Carlos the Jackal

Hi Catherine,

I'm out here on my own. Finally plucked up the courage to make the move. The whole process was a mixture of excitement and apprehension. There were highs and lows, but I'm really glad I'm here now. I just wish I moved out years ago.

Lifestyle is good. Lots of sports available and lots of activites for kids. Lots of good things going on. And I don't miss the UK ratrace, in fact I've had no homesick pangs at all.

Canberra is split into areas, and in that respect the closer to the centre of those areas the more expensive it becomes. There's also the 'popular' areas that keeps house prices high too, e.g. Kingston.
There's all the usual factors to deciding where to buy a house, i.e. where are the shops, where's work, what type of house & garden you want. In your case you will need to scope out pre school and possibly primary schools if you intend to stay in one area for a while.

As well as the shopping plaza's you will also get your local shops, generally run by IGA, where you can get your essentials - just like the little Tesco's/Somerfields you get in the UK.

For your information, it takes me about 20 mins to get from my home to Civic, i.e. Canberra central. Considering it used to take me nearly that to get from home to work in Bristol across 2.5 miles, you can get an idea of what the traffic is like. You do get traffic here but it is confined to certain routes at specific times, but still not as bad as it is in the UK.

I chose the south side of Canberra as I like walking as its closer to the hills here. If you didn't already know...go onto www.allhomes.com.au to start getting a feel for house prices.

I could probably go on and on, but some of the fun is finding out things for yourself :-)

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Carl

jajnlis

Carl and all,

You are in the next suburb up from me !!!! We are in Calwell.........

We have been here 6 months now also came out on 137 STNI - - for what it is worth, th Live In Canberra team are worth keeping in touch with. Nice, genuine people just wanting people to settle in to the Nation's Capital

Gonna have to arrange another party in the park

JAJ

Carlos the Jackal

Hi JAJ,

yes, I was looking at houses in Calwell and Conder, but found my house in Isabella...and it shaves 5 minutes off by journey into work.

A party in the park sounds good.

I hear most of the Canberrans go off down to the coast over Xmas, so most of the parks will be free.

Carl

Polley

Hi,

Just an update, have not been on here since we lodged our visa application
17th Nov 2007. Today we have had confirmation from our agent we have been allocated a case officer who requested our medicals. We had chest x-rays yesterday and have our medicals booked 28th May.

I am really nervous, now aswell as excited!

Catherine

jane BK

At last it seems we are not the only ones going to Canberra! We are a family of 6 on a 475 application which is going very slowly! Hope to make it there for Christmas but am not holding my breath at the moment.

Polley

Hi Jane,

Nice to hear from you, there does seem quite a few people going to Canberra now. When we first started our process back in July there wasn't alot of people heading that way but it seems to have picked up.

Catherine

mcstu1

moving to Canberra in just over 4 weeks with wife and 3 year old and 6 month old!!

Polley

Hi

Just wanted to ask what accommodation you have sorted out for you and your family as we haven't looked at anything lately.

Catherine

mcstu1

hi,

after much looking around we have initially booked into quality suites on northbourne, not the cheapest option but the nicest looking one. its about $200 a night for a 2 bed apartment so the plan is to find a rental house ASAP!! hoping to find a rental for around $400 a week.

magic.no7

Schhhhhhhs! Polley
Don't let the everyone know we are here,we like it as it is
Where to live- well if renting or buying its basically inner city areas are pricey and further out the cheaper it gets, more fuel and roo's though, south side the cheapest as less stores and main facilities, but for buying everywhere is expensive considering build quality for winters. And spring is great -3 6am 11 9am and 20 by midday.
All areas are good and the whole state can be crossed in 25 mins so no worries just the kids schools and work will determine how you make up your mind. If you have an area to work in im sure some of us can offer more advice.
M&M

magic.no7

expect another $100 for rental especially down the northbourne ave

mcstu1

not going to live longterm in northbourne area, just based there to start before scouting out all the other areas.

Polley

Just had second part of medical today, 10 days for bloods to come back and then all paperwork can be sent to LCU Sydney. Darren oh has a lazy left eye . Doc said nothing to worry about just to take a routine eye test and forward results to him to put in paperwork.

Catherine

quoll

Good to see lots of people giving Canberra a go - we get a really bad press usually but people dont see that it really is a place with lots to offer. I'm an inner north girl within walking distance to Civic but on a quarter acre block - best of all worlds really.

Polley

Hi Everyone,

Darren my oh has been checking our emails every morning hoping to hear something from agent. I have been checking on the immigration web site aswell. Today he opened email and we have just got our VISA through. We have to validate it by 10 Sept. Oh my god!!!