Originally Posted by stu:0

hi trudi...doing a night shift this sat coming...i did one last week they were short staffed was on a late but ended up doing double shift n the night aswell!!!thought i'd have a quiet shift but ended up having picco put in at god knows what time, patient so acidotic was a nightmare....but atleast i didn;t get chance to feel tired!!!

been on crappy orientation this week....god it's so boring but atleast it's done with now for another year!!not been to the kids unit although met a girl yest who's working on there just started she's worked in brisbane n new zealand...she's enjoying it so far!!!you'll be fine....everyone is so friendly here in cairns... i thought they were all on drugs when first got here cause everyone really is so nice!!

i start my long days next month which i can't wait!!!did 14 1/4 hr shifts at home n these are only 12 hours so it'l be lovely!!!it's self rostering here which is good...i got in there early for next mth cause this month i started mid month i got all scrap shifts!!!so that's my 1 def piece of advice for ya!!!

ne more news on your visa yet????you waiting till you've got your visa till you sell house,book flights etc??

katy

Originally Posted by stu:0

Warning Long Post!!!


Thought it was time for me Sparky Stu and Nurse Katy to give you guys an update!
We arrived in Cairns on the 27th of June. Katy was sponserd by the hospital so we are here on a 457 but intend to apply for pr, thought the 457 was a easy way in to try oz before sheding out money on visa's and it was quicker.
We flew with Air new zealend, pretty much a non stop flight via los angeles. Iv got to say we found the flight no problem at all, yes we were a little tired when we arrived but we just got on with the day and went to bed at the correct time. Im sure it would have been different with kids.
We were picked up at the airport by one of Katys work collegues and taken to the free accomodation. (free for 2 weeks with the sponsership) Very nice appartment right in the center behind the hospital.
Our main priority's were to get stuck into sorting all the paperwork out, finding a car, and permenent accomodation. We hired a car from Cairns older car and van hire. Can recommend it, granted it was an old bomb but did the job for us to get around in. All i can say about hunting for a car is it is a mine field! We were told to stay away from the dealers unless your buying new. We wanted to spend around $7000 on somthing just to run around in, all we could find were total wrecks. We ended up stricking gold a mitsubishi lancer 2000 plate with 64,000km which is bloody low milage out here and not a mark on it $9100 we paid for it with full service history. We bought it through a company called automatch. They basically sell cars for other people. He spent hours with us, not pushy or anything and would recomend them to anyone moving over here and not wanting a brand new car. He did the road worhty certificate for us, pre purchase check to show if anything was wrong with it.
Right next was the rental hunt! Agaqin a bloomin big job. We have a house in the uk and decided to rent it out just to see how things go out here so a rental is what we needed. We set a max buget of $350 a week. We wanted to be central for Katy getting to work and us only having one car. There was plenty to choose from but its not a case of just go look, you have to drive past the accomodation first??? Some rule they have out here??? Once you have done that you arrange a viewing. We looked at a few, most were in blocks with a pool. We decided we wanted a 2 bed for friends and family coming to stay and ended up pushing the boat out and spending $380 a week but its great where we are. Its called the lakes resort, rather posh! Most of what we looked at was around $300 a week and the lakes is proper resort style living. 3 pools, gym, sauna, restraunts, bars. Very large 2 bed appartment overlooking one of the pools fully furnished with balcony. Its great!!!Nice for friends when they come to stay!
We sorted most of the other paperwork out ok medicare and stuff but the bank has been the biggest problem. 4 times we have had to order our bank cards due to people not doing there jobs propery, pain in the bum tryign to find time to go in to get money out! Thats westpac for you!

Right next was my job(electrician)

Well i managed to get a job through youngy73 off here. Iv kept in touch with him for the past 6 months via email and he got me a start with his boss. If your not a tradesman might be best you read on past this bit if iv not bored you allready! I got my ARTC in the uk before we left for oz. The result was electrical mechanic which i was very happy with. Having this meant i could get out to work straight away.
Youngy picked me up on the monday morning and we went to the shed(workshop) whatever you want to call it! I met a few of the lads, all seemed a good bunch and no pomm jokes which suprised me!
Me youngy and an apprentice set off for the day on a fitoff(second fix). Just fitting fans, sockets, downlights and so on! I will say the twin and earth out here has the earth sleaved "bonus"!
The second day i was doing a pre wire(first fix) iv got to say this is when my eyes were opend! Lets just say there standards are a little less than the uk! Dont think they have heard of a cable clip??!!! I'll let you sparks out there see it for youselves when you get out here! I wont even go into the testing or lack of it!
Most of the work im doing is new builds and boy is there a lot of it going on. Massive development all over Cairns.
I thought i would be starting on $22 an hour until i have the licence but the boss has started me on $25 so im well happy!
The hours are 38 a week, 7-3 but there is as much overtime as you want. Not that thats why we came out here to be doing overtime!!!
Im starting the licence process in the next couple of weeks, cant say im looking forward to it but i guess i has to be done!

right now it's nursekatys turn!!

well seems as stu's filled you in on all the practical stuff with moving here all i've got to tell you about really is my job!!!i'm a staff nurse with 9months experience in icu at home...and have continued work in icu over here...i'm full time here (40hrs/wk)doing 8 hour shifts at the moment after a few weeks i'm gonna be doing 12hr shifts...i can't wait..more days off!!!well got picked up from airport from one of the team leaders which is good to have that familiar face when i started!!i had a week off before i started so went in n got my beautiful floral blouses for my uniform!!!(wit woo)!!my first couple of days was getting orientation and getting all formalities don...security card etc..

so my 1st proper shift on icu over here

i was supernumery for the first 2 weeks, usually it's 4 weeks but cause i've got experience and the ventilators and monitors are the same as at home...i just had 2 weeks....at first we were quite quiet with mainly hdu level patients but we've definatly busied up now...we've been full all week of icu patients....everyone is really friendly and have met a few english nurses that are working there.

i can't really tell you much differences from home...all the principles are the same but just the odd thing....giving 100%o2 prior to suctioning n just the routines are different.....it's very different to at home as there are no auxilliary nurses here...we have "wardies"...all the wardies i've come across are men and their job is to come and roll the patient for us...help with transfers...they're really helpful and you just ring them when you need a hand...there's also a couple of enrolled nurses on the unit...which mainly do a lot of the ordering of stock and preparing bed spaces....there's no junior sisters or sisters out here....we have your rn's, clinical leaders then team leaders...who run the unit...then there's the nurse manager. there's no obvious hierchary here everyone is treat the same and no-one is on a power trip (which i found at home...think it's cause i did my training in a small hospital where everyone was screaming out that they were better than others!)
did my first shift on friday on my own and it was brill....it's good getting the support of supernumery but i was ready to be on my own....have been off all weekendand am back in on tues....n i'm actually looking forward to work!!(at home i had 1 1/2 drive either side of my 14 hr shift so it was hard work, here it;s a 2 min drive)!!

there's loads of training here nearly everyday there's and "in-service" where they go over new drugs coming out, aortic balloon pumps, machines that we don;t use that often but just to give us a reminder.

the basic pay is bit less than at home but enhancements are much better here...$44,834 for now.
Enhancement
Evening +12.5%
Night +20%
Sat +50%
Sun +75%
it was public holiday on friday i worked and wage was double n a half pay!!!

annual leave 6weeks/year
also have staff development allowance which is $1500 per year!!you can roll it over for only 1 year...most people carry it over for a year then buy a new laptop every 2nd year!!not bad eh....you don't get that in the nhs!!well tomorrow i'm gonna go buy a printer then claim that money back!!!i also get money back in 6mthly intervals for my flights etc i had to pay to get over here!!
anyway not much else to say on the nursing fronti'll update ya in the future n see if i still feel the same!!so far i'm loving it...n am loving that when i finish work at 3.30 i can go and chill round the pool in the lovely sunshine instead of being stuck inside in england cause it's pissing it down and don;t wanna leave the house!!!any other questions let me know!!!n everyone who's hesitating to come out here......just do it....my mums moving out end of the year and that's the only thing i miss bout home...family and friends..but thank god for skype it's great way to keep in touch!!!!oh n also thanks youngy for all your help know you'll prob be reading this!!!

Sparky Stu and Nurse Katy

Originally Posted by lcys2460

Hello Sparky Stu,
Really good to hear your both doing really well and enjoying it.

Think my OH would be interested in asking you a few questions if you don't mind as an Electrician too.

We're still in the early stages of application arriving a month ago - would is it ok if he contacts you?
Lynda

Originally Posted by stu:0

hi lynda, yes no problems tell your other half to get in touch and i will help him all i can!
i notice a few others asking advice from katy, will make sure she replys later!

Stu

Originally Posted by stu:0

hi ozzienurse and sophjam.....

sorry not replied for a while have been really busy!!!
well done on visa soph.....how exciting!!!so have you decided any further when you're going to come out here???!!!!it's starting to get a bit warmer now....we had the fan on last night!!!

work is still going well....got deployed to ed (a@e) on yesterdays shift, it was ok cause did some a@e at home but it was busy!!!back to icu today....we get deployed from icu about once a month....it's when we're quiet and other places are busy...

for ozzie nurse i had a shift on orthopaedics the other week....i did bank shifts at home on acute medical ward where you have 14 patients to look after....the nurse/patient ratio is much less here....i had 5 patients and this is the norm for ward work.(although they all winge that they're really busy...i wanted to say go work in the uk when you have 14 patients to look after....but didnt think they'd take to kindly to it)!!!

start 12 hour shifts next month can't wait!!!

don't know if i've said this already but you also get $1500 a year for continuing professional development...if there's any conferences you wanted to go to....(i'm holding out for fiji!!!)they will give you this money towards your accomodation, flights etc!!or you can use it to buy a laptop or claim it back on books etc (can't imagine the nhs doing that)...a lot of people carry it over for 2 years and buy a laptop every couple of years then either keep it or sell it on!!!

well had best go get ready for another shift!!!

keep in touch

katy

Originally Posted by steve`o

morning stu

its f=good to see that its all going to plan mate

Originally Posted by stu:0

Hey, alright stevo! Things are going great just been a little slow starting the licence but it will be happning the next week or so. Works going good. Might be off to cooktown for a week with youngy to do a fit off on some council office's. Makes for a change and may take in some of the sights!

Originally Posted by steve`o

are you doing it via the local tafe or via correspondance ?