I forgot to say that there was snow on top of Mt. Wellington for the first time this year on Sunday morning, but not enough for guys to drive up, fill the back of their utes and come into town and snowball people-that usually happens in March....

Hi Sam

Did you speak to Anne? Send me an email - [email protected] - I am the resettlement officer and may be able to help.. Kind regards. Joanna.

No CV's are pretty much the same I think, as long as it has all the details employers are looking for i think it's ok. Duncan's current employers actually took him on with out seeing his CV.

The food shopping is about the same as Uk, some things are cheaper some are more expensive, but I would say that I spend the same amount each week as I did in Sainsburys. There are no Aldi's or lidls out here, I think that Aldi's will come soon as I saw them in Melbourne.

We stayed at Graham Court Appartments in New Town it's the next suburb down from where we are now and it's about 10-15 mins drive into Hobart from there. So its a good base, and they have self contained units with 2 bedrooms and kitchen etc.

When you arrive you can come round to me and use the internet to find jobs and a rental, if you like. That was our biggest hurdle when we arrived as Duncan worked from day one, so I had the burden of finding somewhere to live, dragging Alex along with me everywhere I went. They don't take to kindly to a 3 year old boy making a nuisance in the internet cafe's! Give Joanna an email too, I noticed she's put her email address on here, she will help you guys out too if you need it. She very kindly wrote us a lovely reference to get a rental, as you need references out here to get a rental!

I am very excited for you, I can't wait to meet you guys and swap experiences! Have you contacted any of the companies I emailed you for your hubby yet? Only downer for you is you'll be arriving in winter But atleast you will be here!

Good luck with all your plans

Kerry

OOOps just realised it was Anne that helped us out! Hi Jo You were on maternity leave weren't you? Hows the baba?

Hi Kerry, what kind of reference do you need to get a rental? We have never rented so haven't got previous landlords that could be referees..and Andy probably wont start work until after we've found somewhere to live.... I have read before that some people just pay 3 or 6months rent in advance to secure a property?
I previously got in touch with Joanna when we were in the visa stages and she was very helpful back then...had you been in touch with her and Anne the resettlement officers before leaving the UK or just when you arrived on the Island?

hey there

we had never rented before either- we got a letter from our bank manager stating we had always paid our mortgage on time as well as the annual mortgage statement showing we had never been in arrears.
We also got some personal refs saying we were trustworthy etc.
We also got the estate agent selling our house to do us a letter stating that the house was very well looked after
We also offered to pay 6 months upfront but they didnt want it so our refs must have been good !!

HTH

Nat xx

i love your " growing a second head" tag line !!! well after nearly 3 years I must definately have one !!

Hi Kerry
Its very kind of you to offer to let us use your internet- that would be great ! are you sure ? (we've got 3 kids remember) I am going round in circles at the mo, and not getting much sorted ! Its quite tricky as we are running a business here, and trying to get that sorted out too. We are also renting out the house, and had the agents round to tell us all about it, and we need to do some work on it, put a shower in and decorate, and do some work on the electrics, so plenty of things to sort out yet.
It is a pain that we will be arriving in Winter I know, but it cant be helped. I dont mind the colder weather anyway. I have been doing loads of research, trying to find a good area for us. But it all depends on where Karl gets a job really. I havent emailed any of the contacts yet, but had a look on the web. Need to work on Karl's CV with him, but he's never here! in Scotland today, up at 3am and wont be back till tomorrow. This is one of the reasons we're coming to Tas!
I'll have a look at the Graham Court apartments now.
Thanks a lot

Hi all
Someone called Anne Kavic was helping us a while back from the resettlement dept. Pretty good too.......then nothing
Nice to see Joanna is available though
Anyone heard of a company called 'Hazell Brothers' (Bros)?
Or 'Roaring 40's'?
Both have rung my hubby last week.
Beth x x

Hi Nat, thanks for the info I said to Kerry (Kezzabird) earlier today that we will try and do all the things you've both suggested - ie, get character references prior to leaving the UK, and provide copies of our bank statements / mortgage statements etc....
I know you live in Howrah now, but whereabouts did you start off on the Island? There's so many places to choose from area wise - we're going to find it difficult to choose!

I have spent more than 4 hours today doing paper shredding! What a boring job - but has got to be done - it's all these silly things i dont want to leave until the last minute!!!! Worse thing is Andy being self-employed - so there was 100's of invoices etc and tax/accounts stuff going back to about 2002! I also got rid of anything prior to Jan 2007 for all other stuff of ours.....will probably reduce all that stuff as well within the next few months.... amazing how much paperwork can accumulate and i'm quite organised with folders etc etc....

oh well, enough of my whinging!

http://www.hazellbros.com.au/

http://www.roaring40s.com.au/index.p...entView&id=100

but probably not these guys:

http://www.roaring40skayaking.com.au/

Yeah that's them.....well the first two anyway....LOL
Roaring 40's rung hubby last week asking him if he would be willing to work in South Australia for 6 days of the week on a wind farm they are doing.
Hubby kindly refused........but they then rung Hazell Bros telling them about my hubby's experience and CV......so they rung my hubby the other day for a long chat.
Beth x x

Hi ya Beth

Are you thinking of coming to Tas now?

Duncan was offered a job with Hazel Bros, they are a good family run business, very respected company in Tas they sponser lots of good events. But Duncan was told by someone that they work their people hard and expect a lot of one person. But then Duncan's profession is a lot different to your hubby's, so his profession might be a little bit more respected. He declined the job offer in favour for a different company, a bit more laid back.

Its very good news that they phoned him up though, they didn't phone Duncan, even though they had his details. So they are obviously very interested in hiring your hubby.

Kerry
X

I asked someone I work with and he said people worked as hard (at Hazell's)as they needed to same as anywhere else. Sometime's people can have a bad experience and it taint's their whole view. Until you look at it through your own eyes you can never know.

Don't know if it happens in the UK but Aussie's love to get in your ear and put their worplace's down (experiencing this myself at the moment big time :curse: )

We had never rented before either.
We found a place (that allows dogs x 3) within a week.
We did not have jobs either at that time , we just showed a bottom line of our Westpac account proving that we could afford to pay 6 months in advance but it was not required.
There were LOADS of properties to rent - we saw this one 1st but then saw 8 others to check we were not being to hasty before coming back to this one.
Cathy

Forgot to add that one of the very most helpful things was having and address and phone number to give to people before we moved. We used a friend and also sent 2 suitcases over in advance to her. It is a favour that I would be willing to do for other people too, it put us a step ahead ..