Australia or New Zealand

[Bepa]

Hi All,

Sorry to bore you with an obvious question, but I need some advice.

Having read a lot of the threads / postings I have yet to find anyone who has moved to or lived in Darwin (or the surrounding area).

I have been offered a job either in Darwin or Mackay, and was hoping I could get some feed back with regards to the weather, way and quality of life, ease of settling, friendlyness/ease of making friends, etc

Our reason for moving is mainly 3 fold:

Get away from 'Broken Britain'. Both of our children (20 & 16) are loosing their respect for authority, etc as discipline in UK is a joke (we came from Botswana).

We are looking for more 'solar power', if you know what I mean. The UK grey weather is definitely getting us down, especially as summer seems to be about 3 week of the year, broken up into 6 parts! We need to get back to our outdoor lifestyle.

My job is monotonous and soul destroying. There is no challenge, and if you are not happy at work you are not happy at home.

Also could a family of 4 survive well on a salary of Aus$85000.00? By well I mean live in a 4bedroom house in a middle class suburb, afford to run 2 cars, go on holiday overseas 1 a year, not have to think about buying the occasional 'luxury' items?

All advice is greatly appreciated.

(For the record I will be posting this on the New Zealand Forum too, but I have been offered a job in Hamilton for NZ$65000.00)

[Onthemove2008]

'Broken Britain' is why i am leaving the U.K, what job are you going to do?

I cant offer much advice because i am in the same boat as you...looking for any advice i can get regards the move

good luck

[kaz101]

Hi Bepa,

Welcome to the forum.

When you say you've been offered a job does that mean they will arrange for a sponsorship visa too? I think that your 20 year old may have to apply separately (check out the visa links in the "Please read.." post for the details) since he/she is over 18. This is worth checking with an agent - we have 2 on the forum - Alan Collett and Liana Allan just in case I have that wrong. I know that there is something in the visas about dependent children.

I can't tell you about Darwin either since I've not even been that far north yet. There are loads of websites that can start you off...

Darwin Travel Guide and Travel Information - Lonely Planet
Darwin City Council
http://www.tourismtopend.com.au/

The "cost of living" post will give you some idea of the costs in Australia, and there are links to property websites in the "Please read...." post to give an idea about the sale or rental prices in Darwin. Flights from Australia are expensive when compared to Europe. Virgin is starting flights to the USA in December so hopefully fares may come down a little.

For car prices check out Used Cars - New Cars - Search New & Used Cars For Sale - carsales.com.au.

Regards,
Karen

[Bepa]

Onthemove2008,

I'm off to a Geotechnical Engineering company. Where are you going to? have you got an offer or are you just staring to look?

[Bepa]

Kaz101,

Thanks for the info, am on it now! Will let you know how things turn out

[Bepa]

Originally Posted by Bepa

Kaz101,

Thanks for the info, am on it now! Will let you know how things turn out

Great news all, 457 was granted on Tuesday; just have to sell / rent the house and we are out of here

[northern mover]

Congratulations Bepa!!!
You lucky so n so; can i ask how long your visa actually took to process?
I am having trouble getting my registration sorted, so can't put my application in yet; we have sold our house and will need to move by the end of october.......; and these delays are causing much stress, anxiety and finacial worries.
Thanks, and BEST OF LUCK

Jane

[Bepa]

Jane,

The initial process started way back on 10/07/2008, and our visas were granted on 25/08/2008.

Our case may be a little different to yours as we are on a Temporary Business entry (Long Stay) visa (Subclass 457)[valid for 4 years].
The company I am going to work for started the applicaion process. Apparently they have visas 'part filled' and registered with Immigration.
We did our medicals 'electronically', which apparently cut a couple of weeks off the time scale too. It did mean driving to York fron Nottingham [twice] but it was worth it, if we didn't have to go twice, we would have had the visas 2 weeks earlier.

Our Case officer from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship was excellent. She kept us informed as to what was going on, and couldn't do enough to help us.

If you are having problems / queries, give your case officer a call. We used Telediscount: low cost international calls - from any UK-Phone to get reeeeeally cheap calls to Aus. Getting up early to phone was a small price to pay.

Good luck, hope this has been of help.

Paul & Bev

[kaz101]

Originally Posted by Bepa

Great news all, 457 was granted on Tuesday; just have to sell / rent the house and we are out of here

CONGRATULATIONS!

We seem to be getting a few of these on the forum at the moment - which is great!
Good luck with the house sale / renting.