3 months in.......

[Ashleigh]

Hi All,

 

So we are three months in so i thought i would give an update on how we got on!

 

So we arrived at the beginning of June about 9pm, our friends met us at the airport and we stayed with them for 2 weeks. We already had a private rental secured (funnily enough throuh POA) but it wasn't initially available to move in. We spent the next couple of weeks buying everything for the house as we didn't ship anything over. We went to Good Guys, JB Hi-Fi, Super A-Mart etc for all our furnishings which we got for quite reasonable prices!

We registered for medicare, swapped over our driving licences and applied for tax file numbers inbetween, always squeezing in a trip to Clelland Wildlife Park which was great!

I applied for any type of jobs i could see admin based, i managed to secure a temp role after 3 weeks, they decided to keep me on and make me permanent which is great. My husband went into business with a friend here, so they did all the legalities, business is now up and running and they have lots of work which is very positive.

Our little girl has started a really lovely childcare centre, we could not be happier with it, the staff are brilliant and she has settled right in. They were very accommodating to my worried mum calls the first week in!

 

We have a few trips booked, Melbourne in a couple of weeks, Sydney at Christmas and camping at new year as we really want to see as much of Australia as we can.

 

We have made some wonderful friends and my husband has settled in at a local Soccer Club, it's great for families so i have met some lovely girlfriends and had some fun nights/meals out with them!

 

So now we are fully settled back to the daily grind of work - my work day is longer here by a fair few hours including the time i leave and get home but that's just one of those things!

 

So, the negatives. I am still a bit iffy on the food, I am not a fan of Chicken Thigh in the take aways! I don't like the McDonalds Mcmuffins and as a northern i miss the chippy! But all trivial things! Overall we are having a great experience and feel very settled here. I still miss 'home' but i don't miss it enough to go back.

 

I know we are lucky in how things job wise have come together for us and i know not everyone gets that opportunity so i don't want to come across as boasting, just want to shed a positive light on it, as there are so many negatives which i know people are entitled to share and i think it's a nice to hear both sides but i also think some positive news is nice to hear!

 

For anyone making the move, yes it's stressful, expensive and daunting but once your settled in your new rental/home and sit back once everything is unpacked it's so nice to think, omg can't believe we have done it, we're here!!!!!!

[samandcraig]

Sounds like your having a great time. This post has been great to see for us as it is hard to know what to expect when you first arrive, its also good to see the negatives as obviously there will be some.

 

[jtct]

Lovely to see some positive posts - even the negatives are bearable. It just proves that for many people if you make a bit of an effort things can fall into place quite quickly. Just wait till you're old hands like us (3 years next month - where has the time gone)

[Ashleigh]

You really do need lots of effort. I consider myself quite shy and something like this pushes you into putting yourself out there and I'm so glad it has as I've made some great friends and that's made our experience so much better. Oh wow, 3 years! Well I certainly hope I can write a post like yours 3 years down the track! X

[Linda21]

Hi Ashleigh, we're also hoping to make the move as soon as we get our visas. Although I am a teacher I also have extensive experience in admin so am looking to join some agencies - did you use any or can you recommend any to get in touch with? We're out on a reccie in just over 7 weeks so wouldn't mind popping into a few to register. Also been checking out work at Flinders as I have a lot of admin experience in universities but need my visa really before I can apply. Any advice always welcome. Good to see some good news for a change - I realise you need to hear about both sides but its scary enough so good news is always welcome!