Charmed by Tasmania. Are we mad?

We're 2 years into holding a 189 visa, and still haven't made the move down under yet.

During this time we've done a reccie to Melbourne and surrounds as well as intensely researching places such as Perth and Brisbane. Frustrated by Melbourne's housing costs, disappointed by the soulless never ending urban sprawl of Perth and put off by the bogan reputation around Brisbane we decided to cast the net even wider and encompass that little island just a few miles north of of Antarctica.

Tasmania!!!

Goodness, it ticks so many boxes for us.

• It has history
  
• Beautiful Georgian and Victorian architecture
  
• Very little urban sprawl
  
• Mountains, Lakes, Coast
  
• Glorious food culture
  
• Affordable housing
  
• Low crime
  
• Fewer creepy crawlies
  
• Friendly people
  
• 1 hr flight to Australia's fastest growing city (Melbourne)
  

Okay, I know the weather ain't great but it's only slightly worse than Melbourne's and it's a damn sight better than where I live in the Alps. Yesterday it was 7C in the daytime in May!!!!

We want to buy a property outright, which is possible for us in Tassie. We also want to set up our own business offering IT and Secretarial services to local businesses.

We've honed our targets on the city of Launceston (Excruciatingly pronounced LornSesston)

Who can persuade us that we've made a bad judgement? Or perhaps anyone living in Tassie can confirm that we've indeed discovered a hidden gem.

I've spent quite a bit of time in Tassie, love it, in my opinion the best part of Australia by far, only problem, no work :sad:

and if you are thinking of starting a business, you might factor this in too http://censusstats.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/income-distribution-in-australian-states.html

Its also not exactly famous for its IT and corporate big business.

...we decided to cast the net even wider and encompass that little island just a few miles north of of Antarctica...

 

LOL!

Launceston (41.43 degrees south) has approximately the same equivalent latitude as Barcelona (41.38 degrees north).

Would you class Barcelona as being just a few miles south of the Arctic? :wub:

:wink:

Our model isn't to target big corporates. We'd aim for small businesses and possibly the tourist trade. We'd just need to elbow in against local competition.

I love Tasmania as most people do but there is a reason we do not move there, its lack of work, have to fly or take the ferry every time to leave. Lovely for a holiday. I would not have thought there would be a big enough market for secretarial services for businesse, maybe there is. There are franchises that do this type of thing on mainland and I guess there may be same in Tasmania. Tourists are not really looking for help on holidays they usually have their own technology with them. Well we always did.

 

Who can persuade us that we've made a bad judgement? Or perhaps anyone living in Tassie can confirm that we've indeed discovered a hidden gem.

No, you're not mad - just very discerning with impeccably good taste! :wubclub: :laugh:

Okay, I know the weather ain't great but it's only slightly worse than Melbourne's ........Yesterday it was 7C in the daytime in May!!!!.

Not sure about Launceston...but Hobart has more sunshine hours and less rain than Melbourne. :wubclub: In fact Hobart is the second driest capital city after Adelaide. Not sure which mountain you were on yesterday: both Hobart and Launceston have averaged 17C this month (though that is 3 deg. above average for May in Hobart).

the city of Launceston (Excruciatingly pronounced LornSesston)

It's LONsesston....known locally as "Lonnie". :laugh:

As for business... business confidence generally is higher in Tassie than the national average at the moment. Tourism and agriculture in particular are doing very well.

This is the peak body for the IT sector in Tas. It may give you a feel for what is happening in the area. When looking for property be sure to check out internet connectivity: it can vary tremendously from one area to another.

http://www.tasict.com/

Happy to answer any other questions.

I would not have thought there would be a big enough market for secretarial services for businesse, maybe there is.

There are over 36,000 small businesses in Tassie - accounting for 97% of total businesses - so quite a few requiring outsourced support services.

Thankyou for your insight. You're helping to sell it even more And also, thanks for the TASICT link....this is invaluable and gives me even more confidence. There's a real can do attitude.

97% small businesses suggests that Tassie is made up of independent freethinking individuals.....right up my street

Hi Petals, I wouldn't offer ICT to visiting tourists rather the tourist sector.

I gather tourism is a growing industry, and I'd like a slice of the tourism pie by offering services to hotels, b&b's, restaurants and activity companies.

If finding an income on Tassie wasn't a problem, can you think of any other negatives?

I was in Launceston yesterday. I'm not surprised you like the place so much. There was a powdering of snow on the Western Tiers - lovely scenery on the drive from Devonport to Launceston. Hope you are successful with setting up your own business!!

Just be aware ............. there are bogans here too and also crime. Nowhere is perfect.

Hi Petals, I wouldn't offer ICT to visiting tourists rather the tourist sector.

I gather tourism is a growing industry, and I'd like a slice of the tourism pie by offering services to hotels, b&b's, restaurants and activity companies.

 

If finding an income on Tassie wasn't a problem, can you think of any other negatives?

Income would be the only thing and its an island. We all love it to visit and my daughter thought about buying a house over there at one time but that has not happened. I could live there as long as I could get the right internet. Know a lady that lives there and they have all sorts of trouble with the net and now use Sat. However that is not just TAS even in the middle of Melbourne need to check out the internet.

You didn't check out Adelaide? :wink: It has better weather than Tassie and has the advantage of being on the mainland...

You didn't check out Adelaide? :wink: It has better weather than Tassie and has the advantage of being on the mainland...

I think Tassie has the benefit of NOT being on the mainland!

Saw way more Bogans in Launceston than I ever have in Brisbane?

Gold coast, Logan and Caboolture are way more bogan than Brisbane itself.

Just to add Hobart is very nice, would be targeting there over Launceston if set on Tasmania

If finding an income on Tassie wasn't a problem, can you think of any other negatives?

From my perspective the only negatives would be:

(1) if you were into retail therapy in a big way and your idea of "entertainment" was spending hours in shopping malls....then you'd be out of luck.

(2) fewer of the big name concerts/shows/artists visit Tassie. But it's easy enough to get direct flights to Melbourne or Sydney, make a weekend of it and catch up on a couple of shows at the one time.

As someone who has spent 14 years living on the mainland - Sydney, Adelaide and northern NSW - there is nothing which would draw me back there.

Who can persuade us that we've made a bad judgement? Or perhaps anyone living in Tassie can confirm that we've indeed discovered a hidden gem.

I can confirm that you have indeed discovered a hidden gem [emoji4] We were looking at moving to Australia (from the UK) a few years ago. We spent months researching the pros and cons of each of the main areas on the mainland (someone had told us that Tassie's climate was just the same as that of the U.K. so we crossed it off the list right away...[emoji21]). We did a reccie and visited Sydney, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Adelaide and Newcastle. There were good sides to all of them, but we were too aware of the downsides of living there (downsides for us - I can see why other people prefer living there). And we just didn't feel enough of a pull to warrant moving our family half-way around the world. So we were about to give up on the idea of moving to Australia. Then a friend just happened to be on holiday in Tassie and sent us a few photos...[emoji50] Thank goodness she did because after much research, we found that it ticked all our boxes (our list was v similar to yours!). We actually couldn't believe that we had found the place we had been looking for. I thought it didn't exist [emoji4]

I'm rambling [emoji1] but yeah from what I've read so far I think you'll love it here. It's a very special place. The only downsides that I can think of (in addition to the ones already mentioned) would be the lack of the 'big'/corporate jobs, and the cooler temperatures (I love this climate but for those who like to go in the sea/pool all year round I can see it would be a problem). And by the way the climate is soooo much better than that of the UK. We've had a never-ending summer and apart from the last few weeks it's been a v dry and mild Autumn. It's almost winter and yesterday we were walking on the beach on a gorgeous sunny day and it was almost 20 degrees! OK so it's cold and raining today but I'll gloss over that [emoji1]

I don't know Launceston very well but I can't recommend living in Hobart highly enough. It's beautiful, friendly, interesting, vibrant and easy to get around. Best place in the world if you ask me!

Good luck with everything. I hope it all works out for you.

(I love this climate but for those who like to go in the sea/pool all year round I can see it would be a problem).

I go in the pool all year round....at the Aquatic Centre....with the added bonus of it being shark free! :wink: I haven't been to the Launceston one but I've been told it's very nice.

Tastastic: It's lovely to hear you have settled so well. I know you were concerned about schools for your children - have they settled well also?

I go in the pool all year round....at the Aquatic Centre....with the added bonus of it being shark free! :wink: QUOTE]

 

Ha! Good point! [emoji1]

 

The kids have settled really well thanks. We're all very happy with the schools and the kids made friends quite quickly (phew!). Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly; it has really helped. Thanks again Skani for all your advice and for answering my never-ending questions. This forum helped so much. As useful as search engines are, sometimes you just need to ask a real person a specific question and have an actual (well virtual!) discussion about something! Thankfully we have been very happy with where we moved to, and the schools we chose (can't tell you what a relief that is!). Had we not had the input of people like yourself it may not have worked out quite so well.l [emoji51]Thanks Skani and everyone else who helped when I was sat in front of my computer at the other side of the world and fretting about absolutely everything!

 

For those of you with the journey still ahead of you - I hope you end up loving Tassie as much as I do. Good luck!

On 20 May 2016 at 8:28 AM, spangley said:

We're 2 years into holding a 189 visa, and still haven't made the move down under yet.

 

During this time we've done a reccie to Melbourne and surrounds as well as intensely researching places such as Perth and Brisbane. Frustrated by Melbourne's housing costs, disappointed by the soulless never ending urban sprawl of Perth and put off by the bogan reputation around Brisbane we decided to cast the net even wider and encompass that little island just a few miles north of of Antarctica.

 

Tasmania!!!

 

Goodness, it ticks so many boxes for us.

 

• It has history
• Beautiful Georgian and Victorian architecture
• Very little urban sprawl
• Mountains, Lakes, Coast
• Glorious food culture
• Affordable housing
• Low crime
• Fewer creepy crawlies
• Friendly people
• 1 hr flight to Australia's fastest growing city (Melbourne)

 

 

Okay, I know the weather ain't great but it's only slightly worse than Melbourne's and it's a damn sight better than where I live in the Alps. Yesterday it was 7C in the daytime in May!!!!

We want to buy a property outright, which is possible for us in Tassie. We also want to set up our own business offering IT and Secretarial services to local businesses.

We've honed our targets on the city of Launceston (Excruciatingly pronounced LornSesston)

 

Who can persuade us that we've made a bad judgement? Or perhaps anyone living in Tassie can confirm that we've indeed discovered a hidden gem.

We thought exactly he same but from the UK, spent over a week on Tassie last May, visited a lot of places but the NW coast is the favourite for us. Just the small problem of getting the VISA. Looking at properties & seeing what the job market might be, but very intrigued & looking forward to the massive challenge