dandd

Has anyone else on this forum moved to the great southern region / Albany? it never gets a mention, but i cant be the only one...can I?

Britishaussie

Sorry, can't help with meeting as we're still in the UK. However, we went there in April and loved it and have been seriously considering it as a place to live. Whereabouts are you? What do you do?

dandd

we're in an area called bayonet head (10 mins from town). We visited last April (did a grand tour of Australia) and absolutely loved Albany in particular. its just so gorgeous and freindly. The downsides though are finding accommodation and finding work. it took us three weeks to find a rental (the housing market is WA is red hot - fortunately we had friends near perth who put us up whilst we travelled down to see properties). The work front is tricky, if youre trade is in demand youll have no worries down here, unfortunately theres not much call for Information and Knowledge Management professionals here - but if youve got a trade, or accountancy certs then no problem. also, if you into administration, youll want to have experience of the MYOB software to get work quickly.

one of the strangest things about australia that ive noticed, is that they say theres massive skills shortages, but no employer would consider employing someone without qualifications, tickets, and 3 years experience. They seem dead against in-house training and giving newcomers 'a go'. its not what i expected from Aus, but its a case of getting used to it i guess.

SJR

No you aren't the only one in Albany!!! We moved from the UK in January, landed in Perth on New Years Day in fact. How long have you been here and how are you settling? I just noticed you live in Bayonet Head....we're practically neighbours! We live in Breaksea Estate which is just off Ulster Road. We got in on my husbands skills, he's a systems designer...IT kind of person and we have had similar experiences to you. He now has a full time job which he started mid May so basically we went from January to May surviving on what little I earned....it was getting scary. Anyway, things are on the up and we are feeling much more settled.

dandd

imagine that! we arrived in Aus, in March, but got to albany about 7 weeks ago (it took a while to drag ourselves away from staying with friends in Perth, and to find a rental down here). Were having our ups and downs at the moment, but mrs dandd has managed to get a job just this week.

where you from in the UK? weve come from North Hampshire, so are just loving being on the coast. It would be great if we could arrange a meet up some time as its a bit of a struggle developing a new circle of friends... how have you found it? and what made you choose Albany?

SJR

Hello there. I know what you mean about friends in Perth....it feels safe when in the company of our friends up there! We've been up there this weekend actually...celebrating for big 40 for me! I always feel sad when we leave but settle down again quickly. Why Albany? Well, the reason is our visa, we are on a SIR visa which is to attract immigrants to regional Australia. We had enough points to go anywhere when we first started process but then they changed the points requirement and we fell short of 5. Good to hear that your wife has found work, it was the same for us, I was full time from Feb but am now part time. As for meeting up, yes we'd definately be up for that. We moved from Newcastle upon Tyne, I'm a geordie and Mr is a wurzle (without the accent!). I was thinking that it might be worth you chatting to Dave (my husband) as he may be able to help you with who to contact re work, have you made much progress so far?

dandd

Happy Birthday.. hope you got something nice! my work hunting is going slowly, i think my field of work is a bit niche for albany, but ive got a few applications in. I have previously worked in Information Management (bit of a jack of all trades covering IT, Comms, Knowledge Management and Outcomes measurement) so you can imagine how not in demand i am here... but im now seriously considering just doing something completely new.. and starting off at the bottom rung, which is fine, but for the need to pay rent and save for a mortgage. what days/eves are you and SJR free? my wife works wed-fri but other than that were good for a daytime coffee, or evening ..I will try and email you through BE board to line something up.