Mrs Fabricator

Awesome Newbie, hope you enjoyed Bali, I am still looking at when to go, luckily I got time, still on my tourist visa till 17 march, it good to know they don't hang about with the actual grant letter. Good luck with everything, the job hunt and finally getting settled in to a routine, Best of luck to everyone else that is waiting to hear and those heading off shore to activate xx

Wow 30 years, you are an Oz expert, where about are you??

Hey Melza, Im not working at the moment by my OH is, he must have applied for over 50 jobs, the one thing we noticed over here was that after you apply for a job the companies don't seem to be in a rush to contact you, it can take a week or so, many don't bother. Also I don't know if this will be any use but the other thing we have found which has been hard to get our head around is everything is very specific her, for example, a fabricator in the UK can do all sorts, mig, tig, sheet metal work etc, well over here if you a mig welder you a mid welder nothing else, we met a plasterer who only did walls, when asked if He would do a whole room he said no I just do walls not ceilings (seriously) also, we have seen many in the work place asked to say give the floor a sweep when there a quiet period at work, they have refused saying I am employed as such and such im not here to sweep the floor, or they will just do their area. We have a friend who is a manager and the stories he tells is unbelievable. When applying for jobs, we found it easier to look at everything in WA, like I say everything is so specific. In the UK, you could be employed as say a receptionist, but you do various other jobs as and when you're asked, well over here it doesn't seem to happen. This is of course only our experiences and talks with others, it may not be the case every where but it seem pretty typical.

Hey P1P, I did think it was prickly heat, but I am thinking it is more my eczema playing up, it is mainly around my eyes that the worse, if it not cleared up in a couple weeks I will suggest prickly heat to the dr, thank you for the suggestion, it defo a possibility. Are you in Perth area? We are practically neighbours

Hey, I think that if your 11 year old is prepared to do the road trip, it would be totally do-able, we met many many people that have taken 2 years out, including taking their kids out of school to do a tour of Oz anf the experience the kids get is brilliant, I have seen many people do this and the kids love it, they get to see and do so much, plus you can get a motor home pretty reasonably over here, the one we got we actually saw from the UK on Oz Gumtree, ebay not that big over here, it was a really good price and came with loads of extras. That the other thing we have found, there are people finishing their tour and will sell the van and everything with it for a really good price, If I can help with anything let me know

Oh Yes, we met some very very interesting characters, from all walks of life, it was a very educational experience and loads of fun, made some great friends. We had some adventures, a blow out on an empty road, at the height of the heat, that was fun, also a blown water pump, and another blown out tyre just before we hit perth, all fun and games,

Thank you for all the replies guys, the bloat thing, is due to water retention, changes in temperature, water, even down to the food you eat, it is your body getting used to the changes it is going through, it is the same with your skin, I have found that I have to drink so much more over here to flush my system, also your blood is thicker from coming from a colder climate, all of these things add up. I keep being told that I will settle. I have very sensitive skin and since being here with the heat and sweating so much, it irritates my skin, trying to find a good moisturiser has proven hard as many are water based and when it dries it doesn't really do anything, however, I have discovered extra virgin coconut oil, amazing, can be used for so many things plus it great for your skin and very cheap to buy. as for favourite places we have visited, there have been so many, Broome was awesome, Exmouth was defo one of the best, would go back there in a heart beat. We saw the dolphins feed at Monkey Mia, going across NT was an experience we went for days without seeing a soul, the odd road train but that it, all we say were termites, blown tyres and lots of road kill, but it was still one of our top 5 experiences. I consider myself so very blessed to hav had this opportunity, as for the future, who knows, we are settling into life here, if it works out fantastic, if in a few years we return to the UK at least we have given it a really good go and put everything in to it. I have grown so much as a person since coming over here and no matter what it was totally worth it.

Hey hun, no, we not married, looks like it will be next year, unless we decide to just do it, there is a chance we could be the first hehehehe, yh all is good, had an amazing tour, we are now settled down in to life really, work, shopping the usual, boiling in the heat but it all good, hope things are well with you xx

Hi everyone We have been members of PIO for a couple of years now and before we moved to Oz, we found this forum very informative and a good place to meet like minded people and share their experiences and get some advice. We arrived in Oz in September and wanted to share our brief experiences so far. Unlike many members we do not have any children and so it was just us that we needed to worry about. The process to get here was very long and very stressful (as many of you know) We had always planned to arrive, buy a motorhome and do a tour of Oz, that was our dream and we did exactly that. We went from NSW over the top to Perth, it took 8 weeks. In that time we experienced and learnt a lot, many things that we had never even thought of before we arrived. You research everything from rentals, licencing, medicare, jobs, and think you have a good grasp of what you are going in to however in some cases this is not enough and there is always more to consider that you don’t think of. I hope that our experience may help others. We purchased our motorhome in NSW, we did not realise that we needed to change the plates and get it registered for WA, this was a huge stress and ended up costing a lot of money, especially as we had to get engineer reports to have the vehicle re-classified. We did not know that if you get a vehicle in another state it must be registered to the state you are living in, plus the stamp duty etc and all of this needed to be done within a certain time frame or else you get fined. We were unaware of any of this until we reached WA so was well over the time to get paperwork etc done, luckily we got there in the end. I often see posts on here about registered addresses, on our travels we met many people and found out that your address is where you are staying that night, for example if you are staying in say Broome for 2 weeks, that is your address, it doesn’t matter if you are not permanent for a long time, so if you wanted to get your medicare card sorted before you settle properly, you can do it that way, all you need then do is change your address details when you are in a more permanent place. There is also suggestions of getting a PO Box, this is a good idea and we did this, except we opened ours in Bundaberg thinking that we could just have our mail transferred to us when we reached WA, this was what we were told when we opened the PO box, unfortunately you can’t just ask for them to forward your mail, your can do a re-direction, however, that doesn’t let you get mail that is already in the PO box, we spent many weeks trying to sort this out as we had mail that we could not get, luckily it is sorted now but was still a pain to sort. When it comes to employment, we have found through experience and talking to people we have met that the best thing to do is to take pretty much any job you can, it is easier to get the job you are looking for when you are already in work, at least you are earning, the typical minimum wage we have seen in our area is $21.50 per hour, this does change. My OH is a very skilled tradesman, but took a lesser position to begin with in order to A, get work and start earning, B gain an Ozzie reference and C, get to know how things work over here. Now he has a very good job doing what he does best and happier for it. I have found that many people move to Oz with a dream of sun, sea, blue skies, great jobs, good money, house with a pool, car etc etc, and this is great and these things are here, but some things take time. I did come over here thinking that life would be totally different and to some extent it is, but really the day to day is very much like life was in the UK. My OH still works 6 days a week, up very early and home around 6pm, by the time you have dinner etc it bed time. The difference is that in Oz, we can sit outside in the evening, we don’t spend a fortune on heating bills, we can have dinner on the beach if we want to, you can plan for your weekends and be pretty much guaranteed that you will have a nice day. We have decided to stay in our motorhome for as long as possible because right now we don’t know what areas are best, we don’t know where work will take us and it is the cheaper option. To me moving to Oz feels like leaving home again for the first time, you are in a place where you really know nothing about and you have to start at the bottom, yes with the benefit of experience behind you, I have had to learn so much and I admit when we first got here we were very ‘green’ now, we are more savvy to things, but it is the little things that make life easier. To us Oz is the opposite to the UK but not in a huge way, for example, in the UK, in the winter or when it raining you plan your day around the best time to venture out, if it freezing in the morning you may wait till the afternoon when it warms up a bit. In Oz, you know that the hottest time of the day is around 11am – 2pm ( or all day at the moment it is so hot) so you go out either before this time or after. You have to make the same adjustments here as you would in the UK, this is just one example. A quick one for the ladies, I was aware that when I first got to Oz, I would possibly bloat or put on some weight, I didnt realise that I would put on weight and my skin would seriously change and my hair would become very dry etc, again if I was aware of this before I arrived I would have been more prepared, my skin is horrendous at the moment I have never known anything like it but you can sort it out. Also some medication is not recognised over here, I am on the Cerazet pill, my dr here has never heard of it, another thing to be aware of. When you arrive in Oz, it is natural that you will make comparisons to the UK, we certainly did, however we found that many Ozzies are interested in where we are from in the UK, they will strike up a conversation with you, you just have to be open to it. There are many things over here that I can’t get my head around, but it is nothing major it is mainly the names of things, but it is more funny than anything else. I won’t go in to driving or any of that because it has been talk about to death on here. It is still very early days for us in Oz, but so far we have no regrets and are glad that we made the move and did so with eyes wide open. I have had some moments where I have struggled but again this is natural, it took us over 20 years to get established in the UK, it is not going to take 4 months to get established in Oz it will take much longer. It had been said many times on here, many people think that Oz is the answer to all their problems, moving to the other side of the world will suddenly make everything perfect. For some this may be true but in my experience, you have the same problems here that you do in the UK, the same stuff to deal with, what you do get in Oz is opportunity to make a better life for yourself, but you need to be open to it, open to the differences, embrace the Ozzie way whether you agree or not, in the privacy of your own home say what you like. Hope this is of some interest to you, if I can help with anything I will be happy too

That is all you can do hun, it will happen then you will be on your way...... keep us informed xx

I am sure you will be fine, I went with an agent so couldn't contact my CO direct, I have seen on here that many people do give a small nudge or at least drop an email so they remember you, it may be an idea to do that. There still a few months to go, I am sure it will all come together in time, I wish you the very best of luck

To the OP, a really honest and thought provoking post, I am glad you started it, (even tho it has gone a tad off topic) I wish you and your family all the very best for the future. Good sound advice

Not being nosey at all hun, im over in Oz on a 6 month tourist visa, it runs out on 17 March, if I didn't get my visa grant by then I would have to go back to the UK and reapply for another tourist visa. My medical / police check runs out in June, I have to have gone out and come back in by then but coz of the tourist visa I got till the 17 March, hope that makes sense and I explained it right lol xx

I have no idea as yet as long as it before 17 March it fine, hopefully get it sorted asap, my agent needs at least a weeks notice so it will prob be in 2/3 weeks..... dunno where I will be going yet tho what about you? When are you thinking?

hey, the best thing to do is check with the airline you plan to travel with, we went with Emitates, the allowance was 30 in the hold, 7 hand luggage, we didn't get extra for emigrating, we could have taken more but it would have cost quite a bit, sorry I couldn't be more help