immigrants that cross the borders illegally, come into my country illegally. And why wouldn't they? They don't need to worry about working, the U.S. will give them everything they need, housing, food, money and great medical care all for free! All off the back of hard working Americans. If you want to come into my country for opportunities, great, just do it legally. Australia does it right, I dont' understand why the U.S. can't? It would have been great to know you, 40 years ago, maybe you would have vouched for us and we could have been neighbors, lol.
Oh another hoop that we had to jump through, age, if you were more than 35 years old, I think it was 35 you couldn't come and live in Australia, no matter what, even if you had all of the other rules covered, and you had to have a clean bill of health also, they didn't want you coming there and living off of free medical care that was offered to Australians citizens, which to us was amazing, free medical? we paid out the wahzoo monthly for medical care insurance and still had big deductibles and co-pays. Jerry and I just talked about this, if we were younger, we would love to live in Australia, still. Lucky you!
I will keep in mind the 16 hour time difference, oh the cat is recovering, thanks for asking! I will get back to you on the seat, I don't think we have all of the parts, going to double check today hopefully
Again, thank you, Sincerely, Dana and family
