George 05

Here goes,just writing with a success story(sort of).I arrived in Victoria in 2005 armed with Apprenticeship papers,C&G Advanced plumbing certs etc to be told I have to sit weeks of practical exams etc in order to get registered anyway after lots of phone calls , complaining,grovelling,letter writing etc I was lucky enough to be issued with registration in water supply,sanitary,and drainage.
I was then given the chance to get licenced in these three classes,written multiple choice exams,need 75% or above to pass(your allowed to take books into the exams too)these I passed and then started working for myself. Double the money than working for someone else but when it goes quiet and the bills are still coming in its hard.
I concentrate mainly on bathroom renos,and I quickly realised Aussie plumbers dont do any tiling,I pretty much do everything in the bathroom exept electrical and harder building work,doing the tiling has been great for me as a one week job can turn into a two week job+ some of the local plumbers get me to tile for them too when they are doing their renovation work!
Just some advice for poms that are new to aussie plumbing,dont bother asking yourself why do they do it like that?Thats the way it is and you cant change it, just go with the flow and you should be ok.
Also to say I love living in Australia,so many good points but life is still hard at times so its not the fairytale I expected,but its better than England!

BEVS

Nice post George.

So very true of NZ also.
One can only go with the flow and jump through the hurdles and hoops .
You can't change that so yu are better off just getting on with it and enjoying your new life.