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DrDougster

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DrDougster last won the day on May 25

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About DrDougster

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  1. DrDougster

    MELBOURNE OR PERTH

    Subi is great - going through something of a rebirth. Older housing with a "heritage area" and named after a monastery near Rome where St Benedict lived in a cave I think... It also produces a particularly ostentatious free local magazine with wine recommendations none of which seem to be based at all on value! Perth has a much more communal atmosphere than I found in Brisbane - the areas still have smaller grocers which we use over the enormous Coles/Woolies but I do miss the butcher at Wavell Heights. The weather is a bit better with the evening sea breeze and the beaches are lovely. The view out over Rottnest and the ferry out to it are beautiful. I used to ride up to Nudgee and on to Sandgate/Margate but Cottesloe is just a really lovely beach and the ride around the Swan River loop is great Probably being so much happier in my job here puts rose tinted glasses on it. You can't get away from the lovely ocean though. Did I mention the beaches?
  2. DrDougster

    Converting a Smart TV from UK to Aus

    Our Samsung one works fine. We actually don't have a tv connected to terrestrial any longer!
  3. DrDougster

    Car import costs

    It will cost you about $8-12K depending on RORO vs using a container and if you have to have the bloody thing washed at both ends!
  4. DrDougster

    MELBOURNE OR PERTH

    We moved to Perth from Brisbane at the start of the year and I love it so far. Been working a bit too much to get lots of experience but able to cope with the workload due to the lovely environment. We are in Subiaco so I can walk to work (hospital) alternating with driving our daughter 10mins to school then 10-15mins back to work. Bike paths are pretty good for nice loops around the Swan river or further afield South or across to the hills. Generally cycling not as varied/interesting as Brisbane. However, beaches more than make up for that and the Swan river is unbeatable for kids' water sports. We have bought in Cottesloe for a move next year to somewhere with a little bit of work needed but a 500m walk to the beach and 7Km bike path to work. There are great coffee shops both there and in Subiaco. These two areas would be my top choices for where to live and we plumped for being by the beach at the expense of livelier night life and easy access to the city that Subi provides. We're completely isolated from any issues with drug misuse outside of work.
  5. Einstein almost certainly would if assessed as a five year old, yes. Absolutely no way he'd have got NDIS though, given my experience of trying to get people support through it! But, not really the point I was trying to make. Immigration policy probably pays to be open minded for a rich and diverse society to develop. Having global talent visas has its place but a policy that excludes people who need a bit of support is probably short sighted.
  6. Imagine what a disaster it would've been for the country to have had someone like Bill Gates or Einstein emigrate to Australia!
  7. DrDougster

    Renting with large family

    Most people moving to Aus will take their birth certificate with them. That and your passport and a credit card is plenty (70,70,25). Remember you'll need marriage certificate if changed your name.
  8. DrDougster

    Decision making.. Career & Location

    I guess it depends on the sums of money that you're talking from your "place in London" to "your place in Brisbane". If you're coming with a few million dollars in your pocket then I'd do it now, fast and Brisbane. If you buy, leave yourself some to live on, then it's likely that if you've chosen your property well it will work as a third income for you in the longer run. If you change your mind about where to live in a few years then sell at a profit, you'll have more knowledge and more options with more cash. Some recent signs Brisbane is going to follow Sydney and Perth property market growth this year rather than loss. Might be worth moving sooner rather than later. (Investments may go down as well as up :-))
  9. DrDougster

    Transfer money from UK

    I had this issue with a Malaysian bank and needed to move the money across to a local HSBC account and then across to Wise. Your solution using your sister is probably the best - flick the money from Virgin to a different UK account (fee free transfer) and then from there into your Wise "UK account" before converting to AUD and then paying the very nominal (was $0.57) to send it to your Australian bank.
  10. Sorry you're put off - and apologies if I was to blame. Just fed up with the berating of good local services by a disgruntled individual. I hope you do move back to Aus. Our five year old absolutely loves her life here. She's so happy and for us we could never give her a comparable quality of life in the UK.
  11. How could I be in a better position to answer? I am one of the staff. I have worked in the NHS and at Sir Charles Gairdner. I worked in the NHS under the Blair government. I have never worked as a recruiter. I actually am on the ground.
  12. This is just rambling nonsense. Take one of your points: "Actually one of our main hospitals, Sir Charles Gairdner, went into code Yellow 144 times alone." Do you know what this means? It means at that point there's bed pressure. So 144 times there was acute bed pressure that was then resolved. Do you hold this up as an example of a system in crisis? At Sir Charles Gairdner this year there is big expansion of services. For example, new services to support outpatient antibiotic services, a new CT scanner, four new respiratory specialists and staff to bring down wait times, improve care and all through public funding. Yes things aren't perfect, they won't be in a public service, but to even draw an analogy to the NHS is bonkers. There will always be underfunded, understaffed areas but you appear to have absolutely no real knowledge of this area beyond that which can be gleaned from a keyboard.
  13. Load of rubbish. The hospital system is absolutely NOTHING like as stretched here as in UK. Appointment times are much shorter, beds are much more readily available and ED wait times dramatically lower. Schooling options are better, class sizes appear smaller and yah de yah... You're quite a contributor to unhappiness you know Blue Flu. I'm not sure you actually help anyone with these comments despite your assertions that you "give the other side".
  14. DrDougster

    Retrieving immiaccount answers

    Got it - "view application" What a numbskull!
  15. DrDougster

    Retrieving immiaccount answers

    Is there a way to pull the travel history from my approved 190PR visa so I can put matching details in my citizenship application? I just know I'll miss a Greece or Egypt holiday if I go off memory again and it might not've been correct the first time!
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