Melbourne - the first three months
Nov 20th 2004 | 7:10 pm
#1
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 113
From: Melbourne, AUS
Melbourne - the first three months
Hello,
It's been a long time since I last posted, I thought it would be a good time to offer up a summary of the events of the last 3 months since we arrived in Melbourne. You be the judge on whether we're typical and representative or not.
I had gone on first by myself to find a place to live for us and a job, while my wife would bring up the rear, deal with the removers, sell the house etc.
Within a week it looked like our dream of a new life here would be shattered. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats who we were bringing along. They're our kids, we have no human ones and don't want any - please, no comments. A mis-diagnosis of both of our dogs with a potentially deadly disease made them unqualified for coming to Oz.
When I heard that news, I was quite literally minutes from booking a flight back to the US. It was like having the rug pulled out from under you. The animals were days from when they were all supposed to have been flown out - and then this.
A week of frantic dealings with AQIS, vets, the pet moving company and it turned out that they had been mis-diagnosed. Re-tests came back negative with maybe a day or two to spare to make their scheduled flight, but they made it.
During all this and on top of it, my wife was trying to deal with real estate agents to get the house sold in Denver. Our timing couldn't have been worse. The US economy is ailing as it is, but Denver is worse and that affects the housing market as well. After 6 months on the market we finally have an offer, that is notably lower than original appraisals, but at least we hopefully get rid of it before the US$ drops even more than it already has.
Those of you living in the red-hot UK housing market, consider yourselves lucky.
House search:
I was staying with friends in one of the Melbourne suburbs, until I could find a place to rent, one that obviously would take pets. Unfortunately, there's an inverse correlation between how nice a rental house is and whether it will accept pets. Well, maybe one or two animals. But not for nutcases like us who bring half of Noah's ark along.
Still, I managed to find a decent house in the eastern 'burbs with a HUGE yard and great landlords who wouldn't have minded if we'd brought camels and oxen along. It's close to shopping and trains and restaurants and parks, so that'll serve us until we find a place to buy. We have lorikeets and rosellas in the trees, as well as possums and flying foxes. Our dogs are in heaven.
Job search:
Once I found a place, I brought my job search into full gear. I had already been working with a recruiter, while still in the US, for my specialty area - I'm a manager in IT/information security.
He had slowly started to get the word out on me to his clients. With his help and that of other friends here, I had 2 interviews within 3 weeks of arriving in Oz and another one the week after that. Two were with Big Four firms and another with a major international company. Of those, two led to second round interviews and resulting offers. I picked the job that I was really excited about and that seemed custom-made for my skills.
This part really couldn't have gone better.
Many have had bad experiences with recruiting firms, but the guy I worked with really came through. If you're in IT security as well (CISSP or SANS certification is important) - and please, only then, as the recruiter specialises in that area - drop me a PM and I'll get you in contact with him. Security is a booming field.
Also, if you have experience in IT auditing or Sarbanes-Oxley - we're hiring.
Finding friends and exploring:
When I wasn't house or job hunting, I spent time on my own exploring venues around Melbourne. It's stunning how open, friendly and easy-going people are here. Not just superficially, as only too common in the US, but honestly. We've already made wonderful new friends who we meet regularly with and share many interests with. Some have taken us to the spring carnival, others into the Dandenongs and some we "just" meet regularly for dinner or drinks.
Dealing with bureaucracies:
In addition we found just how easy-going dealing with ... just about everybody... is. From retailers to government agencies, "no worries" really means that they will always find a way to help you get things done.
Don't want to eat into all your cash savings to buy a car, but don't want to pay outrageous interest, yet have no credit history? No worries - just bring your US credit reports along and some bank statements. Need to pass the 100 points test to open a bank account? No worries, new arrivals just need their passport. Government tell you it taked 4 weeks to get a TFN? No worries, we're just kidding, you'll have it in 3 days.
Cost of living:
Of course, one thing that does smart, is the cost of living here compared to the US. A market of 17 million will not purchase items as cheaply as one of 280 million, but sometimes the price differences are just ridiculous. Why is a vacuum cleaner that is a Japanese brand, made in China anyway, twice as expensive? A lesson we learned quickly: stay away from "shopping centres", aka malls. You seem to pay a convenience charge on everything, just for having everything under one roof. We now do our grocery and other shopping in the little independent street stores, like Asian butchers, Swiss bakers, Indian greengrocers, etc etc, who all charge less for better produce - and often let you haggle or give you discounts when you shop closer to closing time.
The real estate market is slowly cooling off, prices in the Melbourne area are dropping, but at a snail's pace. But that's going at the same rate that the Aussie dollar is climbing, at least from a US$ PoV, so we're not gaining that much. Everything is about the *land* value - teardowns go for hundreds of thousands of dollars in desirable neighbourhoods, but the houses on them are just a forgettable outdated add-on, often with amenities that might have been considered nice in the 60s.
Summary:
All in all things so far, in 3 months, have been going almost amazingly well. Part of us is waiting for the other shoe to drop, part of us has this "meant to be" feeling. Time will tell, but at this point and with developments in the US, we really think this was one of the smarted decisions of our lives.
Mike
It's been a long time since I last posted, I thought it would be a good time to offer up a summary of the events of the last 3 months since we arrived in Melbourne. You be the judge on whether we're typical and representative or not.
I had gone on first by myself to find a place to live for us and a job, while my wife would bring up the rear, deal with the removers, sell the house etc.
Within a week it looked like our dream of a new life here would be shattered. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats who we were bringing along. They're our kids, we have no human ones and don't want any - please, no comments. A mis-diagnosis of both of our dogs with a potentially deadly disease made them unqualified for coming to Oz.
When I heard that news, I was quite literally minutes from booking a flight back to the US. It was like having the rug pulled out from under you. The animals were days from when they were all supposed to have been flown out - and then this.
A week of frantic dealings with AQIS, vets, the pet moving company and it turned out that they had been mis-diagnosed. Re-tests came back negative with maybe a day or two to spare to make their scheduled flight, but they made it.
During all this and on top of it, my wife was trying to deal with real estate agents to get the house sold in Denver. Our timing couldn't have been worse. The US economy is ailing as it is, but Denver is worse and that affects the housing market as well. After 6 months on the market we finally have an offer, that is notably lower than original appraisals, but at least we hopefully get rid of it before the US$ drops even more than it already has.
Those of you living in the red-hot UK housing market, consider yourselves lucky.
House search:
I was staying with friends in one of the Melbourne suburbs, until I could find a place to rent, one that obviously would take pets. Unfortunately, there's an inverse correlation between how nice a rental house is and whether it will accept pets. Well, maybe one or two animals. But not for nutcases like us who bring half of Noah's ark along.
Still, I managed to find a decent house in the eastern 'burbs with a HUGE yard and great landlords who wouldn't have minded if we'd brought camels and oxen along. It's close to shopping and trains and restaurants and parks, so that'll serve us until we find a place to buy. We have lorikeets and rosellas in the trees, as well as possums and flying foxes. Our dogs are in heaven.
Job search:
Once I found a place, I brought my job search into full gear. I had already been working with a recruiter, while still in the US, for my specialty area - I'm a manager in IT/information security.
He had slowly started to get the word out on me to his clients. With his help and that of other friends here, I had 2 interviews within 3 weeks of arriving in Oz and another one the week after that. Two were with Big Four firms and another with a major international company. Of those, two led to second round interviews and resulting offers. I picked the job that I was really excited about and that seemed custom-made for my skills.
This part really couldn't have gone better.
Many have had bad experiences with recruiting firms, but the guy I worked with really came through. If you're in IT security as well (CISSP or SANS certification is important) - and please, only then, as the recruiter specialises in that area - drop me a PM and I'll get you in contact with him. Security is a booming field.
Also, if you have experience in IT auditing or Sarbanes-Oxley - we're hiring.
Finding friends and exploring:
When I wasn't house or job hunting, I spent time on my own exploring venues around Melbourne. It's stunning how open, friendly and easy-going people are here. Not just superficially, as only too common in the US, but honestly. We've already made wonderful new friends who we meet regularly with and share many interests with. Some have taken us to the spring carnival, others into the Dandenongs and some we "just" meet regularly for dinner or drinks.
Dealing with bureaucracies:
In addition we found just how easy-going dealing with ... just about everybody... is. From retailers to government agencies, "no worries" really means that they will always find a way to help you get things done.
Don't want to eat into all your cash savings to buy a car, but don't want to pay outrageous interest, yet have no credit history? No worries - just bring your US credit reports along and some bank statements. Need to pass the 100 points test to open a bank account? No worries, new arrivals just need their passport. Government tell you it taked 4 weeks to get a TFN? No worries, we're just kidding, you'll have it in 3 days.
Cost of living:
Of course, one thing that does smart, is the cost of living here compared to the US. A market of 17 million will not purchase items as cheaply as one of 280 million, but sometimes the price differences are just ridiculous. Why is a vacuum cleaner that is a Japanese brand, made in China anyway, twice as expensive? A lesson we learned quickly: stay away from "shopping centres", aka malls. You seem to pay a convenience charge on everything, just for having everything under one roof. We now do our grocery and other shopping in the little independent street stores, like Asian butchers, Swiss bakers, Indian greengrocers, etc etc, who all charge less for better produce - and often let you haggle or give you discounts when you shop closer to closing time.
The real estate market is slowly cooling off, prices in the Melbourne area are dropping, but at a snail's pace. But that's going at the same rate that the Aussie dollar is climbing, at least from a US$ PoV, so we're not gaining that much. Everything is about the *land* value - teardowns go for hundreds of thousands of dollars in desirable neighbourhoods, but the houses on them are just a forgettable outdated add-on, often with amenities that might have been considered nice in the 60s.
Summary:
All in all things so far, in 3 months, have been going almost amazingly well. Part of us is waiting for the other shoe to drop, part of us has this "meant to be" feeling. Time will tell, but at this point and with developments in the US, we really think this was one of the smarted decisions of our lives.
Mike
Nov 20th 2004 | 7:52 pm
#2
¤¤¤ • ¤¤¤ • ¤¤¤ • ¤¤¤
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,867
From: Frankston South, Victoria
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Hi Mike
What a great post. You've had a slightly dodgy start but it seems to be coming together for you. And how worried must you have been about your cats and dogs?!! Hope they've settled OK too. We're coming over in March for a reccie and then move over this time next year so your post has been of great interest. Which part have you settled in?
Keep the posts coming....
D D
What a great post. You've had a slightly dodgy start but it seems to be coming together for you. And how worried must you have been about your cats and dogs?!! Hope they've settled OK too. We're coming over in March for a reccie and then move over this time next year so your post has been of great interest. Which part have you settled in?
Keep the posts coming....
D D
Nov 20th 2004 | 8:07 pm
#3
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 113
From: Melbourne, AUS
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Hi Dolly,
We've, for now, rented a house in Glen Waverley, one of the eastern suburbs. It's decently close to the trains and the Monash freeway and shopping centres.
Good luck on your relo!
Mike
We've, for now, rented a house in Glen Waverley, one of the eastern suburbs. It's decently close to the trains and the Monash freeway and shopping centres.
Good luck on your relo!
Mike
Nov 20th 2004 | 8:11 pm
#4
Account Closed
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,235
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Hi Mike,
Its not often on here we hear from the yanks that move over here so its nice to hear your point of view.
Like DD said, its good to see you have overcome your initial hurdles and things appear to have turned to calmer waters for you both, and the mutts and moggies.
I spent most of my teenage years in Melbourne and love the place. To me its home although I am now living up in Bendigo (1 1/2 hrs NW of Melbourne). I love to come to Melbourne as often as possible as the shopping is awesome.
I hope things continue to keep going in the direction that you hope.
Cheers,
Hels
Its not often on here we hear from the yanks that move over here so its nice to hear your point of view.
Like DD said, its good to see you have overcome your initial hurdles and things appear to have turned to calmer waters for you both, and the mutts and moggies.
I spent most of my teenage years in Melbourne and love the place. To me its home although I am now living up in Bendigo (1 1/2 hrs NW of Melbourne). I love to come to Melbourne as often as possible as the shopping is awesome.
I hope things continue to keep going in the direction that you hope.
Cheers,
Hels
Nov 20th 2004 | 10:23 pm
#5
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 113
From: Melbourne, AUS
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Thanks for your good wishes, Hels.
Yes, things are going great, now all we need is a little financial break in a year or so, so we can buy a house in a nice area and fix it up the way we want it.
Until then, it looks like a fun ride.
Mike
Yes, things are going great, now all we need is a little financial break in a year or so, so we can buy a house in a nice area and fix it up the way we want it.
Until then, it looks like a fun ride.
Mike
Nov 20th 2004 | 10:58 pm
#6
Account Closed
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,235
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Originally Posted by Marakai
Thanks for your good wishes, Hels.
Yes, things are going great, now all we need is a little financial break in a year or so, so we can buy a house in a nice area and fix it up the way we want it.
Until then, it looks like a fun ride.
Mike
Yes, things are going great, now all we need is a little financial break in a year or so, so we can buy a house in a nice area and fix it up the way we want it.
Until then, it looks like a fun ride.
Mike
I hear ya there, Mark.
The Hubby and I are still waiting for our house in the UK to sell. Our first buyer pulled out back in August!!! It was meant to have been sold before we left...
Until this sells, its rent-city for us. Which winds me up as I am paying off someone elses place instead of ours!!!!
I am sure we will get there eventually....but it cant some soon enough for me.
Are you selling tickets for that ride your on???
Hels
Nov 21st 2004 | 12:12 am
#7
Account Closed
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 29,154
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Originally Posted by Marakai
Hello,
It's been a long time since I last posted, I thought it would be a good time to offer up a summary of the events of the last 3 months since we arrived in Melbourne. You be the judge on whether we're typical and representative or not.
I had gone on first by myself to find a place to live for us and a job, while my wife would bring up the rear, deal with the removers, sell the house etc.
Within a week it looked like our dream of a new life here would be shattered. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats who we were bringing along. They're our kids, we have no human ones and don't want any - please, no comments. A mis-diagnosis of both of our dogs with a potentially deadly disease made them unqualified for coming to Oz.
When I heard that news, I was quite literally minutes from booking a flight back to the US. It was like having the rug pulled out from under you. The animals were days from when they were all supposed to have been flown out - and then this.
A week of frantic dealings with AQIS, vets, the pet moving company and it turned out that they had been mis-diagnosed. Re-tests came back negative with maybe a day or two to spare to make their scheduled flight, but they made it.
During all this and on top of it, my wife was trying to deal with real estate agents to get the house sold in Denver. Our timing couldn't have been worse. The US economy is ailing as it is, but Denver is worse and that affects the housing market as well. After 6 months on the market we finally have an offer, that is notably lower than original appraisals, but at least we hopefully get rid of it before the US$ drops even more than it already has.
Those of you living in the red-hot UK housing market, consider yourselves lucky.
House search:
I was staying with friends in one of the Melbourne suburbs, until I could find a place to rent, one that obviously would take pets. Unfortunately, there's an inverse correlation between how nice a rental house is and whether it will accept pets. Well, maybe one or two animals. But not for nutcases like us who bring half of Noah's ark along.
Still, I managed to find a decent house in the eastern 'burbs with a HUGE yard and great landlords who wouldn't have minded if we'd brought camels and oxen along. It's close to shopping and trains and restaurants and parks, so that'll serve us until we find a place to buy. We have lorikeets and rosellas in the trees, as well as possums and flying foxes. Our dogs are in heaven.
Job search:
Once I found a place, I brought my job search into full gear. I had already been working with a recruiter, while still in the US, for my specialty area - I'm a manager in IT/information security.
He had slowly started to get the word out on me to his clients. With his help and that of other friends here, I had 2 interviews within 3 weeks of arriving in Oz and another one the week after that. Two were with Big Four firms and another with a major international company. Of those, two led to second round interviews and resulting offers. I picked the job that I was really excited about and that seemed custom-made for my skills.
This part really couldn't have gone better.
Many have had bad experiences with recruiting firms, but the guy I worked with really came through. If you're in IT security as well (CISSP or SANS certification is important) - and please, only then, as the recruiter specialises in that area - drop me a PM and I'll get you in contact with him. Security is a booming field.
Also, if you have experience in IT auditing or Sarbanes-Oxley - we're hiring.
Finding friends and exploring:
When I wasn't house or job hunting, I spent time on my own exploring venues around Melbourne. It's stunning how open, friendly and easy-going people are here. Not just superficially, as only too common in the US, but honestly. We've already made wonderful new friends who we meet regularly with and share many interests with. Some have taken us to the spring carnival, others into the Dandenongs and some we "just" meet regularly for dinner or drinks.
Dealing with bureaucracies:
In addition we found just how easy-going dealing with ... just about everybody... is. From retailers to government agencies, "no worries" really means that they will always find a way to help you get things done.
Don't want to eat into all your cash savings to buy a car, but don't want to pay outrageous interest, yet have no credit history? No worries - just bring your US credit reports along and some bank statements. Need to pass the 100 points test to open a bank account? No worries, new arrivals just need their passport. Government tell you it taked 4 weeks to get a TFN? No worries, we're just kidding, you'll have it in 3 days.
Cost of living:
Of course, one thing that does smart, is the cost of living here compared to the US. A market of 17 million will not purchase items as cheaply as one of 280 million, but sometimes the price differences are just ridiculous. Why is a vacuum cleaner that is a Japanese brand, made in China anyway, twice as expensive? A lesson we learned quickly: stay away from "shopping centres", aka malls. You seem to pay a convenience charge on everything, just for having everything under one roof. We now do our grocery and other shopping in the little independent street stores, like Asian butchers, Swiss bakers, Indian greengrocers, etc etc, who all charge less for better produce - and often let you haggle or give you discounts when you shop closer to closing time.
The real estate market is slowly cooling off, prices in the Melbourne area are dropping, but at a snail's pace. But that's going at the same rate that the Aussie dollar is climbing, at least from a US$ PoV, so we're not gaining that much. Everything is about the *land* value - teardowns go for hundreds of thousands of dollars in desirable neighbourhoods, but the houses on them are just a forgettable outdated add-on, often with amenities that might have been considered nice in the 60s.
Summary:
All in all things so far, in 3 months, have been going almost amazingly well. Part of us is waiting for the other shoe to drop, part of us has this "meant to be" feeling. Time will tell, but at this point and with developments in the US, we really think this was one of the smarted decisions of our lives.
Mike
It's been a long time since I last posted, I thought it would be a good time to offer up a summary of the events of the last 3 months since we arrived in Melbourne. You be the judge on whether we're typical and representative or not.
I had gone on first by myself to find a place to live for us and a job, while my wife would bring up the rear, deal with the removers, sell the house etc.
Within a week it looked like our dream of a new life here would be shattered. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats who we were bringing along. They're our kids, we have no human ones and don't want any - please, no comments. A mis-diagnosis of both of our dogs with a potentially deadly disease made them unqualified for coming to Oz.
When I heard that news, I was quite literally minutes from booking a flight back to the US. It was like having the rug pulled out from under you. The animals were days from when they were all supposed to have been flown out - and then this.
A week of frantic dealings with AQIS, vets, the pet moving company and it turned out that they had been mis-diagnosed. Re-tests came back negative with maybe a day or two to spare to make their scheduled flight, but they made it.
During all this and on top of it, my wife was trying to deal with real estate agents to get the house sold in Denver. Our timing couldn't have been worse. The US economy is ailing as it is, but Denver is worse and that affects the housing market as well. After 6 months on the market we finally have an offer, that is notably lower than original appraisals, but at least we hopefully get rid of it before the US$ drops even more than it already has.
Those of you living in the red-hot UK housing market, consider yourselves lucky.
House search:
I was staying with friends in one of the Melbourne suburbs, until I could find a place to rent, one that obviously would take pets. Unfortunately, there's an inverse correlation between how nice a rental house is and whether it will accept pets. Well, maybe one or two animals. But not for nutcases like us who bring half of Noah's ark along.
Still, I managed to find a decent house in the eastern 'burbs with a HUGE yard and great landlords who wouldn't have minded if we'd brought camels and oxen along. It's close to shopping and trains and restaurants and parks, so that'll serve us until we find a place to buy. We have lorikeets and rosellas in the trees, as well as possums and flying foxes. Our dogs are in heaven.
Job search:
Once I found a place, I brought my job search into full gear. I had already been working with a recruiter, while still in the US, for my specialty area - I'm a manager in IT/information security.
He had slowly started to get the word out on me to his clients. With his help and that of other friends here, I had 2 interviews within 3 weeks of arriving in Oz and another one the week after that. Two were with Big Four firms and another with a major international company. Of those, two led to second round interviews and resulting offers. I picked the job that I was really excited about and that seemed custom-made for my skills.
This part really couldn't have gone better.
Many have had bad experiences with recruiting firms, but the guy I worked with really came through. If you're in IT security as well (CISSP or SANS certification is important) - and please, only then, as the recruiter specialises in that area - drop me a PM and I'll get you in contact with him. Security is a booming field.
Also, if you have experience in IT auditing or Sarbanes-Oxley - we're hiring.
Finding friends and exploring:
When I wasn't house or job hunting, I spent time on my own exploring venues around Melbourne. It's stunning how open, friendly and easy-going people are here. Not just superficially, as only too common in the US, but honestly. We've already made wonderful new friends who we meet regularly with and share many interests with. Some have taken us to the spring carnival, others into the Dandenongs and some we "just" meet regularly for dinner or drinks.
Dealing with bureaucracies:
In addition we found just how easy-going dealing with ... just about everybody... is. From retailers to government agencies, "no worries" really means that they will always find a way to help you get things done.
Don't want to eat into all your cash savings to buy a car, but don't want to pay outrageous interest, yet have no credit history? No worries - just bring your US credit reports along and some bank statements. Need to pass the 100 points test to open a bank account? No worries, new arrivals just need their passport. Government tell you it taked 4 weeks to get a TFN? No worries, we're just kidding, you'll have it in 3 days.
Cost of living:
Of course, one thing that does smart, is the cost of living here compared to the US. A market of 17 million will not purchase items as cheaply as one of 280 million, but sometimes the price differences are just ridiculous. Why is a vacuum cleaner that is a Japanese brand, made in China anyway, twice as expensive? A lesson we learned quickly: stay away from "shopping centres", aka malls. You seem to pay a convenience charge on everything, just for having everything under one roof. We now do our grocery and other shopping in the little independent street stores, like Asian butchers, Swiss bakers, Indian greengrocers, etc etc, who all charge less for better produce - and often let you haggle or give you discounts when you shop closer to closing time.
The real estate market is slowly cooling off, prices in the Melbourne area are dropping, but at a snail's pace. But that's going at the same rate that the Aussie dollar is climbing, at least from a US$ PoV, so we're not gaining that much. Everything is about the *land* value - teardowns go for hundreds of thousands of dollars in desirable neighbourhoods, but the houses on them are just a forgettable outdated add-on, often with amenities that might have been considered nice in the 60s.
Summary:
All in all things so far, in 3 months, have been going almost amazingly well. Part of us is waiting for the other shoe to drop, part of us has this "meant to be" feeling. Time will tell, but at this point and with developments in the US, we really think this was one of the smarted decisions of our lives.
Mike
Very pertinent to me as well, as I will be coming to Melbourne on the 10th Jan. I am lucky tht I have a job to go to (I'm a nurse), but have yet to get accomadation - so I better get a move on!
I spite of your initial difficulties with your dog, I am so happy that the rest of your moving has gone so well.
Cas
Nov 21st 2004 | 8:46 pm
#8
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 113
From: Melbourne, AUS
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Originally Posted by Hels
I hear ya there, Mark.
Until this sells, its rent-city for us. Which winds me up as I am paying off someone elses place instead of ours!!!!
Hels
Until this sells, its rent-city for us. Which winds me up as I am paying off someone elses place instead of ours!!!!
Hels
Mike
Nov 21st 2004 | 9:47 pm
#9
Account Closed
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,235
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Originally Posted by Marakai
We'd be waiting to buy right now, anyway, but we could have pulled our money before the dollar started its nosedive. We just hope we get it out before the dollar crashes, something I don't think is impossible.
Mike
Mike
If we had of sold the house to that first buyer, we would have about an extra $10-15k than what we would get now if the house sells tomorrow and we transfer our money. It bites!!!
I am sure things will work out for you eventually.
Nov 21st 2004 | 10:39 pm
#10
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 10
From: Brazil
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Great post Mike. This make me more confident for choosing Melborne, I was really worried about my skills over there (I'm security engineer w/ CISSP, MCSE, CCSP, CCNP and planning CCIE security). Wife and I (brazilians) will be off to Mel in March.
Nov 22nd 2004 | 1:54 am
#11
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 2,389
From: New Zealand
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Good to hear your news from Melbourne. Ditto all the other comments from Hels and DDD.
I hope you continue to settle and enjoy Melbourne.
Please do sign up with Britvics and pass on your experiences with people about to move to Victoria.
http://s7.invisionfree.com/BritVics/index.php?act=idx
I hope you continue to settle and enjoy Melbourne.
Please do sign up with Britvics and pass on your experiences with people about to move to Victoria.
http://s7.invisionfree.com/BritVics/index.php?act=idx
Nov 22nd 2004 | 8:10 pm
#12
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 113
From: Melbourne, AUS
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Braz,
Drop me a PM when you're closer to arriving if you need to start looking for a job.
Mike
Drop me a PM when you're closer to arriving if you need to start looking for a job.
Mike
Nov 22nd 2004 | 9:18 pm
#13
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 7,949
From: Scotland
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Originally Posted by BrazilianOZ
Great post Mike. This make me more confident for choosing Melborne, I was really worried about my skills over there (I'm security engineer w/ CISSP, MCSE, CCSP, CCNP and planning CCIE security). Wife and I (brazilians) will be off to Mel in March.
OzTennis
Nov 24th 2004 | 1:54 am
#14
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 190
From: London Now-> Melbourne Soon
Re: Melbourne - the first three months
Originally Posted by Marakai
Hello,
Many have had bad experiences with recruiting firms, but the guy I worked with really came through. If you're in IT security as well (CISSP or SANS certification is important) - and please, only then, as the recruiter specialises in that area - drop me a PM and I'll get you in contact with him. Security is a booming field.
Also, if you have experience in IT auditing or Sarbanes-Oxley - we're hiring.
Many have had bad experiences with recruiting firms, but the guy I worked with really came through. If you're in IT security as well (CISSP or SANS certification is important) - and please, only then, as the recruiter specialises in that area - drop me a PM and I'll get you in contact with him. Security is a booming field.
Also, if you have experience in IT auditing or Sarbanes-Oxley - we're hiring.
I've been working as Information Security Manager in an insurance company for the past 7 years. I have CISSP and will be taking the CISA next year.
Looks like the job market should be in my favour. What sort of salary range should I be looking at in Melbourne?
Thanks
Phil
