Dorothy

Yup. There is a position with the AFP that my husband would be perfect for. He's really interested in it, so is thinking of applying anyway. JAJ has said that with our citizenship approval letter it should be ok. The down side would be that we would have to relocate to Canberra, so he's not sure whether he would accept the position even if he got offered it.

paularn

Hi dollys_girl - you can send me a message through here if you'd like. Think you can click on my name and send me a private message, if you'd like to chat. We can make arrangements to speak by phone after that if you want.

alzo

Helloooo Canucks!! With Hallowene round the corner it got me thinking...how the heck do you have hallowene without it being cold outside...I am having trouble picturing it..

Any Aussie Hallowene stories to tell??

paularn

I never celebrated Halloween while living in OZ - you know the saying "when in Rome..........".....Aussies don't do Halloween, so I didn't make a big deal or fuss about it. This year, I have bought some Halloween decorations and figure while we may not 'celebrate' it, I will still acknowledge it in our home....same with Canada Day.

Wait till you have Christmas in summer! THAT is strange. My first Christmas was weird....swimming in an outdoor pool in the Darwin heat on Boxing Day...that kinda felt wrong... Or bringing my then 6 month old to get her picture with Santa and she was in a little sundress. Odd and takes some getting used to

comet555

As paularn said they don't really do Halloween here. This is will be our third Halloween here and not much at all happened during the first two.

That first year I saw no decorations anywhere in our neighbourhood and didn't have any trick or treaters. We brought the kids to the local shopping mall that had some stores participating in a little trick or treat for the kids. It was sort of depressing though because it was totally not the same as real trick or treating.

Last year I was so unprepared that we did have one person ring the doorbell. It took me ages to figure out that it was actually halloween and we had a trick or treater. By then they'd already gone!

Strangely, this year I see a lot more decorations around in the shops so perhaps it's starting to catch on. I'm planning on putting out one or two decorations and at least having some treats on hand just in case. It's got to start somehow!

Japonica

Yeah, I'm not sure if we're supposed to buy treats or not...I see Halloween candy for sale in Woolies...and Thingz has been carrying costumes. I told my daughter I'd buy her a witch hat and some candy but I wasn't going to go as overboard as we do back in Canada, especially if she's not going door to door or dressing up at school.

It does feel strange to have Halloween in the spring. Christmas here is the most surreal though. We were here validating our visas last Christmas...it was about 32C when my sister-in-law put up her tree. Christmas Day we had a seafood dinner (too hot to roast anything) and went to the beach. I know I'll miss the snow, cold, and dark that one day...just for an instant though...

The other thing...it was hard for the kids to see Christmas lights last year. They were doing the DST trial and the kids would be asleep by the time it was dark enough for the lights to be switched on. Should be better this year, somewhat...but it's different from that "dark at 4pm in December" kind of experience we have back in Edmonton.

alzo

Had the strangest thing happen today. Assumed that seeing as I was told you had to be a citizen for the role at the end of the phone interview I assumed I would get some sort of a rejection email/letter.

Got an email today saying that they are checking my references? So not sure what to think at this point...ie are they just going through the process from a formality stand-point or ???

comet555

I suspect that it's not the interviewers that are checking all the references, it's probably an assistant or someone else that might not be aware that you'd need citizenship. You're probably just in a nice pile of resumes at the moment of people they're considering.

Either that or perhaps they're just checking anyway. Who knows.

dollys_girl

Alzo,

While I am not yet in Australia, I am an HR professional.

In your first posting, you said the position was open to PR visa holders. After the interview they said OOPS you need to be a citizen. My guess is that they were hedging their bets and trying to avoid making a committment with still a number of candidates in the running. Also, at least in Canada, they may have a dual criterion which gives first priority to citizens but will also accept anyone with a PR visa if they cannot fill the role with a citizen.

I would take your new development as an encouraging sign. Perhaps others they were interviewing did not check out well in references so now it's your turn.

Good Luck!

alzo

thanks for the feedback. I am to hear back from them sometime in the middle of Nov so will see what pans out.

How was Halloween? Had the little guy dressed up as a Pumpkin and he trekked along with the neighbours kids. Came back with stacks of candy...got to find a way to get them out of the house now!!

Did'nt have that many kids trick or treating last night...might be the whole H1N1 virus scare that's going around that kept the kids indoors.

alzo

Hi. Wanted to get your feedback on the best spots to live in in Brisbane for new migrants. At this point my gut feel based on searching the various job boards etc is that we'll most probably be working in or close to Bridbane CBD.

We plan on renting for at least 6mts-1yr (hopefully 6mts ) till we get our bearings. Can you'll recommend any areas that I should look at that has the equivalent of subway/train access/public transport access. eg: I am thinking North York in Toronto as a good example of being able to either go up-town or down-town via the subway lines, close to groceries etc....and take the car out only if you are heading east or west of the city.

comet555

I don't really know the areas around the city that well except to say the closer you are to the city the more expensive it will be to rent or buy. If you're planning on renting first then I would also take note of the fact that rents will be cheaper than if you were to buy. This will become important when you go to buy and suddenly realize you can't afford to buy where you are renting.

So even though you're just renting I would pay attention to the costs to buy in that area just in case you decide to stay there.

In terms of transportation the city doesn't really have a great network, particularly for the train (no subway here). There's pretty much run line going north/south and one going east/west. The rest is all buses. You should have a look at the train/bus maps online:
http://www.translink.com.au/maps.php

If you just want something close then I'd say something around Southbank would be quite convenient. The rents are probably pretty high though as it's in a great spot right next to the city.

abner

I respectfully disagree with Comet555 about the trains. I think the route coverage is actually pretty good, except for the suburbs due west of the CBD (Ashgrove, Bardon, The Gap, etc. See http://download.translink.com.au/map...1_qrbusway.pdf

We deliberately rented within walking distance of a suburban train station, and have a 30 min commute (20 on the train, and a 5 min walk at each end). Service is satisfactory, if not quite as frequent as in the Toronto subway, and on our line at least, the trains aren't particularly crowded.

Conversely, CBD parking runs from $280 - $500 per month depending on the building, and traffic in and out can be horrendous, particularly from the southern suburbs (the bridges across the river are natural traffic bottlenecks).

comet555

It's ok, but not great. There is a difference. I certainly wouldn't compare it to New York city!

Mostly I have issues with the 1 line north/south and 1 line east/west thing. For us to try and take the train to the airport (which is about 30 min drive north) it would be an hour on the train into the city first, and then another train east to the airport. Which would probably take closer to 1.5 hours all together.

Another example is to get to the Griffith University on the Nathan campus it would take about an hour and the buses aren't that frequent. To drive there would only take 15-20 minutes. So it really depends on where you live. If you live near a major bus network or interchange then you're not likely to experience the same difficulties as those farther out.

fish.01

comet555 has made a good point about finding out you can't afford to buy in the suburb you have settled in through renting. Saying that you could probably find somewhere not too far if you compromise on house and/or plot size.

Good active suburbs with the ability to put the car away for extended periods, shops, restaurants and on a good commuter train, bus, citycat ferry line, bikeway include Rosalie at Paddington, Toowong, Taringa, Indooroopilly, New Farm, Teneriffe, St Lucia, pockets of Ashgrove, Bulimba, West End to name a few.

Most of the suburbs I have named are at the more expensive end so it does depend on budget and other lifestyle choices.