New Member
#1
New Member
Hi Everyone!!
Please help! Has anyone visited Canberra or know anyone whos been. Would like to know its like. Going with my other half Darren on a 137 visa and my 2 yr old Lucy.
Thank you
Catherine
Please help! Has anyone visited Canberra or know anyone whos been. Would like to know its like. Going with my other half Darren on a 137 visa and my 2 yr old Lucy.
Thank you
Catherine
#2
Re: New Member
There's been a few threads posted recently. Run a quick search and should give you some info.
Cheers
Ginny
#4
Just Joined
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Leicester
Posts: 9
Re: New Member
Hi Catherine,
We are also moving to Canberra on 137 visa. Also a new member to this forum. Moving with hubby and 3 children 7, 3 and 18 mths. You may read this already but we find the 'Australia and New Zealand ' magazine is really useful. You can buy it from WH Smiths etc and subscribe to back issues. A & NZ ran a feature on Canberra in issue 8 and is worth a read. My husband is visiting Canberra in Nov and we are hoping to move early next year.
Keep in touch, Wendy
#5
Re: New Member
Hi Catherine,
We are also moving to Canberra on 137 visa. Also a new member to this forum. Moving with hubby and 3 children 7, 3 and 18 mths. You may read this already but we find the 'Australia and New Zealand ' magazine is really useful. You can buy it from WH Smiths etc and subscribe to back issues. A & NZ ran a feature on Canberra in issue 8 and is worth a read. My husband is visiting Canberra in Nov and we are hoping to move early next year.
Keep in touch, Wendy
We are also moving to Canberra on 137 visa. Also a new member to this forum. Moving with hubby and 3 children 7, 3 and 18 mths. You may read this already but we find the 'Australia and New Zealand ' magazine is really useful. You can buy it from WH Smiths etc and subscribe to back issues. A & NZ ran a feature on Canberra in issue 8 and is worth a read. My husband is visiting Canberra in Nov and we are hoping to move early next year.
Keep in touch, Wendy
Catherine
#6
Just Joined
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Leicester
Posts: 9
Re: New Member
Hi Catherine,
We have had our skills and qualifications assessed and recently were granted government sponsorship. We submitted our Resisency Application a few weeks ago. We are with the Emmigration Group and have found them to be really good, so far it hasn't been such hard work. Are you using an agent? It's fairly expensive but my sister moved to Auckland a couple of years and found it saved a lot of time.
I'm a social worker and my hubby works in IT.
There have been quite a few threads regarding Canberra recently and there doesn't seem to be anywhere bad to live. As the city is less than one hundred years old everything is relatively new (compared to UK). We are hoping to have our permanent visas by the end of the year. Still not sure whether to sell our house or rent it out.
We are hoping that Canberra is the place we can settle long term, but if not we will re-think after the initial 2 years.
Have you been to OZ before? I haven't but my hubby has.
Hear from you soon,
Wendy
We have had our skills and qualifications assessed and recently were granted government sponsorship. We submitted our Resisency Application a few weeks ago. We are with the Emmigration Group and have found them to be really good, so far it hasn't been such hard work. Are you using an agent? It's fairly expensive but my sister moved to Auckland a couple of years and found it saved a lot of time.
I'm a social worker and my hubby works in IT.
There have been quite a few threads regarding Canberra recently and there doesn't seem to be anywhere bad to live. As the city is less than one hundred years old everything is relatively new (compared to UK). We are hoping to have our permanent visas by the end of the year. Still not sure whether to sell our house or rent it out.
We are hoping that Canberra is the place we can settle long term, but if not we will re-think after the initial 2 years.
Have you been to OZ before? I haven't but my hubby has.
Hear from you soon,
Wendy
#7
Account Closed
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 546
Re: New Member
Hello,
I live in Canberra. It is one of the easiest places I have ever lived with small children. Short commutes, park lands everywhere, blue sky (even during winter), wide roads, museums, galleries, botanic gardens etc etc... very easy place to live for a family.
Education standards are higher, incomes are on average higher, education level of workforce is higher etc etc...
It's very different to most other places in Oz.
I live in Canberra. It is one of the easiest places I have ever lived with small children. Short commutes, park lands everywhere, blue sky (even during winter), wide roads, museums, galleries, botanic gardens etc etc... very easy place to live for a family.
Education standards are higher, incomes are on average higher, education level of workforce is higher etc etc...
It's very different to most other places in Oz.
#8
Just Joined
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Leicester
Posts: 9
Re: New Member
Hi,
We've done quite a lot of research and Canberra certainly looks like a good place for raising young children. How long have you been there?
House prices seem to be steadily increasing but is it still relatively reasonable?
We are not sure whether to but straight away or rent for a while (there are lots of comments made about the lack of rental property at present).
Any areas not worth considering?
Wendy
We've done quite a lot of research and Canberra certainly looks like a good place for raising young children. How long have you been there?
House prices seem to be steadily increasing but is it still relatively reasonable?
We are not sure whether to but straight away or rent for a while (there are lots of comments made about the lack of rental property at present).
Any areas not worth considering?
Wendy
#9
Account Closed
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 546
Re: New Member
Hi,
We've done quite a lot of research and Canberra certainly looks like a good place for raising young children. How long have you been there?
House prices seem to be steadily increasing but is it still relatively reasonable?
We are not sure whether to but straight away or rent for a while (there are lots of comments made about the lack of rental property at present).
Any areas not worth considering?
Wendy
We've done quite a lot of research and Canberra certainly looks like a good place for raising young children. How long have you been there?
House prices seem to be steadily increasing but is it still relatively reasonable?
We are not sure whether to but straight away or rent for a while (there are lots of comments made about the lack of rental property at present).
Any areas not worth considering?
Wendy
ONe thing to point out though is that it is NOT England... people in Canbera socialise differently, enjoy life differently etc etc... there are a lot of outdoors activities and the place is rather family friendly.... eg... a christmas work party might involve a big family picnic and not a wild drinking session at the pub.
There are lots of sports... rugby league, rugby union and association football are al catered for...
The rental property market is often tight. When i moved here nearly 5 years ago there would be 20 other people competing for the same rental property. I've since bought a house.
www.allhomes.com.au has lots of info about house in Canberra including past sales data and everything... it's a great site once you work out how to use it. It has sales data for individual address and average prices per suburb etc etc
http://www.city2see.com/ allows you to look at photographs of every address in Canberra... just follow the links to the map.
#10
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 394
Re: New Member
Hi Catherine and Wendy,
We are off to Canberra on 19th July with our two boys 5 and 3. There seems to be a few of us who are going out there this year, do a search for 'canberra meet up' and you'll become familiar with some of the others who are moving there or already live there. It's really friendly and helpful.
Carmel
We are off to Canberra on 19th July with our two boys 5 and 3. There seems to be a few of us who are going out there this year, do a search for 'canberra meet up' and you'll become familiar with some of the others who are moving there or already live there. It's really friendly and helpful.
Carmel
#11
Re: New Member
Nice to see you on Expats - I found them a huge help, especially towards the end with all the silly questions like what products you can buy, what you can ship etc.
Hope you get lots and lots of info from the links posted.
Your cousin
Paula
#12
Re: New Member
Hi Catherine,
We have had our skills and qualifications assessed and recently were granted government sponsorship. We submitted our Resisency Application a few weeks ago. We are with the Emmigration Group and have found them to be really good, so far it hasn't been such hard work. Are you using an agent? It's fairly expensive but my sister moved to Auckland a couple of years and found it saved a lot of time.
I'm a social worker and my hubby works in IT.
There have been quite a few threads regarding Canberra recently and there doesn't seem to be anywhere bad to live. As the city is less than one hundred years old everything is relatively new (compared to UK). We are hoping to have our permanent visas by the end of the year. Still not sure whether to sell our house or rent it out.
We are hoping that Canberra is the place we can settle long term, but if not we will re-think after the initial 2 years.
Have you been to OZ before? I haven't but my hubby has.
Hear from you soon,
Wendy
We have had our skills and qualifications assessed and recently were granted government sponsorship. We submitted our Resisency Application a few weeks ago. We are with the Emmigration Group and have found them to be really good, so far it hasn't been such hard work. Are you using an agent? It's fairly expensive but my sister moved to Auckland a couple of years and found it saved a lot of time.
I'm a social worker and my hubby works in IT.
There have been quite a few threads regarding Canberra recently and there doesn't seem to be anywhere bad to live. As the city is less than one hundred years old everything is relatively new (compared to UK). We are hoping to have our permanent visas by the end of the year. Still not sure whether to sell our house or rent it out.
We are hoping that Canberra is the place we can settle long term, but if not we will re-think after the initial 2 years.
Have you been to OZ before? I haven't but my hubby has.
Hear from you soon,
Wendy
I am still debating on whether to sell up or rent. have you came to a decision yet?
Still waiting for our Tra to come back.
Thanks Carmel I will look up the Canberra meet up and good luck with the move.
Catherine
#13
Re: New Member
Hey Catherine - How you doing? Hope your research is going ok.
Nice to see you on Expats - I found them a huge help, especially towards the end with all the silly questions like what products you can buy, what you can ship etc.
Hope you get lots and lots of info from the links posted.
Your cousin
Paula
Nice to see you on Expats - I found them a huge help, especially towards the end with all the silly questions like what products you can buy, what you can ship etc.
Hope you get lots and lots of info from the links posted.
Your cousin
Paula
I am fine just packing my bags as we are going on holiday on Friday for two weeks so been busy shopping. Is everything going ok with the house you were interested in.
Speak soon Catherine
#14
Just Joined
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Leicester
Posts: 9
Re: New Member
Hi Catherine,
Have been to the coast with the kids. Weather wasn't great but not complaining.
We lodged our application mid June and are waiting to be allocated a Case Officer. Our agents says this takes 6-8 weeks, with the visa being granted in around 6 months. Seems a very long time. I have tried to look at the 'time lines' on this site but there are so many different experiences I found it quite confusing. So at the moment it's just wait and see.
Still not sure about renting/selling. I think we are veering towards selling up but no firm decision.
You may already do this, but we read the Canberra Times online every day. It's useful and helps build up a picture if what's going on there. Worth having a look.
Keep in touch and let me know how things are going.
Wendy
Have been to the coast with the kids. Weather wasn't great but not complaining.
We lodged our application mid June and are waiting to be allocated a Case Officer. Our agents says this takes 6-8 weeks, with the visa being granted in around 6 months. Seems a very long time. I have tried to look at the 'time lines' on this site but there are so many different experiences I found it quite confusing. So at the moment it's just wait and see.
Still not sure about renting/selling. I think we are veering towards selling up but no firm decision.
You may already do this, but we read the Canberra Times online every day. It's useful and helps build up a picture if what's going on there. Worth having a look.
Keep in touch and let me know how things are going.
Wendy
#15
Re: New Member
Hi Wendy,
Just got back this morning from a 2wk hol in Ibiza with my little one Lucy and 25 members of my family. Other half Darren did not join us due to work commitments so it was hard work with Lucy she ran me ragged, so much bloody energy. Done mountains of washing aswell. When I was away got good news that we passed our TRA it's came back really quick. Must get back into it and send off our police checks and fill out our sponsorship and visa apps.
I will check out Canberra Times online. Take care.
Catherine xx
Just got back this morning from a 2wk hol in Ibiza with my little one Lucy and 25 members of my family. Other half Darren did not join us due to work commitments so it was hard work with Lucy she ran me ragged, so much bloody energy. Done mountains of washing aswell. When I was away got good news that we passed our TRA it's came back really quick. Must get back into it and send off our police checks and fill out our sponsorship and visa apps.
I will check out Canberra Times online. Take care.
Catherine xx