Impatient Aussie

I think the public policy pressure regarding road safety in Australia makes RTA's a lot more newsworthy here than in the UK. Accidents that wouldn't get a mention in the local rag in England can be headlining the six o'clock news here. I don't think Australian drivers are noticeably worse than UK drivers, with the exception that the overwhelming predominance of automatic transmissions means in terms of technical skill Aussie drivers can be slightly less proficient. As far as aggression goes, well when I first moved to the UK I was appalled at the disdain for speed limits and outrageously dangerous overtaking that I observed on the UK roads. Once I had adapted to UK driving and learnt to predict other drivers behaviour I became accustomed to it but it was still noticeably worse than in Australia. In Australia there does tend to be more tail gating (which I personally suspect has a little to do with people coasting on their auto transmissions) and lane discipline is poor, but again once you acclimatise to the local driving conditions these are things to which you can learn to adapt.

Well you're definitely drinking Alan Jones Koolaid. Essentially anyone with an alternative opinion is a communist and that's the end of the argument because even if a communist says 2+2=4 it still must be wrong because he's a COMMUNIST!!11!!!1!

I moved to the UK twelve years ago on a working holiday visa for two years. About six months in I started a relationship with an English girl and we spent a very happy year and a half in love. When it came to applying for a new visa I was gobsmacked when I was told I needed to leave the country to make a new application for a residence visa (I had naively assumed they would let me apply from within the UK). Long story short I ended up having to quit my job in the UK, sell my car and leave my partner behind as I moved back to Australia to initiate the new visa. We ended up spending a year apart because of bureaucracy not to mention spending a small fortune which we couldn't really afford at the time until I had the opportunity to return to the UK. If you want to make it work, you can. Its tough but if your committed you can do it. The pain you go through in the interim will make you appreciate each other all the more. :smile:

To give people an idea of how well Alan Jones represents 'ordinary' Australians here is a interesting measurement of his value as a commentator. One of his most recent controversies provoked some activity on the change.org website, his critics raised over 100 000 signatories which resulted in more than 60 companies withdrawing their advertising support from his program. http://www.change.org/alanjones His supporters? Well judge for yourself: http://www.change.org/petitions/2gb-do-not-sack-alan-jones 76 signatories http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/support-alan-jones-sign-petition-to-keep-alan-jones 139 http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/support-alan-jones-stop-harrassing-alan-jones 41 http://www.change.org/petitions/support-alan-jones-stop-the-nasty-attack-on-australia-s-greatest-radio-announcer 180 http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/show-your-support-for-alan-jones-show-your-support-and-thumbs-up-for-mr-jones 9 Australians tend to be tolerant of peoples right to express themselves almost to a fault, which is why he is still on air. Are there bigots and misogynists in Australian society? Yes. Does Alan Jones represent these people? Yes. But please don't lump me in with those low lifes. Signed, An 'ordinary' Australian.

Blackburn is a very nice suburb, right on the train line and a couple of good parks.

As far as saving goes... compulsory superannuation contributions by your employer should be something like 9% of before tax earnings I think? Two caveats to that, firstly I'm only just relearning the super system after being out of Australia for a number of years and secondly I'm not sure what the process is for reclaiming the super if you are only here temporarily.

I have an Australian colleague in a similar position, been trying to get a permanent post for a year or so now... he's been stuck on the emergency teacher rotation since qualifying. In between teaching jobs he works security to keep the income levels up. Have you considered as a temporary measure training up the Child Care cert? I know its not teaching but it is working with kids and the predictions are there's going to be a major shortage of trained child care workers over the next couple of years. Better than nothing anyway.

To me 'home' is the place I see the best future for myself and my family. I don't buy into the stifling sentimentality of 'the land of my birth is my home', in the course of history humans are a migratory species after all; my extended family are important but tbh my Mum, Dad and my sister can live their own lives without me being five minutes away for my entire life; I lived in the UK for over a decade but it never offered me the economic security that made me feel comfortable considering it a true 'home', merely a speed bump in my life. Home is the first place you think of retreating to and setting up the barricades to ride out nuclear armageddon, or a zombie apocalypse... whichever comes first :wink:

The Huntsmans are pretty much tree spiders, which is why they stay high on the ceiling and rarely come down to floor level. They especially like gum trees which is why they evolved the camouflage pattern they have (very attractive it is too). If you want to avoid them the best thing to do is rent/buy a house with no tall or overhanging trees. In my parents house (in Melbourne) we used to get Huntmans in the house as an almost weekly occurrence, they are easy to deal with though so we never panicked. After my parents cut down several large gum trees which were close to the house (gum trees have a habit of shedding branches regularly and they were getting sick of repairing the roof and gutters) they say they could count the number of Huntsmans in the house on one hand over a period of roughly a decade. In my own house, we didn't have the option of cutting down trees as we liked them as they were, instead every two months we'd set off several flea bombs which had the effect of deterring spiders along with other creepy crawlies from setting up residence for a while. My funniest experience with a Huntsman was one morning as I was waking up... didn't want to open my eyes and was reaching for the cord to open the blinds while lying in bed.... after a minute or two of groping about I couldn't find the cord and so cracked an eye open a fraction... what do you know there's a reasonably large Huntsman sitting inches away from where my hand is trying to find the cord! I was down the corridor before I knew what I was doing, even though I'm not hugely worried about them normally :biglaugh:

Sounds to me like the last thing he needs to be doing is running away from the issues and responsibilities regarding his previous marriage and children. Despite the AVO is it realistic to expect him to abandon his other children and move to the UK? As he has breached an AVO would he even be able to move or would that show up on a police records check when he applies for a visa? You're having a really tough time obviously, but weren't you aware of the situation before you moved over?

I've suffered bullying in my workplace in the UK, and the fact that I am Australian was one of the ways that some of my co-workers tried to dig at me. However I am 100% sure that the bullying wasn't because I was Australian it was for other reasons, being Australian just gave them something to focus on and use. Perhaps thats a similar situation for the OP? *shrug*