Location: Nr. Callington, Cornwall and planning to go to Armidale, NSW
Posts: 8
Port Macquarie/Armidale
Dear All,
We've been visiting the website for a while and taking heed of all the info - great site!
I'm a Community Psychiatric Nurse and my husband has a degree in Geology and a post graduate diploma in Land Surveying and we're looking to emigrate early next year. We're going to come to Australia with my qualifications and I'm in the process of being interviewed for positions in two places - Port Macquarie and Armidale. We are moving to New South Wales with our one year old daughter and we'd just like to know a little more about the areas - areas to live/childcare/social networks/things to do/job prospects?
I wonder if anyone can give us some more information.
Also hoping to move to NSW, probably Newcastle coastal area / maybe further north. Brother's in-laws live in Forster / Tuncurry, thats a little further south than Port Macquarie. They've been there about 2 years now and really like that coastal area.
We are Nurse / Community Midwife by profession and have done quite a bit of looking around for jobs etc already. Are you hoping to stay in community practice or go back in to hospital?
There only seems to be a couple of bigger hospitals in that area of NSW, so we want to be in communting distance of Newcastle, where the John Hunter Hospital is.
Have you been out for a trip yet?
We go in Jan to check it all out and will spend around 2 weeks in that region of NSW so will be glad to give you an update when we get back!!
All the best and good luck
Nige & Andrea
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I moved from Aberdeen to Armidale in 1980. I only thought of it as a 2 year working holiday - but stayed.
Armidale is 1000m (3400 feet) asl on the Northern Tablelands, about a 2 hour drive drom the Coast (Coffs Harbour is the nearest coastal town), and sits on the inland New England Highway (Brisbane/Sydney). Port Macquarie is (obviously) on the coast and on the coastal Pacific Highway (Brisbane/Sydney).
Armidale, being at altitude has a milder climate than Port Macquarie. Personally, I prefer Armidale's climate over Port as Port, as does the rest of the coast, gets quite humid in summer which can be quite enervating.
Being a University city, Armidale has a large range of cultural offerings.
Health-wise, it's part of the same Hunter New England Area Health Service. The University has a wide range of health-related areas of study and, in a few months, will be starting it's new Rural Medical School.
If you have specific questions, let me know.
I have a photoblog mainly of New England images at: lookANDsee
Location: Nr. Callington, Cornwall and planning to go to Armidale, NSW
Posts: 8
Hi All!
Thank you so much for replying to our thread. We really appreciate it.
Nige and Andrea - we'd love to hear about your adventures next year. We've got friends who have settled in the Central Coast area and who wouldn't return to the UK. We haven't visited and although we think it would have been advisable, having had a little one, the year has flown and it hasn't happened! We're using a recruitment consultant and she's been great - she's talked us through the whole process - registering with NSW/NMB, spoken with employers and organised interviews. I've now heard that both places are taking up references so fingers crossed, we'll have a choice of tree or sea!! It's due to the Visa that we're planning on Port or Armidale as it will be a Employee Nomination Scheme - Rural Migration so we couldn't go to the bigger cities - but this suits us just fine.
Gordon, your photo's are great - thankyou. Coming from the South West of the UK, Armidale does definately appeal to us and it sounds a fantastic place to bring up children. Having had our little one, it suddenly seems more important to have space and the opportunity of an outdoor lifestyle and this has given us the motivation to make the life changing decision. We've been doing some research on clubs around Armidale and it looks as though there is a strong community feel to the place - is that the case?
Anyway, it's good to hear from people and make contacts.
Yes, Armidale's community spirited - but I believe you'd find that in much of rural Australia.
Have you worked out, yet, how sparsely populated Australia is outside the metro areas? eg The region called New England / North West is three-quarters the size of England but only has a population of 180,000 or so. Armidale's population, for example, is about 23,000 - so amenities are scaled to cope with such a number.
If you think you want to live next to a beach - and many people on the forum seem to think that's a good thing :-) - then Armidale isn't the place (unless you don't mind the 2 hour drive to get there). I'm not a beach person myself so it's not an issue.
I've been in the Armidale area for all but two of the past 28 years (yikes, time flies). The two years were spent working in Sydney which was great - but I wouldn't want to live in a city again - just too impersonal.
We live on 100 acres, 20 km outside Armidale and so have much of the native wildlife literally on our doorstep - and above if you include the wedge-tail eagles. Many people on this forum seem to focus on spiders and snakes (which aren't really such an issue in residential areas) but in our rural space I've come to an arrangement with those critters, we ignore them and they ignore us :-)
Location: Nr. Callington, Cornwall and planning to go to Armidale, NSW
Posts: 8
Hi All. Just wondering if you had a good trip Nige and Andrea? We're looking to go to Armidale and really looking forward to it. It seems a lovely place and all that I've heard makes it sound as though it's a great place to bring up a family. I've been keeping an eye on your photoblog Gordon and it's been really interesting. I've done as much research as I possibly can (apart from visit!!!!!) so we're just waiting for the confirmation letter in order to apply for our Visa. Hope you're all well. Tracey
Hi Tracey. I take it that you've had a successful interview? And, errrr, if you've been keeping an eye on the photoblog, don't worry about the content of today's photo: lookANDsee » Eye can see you
It isn't venomous :-)
Location: EAST YORKSHIRE, NR BEVERLEY. HOPING TO GO TO PORT MACQUARIE NSW.
Posts: 235
Quote:
Originally Posted by FamilyWeymouth
Dear All,
We've been visiting the website for a while and taking heed of all the info - great site!
I'm a Community Psychiatric Nurse and my husband has a degree in Geology and a post graduate diploma in Land Surveying and we're looking to emigrate early next year. We're going to come to Australia with my qualifications and I'm in the process of being interviewed for positions in two places - Port Macquarie and Armidale. We are moving to New South Wales with our one year old daughter and we'd just like to know a little more about the areas - areas to live/childcare/social networks/things to do/job prospects?
I wonder if anyone can give us some more information.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Tracey
Hi this is a message i sent to someone else that was asking about Port Maquarie Ihope it helps
We went to OZ (Port Macquarie) in October 2007 to have a look around we went up to Coffs Harbour for a day it is bigger than Port Macquarie but also a little touristy within 10-15 seconds my wife decided she didn't like Coffs as a place to live so I put my foot down and we are not going to Coffs. We are going to go with our first choice of Port Macquarie, which we found to be a lovely, clean, well kept place with a very friendly atmosphere.
If you want lots of long boozy nights out forget Port, that is not what the place is about. There is at least one night club and there are a few bars not that I would be allowed to visit any of these places!
We found the house prices to be within what I would say most peoples' grasp, depending on size and area £130,000 up wards but please don't quote me on that take a look at www.portmacquariefn.com.au . We will be renting when we first get there as we don't want to rush into some thing that could end up being an expensive mistake. We are looking at buying somthing on the out outskirts of Port (Beechwood) with 1-2 acres because to my dismay my wife has decided she wants her own horse and my 8 year old daughter wants a pony, so tell me who will end up looking after them then?
Anyway back to Port. We spoke to a few locals who told us that Port doesn't seem to suffer the water shortages as bad as a lot of Australia does because they get a more rainfall there and they had the foresight to build dams and they have spent money on putting a good infrastructure in place to keep themselves with a steady water table.
The heat is supposed to be a lot more bearable which is a big factor as you have to live and work in it. We decided against Perth because of the intense heat and long term I personally think W/A's present boom may be its long-term downfall but thats only my opinion. Well that's all I can say for now and I wish you all the best of luck.
The oldgit
ps Whether or not it will keep you in work I don't know.
__________________
136 PR VISA GRANTED 23/01/08:jiggy:
Location: Nr. Callington, Cornwall and planning to go to Armidale, NSW
Posts: 8
Quote:
Originally Posted by macalba
Hi Tracey. I take it that you've had a successful interview? And, errrr, if you've been keeping an eye on the photoblog, don't worry about the content of today's photo: lookANDsee » Eye can see you
It isn't venomous :-)
Hi Gordon,
I'd just looked at it and then saw your reply!! How is Armidale at the moment? Looks as though it's been quite rainy recently - how is today looking for you? We expect that we'll be out in May/June time. Enjoy your day. Tracey
Location: Nr. Callington, Cornwall and planning to go to Armidale, NSW
Posts: 8
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldgit
Hi this is a message i sent to someone else that was asking about Port Maquarie Ihope it helps
We went to OZ (Port Macquarie) in October 2007 to have a look around we went up to Coffs Harbour for a day it is bigger than Port Macquarie but also a little touristy within 10-15 seconds my wife decided she didn't like Coffs as a place to live so I put my foot down and we are not going to Coffs. We are going to go with our first choice of Port Macquarie, which we found to be a lovely, clean, well kept place with a very friendly atmosphere.
If you want lots of long boozy nights out forget Port, that is not what the place is about. There is at least one night club and there are a few bars not that I would be allowed to visit any of these places!
We found the house prices to be within what I would say most peoples' grasp, depending on size and area £130,000 up wards but please don't quote me on that take a look at www.portmacquariefn.com.au . We will be renting when we first get there as we don't want to rush into some thing that could end up being an expensive mistake. We are looking at buying somthing on the out outskirts of Port (Beechwood) with 1-2 acres because to my dismay my wife has decided she wants her own horse and my 8 year old daughter wants a pony, so tell me who will end up looking after them then?
Anyway back to Port. We spoke to a few locals who told us that Port doesn't seem to suffer the water shortages as bad as a lot of Australia does because they get a more rainfall there and they had the foresight to build dams and they have spent money on putting a good infrastructure in place to keep themselves with a steady water table.
The heat is supposed to be a lot more bearable which is a big factor as you have to live and work in it. We decided against Perth because of the intense heat and long term I personally think W/A's present boom may be its long-term downfall but thats only my opinion. Well that's all I can say for now and I wish you all the best of luck.
The oldgit
ps Whether or not it will keep you in work I don't know.
Hi there! Thanks for the reply. Port Macquarie does sound lovely and it does sound a lovely place to bring up children. Enjoy your small holding duties!!! We've decided to start our adventure in Armidale. With all the research we've done and the people we've spoken with, there appears to be a great community spirit, good educational facilities and beautiful surroundings. We're looking forward to it. Good luck with your move to Port - where are you in your process? Tracey
