here at last

**hayls** · 25-01-2007, 02:22 AM

Hi everybody,
Well i am sorry i have not been in touch but a lot has been going on,the main problem is our laptop and not being able to get on line so i am a comp in i-zone and its 3 dollars for an hour ,you can also reserve a comp in the library once you have joined which we have so the girls have borroowed loads of dvds.
Well we came out on singapore airlines and could not fault them the only prob was the entertainment system was down on the first 13 hour flight but the games worked for the kids, we had 18 hours at singapore airport and had booked the airport hotel for 6 hours and had to book for another 6 as we slept for 10 hours, the hotel was fine for sleeping in the girls also had a swim in the roof top pool while we had a beer at 7.30 am ha ha!
We had the greet and meet and i would reccomend it to everybody we were met by helen wong and she sorted a taxi out as well as her car as we had that much stuff and the s.a immigration payed for it.The oaa is o.k our fridge did not work so had to wait 3 days for a new one and when its 39 degrees and you dont have air con you really wish you could have a cold drink, but they sorted it for us and we now have a brand new one the other prob i had was that my bed had bugs and wee all over it and it stank, so we had to go and get bug killer spray which i have plenty of now and the rental people have sent someone out to steam clean it but other than that this is a great place to start we are right next to the tram ,so are 5 mins from the city one way and 5 mins from the beach the other way. all for $160 a week bills inclusive.
Sorting out all your medicare and tax and family assistance [if you are on a permanenet visa] is really simple and straight forward the people here are very very nice and helpfull our neighbour has brought us jam round and fruit of her trees in the garden and her friend has loaned us a t.v.
We have met up with friends that we knew and have met friends through them.Cameron is a joiner and the biggest shock we have had is the wages they are really low cameron went for 2 jobs and got them but they were offereing $16 an hour which worked out at $700 a week before tax which when add up the rents they charge here makes you wonder how any one can afford to live ,he has turned 4 jobs down now due to money so there is work there and each job has been offering more so i think if you persevere,what we found was that you get paid less in a workshop and more on site which is the other way round for us in the u.k,the last job he turned down was offering $25 an hour so the money is there its just finding it .We have bought a car a toyota kluger 3.3 4wd it was cheap and fuel is cheap and the cars here are allready insured 3rd party with the registration and it cost us 200 pound to insure it fully comp.
The girls seem to like it so far but they have not started school yet as we have not decided where to live yet, the houses dont seem to look as nice as they did at home and seem to be more than i thought they were , but there are some gorgeous ones if you have plenty of money , i really like mount barker it has every thing and hallet cove was also really nice, we cannot decide!!!!! We are looking in to buying a plot and then getting a building firm to build one as you can basically design your own house for about $200,000 and that is a really nice one [we looked round the show houses they are to die for] and you can get a good 3/4 acre plot in a nice place for about $180,000 maybe less so you get your brand new dream home on a big plot for about $400,000 and i think you only pay stamp duty on the plot im not sure but thats the way it reads and you also get the fist time buyers grant of $7000 not bad !!!
Well all in all i like it here and think i could settle well the weather the people the whole place suits me down to the ground and i have held a koala at the wild life park ,the only thing that worries me is the sharks as we were swimming in the sea the other day and the shark spotting plane [,yes they have a shark spotter ] put its siren on and we all had to get out as they had spotted one in the breakers so ti kind of puts you off a bit, but most of the suburbs have an out door pool you can use if you dont have your own.Well if any one has any questions let me know and i will try and aswer them the only prob is i am still not on line so have to use the internet cafe so you might have to wait for an answer.
Good luck to everybody, it is great out here i luv it .speak to u soon Hayls

**Tyke** · 25-01-2007, 08:04 AM

Glad to see you have made it and are settling.It takes time and you are just on the start of your adventure here :-)

**dglamoore** · 25-01-2007, 08:41 AM

Great to see you have arrived well and thanks for the info and your views from the heart.

A realistic and balanced thread and a great read. Hope Cameron gets a good job sorted and you find somewhere you like to live.

Let us know when things are more settled for you and enjoy those blue skies :lol:

Lisa

**The Ashtons** · 25-01-2007, 06:33 PM

Great news that your settling in we have our flights booked and will be out at the end of March just one thing is the oaa you are in in Sommerton park or around that area? we have applied and so could be moving in. hope hubby gets that job and the kids r ok

cheers

ps keep a cool one on ice :lol: :lol: :lol:

**donna T** · 25-01-2007, 08:50 PM

Hi Hayls
Thanks for all the info - sounds like you have got a lot sorted in a shrt period of time
Interesting about the houses - I think us Brits are forcing prices up in Oz too - hope we get there soon
Good luck with the job applications and enjoy the weather
Donna

**grants** · 26-01-2007, 07:20 PM

Hi Hayls. Glad to hear you are enjoying life down under. I have been wondering how you are getting on. Are you looking to maybe rent after you leave the OAA or are you looking to buy right away. I suppose it will depend on where you decide to locate and as you say if you build your own place it sounds like you can maybe get more for you money.

I am really pleased as I have now received confirmation from Australia Nursing and Midwifery council that my skills are acceptable. I will be looking at doing my on line SA sponcership application this weekend.

Keep us all informed of how its going. It is really interesting to seehow you are settling.

**hayls** · 01-02-2007, 05:19 AM

hi every one,
well we have enrolled the girls in mount barker high, to start when we have either a rental or have bought,they seemed really nice in the school even lettingthe girls start in the same year for now.
we cannot decide whether to buy rent or build our money does not seem to go as far as we thought it was going to!!!
saying that i would still rather be here than back there ,and my mum is coming over on the 24th of april dont know where she is going to stop as we dont know where we are going to stop ha ha ha!
the girls love it here and liked the look of the school.
we have been so busy ,doing drive bys and veiwing houses/schools so i am sorry to everybody for not being in touch but as soon as we have somewhere more permanent i will catch up with every body[di,n,tori]
it is supprising how fast time goes and we only have 12 weeks in the oaa so it kind of puts the pressure on ,we went to veiw a rental in mount barker and there was 5 other families veiwing who all wanted it so it makes me wonder who will get it the ozzies with jobs or the brits with no jobs hhmm the only thing we had going for us was the fact that we could offer to pay 6 months rent in advance, but i am not down hearted as its impossible to be when the sun is shinning every morning i get up he he! well speak to you soon as my time is up in the internet cafe[georgia says hi to all the kids and says wait till we get on line you will be sick of her talking about it here, she out of the 2 really loves it here.
bye for now hayley

**dglamoore** · 01-02-2007, 07:47 AM

Good luck with the house Hayls - there is one out there somewhere with your name on -you just have to find it :D

Lisa

**Angela** · 01-02-2007, 07:19 PM

Aah Hayls glad you have made contact at last :) I was thinking about you recently & wondering where the hell you were

I have a few friends emigrate (not to SA) recently & they all have had line / internet issues.

Do you recommend buying a laptop from the UK ? We were thinking of this to or has it caused a few problems ?

Best of luck on the job front, sounds like you have chosen to live in & around Mount Barker if schools are sorted.

Can I ask if Cam has no job yet (he will soon :) ) are you worried that he may have to travel daily or is he looking to get a job around Mount Barker ?

Ash is a trade person to & we know the wages are particularly low, esp for us as hes currently self employed & when we arrive he will have to find work with an employer.

Best of luck, enjoy the sun & keep in touch, my boys miss speaking to the girls 8)

Angela