andy & jan

[johnd]

Hello all,

been feeling guilty all weekend as i think i have scared andy & jan from coming to wollongong. when i wrote my post the other day i was feeling down and i shouldn't have emotionally dumped on the peolpe in this forum. as i am feeling more positive today i'll give a more balanced view of life here in nsw , as i see it, and we have been here only two months i got that wrong as well:

 

the illawarra is a beatiful place, my wife and i have been jogging down the beach today and only came across a few people. the scenery is beatiful. yesterday we walked into shellharbour and sat in the ocean side pub and chatted about life, the pub is quite good.

 

workwise i do feel that there isn't as much work as in perth but it is definatley better than parts of the uk, especially were we come from,teesside. in reality we have only been seriously job hunting for 2 weeks and i have already had 3 interviews, 2 i didn't get and the other is pending, i was told that i was the 2nd choice out of all the applicants so just missed out,(could be the oz way of telling you sod off, don't know but it made me feel better). i have applied for about 8 jobs so far and these are all jobs outside my trade so i suppose i'm doing ok to get to interview. the one i'm waiting on is in heavy industry and only for 3-6 months but you have to start somewhere.

 

we both feel that it would have been really difficult if we didn't have relatives here as there isn't the large, (recently arrived), ex-pat community as there is in say perth, we have family and friends on both sides so we are lucky. but i joined the local rugby club and have made some friends outside my family so that was good, but i suppose lots of people emigrating do not want to live with other brits....as such.

 

my wife and myself are realistically going to do 1-2 years here then have a look and see if we want to move somewhere else. i think my expectations of oz were to high and i am starting to feel more settled each day that passes, even without a job!!.

 

so i can only apologise again to anyone who saw my post and thought oh no i'm going to wollongong, is it that bad?, no it isn't, and i should have kept my negativity to myself.

 

anyway going to have a sunday dinner and some wine...nice.

 

johnd

[The Broughtons]

John,

 

I've read both your posts now and think it was really good of you to come back and post a new thread. Don't feel too guilty though - you are entitled to have down days as well. The emigration process isn't ust about the physical upping and moving, it is a very emotional process as well. We're just a few weeks off heading to Melbourne and I know I'm going to have my up days as well as my down.

 

Please keep sharing your experiences with us and thank you for the second update,

 

Felicity

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi John

 

I agree completely with Fizz. There have not been any complaints to the Mods about your earlier post, and we DO get complaints if anyone feles that someone else has been gratuitously negative or unpleasant in some way.

 

As Fizz says, everyone has Up days and Down days with the migration process. You wouldn't be normal if you didn't have mixed feelings right now.

 

I think we all understand that so please cheer up and stop worrying. As you say, grab the Sunday Roast instead!

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[skippy]

John, don't feel guilty for expressing your opinion, this is what this forum is all about, I would have written a lot more negative things than you 37 years ago if this forum had been around, as it took me quite sometime to settle down, nothing to do with the area, I was just terribly homesick.

You told things as you found them, what is wrong with that, this is the sort of thing that hopeful immigrants want to know, nearly everyone is down in the dumps here at this time of year [Winter] but watch the change when the sun starts shining everyday & the temps start to rise.

As you have found out, there are many people looking for labouring jobs, that's why the government is selective with their immigration policies & only want to fill vacancies for skilled workers, as there is a shortage of those in various trades.

I was in Shellharbour having lunch today [Addisons] great meals, good price [lunchtime menu] only Pommies go near the beach at this time of year, Ha Ha.

[Guest AndyandJan]

Hi Johnd. Please don't feel bad about your original post, like the others have said, you're entitle to express how you're feeling and to put your opinions down on this forum thats what its for. No offence has been taken, so no need to feel guilty. Thanks for putting the second thread on and hope you enjoyed that Sunday lunch. Jan.