Townsville, one month in...

[Nearlythere1 111]

Hi All,

Haven't been on for a while, but here's my initial report after arriving in Townsville on the 5th November.

Long hideous flights, as expected lol.. Arrived to heavy rainfall which was a surprise, which made it quite humid and sticky. Sorted the bank and phone on day one, Drivers licence and Medicare on day two, TFN on day three. Had the weekend off and started looking for work on the Monday, day six, got a job on Tuesday, day seven ( took about 29 hours to find a job, which was great). Took the rest of the week off as started work on the following Monday.. Visited friends and had a bit of a tour around the area. Am staying with friends until after Xmas, so very little pressure at the minute. Got a casual job initially, until Xmas with a view to becoming permanent if both parties are happy with the initial 5 weeks work etc. review on the 17th. Won't commit to a house rental contract until I get a permanent contract for work. Been offered other jobs in the following weeks, but in different parts of Queensland, so will stick with this for now. Weird being the new guy again, after so long in the same dept, like starting over again. Work is very different here, people don't seem to be as polite as in the UK. Wages aren't what I'd hoped for and workload is far higher here.. Don't know if it's just the company I've chosen to work for or not as yet..

Loving the constant sunshine, and have learnt to park the car under a shady tree and find the shady spots to stand in when outside.. Been mostly 32 degs + upto about 35 degs one day, plenty of water needed and a dip in the pool at the end of a hot days work has been essential and very invigorating.. They all came to me quite quickly lol..

Our furniture arrived at my brother in laws in Brisbane about 10 days ago, mostly useless forwarding company at the Brisbane end, wanted to charge me $2500 to forward stuff to Townsville from Brisbane, if they kept the stuff in their warehouse, or $4500 after being stored at my brother in laws, still packed.. Declined both those services.. Drove down to Brisbane last weekend to fetch my tools, that was a long weekend.. 32 hrs driving, altogether.. I was amazed when I realised that I'd started from half way up Queensland, drove 16 1/2 hrs South and was still in Queensland.. Puts the size of the place in some perspective for me.. Won't do that again without a week off, really needs minimum of two days each way..

Going to look at a one way hire of an 8 ton self drive truck for the furniture removals, after Xmas, not sure whether I can hire one with my UK licence though..

Friends birthday party yesterday, had a bit of a storm to go with it, mostly "p*ss and wind" seems to be the saying around here.. Little bit delicate today, so nice relaxing day off, apart from joining super fund online..

Initial thoughts are quite positive, the streets aren't paved with gold and quite a task trying to get used to working for a living again after having such a cushy number in the UK.. All the people outside of my working environment have been lovely and welcoming, too early to tell whether I need to re-evaluate my career path to get something better paid and cushier though..

 

Thanks for listening all, and have a great Christmas.. :chatterbox: X

[jac2011 214]

How are you finding Townsville compared to other areas in QLD?

 

Glad you got yourself organised and managed to settle quite quickly. Finding work so quickly was fab but it does sound like you may need to look elsewhere in the long term.

 

Good Luck!!

[starlight7 4,198]

Thanks for the interesting post- Townsville is lovely, especially the Esplanade, how nice to land there when you first arrive! I guess you have chosen a pretty hot time to arrive but you will get used to it- probably have already by the sound of it.

[adele244 59]

Thanks for the update, a very interesting read. What line of work are you doing if you don't mind me asking?