Brett,
If you do per se in your post, yours will be purely a case of a judgmental decision for the immigration officer at the airport to grand re-entry after 6 months.
To be on the safest side; I would suggest you make a return trip home about 4-5 months after your first visit and then apply for a tourist visa from there. Even if you don’t apply for a tourist visa in Aus for your second trip, I think the risk of getting entry rejected in the UK is still less provided you convince Aus was your "home" that made you go back after your first trip.
To be on a slightly riskier side; You can make a trip to France and then apply for a tourist visa there. In France, you will have to convince the officer about your current trip, reason for 6 months stay and most importantly why you are returning to UK- there is of course a lot of margin for uncertainty in the outcome.
BP wrote:Hi,
I am an Australian Citizen and I want to stay in the UK for about 7 months with my (British) girlfriend. I do not intend to work and under normal circumstances Australians don't need a visa for entry but that entry is limited to 6 months. Does anyone know where I can find out (with some certainty) if I leave the UK (for a week say) to a European country and then immediately return to the UK does this mean I get another 6 months again. i.e. is a trip to another EU country enough to start my 6 months again?
Thanks
Brett