PityTheFool

Same app as I use, found it to be the most accurate!

Please, please, please do not come to Melbourne for good weather!! If you like the variety of the seasons then all good (sometimes all in one day, it's true what they say). However if you don't like the wind, rain and grey skies then Melbourne may not be for you. Melbourne's weather is warmer than the UK and it definitely gets more sunshine but if your coming from the UK expecting tropical conditions you'll be sadly disappointed!! Don't want to sound too negative, just want people to have realistic expectations. It's now 8.30am, sunny and 7 degrees, when I breathe I can see my breath!!

In our first week of being here our son was sat on a wall outside the school with a couple of the other children, the wife turned around and he was in a heap on the floor, he'd fallen off the wall and banged his head on the path. He seemed fine but as a precaution she took him to the local doctors, the doctors wanted him to be checked at the local hospital and so preceded to take him there in an ambulance, he got the all clear so all was well...or so we thought!! A few days later we received a bill for $1000!! $1000 for an ambulance to take our 6 year old son ten minutes down the road!! We didn't even need the ambulance, my wife could have taken him...welcome to Australia, yeah thanks for telling us immigration dept!! Moral of the story: As soon as you step off the plane get ambulance cover! (At least in VIC) $80 a year for a family premium for a year or $1000 for a ten minute ride down the road, we learnt the hard way!!

Do you cover it in chicken salt?!? Lol

Not that I spend a lot of time at the chippy but...there's no cod/haddock, the standard fish is flake which is actually shark.

Chicken flavour salt from the chippy... Why would anyone want chicken flavour salt on their fish!!! Gotta love 'em!

Still funny though!

Plus 1 for Melbourne being like London! We're heading up to Brissie in a bid to escape the rat race. From where we lived in the UK I could have been in London quicker than it now takes me to get into Melbourne, I'd have been on shitloads more money and living in the Midlands, i.e. not paying London prices, I didn't want that lifestyle back then and I certainty didn't more halfway around the world for it, yet somehow I've managed to get caught up in it for the last two years!! I'd say it's time to make a change, whether that's back to the UK or elsewhere in Oz. BTW boganbear said 'lived on ABOUT $62k for NEARLY A YEAR' with the lifestyle mentioned I can only presume the surrounding years were drawing a $200k salary!! Either that or no mortgage/rent to pay for!!

This thread made me laugh, radio in Oz is pretty shocking but I love how unPC it is, it's the total opposite of the UK, anything goes...it's awesome!! My response to the poms taking all of the jobs would have been that it's because we're clearly better than the Aussies...we can't help that!! I was surprised when we first arrived here though and was told a certain company wouldn't interview me coz I'm from England, I found that a bit shocking at the time, not so much now though coz I know the reason why; we care about doing a good job and the Aussies don't, problem is my industry has cut their own throats and now no one is willing to pay for quality, again I don't see that as my problem!! Also, we don't hear the Aussies complaining when they're enjoying a public holiday 'celebrating' our queen's birthday do we?!? They're embracing of all things pom then!! I love Aussie radio, Kate, Tim and Marty on Nova are probably the best thing about Melbourne!

Good luck getting a 'runaround' in Oz for $2.5k! Check out carsales.com.au I think you'll be surprised. We budgeted £2k for a runaround when we came over, we ended up spending $15k!! Cheap cars here are around 20 years old with 400k on the clock, they're cheap coz they're $hit!! If you've owner a car for over a year bring it with you I wish we had. Cars here are 2/3 times the price for the you'd expect to pay for the same car in the UK.

Best bet would be the Eiffel Tower with your eyes closed, you could periodically open your eyes on the way up, no backing out coz you'd be in a lift - perfect!! Surely standing in a building looking out of a window would not cure a fear of heights?!? I have a fear of heights but at the same time I have a huge interest in high rise buildings. I've have been up the Eiffel Tower, the burj khalifa and eureka tower but I'd still **** myself if stood on a ladder!! Surely the feeling of fear is related to the feeling of safety? I'm confused!!

Global warming is a fact; the question should be 'do you think we should do anything to combat global warming?' Global warming has, or is being, accelerated by our actions, this is as a result of our evolution as human beings, you could argue trying to combat it is also part of our evolution as becoming educated about the effects we are having on our planet is leading us to want to change the path we have unknowingly chosen. Should we try and control such things, who knows? If we hadn't have burnt fossil fuels (etc) would the earth's temperatures have risen anyway but at a slower rate, who knows? How much time would we / have we bought by trying to educate ourselves, guess what...who knows!! If we evolve enough to change things so be it, but if the dinosaurs had done the same would we be here now?? Who are we to try and control the earth and it's future?!? (A brief glimpse inside my head... Don't feel sorry for me, I'm fine, it's my wife you should feel sorry for!)

Does the $75k include super? Not that it really matters, I think you'd struggle even if it doesn't, but just something to bare in mind? I'd say $100k would be the min. required. That would be based upon a $400 a week rental and no savings. As others have said you cut your cloth to suit, but would I make the move based on the expected lifestyle....probably not!

If you don't have any work experience you will struggle to get a positive outcome from a CDR, after all, what competencies would you demonstrate within your report?!?