[johnd]

hello all,
i was just reading the comments on albion park and the illawarra, and while skippys comments are always good, (helpful and full of info), i feel that maybe the people on this site would like to know about my wife and myself(s) move to the illawarra, as i know skippy moved here a long time ago and is retired?, possibly, so he will have a different point of view than someone like me who is relativley new to the area.

firstly regarding jobs etc. it all depends on what you were used to in the uk, i was a boilermaker/welder from the north east of england and over the years that part of uk has certainely seen bad times, worse than anything here, in my opinion. we arrived last year in june, and within 3 weeks had both secured full time jobs, my wife as a retail manager and me in a manufacturing plant. my wife is permanent and i am on a contract till june but i have been told, off the record , that i will get a permanent job in june. i am not worried in the slighest as i know i can get work even if it means going back into my trade. this part of oz is not booming as other parts are but skippy is correct in saying that there are lots of things happening here. even in our short time here there are developments happening all around us. i was used to contracting in the uk so if i had to do that again i would, you could always 'fly in , fly out', to the mines in western australia, people who live here do. here is the bit when i get controversial, both in my wife and my experience in the oz workplace we have found that we are, how shall i put it, firing on all six cylinders and at least 60% or more of aussies are not!!!. true they seem to work more overtime at the drop of a hat than say a brit would, especially in heavy industry, but as i said before our employers are really impressed with our performances at work, and i have only worked about 10% of the overtime i have been offered. i just turn up everday and get on with my job with the minimum of fuss, and the plane fact of the matter is that a lot of aussies won't/can't do that. before people start slagging me off cos they have oz relatives etc. i too have family here and all the children , who are my age 30+, are aussies born and bred, and they all agree with my above statment. one of my relatives who works in a supervisory capacity for a large company, said and i quote," one of the worst problems with australian industry is misbehaviour in the workplace ", drug use and abuse is also rife in oz.i know that not everyone will have had this experience and i hate to generalise but i would say to anyone intending to come to the illawarra or oz in general, you will have to have some skills/trade to get a visa and you DEFINETLY will have bags of get up and go or you wouldn't be applying to emigrate as it is a massive step, we are just settling now after 9 months in the country.with those things behind you i feel it would be hard not to succeed, although i know people have failed. if we were to find ourselves in dire straits , we would pack our bags and go and live in another part of oz, its such a big place and we both know there are more opportunites in oz than in uk.

we live in a lovely home in albion park right on the edge of the fields with mountains all around us, we both have jobs, which we got out of the paper!!!, our family have been great for us , but we got our own jobs and our own house and cars, this suburb is really quiet and the equivalent home in the uk would be out of our reach. we live minutes drive from the escarpment and the road up to the highlands and we are also not far from the beautiful beaches....perfect!!!.

there are rough areas here as in uk, but we don't live in one so, who cares,there is also crime but again its relative to where you come from, its a lot quieter than where we were from in the uk and albion park is really quiet, there are not as many 'new' brit migrants here but if you want that go to perth. in albion park there is only one pub and a couple of clubs, but we mainly socialise round peoples houses. the temprature here is good not to hot and not to cold, and i should know i work outside!!. house price wise you get more here for your money than else where in oz and i would thouroughly reccomend Albion Park as a suburb to live in.
also , skippy i hope you don't think that i'm having a go at your posts, its just i felt as a new migrant my opinion might be worth something......keep up your good work promoting the illawarra!!!!.
johnd.
p.s.if anyone has any other questions feel free to pm me.