Sandsmuir Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Coming to Queensland early spring 2015 on a 489 Visa. My wife is the principle, me and our 2 daughters.....and dog! We know she needs to work for a year and 2 years living in regional QLD, all that's fine. Its just, every time we look for an area to stay in we find the perfect place...until the next time we look elsewhere for comparison purposes where we usually find somewhere else just as good! We have narrowed it down to between Mackay and Port Douglas!:arghh: scared to death to look inland in case we find somewhere that fits the bill too! Anyhow, help from you lovely people on the ground would be most appreciated! Here is us in a nutshell, I would be really interested to see what you come up with! My good lady, 46, phd in Marine Biology, outdoorsy, animal lover, not really into night life just the odd blow out. Likes Townsville! Me, 47, School of life Professor (self certified), slowing down a little but still pretend to be right into sports and active stuff like that, Food is always good, boats, snorkelling and don't mind a bit of a social life. I like Port Douglas or Kurunda First Born girl, 10..........erm.......internet, dancing (Highland in particular), playing music, singing and Raging mood swings. likes any house with a pool. 2nd Born girl, 8, as above only trying harder to out do big sis! likes any house that has a bigger pool than her big sis likes. We will be coming from a small, remote island off the coast of Scotland (pop 1100) so everything is going to be a shock! We will have a bit of money to maybe get into a small business. I know I am being a bit tongue in cheek but its a defense mechanism for having too many uninformed choices! I really do appreciate any helpful hints tips, advice on anything, areas etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobj Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Gday mate, good to see you picking Mackay as one of your 'hope to be' places. It is a great place to live and bring up kids. I note that your lady has a phd in marine biology... Can she tell me why the fish don't bite during the 'no moon' period??:wink: Seriously, the better place would be Cannonvale/Airlie Beach, about half way between Mackay and Townsville and has the added attraction of being the best jumping off place for the Whitsunday Islands. Incidentally, T'ville has JCU, about the best uni there is for marine biology... Port Douglas has a great deal more humidity throughout the year than Mackay. Can't really help with Port Douglas as it was 30 years since I was last there. Cheers, Bobj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandsmuir Posted November 24, 2014 Author Share Posted November 24, 2014 Bobj, you need to stop fishing for those blind kind of fish! strap an LED to the hook and watch them jump on it! if it works we can patent it. Call it sparklure or something like that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopylu Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 If your good lady is still into the marine biology she may want to get in touch with http://www.reefcheckaustralia.org/ which I believe is Townsville based. My cousin (a marine biologist) set up this organisation a few years ago when doing postgrad studies at JCU. She no longer lives in Townsville (moved to California for more study!) but the organisation is still operating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robfromdublin Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 I guess the main issue with finding somewhere is work. What will you both do? Townsville is a good option for your wife as there is AIMS and JCU, but scientific positions are hard to come by so I wouldn't necessarily rely on that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandsmuir Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 we are both pretty flexible in that. I am happy to have a go at anything really but marine if pushed! She will be something conservation/marine biological/scientific/animals! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ptp113 Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 You go where you can get a job. Pointless lobbing somewhere and finding out that there's no work available, but poms usually do just that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandsmuir Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 You go where you can get a job. Pointless lobbing somewhere and finding out that there's no work available, but poms usually do just that I Guess thats why I am asking the question. Trying to tap into the available knowledge on forums like this! God forbid we end up wandering about like an aimless and ignorant Pom! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notpicky Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Port Douglas, small touristy town. Hot/wet/humid in summer. Mackay, a nice town but rents very high due to high proportion on mine employees. I agree that Airlie Beach/Cannonvale would be a reasonable option but employment is key. Townsville has a very steady economy (garrison city with 5000+ Defence presence), regional offices for various state & Fed govt agencies. JCU is world centre of excellence in marine biology, also here are Aust Inst Marine Science (AIMS), Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Auth (GBRMPA). Pop approaching 200k "big" small town. Been in Townsville 25 years (ex UK 1974, Sth Africa, Zimbabwe then Aust (Brisbane) in '84. Summer is hot/humid, fairly unpleasant weather for 3 months of the year, winter is perfect. This is home for me now. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chantal Dunbar Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Hi there First: the heat will be a real shock to the family, so be prepared! Second, Port Douglas is amazing but VERY focused on tourism. Reef tourism specifically. HIGHLY unlikely there will be a job for your wife there as there are lots of Ausi marine biologists working the tourist vessels already. Also - it's posh, so real estate will be a bit pricey. HOWEVER - Cairns is 45 minutes away and this is a large regional hub with LOTS of opportunity for marine biologists. It's the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. You will find James Cook University (specialising in all things reef) In Townsville. I suggest your wife contacts a professor at the uni to start networking. Mackay is amazing and close to the Whitsundays, It's a bigger commercial hub but very focused on mining. That said, Mackay City Council or Port of Mackay may have a need for a marine biologist. There is lots of mining activity west of Mackay, so finding a home can be costly and difficult esp if you intend to rent! Townsville is also where Reef HQ is located and I think there is also CSIRO activity there too (scientists). However - the gvt has just slashed science budgets and lots of CSIRO people are losing their jobs. Inland is NOT a wise option - esp with kids and a water loving wife. It's hot, dusty and dry. Also - there's no work! Forget it!!! Also suggest you consider Arlie Beach as this is the main town for the Whitsundays. I'm an environmental scientist and writer and I live on the Gold Coast. Science jobs are blooming hard to come by, and as her expertise will not be on our marine environment, it will be even harder for her. My ex husband is a marine scientist. His experience from Egypt and the USA, even though he's from Liverpool. he ended up working for SMEC (Snowy Mountains Engineering); a consulting company....but not in marine as there's no work in that field. My girlfriend is one of the world's leading turtle experts. She's Dutch and migrated here 3 years ago. Only last month she managed to get a job working for Griffith University in the Gold Coast doing education on marine environments for schools. Suggest you start looking at Seek.com.au and apply for anything you can; saying you're already here. If you want to ask any other questions, please feel free to email me. Kind regards Chantal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eera Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Wouldn't worry about expensive rents in Mackay right now; backside has fallen out of the rental market and tenants can virtually set their own price right now. Very much second the "live where you can find work" sentiment. Your wife may be able to find work with consultancies that do ecological surveys (they love seagrass here), and a few years ago any of the larger towns had them, but recently most of the big players have pulled out of the regions and consolidated to main cities. We have a branch called Ecology Lab who do that sort of thing, and if you PM me I can give you the careers website address but there is an oversupply of similarly qualified people right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boganbear Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 for marine biology jobs the best places are Townsville as th Great Barrier Reef HQ is there and do is Australian institute for Marine Science. a friend of mine works there. also consider Cairns as many of the dive companies who do trips to the reef have qualified staff as tour guides. Its better than noting is there are no science jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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