wcee

Dear All

I awoke this morning after another night of slightly sweaty sleep. It was only last night that I posted my letter “My First Three Weeks in Brisbane� and it has had over nine hundred views and over 45 replies. I will try to answer some of the questions you have asked, but I was so overwhelmed by the responses, I had to fight back the lump in my throat (trust me, I am a blokey bloke, and we don’t get emotional).

To Mike

My job in Scotland was as a Senior Technical Consultant for a large American Corporate company with sites all over the world.

I was responsible for ALL UK and European sites. These included: Glasgow (Head Office), Fleet (London), Belfast (Northern Ireland), Two sites in Paris, France, Two sites in Germany, Two sites in Italy and a massive site in Nijmegen, Holland. I spent a large amount of time in most of these sites as I reconstructed the network infrastructure. I did think of trying out the different places to live in, as the company would have paid a relocation fee, and as long as I was “connected� to the network, it didn’t really matter where I was based. Fleet was too expensive, a small 2 bedroom flat was £160000, so a family house would be silly money. Belfast was Glasgow with an Irish accent. France, in particular Paris was awful. To hectic, the roads are like the Wacky Races cartoons. I loved Germany, still do, specially the autobahns. I seriously thought about Holland, as everyone is friendly, the country is amazing, and the government use common sense laws, instead of archaic laws like the UK.

Second choice was Italy. I worked in Modena, and used to go to the Ferrari Formula 1 test track to watch them testing the cars. Italy is special, but expensive and it was still Europe.

Brisbane is like Italy, people are so friendly and really ARE interested when they talk to you. Brisbane is like Nijmegen, great riverside eateries and good conversations. Now throw in the poshness of Fleet, take away the intimidation of Glasgow/Paisley on a Friday night, throw away the sectarianism of Glasgow/Belfast, clean up the litter and graffiti of London, Birmingham and others and you are left with Brisbane.

My job in Brisbane is not as high level as the UK, I am a common old network engineer, and taken a drop of about £7 or £8 grand, but life here is for living, not working. The company I work for is considerably smaller than I am used to, but all the politics and red tape that bogs you down in the corporate companies has disappeared also.

To Duchy,

Do it, and put those voices to sleep. I love Holland, having spent a lot of time in Nijmegen and Zoetameer(spelling is probably wrong). If you decide to come to Brisbane let me know and I can let you into some cool places to go.

Some body mentioned the Spiders and creepy crawlies, well the first night we spent in the “motel� my kids came through crying, petrified that something was going to bite them and they were going to die! That night all four of us slept in the same double bed, with a tin of insect killer on the bedside table. My daughter is six, and is terrified of any thing with more legs than her, but truthfully the beasties here really are more frightened of us than we are of them. Spiders can be big, but Raid Protector gets them all. Ants are common, but my advice is sit and watch them for about half an hour, as I did with my daughter. Both of us were fascinated, as these little guys are only focused on working for each other, and not, as my daughter asked building a nest so they could fit her into it. Keep the insect spray handy, as psychologically it is comforting, but just like the people, the beasties are so laid back, you stop seeing them after a couple of weeks.

I will try to keep you all up to date, the only reason I typed the letter in the first place, was to dispel the myth that people come to OZ with bucket loads of money. We didn’t, and at the age of 32 (me) and my wife (33) two kids (11 & 6) we have started a new life down under with nothing. Ignore the programs you have seen on BBC2 and Channel 4, as they tend to focus on how hard it is, the bad sides and stuff like that. You get out of life what you put into life, and this comes from somebody who as part of my medical to obtain a visa had to be assessed by a psychiatrist because I mentioned on the application form I was taking seroxat for depression!

The visa I have is a skilled migrant visa, with permanent residence. Took me about two years start to finish to get it. Didn’t use an agent, done it all ourselves.

PS No longer on seroxat, as the amount of sunshine out here raises or lowers? the serotonin levels naturally, chasing away them orrible blues.

Regards,

Wcee

PS ABCdiamond, is there any place in the Cleveland or Vicci Point that expats meet up, as me and my wife would like to get to know more folks.

Bordy

Good luck with your new life. We did the same & moved from Scotland to Melbourne in 99 & it was hard for the first year or so settling in & making new friends etc but weve never looked back. Never regretted it, Australia is home now & have a life here now we could never have had in Scotland.
I'm sure in years to come as the kids grow up you & the Mrs will be very proud of what you did.

ABCDiamond

I've sent you a PM, there are a load of us the area now, and growing weekly !

There was a local expats gathering on Coochie a few weeks ago, and a smaller meeting for Dinner last week for a few of us, (but I missed it).

JaneandJim

Wcee,

There will be another big meet in a couple of months time. They tend to happen every three months or so, and we don't all live Bayside so there will be others there too!

Jane

Simone

Hi Wcee,

Great posts!

I agree you don't need a heap of money to start out.

But you do need a job very quickly. And for that you need luck or determination or/and a good CV (layout etc as well as content, you actual experience).
Seems you had all that!

I was surprised in your other thread, that nodbody asked about what job you had, and got now.
Because that is one of the most importants points of course!

As Megalania pointed out, a situation like this, makes you more determined to get a job, but your story isn't an excuse not to try and get a job before going, and research your OWN job situation before going, because people have also had very other situations where they haven't found jobs for months (and those threads don't get as many replies as this one!! )

Well, once again thanks for the posts, WELL DONE, and good luck to you! Cos you haven't started the job yet, right?
And keep posting of course!!

The tips for the CV are good, but hopefully people going soon had already found that out themselves, for example the examples on www.seek.co.au.

I think another thing that helps is your age, your're 'only' 32, which must help... a lot of folks on here are a bit older already.

It might sound like I'm turning people of, but that is not my 'goal'. I think everybody should give it a go, definetly, just be prepared and well informed before hand!!!!
There are a lot of 'succes' stories, but there are also a lot of 'not succes' stories!(and a lot of those aren't even posted on this forum, and if they are, they don't get much attention)

nosuchluck

Yet another great post Braveheart!
i really do admire you and your family for getting off your butts and giving it ago! it would be great to meet up for a drink later in the year when we get our visas
best wishes once again
Rach, Mark and Chanelle x

badri

Hi Wcee,

Nice post again man.

I live in utrecht Holland, I know what you are talking about when you say Nijmegen. I fell in love with brisbane the moment I saw it.

We are just waiting to go.....

Thanks for all the tips and your reaction.

costabeera

Thanks for this link. I was wondering how to go about getting an Aussie CV done.