trabonita

The central coast is a beautiful area about an hour and 20 mins North of Sydney. Plenty of options for nurses here. Gosford is the main town but the coastal suburbs surrounding it are gorgeous and much more affordable than Sydney. Try places like Avoca Beach, Copacabana, Terrigal, Killcare.

Thanks so much for replying everyone!

Hi Would anyone who owns a house in Aus mind sharing what additional costs you have to pay weekly/monthly aside from your mortgage? particularly things you don't usually pay for when renting, for example, water, insurances etc? I'm just trying to get an idea of monthly layout. Thank you.

Thank you everyone that has made it much clearer! I think we can easily manage with extras like ambulance cover and dental for now. Thanks again!

Hi I'm really confused about whether or not to take out private health insurance. Is there someone unbiased I could discuss this with? I just don't understand what would be free with medicare. i.e ongoing hospital visits/treatments lets say if someone had cancer? I understand like the NHS that private generally means less waiting times for non urgent operations etc, but for accidents/injuries where you attend hospital via ambulance and need follow up care is this still free? Thanks!

We are in Umina Beach but plan on moving next year. The majority of places here are gorgeous imo. Pearl beach, Kilcare, Pretty beach, Terrigal, Avova, Wamberal... the list goes on!

Well, the lamdlords have refused to pay for a bbq or similar but still haven't actually ordered the oven. The woman is obsessed with getting the bigger cooker as it looks better even though the engineer clearly says it has to be a smaller one as the bigger one will be too tight for ventilation, she wants to speak to him again and then order tomorrow, we've already been told it is likely to take at least a week from then so that will be minimum 2 weeks without a cooker. Now I know i'm being stubborn but why should I pay for a bbq because we are desperate, it's their responsibility!!!!!! I shall be ringing someone tomorrow to discuss my rights here as i'm tempted to ask for a reduction in the rent now for the time we are left without a cooker!

just to update, the landlord came round today to confirm measurements and seems very nice, they are going to order the cooker today but I have a feeling it is going to take about a week as they are getting a specific one. Although he was nice I don't think he understands the urgency with having 2 small children, he mentioned perhaps them buying a bbq for us in the meantime, i'm going to call the estate agent this afternoon and try and action this today!

Thanks for all of the replies. The landlords are coming tomorrow to look at the oven, the estate agent doesn't know why. I'm hoping they will be nice people and order an oven straight away, but bearing in mind I have been told not to use the oven since Monday I will insist that they have an oven delivered within the next couple of days. Apparently they are first time landlords so maybe they don't know how these things work, all I know is that if this was my tenant she would have had a fully working oven days ago!!!

Are they happy to take UK midwives as we all need 3 months supervised practice I believe? Also, are there part time options available?

They have told us the whole oven including hobs are a fire risk so we can't use either!

Thanks so much everyone. We don't own a microvave or a bbq and with 2 children under 4 i'm slightly concerned that we are going to spend an absolute fortune on eating out if it isn't replaced soon! I can't find any info on what is a reasonable time frame to have a new cooker in but like I said, appliances on line could easily deliver and install this weekend so there really is no excuse! I shall ring the estate agent first thing tomorrow and double check the NSW legislation. Thanks again!

Hi, I'm after a bit of advice please. We were having a problem with our oven and alerted the estate agent who had someone come out and has deemed the oven unsafe to use. This was Monday and the estate agent has just called me to make sure we are aware we shouldn't be using it and also said they have just spoken to the landlord who wants to come and look at it this weekend. Firstly I 'm a bit annoyed they want to come as there is nothing visually wrong with the oven! Anyway the estate agent reckons the oven may take a week or two. Am I right to think that this is unreasonable? I would never expect my tenant to go more than a few days without an oven especially with children! where do we stand if they insist on ordering a particular oven that takes that long to arrive, baring in mind you can get any oven off appliances online delivered the next day? Thank you!

There are lots of beautiful areas around Gosford and lots of areas for retirees. Woy Woy has some nice parts and Umina and Ettalong are lovely. Point Clair is on the water too and is lovely and has a station.

£1800 was the price for roughly 450sq ft I think, so before the refund. It's worth getting someone round to quote.

Thanks everyone.

Thank you, I think I will just check out some local ones but thank s anyway. I'm guessing prices can vary quite wildly then? Is it worth getting a dental plan/insurance? Do children get free treatment? Thanks

We have recently shipped our stuff with Pickfords. 2 bed house, 2 children. We shipped a double bed and mattress, bed setee, table and chairs, kitchen stuff but not appliances, mirrors, TV's, tents and a few tools etc, aside from this the bulk of it was chldrens toys. We didn't ship the cot or bed as they would have been without them for approx. 6 weeks or so either at home or when we got to Australia due to the average shipping time taking 10 weeks so we choose to keep them at home until we left. I actually wished we hadn't sent so many of the kids toys as they got very used to playing outdoors with a ball and a few beach toys and 2 months on they only play with a select few! Pickfords over quoted for our things and on the day the removal guys told us that we had lots of space left so we threw in a few extras, Pickfords then refunded us some money back as we hadn't used the space. I think it cost about £1800. I personally wouldn't bother shipping wardrobes or white goods, just bring what is in good condition and things you really like. Obviously everything can be bought here but the cost really adds up so I think shipping a decent amount of stuff is a good idea.

Hi, Can anyone tell me how dentist fees work please? is it covered by medicare at all or do you have to pay for all treatment/check ups? Also, can you choose to see any dentist or do you need to go local, i'm on the central coast. Thank you.

Hi SaraG, We weren't sponsored we have PR. We did ship our stuff through Pickfords and it was delivered today! Would recommend them , no issues at all.

we changed it to my mums address, basically because we didn't know how long before we would have a permanent address here. We hardly get anything sent anyway so it's no bother to my mum.

I am a midwife, husband a podiatrist

ours has an oven and dishwasher. Most have built in wardrobes, ours didn't but they left 2 wardrobes for us.

Hi So we have been in Aus for 4 weeks now, we have settled on the Central Coast NSW which is gorgeous. I have used this forum loads for info and so wanted to write something in case others might find it useful. We flew (myself, hubbie and 2 young children) with Singapore airlines, no complaints. For anyone travelling with children the best advice is to give yourselves a few weeks to get over jet lag and get sorted before starting work. We found that things like sorting medicare, rentals etc have taken longer as we had to factor in the kids being unsettled/exhausted and the need for them to be out and about playing and not just trailing around boring places all day! Finding a rental has been tough. Get medicare sorted, change drivers licence and print out any bank statements, gas/electricity bills and previous renting info if you have it, this will ensure that you have enough ID with your passport and birth certificate too to qualify for applying for rentals. Be friendly with estate agents. We applied for several rentals and they were let to someone else and I think personally it was because we had just arrived and didn't have a history here. I wish we had written a covering letter to go with our application forms as on paper I can see why they would have chosen someone else as my husband had only been working a couple of days. In the end we caught a break as the estate agent for the house we have just accepted is Scottish and I think she really wanted us to get the house and went out of her way to help! We rented an airbnb cabin for 6 weeks and I think this is a good amount of time, I'm sure some people will get a rental as soon as they arrive but we have had the time to really explore areas and decide where we really wanted to focus our search on. Weather - has been amazing, a very mild winter here apparently. Temps ranging from 15-24 daytime and lots of sunshine, although it is very chilly in the morning and from 4pm, I would still pack light jackets. Cost of food - pretty similar if you shop around and don't do all of your shopping in the big supermarkets, although I would say we are spending slightly more than in the UK, organic food in particular is expensive! Petrol is cheap, currently about $1 Medicare - easy to sort out, either go at 8.30 when it opens or 3pm as this is when school pick up is so apparently it is quiet then too! You don't have to go to your local doctors here you can choose wherever you want. We haven't even thought about this yet. We are still looking for a car, you can get rentals cheap so we will continue to do this until we find something. Driving is much nicer here, hardly any traffic and people seem to stick to the speed limit more! Feel free to ask any questions.

Thank you.