hiya do you have info on the Blue Mountains as i have heard of it but dont know much about it. i think i saw a tv programme (place in the sun) the people had a bigger budget than me so i thought it must be very expensive there

There are a few Expats in the Albury/Wodonga area. I work with about four.
The border is no problem at all, I work in Wodonga, which is Victoria. But live in Albury, NSW. It is all classed as one really.
We do miss the UK. Mainly friends and relatives. Not so much the country itself. The easy travel to Europe, we do miss. To holiday here is much more expensive and a lot more travel.
My son and daughter did not want to come here. But now say they would not go back. Yet myself and my wife do sometimes think of going back. But both say the same. " To what? "
It is cheaper living here than UK. My 20 yr old daughter has bought her own house and she only works part time in a bank. There is no way she could afford to do the same in the UK and she did the same job there, full time. We now live in a 4 bed house with pool and have a boat and two cars. My son works as a tyre fitter and has a car and M/C. He could not afford to insure either in the UK. Yet alone run them.
Splitters Creek is only about 10 mins from Albury. On the road to Howlong. It is not in Rutherglen, that is a different area completely in Victoria. Rutherglen is where all the Vineyards are. We will be going there on the Queens birthday weekend for the annual Winery Walkabout. Or piss up as it's commonly known.
You may get some info on jobs etc, from the local newspaper site. www.bordermail.com.au
You say you are a nurse. There are two big state Hospitals within the Albury/Wodonga area and quite a few private. There are also a lot of Nursing/Retirement homes as quite a few retirees from Melbourne/Sydney, tend to come here to retire away from the rat race and live more in the country.

we moved to oz and planned to go to Melbourne as i thought it would be cooler we stayed a couple of weeks but it was not for us, we have 3 boys but we thought it was depressive, dull maybe did,nt give it long enough .we are in the gold coast now,its just more like we thought oz would be.The heat is bearable even through 2 of us are fair.But we are glad we can say we went and looked,good luck

we are hoping to come out next year to visit the rellies, my father in law corrected me his brother lives in splitters creek and sister live in rutherglen, i thought they lived together. do you find it isolating living away from the bigger cities, my hubby wants to know if it is the middle of nowhere ?
from what i have seen it appears to be a large area is this right?

Where in Durham are you - we came out here from Easington. Come to Brisvegas instead of Melbourne or Sydney - it's class up here

the heat does concern me and that is one of the reason we were thinking of melbourne, but as we havent visited oz yet we will have to see for our selves.
did your boys settle ok im worried about that my boys,will by the time we get there will be,7,9,11 what is it like around the gold coast is it expensive as we only have a budget of $3k would we get a decent 4 bed house there ?
what are the schools like there? How long have you been there?
sorry for all the questions but as they say forearmed is fore warned.
Mandy

Brandon, my other half spent his child hood at Murton so know Easington quite well.My parents live at Sherburn Village. Dad worked at Hetton pit as well as Easington (yonks ago)
How long have you lived in oz? what made you choose Brisbane? Do they get a lot of rain as every time i watch a place down under it is always raining there?
Mandy

Hi Mandy,

Can I recommend a good book to you? I read it when I was in your situation of not knowing where to start and where to look to live. Its called

Live and Work in Australia and New Zealand
by Deborah Penrith and Susan Kelly
(ISBN 1-85458-330-1)


It cost about £12.95

I found it invaluable as a source of info right at the beginning. It gave me all the general info I needed and then I found BE and get lots more specific info from all the lovely people on here! (thanks guys! ).

Theres also a new Australia and New Zealand Magazine out now. It comes out Bi monthly next edition is due out on 2nd May (I think). You can buy it in WHSmiths or subscribe to it tel: 01225786884. It costs £3.75 in the shop or you can get a discount if you subcribe for a year I think.

Hope this help.

Jackie x

got the mag it is good , didnt know about the book though, any ideas where i could get it from it sounds like that would be just right for me? i cant believe how helpful people have been to the begginers like me.
Mandy

Hills in Sunderland, Waterstones in Durham

I would think any good book shop in the travel section. If not they could order it for you with the ISBN number I have given you. You could try Amazon too.

It covers nearly everything you need to know in general terms.....working, schooling, buying a property, pensions, daily life, starting a business......etc.
I highly recommend it!

Jackie x

Albury/Wodonga is over a large area, but still only has a population of around 95000. Albury is the major city of the two, population approx 55000 and has a very good city centre. I originally came from the Wolverhampton area and Albury is probably spread over a bigger area than Wolverhampton. Yet Wolvo has a population of 250000+. Albury city centre is about as big as back home also, without the crowds or traffic. I don't miss the big cities. Albury is better. Whenever I go to Sydney or Melbourne, it reminds me of back home. Overcrowded and intimidating city centres.
Albury is one of the largest regional areas in Australia and is not in the middle of nowhere. It is close to the Hume Highway, which is the main road from Sydney to Melbourne. 3.5hrs drive to Melbourne, 6.5hrs to Sydney.
It also has it's own airport with regular flights to Sydney/Melbourne, 7days a week, about every half hr.
We also have the river Murray. Australias largest river and Lake Hume. The Lake holds 6 times more water than Sydney Harbour and is 230miles around the shoreline.
A 1.5 hr drive in winter and you can be in Australias largest ski resort, Falls Creek. We are also close to a range of National Parks and boating, fishing , 4 wheel driving , camping areas. All of which are very popular pastimes here.
All our friends from the UK who have been here, have loved it and are planning to return.
We get a varied climate as well. Hot dry, long summer, was as high as 43c on New years day. Spring & Autumn, just nice mid 20's. Winter, daytime temp about 8-12c, but we do get -2c at night, due to being close to the Mountains.
If you want any more info, just ask. No problem.

If your hubby successfully transfers to the Australian army then I think that this will limit the places that you can live. I know Townsville is one of the places.

thanks we will check that out, as it is hard finding areas that the mil are as the army for obvious reasons are reluctant to tell us any possible locations we could live at all info gratefully recieved.
Mandy

hi there,my boys are 17,14,10,At first it was like a holiday.we have been here since xmas before that nsw There are various house prices depending where you live.We are having a house built ,it does save you money but long wait. The schools seem good the boys have made friends quickly it helps when you have a skatepark on your doorstep The aussies are very friendly. hope this helps Also that book, we got ours from tesco,s on line