mum of two little girls

We also live in Adelaide - in the north eastern suburbs - and if anyone needs any information/advice on the area please feel free to pm me.

We have been here nearly a year and its fantastic! and dont worry about making friends there are lots of new and exciting people to meet (some very bitchy ones too but hey you get that in the Uk too, so just stay well away ) I do find the ozzies very friendly people and most of our friends as a family are now ozzie.

Be great to make more new friends tho

Sham Williams

QUOTE=mOZzy;5303084]ohhhh some have their visas already and SHAM you are already there - do tell!!! we want to know aaaaaall about it [/QUOTE]

What do you want to know?? Feel free to ask away!!

We all love it here, have settled really quickly, have to say some things are frustrating, BUT they are far out weighed by the good things!!

(Where in Berkshire are you from I have LOADS of family in Newbury!!)

Sham Williams

There are quite a few things here that you think they would never get away with this one in the UK!! But then you remember you are not in the UK and that the good things out weigh the things like paying loads of money for your driving licence just to help fund the government type things!!

mOZzy

What do you want to know?? Feel free to ask away!!

We all love it here, have settled really quickly, have to say some things are frustrating, BUT they are far out weighed by the good things!!

(Where in Berkshire are you from I have LOADS of family in Newbury!!)[/QUOTE]



well, obviously the usual question: how difficult is it really to find jobs? how do the children settle in? is the shopping any easier/more difficult? house hunt of course? making friends? .. i guess just the worries that everyone has - which area do you live in?

and then others like: when and how does the rubbish get collected?? (i remember reading that TYKE drives the rubbish down the street on his quad?!?!? - although i do like the idea of having a quad )
or how do you prepare your children for the creepy crawlies?? because my little one looooves any animals
or how often do you actually go to the beach?

well, you offered


btw, we live in bracknell - so not far away

Wendy

Plenty of jobs, but it does depend what you do and if you need licencing or not as to how long it will take. Took my OH 4 months to get his licence, but he had a job the next day.

Our kids settled really easily, and only a few days after arriving said they'd never go back to live in the UK.

Shopping is fine. There are loads of big and small shopping centres, most suburbs have at least one supermarket. Not had a problem.

House hunting is stressful, but then when isn't it

I've made friends easily enough, you just need to put yourself out there. Never turn down an invitation.

Our rubbish gets collected every week on a Monday, the recycling and garden waste alternates, so one week it's rubbish and recycling, the next it's rubbish and garden waste.

We don't live that close to the beach - about half hour away from Semaphore. We go maybe once a fortnight in the spring, a little less in the summer and occasionally in the winter.

Don't talk to me about spiders I had a lovely 'baby' huntsman in my bedroom yesterday - nearly had a heart attack

mOZzy

hi wendy!
thanks for you prompt replies (as always!) and detailed too

yep i know your oh is an electrician, might need your brain later on (if that's ok?! ) when we are ready to do the artc and then the a licence (i know you a are THE source to ask )

how old are your kids? mine are only young so i guess they won't take it in really.

re the shopping: i've read that some think shopping is rather expensive?!?!

ha! i am ready for any and all invitations .. let them start piling up

so alternate just like here! don't you have problems with the heat? i mean it's not really hot here and oh boy, the rubbish for 2 weeks in the bin is rather .. ehm ... smelly!?!?

half hour to the beach is nice! that's about what i'd like too. do you have a pool?!? - is it that hot in the summer that you rather want to stay inside?!?!

utoh, huntsman - how big was the baby - handsize?!?!?

Sham Williams

Yes I know Bracknell!! Well Wendy has offered her replies so here are mine,

Finding work I would say for the OH easy, loads of jobs/choice, finding an employer that pays a sensible wage, much harder!!! Finding part time work I have found much harder than in the UK!

Kids settled so quickly, mine are 8 and 4 and they both love it here, both much happier and dont even ask about the UK, in my experience the younger they are the quicker they adapt!!

Food shopping, is easier in the sense they pack it for you, personally I dont think it is that cheap, apart from meat is a lot cheaper than the UK and better quality!! Harder in the sense clothes wise I dont think there is as much choice as the UK, and I think things are more expensive and the quality alot of the time is rubbish!

House hunting well we bought our dream house on day two of landing from the UK!! Have to say different to WEndy on that it was so easy, put an offer in and 4 weeks later we moved in!! So MUCH less stressful than the UK!! But we had done a rekkie so knew where we wanted to be etc etc. Easy finding houses here as you just go to loads of opens!!

Making friends, personally I think that when you first arrive you are a little "desperate" to make friends and feel accepted by everyone, and continually trying to convince yourself that you have done the right thing by moving to Oz etc etc, I know I certainly found that initially I made friends with people that I would never of done if I was in the UK, and made one HUGE mess up, but needless to say I have learnt from that and would like to think I wont do it again!! I have now made some really good friends, some english, some welsh, some aussie!! Like Wendy said YOU need to make the effort to make friends when you arrive, people are already set up in their friend circles and therefore they wont have the need like you will to be accepted and make friends!!

Learning about the rubbish being collected (mine is a friday) and all those other little things that you automatically know in the UK, all comes with time, and there are people like Wendy that tell you, or you just find out for yourself by asking your neighbours or new friends etc etc, it is hard at first as you do feel a little lost but it is amazing how quickly you get it all together!!

Kids and spiders, well we did the talk thing, but my 4 year old came home from Kindy the other day and told me that he had learnt all about the spider with the blue stripe!!! He still not quite got the colours thing and meant the red one!! They soon learn, believe me if there is even the smallest spider it dont last long, with sprays and kids screaming and dogs trying to eat it!!

We live in Greenwith which is North East Adelaide, and we go to a beach about once a week, in the winter and spring we walk the dog and the kids play, summer we swim and sunbath etc etc, we are about 30-40 mins from nearest beach, but we tend to go to all different ones!!

I know how you feel, I was the same, well what about this and what about that and what about etc etc etc. It is so daunting and my personal opinion is this, that when you arrive there are some things that are SOOO much better than the UK, there are other things that are SOOOO much worse than the UK, (like paying stamp duty on EVERYTHING, paying each year for your driving licence, not having decent websites for shopping on, cost of kids swimming lessons etc etc etc) BUT it all boils down to what you are looking for!! Our lives in the UK were very good, kids at good school, loads of mates, gorgeous house, nice cars, both worked really really bloody hard, family near by, BUT there was something missing from all of that and we came to Oz to find it I suppose, have we found it, well think the jury is still out on that one to be honest, but I think we have settled really quick, and at present Adelaide offers us everything we need and want, will we stay here for ever, well plans is we will but who knows, 3 years ago moving to Oz wasnt even on the cards so in 3 years time god knows what will be in store for us but we will have fun finding out!!

Hope that answers some of your questions!!!! Everyone has a different story to tell, I have friends that are here and ONLY here for 2 years, others that have come and returned within 8 weeks, others that have been here for 4 or 5 years, so it is hard to tell anyone, oh you will love it/hate it, you just have to be brave and come and try it out if it works out great if it doesnt then you can go back to the UK or whereever, but you are the wiser for giving it a go!! So many out there would never even try!!

mOZzy

thanks for your as detailed post!
yes, i've heard about the 'lack' of part time work - only time will tell ...
and i am sure my kids won't know the difference ... well, of course but oh you know what i mean lol

re the food shopping: you really can't pack it yourself?!?! - i guess we'll be pure meat eater then

wow - on day 2!! i am dreading the house hunting! not sure what to do with the little ones - they will be soooo bored and sooo playing up!!
but good that the actual house buy is easily done

funny that most of you so far do live in the north east! because the majority i've talked to tend to like the south!
myself i like the idea of the northeast so i might prod you all a bit more later on!

well i am quite sure that we'll be fine but still - it IS daunting! but we WILL come over soon

Sham Williams

We have two small kids when we were here on our rekkie we did quite a few opens, and we used to do them in the morning and something with the kids in the afternoon, as we could bribe them!!! But it worked well!!

The South and the North of Adelaide both offered nice places to live etc etc. My personal opinion, is that South you are nearer the beach but less work opportunities North you are roughly 30-40 mins away from the nearest beach but work is in abundance!! Depends on what work you are looking for of course, but my OH is in Sheet Metal has recently been offered 3 different jobs here in the North where as his mate lives in Hallet Cove does exactly the same work and cant find a job "near to home" and is struggling to find something!!

I have spoken to many that have simply followed the crowds thats not always the best decision to make and like so many have said before it is a totally personal choice that can only be made by you looking around and seeing where you like best!!

mOZzy

yep, i also think that nearer to work makes much more sense!!
i do like the areas around golden grove, modbury ... there abouts!
all on paper so far of course

oh is a fitter/electrician - so my guess it's more north too for him!

and 40min to the beach doesn't scare me

Wendy

House electricians - there's work all over, a lot of it is travelling daily but they usually supply van etc.

Maintenance Electricians - more work to the North, although there is quite a bit of work in the wineries both North & South.

Nearer your time PM me and I'll send you all the details for courses and licencing

mOZzy

hi wendy!
thanks for the offer - i just can't get my head around this whole process with artc and a licence - so every little helps

maintenance that's him! but i do like the north east anyways

Wendy

No problem, it's all pretty easy so don't worry about it. It will take about 8 weeks (well that's providing he's not like my OH who thought he would have a few month off!)

Tell him to get practicing on Siemens step 7 & Alan Bradley, there's a real shortage of people that can program PLC's and if he can do that he'll have no trouble at all with a job.

Sham Williams

Well there's a reason for that all the best people live there!!

mOZzy

funnily enough that's exactly what he's trying to get better skills in at the moment!!! - so i tell him to stick with it then



sham: room for one more