Whos going to Mackay

[Lexi]

Yeah we are going newcastle to heathrow to singapore to brisbane then to mackay. Its only 26 hours which I think is good considering I have seen some for 37 hours! We only paid 1,600 and that was for the hotel also. I would say that you should look at flights from wherever you fly to in Oz to Mackay because internal ones are much much cheaper than booking everything through the travel agent. The price for all of the flights without the hotel through the travel agent was over 2,000. We booked our flight from Brisbane to Mackay through Jet Star for $69 each. The travel agent said that singapore airlines are the best. One more thing, we are allowed more baggage allowance right through to Brisbane than we are from Brisbane to Mackay where you can only take 20kgs each so be careful not to overpack!

 

Ahhh Angela I love that video. Jamie's boss is meeting us at the airport and taking us to meet everyone in his office and then giving us the company Ute to use from then on. The girl we are staying with has bought Alex a cot and us a bed and has had ceiling fans installed because she is worried we might melt. She has also hired a car seat for Alex for the day so we can get from the airport. We have never met these people before in our lives! Now if thats what the people of Mackay are like I know I am going to love it.

 

We wont get a chance to go to to the sanctuary in Brisbane because we get there at 7.30pm and leave at 8.45am the next day. We plan on returning to Brisbane to buy a car so will definately do it then. I have bought a dongle so should be on line as soon as I have had some sleep (if Alex allows)

[Bobj]

Well the start of another week and another week closer to Mackay :jiggy::jiggy:

girls check this out - our new home

 

- sounds like we are all village girls then, Mackay is going to be perfect!

 

Oi, in the first segment of the youtube...I live on the other side of that hill in the background.:yes:

 

And the island she refers to is Wedge Island and there is a tiny islet off that called Orchid Rock. Yep, full of orchids:yes:

 

 

Wedge Island is on the extreme right of the photo.

 

Cheers, Bobj.

[Guest lala28]

How old is Alex Lexi?

We are going to go to Brisbane to buy a car as well. Much cheaper than mackay. :biggrin:

[Saddington42]

which mine will your husband be working at? My hub will be at moranbah north.

We live 18 mile outside of newcastle in a small village. :biggrin:

Hi Laura [and everyone else!] Just joined and have been reading this thread with interest. My husband has a job at Moronbah North mine and is due to start as soon as we receive the visa (457) We currently live in NZ but came out from the UK 2 years ago. We are undecided as to where the best place to live would be at the moment. Our 2 children, 10 & 8 are finding NZ 'boring' so I don't want to isolate them any more than I have to!

We have explored the possibliity of settling in the Redlands area of Queensland and have been over to have a look and it seems a really nice place to live. However, as my hubby will be the one doing all the travelling, I thought I must show willing and have a look at Mackay :smile:Other than that, it may have to be Brisbane and let him travel and hopefully get someone to share car/travel costs with. When do you plan on coming out?

I hope I put this in the right place? Apologies if I didn't x

Lynda

[Guest lala28]

Hi Laura [and everyone else!] Just joined and have been reading this thread with interest. My husband has a job at Moronbah North mine and is due to start as soon as we receive the visa (457) We currently live in NZ but came out from the UK 2 years ago. We are undecided as to where the best place to live would be at the moment. Our 2 children, 10 & 8 are finding NZ 'boring' so I don't want to isolate them any more than I have to!

We have explored the possibliity of settling in the Redlands area of Queensland and have been over to have a look and it seems a really nice place to live. However, as my hubby will be the one doing all the travelling, I thought I must show willing and have a look at Mackay :smile:Other than that, it may have to be Brisbane and let him travel and hopefully get someone to share car/travel costs with. When do you plan on coming out?

I hope I put this in the right place? Apologies if I didn't x

Lynda

 

 

Hi Lynda

We prefer brisi but cant live there due to visa restrictions. Regarding travel though my hubby knows men who do fly in fly out because its approx a 14 hr drive from bris to moranbah!! If you have lived in NZ for 2 years I'm sure you will love Mackay!! I also have a 10 year old so it would be lovely to meet up at some point.

We are a little unsure when we are going at the moment because we were all ready to rent our house & leave next month (providing the visas through..just waiting!) but we had a viewer to buy the house on saturday and they are coming back today. If they put an offer in we will wait until it has sold and possibly stay for our middle son to finish his exams. So it's looking likely that it will be end of June. xxx:jiggy:

[Guest lala28]

Yeah we are going newcastle to heathrow to singapore to brisbane then to mackay. Its only 26 hours which I think is good considering I have seen some for 37 hours! We only paid 1,600 and that was for the hotel also. I would say that you should look at flights from wherever you fly to in Oz to Mackay because internal ones are much much cheaper than booking everything through the travel agent. The price for all of the flights without the hotel through the travel agent was over 2,000. We booked our flight from Brisbane to Mackay through Jet Star for $69 each. The travel agent said that singapore airlines are the best. One more thing, we are allowed more baggage allowance right through to Brisbane than we are from Brisbane to Mackay where you can only take 20kgs each so be careful not to overpack!

 

Ahhh Angela I love that video. Jamie's boss is meeting us at the airport and taking us to meet everyone in his office and then giving us the company Ute to use from then on. The girl we are staying with has bought Alex a cot and us a bed and has had ceiling fans installed because she is worried we might melt. She has also hired a car seat for Alex for the day so we can get from the airport. We have never met these people before in our lives! Now if thats what the people of Mackay are like I know I am going to love it.

 

We wont get a chance to go to to the sanctuary in Brisbane because we get there at 7.30pm and leave at 8.45am the next day. We plan on returning to Brisbane to buy a car so will definately do it then. I have bought a dongle so should be on line as soon as I have had some sleep (if Alex allows)

 

Hi Lexi

Not sure if you will get this but I was wondering how long your visa took to come through once it had been submitted? How are you feeling? :err: x

[Still-a-dream!]

Hey, if Lexi doesnt see your post - she started a thread a while ago on 457 processing time - that should help you

 

Thanks, Kate

[Guest lala28]

ok thanks kate :biggrin:

[Still-a-dream!]

Hi Laura [and everyone else!] Just joined and have been reading this thread with interest. My husband has a job at Moronbah North mine and is due to start as soon as we receive the visa (457) We currently live in NZ but came out from the UK 2 years ago. We are undecided as to where the best place to live would be at the moment. Our 2 children, 10 & 8 are finding NZ 'boring' so I don't want to isolate them any more than I have to!

We have explored the possibliity of settling in the Redlands area of Queensland and have been over to have a look and it seems a really nice place to live. However, as my hubby will be the one doing all the travelling, I thought I must show willing and have a look at Mackay :smile:Other than that, it may have to be Brisbane and let him travel and hopefully get someone to share car/travel costs with. When do you plan on coming out?

I hope I put this in the right place? Apologies if I didn't x

Lynda

 

Hi Saddington,

 

Nice to meet you! I was starting to get worried about mackay being too isolated -but on the back of JellyBeagles link to YouTube i started looking at videos of it, and came across one on Mackay 'high street' (?), and it looks great - not at all like a quiet lonely place. Thats just the idea I got from watching that.

 

And so far theres 6 (?) of us on here - going strong and hopefully going to Mackay this summer - with Lexi on her way in April!

 

What will your hubby be doing in the mine?

 

We also wondered about Brisbane. and were actually due to move out there in Sep 2009 - but all fell through. So I will be interested in where you decide. Good Luck with it all.:wink:

 

Kate

[Still-a-dream!]

Yeah we are going newcastle to heathrow to singapore to brisbane then to mackay. Its only 26 hours which I think is good considering I have seen some for 37 hours! We only paid 1,600 and that was for the hotel also. I would say that you should look at flights from wherever you fly to in Oz to Mackay because internal ones are much much cheaper than booking everything through the travel agent. The price for all of the flights without the hotel through the travel agent was over 2,000. We booked our flight from Brisbane to Mackay through Jet Star for $69 each. The travel agent said that singapore airlines are the best. One more thing, we are allowed more baggage allowance right through to Brisbane than we are from Brisbane to Mackay where you can only take 20kgs each so be careful not to overpack!

 

Ahhh Angela I love that video. Jamie's boss is meeting us at the airport and taking us to meet everyone in his office and then giving us the company Ute to use from then on. The girl we are staying with has bought Alex a cot and us a bed and has had ceiling fans installed because she is worried we might melt. She has also hired a car seat for Alex for the day so we can get from the airport. We have never met these people before in our lives! Now if thats what the people of Mackay are like I know I am going to love it.

 

We wont get a chance to go to to the sanctuary in Brisbane because we get there at 7.30pm and leave at 8.45am the next day. We plan on returning to Brisbane to buy a car so will definately do it then. I have bought a dongle so should be on line as soon as I have had some sleep (if Alex allows)

 

That is so nice, there must be some very nice people in Mackay :biggrin:

 

Your flights sound good. We were wondering about doing the Dubai one, and then have the night in a hotel and then a 7 hour flight to Brisbane from there. And I can image we will get any sleep on the plane with 2 toddlers - so though we would need it at about that point in Dubai. Ha ha look at me worrying about a flight before we even have a contract/visa etc.

 

That will be great having the company car so you can start looking around straight away. Do you drive? Ive never driven on holiday (its like a fear!) but do all the driving here!

 

Take care

[Lexi]

Laura - Alex is 15 months.

 

Our visa took 7 weeks from the date of our application being submitted. The nomination part took about 2 weeks. Ours was held up firstly because of the floods and the queeensland office had to close and everything was transferred to Sydney. Then they wanted some info on my Husbands discharge from the TA which again held it up by 2 weeks. They seem to be taking around 5 weeks to process if they are 457 visa's.

 

Does anyone have any tips on jet lag? I dotn knwo whether to fight the need to sleep and try and sleep when I should or just go with it. Dont know what Alex will do either.

 

I saw that video of the high street in Mackay too Kate, it looks nice. Canelands shopping centre sounds huge too. (not the metro centre of course)

[Lexi]

Kate - Yeah I drive. I lived in Seattle for a bit and that was hard because of the wrong side of the road etc but it will be fine in Oz I am sure. I read the Daily Mercury (Mackays local newspaper) and 6 people have died on the Bruce Highway since Januaury so its definately somewhere to be very careful.

[Jellybeagle]

Morning girls and welcome to Lynda- quite a crowd developing - fab ! Glad you all enjoyed the You Tube clips - we were slightly concerned in the beginning about the location but then saw loads of clips on You Tube, checked out flight costs to Brisbane for weekend trips (cheap) and also the developments going on in Mackay - the Caneland is being extended at the mo to introduce a Coles supermarket and a Myers like Debenhams - have you all seen these 2 sites Mackay - Home - check out the Whats on - there is always loads going on at the Arts Centre, concerts, plays and visiting well known names and loads of festivals throughout the year Festival Mackay: Welcome to Festival Mackay Mackay Entertainment & Convention Centre - also check out the volunterring section - going to get involved in this, especially the turtles and animal rescue - what a great way to meet new people Mackay Regional Council- Volunteering and for final re-assurance Mackay Regional Council- Major projects - remote - I think not !:wink:

[Lexi]

Angela you are the queen of the internet. Keep posting your links I love them. I will also be volunteering if I can bring a troublesome 15 month old with me.

 

Welcome to Lynda too.

[Saddington42]

Thanks everyone. Lala, the plan if we end up in Brisbane, is for my hubby to fly from Brisbane to Mackay then drive to Moranbah! It is quite a bit of travelling I know but he often travelled for 3-4 hours each way to work when we were living in the UK. I know there are quite a few miners who do this. It would mean him leaving a car somewhere near the airport tho, unless anyone knows of anyone already travelling in from Mackay [obviously they would have to be on the same shift!] He could then share the cost of fuel/maintainance of the car. Fingers crossed for the house sale Lala. How long have you been waiting for your 457 visa Lala?

[jilla411]

My OH works out at one of the mines near Moranbah ,My OH has been here since 2007 ,just waiting for our RSMS 857 to come through.We live in Airlie beach and its about 3-4 hour drive out there it's more like 2 1/2 hours from Mackay.They do have buses that go out to the mines from Mackay.I am hoping that in 2 years when the regional clause ends to move closer to Brissy ,all though i really like it here .Hope all goes well.The kids and myself have been back and forth we originally lived in Bucasia,I personally prefer Airlie to Mackay,however there are loads of Brits down there whose Hubbies work out at the mines I know 4 couples who still live in Bucasia x

[Still-a-dream!]

My OH works out at one of the mines near Moranbah ,My OH has been here since 2007 ,just waiting for our RSMS 857 to come through.We live in Airlie beach and its about 3-4 hour drive out there it's more like 2 1/2 hours from Mackay.They do have buses that go out to the mines from Mackay.I am hoping that in 2 years when the regional clause ends to move closer to Brissy ,all though i really like it here .Hope all goes well.The kids and myself have been back and forth we originally lived in Bucasia,I personally prefer Airlie to Mackay,however there are loads of Brits down there whose Hubbies work out at the mines I know 4 couples who still live in Bucasia x

 

Hi Jilla,

 

nice to meet you! and thanks for the post.:wubclub: So does your hubby just drive from Airlie or is there buses from there too? How have you found it, im guessing its a long day for you too? Do you work or what sort of things do you spend the days doing? Sorry for all the questions!:jiggy:Any info is greatly appreciated! - we are trying to get an idea about the area. And can only realy on what people tell me on here - and youtube!:-)

:cute:

 

Kate x

[jilla411]

Hi Jilla,

 

nice to meet you! and thanks for the post.:wubclub: So does your hubby just drive from Airlie or is there buses from there too? How have you found it, im guessing its a long day for you too? Do you work or what sort of things do you spend the days doing? Sorry for all the questions!:jiggy:Any info is greatly appreciated! - we are trying to get an idea about the area. And can only realy on what people tell me on here - and youtube!:-)

:cute:

 

Kate x

 

Hi Kate,

 

Yes OH drives from Airlie to Moranbah,No buses from here. Mackay is a lot bigger but more like a small English town than what we would consider a city.It has everything you need,However we came up to Airlie for a weekend away and then moved up here,A lot smaller than Mackay ,we actually live in Cannonvale very friendly up here and very pretty , a very holiday feel ,Not got a job yet ,although not for the want of trying applied for about 60 jobs in the last 5 months.I have a little girl nearly 6 who is at full-time school,but manage to occupy my time lol. You cannot go in the sea between October to April because of the jelly fish but you can buy stinger suits Mackay and Airlie both have lagoons which are free but you can't beat having a pool in your backyard it is very much needed in the summer time.It depends what you are used to,I grew up in a mining village so prefer a smaller community type feel which i think is why i like it up here more than Mackay.

 

Jill x

[Still-a-dream!]

Hi Kate,

 

Yes OH drives from Airlie to Moranbah,No buses from here. Mackay is a lot bigger but more like a small English town than what we would consider a city.It has everything you need,However we came up to Airlie for a weekend away and then moved up here,A lot smaller than Mackay ,we actually live in Cannonvale very friendly up here and very pretty , a very holiday feel ,Not got a job yet ,although not for the want of trying applied for about 60 jobs in the last 5 months.I have a little girl nearly 6 who is at full-time school,but manage to occupy my time lol. You cannot go in the sea between October to April because of the jelly fish but you can buy stinger suits Mackay and Airlie both have lagoons which are free but you can't beat having a pool in your backyard it is very much needed in the summer time.It depends what you are used to,I grew up in a mining village so prefer a smaller community type feel which i think is why i like it up here more than Mackay.

 

Jill x

 

Hiya,

 

I googled Airlie Beach after seeing your post and it looks beautiful - all the images were blue skies and blue seas. :biggrin: I had heard that about the 'stingers' in Mackay, so im guessing thats why they create these Lagoons so it doesnt put ppl off the area. My girls are 1.5 years and 3.5 years so I will be very busy until they go to school so will be looking for activities to keep them busy everyday - but just being out in the fresh air will be great. Our summers here are filled with picnics, walks and parks - when the sun does come out :confused:. What age did you little one start school out there? My 3.5year old is at nursery 5 afternoons a week, here in UK and looking forward to school in Sep here -so i think is going to be dissapointed as they dont start school that young in Oz do they.

 

We live/are from from Newcastle Upon tyne but I suppose even thats not a very big city - but we rarely go into it - so i suppose where we live - outside of Newcastle could be classed as a small village. So are you currently on a 457 visa stil? How far are you able to move around to live currently?

 

Kate x

[Jellybeagle]

Hi Jill

 

Welcome to the Mackay gang :biggrin: and morning to the rest of you!

 

Here you go girls another info link to get your teeth into......

 

Queensland Shopping

 

another week down and hopefully only 8 more to go - yeeha :v_SPIN::v_SPIN::v_SPIN:

 

Have a great weekend everybody !!!

[Still-a-dream!]

Great site, thanks again for pointing it out. 8 more weeks to go, wow thats great - fingers crossed for you! xx:biggrin:

[Eera]

Just a point with the buses to the mines thing; not all sites run them (they're not commercial services but charters). If there isn't one then you're looking at spending a fair amount in petrol to get out there each week, so something to ask at interview is do they lay one on (which is becoming increasingly common but not yet universal).

 

Another thing to be aware of - if they do lay a bus on and you choose not to travel on it, if anything happens to you, you are shown to be held in contempt of site policy (it's not an optional thing but compulsory). This happened to a family I know last year; the dad drove out to site instead of taking the bus, was killed in a car accident on the way back and insurance would not pay our for the car, wouldn't pay life insurance, wouldn't pay out workcover or anythng to the widow and family because he knowingly broke site policy.

 

I'll qualify that by saying that it obviously doesn't count if you're a contract worker who has to drag generators and tools out every time you go. But if you are driving from areas that are not serviced by a bus then get hold of your site's policy and make sure it's explicitly stated that you're not expected to make your way to the nearest bus stop and catch one - people have been caught out before this one.

[Still-a-dream!]

Just a point with the buses to the mines thing; not all sites run them (they're not commercial services but charters). If there isn't one then you're looking at spending a fair amount in petrol to get out there each week, so something to ask at interview is do they lay one on (which is becoming increasingly common but not yet universal).

 

Another thing to be aware of - if they do lay a bus on and you choose not to travel on it, if anything happens to you, you are shown to be held in contempt of site policy (it's not an optional thing but compulsory). This happened to a family I know last year; the dad drove out to site instead of taking the bus, was killed in a car accident on the way back and insurance would not pay our for the car, wouldn't pay life insurance, wouldn't pay out workcover or anythng to the widow and family because he knowingly broke site policy.

 

I'll qualify that by saying that it obviously doesn't count if you're a contract worker who has to drag generators and tools out every time you go. But if you are driving from areas that are not serviced by a bus then get hold of your site's policy and make sure it's explicitly stated that you're not expected to make your way to the nearest bus stop and catch one - people have been caught out before this one.

 

Hiya,

 

Thats an eye opener, and that poor family. Cant imagine that horror on top of what had happened. Its just unthinkable isnt it.

 

Thanks for highlighting it, it will be definately something we ask when the time comes

[Eera]

It is indeed. Really made me contemptuous of the insurance companies involved.

[Guest Joshkat]

Hi we are going to Mackay in May. When we arrive in Brisbane we have hired a camper van for a week so we can buy a car have been told it is cheaper in Brisbane then in Mackay. We will then drive up. We spent most of 6 months in Mackay came back just over a year ago.Now just trying to find somewhere to stay when we get there.