Petals

My gas bill for large house and I have all zones operating is about $320.00 and its been about that when the kids were home and when they are not home. Not all houses are jerry built here bit of a an over exageration. We have standards now for new housing requiring insulation and other energy saving these days. My friend who has a large pool was paying $1000 a month but she overcame this by getting solar panels lots of them. We have lived here for over thirty years and we had central heating in our houses and we like climate control and we never had a problem. We don't have double glazing and whether we need it not sure. I found in the UK last time I was there down in Kent we were in a holiday home that had it and it got hot that summer and the double glazing made the house so hot it was unbearable. There is usually a reason why things are different here and most of them come down to the climate. Once a house gets hot in summer you want the heat out not in. That is why we have single storey homes mainly as heat rises and anyone who does not have aircon and lives in a double storey house will find out. If you want climate control verandas are the go

I do not pay electricity as I have panels Will depend on whether you have a well insulated rental, or older style home, central heating, air conditioning etc. Pool. I think I would put gas at $100 if it is a family with central heating.

ADSL2 is available in Somerville which is what I use. Newer housing may not have phone lines, like all other areas you need to ask the question when buying and when renting. I am with Telstra and have no complaints. There are several towers up near the water tanks on the top of the hill. Somerville is on top of a hill and parts of it overlook Westernport Bay. There are plenty of activities as well as the usual sports, basketball and netball are played. Community house is alive and well. There is a skate park and bike paths to Frankston and down to Somers and Balnarring. High schools aplenty both private and public. Toorak College, Peninsula School, Woodleigh, Bayside Cristian College, Flinders Christian College, Padua Mornington and Tyabb campuses. Plenty of horse riding if needed, lessons, agistment eetc. Hastings has a terrific swimming pool and also a great area for walking dogs. Also there is a boardwalk across from Hastings to Crib Point and its a good ride or walk. Westernport Hotel has lovely meals and lovely seating, seating is the best around. Food is also good. Baxter Tav is ok but I think its a bit dearer and not so sure the food is as good. The Thai in Somerville is very very popular lovely food. The Indian used to be good but the last time I was there I was disappointed. They have been around the Peninsulal for years used to have a restaurant in Frankston yonks ago and then came to Somerville and they had a Tandori Oven and a good cook but he was old so guess he has now retired and noticed the tandori oven was not there or not being used last time I went. My daughter has been to the Indian at Baxter and she says its ok. There is another one at Hastings but have not tried that one. Fish and chips are fine here in Somerville albeit the Aussie variety, flake etc which I like. Can't think of any areas that I would avoid in Somerville, most property is privately owned and its like tatts, if you get good neighbours or bad and nothing to do with who they are or how much cash they have.

Lived in Somerville for 29 years and yes there are those that give it a bad name I don't know why, think its the pub, the pub used to be a bit rough and my children never went there and I have only been there 3 or 4 time sin 29 years, however they do not have live music now so its much different. The problems came from the blow ins from the areas around not the people who live here. Somerville is ideal why because its the only town on the Peninsula that has been designed properly. If you live in the town you can walk to everything. The problem in Somerville is that there are never many houses for sale and the decent property is very very tightly held. The town is zoned residential in the middle and then it is ringed by acreage properties. its a town that serviced the apple industry a long time ago but those properties are now horse studs so there are a lot of horsey people around Somerville. We have excellent medical ltos of doctors, there is a womens clinic and another large clinic which I go to but does not bulk bill. There are a couple of bulk billing medical centres. There are two optometrists plenty of physios, gyms and swimming pool at one gym. Good cricket, football and tennis clubs. My children went to Top Tyabb Primary school and it was fine and then they went to private high school. I have no idea about the high school but I could walk to it in 10 minutes and I live on acreage. There are three primary schools in Somerville Somerville primary school which is in lower Somerville and Somerville Rise which is next to the high school. My neighbour sends her chldren to lower Somerville as the school is smaller. There is a catholic primary school St Brendans. There are a couple of child care centres. Couple of dentists. Four supermarkets, Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and IGA. Target, Rivers, McDonalds. Chinese and Thai restaurants, wine bar where my children go when they come home. Southern Command Centre of for the police is under construction in Somerville so that it will cover the area to Mornington, Baxter, Langwarrin, etc. There is a retirement village in Somerville. Agents will say that people tend to move from one house to another in Somerville. We have the train station and a bus route. Its 10 mins to Mornington, 10 mins to Hastings, 10 mins to Mount Eliza and 10 minutes to Frankston. Mornington Peninsula freeway is closest to Somerville so I can leave my home and drive to my daughter's place in Brunswick in 40 minutes traffic permitting and not peak. Its about 40 minutes to the Monash Medical Centre. Being close to Frankston we have the TAFE college and Monash University. Frankston Hospital and private hospitals around. 20 minutes to Balnarring Beach which suits me. There are a lot of smaller houses that were built 30 odd years ago but they are on larger land than what is on offer these days. So good dooer uppers but unfortunately in competition with developers and negative gearers. As a rule of thumb you can judge the streets by the price of houses. If you look on realestate.com.au you will see the houses that are over 450 to 500 plus are in the probably better estates. That is not to say that the other areas are bad just that the housing is a lot smaller and dated. Then you can get a million dollar property like the one sold across from me on 3 acres. The town is divided by the rail line and the village is on the lower Somerville side. Pearcedale is ok but getting built up and most people come to Somerville to shop as there are no major supermarkets there. Its country and its dog land lots of kennels, horse studs. Westernport is a farming area and has lots of studs, racing studs, vegetable farms and wealthy older families that have been here for generations as opposed to Mornington and Port Phillip side which is a commuter centre. There are a few of us who live in Somerville and we all stay. If my car breaks down I can walk to the doc.

If you can move before you have children its a good idea. That way you get to have the freedom to meet new people, expand your job prospects and look at an area where you can bring up a family. We had no children when we arrived and we had five years before having children and it was our best decision.

Funny was talking to my daughter yesterday, she is a teacher but not teaching. Very difficult in Victoria for teachers, I really don't know why they are still importing teachers as we know so many Australian teachers who have graduated and cannot get jobs. They are churning them out these days but with the contract system, maternity leave and who you know its very difficult to get a foot in the door and getting permanent is icing on the cake. Fortunately for my son he is fine and is permanent teaching maths and science. However he tells me that its not so easy to even move school these days as everyone is hanging on to their positions. 12 month contracts are the norm now and the jobs that are advertised in th public sector are usually already filled. Just have to advertise the job. Private schools may be easier if you are a very good teacher with great skills in the classroom and the right degrees.

Join up with the Life in Victoria forum there are a lot of members who live in the area. There is a link to the forum at the foot of this one. I live 10 minutes away from Mornington and get over there quite a bit as I have friends over there. Mount Martha joins up with Mornington so it will depend where you live which primary school will suit you. There are quite a few primary schools around so being in contact with others in the area may help. Although I always found that I got the feel for a school myself and relied on that rather than others input as all our children are so different. Mine are no longer children. They went to top Tyabb Primary School and then onto Flinders College. My neighbour sends hers to Lower Somerville Primary and others send them all over the place. Moorooduc primary is another school mums seem to like these days for the country feel it has. You will find your feet once you arrive and having your family will be a great help. I am sure they will be able to assist with where to live in and around Mornington, good and bad. Depends whether you want country, town or bit of both. Good luck

Bumping the thread for anyone thinking of nursing in Aus

I have changed medications Maryrose and it really depends on us individuals. I never have a problem coming off any of them. However I have big problems getting on new ones so my doc starts me on a quarter for a week then a half and slowly increases the dose up. Works very well. Have not taken the tabs you mention but have tried a lot of them. I now take Zoloft as its the one that puts on the least amount of weight. My specialist says that they are in an arc you have the ones that cause a lot of weight gain, others in the middle moderate and those that do not cause as much weight gain. I have taken Arapax which (paroxetine) and took it for a long while, stopped it no problems yet its the one that the UK BBC made a programme about a few years ago because of the side effects when people came off it. Goes to show that everyone is different that is why we need to find the right medication for us, not the medication that the doc thinks we should have. So if meds do not suit and you get side effects change them as soon as possible.

My doc told me that "Depression"is a word that covers many many different conditions. So that explains why people appear to be confident and got it together but they still have depression. I suffer with it and mine is nothing like going to bed and pulling up the blankets over my head. I retreat, am up for doing something, going somewhere and then I cancel at the last minute. Am in that cycle presently but put it down to Christmas, loss of my oh etc etc so many things. I recognise when I am falling off the tree and tell the doc and we up the pills for a while.

Are you talking about actual Mount Eliza, or Frankston South, its boundary is Humphreys Road. Mount Erin is a high school in Frankston South and it is ok as far as I know. Most people opt for living in South Frankston to be able to send their children to Frankston High which is more desirable. Derinya is a nice primary in Frankston South as well. You do have to be in the zone for Frankston High. Mount Erin is over the other side of South Frankston and there are quite a lot of nice estates around it as well. There are also a lot of primary schools over that way as well and its next to the freeway too. If you moved to Mount Eliza proper its nice, I go there a lot but I am older and a lot of the people seen around the village re my vintage. Its not a particularly good shopping centre probably have to go to Frankston or Mornington to shop. Houses are very expensive there on an equivalent I would say with inner Melbourne. South Frankston has a lot of very expensive housing as well. If your oh is going to be commuting then South Frankston or over near Mount Erin would be the go, South Frankston for proximity to the station and over near Mount Erin, Lakewood, Tahnee Lodge for the new freeway.

Because its always been known that way and its just the one to be on, Portsea, Sorrento, Shoreham, Flinders old money and that is what they call it. Sorry but the other Peninsula has always been known as Bellarine

I moved to the Peninsula 28 years ago with my two children, it was a lot more rural then and we thought we would move back towards the city when the children were older. We never moved back as its the place to live. I live on the Westernport side my children went to primary school, private high school and then on to university all from the Peninsula and they were both well into their twenties when they finally moved on. They still come back as a lot of their peers and friends still live here and they feel they belong here. We live in Somerville which has four supermarkets, upteen doctors, dentists, eye places, chiros, physios everything we want. Also we have the added bonus of being on the train line to Stony Point which is great for the kids when they get older. Our children played sport, and were involved in all sorts of things and they both say it was the best place to grow up. I do not want to move and certainly would not move to Mount Eliza, Mornington or Mount Martha as they are way too busy and they do not have the train and they are too citified. Give me the westernport country folk they are ace and don't try to run down people or get het up and impatient like the city folk over the way lol

Australia also has diploma nurses and they are never the staff nurses on the wards, they are the ones who do all the work. I know this because I was in hospital and a lengthy conversation with an Aussie Diploma nurse. Its all about degrees these days for most jobs in any of the professions. If a person with a degree applies for a job and a person without one I know which one they are going to take. There are so many graduates coming out of Australian universities now in teaching, nursing, accounting and you name it and they are much cheaper to employ. In fact I am surprised we are still taking people in these professions with the amount of graduates looking for work.

Nor mine

Ballam Park is ok on the hill side of Cranbourne Road. Anywhere on the hill actually is ok. If you want walking distance to the station then you can look between Beach Street and Cranbourne Road, often renovated houses or town houses for rent around that area. Frankston South is a nice area as has been mentioned but you will need two cars as transport is bus and they tend to go round the world to get where they are going. Mornington is popular with Brits as well and there are a lot of newer houses in the area. It really depends where you will be working. You could also look at areas like Patterson Lakes, Carrum, Bon Beach, Chelsea, Edithvale, Aspendale, Mordialloc all on the Frankston line and all older areas with all the services. My friends live in Frankston Heights, Lakewood and they have lived there for 15 years and been fine.

Melbourne does not get as many really hot days as Adelaide and tends to be a little wetter. I don't think the climate is anything like the UK for a start we grow veges all year around, flowers all year around and its only cooler than 8 degrees during the winter on a few days a year. However our houses do not have double glazing and a lot of the older ones are very cold to live in. So its best to look for a house that is newer as they are better insulated. What happens is when we first arrive we think its ok in winter however after a while we aclimatise and what we think is cold is not that cold. You need to really go where the work is especially at the present time. Melbourne is a huge place and to live near the beach you need to look at areas on the Frankston rail line which is on the public transport site. A lot of Brits are choosing to live in the west these days and most seem to like it there. I prefer the East and the south but that is me and I guess because I have been here so long I remember what the west used to be like. It will really depend on work and how long a commute is suitable to you. Some people travel for an hour and half to get to work, as I said Melbourne is a big area the size of greater London with four million people so there are places that I have never visited in all the years I have lived here Join up with the Life in Victoria forum there is a link at the foot of this one, most of the active members are here in Melbourne and they will be able to give you more information on where to live based on what your needs are going to be. Good luck

Reading paper today I am wondering if they will get nurses from overseas soon as we seem to have many many many nurses coming out of university and not being able to get graduate positions here. This is a disaster and they need a job first to get the experience. We cannot ignore our own graduate nurses. They should take priority.

When applying you need to check out each States requirements, they are all different, that is with remote teaching and teaching in the suburbs. Criteria for each State can be opposite to another State.

Aus is not short of teachers in the cities and large towns where most of the population lives, they are short of teachers who are willing to move to the outback townships and into the country. My son teaches in Victoria and he took a position in an isolated community with a school, shop and a silo and stayed there for three years. For his efforts he is now a permanent teacher employed by the education department. He is also a maths science teacher and there are a lot more openings for them. My daughter teaches humanities and years 11 and 12 and therefore jobs are thin on the ground in Melbourne and therefore she does not teach now she works in business. People hang on to the jobs in teaching and often people retire and return to the same job on a contract. Contracts are the norm for most teachers these days.

http://www.open.edu.au/careers/education-training/teachers-aides This web site might help with Teachers Aids. As you will see most are employed part time and the wages are far from film star. It depends on a schools funds whether they will fund a teacher for a special needs child or student. Lab techs are used for science in some schools. Probably more private schools that have the money to fund assistants.

AEU is the teachers union and my son is a member.

No idea ask them what it is

Bottom line you need a degree and probably masters these days to get a nose in the door and there are many many people with double degrees commerce/law is a favourite one. I worked in law for over 25 years and I know lots and lots of lawyers and sorry but its not easy to get a nose in if you do not have the right qualifications. Is even hard then, my friend's daughter who is a high paid lawyer says jobs are getting thin on the ground at the moment so those with a lot of experience or have family or friends or went to the right schools etc get first pick.

To be a lawyer you need to have a university under grad degree in law and a one year apprenticeship if you like with the Leo Cussen Institute in Melbourne. If you have not got a university degree then you would be a para legal and these people either do their course through the TAFE system or have worked in legal for a long long long time gaining the experience to be a clerk. The Law Institute in each State should be able to provide further information. As we are presently down by the head with lawyers at the moment you will have a lot of competition for jobs. There is a glut of lawyers around in fact a few years ago I read in the Law Institute journal that there were more lawyers studying law at the time than all the lawyers in Australia. So experience and high degrees are the way to good jobs.