NATandALDO

Hi Ian Have you sold all your goods yet? There are a few bits we're interested in if they're not gone. Cheers Natasha

Hi Bridget, thank you so much for your supportive reply. Aldo leaves next Tuesday so we are both feeling very nervous, anxious, scared and, dare I say it... wondering if we're making the right decision.... Im glad to hear some positive things about Melton, although we are both going there with an open mind. It's really good to hear that you and your family have settled in well and are enjoying your your new life; I hope we're as fortunate! Aldo has 4 properties lined up to view in Brookfield (we want to be a fair walk away from his school!!) its great to have made contact with you; I now know who to contact from some local knowledge..!! I fly out on 29th Feb- I may see you round :-)xx

Hi In response to your post, after we were granted our SS 176 we started looking on the Victoria Government school jobs website, see following link: https://schooljobs.education.vic.gov.au/psp/ROLPRD_EA/APPLICANT/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL This seems to adverise all government run school teaching jobs in Victoria. My husband spotted about 10 Lead Teacher jobs, and applied for about 6, and luckily enough got an interview for one and secured it - he starts in Feb! This seems a good place to start looking for a fixed term teaching jobs if you are on a SS 176 visa. We stumbled upon this site during our research and registration part of the application and always beared it in mind, as soon as we had the visa in place we were straight on it. We never used the TES as we had PR and we never used agencies. If you have PR or a similar visa (I don't know much about any other visa other than the one we have) this is the place to look if you want to live and work in Victoria. I really hope this helps. Before we found this site we had read a forum blog from a lady in the UK who said she had managed to secure a head of department job in WA but apart from that it appeared that teachers from the UK usually went to Australia and began with supply work which hopefully lead to full-time work; this might be true in most cases but in ours we searched and tried hard and my husband has found a good and secure job. Hopefully all states will have a similar site to the one my husband found his job on, so I suggest checking them out as a starting point. Good luck with your applications! You can always message us with any with any other questions! :jiggy:

Hi We thought it would be difficult, if not near impossible, for my husband to get a teaching job in Melbourne but we started our 176 application anyway. Here in the UK my husband is an Assistant Principal in a London school and after our visa was granted he applied for about 6 Lead Teacher positions (kind of equal to his Assistant Principal position here). He got a telephone interview for one 20 miles outside Melbourne and got the job! So my advice would be to go for it and try it. We never thought he would get a promoted position, let alone one so close to Melbourne - where we wanted to be. Out of the 6 applications 5 of them were to regional places with populations of 2000 - 20000 so we were prepared to move anywhere, but as luck would have it..... As an earlier post said, if you're good it will come across in your application and hopefully that will get you interviews. All the best, Natasha

Hi Em My husband and I are moving to Melbourne on a 176 in Jan 2012, it's starting to creep up real fast for us - May will be here for you before you know it! Congratulations on the visa and maybe see you down under :jiggy: Natasha x

Hi Could anyone already living in Melbourne please give us an estimate of of taxi fares? We arrive in Melbourne Jan 2012 and would like a rough idea of the cost of taxi journerys for, say, 10-30kms. Where we are just now in Surrey, UK, it's about £8 for 3 miles. Many thanks in advance, Natasha :eek:

Hi again Kirsty! Forgot to say about first steps! We used the Australian immigration page to check out the occupations in demand. My husbands a teacher and I'm a social worker and they are both in demand so we knew we could apply. There is an online check you can use which gives you an idea of whether you will be eligable. I would check that your profession is on the occupations in demand list first and if it is, then go through the check list. Best of luck :wink:

Hi Kirsty The whole process for getting our 176 PR visa took about 6 months and cost about £2700. I think the time it takes might depend on which visa you are going for. It seems to take ages to begin with and then no sooner have your medical you get your visa! Then you have to pay out more money to fly into Australia to validate it - but that's the fun bit :laugh:. Good luck with your application if you decide to go for it, Natasha :spinny:

Hi Thanks for reply. We have no accommodation arranged yet but we are checking the rental sites regularly. I think my husband is hoping to get a very short term house share - for 2 to 4 weeks - for when he first arrives. This will give him time to view some properties and hopefully get one sorted for when I arrive! I will make sure we focus on Melton West if that's the best area :-) Thanks for advise ;-)

Hi everyone My husband I are making the big move to Melton, Victoria from Surrey in the new year and just wanted to say hi to you all. We've not been to Melton before so if anyone has any advice/info please do not hesitate to share it with us :wink:. My husband is moving out in January with only a job and a bank account so I will be joining him in Feb when he has hopefully sorted out somewhere to live, a car, a phone, etc!! We are in our early 30s; my husband is a teacher and I am a registered social worker. Would be good to hear from anyone who has some advise :biggrin: Cheers Natasha and Aldo