Hockayak

Hi, I can't speak for everyone on here, clearly my experiences are vastly different from some of the people posting on here. My wife and I are both teachers, both primary, and both pretty much walked into jobs. That's not us floating our own boat, it was lots of work and we had to send a lot of CVs out and network quite a bit. We arrived in January, my wife had 3 job offers before the terms started in February, she had an 'interview' in a florist/coffee shop/fashion shop - thingy. Stupidly casual! As for the others,one was just offered and one she met with the principal first. My experiences were that I did relief (supply) teaching for the first term, then was locked into a contract for terms 2,3,4. And then was picked up again for the following year. Again, much less 'interview' more like "which class would you prefer?" The only things that are different for us, are that we are in Tasmania and that we were going for primary/SEN positions. Don't get me wrong, you take what you can get, but if you take your CV to the schools close, ask to see the person in charge of relief teacher appointments etc. FYI, by doing relief teaching, I had employment almost every single day and ended up being asked to take a contract. Once you get in, you're in. Its way less what you know, more who you (maybe that's Tassie specific). I think we got pretty lucky, and we do appreciate that, but don't lose hope. Keep going! Do some research and be willing to email 50 schools, take CVs in person etc, 5 or 6 interested replies then generates job opportunities. I even got a call from a school offering a job (that I didn't take), that I didn't send my CV etc to, the principals passed my details along. If you want to PM me then give me a shout, there are a few things to know if you want to do relief/get contracts. Hope you work everything out, Hockayak - www.abritintas.blogspot.com

So why Tasmania? Why NOT Tasmania more to the point! :jiggy: I don't speak as someone who was born an raised here and as i've shouted out on a different forum, we've been here 18 months and it's been an incredible experience. That said, we have also made sure that we make to most of every weekend. We head out and do something, go somewhere every opportunity we can. We began with the 60 Great Short walks, hit the beaches in summer, Salamanca for culture and evenings. We're pretty sad so we got the Entertainment book to see what voucher savings we could make. In short, we love it, but i guess its all something that you MAKE happen, not just fall into. Hope your move(s) all happen when and how you need them to, Hockyak - www.abritintas.blogspot.com.au

Stevenkaz, How strange, we moved 18 months ago from Hetton-Le-Hole (Nr Hartlepool). I used to work in a school there. Hockayak - www.abritintas.blogspot.com.au

Just incase anyone looks back to this thread. We used John Mason International in the end, the best price for us for a 20ft container from North-East UK to Tasmania. The conatiner was received by Wridgeways and is now in container storage in Hobart until our place is ready. All worked out fine in the end. Hockayak - www.abritintas.blogspot.com.au

MaryRose02, Did your friend ever end up in Fingal? Its a pretty small place, with one single main road. It has a few attractions, library, bottle shop, pub etc but it isn't a big village like you expected. Fingal in my experience tends to be a through route for somewhere else, even though it is picturesque around there. It is pretty isolated from major locations and is a LONG way from a real 'city' (even anything close to what you'd get from a UK city). Hockayak - http://www.abritintas.blogspot.com.au

Hi Tastastic, Its an amazing yet daunting experience. We basically dropped everything and just moved over for a year provisionally, and have now decided to stay. We are building a house and currently applying for permanent residency! Its been a crazy but amazing 18 months but it really suits us. We are approaching 30, living more now than we have ever done. The cold, grey days that you mention are much rarer than in the UK and seem to be a lot greyer too. We arrived with the attitude that it would be a great adventure and we have been out and done so much stuff in the past year. My blog www.abritintas.blogspot.com.au keeps a bit of a diary but im back-dating bits of it because we only just decided to document our thoughts on what to do in and around Tassie. I have to say my computer has ended up with thousands of photos in monthly folders and you can see the incredible diverse fayre on offer. We were from the cold North-East England and i can say for certain that what Tasmanians criticise as cold weather is laughable. Today its mid-winter and 9 degrees overnight, when i compare that to the minus 6 degrees and foot of snow on our garden wall, i have to say i think you'll be alright. It gets pretty warm in Tassie summers and the Spring and Autumn are more like a UK Summer (changable with the potential to be a mild scorcher). Obviously i cant speak for everyone's experience and, for sure, it depends on what job you do etc but we have found that we are significantly better off financially here than in the UK. We have more disposable income than ever before and we found, generally, that saving deposits etc was much quicker here than was our expeirence in England. A quick message on PIO i'm sure wont convince or put you off moving to Tassie, but in our experience it's been the best, most daring, adventurous, out of our comfort zone, eye opening and wonderful experience we could have imagined. Hope things go well, Hockayak - www.abritintas.blogspot.com.au

We're FROM the UK and moved TO Tasmania. Best decision ever! Similar climates (except here is warmer) and is a pretty chilled out lifestyles. Trades are always in need in Tassie as a lot of people build their own places. hockayak - http://abritintas.blogspot.com.au/

P.s. Thanks to all people here on Poms In Oz for all of the advice given, i've not posted much, but read an awful lot over the past year!

Hi all, Im just messaging to all to say that my wife and I made it to Tasmania, Australia a week ago. We came on a young person's Working Holiday Visa (WHV), so not as lengthy or as stringent as most of the other visas, but still, we're here. Its been a pretty easy process for us, except that one little hitch put down on my wife's visa. She's a teacher and she mentioned she might work with kindergarten kids. As a result she was ordered to go to the nearest VETTED doctors, for a private chest xray - to test for TB (which we are all vaccinated against at school anyway). There aren't many Oz approved doctors in the UK and the nearest to us in Durham, was in Manchester! It was a good 5 hour round trip, and more costly than we would have liked! But we have since found out, that if you 'forget to mention' the working with young kids thing on the visa form, then if you do need to work with young kids then you can have the xray done basically anywhere when you arrive. The other thing we noted, basically that on the WHV you can only be employed by a single employer for 6 months at a time then you have to move on to another palce of work, but it appears that some employers can refer you on to another place of work (sometimes its literally the same job but paid from a different 'employer'). There is a stipulation that you can extend a WHV employment period with prior consent from the visa agency but when we enquired it was only available for a month or two at best, so dont be expecting to just blag it an work a year somewhere as they will say no and you may well be busted. Finally, from previous experience and our recent arrival, Tasmania is an amazing place with landscapes like few other places in Australia. We are in Montrose, nr Hobart (Tasmania) and from there, everything seems pretty close. We used the buses for a whole week being out and about, to beaches, tourist destinations, car yards and supermarkets and bottle shops. A 'day rover' for $5 or 3.20 pounds will take you pretty much anywhere in Hobart for ans many jouneys as you need. They are on-time and pretty reliable. Anyway, I will keep you updated as to how we get on here in Hobart. (If anyone wants to meet up some place in Hobart for a beer then let us know, in need of some British mates)

I live near Sunderland, now at Rosny Park, but sorry it's not my car!

Yeah good luck bud, also, TandCmum, how lucky you are to be off so soon!

Ive not heard of a WHV causing problems for PR later on, where did you hear this? We are intending to go for a single year on a WHV and work, but bear in mind that you can work in any one job for only 6 months, then you need to move on to another job. Hockayak

I think the working holiday visa is a visa basically for backpackers but i still need to do more research. A girl at the visa bureau suggested it as we are younger than 30. I believe it is only available to those under 30. Yes its a year, yes its only 6 month max in any one job but its a lot cheaper for someone like me who doesnt necessarily want to stay forever...but maybe i will!? Who knows? P.s. thanks for your greeting, people on here seem nicer than forums on other subjects, electricals etc. :biggrin: Hockayak

Also, http://www.westpointrelocation.com/measure.html suggests: "Full Container Load Measurements: 20 foot container. A 20 foot container will hold up to approximately 1,100 cubic feet. The dimensions are 19'4"L x 7'9"W x 7'10"H. Generally good for a 2-3 bedroom house. 40 foot container. A 40 foot container will hold up to approximately 2,300 cubic feet. The dimensions are 39'6"L x 7'9"W x 7'10"H. Generally good for a 3-4 bedroom house. 45 foot container. A 45 foot container will hold up to approximately 3,000 cubic feet. The dimensions are 44'6"L x 7'9"W x 7'10"H. Generally good for a 4+ bedroom house. " Hockayak

I've seen http://www.transglobal.org.uk suggested quite abit too, for a small consignment i.e. 25kg Tea Carton = 5 cubic feet it comes up as £103.05 for me which is about 50 quid cheaper than a lot of rivals. It is effectively UPS Express Saver shipping, through a different company. This, i suppose, is for those looking to send smaller amounts. It might be worth checking out as it could also be cheaper for larger consignments too. I looked this up http://www.goodwins-removals.com/removals.php, they suggest that --> "3 tones of effects, equivalent to an average 2 bed house / flat contents." Ok its not cubic footage but might be a general indicator of weight as many of the shipping companies go by cubic feet OR weight. They tend to charge by weight for air and cubic footage for sea shipping, although there many be a kind of average conversion factor as lots of the sites accept both weight or size. Hockayak