Tag: Great Britain

I CAN'T believe how quickly 2011 has gone by. It seems like only a few days ago I was ringing in the New Year and promising myself that I would start pursuing my ultimate career as professional surfer/part time sandcastle builder.

Exploring the expat experience. The best features by Australian Times columnists and contributors in 2011, as picked by our publisher.

CHRIS'S KITCHEN | Last week our resident Aussie chef in London Chris Ark gave us his expert tips for the perfect Christmas turkey. Now he gives us trimmings to die for and some yummy compliments to a sumptuous festive feast.

Pedal power is taking over London’s streets. And thanks to Mayor Boris Johnson and ‘his’ public bikes, Londoners and travellers are encouraged more than ever to cycle through the city. Our London adventurer ticked another one of her London Top 100 list and got herself in a spin.

Next summer is gunna be huge in London town and opportunity waits for no man. The Australian Olympic team will be touching down and the twelfth man may just come into play.

Can one appeal against a visa denial from outside the UK?

RIGHT SAID ED | 2011 has been an action packed year for Australian Times. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our readers and our writers, for contributing to such an awesome year.

I love London. But there is one London experience that just doesn’t sit well with me.

While the streets in the English capital may be beautiful and full of history — they’re also full of lurking dangers.

CHRIS'S KITCHEN | With less than two weeks to go until one of the most festive days of the year, our Aussie chef gives us some tasty tips for how to make your Christmas turkey gobble-icious.

POLL POSITION | Girl power has taken hold of the land Down Under where Australian "women now occupy the highest offices in the land". But does this gender shift really reflect what is happening in society?

Tim from Willow Tree, Benji from Oviedo, Jessica from Santander and Sara from Sydney all live in this week's Our House in West Hampstead.

A brief explanation of what you have to do in order to get a British Citizenship following on from a UK Ancestral Visa.

RIGHT SAID ED | It's that time of year when inevitably my expat Aussie mind starts thinking of home. Thinking of the sun and the surf and my mates playing cricket on the beach. Of Christmas with the fam. Of an Aussie summer and cold VBs on the back verandah.

The office noose has to be the dumbest thing ever invented. The scarf, on the other hand, is luxury without the price tag.

One of the best things about London is that the places that are culturally enriching are usually free. Like art galleries, historical monuments, museums. Which brings our intrepid London explorer to #9 on her London Top 100 list — the British Museum.

What do you get when you throw one of Australia’s funniest comedians in a cold Christmassy London, shake him around a bit and let him loose with a pen? Read on to find out what funnyman SAM SIMMONS really thinks of Christmas!

BRON IN THE DON | What do you do when the weather turns bad and the days get short? You get out your London Top 100 list and strike it lucky, of course!

Charlez from Launceston, Nicci from Melbourne and Cat from Brisbane all live in this week's Our House in South Hampstead.

Is it possible to switch from a UK Student Visa to a UK Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa?

It’s that time of year when London decks the halls and gets fully into the Christmas spirit. From festive lights to winter pub specials, panto theatrics to ice skating on the Thames, NINA McGRATH explores what the English capital has in store for us at this time of the year. ...

To coincide with our Australian Times Christmas issue, our resident top Aussie chef in London Chris Ark dusts off some beauties that’ll have both the pantry and the belly feeling festive.

‘Austerity’ is a word I'd never heard before coming to the UK. I had to look it up. Coming from the land of milk and honey, ‘prosperity’ was the word of choice, especially in WA. But has Australia really changed so much over the past five years?

RIGHT SAID ED | If you're reading this and your calender hasn't flipped into 2012, then you still have time to donate to the thing that is growing on my top lip - yep, my Movember moustache! You still have time to donate to anyone's for that matter.

CHRIS'S KITCHEN | This month saw our resident Australian Times chef Chris Ark cross the Atlantic and hit the tarmac at JFK in search of tasty New York food and unique Big Apple dining experiences!

I’ve been in over my head, arse over tit, three sheets to the wind, bit off more than I could chew and down and out. I’ve seen jail cells, slept in hospital beds and felt fists to the face. I’ve begged for mercy and asked for forgiveness.

There is a group of Aussies living in London who are giving the rest of us a bad name. They're not quite as common as the purposefully overtly-ocker Australians you meet in the street (the Shepherd's Bush streets). But they're here and they are 'wannabe-Pomstralians'!

BRON IN THE DON | This week the London Top 100 list takes our resident adventurer to an eerie part of town. #87 Highgate Cemetery may be a little off the beaten tourist track but is still very popular, very beautiful and may yet just send shivers down your spine.

BRON IN THE DON | Our resident London explorer heads to Soho this week to tick one more off her London's Top 100 list and delight in the maze that makes up one of the busiest parts of the English capital.

CHRIS'S KITCHEN | Chris Ark, the man in charge of the kitchen at Gordon Ramsey’s Claridge’s restaurant, dissects the very best food markets and stalls in London and gives you his favourite few.

Chris, Jo, Kristy, Zoe and Matt from New South Wales all live in this week's Our House in Balham.

Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design freshers, undergraduates and post graduate students have begun the first year at The Granary.

I am a Pharmacist currently awaiting the approval of my Tier 2 General application.

Eventually those sweet rhythms of life in London seem more like the grating sound of a skipping CD. But wait, there is respite...

Let me be clear from the beginning, when it rains (as a result of the Hydrologic Cycle, that's right Mr Costello, I was paying attention in Year 9 Science!) it falls on EVERYBODY!!!

After a decade of Brisbane’s year round comfortable climate, I was looking forward to watching the seasons change and London didn’t disappoint.

She’s a beautiful South African lioness. I’m a mangy Australian mutt. Her speech is refined, dignified, and elegant — the sweet rhythms of … . Mine is slurred, poorly announced, whiney and peppered with blasphemy and swearing.

My wife’s UK Spouse Visa application was refused on the basis that she was under the age of 21 but I heard that the rules changed back to a minimum age of 18 again?

Life in London can be described as hectic at best. With a population of over seven million and everyone in a hurry to get somewhere, a laid back 21-year old Aussie student was definitely in for the shock of his life.

Neemo, Laura, Bek and Layne from New South Wales all live in this week's Our House in East-Ham.

People often ask me why I left Australia; the English just can’t seem to comprehend it. They cite the weather, beaches, girls and attitudes as clinching proof that you must be insane to leave. And, I can never seem to give them an answer which satisfies them — or me.

RIGHT SAID ED | I've got to hand it to the Poms. Watching Guy Fawkes Night in and across the UK is one of my greatest thrills.

BRON IN THE DON | To tick off London’s Top 100 things to do and see, that is my mission and I have chosen to accept it! The mission started a few weeks ago when a friend of mine picked up a little book that features London’s Top 100.

Boges from Kempsey and Oli from Melbourne both live in this week's Our House in Kilburn.

Is there a visa that would allow my financially dependent elderly mother to join me in the UK?

Some of my Pommy mates reckon I take things too far sometimes. I support Australia and anyone who is playing England. I don’t see why I have to relax my sporting beliefs just because I live here in the UK.

Sometimes you think you have had a fantastic stroke of luck, only to discover that this luck was in fact the root cause of all the unfortunate events that followed.

CHRIS'S KITCHEN | Chris Ark has called for a bit of help from his mates to prepare this week's tasty feature. Introducing Dave Walker for what Chris is calling, Dave's Delicious Dinner!

GO HARD OR GO HOME | WHAT will I miss most about the UK? I was asked this question a few days ago and I am still struggling to come up with an answer.

My daughter is a British citizen born in Australia and would like to attend school in the UK next year. What are the visa options for me to live in the UK with her?