aaronc76

Hey All,
I just got my 489 visa for 'Far South Coast' NSW.
I have so many questions and thoughts I don't know where to start.
But like my mother used to say, start from the beginning.

A bit about us -
We are not British, hope I can still be part of BE.com community after this announcement
We are a family of 4 and planning to arrive to AU in the beginning of July.
Looking for a nice place to settle in. As in healthy and happy community, good education, health care, shopping, etc.
I am a software engineer, my spouse is a teacher, but does not have any local certification, hence she will probably not work in that area. a 4 Y/O girl that will need a kindergarten for a few days a week(?) and a 1+ Y/O that will stay at home for a few more months.
Work and leaving are bound together as I see it. We will leave where we can find jobs.

To the questions -

1. Any ideas how to find work in IT? I searched in Linkedin, Seek, Indeed and Gumtree, but there are not much work in this area. Any tip or lead are blessed.
2. Where would be a good place to leave in? We are checking Nowra, Huskisson, Milton and Shoalhaven. Any advise?
3. Where is a good place to buy a car? Would it be best to find one in Sydney? Maybe in a car lot/market?
4. Good schools/Kindergartens?
5. How can we find a temporary housing for a month or two? Air B&B prices are skyrocketing and no much choices.

I hope for a good discussion here that will probably raise more questions.
If I missed anything, feel free to raise it up.

See you soon!

old.sparkles

You are very welcome here at BE - don't worry about not being British

I've moved your post to our main forum as this is a general set of questions, not visa related

I can't answer much of your post as I'm not in that area, but work wise, even if your skilled occupation is in IT, you can do any work that will enable you to meet the 'employed full time' criteria to move onto a PR visa.

As for accommodation, alternative to Air B'n'B would be Stayz, HomeAway and Gumtree. Also some of the real estate agents also cover the short term holiday lets but hopefully you can find something using one of the above.

Don't go to Sydney for the car. Again you have Facebook groups, gumtree, etc. There is something for all budgets and I think that NSW requires cars to have a roadworthy certificate to be rego'd (sure other posters can confirm).

aaronc76

Thank you old.sparkles, hope to get more info soon.

denzil73

If your wife's not going to be working then I'd research everything in detail before you decide to move half way around the world.
Oz is expensive and kindergarden is a large outlay especially on a single income. Housing is damn expensive and as you aren't on a perm visa then if you end up having to return to the UK you may end up worse off than when you left.

Lifestyle really isn't any better than the UK yet there's less to do here. Less accessible to pretty much everything compared to the northern hemisphere. Second hand cars hold there value much better than the UK and the same age vehicle can easily be 4-5 times that of the UK equivalent, this includes the exchange rate too.

Oz immigration are quite happy to hand out visas as it's a nice bit of income to the Oz economy and if you end up leaving Oz penniless then they couldn't care less.

Just cos it sounds all rosy and grass is greener I think these days that's no longer true. 15-20yrs ago for sure but not now.

quoll

IT on the far south coast? Not really an area I would associate with huge IT opportunities really. The area has a fairly large population of Canberra retirees and holiday homes, not really a huge thriving hub of industry. It’d be hard to suggest where to aim for - all very pretty of course but quite inflated house prices because of all the Canberrans fancying their beach pads. Not that much going on inland except perhaps Bega but again, not renowned for its IT.

aaronc76

Hey denzil73,
Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts.
As I wrote at the beginning of this thread, I am not from the UK. Hence, any comparison to the life in the UK is irrelevant for me.
Also, money isn't everything in the world for me. Yes, I would love to work in the IT industry and earn 150K per year. But at this stage I can settle for less and just enjoy a better life for me and my family.

Cheers mate!

aaronc76

Hi quoll,
Yes, I understand the odds are against me but I am trying anyhow.
Anyhow, I will work in whatever I can find. A driver, in the supermarket or event a waiter in a restaurant.

Any suggestions where I can find a job?

Thanks!

NickyC

The local shire councils are usually one of the largest employers in those regional areas. They would also employ a few IT-type people. I would be checking out each individual council's website for jobs (Eurobodalla Shire, Bega Valley Shire and Shoalhaven City Council) - as well as Seek/Indeed etc of course - as some local council jobs might not make the big job search sites but would definitely be listed on their own pages.

aaronc76

Hi NickyC,
Thanks for the tip!
I will sure check these websites you mention.
By the way, I did apply for an IT position in Shoalhaven city council, that I found in one of the big site (indeed/seek), but did not think to continue searching in similar council's websites.

Cheers!

deviji2000

Hi Aronc,
just checking whether you've moved to Shoalhaven or any other place in South coast. I'll be reaching Shoalhaven before end of this month on 489 and I'm a IT professional. It would be great if you can share your experience on finding a job and finding a place to live.

Thanks and regards,
Viji

aaronc76

Hey Mate,
Yes, I have settled down in the Shoalhaven region. In Jervis Bay. Been living here for more than a year now.
A place to live is easier than finding a job, that is for sure.
Depends on what you are looking for, you can find many kinds of accommodation. Cheep? Expensive? Close to CBD? Close to the beach? In the bush? Really all is available and any price range. You can find houses from $250 and the sky is the limit. I took an air BnB house for the first 3 months in order to learn the area and understand what is available. eventually, my family and I decided to rent a house in the Jervis Bay area.

Regarding work, I am afraid there is non IT industry in this area.
You might find a few really small companies that do some kind of IT but besides that nothing.
There is a demand for store persons (front desk, warehouse, etc.), a lot of health organisations around and construction workers.
If you insist of IT jobs, you might want to search a remote position.
The largest city in the region is Nowra.
The largest/most active recruitment agency is Palladium.
To find accommodation I recommend to use https://www.realestate.com.au site.
Open a bank account in one of the big ones - ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB, WBC, etc.
Besides that, depends on what you are looking for, it is really different in every area.

Anyhow,
Wishing you the best!