Booma

26 minutes ago, Paul1Perth said:

Where did you live mate? That's not the aussie beach culture I see nearly every day. Our local beach has a patrolled area but it's not restricted. You can go in anywhere you like for a swim. I've been over to Queensland and Sydney and there are some beaches there, when it's big surf that are strict about being in the flagged areas. It makes sense though as a lot of people can't swim very well.

People are down the beach every day, even in winter and swim kms. Sure there are sharks but you stand more chance of being injured in a car accident driving to the beach. 

doesnt sound like any place in oz ive ever seen & i saw a lot of beaches all round oz when i were backpacking. 

you wont get FHOG on a investment property. its only for owner occupied first homes.

1 minute ago, Debbie Gandy said:

We had heard you can apply for Scholarships and receive grants and funds towards it.  We thought someone may be able to offer advice from their own experiences but from the replies I have received so far I guess not.  Thanks to everyone anyway

when i were applying for scholarships they had all eligibility conditions. i had to prove citizenship in my application. i didnt see anything that would be for temporary residents. the only person I knew on temporary visa with scholarship got it from the overseas uni they enrolled in. it was to study overseas but then he had to go back to his own country to work for x years or repay the money.

its 23 here at the mo but will be 27 later. not bad for the middle month of autumn. it seems weird seeing deciduous trees with autumn leaves while the weather is still so gorgeous.

the cheaper fees arent for visitors which is what a person with a temporary visa is.

tourists never know where the best of anything is & this lists looks like something british backpackers would come up with. i think ive visited all the beaches on the list when i was backpacking & would only rate whitehaven & exmouth now that i live but when i was just a backpacker i thought anything with sand instead of pebbles was pretty special lol

Im no expert on regional visa but most of jervis bay seems to be in the designated regional postcodes. A bit of the bay isnt classed as nsw but its just the white bit in this map. certainly something for the poster to check out though.

9 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Before we get too excited, has anyone checked whether Jervis Bay counts as Far North Coast?   I have a feeling it might not. 

definitely wouldn't count as north coast ?

5 hours ago, y not said:

Thank you Booma for your time and help its really informative. Its ok looking online but you cant beat boots on floor info. Can i ask you what you found so brilliant about the place and why you left. Nowra High school looks really good, and fun. PS don't like museums much. Cheers

I love the outdoors & the beaches & waterways & national parks in that area are all gorgeous. There is just so much to explore. the bay beaches are also very safe for people like me who arent strong swimmers. There are plenty of surf beaches though if you like surfing etc Its maybe an odd thing to say but it smelled good as well. a mix of ocean & eucalyptus from the bush. we moved from london so thats probably why i noticed the fresh smell so much  the wildlife is amazing & there was dolphins that lived in the bay & even whales sometimes came in to rest on migration.

the people were generous & friendly & there is a real community feel. there is lots of tourists that come especially in summer but that just seems to bond the locals tighter together. i just felt safe & comfortable there. its hard to find the right words but living was just easy. there are no big department stores but day to day living is well catered for. every now & then we went to canberra or Sydney for a weekend. Just to see concerts & for me to get some major retail therapy.

you mentioned Nowra high school. i didn't teach there but it had a good reputation & the programs they had for the kids were amazing. 

we moved because my husband found 140 hectares with beach frontage that he couldn't live without further down the coast & closer to where he grew up.

if my friends couldn't make a small journey to see me after I flew half way round the world to go back to uk I don't think I'd bother thinking of them as friends anymore to be honest. relationship should be a 2 way street. if only one person is making effort I wouldn't think the relationship was worth my effort. Parents are a little different but even so i wouldnt be thinking it was all on me just because I moved. it's different if someone is sick & can't do something than just choosing not to make any effort. it's a bit controlling as well really when you think on it.

I skype with my parents a couple of times a week. one call a week they read stories to my little ones & sing songs etc & the other time is mostly mum & me talking clothes & cooking & whatever. it works really well for us & i feel like it keeps us all present in each other's lives. it's hard if your parents wont come & see you at all but then i suppose if you keep going to them theres really no reason for them to make the effort.

I tried to make a bit of a map for you showing the area people I worked with in Nowra lived. not all the town are shown on this map but it's somewhere to start if you think the area might suit you.

Nowra is a regional hub so would be one of the places your wife is most likely to find a job. we lived in huskisson & I worked at a school in Nowra before we moved further down the coast & it was brilliant. The main road through the area doesn't really show the best bits so it's not surprising some people get a poor impression. there were some problems with the aboriginal community at wreck bay coming into Nowra on their government pay day & causing trouble but that was settled down by the time we lived there. east Nowra isn't somewhere i would like to live because a lot of the housing there is government housing but most bits of central Nowra, north Nowra, cambewarra, Nowra hill & even bomaderry are all fine if you want to live close to town.

There are lots of small townships on the coast & further west of Nowra where people live but go into Nowra for work or major services but the townships themselves have most day to day needs. where we were in & around huskisson & vincentia was just magical but the area is also a bit more expensive. cheaper but still lovely are shoalhaven heads, culburra & other townships surrounding jervis bay.

i always found the people in the area very friendly. there was good community spirit with lots to do if you like the outdoors. Not so much to do if you like museums

I found the email i got & this is what is said

The Australian Passport Office is pleased to advise that your passport is about to be printed and despatched. If collecting in person, bring a copy of this email and photo identification with you.

When you receive your passport – check the photo page and make sure that all your personal details are correct.

Please refer to the table below regarding when you can expect to receive your passport.

**If collecting a child passport – to avoid delay, please bring a copy of the email advising the child’s passport is ready for collection.

I had to renew mine last month. I got email saying passport complete & to allow one week for home delivery by registered mail if in oz or two days if picking up from post office. did you check to see if its at the post office waiting collection?

1 minute ago, Toots said:

..................  and that's generally from people with a large chip on their shoulder no matter where they come from or what colour they are.

my father would go further & say that it's living that way that develops a chip on a shoulder if it wasn't there to start with.

2 hours ago, Apollo said:

On 08/03/2017 at 19:34, Quoll said:

It's the same for all immigrants - come, fit in, don't tell us how much better life is back where you came from, speak English and don't hang around with those of your own cultural group and all will be well. If you want to be Aussie, be Aussie, don't be Chinese first. Most Aussies couldn't give a toss about what colour you are, they're more concerned about what you do but they have a sense of humour which may well not be your sense of humour and you might take offence at something which is actually designed to be matey. If you don't feel comfortable then, of course, nobody is forcing you to stay.

'Don't be Chinese first' Did you seriously type this? Why shouldn't be her ethnicity first , Oz after? This is pathetic.

as a migrant with a different heritage i completely agree with what quoll said. when we arrived in uk my parents always reminded us kids that uk was our new home & we were British first. we still respected the heritage of our ancestors but that's different to seeing yourself as one thing while living somewhere else or putting your new home & society in second place.  if a person doesn't want to first be seen as a member of the society they are living in & a member of the society they left become second i question why they would move to begin with. 

oz is full of migrants who traditionally are ozzie first. it's what has allows people from so many different places to rub along so well together. there is a few exceptions & that's where there is usually problems.

I live on the south coast but its hard to recommend any specific places to look at without knowing what type of work your wife will be looking for. 

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

Are you absolutely sure?  Isn't there a form that you sign when the consultation is finished?   When a test is ordered, doesn't your GP ask you to sign a form which you take with you to the lab?  Read it next time.

sometimes Im asked to sign a form & sometimes im not. same doctor & same or similar tests. never thought about it till now. it doesn't seem to make a difference one way or other that I can see.

1 hour ago, ssiri said:

 

 

It may also be age related/skewed as well - especially in the UK. I find that the GP gatekeepers will prioritise retirees/those who are in their 50s/60s and beyond and the very young over everyone else - where as in Australia - access to tests, referrals and follow on is available. Yes we may have to pay for it via insurance or on Medicare (in part), but the focus is on diagnosis and prevention (so far in my experience here in Aus).

 

Lots of things that would have gone unnoticed with my health in the UK until the issues manifested late on in the next 5-10 years, have been tested for, rules out or identified over here. I’m now on a prevention/management plan to control my eating, exercise etc.

 

My eating and expertise etc has always been good, but in the NHS I was assessed on the basics/statistics - eat healthily, exercise a lot, not obese, working age ergo not a risk. Here in Aus, as a new comer, presenting with a family history of this and that (which was also available on my NHS records), meant a plethora of tests to baseline my state of health. It’s now prevention strategies from here on in - no medication (and long may that continue).

 

Yes it is possible to have health insurance privately in the UK, but unless cajoled, pushed or pressured, it seems to be NHS policy to not offer treatments to patients privately, if they aren’t available via the NHS. I love the NHS, the consultants, nurses and surgeons are top notch - I’ve had to use outpatient services for surgeries, many a time. I can’t fault that level of care. Maybe they need to think of offering people options, (even if it costs people) rather than turning them away - which means a fundamental re-think of the free at point of source principle, in some circumstances.

 

Hence I also think the GP gatekeeper processes seem to be wanting in the NHS, given the current funding model, ageing population and other pressures. Aus has the same problems, although at a diminished rate of growth perhaps, but the options to go private and get access at the first point of contact, aren’t all bad. Something perhaps for the NHS to ponder.

my father is a consultant in uk & he says the way oz uses preventive medicine is outstanding. he thinks if the same was done in uk it would save billions & be better for patients outcomes but nhs is under so much strain it can barely cope with treating people who are already seriously ill. he thinks nhs needs a big shake up but doesn't think the average Brit is ready for the changes that would be needed.

26 minutes ago, bristolman said:

So no different to the generalisation of all of the UK then ? One seems to be acceptable but not the other. Perth is special ?

not quite the same thing given the difference in size ?

9 hours ago, MelT said:

Actually the main reason for going back is that myself and my son have developed severe allergies to genetically modified food. Banned for human consumption in Europe. Allowed here with no adequate testing for humans to consume in Australia. Mainly all canola, corn and cottonseed derived products. We cannot eat out anywhere and I have to read every supermarket food label (unless made in Europe). It has quite an impact on our daily lives.
 

I dont know why you think there is no GM food in the food chain in Europe & UK because there is. If you & your son do have severe allergies you will need to be just as careful with reading labels & eating out once you move. its probably lucky that you didn't already accidentally eat something with GM made in Europe if you arent checking the labels. eating organic food is probably the safest thing to do. i dont have allergies but i only eat organic & its not hard once you work out where to buy things. eating out can be harder because you have to trust what other people are telling you about the food & what its cooked in but vegan websites are usually a reliable source of accurate information about restaurants. im vegan so dont know where you would find reliable information about meat etc but there must be similar organic websites that cover eating out in general.

the thing i like most about the oz system apart from the speed you can get tests & results for things like MRIs etc is you dont  need to register with a doctor & its easy to get second opinions if you want one or just go to different doctors if it suits you better. when we lived in uk i had to choose if I registered with a doctor near my home or one near my work. 

5 hours ago, ali said:

I live in Perth and whilst I've visited Singapore (love it) I agree Bali isn't on my to do list, but we have travelled much further afield and the world really is your oyster if you set your mind to it .  I've never really 'got' the isolation bit ... but I appreciate some find it isolated and others don't - I guess you either let that get to you or you don't (depending on which criteria you use - both Hawaii and Auckland can come out as being more isolated than Perth).

When you say you've visited every place in Perth .. is that the city?  It's like saying you've visited every place in Manchester (or your home city)  .. WA is a massive state . there are so many places we've yet to explore and we've been her 11 years.  One of my most memorable experiences is our family of four sat on an isolated beach in Exmouth seeing giant turtles come ashore .. hubby said he expected David Attenborough to suddenly pop up and give a commentary lol .. a very memorable experience.

I would much rather see giant turtles than buildings & I find to many people in a place makes me feel like I cant breathe. One of the things I enjoy most about where we live is I get to see whales migrating & it just makes my heart melt. we are just started planning a holiday to antartica. family in oz went last year & said it is awe inspiring.

23 minutes ago, NickyNook said:

You're quite right in that places like Nowra, Berry and Bateman's Bay would not normally be classed as 'Far South Coast', but just 'South Coast' really. 

However in the world of 489 visas, all the southern coastal regions of NSW (except the Illawarra) are included in the RDA region called 'Far South Coast' and in fact their office is in Nowra. So the OP is quite correct to refer to Far South Coast when corresponding with https://www.rdafsc.com.au/skilled-migration/  ;-)

I was meaning more in respect to there statements about commitment to nsw & whichever area they are saying they want to settle. demonstrating they have researched where they want to live means they would know the regional name.