AaronS

Good on you! We are right there with you. Entering our fourth year looking forward to citizenship. Was a rocky road at first but have firmed up and we love it here. The two year mark seems to be the milestone to making it work.

Manly for the win. If you want a little less expensive go Dee Why...but you get what you pay for.

I'll be blunt. 100K a year here and you will struggle on a 457. If you have any kind of comfortable life where you are now forget it at that salary here. Not meaning to discourage but you will feel poor.

Just dropping by as I do on occasion now. Looking back on our big move I've gone from extremely depressed about it to completely loving being here. Wife and I are doing very well on the job fronts...both of us have received very nice promotions this year. Traveling quite a bit. Kids are fully integrated into school now and have a solid group of friends. Basically everything has come up roses for us at this point. Looking at citizenship at the end of this year. Hard to believe we are going on four years here now. Time just kind of zipped on by. Hope everyone here is doing well and making good progress at what ever stage of the immigration journey you may be on.

Starting in Sydney and going through broken hill to get to Port Augusta...then head north. Adelaide is pretty far out of the way.

Just booked an RV for a two week trip to the centre and back. Leaving from Sydney. Anyone done this before or have any tips? Headed out Broken Hill way to Port Augusta and up the Stuart. Then back through Red Cliffs. Leaving in two weeks.

Yes, it's all good now....even with having a meter long water dragon living next to the pool.

Paperwork is going out from her employer this week. HR questioned the fact that the company was paying for the visa and was promptly told to fall in line by the VP over the Asia and Oceania region. Yea!

I'm probably the king of flip flopping and then flopping again. Sold everything and moved here.....got depressed....six months later moved back to the US and bought a house.....hated it there....sold the house and moved back to Oz. Been back for 10 months now and love it. You have to give it time. A job will help get you into a social life...or some kind of groups. You absolutely have to do one of those to start getting people into your life. We'll never go back to the US at this point. Australia is home now.

Going on our first real camping trip this weekend. Headed to Dunn's Swamp. Looking forward to it. Anybody been there before and have any tips on the place?

Hope all is well with everyone. Things are well with us. We've moved to St Ives...my parents are coming for 3 months this summer and we needed a bigger place and the place are MUCH bigger in St Ives! Work is going well for me. I've been given a minor promotion into logistics and planning. Wife has be moved into a management role with two employees working for her. My wife's employer was supposed to sponsor us for PR after 3 years here. Well, that's not looking like the case now. Instead they are sponsoring us now....less than 2 years here. On top to that they are paying for all fees. We are extremely fortunate and thankful for this. Although it was a tough road at first we have been blessed with the ease of getting here quickly and without having to pay for it. This is our home now and we are extremely happy.

Not as touristy as the city and still a lot to do and all close so you could get away with not having a car if you like. Mostly because there is a lot to do for a young, single person.

While in the US I had works colleagues in Ireland.....they said it was dire straights there. Best of luck.

I do not recommend self pack. Customs frowns on it. Just my opinion.

30 and single = live in Manly if you can.

I can't possibly be expected to read all this :-) So, from our perspective things are much better here than the US. Jobs are secure (compared to) and wages are much better. Yes, cost of living is higher but wages are higher yet. I would be desperately afraid of our financial future if told we had to move back to the US...because it's failing there compared to here. That's my "in a nutshell" take on it.

Hmmm, well, well be down that way for the boat show. If we are still around we'll come by for a drink or two. We'll be the loud seppos asking for Michael.

Actual unemployment in the US is close to that as well. Not good times there.

I can't think of the docs of the top of my head but here's a suggestion that we did that really helped. Get copies of the papers you know you will need and make packets....like 8 to 10 of them. Before you go to an inspection fill out the application and put it on top of the packet. If you like the place you hand the agent the packet. We found that most people looking ask the agent for an application and always heard them respond with "you can download it from the internet". Having the packet ready to hand to them put you at the front of the line where everyone else is taking a day or two to fill out the info afterwards. We actually carry a packet with us every where we go. It has come in handy more than once. It covers everything really...has copies of our passports, birth certs, marriage license, banking info, proof of address, visa approvals, etc.....basically it's our life on paper.

If you want to say some cash and don't mind not having a warranty look on gumtree. www.gumtree.com.au

457....two more years on that then my wifes employer sponsors us for PR. I guess I mis-read the original title of the thread...oops!

Things we have found brutal about a 457 visa: 1. Cost for schooling for each child is $4500 a year 2. No Govt assistance for childcare for our youngest....equating to basically double the childcare fee for him 3. No one will finance anything beyond the term of the 457 (despite my wifes employer contracting us for PR after 3 years) When we get PR we are going to have a boat load of extra money! $14000 a year extra in pocket when we don't have to pay for school and get the child care help. When the youngest starts school (after PR) that will be $19000 in pocket that we won't be paying out! Come on PR!

We are here on a 457 as well. Different situation than most I suppose. After 3 years my wife's employer will sponsor us for PR. If you have that opportunity and want to stay the 457 is the quick way to get here. There are some downfalls to it though. If you have kiddos it's $4500 a year for school (in NSW) and you don't get any assistance for daycare which results in virtually double the cost. For us that equates to a significant amount of money.

Had (er...have) both in Oz. Gas is great for a quick dinner. Charcoal is great for a bbq with friends. I prefer charcoal but that probably has a lot to do with my upbringing....Texans bbq as much or more than Australians. It's tough to smoke meat in Oz though....mostly because I could never find a butcher to cut the piece I need to do a true Texas style smoked brisket.

Posted in your other thread. Houses in Manly will be few and far between and expensive. You can find 3 bedroom apartments around there thought. Looking at in the $900pw range or so. Realestate.com.au is definitely the way to go.