Guest jamesand emma Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Hi, my husband and I are moving to Darwin with our 2 boys age 7 and 5. we are just waiting for the 457 visa to be granted which we've been told should take approx 12 weeks, we hope to be in Darwin around september. We are currently living in Dar es salaam, Tanzania but are from UK. We have been reading many posts talking about how expensive it is to live in Darwin, please could somebody advise us on approx. monthly household bills, food etc. as we are trying to budget for our arrival. Thanks, Emma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
locky Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Hi, We are also moving to Darwin hopefully around your time also and are keen to hear the cost of living. We have been to Darwin before but on a WHV a few years ago, but our backpacking lifestyle then was of extreme cheapness living in a campervan so that does not count. We a family of 3 and our little rascal is 18 months young. We would only be looking for a 2 bed apartment/small complex maybe with a pool so we could possible meet some other young familys. Any advise would be gratefully received Than Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgdots Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Hi , we moved to Darwin 9 weeks ago today , it is by all means quiet expensive. we are in a 4 bed house with 4 kids and we pay 850 dollars a week in rental , and we are not in the city. our bond was 4 weeks rent and 2 weeks in advance so 5100 straight off. Electricity is also expensive and you need to budget for about 1500/ 2000 dollars every 3 months as they bill qyarterly. You both will be arriving in the wet season so you will use the A/C alot. Genaral day to day living is expensive enough, bread, milk , sugar, butter.....if you smoke they come in packs of 25 and are 25$ a pack! Digital tv.... we pay 90$ a month , internet with house phone 90$ a month and we dont use the house phone,. Public schooling is free and on a 457 you are entitled to enter the school as a citizen would so no overseas extra fees. We send our two girls to private primary school which is 722$ a term which is pretty good for 2! anything you need to know im happy to help with! just ask...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamesand emma Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 thanks for the info, much appreciated, we live in Dar es salaam at the minute and are used to heat and humidity, we are also used to paying over the odds for food, its so expensive out here. you said your children are in a private school is that because you find the public schools not to be very good? (we want to make sure our boys get a good education) 722$ is very good for private schooling we pay 20,000$ per year for 2 kids at the minute!! can you recommend a good website where i can read up about the different schools, does it depend where you are living to which school you get into? which areas to live do you recommend ? we are looking for a 3 or 4 bed house with pool. We were intending on buying most of our furniture once we get out there and only bringing the sofa out with us but are hearing about how expensive it is to buy furniture, so now were not sure what to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgdots Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 What we did was we took all our personal belongings, sofa, our bed, one of the kids beds, dining table , pool table , one chest of drawers, .....i gave away all my electrical items which were easy to replace here. They are the one thing that are cheap, We were renting out our own house so had to leave alot of stuff in it so we had to buy new here. Most houses will come rented with a dishwasher, hob and oven but that is it. We have our girls in a private catholic school for 2 reasons, 1, the schools are catchment area, you have to live in a specific area to gain entry to the school and as we were in the CBD we didnt qualify for the public schools while we were looking for a house in the palmerston area , and 2) we are catholic and wanted our kids to recieve their sacrament of confirmation . We have our boys in a public middle school and senior college.... they seem fine , I was pretty impressed by the schools but the educational system is just so different to ireland we are having difficulty comprehending the curriculum and standards to the extent we are concidering sending our eldest boy back to ireland to compleat his education.The younger kids we hope will fall into the system more easily......We are in Rosebery in Palmerston which we like, there are good surberbs out here . The prices are rising rapidly so for a nice 4 bed you are you are looking at up on 800 a month....we pay even more than that .My advice is if you are sending a container bring as much with you as you can. What part of Darwin are you thinking about????? As regards a vehicle , we bought a commadore initially but we are buying and shipping a jeep up from Sydney as when it comes to the more expensive vehichles there is often a big savings to be had by shipping one up.....anything else you need to know just bellow!!!! ill answer whatever I can ! vi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamesand emma Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Hi Vi, we have also been looking at rosebery we found a lovely house for rent, 4 beds and pool for 600 p/wk its on rosebery drive, though i cant imagine it will still be available by the time we get out there. my husbands company will put us up in accommodation for the first month so it gives us time to find the right house and school in the right area. you cant really see what things are like until you are there. Im assuming that if you are in the catchment then you will get in that school ok, or can you still be turned away if they are too full ? we will have a re-think and see if we can bring more furniture out with us, we sold everything apart from our sofas when we moved to Africa, so we need to buy anyway but i suppose it would be cheaper to buy in the UK. Do you work ? Emma. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgdots Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 No Emma, i stay home , i am qualified in early education in applied social studies but with 4 kids that is enough to keep me going, The primary school in Rosebery is brand new, it looks lovely but i have heard very mixed reviews on it . My openion is it not established long enough to have a good gage on it.When we initially arrived and lived in the city while seeking a house they would not entertain us even though our son was enrolled in the middle school right next door to it, so that closed door attitude didnt appeal to me.Our girls are in Sacred Heart private catholic school and i swear they couldnt be happier, its very much an open door where by we arrived unannounced ,had a tour straight away and a meeting to meet the principal a few hours later. My eldest girl wants to know if she can go to school on sat. and sun. too and she is 11! syas alot! There are so many schools I cant imagine being turned away from any for overcrowding.Rosebery is a lovely area and Bellamack too, they are the new suberbs, brand new lovely houses that appeal to me. As regards buying before you come you need to weigh up the cost of transporting the stuff, if you have a container already organised then yes certinly but if not i would have a good think about it.Sorry in my last post i stated rents being 800 a month.... i ment 800 a week! Dont be afraid to ask anything you need to know....vi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamesand emma Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Thanks for all the info, its nice to hear your positive views on Rosebery, we just got a good feel about it from looking on the internet. It seems like everything will come into place when we get there with schools and housing, ive e mailed a couple of estate agents and told them what we're interested in so they can keep us posted. Im studying special educational needs at the minute so would like to try and do a bit of voluntary work in a school (same school as the boys would be ideal) to help with my studies. Is there plenty to so for families at the wk end ? We all love our golf and have been checking out golf courses. Also are there plenty of good gyms ? thanks again Emma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJS2171 Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Hi, I am due to move with my family September /October, be nice to hear from people moving to NT more about lifestyle, coping with heat,cost of living info and sports clubs for children if you have time? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgdots Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Hi AJS, my family and I are here 10 weeks now, me, hubby and 4 kids, sept/ oct will be the build up season which is not the ideal time to land in the NT apparently I'm dreading it from what ive heard about it.What age are your kids? There is every type of sport available, the place to check out is The Marrara , it is basically the hub of the sports with many pitches/ovals ......over here every pitch is an oval even if they are rectangular lol.The facilities are fantastic with lovely stadiums built which even the younger kids get to experience. We make the matches family events as there are food facilities and the athmosphere is fantastic! Have a read back throuh the thread and see if any of your questions are answered and if not just bellow and ill happily answer anything I can Vi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgdots Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Howdy Emma, the schools are generally great when it comes to opening their door and allowing voluntary work as far as I know, you may need police checks done though .There is a golf course near the city , although it is right beside the airport so i can see the planes being a tad distracting lol.There is plenty for families to do, anything to free water parks, corc. parks (pay in though) , national parks, ohhh there is a multitude to do just google it..... Gyms are generally 10 a penny!There is actually one in Rosebery! what we have noticed is they dont eat very healthy over here but they love to exercise !The wave pool in the city is great , my kids love it and there is a little man made beach beside it that is secure for swimming, As regards emailing the estate agents I hope they keep you updated.Our experience is that they are not very helpful at all . There are playgrounds just spotted around the place.Rosebery has two ,one wee one and a larger one which is cool for the kids anyways , as usual just below if i can help with anything else Vi Thanks for all the info, its nice to hear your positive views on Rosebery, we just got a good feel about it from looking on the internet. It seems like everything will come into place when we get there with schools and housing, ive e mailed a couple of estate agents and told them what we're interested in so they can keep us posted. Im studying special educational needs at the minute so would like to try and do a bit of voluntary work in a school (same school as the boys would be ideal) to help with my studies. Is there plenty to so for families at the wk end ? We all love our golf and have been checking out golf courses. Also are there plenty of good gyms ? thanks again Emma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJS2171 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Thanks morgdots, we have 4 children but they are older at 17 ,14, and 11 so sport etc is pretty important so it is good to hear the facilities are good. Do you have a swimming pool nearby too? We are leaving our 18 year old son in the UK while he goes to Uni, which will be hard. I know we will arrive in the 'wet season' my recruitment process made me research climate, cost of living etc before I was selected so we have some idea of what to expect. At least if we cope we can look forward to the dry !! Did you consider living in Casuarina at all as my job offer will either be in Palmerston or Casaurina so we are looking at both, you sound like Roseberry has worked out ok for you and we see lots of rentals in those suburbs. I have a job offer but my husband will be job seeking, have you seen any recruitment agencies around? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lychee123456 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Hi all, we will be moving to Darwin in Aug 2012 as I have a job offer, we are a family of four, I have two children 21 months and 13 years old. Whilst my husband and I are very excited, my 13 year old is not pleased at best. Would be nice to hear from any families in a similar position, as we do not know anyone in Darwin!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJS2171 Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Hi lychee123456, We should move similar time and have a 16 year old less than pleased,but willing to come and a 10yr old and 13yr old who are excited and positive but still going to miss their friends! Depending where we live may be nice to hook up, or happy togive our details so kids can email etc to make a link with someone going through same thing in UK,leaving friends and school is a big deal. Just nice to know we are not alone I guess. AJS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgdots Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 My kids are also 17(boy),14(boy) , 11(girl) ,and 10 (girl),,freaky coincidence lol.... unfortunetly we are sending our oldest boy home before sept to finish his secondary education in ireland.Aparently if they want to go to uni in ireland (which he will be), they need to have spent two of the previous three years before uni in school in ireland or they are treated as international students and international fees apply which are over 20k per annum in comparison to 1500 E as it is now.Over here it is +35k for them a year in college so although it breaks my heart he will be going back home I spend every evening of the week in the Marrara for my boys sports then matches sat. and sun.The Marrara is near Casuarina so it would be a smart move too be near there but for us we are not city people and palmerston is near my hubbys work.The drive into the Marrara from here is 20 minutes which isn t too bad. A pool will be paramount for you arriving in the wet season, we had a slight taste of it when we arrived and it feels a bit like being in a sauna lol,There is an olympic sized swimming pool in palmerston , i got passes for the kids which were 27 dollars for 30 swims ,excellent value! They complain here about traffic but it really isnt bad in comparison to england or ireland so commuting for work i wouldnt be too concerned about.The only thing to bear in mind is in Rosebery we are at the bottom end of the town and if you like to go out for a drink you will need a taxi, they run a 24 hour mini bus service in palmerston that is 10 dollars anywhere in town and 16 dollars after 10pm which is fine.I have seen a job agency i think on the corner of mc lachlan and mc minn street in the city , i dont think its too hard to get a job here ! happy to help where i can ! vi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lychee123456 Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Hi, yes it would be great to keep in contact. My son is very good at sports and Im using that as a way to entice him to Australia. I have checked out some teams and I am hoping to make contact with a few before we come, so that he can have a trial for the team, he plays Basketball. What area of work are you in? Hi lychee123456, We should move similar time and have a 16 year old less than pleased,but willing to come and a 10yr old and 13yr old who are excited and positive but still going to miss their friends! Depending where we live may be nice to hook up, or happy togive our details so kids can email etc to make a link with someone going through same thing in UK,leaving friends and school is a big deal. Just nice to know we are not alone I guess. AJS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamesand emma Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Hi Vi sorry to bother you again but im wondering if you could give me info about the schooling, our boys are aged 7 (turned 7 in may) and 4 (will be turning 5 in July), they were in a british school (where they start at age 3) until 18 mths ago when they started an international school when we moved to Africa. i understand the curriculum is a lot different from the british system, do they study languages out there if so at what age and what languages ? also do they have a set reading scheme and what scheme is it, ive been trying to find websites of certain schools but not having much luck, do you know if the schools have their own websites? Also do they have a lot of sports and swimming in the schools. what time does the school day start and finish. We will be sending the boys to a state school. Thanks so much for all your help, i will owe you a coffee once im finally over there !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgdots Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Hi my dear , ill try answer as best i can but i can only go by my own experience, here the year they enter is based on their age regardless of what year they have been in before so as far as i know transition is for 4 year olds , then it goes year 1,2,3,4 etc. up to year 6, then it goes to middle school year7,8,9 and senior school is year 10,11,12. My girls study indonesian , and all the kids in their school have 2 one year classes of it a week. I think each school may pick their own language to teach and sometimes that will change depending on what language teacher is available each year. Sports are huge in the school , but generally there are no swimming pools in the schools. There are a number of large pools so if individual schools organise lessons for their individual schools in these pools i dont know. My girls school, do what they call "electives" , whereby once a week they have a class that they have chosen from a number of topics, my eldest girl did cooking and my youngest was learning bike maintance like fixing a puncture and fixing breaks.I thought this was fantastic! As regards the maths and english they have been covering the NT set curriculium but to the best of my knowledge these are being brought in line with the Australian curriculium. They do the NAPLAN exams in year 5, 3 and 1 i think. My girls start school at 8.30 am although they insist i leave them to school for 8am and they finish at 3pm, They have a compleatly attitude toward education which i cant knock.....for us in ireland it was 100 per cent academic based where as here its about an overall balance ,my children are so happy with this new system for them..i can say they absolutly love school Ur not bothering me in the least, i love to help where i can as i know how daunting it can being undertaking this adventure.I wish id had someone to answer all my questions before comming and give normal practical advice ...like bring lots of factor 50 for the kids or P20 as they dont do factor 50 over here lol.I,ll look forward to that coffee and you,ll be glad to know they do a lovely twinnings british breakfast tea Vi Hi Vi sorry to bother you again but im wondering if you could give me info about the schooling, our boys are aged 7 (turned 7 in may) and 4 (will be turning 5 in July), they were in a british school (where they start at age 3) until 18 mths ago when they started an international school when we moved to Africa. i understand the curriculum is a lot different from the british system, do they study languages out there if so at what age and what languages ? also do they have a set reading scheme and what scheme is it, ive been trying to find websites of certain schools but not having much luck, do you know if the schools have their own websites? Also do they have a lot of sports and swimming in the schools. what time does the school day start and finish. We will be sending the boys to a state school. Thanks so much for all your help, i will owe you a coffee once im finally over there !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgdots Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 hi Aj , i though id replied to this post with a quote but i just noticed i hadnt, my apologies, i have replied it is just sitting on its own in the thread, if you read through you,ll see it, sorry about that , Vi Thanks morgdots, we have 4 children but they are older at 17 ,14, and 11 so sport etc is pretty important so it is good to hear the facilities are good. Do you have a swimming pool nearby too? We are leaving our 18 year old son in the UK while he goes to Uni, which will be hard. I know we will arrive in the 'wet season' my recruitment process made me research climate, cost of living etc before I was selected so we have some idea of what to expect. At least if we cope we can look forward to the dry !! Did you consider living in Casuarina at all as my job offer will either be in Palmerston or Casaurina so we are looking at both, you sound like Roseberry has worked out ok for you and we see lots of rentals in those suburbs. I have a job offer but my husband will be job seeking, have you seen any recruitment agencies around? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJS2171 Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Thanks morgots, Leaving our 18year son old back in the UK will be the hardest thing we will ever do,so I sympathise with you now having to send your son back. I'm sure it is for the best we have to do what feels right for each child I guess....... but doesn't mean it won't hurt and I know we will miss our son badly! Only good side is we have lovely family to support and be there for him when we can't be. Thanks for all your helpful info, I am feeling very excited now and looking forward to the move as it all sounds as I had hoped. Please keep us updated with anything useful or need to know stuff. Thanks AJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j9blossom Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Hi gals! Just popping in here in case I can help with any advice from the 'already in Darwin' side of things :cool: We live in Gunn which is also a suburb of Palmerston. My children (age 9 and 6) go to the nearest state school (it seems that all of the schools are zoned, ie if you live in Rosebery they go to Rosebery School, Gunn & Bakewell go to Bakewell School, Durack go to Durack School, etc ...) and they love it. The school day for them starts at 8:05am and finishes at 2:30pm. They don't learn a language that I'm aware of? They do have science, music & P.E classes. (my son loves being able to do Science!). Some schools do have their own websites, a good place to look for info about NT schools is also http://www.myschool.edu.au/ None of the schools seem to have pools which we were a bit surprised about. But Palmerston is due to have a huge new waterpark opening up next weekend! Just in time for the school holidays. These upcoming holidays are for 4 weeks too, probably due to it being the best time of the year for the good weather. If you are looking for rental properties, a good website is http://www.realestate.com.au (http://www.realestate.com.au/rent/in-palmerston%2c+nt+0830%3b+/list-1?source=location-search ). I must admit I'm not looking forward to the wet season either! Just make sure you get a house and a vehicle with good airconditioning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgdots Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Howdy there, how long are you here ? we are 11 weeks here now so settling nicely, I am a bit bored however, although the people are so so nice and cant do enough for you I havent really met anyone yet, so when hubby and kids are gone all day its just me, myself and I! lol. What have you did to actually meet other humans over the age of 18 who talk rather than grunt like my teenage kids...?lol, Hi gals! Just popping in here in case I can help with any advice from the 'already in Darwin' side of things :cool: We live in Gunn which is also a suburb of Palmerston. My children (age 9 and 6) go to the nearest state school (it seems that all of the schools are zoned, ie if you live in Rosebery they go to Rosebery School, Gunn & Bakewell go to Bakewell School, Durack go to Durack School, etc ...) and they love it. The school day for them starts at 8:05am and finishes at 2:30pm. They don't learn a language that I'm aware of? They do have science, music & P.E classes. (my son loves being able to do Science!). Some schools do have their own websites, a good place to look for info about NT schools is also http://www.myschool.edu.au/ None of the schools seem to have pools which we were a bit surprised about. But Palmerston is due to have a huge new waterpark opening up next weekend! Just in time for the school holidays. These upcoming holidays are for 4 weeks too, probably due to it being the best time of the year for the good weather. If you are looking for rental properties, a good website is www.realestate.com.au (http://www.realestate.com.au/rent/in-palmerston%2c+nt+0830%3b+/list-1?source=location-search ). I must admit I'm not looking forward to the wet season either! Just make sure you get a house and a vehicle with good airconditioning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j9blossom Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Howdy there, how long are you here ? we are 11 weeks here now so settling nicely, I am a bit bored however, although the people are so so nice and cant do enough for you I havent really met anyone yet, so when hubby and kids are gone all day its just me, myself and I! lol. What have you did to actually meet other humans over the age of 18 who talk rather than grunt like my teenage kids...?lol, Hi! We've been here for about 11 weeks now too (arrived on the 31st of March). It does seem as though we've been here longer though! We've settled in really well too. I can understand you feeling bored, I was the same when I was at home all day once the kids had gone to school. Lol. It felt 'wrong' just sitting around with not a lot to do. I've now found a part time office job while the kids are at school so not much time to be bored anymore. If I wasn't working every day I'd have said "let's go out for a coffee or something" during the day, but now I can only really do that after school with kids in tow :cool: (which would still be fine by the way! lol. ) If you want to meet someone 'real & adult' to talk to I'm more than happy to! I haven't met up with any friends for two weeks now, since I had a Tupperware party a couple of weekends ago, so am starting to feel a bit lonely again in the friendship department. I'll be working every day this week too but then hopefully only 3 days per week once the school holidays are here. Let me know if you want to meet up, either after school one day, or on a weekend, or some time in the holidays? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sancon Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Hi my myself and husband and 9 year old son are moing to Darwin at the end of July, we are going to be in the Woolener area so would be great to hear from anyone else in that area already :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lychee123456 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Hi we will be moving to Casurina or Palmerston in August, would be lovely to hear from any other people in a similar position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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