One mission a month. Decide it, agree it, bank it, move on. A living plan we add to as we go.
Target move: September / October 2027
Updated 13 Jul 2026
Planning year · the big decisions · Jun – Nov 2026
JUN 2026
Tommy sorted
His lean: HSC + VET, blended, matching the strongest option in the research. Early word to the accountant too.
JUL 2026
The money model
A quick, rough costing for year one: what it needs, where it comes from, how we close any gap.
AUG 2026
Location decided
Where in Australia. Driven by the criteria, Tommy's school lean and Bobbi's target institutions.
SEP 2026
UK property
Sell, rent or retain, and what it funds. Now possible because the destination is set.
OCT 2026
The dog plan
Sammy's real route, cost and timeline. Fix the start-by dates, because the lead time is long and fixed.
NOV 2026
Australian housing
Rent-first approach and where. Use the cousins' place as a soft landing. Year-end checkpoint.
Planning year · conversion & readiness · Dec 2026 – May 2027
DEC 2026
Family checkpoint
Reset over the holidays. Confirm it all still holds. Review job progress for Bobbi and Mark.
JAN 2027
Secure Tommy's place
Submit the application and lock the school place, now that location is fixed.
FEB 2027
Logistics plan
What to ship, sell or store. Cars. The big practical admin list takes shape.
MAR 2027
Admin & legal
Tax residency, pensions, wills, power of attorney, records, licences, insurance.
APR 2027
Dog process begins
Titre test, permits and bookings, on the timeline set back in October.
MAY 2027
Confirm & book
Lock the move month. Finances and buffer confirmed. Flights and shipping booked.
Final run-in · execution, not decisions · Jun – Oct 2027
THE RUN-INJun – Oct 2027
Notice periods served · UK house handed over · school confirmed · Sammy travels · goodbyes · final departure checklist · move · first-90-days plan in Australia.
Bobbi · Australian roleRunning throughout | Autumn 2026: affiliation / collaboration secured → Early 2027: applications live → 2027: role secured
Mark · location-independent incomeRunning throughout | Late 2026: first AU pilot clients → Early 2027: recurring / productised model live → 2027: AU pipeline building
Sammy · food transitionStarts now, not October | Jul 2026: confirm the dual-market brand, Hill's Science Plan (UK) / Science Diet (Australia) is the lead → Aug–Sep 2026: gradual switch complete in the UK → Arrival: buy the same brand locally, no cold-turkey change
⚠ Grain-inclusive only, never grain-free. Golden retrievers are the most-reported breed for grain-free-linked heart disease (DCM). Ruled out Applaws for exactly this reason, despite it being sold in both countries.
Household · decluttering & sellingRunning throughout, drip-fed monthly | Now: start sorting keep / sell / store, don't wait for Feb 2027 → Every month: list something on eBay, clear a bit of the attic and shed → By Feb 2027: only the final removals decision left
These threads aren't single months. They run underneath every block from now until the move. The flags above are milestones to aim at, not the whole job.
Criteria
First pass, built from your own words. Nothing here is locked, mark it up.
Dark marker = a gate. Must clear, no exceptions, no matter how well a place scores elsewhere.
Everything else is a range: more is better, but there is no points formula behind this. The three bands are there to guide judgement, not to compute a winner.
1Tommy's schoolingGATE
Ideal Good reputation, HSC + VET on offer (to confirm with him), under an hour's commute, the shorter the better, he's excited, not just coping.
Acceptable A school with a good enough reputation. HSC alone is fine, VET isn't required. Up to an hour's commute by public transport.
Unacceptable No school with a good enough reputation in reach, or a commute beyond what the note below allows.
Commute note: up to 1 hour is acceptable outright. 1 to 1.5 hours is a maybe, only for a genuinely strong school that scores well elsewhere, discuss case by case. Over 1.5 hours is out. Under an hour scores extra.
2Bobbi's jobGATE
Ideal Comfortably above AUD $180,000, at a university or an equivalent institution that plays fully to her strengths, an on-site pattern well under the ceiling below.
Acceptable AUD $180,000 minimum. Not limited to universities, any institution or organisation where her skill set and experience are genuinely valued (government bodies and other education-adjacent institutions included). On-site pattern within the commute note below.
Unacceptable Below AUD $180,000, a role that doesn't use her strengths, or a commute beyond what the on-site days allow.
Commute note, tied to on-site days: 3 days a week, up to 1.5 hours is the absolute ceiling (1 hour or less is much better). 4 days a week, the ceiling drops to 1 hour. 2 days a week, 1.5 hours becomes comfortably fine. Hers to negotiate with employers.
3Mark's income and connectionGATE
Ideal AUD $200,000 in revenue, easy regular contact with people.
Acceptable AUD $150,000 in revenue minimum, and enough contact through work or activities that he isn't isolated.
Unacceptable Below $150,000 in revenue, or genuinely isolated with no realistic route to people.
Revenue note: gross revenue, not take-home, self-employed is the planning assumption (a job isn't ruled out later). Can include UK clients and retainer work carrying over, doesn't have to be newly generated in Australia. Tax residency and structuring is a separate question, already its own line in March's Admin & Legal mission, not solved here.
4Distance to Bobbi's familyGATE
Ideal Squarely inside the band, easy weekend visits, no casual drop-in pressure.
Acceptable Roughly 1 to 1.5 hours' drive. Close enough for Bobbi, far enough for Mark. Mark's proposal, needs Bobbi's sign-off.
Unacceptable Close enough for frequent casual contact, or far enough that it stops working for Bobbi.
5Cost of living, house and the extrasRANGE
Ideal A genuinely good, modern house with room to add value (and eventually a granny flat), two cars and regular UK trips, comfortably inside budget.
Acceptable A house that's good enough, both cars, occasional UK trips, budget stretched but not breaking.
Unacceptable Can't cover a decent house and the basics without eating into savings meant for other things.
6Community fit and knowledge-worker presenceRANGE
Ideal A real community of our kind of people, easy to strike up a coffee and a conversation.
Acceptable Some intelligent, engaged people around, not the whole town, but enough to connect with.
Unacceptable Feels like surf bums and retirees only, nobody to click with.
7Growth momentum and energyRANGE
Ideal Working-age people and investment clearly moving in, visible buzz.
Acceptable Stable, not obviously declining, some sense of things happening.
Unacceptable Feels like a place people are leaving. Quiet in the wrong way.
8Mark's connectivity: airport and city accessRANGE
Ideal Airport close by, a quick easy run into a city whenever he wants one.
Acceptable A workable drive to an airport, and a public transport option into a city for the rare occasions he needs it.
Unacceptable Getting to an airport or a city is a genuine ordeal.
9Ellie's pathwayRANGE
Ideal Real conservation-relevant opportunities close by, easy to make friends, easy for her to stay near us a while longer if she wants to.
Acceptable Reachable opportunities with some travel, a workable base for the gap year and a bit beyond.
Unacceptable Nothing realistic for her plans nearby, and no easy way to reach what there is.
10Beach and lifestyleRANGE
Ideal A genuinely lovely beach close by, on top of everything else already working.
Acceptable A decent beach reachable by a short drive.
Unacceptable No real beach access. A genuine minus, but not a dealbreaker on its own, this is the one to sacrifice first.
This is the first pass, built from what you and Bobbi have already said, not the final word. Mark it up together, then every shortlisted location gets read against these same ten bands, side by side.
Big Picture
Not the tasks, not the framework, the answers. Once something is truly decided, no more mist, it goes here. Click a card to fill it in or change it.
0 of 11 decided
Timeline
Same plan, read a different way: by workstream, against real months, not just its home card. First pass, not a Gantt chart, just clear enough to see what needs moving on.
This is a curated view of the headline items per lane, not a line-by-line copy of the monthly checklists, those stay on the Mission Map tab as the detailed source of truth. A few items here sit earlier than their card on Mission Map (Sammy's food, the household sort), because that's the whole point of this tab.
Knowns / Unknowns
The board you and Bobbi already spec'd, finally built. Every open question: what it's worth, where the answer comes from, and whether we've got it yet.
Question
Category
Weight
Best source
Status
Answer & evidence
Shortlist this board runs against: Avoca Beach, Terrigal, Avalon Beach, Wollongong, Thirroul / Austinmer / Bulli. Cronulla and Sutherland Shire removed, Robina and The Gap removed (Queensland ruled out), Newcastle removed (fails Gate 4 on drive time). This starts thin on purpose, it's the frame for the knowns-vs-unknowns exercise, not a finished answer.
Scorecard
The five towns against all ten criteria, with a real-evidence Overall column. Gate flags dominate, ranges only get a vote once every gate is clear, and cells still marked Researching or Pending haven't been forced into a verdict. Tap a town's name to see the ammo, the actual research behind every one of its ten verdicts.
Town
Tommy
Bobbi
Mark $
Distance
Cost
Community
Growth
Airport
Ellie
Beach
Checked
Overall
Pass confirmed, clears the bar Researching some evidence, not conclusive Pending not yet looked at Flag real evidence it may fail this criterion, needs a decision, not more searching ★ Pass a standout, not just a pass. Overall turns Gate concern the moment any gate carries a Flag, gates eliminate before ranges get to vote, exactly how gate-then-score is meant to work. Full detail behind every cell lives on the Knowns/Unknowns tab.