Our Recci

[Guest grants]

:pI don’t post very often but thought I would share our recent experiences of our visit to Adelaide.

 

We arrived on 17th May via Singapore and can fully recommend Singapore airlines.

 

We live in rural Devon and our first impressions of Adelaide during our drive from the airport to Woodcroft was that it was very built up and the roads were quite vast. We stayed at Tykes rental in Woodcroft which was very comfortable and is situate approx 30 mins from Adelaide. We can thoroughly recommend this.

 

We have friends who emigrated 15 years ago and live in Kensington they met us at the airport and followed us to Woodcroft. They had newspapers showing what houses were open that day and within 3 hours of landing in Adelaide we were viewing houses in Blackwood and Flagstaff Hill. The houses were lovely 2 with pools and one without. We have 2 children Oliver 14 and Gabby 10 and we arranged a tour of BlackwoodHigh School. We were very impressed with the school and there facilities so have decided we will live in the catchment area for Blackwood High.

 

Our first week was full on as I am a Midwife and I had arranged tours of 3 hospitals, Flinders medical Centre, Burnside memorial hospital and The Women’s and Children’s in Adelaide. All 3 have jobs available but I have decided I want to work at Flinders.

 

My OH is a Loss adjuster in the UK and he had 2 interviews and was offered both jobs. We visited Glenelg, Brighton and HenleyBeach which were lovely areas but pricey for housing especially ones close to the beach. We did not venture north of Adelaide as we have already decided we wanted to live in the South.

 

We also activated our bank accounts had a visit from mortgage brokers so by the end of the first week we were pretty exhausted. We did manage a couple of trips into the city one to Gouger Street market which is fantastic for buying fresh fruit veg meats sea food etc all at very reasonable prices. The roads in the city again are vast with 4-5 lanes but the traffic flows very well and we did get caught up in rush hour but we still moved and it is not like rush hour in any UK city were you end up stationary using up fuel. Fuel prices had gone up. When we arrived we were paying $1.47 which escalated to $1.64 during our visit. This is still cheaper than the UK but I don’t think we will be purchasing big engine cars when we arrive.

 

In our second week we stayed at a small place called Goolwa which is close to VictorHarbour. Goolwa has the most fantastic surfing beaches and we fell in love with it. It is approx 1 hours drive from Adelaide so too far to commute but ideal for buying a holiday home if we ever come into money. VictorHarbour is also worth a visit and we had a lovely meal on GraniteIsland on our last night and watched the penguins come in after their busy day out fishing and swimming.

 

We also visited the wineries in the Hills in and around Hanndorf which are lovely places but you need to go without the car and we were driving so did not do much wine tasting.

 

All in all we had a great experience and we are now back in the UK and looking forward to emigrating in September. We sold our house in January but did a house swap and bought a smaller property. This enabled us to release the capital to then be in a position to buy in Adelaide but we need to rent the UK house to tenants before we go.

 

On the plus side it does look like the housing market in Adelaide is slowing down so hopefully we can secure a bargain when we return:)

[sue2oz]

brillant up date guys thanks so much for that:v_SPIN:

good luck with the big move and everything you do:jiggy:

 

suexxx

[Guest macu68]

Congratulations firstly for getting yourself over to Adelaide.

 

Interesting to read your initial thoughts as we are not over yet and the initial posts are the ones I am most interested in at the minute. I am also a midwife but will be going for a job in WCH, so your most honest candid thoughts on practice would be greatly appreciated. I have been to WCH as an observer for a few weeks a few years ago but my goldfish memory recalls very little these days.......

 

If you would prefer to PM me your thoughts I would be extremely grateful.

 

Have fun and enjoy it.

 

Mary xx

[Guest Roo1]

What a great post. Very informative for people still waiting to emigrate.

Good luck for September, might even see you on one of our PIA meet ups.

 

Judi x

[Guest grants]

Hi Mary I am also from Liverpool. I have pm,d you with details of my thoughts on Midwifery practice in Adelaide. If you want any more info just let me know.

 

Thanks

 

Jan Midwife, Shane Loss adjuster, Oliver 14 Gabby 10

Visa granted 3/7/2007

Reccie May 2008

Emigratin September 2008

[Guest Sharon and Paul]

HI Nice post, you guys seem to be organised !, I am trying but can't make my mind up where to live in Adelaide , still have to see were i get a job ( hopefully) . Did you do a stopover ? thinking of doing one , about 3 days if i can ? . ATB Paul

[Guest grants]

Hi yes we did do just 1 night stop over in Singapore on the way back which was not long enough. We want to do 2-3 days on the way back. We stayed in Little India which was an experience. It was a Sunday night and you could not even walk down the streets they were so busy, with Indian men ( not many women) congregating on their day of rest. We manage to find a good Indian restaurant and had a great Indian meal for 4 for approx £35 including drinks which is good value. Mind you the hotel cost £150 for one night, room only but it was 4 star and it was great swimming in the roof top pool at 7.00 pm at night and it was still approc 30C. We loved Singapore but want to go back. if you are into shopping (which I am) the shops are fantastic. They have a M & S so stock up on the underwear before you reach Adelaide. I have to say shopping in Adelaide is pretty poor especially womens clothing. I will save myself lots as the clothes shops are just not to the standard of the UK. They also seem to be 10 years behind the times. Still it has not put me off and I cant wait to get back.

[Guest grants]

What a great post. Very informative for people still waiting to emigrate.

Good luck for September, might even see you on one of our PIA meet ups.

 

Judi x

 

Thanks for your comments. Yes we certainly would like to arrange to meet up at one of the PIA meetups when we arrive.

 

Looking forward to it.

 

Jan Shane Oliver and Gabby

[Guest Sharon and Paul]

Hi yes we did do just 1 night stop over in Singapore on the way back which was not long enough. We want to do 2-3 days on the way back. We stayed in Little India which was an experience. It was a Sunday night and you could not even walk down the streets they were so busy, with Indian men ( not many women) congregating on their day of rest. We manage to find a good Indian restaurant and had a great Indian meal for 4 for approx £35 including drinks which is good value. Mind you the hotel cost £150 for one night, room only but it was 4 star and it was great swimming in the roof top pool at 7.00 pm at night and it was still approc 30C. We loved Singapore but want to go back. if you are into shopping (which I am) the shops are fantastic. They have a M & S so stock up on the underwear before you reach Adelaide. I have to say shopping in Adelaide is pretty poor especially womens clothing. I will save myself lots as the clothes shops are just not to the standard of the UK. They also seem to be 10 years behind the times. Still it has not put me off and I cant wait to get back.

Sounds really good as for underwear i keep telling the mrs she won't need any? Ive been told that a lot of Aussie take thier hols there or Fiji both look nice. ATB Paul

[Guest mOZzy]

what a great post!!! thanks for taking the time

 

but oh boy, did you have a busy time but at least you got lots of questions answered!!

 

good luck!

[Guest The Pottertons]

Wow, you were really busy- sounds like you went with your heads screwed on and made the most of every moment. Thanks for taking the time. Reading everyones experiences is fab and really important for us still waiting. Thanks a lot, yvonne xx

[Guest Beth&Martin]

It's always great to read peoples experiences, whether it be from those lucky people already out there or people such as yourself back from a reccie. What I like about reccie threads is each one tells you a little something different from the other - things people did, where to find stuff, areas etc. Just what we back here need. It helps you feel better when you are having one of those "oh my god, so much to do and am I doing the right thing" days.

 

Thanks to all who have done reccie threads, keep them coming.

[Guest SteveR]

:pI don’t post very often but thought I would share our recent experiences of our visit to Adelaide.

 

We arrived on 17th May via Singapore and can fully recommend Singapore airlines.

 

We live in rural Devon and our first impressions of Adelaide during our drive from the airport to Woodcroft was that it was very built up and the roads were quite vast. We stayed at Tykes rental in Woodcroft which was very comfortable and is situate approx 30 mins from Adelaide. We can thoroughly recommend this.

 

We have friends who emigrated 15 years ago and live in Kensington they met us at the airport and followed us to Woodcroft. They had newspapers showing what houses were open that day and within 3 hours of landing in Adelaide we were viewing houses in Blackwood and Flagstaff Hill. The houses were lovely 2 with pools and one without. We have 2 children Oliver 14 and Gabby 10 and we arranged a tour of BlackwoodHigh School. We were very impressed with the school and there facilities so have decided we will live in the catchment area for Blackwood High.

 

Our first week was full on as I am a Midwife and I had arranged tours of 3 hospitals, Flinders medical Centre, Burnside memorial hospital and The Women’s and Children’s in Adelaide. All 3 have jobs available but I have decided I want to work at Flinders.

 

My OH is a Loss adjuster in the UK and he had 2 interviews and was offered both jobs. We visited Glenelg, Brighton and HenleyBeach which were lovely areas but pricey for housing especially ones close to the beach. We did not venture north of Adelaide as we have already decided we wanted to live in the South.

 

We also activated our bank accounts had a visit from mortgage brokers so by the end of the first week we were pretty exhausted. We did manage a couple of trips into the city one to Gouger Street market which is fantastic for buying fresh fruit veg meats sea food etc all at very reasonable prices. The roads in the city again are vast with 4-5 lanes but the traffic flows very well and we did get caught up in rush hour but we still moved and it is not like rush hour in any UK city were you end up stationary using up fuel. Fuel prices had gone up. When we arrived we were paying $1.47 which escalated to $1.64 during our visit. This is still cheaper than the UK but I don’t think we will be purchasing big engine cars when we arrive.

 

In our second week we stayed at a small place called Goolwa which is close to VictorHarbour. Goolwa has the most fantastic surfing beaches and we fell in love with it. It is approx 1 hours drive from Adelaide so too far to commute but ideal for buying a holiday home if we ever come into money. VictorHarbour is also worth a visit and we had a lovely meal on GraniteIsland on our last night and watched the penguins come in after their busy day out fishing and swimming.

 

We also visited the wineries in the Hills in and around Hanndorf which are lovely places but you need to go without the car and we were driving so did not do much wine tasting.

 

All in all we had a great experience and we are now back in the UK and looking forward to emigrating in September. We sold our house in January but did a house swap and bought a smaller property. This enabled us to release the capital to then be in a position to buy in Adelaide but we need to rent the UK house to tenants before we go.

 

On the plus side it does look like the housing market in Adelaide is slowing down so hopefully we can secure a bargain when we return:)

 

Dear Grants

 

I was really interested in your post as I'm also a UK midwife wanting to work at Flinders but also considering the other 2 hospitals. What did you like so much about Flinders? Were there many UK midwives like us? We are just about to submit our 175 visa application so think it will be about six months before we're ready to go? Hoping to live in South Adelaide, maybe Flagstaff Hill or Hallett Cove. I've got girls of 12 and 10. I'm considering going on a rekkie, do you think it's essential? Where abouts do you live now?

 

Shelley Richardson

[Guest grants]

Hi Shelley,

 

We are in Devon at the moment. We were going to just emigrate and not go on the recci as it cost us about £4500 but I am really glad I did it.

 

I really liked both Flinders and the WCH but I suppose I have decided I would like to work at Flinders as it will be closer to where we want to live. There are some fantastic houses around, Blackwood, Craigburn Farm, Flagstaff Hill area and as I said in the post I got a really good impression of Blackwood High. We have Friends who emigrated last September who are living in Flagstaff Hill and they have a son of 14 the same age as our son Oliver and oliver was keen to attend the same school.

 

The staff at both hospitals were very friendly and there were some UK midwives who all seemed to be quite happy in their jobs. I found the atmosphere in both hospitals to be very up beat compared to moral with midwifery in the UK. I do not want to work at the private hospital as I do not want to be an Obstetric nurse. Both Flinders and WCH have team Midwifery with Birth centres and this is where I want to work although i think i will work within the hospital for first few months to find my feet.

 

I currently work in team midwifery both in Community and in the hospital. Where do you work?

 

Feel free to send me a PM and I can give you any more information you need. One good thing I know I can earn more as a Midwife in Adelaide than i earn at the moment.

[Guest Guest75]

lovely to hear from you guys

You are so positive and organised I didn't doubt you'd do well here:)

Good luck on sorting things out in the UK

[Guest sassy]

Hi , its so nice to read others recci experiences, unfortunately we cant afford one so its really informative. we hope to be there in the next 12 months..or longer it seems..just starting to research suburbs, schools, jobs etc....have so much to do an main worry is selling our 4 bedroom house.:arghh:market is terrible....any way good luck and hope all goes well...x....sarah