Onward

Hi everyone, I’m moving shortly to work in Victoria on a 482 Visa. I have a wife and three children. We’re looking for a top-tier plan. Knowing what I don’t know… I don’t know one insurer from the next… I don’t know if different insurers have access to different groups of hospitals or doctors. Basically, what I do know is actually very little. I am also Canadian, so we have no Medicare reciprocity. Allianzcare sowed up in Google search. Which are some of the better companies / plans to work with? Thank again!

We're not really big city people. I lived in Toronto for a few years when I was a young man and it was a lot of fun at the time. Even then the traffic was absolutely dreadful, now it's even worse. Big cities come with a substantial cost of living. I remember having to pay to park multiple times per day, even just to the grocery store or to pick up dry cleaning. Basically, there was only time during the weekdays to work and commute. Depending on your line of work, the frenetic pace in Toronto can be really motivating, however. Sydney is absolutely a fantastic world-class city, so I'm not going to say that I wouldn't want to live there, only that I can't. My family and I absolutely love the beach and ocean. Living in Canada, I'd work 48 or 49 weeks out the year and the rest of the time, in the winter, we'd travel to a warm locale like Hawaii with a beautiful beach to recharge. Moving to Australia is a little bit of flipping that ratio around. Why not live in a place that has what you really want rather than visiting the beach a few weeks per year? :) We're lucky to be going on this adventure and will appreciate and enjoy it as long as it lasts.

Thanks for all of that info! We were very fortunate with our timing. Even weird things like there's actually a furniture shortage in North America at the moment. Same with cars.

I’m moving to work in Geelong on a 482 visa in July. We’ve sold our house in Canada and there are a few logistical challenges I had not anticipated. First, we’re looking to rent and it seems that it’s very difficult to rent a house until we actually arrive for a variety of reasons. Even then, the rental process seems reasonably complicated compared to Canada. Without being able to secure a long term rental, we have no physical address to ship our stuff too. We’ve sold or given away all of our furniture, but we still have some personal items to ship from Canada. It seems that it’s not possible rent a storage unit remotely? Also, I’m not accustomed as a professional to not even getting a response when sending property rental inquiries from realtors. Is there something I’m missing here? We’d be fine with renting a house a month before we arrive, but that would create insurance issues as here in Canada, you have to have your property checked every 72hrs when you’re away. Also, we can’t even seem to get a post office box prior to arrival as it seems you have to present in person and show id. This leaves us without an address to forward our mail. Our current plan is to rent an Airbnb house for a month or two, but that still leaves us without a shipping address prior to leaving. Any help with navigating these challenges would be greatly appreciated. :)

What are some of the nice areas to live in Geelong for a family? We like the idea of living close to the ocean. I’m married with young children. We’re going to be renting to start off with. Our budget is flexible. Rental prices are listed “per week” which is unusual compared to Canada (per month is standard). We could end up spending anywhere from $600 to $900 depending on what’s available. Of course, coming from the frozen tundra, we want a house with a pool though I do realize they are very rare in Geelong. I also have no clue about mortgage options until I obtain PR or if it’s even feasible before that?

Thanks! How are the mosquitoes in Geelong? We have terrible mosquitoes where I live in Canada during the summer months.

Thanks! We live in a city with a population of a million which is large for Canada. We don’t do that much big city stuff. Our kids love going to the zoo, aquarium, science center, stuff like that. We definitely plan on spending weekends in Melbourne. I can’t wait to spend a weekend at the Hamptons apartments Port Melbourne. I enjoy golfing, mountain biking, surfing and skiing. In Canada, I work hard all year long to take a week off here or there to go somewhere with warm weather and a beach like Kauai, Maui, San Diego, or Miami. The idea of living in a place with much warmer weather (than western Canada) and endless beaches is irresistible. Most people (I talk to in Canada who have lived in Australia) lament the cost of living which is apparently higher in Australia. For example, we have a weekly cleaning lady that we pay $25 cdn / hr and a full-time nanny that we pay $20 cdn per hour. We also hire a gardener to maintain our lawns/trees and snow removal in the winter. I’m not sure how wages compare in Australia for those services? We’ll be looking for a 4 bedroom house to rent initially. They seem to have heating for what we’ve looked at.

Wow. Great responses. Thanks everyone for the great advice. The area is Geelong. Where I’m from, well, we just had a run of -30 Celsius. Winnipeg is “Winterpeg.” One of the coldest cities in Canada. What you think is cold, you have no idea -2 Celsius is skiing in a t-shirt weather for Canadians. It’s an employer sponsored visa. Still in progress. I’m a big guy, but when I come across a spider the size of my hand, I’ll also be standing on a bar stool.

Hi everyone, I’ll soon be moving from western Canada to Australia. What’s crazy is that Covid 19 is preventing me from visiting Australia first. I’ve never been. Honestly, the spiders freak me out a bit. We have the odd daddy long legs or wolf spiders, but that’s it here. Covid and a winter climate is a brutal mix. The allure of endless beaches and *warm* weather is drawing me to Australia. Keep in mind, while Melbourne is cold by Australian standards, it’s warmer than Vancouver, Canada. Questions. 1. How’s the Internet, Wi-Fi, and cable TV compared to Canada? 2. How soon do I need to make friends with a rugged Aussie dude neighbor in case of a spider the size of my hand appears in my house? 3. anything else I should know before moving myself and family?