Tjsmum

@ramot that’s crazy, to have to 2 extremes in one week!

@Toots Wow, snow in June?! I know it’s Scotland but still, snow in June, that’s crazy

@Bulya I know this is off topic but my grandfather in law shares the same name as your screen name, his favourite horse was called bullija pronounced bull e yah, everyone started calling him bullja instead of bill

@InnerVoice Where in the UK is this?

I came from SW England! Never thought I’d come across someone near me! Yes! Everyone is praying spring arrives quickly back home, my great aunti and sister have had snow! I couldn’t believe it! Snow in March, but mum says they’ve had it in April too

I wonder what has caused the rise in rents in Tas? I think the price spike up here was when a lot of southerners moved north after lockdown finished as we didn’t have any cases, could it be the same for Tas? There is so much to consider, moving to either of these places and so much to figure out, we will get stuck in after our trip home.

@InnerVoice That’s interesting, I’d thought with it being cooler it would be wetter, I did see the flooding not too long ago can’t remember where in Tas it was. I’m one of those people that likes to be prepared, I like to think of all possibilities, there will come a time when we may have to have another lockdown , when we had our short lockdown no body really cared, we still had to do social distancing and masks but we continued to move around driving to other towns and the police were not there to enforce it, I guess it’s because we aren’t in the city, harder to keep eyes on everyone, so country Vic sounds good

@Marisawright Thank you for clarifying the lockdown bits for me, I haven’t been able to find an estimate online for shipping container to Tas, but I did say to Hubby if we moved to Vic instead, that we could drive a hire truck down there with a family member and the family member could drive it back to FNQ. Yes, affordable flights would be a must if everything went swimmingly with custody case, as my eldest sons father is looking to move down somewhere near Brisbane. Thank you for the info regarding housing, we will never buy, it’s too costly sadly, we fought tooth and nail 3years ago yo get pre approval but that was back when you could get a decent house for $250k, we have come to terms with the fact that we will rent until retirement age and then we will become nomads

@MarisawrightAh, my apologies I thought it was the entirety of Vic. An hour wouldn’t be enough outside for me, Yes it’s those kind of houses I love! Can’t handle the carpet though, so unhygienic! But I’d put up with it…. i wonder where the safest places in country Vic would be, natural distasteful wise? And for Tas too We have had cyclones come this way but it’s never been more than strong wind and rain

@Marisawright I haven’t considered country Vic at this stage but I will look into it, the thing that makes me hesitant with Vic is how long they were in lockdown for, I can’t handle being stuck inside for too long, that’s why I like the idea of Tas, so I can be outside gardening. Vic was in an unnecessarily long lockdown and it would drive me crackers if we had to go through one of them edit:::::: there seems to be more affordable housing in Vic and buildings to my liking, this below is an example: I thought this kind of housing excised only in Tas

I forgot to mention I had been back home 6months before the pandemic and we went back again last September…. the one thing I didn’t realise is how rural, rural Tas is, there is a beautiful house in Gray on average, affordable but the population is less than 100, that’s a bit too rural for us. I do prefer small towns though, we live in a small town at present and the limited infrastructure isn’t a bother. Latrobe is still looking good at present. I suppose the bits of home I’m looking for are the cold weather and the greener scenery. unfortunatley custody will always be an issue with my son he’s only in high school, whilst he can stand on court and say where he wishes to be, but at the end of the day the courts will rule what’s best for the child, if they are blinded by his fathers lies they will want him to have some kind of time with his father and I think the judge would be more willing to grant majority custody if I was still in some part of Aus where flights to see his father several times a year equal one flight to the Uk every year.

@Toots This picture is perfection! So beautiful and a lot like England I will look up Richmond, at first I thought this was the Richmond Sydney way Edit : I’ve just looked at rental prices in Richmond, looks like Latrobe is more affordable, bummer

@InnerVoice Thank you for your honest reply, How would you say that Tas is incomparable to the UK? You have hit the nail on the head there, I am homesick, the heat exaggerates that but when we have cool and rainy weather the homesickness disappears. I think I did mention in my OG post that moving home is not an option, I go home every 3 years for a months holiday and come the Third week I’ve had enough and can’t wait to come back to Aus (minus the hot weather). Like you had found when you went back for a few years the UK is not what it used to be, nothing like our childhood times, UK is a sinking ship IMO. Moving back to the UK even for a short time isn’t simple for me, I have custody issues with my eldest and I refuse to leave him here with his father full time, I’d have to leave hubby here to work and getting settled temporarily with our youngest would be a massive headache for a temporary homesickness fix. Australia truly is the land of milk and honey, even though times are getting tough here too, it’s no where near as bad as the UK. We belong here, just not in the hot parts, “insert laugh here”

@Toots Weather there sounds great! Im currently dripping sweat, waiting for the traffic to move , sigh!

@InnerVoice I read your post before making my own, I’m glad I’m not the only one from up this way complaining about the heat, We will be visiting Tas after we go back briefly to the UK to see my dad at the end of this year, he isn’t too well sadly. Once we are back here we will start making short holidays to tas, mainly during summer and winter, to the parts we are considering settling at, to see how the weather is. I like your idea of leaving stuff in storage for a short period of time to see how we handle life in Tas…. The other driving factor for us wanting to move to Tas is because it’s most like home, the population of the towns we’ve looked at are nice and small, almost like being in the Cotswolds, whilst I do not truly feel at home until I am actually back home in the UK I have spent nearly 15years feeling like I’m in the wrong place, with Tas being more like home I believe I will feel more content. Today has been another boiling hot day and the heat makes me miserable!

Sounds so warm and cosy! Are you not able to get wood delivered? Or a family member to help with getting wood? what is a pallet heater?

We have suffered today! Hot all day, only for 15mins of rain and a bit of rumbles, sigh! No solar on our house we live in FN department of housing

That’s great that Tas power is produced via Hydro, way to go tassie! Our bill is so high hecause hubby has 3 15min boiling hot showers everyday, to help with his muscles it’s like walking into a sauna! I have tried to point it out on the electricity bill to him and it falls on deaf ears, I kind don’t blame him though, I often have boiling hot baths to soak my muscles, working hard physical jobs requires it…. Yes you are correct on the Cov Vac front for those jobs, I have seen some jobs advertised, simple jobs like cafe assistant and shopkeeper require the vax, I scratch my head and think why, then I see that the job is part of a franchise or big company that requires it, I am yet to see a simple job that doesn’t ask for it.

It’s a beautiful house! I’d buy it if I could, oh one can dream…… The market for selling is tough right now, the main buyers are investors, my 4th cousin is currently trying to sell his place in Hobart, to no avail, so he too is renting it until it sells. With skyrocketing interest rates, housing will only get more expensive until the govt starts building more social housing, they are now stopping the NRAS here, leaving thousands facing the possibility of homelessness becuase they can no longer afford the rent payments. The price of firewood has jumped up here as well, can’t save the pennies on any angle sadly.

if push came to shove for work, hubby would drive at least an hour. Yes, sadly housing crisis has affected all of Australia. The problem for us, Is do these jobs require vaccination? A lot of the jobs I’ve seen advertised require vaccination and this puts me out of work, luckily here there is a niche for unvaccinated workers. Hubby is vaccinated against Covid and I am not, due to several family members falling victim to vaccine injuries I wish to remain unvaccinated. I love that term “climate refugees” ill Run with that, it’s rather surprising how many Queenslanders are down there, but I don’t blame them, this is heat is disgusting

That electricity bill is $500 less than our bill! Our bill is constantly $750 no matter what the season. Sadly the rental crisis affects everywhere in Australia I do have to say though after looking at that link you sent me I’m rather mind blown as to how a unit is between 400-500$ a week! I thought it was expensive up here! I did like the look of this place, but it’s way out of our budget and of course not in Latrobe, My 4th cousin just recently moved back to Perth from Hobart and he had a combustion heater, he said that worked a dream.

@Toots I did a quick search on google maps to see where the big stores were located, i to was wondering why there isn’t a big w up the north, could atleast have one in Launceston. We can survive on Kmart and if push come to shove as much as I don’t like online shopping I can always do big w online. How have you found the electricity bill difference? We don’t have aircon so our bill is affordable at present but Tasmanian homes have heaters/radiators like UK homes do, don’t they?

@Toots Yes, it’s very similar to where we live on the Atherton tablelands, we are not fussed on city life, and are used to driving an hour to Cairns to do the big ticket shopping, but we also don’t want to live in the sticks…. Latrobe seems to tick all the boxes at current, Devonport is a 15min drive away, the only thing Devonport doesn’t seem to have is a Big w, we can make do with Kmart.. Can you please tell me what shops you have in Devonport other than what I have mentioned, I know there is a coles there, that will be our main food shop.

@Toots Thank you for the cost info, we are planning on travelling the same as you, we will drive both cars and the camper trailer in tow. We are looking at taking the majority of our small 2bdrm house with us, cats included Our moving budget will be 10k, hoping to put no more than 3quarters of that into shopping costs. We are liking the looks of Latrobe, or anywhere north of there that has affordable rental houses,

@MarisawrightThanks for your reply We Wil have around 2 months worth of savings to keep us afloat until we find work, flying down for job interviews isn’t convenient for me, as I work long hours and run the household ,, I’d be seeking interviews via Skype or teams.