6 weeks in - a few first thoughts

[Guest Vicks&Stu]

Hi everyone

 

I used this site no end in the build up to moving and the information and advice was fantastic. In the build up to moving I loved reading the posts from new arrivals so now we are finally on the internet here goes.....

 

We arrived on 8 August - and the weather was actually quite cold. Only having a suitcase each we hadn't brought that many warm clothes, so that was fun! We moved into the midway apartments in Kurralta park. This was a really good base - equal distance from the city and Glenelg. We arranged for the Meet and Greet service and our volunteer was Brian - he was really good and I would definitely reccommend anyone to use this service. We got a hire car and started to explore.

 

I would say it took us about a week to really acclimatise to the time difference and we used the first week as a bit of a holiday. Then the second week in we decided to concentrate on getting a rental. We looked at a lot of places in Glenelg, some nice, some not so nice. But we decided in the end that the city was more for us just because it's likely that is where we would end up working, so refocused our search around Norwood, Unley and the city. We managed to find a rental and have just moved in - we are right in the city centre and we love it.

 

Not having the internet meant we spent alot of time in internet cafes and I think I underestimated how much you really need it. We were searching for jobs in Woolworths internet cafe, which was a bit surreal! My husband works in IT and got a job 4 weeks in, I work in marketing and start a job on Monday - so all in all things have moved very quickly.

 

In terms of the place, Adelaide is a lovely city. The beaches are nice and there is so many parks and open space. The road system and the fact the city is on a grid - feels very american, but it's easy to navigate around which is a bonus! We are starting to get used dollars, and are now trying not to equate evrything to what it would be in English, just trying to work it out in terms of income as to what is expensive or not.

 

We have bought a car, and I was surprised at how expensive they are. We had a VW polo at home and wanted something small, most cars are quite big here so i think we ended up paying a lot because we went for a Ford KA, but if you are happy in a large car then there are definitely bargains to be had. But they don't have MOTs over here - so I guess it works out in the end.

 

We are finding that food shopping is about the same as the UK, the central market is great for fresh produce and if you time it right there are some good bargains. Wine here is quite cheap, but beer is more expensive. My Husband and i used to love going to the pub at home and the pubs here are very different, especially the pubs that have pokies. Some pubs have a room bigger than the bar, just filled with pokies, you really have to see them to believe how bad they are!!

 

In general the pace of life seems slower and people are really friendly and it's a relaxed kind of place. The weather here is now starting to warm up and last weekend it was 28 degrees and we are only in Spring!

 

Other than that - we have been really busy trying to get settled, Ikea has been a godsend for cheap furniture! And we now just need to get Skype so we can get in touch with the folks at home.

 

Oh banking here is a bit different to the UK, we are with westpac and if you withdraw money at any other bank's cashpoint they charge you $2 a go! And if you get a ministatement from the hole in the wall - that's 65 cents!

 

It's definitely so far so good, so good luck to everyone in the process.

 

I hope you find this post interesting and helpful.

 

Kind Regards

 

Vicks xx

[Guest caoimhe]

Glad everything is falling into place for you

Hope it continues to go well

Can I ask what in IT you O/H does as mine is in IT and am a bit worried about jobs

[Guest swampo]

Good post, interesting and encouraging summary. Keep em coming.

[Guest moonraker1959]

Hi Vicks,

Welcome back to PIA! Also glad to hear everything has gone quite smoothly for you.Congratulations on your jobs and I hope they work out for you,which I am sure they will.I noticed you are in the middle of the city.(I used to live in SA).Try Orange Lane Market,in Norwood,usually great on a Saturday to have a nose around and a good mix of people!Also if you want to have a look around some different shops,head up North East Road,keep going until you get to Modbury,look for signs for Tea Tree Plaza.Its pretty much totally closed in,and is a huge shopping complex,interesting shops and loads of places to eat as well,it would probably take you 30 mins easy drive from the city or you can catch the obahn bus service from the city which will take you straight there!All the best,keep us posted and best of luck for a happy future!

[Carole Jolly]

Hi Vicks

Thanks for your post. its interesting and great to hear how newbies are getting along.

Is the rent not expensive in the city?

Did you use an agency to find jobs?

 

Take Care

 

Carole

[Guest dave&jacky]

Hi Vicks,

Good post but can you tell me where you get your wine because i have found it quite expensive here

Regards dave.

[Andrew from Vista Financial]

Dave, when you go to the bottle shop next ask for a clean skin wine, you can pick them up for about $5 a bottle. I've had a few different whites. Haven't tried the red but white is not bad really.

 

Andy

[waynecaz]

hi vicks so glad everything is going so well for you, cant wait for the next chapter cheers carolyn x

[Guest Lulujim]

Really interesting - looking fwd to your next post! x

[Guest Vicks&Stu]

Hi Everyone

 

Glad you found the post interesting, it's quite hard to remmber everything as o much seems to have happened in the last 6 weeks!!

 

In terms of jobs my husband does IT helpdesk / support type of work. He is contracted through Hays and there does seem to be quite a lot of IT work about, so I'm sure if that is your field then it should be fine. For me in marketing I didn't find agencies that useful I really just used seek.com.au and then just applied for anything that matched my skill set and sounded interesting!!

 

Looking for a rental was perhaps the hardest thing as you have to really to be ready to go to opens and pound the pavemen ts unfortuntaely! We don't have any children (yet) so we were onle looking for a 2 bed place, which meant we could quite felxible. We looked at Glenelg, and some of the places there were quie expensive for what they were. Norwood seems to be a nice part of the city and the places we saw there were cheaper, about $270 a week would get a nice 2 bed unit. We ended up with a townhouse and pay $330 a week. But from wher we are I can walk to work so that will save on transport costs. I guess the unfortunate thing with looking for a rental is it just depends on what is around at the time - but there is usually a fair amount in the papers each week.

 

In terms of the wine - we have just been seeing what's on offer in Liquorland, and trying different things, but I'm definitely going to use the Cleanskin tip!!

 

Thanks for the tip about Tea Tree plaza - sounds good I think we will definitely give it a look.

 

Have a good weekend everyone.

 

Vicks x

[Andrew from Vista Financial]

Hey Vick,

 

whereabouts in the City are you guys?

 

Me and Stacey are in Wakefield street, if you fancy a drink and chat one evening let us know.

 

Andy.

[Guest dave&jacky]

Cheers Andy,Just been to Dan Murphys at 462 Morphett Road Marion they have got the best selection of clean skins i have seen and some good priced wines in white and red, they also give a discount the more you buy and good prices on cartons of beer.

Just going to sample a couple;)

Cheers Dave.