Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

thanks for that pity we cant see it out here, if any one wants to put it on a DVD for us that would be great ;)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

I used to have a video of all there video's! sounds odd but you know what I mean and I think they did a few around that way, didnt realise Rio was one! I think Save a Prayer was another.

yep have to fly to mainland, bit of a pain to be honest. our flight to Melbourne on this last trip had the time changed, meant we were stuck in Mel aiport for an extra 5 hrs, nothing we could do about it. Its the same in UK Manchester to Heathrow pain in the arse adds hours onto your trip.

:)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

LOL local being the operative word, if you live outside Hobart you drop off the radar! We had so much support before arriving as we are on a state sponsered visa, as soon as we told them we were moving north they didnt want to know.

In fact they didnt even know Bridport was in Tasmania, thought we were moving to the mainland, we had to get a map of Tas out and show them where it was! LOL

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hey Possum,
I know what you mean with Hobart its like Australians who say they are going to London when they are going to the UK, Hobarts a nice place and I enjoy visiting but I'd much rather be around Launceston or the north coast!
I love Launceston its an amazing place. Really looking forward to festivale!!!
Gary Vikky and Hollie

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

yep, well guess I should be used to it being from ooop north of England and ruled by London :lol:

dont know if you saw my post other day but theres a lot of stuff happening in Bridport over Australia day weekend if you wanted a trip out. Some stuff happening at the beach, a concert on, art exhibition and market :thumbup:

http://www.northeasttasmania.com.au/...=103&Itemid=42

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi all, thanks for the replies about the contact person for the Tas Gov re: relocating. I had a couple of questions i wanted to ask again nearer to the time we are due to come over (whenever that might be :blink:), so thanks!

Sounds like there's a North/South divide pretty much similar to any Island/Country :lol: Maybe we should do a survey one day to see where
those from oop North (as Possums would say ;)), relocated to & the same for any Southerners...:) I wonder if you naturally drift to the familiar :D:lol:

Hope you've all had good weather on the Island this weekend!
We have had no viewers on the house this week, no surprise there :(

Have a good week everyone.

Cathy :)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

I was just having a look at the link you put on here. Those life-size carvings
at Legerwood/Ringarooma look really cool. :thumbup:

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi all, I'm a Newbie to this site, it's a great research tool, enjoying reading lots of posts!!We - my husband, baby son & I are thinking of relocating to Australia / Tasmania from France (we're Brits though!). To me Tasmania sounds the best area for us, as I don't like it too hot, but don't mind the cold! It's not very wet in Tasmania is it? & I take it you don't get the droughts / bush fires like some parts of the mainland get? I keep horses here in France & would want to keep horses in Tasmania (if we decide to move over!), I wouldn't want to worry that they have nothing to eat (grass)! From what I've read so far Tasmania sounds pretty green! Are there any areas which would suit best that anyone can recommend?One of the main things that has bothered me so far is the hole in the Ozone Layer that can pass over Australasia - is it a big health risk (Cancer springs to mind!)?Having relocated once already, we're pretty savvy with the missing family, friends part etc, is it fairly easy to integrate & make friends in Tasmania?Finally, we are hoping to come over in August / September, is this a good time of the year to visit, taking into account we have a baby? How long would anyone suggest we need spend in Tasmania (we want to go to the mainland as well).Any replies will be greatly received!

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi and welcome!

I can answer some of your questions and I'm sure some of the others could add more.

Tassie is not as hot as most of the mainland and when it is hot, it does not tend to last as long. Winters are not as cold as in the UK (in my opinion) and there seems to be less days of fog and greyness and more sunshine even if its chilly! We arrived in Winter last year and thought it was so much better than our typical English weather which was grey, foggy and damp, certainly in Somerset anyway!

Depending where you are on the island, then rain and green grass (for horses!) can still be a problem. The midlands area tends to be very dry, and over the Eastern shore (Richmond, Sorrell etc) also seems to very dry. We live in the South and the Huon valley area is quite green and I believe many places up North are very green. But personally I haven't seen anywhere in Oz that looks green like the UK!

I'm not sure of the science behind the ozone layer and Australia'a high rates of skin cancer but it is a problem. Even on days when the thermometer is not particularly high, you can really feel the intensity of the sun, and you need to take care, I've been caught out once already!

I think Aug/Sept would be ok to visit, you should get some sunny days, even if cool and there will less tourists around! When we visited in 07, we had 6 days here and it wasn't really long enough but it gave us enough to know this would be our choice, we also visited Adelaide and Melbourne in our visit. We went to Launceston, Freycinet National Park, Hobart and surrounding areas, we would have liked more time but getting leave from work and the overall cost of the holiday meant we couldn't.

Good luck with your plans, we were originally looking at New Zealand but after picking up lots of info about Tas at an emigration show in the UK, we felt that Tas offered us beautiful scenery, wildlife, great local wine and food, and was less isolated that NZ. So here we are!

Sam

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi Kastell!:)

I would second everything that Sammy said, but would like to add that Tassie is not immune to bush fires, we have had a few, last year was really bad as it was sooo dry. This year we seem to be getting a bit more rain, but it normally is confined to the more bushy parts of Tassie where all the pine plantations are etc. My OH works in the bush, and hears a lot over the special UHF radio they have out here, and a lot of little fires happen but are usually contained very quickly, last year though we did have quite a few out of control fires that took a couple of days to contain. Tassie's fire dept is magnificent a lot of our crews actually went over to California when they had out of control bush fires to volunteer during our winter their summer. Anyone can volunteer to help out at their local fire station, you get training and all that, and they have a very good social scene. I was going to volunteer this year but then I found out I was pregnant! So decided to wait a few more years before volunteering.

If you have any more questions fire away (oops wrong choice of words considering what's just been written!) lol:lol:

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi All, does anyone know of the ABC Building at 1 Brooker Highway in Hobart? i know the motel we stayed in was based on the Brooker Highway, but cant remember seeing any "big" office type buildings near there...(although i wouldnt have been looking for them i guess at the time!).

thanks
Cathy :)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

HI,
We live in the north of Tasmania not far from Launceston, And round here most of the people seem to have horses. The person across from us has 4 horses and a foal which was born on Nov 9th last year. A lot of farmers round here this year have had two crops of hey so no problems feeding the horses. There is a local horse club which meet once a month down the road from us.
With horse you will have no problem.
As for coming in Sept thats not a bad time, Still lots of things to do and can get some lovely cold nights which are good for sitting in front of fire and relaxing at night.
I think if you come over here you will love it!!! Tassie is a superb place!!!!!
Gary

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi all, thanks for your replies, very helpful. Sam we were also looking at NZ but came to the same conclusion as you! Does Tasmania get really busy with Tourists? We're originally from Cornwall & the amount of Tourists there in the Summer used to drive us crazy!!! In respect of the sun's intensity I suppose you just adapt & cover up more / slap on the sunblock? I'm probably being over worried as have a fair headed son!!! Kezzabird my hubbie was thinking of volunteering for the lifeboat when we were in the UK, but then we left!! He'd probably like to volunteer in Tasmania (he loves the sea!). What are the roads like in Tasmania? My hubbies also into motorbikes! I must say so far that the North side of the island sounds more appealing to me, more green, etc, Devonport / Launceston area perhaps? Anyone live up there who can tell me what it's like? I was told by someone that it can be quite remote in the North though? We are country / coast lovers & the idea of living in a town / city would be horrible, but wouldn't want to isolate ourselves either!! Integrating & making friends is important to us. Are there many events in Tasmania, i.e. festivals, horse shows / agricultural shows, sporting events?Travelbug, I see you've been trying to get to Tasmania for ages, hope you get there soon!!!!Claire.

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi Gary, we must of posted at the same time! Thanks for the info, going by your username I take it your a biker? If so what are the roads like? Also are jobs easy to come by up North? Do you have any estate agent links for your area? Must say, can't wait to come over!! Thanks again, Claire.

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

I think from a keeping horses point of view the North of the island may be greener but then is also depends on what work you are looking for as well. We headed to the South as my husband did not have a job, but had already made contact with some people (who were all based in Hobart!) so we did not have much choice really. Having said that, it's lovely here, we live in Margate which is about 20 - 30 minutes from Hobart, Bruny Island is easily accessible, the sea is never far away, there are lots of water based hobbies if you want to take them up, the Huon valley is very pretty etc etc.

Keep asking away, I'm sure one of us will be able to help.

Sam

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Tassie is motorbike world!!! There are sooo many Harleys out here it's not funny!! There are no major motorways, and if you get off the beaten track off season you will find wonderful quiet roads. We once took a road trip in September and didn't see a single vehicle for 1 hour and half!!! There are loads of bike groups to join etc etc. Your Hubby will be in motorbike heaven!! The north is way greener than down here, we live in the country and the farmers down here struggled to get one good crop of hay this year. We are on 12 acres and our land is completely yellow!:(

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi Kastell.
Roads over here are ok but some roads change to gravel so need to be carefull if your not sure where you are going. But in general they are good. You need to be carefull speeding as the police sit in places you would never think of them sitting in the UK. (Learnt from experiance!!!) If your husband is looking for a motorbike sportsrider in Luanceston seems a good shop.
As for sporting events there are a few, AFL comes to Launceston a few times, There are lots of country shows which have horse riding at.
We live 26 kms from Launceston and its lovely. There are a few properties around here for sale just go onto www.realestate.com.au The estate agents round here are Elders and Roberts, If you enter in postcode 7267. you will find some nice places. Some with some good land.
IF you need any more help feel free to PM me or ask on here.
Gary Vikky and Hollie

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

HI sorry, Forgot to put it in the last message, What sort of work is it you will be looking for?? I came over with no job and I got a got with the Commonwealth bank in a call centre and its not a bad job. Pay is $43k per year. They seem to advertise a lot, I love the job never done anything like this before I came over.
Any more things you want to ask feel free.
Gary

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Tasmania sounds better by the minute :thumbsup:!!! Can't wait to tell hubbie when he gets back from work!! Sounds like there's plenty going on & things to do. My hubbie is a very competent motorbike rider, gravel etc never phases him (he has a DR800), infact I think he likes challenging roads & expect he would be searching for them!! It sounds like the North will be best for us, so will research into property prices etc, thanks for the web links. My hubbie is a builder / fabricator, so am assuming finding work shouldn't be too difficult??? I worked in administration (local council) but am happy to try something different. Gary do you have some photo's of your area which you could post / pm me? Thanks everyone!! Claire.

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi there - and welcome to the thread :)
thanks for that - we hope we do too! It is a lovely place...:thumbsup:
Good Luck with your move / decision making!

Cathy
:)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

the carvings are brilliant, there is absolutely nothing else in Ledgerwood though :lol:

Hi welcome :)

just another to add that Tassie (along with the rest of Australia) is horse crazy, we are in a small seaside town called Bridport on the north east coast, about 30 mins from Gary. also lots of horses kept around here, along with racing horses/trotters. a local bloke takes his trotters in the sea most days, they love it :)

september would be better than August, though can still be lot of winds and rains up north. summer starts 1st Dec. I think you could get a good idea of the island in a couple of weeks especially if you research where you want to visit. Here is a good website for info

http://www.discovertasmania.com/

as for the ozone the hole isnt there all the time http://www.theozonehole.com/ but Sammy is right the UV here is very high.

Kay :)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

HI,
Here are a couple of pictures from the local area.
The picture by the water is George Town which is on the North Coast of Tassie about 60 km north of Launceston. Then there is a pictrue of just the local landscape, Then there is a picture of the foal which was born last November.
With you having the baby there are lots of things round here from swimming for babys to Music Tree, (song and dance for babys) and also Mother and Daughter Yoga. We have a little 7 month old daughter and we love it here. My wife breastfeeds and is a member of the breast feeding association and they have meetings so that has been good for Vikky to get to know people.
Feel free to ask us any more questions its a pleasure.
Gary Vikky and Hollie

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi, thanks for your replies, links & pics Gary & Kay, been busy researching - it gets addictive!!!! Gary my son is nearly 6 months (breastfed too!!), so great to hear there are plenty of clubs, a great way to meet new people. I do want to get back to work in the future though, do you know if good childcare is readily available & what the costs are? Also I have a few more questions, if everyone wouldn't mind helping me with, I've been told by a few people who have Tassie friends that work can be difficult to find in Tasmania & the wages are poor, less than the mainland - is this right? Is there a job centre website which I can look at (I tried google but with no luck!)? Also I read that the cost of living is comparable to the UK, (utility bills / food etc), is there an equivalent to Council Tax, or any other rates you have to pay on property? Also motoring expenses / insurances, are they comparable to the UK?

I've had a look at property & we seem to like the Bernie / Wynyard areas, as hubbie would like to be close to the sea, are there many job opportunities in that area?

Has anyone brought their pets with them from the UK? Is it really expensive? We'd love to bring our dogs.

We have decided to go ahead & apply for a Visa, based on what we've seen / heard so far (scary:unsure:), been reading up on the requirements & sounds quite lengthy, a bit more complicated as hubbie's self employed! We were going to do it ourselves but not sure if it would be better to go via an agency - any thoughts / recommendations please?

Thanks again everyone.

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi there :) I know everyone else will respond on different bits and pieces - but just wanted to comment on the work situation and visa application side of things. My other half is a Sheetmetal Worker/Thermal Insulator (your hubbie would refer to him as a lagger in the trade). He is also self-employed.
We applied for a 136 Skilled Independent which i presume you would be doing as well? We decided to use an Agency (Go Matilda who i could fully recommend - very professional / very competitive with their charges), as we were concerned by the fact that my OH had not fully completed his original apprenticeship - therefore at the time of our TRA application we could only go on references/proof of work in his trade (and i think since we applied some rules have changed and possibly you're not able to do that anymore). It actually took us more than 6 months to accumulate all the references we needed from all the previous people he had worked for / been sub-contracted to before we could do the TRA application... With all good intentions many people agreed to provide the info - but had to be repeatedly chased up to deliver the goods! I'm just saying this to forewarn you that things like references etc can take ages & cause delays. From start to finish it took us over 18months to obtain our visa's - i know some people can get theirs a lot quicker, some take longer and i guess a lot of it depends on situation/occupation etc.

Before we visited Tasmania during our visa validation trip - we actually looked up all the businesses in the Hobart area's of Tasmania using the yellowpages.com.au - you could probably do something similar with regards to building contractors, whereas we put in Insulation Companies and picked out the ones you could tell from their adverts handled Industry/Construction?metal work. We managed to get Email addresses etc and organise a few meetings with people prior to our arrival. We got the feeling that people are reluctant to offer any jobs until you're actually living on the Island. We also know that the wages for my OH will be considerably lower than what he was earning in the UK and that he'll be working more hours than what he's used to doing now.

We found during our visit that things like food shopping etc were actually for some stuff far more expensive than the UK - but i know the locals will advise you on that tomorrow....

I just realised some of the above sounds a bit negative, which i dont mean it to (as you know we still want to go! :):)).

Cathy :)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

I just remembered - i think a lot of people use the following website to search for jobs :-

www.seek.com.au

I did just put in builder though and only one job in Tas was advertised but that was for a site manager - so i do think that you'd be better off contacting contractors directly as they may not advertise the normal way which is often the case for tradies...or they may just use local papers etc instead, you probably know already its more a case of getting to know people and finding out about work by word of mouth.

But i did just put in Building contractors on www.yellow.com.au - and Burnie and loads of companies came up - so i'm sure you'd have some luck getting info about hourly rates / superannuation etc from some of them.... Most people on the Island seem much more forthcoming with that kind of info than companies in the UK would be ;)
I should have also said that the people my OH met with said that there was a fair amount of work for his trade, one did say he had about a year's available work for my OH but most of that year has now passed :(, so i dont know whether the situation would be the same....we're just hoping it is..:)

I work in the UK myself (although only 21hrs for the last 5yrs) - in Reinsurance Accounts & my former employer (which is now my new companies client) does have offices in both Launceston and Hobart. I was until recently unaware of the Launceston office, so i am actually considering contacting both to see what work prospects i may have myself. After making some enquiries with my former boss who is now based in their Sydney office it's very possible if they had vacancies in my line of work that i would earn more than what my OH could...which is not the case over here so it's an option we may consider ourselves - although i was kind of looking forward to having a break after 20 years! :lol:

Good luck with deciding what to do with your visa application etc - it's all a bit scary - but a bit exciting at the same time! :thumbsup:

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hope that helps a bit, most of it is just my experience of things, others may have different or extra things to add.

Sam

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Sorry can't help with child care costs I'm afraid, I'm a stay at home mum. I did send my son to an early learning center for 3 hours 2 mornings a week which was around $14 for a morning. I haven't put him in a proper nursery, so can't help with nursery fees I'm afraid. I will ask a few mums and see if I get some info out of them and let you know.:)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi Sam, thanks for the info, been looking at the government website re the VISA, my head is spinning!!!:blink: Think we may have to go via an agency, as our situation not straight forward!!! Like Cathy's OH my OH doesn't have any formal qualifications either but doesn't look like it'll be impossible, just lots of evidence to provide. The good news is that his job is on the critical list, so fingers crossed. I was a bit shocked at the cost of applying!:eek:

What a shame about your dog, at least you found her a good home & she's happy. We've got 3 dogs, so will cost allot of money, really going to have to think long & hard about them, if we can't bring them it will be a real gut wrench :(

Also thanks Cathy for all your info, I have PM'd you.

Claire.

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi All :) Did any of the tassie wannabee's see the Wanted Down Under episode yesterday morning?

I dont think the programme showed Hobart at it's best really which is a shame, although it still looked great. I can't remember the name of the town they took them to in the "country", but for anyone that didn't see the episode they were also shown houses in Oakdown and Moonah. The woman liked the country house the best - but they weren't overly keen on the other two (but having trailed through realestate.com.au for the last couple of years they certainly didn't pick the best houses they could to show them!). The couple had a budget of approx £185,000 (including a mortgage) but as usual the programme showed them houses that were over their budget! :sneaky:
For the duration of their stay they were based in North Hobart in a nice old house (wouldn't have minded that myself - although it had no garden as such).
The guy involved was a Stone Mason and overall at the end they did "pick" Australia above the UK...

They were taken to Bonorong Wildlife Park to see Tassie Devils etc and on another day to see snow. They made a comment on the ozone hole and showed the slip, slap, slop advert during the episode, and really commented on how far away Tasmania is from the UK compared to other Oz destinations,
so i'll no doubt have my Mum commenting on that next time i see her! :lol:

But it was soooooo nice seeing Tas on the TV for a change instead of all the other main area's of Australia that normally get shown. :thumbsup:

Cathy :)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi Cathy,

We watched it too, glued to the TV!!!!! Love'd the countryside & the old buildings, nice to see some History! Didn't realise that you could Ski in Tassie, always wanted to try sking!! It was good to hear about the Ozone Layer & that they give daily forecasts, also great to see playschools etc! My OH wasn't very impressed with the houses & from what I've seen on the web they didn't choose very good examples. Good that the couple voted for Tassie!!:thumbsup: I wonder if the BBC does follow up programes of those who actually make the move, to see what they think say a year on??

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hey Kastell

Here is a link to Snow watch webcams, Ben Lomond would be the one that will interest you as its ooop north, we usually go to Mount Field as it's only a 45 min drive for us. There won't be any snow this time of year, but if you check the webcams in winter you will see plenty of snow! :thumbsup: It's a good idea to check the webcams before you leave too, as sometimes it gets so bad you have to have snow chains and a 4 wheel drive to get up there. There is some good skiing to be had at winter time, great fun for some. But for me I will stick to snow men and snow angels! lol:lol:

http://www.ski.com.au/snowcams/australia/tas/index.html

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

obviously didnt get to see it Cathy but sounds like they showed the difference between seeing houses on real estate and seeing them in real life :lol: also they wouldnt get a real nice house for their budget in a decent area of Hobart. I've said it before houses are so overpriced here, lot of old shacks with big price tags.

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Thanks for that link Kezzabird, clicked on the link & definitely no snow now!!:lol:

Possums I think you may be right about seeing pics on the real estate sites, agents are very cunning with the photo's they post / can be really deceiving!!!:sneaky:

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Been looking at property round here and some nice places going for around $250k, If you have around $370k you can have a nice place with land!! And lots of out buildings.
Hope you all have a lovely Australia day, I have to work for second year running otherwise Id be off to Latrobe.
Gary Vikky and Hollie

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

I thought you might have done :D I can honestly say hand on heart that the place is much nicer in the flesh than how it appeared on that particular episode - so if you liked what you saw - then you would REALLY like it if you were actually there...:) The old buildings is something i really like - especially in town centres - i think they give so much more character to a place, although it was shocking how many buildings are in such a bad state and need government funding to be repaired. :(
They have done follow ups on previous series - i remember one about a family that moved to Perth and they did go back and see them a year or so later for an update....so yes it'll be interesting to see if they do the same - but i think a lot of the families we've watched so far have picked the UK over Australia, so maybe they wont have enough families to do the follow up programmes. :confused: But you never know! :)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi Kerry, it was quite funny as the guy was walking about in some snow with his shorts on - and sandals :lol: I dont think they ventured up high enough to get to much of the snow....at one point he leaned over to pick up snow (with their baby son in a babycarrier on his back) and i thought the little un was going to tip out! :eek:

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Hi Possums :) The houses they were shown were quite nice, and perfectly liveable (unlike some i've seen advertised for sale!), and quite big in comparison to the average UK home, but for the money they were definitely overpriced compared to some that we've seen advertised - that have appeared to be much nicer (whether they are or not could be another story :lol:) I reckon the TV producers are told to plug one particular agents properties! :sneaky:
One thing the couple commented on about one house was the fact that out of side windows they could just see the roof tops of some neighbour's houses (literally the guttering/tiles) and they didn't like that. But me and Andy both said that unless you buy a bigger plot that's more than likely going to happen, and the only reason it doesnt happen so much in the UK is because we're mainly used to two-storey houses, and looking out just either the front or back windows of a house. There's probably not quite so many places that have side windows as well like villa/bungalow style places..(unless you're semi-detached or detached).
The guy on the TV show actually wanted to live by the coast - but they picked Hobart as their trial destination because the company that did Stone Masonry did more restoration work which is what the guy specialised in.... I often get the feeling watching these programmes that "if only" they'd picked one of the other destinations they'd have been much more pleased with what they saw :lol:

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

You do have some lovely properties for sale in the North :thumbup: and there is quite a few really nice ones all over. But you do seem to get much more for your money in the Northern area's.
I cant mention the word outbuildings/workshops to my Andy without him getting all excited :lol: He'd have us living in a shack if it came with one of those huge double workshops with heating/toilet etc we see every now and then....:D

Echoing Gary - have a great Australia Day everyone - whatever you're doing and whatever you've got planned! :thumbsup:

Cathy :)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Don't know if you ever got an answer to this? The ABC isn't a big office block, its quite a low building right on the roundabout, near a concrete monstrosity of a motel called something like Fountainside or Fountainhead.

http://www.transport.tas.gov.au/traffic_cameras - I can't get the cameras to load tonight, but one of the cameras is right on the roundabout (well its a block away on the roof of the Royal Hobart, and looks at the roundabout.

Hope this helps a bit! :)

Re: Tasmania (continued!)
 

Just to add - Tassie Fire Service site and for info on Tassie worst fires see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Tasmanian_fires