BazandJess

Thanks for your reply cliffy. I have factored in motoring costs at $500 a month to include insurance and licences etc (not including the cost of purchasing a vehicle) but that was more of a finger in the air guess. We have our heart set on Semaphore - according to google maps it should take about 45 mins from semaphore to where I work in the Barossa - I appreciate there will be traffic at peak time but when I looked at tea tree gully and golden grove, hihgbury areas these were all coming out about 40 mins + too so I don't think its that bad. I currently drive about 50 mins each way in Wales so am used to it. We love the beach and if we could walk to it that would be perfect for us. I think if we came to buy out in Aus then we would look at other area - I like the look of some of the Barossa towns but not sure they offer enough to do and then we would need to travel further to the beach areas and areas below Adelaide. I didn't realise the rental price included council rates! thanks After all the bills etc have gone I should be left with $250-300 a week I think we will be cautious with spending especially until we get into a routine and know where we stand with bills etc. Thanks once again

Hi All, we're in the process of emigrating to Adelaide from Wales. We currently have all our belongings packed up in a shipping container awaiting out visa before it can be shipped so are currently living at the mother in laws! Has anyone recently applied and received the 457 visa? I've been told I'm a very string case as a qualified accountant and moving within the same company to Australia site in the Barossa region, does anyone have a clue on how long a fairly straight forward application would take? I've been told anywhere from 6 weeks to 4 months ! which doesn't really help with planning but I guess each case is different. Also I am looking into finances and wondered if any one would share what monthly out goings they have (roughly) to help budget, we are a couple and have a 1 year old baby. I've estimated the following costs but I'm not sure if they are realistic?! Rent (3 bed hopefully near semaphore) $450 a week Food $120 a week Utilities $220 a month (Gas/Elec/Water) Council rates $150 ? a month Mobile $50 a month (BYO phone plan) Broadband $60 a month (unlimited data for Skype/facetime) Car costs Am I missing anything obvious?

Wow! thank you all for taking the time to read all out questions and reply with so much great information! I will be sure to try and check out all the recommendations! So we are having a bit of a nightmare with the whole process (mainly an internal HR issue that slowed the application right down), I got the job in the first week of June but only now the application has gone in via a consultancy... lots of hiccups and delays getting to this point. I was originally expected to start my new job mid august but that was then pushed out until the end of September! NOW the consultant has said the application has been lodged stage 1 can take 6 weeks but hopefully closer to 3! that would take us up to mid September! Does anyone have any recent experience with a 457 visa and how long it took for each stage? Its frustrating as we are having our house emptied into a container mid august, then living with Jess mother until we leave, we have booked furnished accommodation for the 1st 6 weeks while the container is sent over. But have not booked flights etc as we don't know dates for sure! any advice welcome! Thanks all for your help so far

Hi all, My wife (29), our 11 month old son and I (32) will be makingthe big move from west wales to Adelaide at the end of September. I amrelocating with work to our site out in the Barossa valley on a sponsored 457Visa. My wife is a secondary school teacher here and will fingers crossed beable to find a teaching post fairly quickly once we arrive. We are still in theprocess of sorting the VISA but hopefully all will be in place shortly toensure we can travel out around the 3rd week in September. We have booked the first 6 weeks accommodation using AirBNB and will be spending the first monthor so frantically searching for a place to live while our container makes itsway over. Ideally we would be looking for a place around Semaphore/largs areaor around a leafy suburb closer to nature to the right hand side of the city… ideallya place with a small pool! Well that’s the dream anyway! We plan to give this our best shot and plan to stay at least2-3 years before reviewing the whole thing and then if all goes well we willthen apply for residency and sell our home in the UK to purchase in Adelaide. I have lots of varied and random questions and hoped thatsome of you would be kind enough to answer some of them or point us in theright direction! Apologies if lots of these have been asked before! Ok so in noparticular order…. 1) What are the cheap supermarket and householdshops… I know Aldi and Ikea exist in Adelaide but any other recommendations!? 2) When buying a car… what is the equivalent of aUK MOT? 3) I’ve read about central market and Gilles streetmarket but are there any other good ones? We both like walking around marketsand trying different foods etc. 4) Can we use a UK Baby car seat in Australian carsthat use ISOFIX 5) Is Port Adelaide a nice area these days? We wentthere 6 years ago but it seemed still quite rundown. 6) Are the towns in the Barossa valley nice allyear round or do they fluctuate with tourism seasons? Considering living hereif it has all amenities we would want. 7) We both love wildlife and have been researchingareas to live that may be closer to nature but are there any areas you’drecommend? 8) What child care costs can we expect to pay in Adelaide?Is it cheaper in other suburbs or Barossa valley? 9) As we are travelling on my 457 visa I believe wecan register for medicare once we arrive? Is this correct? 10) Based on No. 9 above if my wife fell pregnant inAustralia would the medicare cover all hospital bills such as scans andhospital fees for delivery etc 11) We both like music gigs/festivals and preferindie, rock, acoustic music are there any particular venues or festivals thatwe should look at? 12) What broadband would you recommend for unlimitedpackage so we can skype regularly Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance…. We cantwait to get our Australia adventure started!