Jobo

We live in Darwin and I have never been to AS so cannot tell you from experience. I have friends who lived in AS for years but left when their friend was murdered after trying to stop one of the regular fights between local drunks so they have quite strong views on the town's social problems. I also have lots of friends (many police) and colleagues who say that around Alice is absolutely beautiful and that Alice is a nice friendly town where most people know one another and you can have a great social network of friends and activities. the trouble really is the anti social behaviour, mostly at night. The issues in Alice are quite different to many other Australian cities and probably very scary for many people. That said, when we lived in the UK we always locked up all the doors and I wouldn't walk home on my own at night. Crime and anti-social behaviour was rife and poor medical and emergency services staff had to take loads of crap from people they were trying to help. So while Alice does currently have significant problems, perhaps a little perspective is needed. All the best, whatever you decide Jo

try looking for job info on the NT Government website nt.gov.au/jobs. you can search for jobs here under education/teaching - you won't find most public school teaching jobs on the popular recruitment websites. Not a clue what vacancies are like at the moment but the NT is extremely transient so there must be vacancies when people leave. The government operates a strict Merit based selection process so you would have to prove you are the most meritorious applicant against all others to get a job over 6 months or permanent. This may be difficult if there are teachers locally or already in Australia who have a better working knowledge of the cirriculum and local cultural issues. not sure where jobs for private schools are advertised but many are religious so bear that in mind...for example I was on a course with someone from one of the Catholic schools and they would not employ anyone who wasn't Catholic...and astonishingly that's not discrimination under the NT's Anti-discrimination Act! Don't think they have started beuling at Weddell yet - have a look on the NT Gov't site on planning and development - i think it will be a few years before there's a decent population there. good luck Jo

avoid ANZ they are rubbish, branches are alwasy busy, charge you for everything they can think of and their on-line bank is crap we banked with Commonwealth and found them to be very helpful, good internet banking and fast service. we only went with ANZ for our mortgage (were advised they were the speediest for construction loan we wanted) but wish we'd used CBA.

This thread is interesting to read as we rent out our UK property. We had planned the move for some time so factored renting into our plans, we chose (well in advance) a lender who we knew would grant consent to let with minimum fuss and fees. When the time finally came to get consent it was pretty easy...we have now paid £250 and have consent to let for the life of the mortgage with no fees or additional interest. Our only queries will come when it comes to doing our Aussie tax return...can you get the same tax breaks for investment properties if your property if overseas? In answer to the original post, for me its a no brainer. Your mortgage terms state you need permission, you choose to ignore this and go alone then if it all goes Pete Tong you have no comeback. yes it may cost some more now but surely its not worth the risk? If you really can't afford to top up the mortgage then sell the place or postpone the move. What if things don't work out in Oz, do you really want to go back and have money troubles and a legal battle with your mortgage company for money owed because you've been dishonest? PS - have you tried explaining to them that you've been given the opportunity to go overseas temporarily and would like to rent for short term so the property is occupied and protected while you go? Say its an opportunity of a lifetime...it may work, I know others who have done this and it's worked in their favour. all the best

I think its a shame you are going back after such a short time and without trying alternative locations - have you looked at other states? we have been here nearly a year and love it, we don't have kids but all the kids here do lots of out of school activities, many are free. we've had to make big efforts to adjust and get out to meet people, try to experiences etc but can never imagine going back to the UK. We did our homework before we came e.g. we knew it would cost more and our rent per fortnight would be higher than a month's mortgage in England(!) so I would certainly advise anyone thinking of the move to do proper research and don't have rose tinted glasses about life here. We are fortunate not to have to think about children and how they find the transition, or having kids back in england. I suppose its not for everyone out here, hope you enjoy your life back in the UK and still think fondly of this wonderful country. Jo

Peter Chiam at PTLabs Consulting is who we used, lovely guy and kept us regularly up to date. he specialises in IT but can advise on all visas/jobs and helped me (I work in Human Resources). the price depends on the visa type, whether you also need help with skills assessment or state sponsorship but we thought he was well worth the money we paid. Good luck Jo

Hi, we have been here since July last year and love it. we live in palmerston. Happy to meet up some time and share stories/tips. we move house in a few weeks so at the moment we are very busy so it may take a little bit of working out a good time. i work in the city so could meet at lunchtime one weekday, or on a weekend in the city or Palmy. weekdays over lunch probably easier for me for the next few weeks. if you send me a PM with some details and the sorts of dates and times you are free i'll let you know when i can make it. Jo

There's lots of work in the Top End, especially if you have skills and qualifications. me and the hubby both got good jobs very quickly. be warned however, while the job market is bouyant the cost of living is very high! expect to pay anything between $400 and $700 per week for rent,plus the vacancy rate is extremely low at the moment so prices are rising. It's great here, plenty of work and lots to do, especially in the Dry Season but Darwin is not for everyone - its a bit like marmite you'll love it or hate it. PS - I can only speak for Darwin, don't know much about the other cities such as Alice, Katherine, tennant Creek for jobs...but I would rather go interstate than there. Very remote and some areas, particularly Alice have real anti-social/crime problems. Jo

Hi there - you may have received more information since your last post but just in case I think you need to do a bit more research on the ACS assessment. If you don't yet have a degree you will need to demonstrate that you have the equivilent of an Australian degree with a record of prior learning. This is a lengthy document and must show a number of years experience in the field. It is no easy task - my husband didn't have a degree and it took him 3 months of writing reports and information to show his 8 years experience. It may have changed as he did his 2 years ago but I would suggest you use an agent who is skilled in your field to help. We used Peter at PTLabs Consulting, he specialises in the ACS/IT RPL and is brilliant. It will cost you but in our experience his advice was well worth it and invaluable. there are plenty of IT jobs here in Darwin, my hubby was offered 2 network jobs before we even arrived (although this was after we had PR). Before we had the visa most places didn't even reply. getting State Sponsorship is also a big task but take it one step at a time, do your research (the Territory is very different to most parts of Oz) and use an agent to make life easier and your dream happen faster. Good luck with it!

The nice areas in Darwin are VERY expensive, plus they have their downsides. I would never live in Bayview because of the midges and wouldn't live in Fannie Bay because of the sandflies. My friend lives in Bayview, has a lovely place with two balconies and never sits out on them because of midges. Palmerston is a quick and easy commute to the CBD and to Casuarina. Basically wherever you are in Darwin you are only ever 20 minutes from where you wanna get to! be prepared for the cost of living - rent and everything else is expensive, but once you get over that its a fantastic place to live. We don't have kids but everyone with kids here says what a great lifestyle the kids have growing up. Do your research as much as you can, look on realestate.com for rental prices (be prepared for them to rise now the Oil & Gas pipline has been approved). Good suburbs in Palmerston are Durack, Gunn, Farrar, Rosebery and Bellamack, Bakewell is also ok but houses are more dated I think. Certain parts of the other suburbs (Gray, Woodruff and Driver) are OK but do your homework before you choose somewhere there and we were strongly advised against Mouldon. I suggest bringing as much stuff as you can with you because there are hardly any furniture stores here and they are all pricey, plus you often get told "it'll take 12 weeks to get here". You can buy from down south and get things freighted up here and that cn often work out cheaper and quicker! Good luck! Jo

check out realestate.com but realistically, if you want to live in a nice place you'll be paying at least $500 per week in rent. if you want to live close to the city in a house then add lots more, if you are prepared to commute or only need a small apartment then £500 pw should suffice. second hand cars are expensive here, and if you need to buy things for your home then you'll pay more than most parts of oz. My advice, ship as much as you can. food seems expensive, its more in Australia than in the UK and costs a bit more in darwin due to shipping costs, we pay approx 25% more than we did in England. when you do your research statement for the NT you will also need to show you have considered the climate - its tough going here during the build up and the wet. and you need to demonstrate that you have enough money to migrate. if there are two of you you'll need at least $20k, possibly more and with a family even more. That might all sound negative, BUT once you are here, have settled and in jobs you will love it. there is so much work and opportunity here and everyone we have met so far is lovely. there's lots for people to do and plenty for kids (if you have them). good luck Jo

We've only been here a few weeks but have noticed a certain amount of ignorance and what could be perceived as racism. people assuming we have left the UK because its becoming overrun with "xxx". the terms used have often been very offensive or refer to a particular religion. However from conversations with these people they have been told this by other poms who have moved to Australia! the people I've spoken with certainly haven't appeard to be far right racists or even mean to cause any offence...I think they are just ignorant. my personal view is that it depends where you are. like the UK, sadly there are pockets of ignorant, racist and offensive people. I think think the media out here is behind the times and very one sided...not just in terms of causing offence because of race, the other day I saw a morning show and all the presenters thought it was Ok for a woman to be paid less if she had kids!!!! Jo

Thank you everyone for your advice. we'll have a shop around and see how we go. Jo

Hi Jayne As I said to reddebz I would ship as much as you can. once you are here you will soon see that things are more expensive, especially so if you are having to convert £pounds. It might seem expensive when you get a quote but when you work out the cost of buying new over here you'll soon see its worth it. We used Britannia (se prev post above). If you are unsure of removal companies have a look at a few migration websites and expos and you'll find some companies advertising. once you get one quote and have your total volume you can ring for other quotes. there are also some good posts on PIO about shipping companies so do a search. be warned it will take some time to get here so you'll need to work out what you'll do between leaving the UK and waiting for your stuff to arrive. what are you doing about housing? Do you get temp furnished accom through your company? JO

Hi we flew out in May this year, my hubby HATES flying so we had to do it in the least amount of hours and the lowest number of take-off/landings. We flew with Qantas from H/row to Sydney and stopped on the way at Bangkok to refuel (about 1.5 hours). Think that took 22 hours. But then we had to get an internal flight to Cairns where my sis lives as we were visiting them for a while (another 3 hours). If you (or your kids) are like my hubby then make sure you check with the airlines how many stopovers you have and how long between each flight. We initially looked at a flight from h/row to Cairns with one stop in Singapore but then found out that we'd have to fly jetstar for the second flight and also it was going to stop at Darwin on the way. so was going to take much, much longer with 2 stops and the waits in between. You might find some of the cheaper flights are priced because of the inconvenient times & hanging around. As we'd saved loads of dosh for the move we decided to try premium economy on the way out...was a few hundred more but we thought it was worth it for the extra leg room, better entertainment equipment, more cabin crew and nicer meals/bubbly etc. Might work out a bit pricey for a family of 4 though. I agree that the trains have a romantic and adventurous appeal but the OH doesn't agree all the best jo