Hi Guys

Haven't been on here much of late but thought I'd do an update to celebrate our first year in Oz.

We landed in Oz on 27th June 2006 and after a few days of sightseeing in Sydney and then seeing some good friends in Brissie we finally landed in Adelaide on 4th July.

My first impressions of Adelaide weren't so good but looking back at it that was due to us spending the first few days in and out of the CDB and our On Arrival Accommodation. This was a bit of a shock to say the least.
It was a small Housing Trust 1 bed apartment. Our Meet & Greet took us shopping for essential supplies and then left us to it. We felt really down and did try to find something else that night. We didn't as it would have cost us a fortune. We slept on it and in the morning things didn't seem so bad.
But once we got out and about and explored what Adelaide has to offer the feeling quickly went.

We stayed there for nearly 3 weeks and found a rental North East of the CBD. It is a brand new courtyard house and although we only planned to stay here 6 months it looks like we will be here until next March.

Without going into too much detail that I'm sure will have most of you nodding off, the rest is what we've achieved in the last 12 months.

We did all the important things within the 1st 2 weeks, bought a car, got Medicare sorted, TFN numbers, Bank Accounts etc.

We spent the next month exploring and shopping and at the end of August Sara found a job. It was a relief to finally have some money coming in as a lot was going out. I sent of lots of emails and CV's and finally landed a job in October.

We bought a block of land in January after looking at several house that just didn't tick all of our boxes. We chose a builder in Feb and had hoped it to be built by Xmas, but due to problems with the land company it now looks like March at the earliest. The very long full story is on our blog.

We have made some very good friends here and had lots of very good experiences and seen some amazing things.

Anyway enough of my waffle I will sign off by saying it has been an exciting time the last 12 months and is really amazing what we have achieved over that time. Our only regret is that we weren't able to do it sooner.

Where ever you are on your journey to Oz stick with it as if our experiences are anything to go by it is certainly worth it.

Graham

Glad its all working out for the best.. good luck with the house move

good to hear your enjoying your new life, Good luck with the house build keep us posted and let us know how things are goung on, hears to your next 12 months down under

Its great to hear things are working out for you. I've just been skimming your blog, its great! I love the way you write. Been thinking of doing one myself.

Wow, I can't believe it is a year already!

Glad you're enjoying it.

Thanks for the update

Tracey

Lovely post. Nice to hear tha all turning out well for you!
Sally

Hello! We arrived in Adelaide just a few days after you last year. Celebrating our year's anniversary by being back in the UK to pack and ship our stuff! We were also only going to stay for 6 months...
Quick question for you (or anyone who cares to answer!): when we arrived, we only got Medicare cards for 3 months and were told that was all we were entitled to. We entered the country on a tourist visa, so wondered if that was why, but we now have a working visa. We have just read the smallprint of our travel insurance policy, and we have to have medicare cover for the medical bit of the policy to be valid. Can we get new Medicare cards with our new visa? How does Medicare work for Australian non-residents?

Congrats on your first year guys - and best of luck with the new build.

So how do I get on your blog.
Well done, and all the best for the future.
Denise x

Just click on the link at the bottom of my signature.

G

Hi Graham

Glad to hear everything is working out well for you and thanks for the useful tips.

We'll hopefully be heading to Adelaide on the SIR visa mid-2008, all being well. We've spent some time there before and absolutely loved it, so we can't wait.

My one concern is the job situation and specifically in relation to the SIR visa. Many job ads I've seen appear to specify "no visa restrictions". Did you find that job opportunities were reduced by having a temporary visa?

cheers
Greg

Hi Greg

In my case it never came a problem. I was never asked at any of my interviews what sort of visa I was on.

All they really want to know is that you are able to work on your visa.

They never asked what visa I had and in turn I didn't volunteer any info apart that I had full working rights.

It was the same for Sara as well.

Graham

Great postive post.........