Hi,
I'm searching from Aus too, so a lot of the time I'm relying on the internet to help in my research:
I have an annual subscription with ancestry, I'm into the second year I've been with them, ; for pre census years and civil registration years It has basically been no use to me at all ,so I would not recommend it for that - but I would definitely recommend it for the census years , I've certainly got value for my money with it.
1837 which I used to rely on for my BMD's -I haven't used since Ancestry have put the BMD images online. (which I think is free to non paid up Ancestry subscribers too, so you don't have to take out a paid subscription for that)
Familyhistoryonline is quite good especially for some MI's and BI's etc. I have used them quite often in the past and they are not expensive like some other sites- but it does depend on what area your research is in. Some areas are covered better than others. Take for instance it's excellent for Glamorgan, but no use at all for research in Carmarthenshire
Origins I didn't think much of at all. I used to have an ongoing subscription with them as I had few English lines that I was researching , I cancelled it after a couple months as It was absolutely no help to me at all, and just a total waste of my money. It does really depend on the area, county of your research.
The biggest help to me pre BMD and censuses have not been expensive subscriptions , but buying discs and booklets for the relevant counties and churches of the area. Most are good value for money, if you buy them from the relevant family history societies websites of the counties that your interested in.
Many of the individual family history societies use Gen fair to sell their material
http://www.genfair.com/shop/system/index.html so that's quite a good starting place to browse around , Parish chest website is another one - But saying all that no amount of buying discs, booklets or subscriptions will get you all the info you want - only leg work will do that, a trip to the archives, libraries ,churches etc etc which of course is a bit impossible for us here in Aus.
Another idea is to join one of the family history societies here in Aus , most of them have British material in their libraries, as many Australians have roots in Britain of course.
This link below is the Aus Institute of genealogical studies, which I think they are based in Victoria they seem to hold a lot of overseas matter in their libraries
http://www.aigs.org.au/Default.htm you can also use their services over the internet.
I can only find so much info with buying discs , booklets and subscriptions , I found more when I did go home and visited the archives and some of the churches.
All in all, I haven't found any subscription sites which have been very helpful for me pre BMD time - I find buying the relevant discs and booklets for the areas I'm interested in far more helpful in my own research pre BMD time than any internet subscription site that I've used so far.
As been mentioned too , The LDS centres here are very useful too if you can get to one, which I can't.
Best Wishes
