sunniecat

short term let till you're here and can work out where you want to be. Then allhomes.com.au - rental process moves very quickly so you do need to be on the spot. For jobs look on seek.com.au but you may find it hard to set anything up till you're here. Good luck!

my OH cycles a 36km round trip to work more often than not but we also discovered we needed 2 cars to get us to evening commitments in opposite directions. Welcome, Commander Max! Hope you enjoy it, we love the place

We're in Wanniassa, with St Anthony's primary followed by St Mary Mackillop within easy walking distance. I don't have personal experience of the schools but I have heard good reports from people who do. We like the area, enough to have bought a house here we plan to stay in for a long while. Happy to tell you more about the area if you're interested - pm if you have any q's.

not sure we're living in the same city, Bora. I have an over-full life, feel surrounded by friends, regularly watch cracking sunsets over the hills from my back deck, and love the ever-changing seasons and colours in the landscape. I think it's a great city (though I'll agree with you on the driving etiquette!)

Well, I don't watch the 2am kickoffs... Our foxtel is streaming though so we can't record, so if we wanted to watch a live game we'd have to go out for it in which case we'd probably end up at the club easier now that the UK timezone means the early kickoffs are 9pm or thereabouts! If you want someone to watch a footy match with do send us a pm (me or my OH pntaylor) - we're pretty friendly but not very good at checking in on here

whereabouts are you? We're members at the Calwell Club, we've asked them to put the EPL matches on for us before, they're usually happy enough to do that. That said, we've got Fox now (as of about 2 weeks ago)!

we've barbecued the last couple of years. big meal in the evening, not at lunchtime in the heat.

That cost of living link is pretty good I also made sure to compare the cost of living (it's HIGH) to my expected income, to make it clear that although it costs us a lot more comparatively to live here than it did in the UK, we are also paid better and therefore better off overall... good luck!

It's pretty nice south of the lake too Honestly, most of Canberra is good for families. The Catholic schools are considerably less costly than the big private schools but they do require children to be baptised - and being Catholic moves you further up the list as well! But they're still worth looking at if that's what you're after. We love Woden, but it's nearly as expensive for housing as the Inner South... we live in Wanniassa, north Tuggeranong, where the prices are a bit lower, and we've got pretty good access to schools right through, along with a kidstart centre, kids activites at the local library, parks nearby etc... I find that the north and south have fairly different characters and people do seem to pick a side once they've been here a while and explored a bit!

we know how frustrating that gets, Louise! Hope you find something soon. Has your boyfriend tried the Murray-Darling Basin Authority? I know another water engineer that moved up here from Victoria at the start of this year and I'm pretty sure that was with them. Best of luck

you can get a passport in a day if you're prepared to a) pay the extra and b) spend the day at the passport office or nearby. my other half's done it. you can probably get it in a week through the mail guaranteed (I can't remember exactly now). ask at the post office, they'll give you the options personally I'd say it's probably ok based on the checks you've made but if you can, renew it now anyway to make sure you're not worrying about it while you travel!

keep looking on seek, keep looking on mycareer.com.au, and ask anyone and everyone you know. I had some success getting temp roles with agencies, it is worth applying to them too and seeing if you can get a short-term contract, short-term can often lead to longer term. govt jobs are on a freeze, but there are private companies out there too. without knowing what you're looking for/where your skills are it's hard to know where else to point you. I've got a lot of experience of applying for admin jobs, but not much else! It took my OH 3 months to get a job when we arrived last year, in IT, because he came up against the citizenship issue as many of the IT jobs are in the federal government and that does require citizenship for security clearances. State government often doesn't, though, and you can get their jobs off their website act.gov.au - they have a job list and there's often some lower-level temp roles around that again might allow you to get a foot in the door. The other thing I would recommend is getting someone local to check your resume for style, and if you have to write a response to their list of 'required skills/abilities' (forget what it's called now) get someone to check that too. They are looking for a fairly specific style of response and type of response (this particularly applies to the ACT govt and institutions like universities), and if you haven't been through it you probably won't get it first time. I got a couple of friends to check over my more recent ones and the difference between my first effort and my second after their comments was astounding. If you're looking to meet locals so that you can start networking - join clubs. sports, families, hobbies, whatever you can find of that variety that suits you. I posted on another post about where my hubs and I met our various friends, and others will suggest other places you can look. It *is* frustrating, and I know the hubs really struggled when nothing seemed to be happening early on, but do keep persevering - if Canberra is the place you want to stay, then I'm sure you'll find something to enable you to stay! It's very like it was a couple of years back in the UK where last time I was looking for a job I think I applied for about 60 or 70 over the space of 3 months before I got an interview - but I got a job out of that interview. Just keep on clicking 'apply' to everything you see that you think you may be able to do! Good luck with it.

I've tended to reckon for all my (relatively short) life that it's the decisions you make. I worked for several years in fairly low level admin, where you just rock up at 9, get on with your day, lock the office at 5 or 5.30, and forget about it for the rest of the time. I've now just taken on a job that is technically 40 hrs a week, but is turning out to be more like 8.30-6 with some Saturday work (RDOs during the week to make up for that). That's a choice I made. The money's not better, the leave certainly isn't (they won't let me take more than 2 weeks at a time which other jobs have often agreed to), but the job is potentially considerably more rewarding for me than the day-in-day-out admin I was doing. Choices, choices. Hubs and I have both chosen to pass over higher incomes for better work/life balance (mortgage not withstanding). We both reckon it was the right decision

they're coming to see you, not where you are. how about you ask them what they'd like to do? particularly if you don't think the beach/bush is necessarily 'their thing'. They may be happy to head into the city for a day while you take the kids to Rottnest, and all meet up for dinner...

I don't see why firms wouldn't take you on, I used to work for a landscaping company and we had someone on a WHV - they needed people with excavator tickets, so that sort of company might be worth trying - someone else's point about whether UK tickets will be recognised here is valid though and you'd have to check that out with the firm. Maybe look into whether you can get Australian tickets and whether that would be worth doing while you're here? Shouldn't think it'll make much difference where you are, but I'd be having a look on something like seek.com.au before actually committing to going somewhere to try and get work, to see what sort of volume of work is around - you'll want to be where the building industry is strong and that does vary quite considerably. Apply for your visa online, it shouldn't be a difficult process.

Hi - our 'application pack' included things like references from previous landlords overseas, bank account summary to prove we had plenty of money saved (as only one of us had a job while we were looking for rentals - if you both have jobs then you wouldn't need that), photocopies of ID (passport/driving license) ready prepped so that we could fill out the forms and give them enough information to back up that we were suitable applicants for renting the house. Driving license: http://www.rego.act.gov.au/licensing/licencemoveact.htm info here. I can't see india on the exempt list so I would assume you'll need to take their test. You have 3 months to get an ACT license when you get here. Yes, by fixed address I mean a Canberra address - we had to take in our lease agreement. Canberra Connect office will be able to tell you more Essential things before you move: organise somewhere to stay for a minimum of 3 weeks and potentially 4-6 while you decide where to live and look for a longer-term rental. Make sure you can access your money easily, however you think is best (if you want to open a bank account from overseas and transfer some into it there are several banks that may let you. I don't know much about that though). If you have a complicated medical history then probably worth seeing if you can get a copy of the record. We have also found it helpful to get paper visas put into the passport as even though they're electronic and on the system people are always asking to see the visa. Other people may have other ideas

With lots of new people coming in, and having been through it ourselves, we know how hard (and how hard work) it can be to meet new people. I thought I'd start this off as a place to recommend places to meet new people that we and others have found some success with. There's no guarantee any of these will produce the new best mates but I found they were all really good places to at least meet some new people and feel like I knew someone I might be able to go for a drink with. Work in my case was not an option, I was in a tiny office with just me and my boss. I also find it's nice to have friends outside of work! We have made friends: Here (of course) - either organised meetups or just by pm'ing people that looked nice to say 'want a coffee?'. We're all friendly, we don't bite, and we're generally up for a meal, coffee, or something stronger as a forum group. At church (admittedly this may not be for everyone!): I went to 5 churches in 4 weeks looking for one that would suit me, and would consider myself a part of 2 and a half of those now. They have an incredible support network and invited us to all sorts of small groups, 'mens breakfasts', coffee mornings... and in true friendly Anglican church fashion they sucked me into the worship leading team and the youth team pretty quickly... whoops.. but I have also made friends across a wide age group and interest group and know that I could call any of them up any time for support or advice. At dance classes - hobbies as a common denominator are again a good way to meet people. I've only made one real deep friendship from 18 months of dance classes, but there are plenty of friendly acquaintances there now that I would at least wave at in the street and enjoy catching up with at class every week. If you're into crafts, find a craft group to join. If you're into movies, find a movie group. Anything to get you out and talking to other people. Signing up to a football (soccer) club - or another sports club if football's not your thing. Our experience with this has been unbelievably positive. My hubs joined a football club 3 days after we arrived and has been a part of them ever since (they voted him onto the board this year). Their social life is just brilliant. They're a decent size, so there are a lot of different people around with different interests (outside of football), which means he has friends to go to the movies with, to game with, to go down the club for dinner and a drink or three with, to go to trivia nights with... and of course to play a range of sports with (off-season means the start up of anything else they can get into to keep themselves active till football starts again!). In addition, he goes for coffees or lunches with some of the guys that work nearby to his office, when they get the chance. In the summer there'll be BBQs and nights out. They are fantastic and we love them to pieces. If you're into sports, I would really really recommend finding a sports club to join. Completely at random - if you're not shy about talking to strangers, we've made friends at random in cafes, and even on the top of Mt Taylor... you just have to be prepared to smile, say hi, and ask them a question to start the conversation! Through Meetup.com - although none of these friendships lasted, we went to a few meetups early on and met some great people that if we had more hours in the day/days in the week might have become stronger friendships. Time dictated that in the end *someone* had to drop by the wayside and it seems to have been this bunch. Pick a group that seems to suit your interests. They're designed to help you meet people and make friends, so they're a good place to go! I do think it's really important when you're trying to meet people to remember that it is inevitably Hard Work. You have to put a a lot of time, effort and emotional effort into it in order to get something back out of it. You'll start to get tired of always being the one to arrange things. If the people are worth it, then making that effort is worth it. If you're not sure that particular person is worth the effort, put them on the backburner, maybe try again in a few months for a coffee before letting it drop. The more people you meet, the bigger your potential 'new best mate' pool becomes, and I really do think it is worth making that effort, making it a big one, and making it early. It worked for us! Anyone else out there have suggestions of where they've made friends having moved into Canberra??

I believe there's one in the Canberra Centre... it may not be lego brand but it sure sells plenty!

...until it decides to kick back in for Floriade...

Closest I've seen to 5-a-side is the summer sixes, and of course the indoor leagues. Don't know anything about rugby, because all the people we know play football, but I'm sure there'd be some clubs out there. There are also some meetup groups though I dropped out of those circles a while ago - meetup.com is the place to look - I seem to remember quite a variety of interest groups so it might be another start point. Maybe I'll start a post about 'meeting people'. It's a lot of effort at first, but it's worth it. We've found some awesome friends

we can see it out on the top of the Brindabellas, but nothing further in than that. Looks like it's turned into a cracking season in the Snowies too, though if we have any chance to get there it'll be halfway through September at earliest, so I'm hoping it lasts!

ikea is apparently coming, to the Majura shops. I don't miss pubs specifically, not as much as I miss having 6 to choose from within a 5 minute stroll of our house! People ask what I want when they're coming over from England: jelly tots, candy sticks and chocolate. always. I'd like to pop back to England to do some shopping too, but that's cos I'm a cheapskate and even Target prices can be a bit much for me sometimes. That said, I wouldn't move back for the world. We've found a home here, and we intend to stay for a very long time

Welcome! Where to settle depends on what sort of place you want, what your priorities are etc. Do you want to be near enough your job to walk? Do you mind driving an hour across the city from Banks to a job in Mitchell? Do you want somewhere near kids playgrounds or in a decent school catchment area? Do you want an 'in town' apartment or a suburban house - in which case, do you want an older house or a shiny new one. Do you want to be north or south of the lake? What's your budget like? There are so many different areas around Canberra and everyone will tell you their part of town is the best so it will depend hugely on what your priorities are when you're looking for a place to live. We picked ours based mostly on price/location (close to our social lives, within cycling distance - though hubs is a long-distance cyclist so that gave us a pretty big area - of work, with views out to the mountains, and an older, established family home with a decent sized block). That said, if you're looking for a rental, then find something that seems ok enough to last you for the next year and you can figure it out in more detail after that! PS - cold? Don't be daft, it's beautiful this week. I went out without a coat on yesterday and almost went out to a tshirt, and I reckon the hubs has only put his hoody on about 4 times this winter. And we've hardly had to defrost the cars this winter, too. Loving it!

we are on iinet for our internet and I am happy to recommend them to anyone that can get their lines. You'll find it will depend who controls the lines into your house. We get phone (landline), TV and internet through them, it's a pretty good deal and their customer service has always been excellent. We get something like 200GB/month allowance I think. No idea about family deals with the mobile providers!

Neal: look for a football club next season (I'm talking soccer), if you'd be up for playing a bit - my hubs plays for Lanyon United, they're based in Tuggeranong/Lanyon area so a little further south than you are but they're an awesome club and his social life is great. Through the football season they're down the club every weekend for drinks/dinner after the matches, and a fair amount outside of the season, plus they get into summer sixes, cricket, indoor footy etc etc. Season's just ending but they'll start pre-season up in February I think. PM me if you're interested in something like that, I can give you more info. Because it's quite a big club (they have 4 teams playing in state league this season) there's plenty going on. We found it's been a really good way of meeting people, getting a bit of a social life etc. There's a club up in Woden too but I have no idea what they're like, you could look into it. If you're into cricket, cricket season is just kicking in so it'd be a good time to try and get involved with a team for that instead! Sorry we didn't make it Sunday, a few things have come up recently and life went a bit nuts. Shall we try again in a couple of weeks? I'll check the diary and see when might work -Cat