harleyj

Thanks for all the help especially Roland. We were hoping to get some info from someone like Roland as he has been there, done that. Great bit of advice about Ozforex as our bank is offering about 2 pence less per dollar.

Those are not an option as they charge you 1% of any money deposited

Thanks for the advice and I will contact HSBC and endeavor to set up an account.

Thanks for your reply Alan, looks like we will just have to pay the foreign transaction fees.

Hopefully someone on the forum can answer our query about the best way to transfer our funds to purchase a boat next June/July. Are we better to set up a bank account in the UK and are we as foreign nationals able to do that? And along those lines would we be able to have an everyday account for day to day banking in the UK. We plan on spending up to six months a year on the canals as I know quite a few Aussies do so someone in the same situation may be the best to answer my question. Looking forward to any help from fellow forum members.

Sad for Donna and the staff at Shakespeare. We used them in 2008, 2010 and 2012 and found the company good to deal with but we only dealt with the staff.

What is the standard time taken from the time an agreement on price is made between the buyer and seller and the actual settlement of the sale. I realize that a survey usually will take some time but would just like to know how quickly the transaction can be completed. Also are there standard bill of sale documents that deal with the sale of boats?

My wife Shelley and I will be back on the cut from 9/5/15 until 23/5/15 starting from Venetian Marina, Barbridge Junction and doing the Cheshire Ring clockwise. The hire boat we will be on is called Casanova so if you see us with our boxing kangaroo flag and the oz flag flying give us a wave or say hello. We would love to catch up with any of you mob while we are on the cut. Harley

Unless I can fit my future narrow boat into my suitcase I don't think that we will be able to bring it back to Australia so by the look of things we will not be able to reclaim the V.A.T.. Thanks for all the advice.

We are looking to purchase a narrowboat in the near future and wondered what the V.A.T. is on boats if at all and what rate. When we are leaving the U.K. we are able to claim back any V.A.T. that we have documented evidence that we have payed. We are wondering if we would be able to claim back V.A.T. on our future boat. Hope someone can enlighten us. Harley

Apart from a couple of years we have always had rainwater as drinking water. Once you have had rainwater for both drinking straight or when making tea you would always prefer rainwater once you have tasted it. You do have a bit more pollution in Britain but I would still recommend a rainwater tank to any home owner. A bit harder to collect on a narrowboat.

For pure scenic beauty I would have to say The Llangollen is the best we have seen. Have not seen enough to say it is the most beautiful but of our five previous trips it was the best.

I can guarantee that we will have the Aussie flag at the stern and the boxing kangaroo on the bow. We were once asked if we were from America when some teenagers in Middlewich saw our flag!!!!!

So I suppose we better not fly our "boxing kangaroo" flag or the Aussie flag when we are tootling around the Cheshire ring in May

Hi dhutch2501 If you would like to pm please do not hesitate as if there is one thing I love to talk about it is narrowboating. Harley

We visited Warwick Castle in 2008 for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed our time going through it. Last year we took our crew through there and we all enjoyed it immensely. There is far more interactivity than 2008 and the displays in the most part were in keeping with the whole theme, right from the bawdy wench at the gates to the firing of the trebuchet. It does have the feeling of a theme park but as I said earlier it is well done.

Please don't forget that the man is 75 and has never done a lock let alone singlehanded a lock. I tend to agree with Mango that maybe a friend may be a good idea.

Hi dhutch2501 from a fellow "sandgroper" that is totally addicted to narrowboating. I have never done any singlehanding and I am not sure that I would be brave enough, even at 59 let alone 75, to tackle your planned trip for your first attempt on the cut. There is an old saying that less is more and I know that when you travel as far as we do to take on the canals, you feel that you need to do as much as possible. Experience tells us that slowing down and smelling the roses is so much better. We for instance in 2012 left from Mercia Marina in Willington and did the Cheshire Ring in two weeks with a total of 10 people(8 Aussies) on two boats. My wife and I are doing the Cheshire Ring from just off the ring at Venetian Marina from the 9th of May until 23rd of May this year because we felt that we didn't give ourselves enough time in 2012 to do justice to it. Take your time and enjoy the whole experience.