Are you living in Tas now? We are looking to move out in the next few months. I could do with a pal as I am leaving behind a coupleof great mates, how would you fancy meeting up ,if and when, we get out their and have a coffee and a chat? I need to be given the best shops, wine bars, jobs and schools info! Hope you dont mind helping.
Are you enjoying life in Tas? How long have you been their? Hope you get this message, speak soon,
Julliet
We are wanting to move to Tass also,just got to get visa.Husband is a Mechanical Fitter so we have to look into work.We have two girls 9,11.I would also like to make some new friends(big fear about leaving u.k)Also anyone out there with kids around the same age would be good.
We have just had our meds and now waiting to get our visas. My other half is a Diesel Fitter. We went to Tas last year to see if we liked it and abs loved it, whilst out there other half went to companies about job prospects and each company he went to offered him a job!! Decided to go against company sponsorship though as he would be tied down to the company for 2 years. Decided to do the Independant Skilled Migration instead its been a long journey. Can offer advise if you want it as been through the whole Tra thing plus we aren't married so had to prove our relationship (even though we have a child together) that doesn't count apparently! The TRA was the hardest I think, but we got there with no hitches so we did something right!
Myself, my husband and our 11 year old son have just returned from 3 weeks in Tasmana. This was a bit of a fact finding excercise as the state have now nominated us to move over, should take a while for the visas to come through though.
Whilst over in Tasmania we visited a couple of schools and looked at a couple of areas that we may like to live, met with some British people that had already moved over etc.
Firstly, the Resettlement Officers were really helpful, you should send them an email. The State itself was wonderful, beautiful and the people are so nice. The schools seem a little more relaxed than England the children seem to be children not mini chavs. They are sports mad, so the kids should be occupied in that sense, you dont see the kids hanging around the streets as you do here and there is an eerie lack of grafitti and rubbish. The ones we looked at were State schools but were in 'nice' locations - on the banks of the river with a beach or settled among hills - looking at views like that has got to be good for your spirit - if not for your concentration! The schools we looked at had accelorated learning programs for the more academic kids but a wide range of other lessons for instance at 12 years when they start high school (academic year runs feb - dec) all children have to learn to play a musical instrument for the year so they have their own mini orchestras. They akso can take 'Rock Group' as an option in later years, surfing is also on the curriculum. They seem to promote Japanese as a second language although they usefully offer a choice (European languages were French and Italian). Class sizes and schools in general are smaller 20-25 in a class.
I would echo the statement that Blackmans bay and Kingston are very nice areas to live, this is where we would be looking to move, and you will certainly find that you get much more for your money in respect of real estate. You are within walking distance of beaches (which were empty, although it was winter), you have good local shops and schools. It is a residential area so your daughter shouldnt be too isolated (which is one of the concerns we had for our son)
Having returned I cannot wait to get over there as I think it provide a good standard of living and a future for our son.
I have been trying to find British social groups without success, though funny enough theres Irish and Welsh groups (may have to ask them to adopt me!)
Anyway please let me know how you get on because we will be grateful of any social interaction when we get over there.
hi wendy, i am also applying under state nomination to move to tas.
I was happy you wrote a detailed description of your stay in tas. I am surprised that surf is in the curriculum though! How safe is it? I mean it must be open sea an I know of shark attacks in OZ are popular! Do you know of the parent controlled christian schools?
Do you have any more info on curricullum or any school website I could have a look at?
hi wendy, i am also applying under state nomination to move to tas.
I was happy you wrote a detailed description of your stay in tas. I am surprised that surf is in the curriculum though! How safe is it? I mean it must be open sea an I know of shark attacks in OZ are popular! Do you know of the parent controlled christian schools?
Do you have any more info on curricullum or any school website I could have a look at?
thank you.
xxx val.
Hi Val
We are hoping to move to Tas too. I sent the state nomination form today. Do you have any idea how long this takes ?
My hubby and son went over last Dec for a reccie. They thought it was great. I have looked at the tas government website, and found links to schools on their, lots of schools have their own website. There is also info on the christian schools as well.
Do you know where abouts you want live in Tas ?
Good luck with your plans
Hi Val
We are hoping to move to Tas too. I sent the state nomination form today. Do you have any idea how long this takes ?
My hubby and son went over last Dec for a reccie. They thought it was great. I have looked at the tas government website, and found links to schools on their, lots of schools have their own website. There is also info on the christian schools as well.
Do you know where abouts you want live in Tas ?
Good luck with your plans
Carina
Hi Carina,
You are just ahead of me with your application. I am still going to send the TRA papers hopefully this week, if boss remembers sending the ref!
Also, my hubby first language is portuguese so he has to attend an IELTS test on August. Can you see how many details before we lodge our visa application!!!!!
Hopefully by end september all is done.
I only know that if you go for the visa 137 STNI as I am going for, will take less time than visa 136 ( most people go for it). Also the TRA gives more importance to the 137 visa. How long took your TRA ( if your ocupation is dealt by the TRA) ?
Answering your question, my husband's boss in UK is from Tas! He said we should go to Hobart, the capital, it has around 200,000 habitants and mmore jobs opportunity. If you go to Launceston for instance you my like but think that the University is in Hobart and you may wish to have your kids near you even whilst in University ( in Tas kids are much closer to parents and don't tend to leave home at the age of 16 as many do in UK).
I think Hobart is already enough small, why a smaller town then?
However, if my husband finds a job further north, I should delete all I said here. It really depends on job offer and house price, but eventually we plan to stay in Hobart.
Can you imagine how nice to go in labour in a hospital that you don't need to worry about bugs? :)
May I ask what part of the British Isles you come from and how old your children are?
I'm ahead of you both (slightly) as we have now had a TRA assessment (took about a month from sending off to positive reply), and we sent our State Nomination off a week or so before we went to Tas (19th May 07) and met with the Skilled Immigration dept when we were over there and they told us there and then they would sponsor us and sent a confirmation email and letter that day - so it was waiting for us when we got home, not long at all really quicker than the TRA assessment I sent our visa application off last Friday - so I'll let you know how I get on, I understand from date of application of visa its currently taking about 6 months (on the immi website they say 7 months).
Having been to Hobart and Launceston I much prefer Hobart - I think its because I am use to living in a more populated area.
As for the Christian Schools there are allsorts, one of the best academic schools is a school called Friends, which is in Hobart this is a Quaker run school. These schools are private though I do not think there are many Christian State Schools, so you will need to consider fees.
As for the surf - they appear to be quite big on it - dont know about shark attacks though, think the maritime climate might not suit the sharks, will need to investigate. There are hundreds of white sandy beaches with the bluest sea - specially on the East Coast.
Let me know how you get on, I think it will be invaluable to keep in touch with ex-pats over there given the fact we hardly know anyone over there!
Just wondering how many of u are now in Tassie??
Im going back home to Tassie after being in UK for 23yrs! And wondered how u all got on so far living there. I have 3 boys aged 11, 8, and 18mnths and i know that they would love to hear from any kids that are living there at the moment.
I know that they have their cousins out there but hearing what its like living there from them just isnt the same as they have been born and brought up there so they know no difference.
We have been out there a few times and the kids seem to love it, but being there on holiday is different to living there.
We will be arriving in Tassie in March 08 (about 26/27th)
