Urgent Advice Needed

[Kaj]

I have been offered a job as a medical doctor in 2 places- Rockhampton and Mt Gambier.

I have absolutely no idea about places to live in australia

Can someone suggest me which would be a better option for me considering my wife and my 2 year old daughter also would be migrating with me. I also wasnt to emphasis on lifestyle and good school for my daughter.

Some information about the weather in these 2 places would also be very helpful

thank you

Dr Kaj

[Dolly]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forum.

Karen, the other Mod on the Australian Forum lives in Mt Gambia so I'm sure she'll be able to give you some info. As for Perth, there are members living that way so they'll give you details on lifestyle and schools etc.

Congrats on the 2 job offers!

Dolly

[Kaj]

Originally Posted by Dolly

Hi there,

Welcome to the forum.

Karen, the other Mod on the Australian Forum lives in Mt Gambia so I'm sure she'll be able to give you some info. As for Perth, there are members living that way so they'll give you details on lifestyle and schools etc.

Congrats on the 2 job offers!

Dolly

Thanx Dolly,

As far as the job in Rockhampton its in Queensland and not in Perth.

I wud wait to hear from Karen!!

Dr Kaj

[kaz101]

Hi Kaj,

What would you like to know about Mount Gambier? We came here on a PR visa in July 2007 and we could have chosen to live anywhere in Australia!

It has around 25,000 people and is the second largest town in South Australia. We are about halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide with regular flights and a coach service to both of those areas.

Here are some links on the area:
Mount Gambier Tourism
Mount Gambier City Council

I can't tell you much about the schools since I don't have kids but if you type in 'schools in Mount Gambier' in a search engine it will give you a list.

Mount Gambier High School has a very good reputation and the headmaster Gary Costello has won several awards in South Australia and in the whole of Australia, however your daughter is a little young for that

There is a shortage of GPs in the area and I know the council are trying to get more (I don't know if you're a GP or a specialist).

When we got here we joined the skilled migrant group which is a great group to help migrants settle in and they have weekly meetings during the day which is usually for wives since their husbands are working. There are many nationalities in the group.

We also joined Rotary and they have been an amazing support.

I'm not sure where you are moving from but we found property much cheaper here than in the UK at that time.

Queensland will be hotter than down here but you can check the weather on
Mount Gambier weather forecast, Bureau of Meteorology Warnings & rainfall

We've been through 2 winters here and we only get a frost that is usually gone by about 8am if it does get that cold. We can get a cold wind in winter too. During the summer last year the temp got into the 40's for a little while but it usually doesn't get that hot.

Nearby we have some beautiful beaches although we haven't been swimming there yet. We had Christmas dinner last year as a picnic near a beach and then went for a walk on one.

For buying property see:
Real Estate, Property, Land and Homes for Sale, lease and rent - realestate.com.au

For renting see:
Rental Properties, Lease and Holiday Rentals - realestate.com.au

To see all clubs in the area see
Infosearch: SA and type in Mount Gambier in the second box.

We moved here for several reasons:

• - reasonable size city (yes it's considered a city here)
  - an airport so I get back to the UK if needed
  - theatre (it has 2)
  - cinema
  - a fantastic blue lake in a dormant volcano
  - friendly people
  - we didn't want a major city
  - cheaper property prices (we bought before we moved out here)
  - lots of clubs so we could become part of the community
  

One of the MOST important reasons for moving here (although we didn't know it at the time) was WATER. We don't have the major water restrictions that you get elsewhere so the community is still growing with industry and shops. You'll soon discover that water is very important is Australia and other parts of it simply don't have enough.

If you need to know anything else just ask

As I mentioned we moved here in July 2007 and we love it here. WIN television had an advert for the tv channel saying "There no better place to be" and we felt it was referring to Mount Gambier!

Regards,
Karen

[Dolly]

Originally Posted by Kaj

Thanx Dolly,

As far as the job in Rockhampton its in Queensland and not in Perth.

I wud wait to hear from Karen!!

Dr Kaj

Ah.......didn't know there was one in QLD too

Dolly

[Kaj]

Hello karen,

I have somewhat done my research work and got onto a conclusion that i would like to choose MT Gambier as my preffered location.

I have a few questions in mind if you could please help me with that.
1. Which is the best area to live in in Mt Gambier
2. Should we look out for a house or a Flat
3. How much should we be expecting to pay for a well furnished place in a good locality per week?
4. Does Mt Gambier has good public transport?
5. Where can i get a car from?
6. How much should i expect for my council bill, electricity bills and water bills
7. Are there any extra expenses than these renting a place.
8. My wife has experience working as a Business associate for Royal Bank of Scotland And Natwest in the UK- will it be easy for her to get a job in the banks in Mt gambier.
9. Also my mother is very fond of Indian Soaps on television- can this be arranged?

U have been a great help to me with all the information you provided.
I would be grateful to you if u could please help me clear my doubts.
I shall be moving to Mt Gambier late feb or early March

Looking forward to c u all

Regards

Dr Kaj

[kaz101]

Originally Posted by Kaj

Hello karen,

I have somewhat done my research work and got onto a conclusion that i would like to choose MT Gambier as my preffered location.

Good choice but I'm biased and haven't been to Rockhampton

Originally Posted by Kaj

I have a few questions in mind if you could please help me with that.
1. Which is the best area to live in in Mt Gambier

That's a tough one. You don't want to live in the Birds district (any street name that begins with a birds name) since that is more housing association places and it's in the East of Mt Gambier.
Any where in walking distance of the Lake is higher prices but it depends on whether you want to walk into town. We are off Boandik terrace and it's takes about 15 minutes to walk into town.
Jubilee Highway is busy and can be noisy with trucks going through town so unless it's double glazed you probably don't want a property along there.

Online map of the area:
"Mount Gambier Map"

If you contact some real estate agents they will be able to tell you more since I know up to a few months ago it was hard to get rentals in town for a while.

Originally Posted by Kaj

2. Should we look out for a house or a Flat

There aren't many flats in Mount Gambier. Part of the old hospital was converted a few years ago and that has 2 bedroom apartments (mainly) but that is not walking distance to town.

You can see an example here:
3007/7 LAKE TERRACE WEST MOUNT GAMBIER

Originally Posted by Kaj

3. How much should we be expecting to pay for a well furnished place in a good locality per week?

I think you will need to contact some real estates agents or look through the link I gave earlier on since it's not common to get furnished places here (even in bigger towns). You'll find that some properties are called flats when the are actually ground floor units. Most houses here are one story (what we in the UK would call a bungalow) but there are a few 2 storey houses built into the hills (like our place). Units are often smaller than houses and built in small groups rather than a house that has it's own land.

If you check on realestate.com.au for the rentals and sort by price, you find that the more expensive places are fully furnished (the most expensive was A$450 per week right in town).

Originally Posted by Kaj

4. Does Mt Gambier has good public transport?

There are bus services but we tend to either walk or use a car.
Links to the bus service:
Regional Transport - Council Services - Mount Gambier

Originally Posted by Kaj

5. Where can i get a car from?

There are several main dealers in town for buying cars. The biggest dealerships are:

OG Roberts - Your Driving Future - speak to Paul Ferguson (he's very good we've just bought a utility vehicle from him)

Welcome to Carlin and Gazzard: The Home of Good Cars - speak to Wendy if looking for a used car.

Welcome to the Barry Maney Group - speak to either Warren or Richard.

(My husband used to work at Carlin and Gazzard so we know quite a few of the car sales guys)

If you want to buy over the internet see:
Used Cars - New Cars - Search New & Used Cars For Sale - carsales.com.au and look in South Australia since it you buy outside the state you will have to re-register the car for South Australia.

Originally Posted by Kaj

6. How much should i expect for my council bill, electricity bills and water bills

If you check the 'Cost of living' post all my costs are in that post.
You may not have to pay for water since traditionally landlords paid for water (I don't know why) although this is changing since they want people to become more responsible for water.

Originally Posted by Kaj

7. Are there any extra expenses than these renting a place.

I don't know since we've never rented a place here. We bought before we moved here since that's what we were advised to do since we are both self employed. A real estate agent should be able to advise on any other costs.

Originally Posted by Kaj

8. My wife has experience working as a Business associate for Royal Bank of Scotland And Natwest in the UK- will it be easy for her to get a job in the banks in Mt gambier.

Sorry I don't know how easily banking skills transfer. There are several big banks in Mt Gambier that you could contact or Gramac (a good employment agency run by Grace McNally).

Originally Posted by Kaj

9. Also my mother is very fond of Indian Soaps on television- can this be arranged?

I don't know what's available on cable tv since we don't bother with it - we're not big fans of the tv. I don't think that anything like that is available on normal channels.

Originally Posted by Kaj

U have been a great help to me with all the information you provided.

My pleasure. When we arrived here to look around in Feb 2007 we stayed in the Silver Birch hotel and the owners were incredibly helpful to us.

When you are buying electrical equipment or beds we asked people if that was the lowest price and you can negotiate in most of the shops.

If you have any other questions I will do my best to answer them.

Regards,
Karen

[BuddysMum]

Rockhampton is cowboy country. Really! It's the beef capital (we had some really wonderful steaks there). But even with that, and the fact that my mother was born and raised there, I really wouldn't want to live in Rocky itself. It is about 20Km inland and in a sort of "bowl" which makes it very hot and humid all year round.

However, Yeppoon and Emu Point would be lovely places to live, and quite affordable, if we could find work around there.

Not sure if that's any help. I was only there for a couple of days.....

Oh, the reef is accessible from there, but I gather it is very rough down that end so you need to be a good sailor or take a sick bag!

[Kaj]

Originally Posted by BuddysMum

Rockhampton is cowboy country. Really! It's the beef capital (we had some really wonderful steaks there). But even with that, and the fact that my mother was born and raised there, I really wouldn't want to live in Rocky itself. It is about 20Km inland and in a sort of "bowl" which makes it very hot and humid all year round.

However, Yeppoon and Emu Point would be lovely places to live, and quite affordable, if we could find work around there.

Not sure if that's any help. I was only there for a couple of days.....

Oh, the reef is accessible from there, but I gather it is very rough down that end so you need to be a good sailor or take a sick bag!

Thank you so much for your time and help

Well i have now made my choice and Mt Gambier seems to be a much better place to live in compared to Rockhampton- one main reason being we hate hot weather!!

Regards

Dr Kaj

[Kaj]

Originally Posted by kaz101

Good choice but I'm biased and haven't been to Rockhampton



That's a tough one. You don't want to live in the Birds district (any street name that begins with a birds name) since that is more housing association places and it's in the East of Mt Gambier.
Any where in walking distance of the Lake is higher prices but it depends on whether you want to walk into town. We are off Boandik terrace and it's takes about 15 minutes to walk into town.
Jubilee Highway is busy and can be noisy with trucks going through town so unless it's double glazed you probably don't want a property along there.

Online map of the area:
"Mount Gambier Map"

If you contact some real estate agents they will be able to tell you more since I know up to a few months ago it was hard to get rentals in town for a while.


There aren't many flats in Mount Gambier. Part of the old hospital was converted a few years ago and that has 2 bedroom apartments (mainly) but that is not walking distance to town.

You can see an example here:
3007/7 LAKE TERRACE WEST MOUNT GAMBIER



I think you will need to contact some real estates agents or look through the link I gave earlier on since it's not common to get furnished places here (even in bigger towns). You'll find that some properties are called flats when the are actually ground floor units. Most houses here are one story (what we in the UK would call a bungalow) but there are a few 2 storey houses built into the hills (like our place). Units are often smaller than houses and built in small groups rather than a house that has it's own land.

If you check on realestate.com.au for the rentals and sort by price, you find that the more expensive places are fully furnished (the most expensive was A$450 per week right in town).


There are bus services but we tend to either walk or use a car.
Links to the bus service:
Regional Transport - Council Services - Mount Gambier



There are several main dealers in town for buying cars. The biggest dealerships are:

OG Roberts - Your Driving Future - speak to Paul Ferguson (he's very good we've just bought a utility vehicle from him)

Welcome to Carlin and Gazzard: The Home of Good Cars - speak to Wendy if looking for a used car.

Welcome to the Barry Maney Group - speak to either Warren or Richard.

(My husband used to work at Carlin and Gazzard so we know quite a few of the car sales guys)

If you want to buy over the internet see:
Used Cars - New Cars - Search New & Used Cars For Sale - carsales.com.au and look in South Australia since it you buy outside the state you will have to re-register the car for South Australia.


If you check the 'Cost of living' post all my costs are in that post.
You may not have to pay for water since traditionally landlords paid for water (I don't know why) although this is changing since they want people to become more responsible for water.

I don't know since we've never rented a place here. We bought before we moved here since that's what we were advised to do since we are both self employed. A real estate agent should be able to advise on any other costs.


Sorry I don't know how easily banking skills transfer. There are several big banks in Mt Gambier that you could contact or Gramac (a good employment agency run by Grace McNally).

I don't know what's available on cable tv since we don't bother with it - we're not big fans of the tv. I don't think that anything like that is available on normal channels.


My pleasure. When we arrived here to look around in Feb 2007 we stayed in the Silver Birch hotel and the owners were incredibly helpful to us.

When you are buying electrical equipment or beds we asked people if that was the lowest price and you can negotiate in most of the shops.

If you have any other questions I will do my best to answer them.

Regards,
Karen

Hey Karen,

This is so amazing!! U are being a great help...I had never expected such a detailed reply to my question.
Thank you for your time and help.
I m more than obliged
I have made my decision and chosen MT Gambier as a desired place to live in for me and my family!!

Regards

Dr Kaj