Guest RobzNdebz Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Hiya Its been a while but we arrived in sunny (but chilly) Canberra 4 weeks ago today and we are loving it! Was blimmin freezing today tho! We left a mini heatwave in the UK at beginning of May to arrive in Canberras winter (the earliest winter in 50 odd years we've been told!), chilly morning and nights but midday is sunny and warmish when in the sun! The sky has generally been amazingly clear and an amazing blue colour! There are yellow crested cockatoo parrots everywhere! There are literally 20 and more of them just flying everywhere and on the grass! There are loads of pink & grey Galah parrots everywhere and also beautiful Rosella and Rainbow Lorikeets parrots! We saw our first kangaroos on a golf course in Bellconnen! Very exciting! My hubby (graphic designer) had a few job interviews in week 2 & 3 and was offered a fantastic job in Canbo's best advertising agency in his 3rd week of being here! He started a week after he had his 2nd interview! Things are going very well! We sorted out our Tax File Number, Bank Accounts, Medicare cards on the first day after arriving, all very simple! We travelled here 5 years ago as backpackers so we just had to update the Medicare & TFNs which was straight forward. We applied for the NAB bank account in the UK so it was easy finding the branch to pick the cards up! They have 1 card for all the accounts so when using switch (Efpos) you just select which account you want to use eg, credit, savings, chq etc. In regards to accommodation, in our research back home, we found it would be difficult to rent a proper place unless you are working (you can show them the job offer letter in your application if you have one, you also need 100 points of id which includes passport, address etc) so we just looked at holiday type lets and caravan park cabins. The best option that we found was the Studio Pasadena (http://www.studioq.au.com/pasadena.html), some of the serviced apartments we looked at were very expensive and hotels weren’t convenient as they didn’t have kitchen facilities if you stay longer than 4 weeks at the Pasadena you get a discounted rate, this place is great! Its in Watson and has a bus stop outside and shops, restaurant, café & Post office etc 2 minutes away. This place has everything you need, all kitchen stuff, bedding, towels, laundry room, fridge & hob etc. Highly recommend it! We are waiting for a bit before we get a car so have been using the buses a lot, (be warned! 2nd hand cars are very exp compared to back home). The buses are great for exploring all the different satellite suburb towns. If you are going to do the same, get the ‘MyWay’ bus card (http://www.transport.act.gov.au/myway/index.html), it’s the same as the ‘Oyster’ travel card in London, you just top up and swipe when you get on & off. I read on here that bedding and stuff is expensive to buy but not really, there are loads of sales on at the moment, so I’m glad I left all my stuff behind. There is also Target, Big W, & KMart to name just a few reasonably priced shops. We just bought 5 bits of luggage with us (80kg for the 2 of us) all clothes and pretty much sold all our stuff and rented out our flat. We bought a USB internet dongle for internet access which has lasted us for ages, that’s worth doing, we are using Vodafone for that and also for our mobiles. Seek is obviously the best website for looking for jobs and the Canberra Times has job section on Saturday and also Wednesday. We found out when we arrived that we have to do a tax return here at the end of June (by October) which was a shock as we didn’t know about that! We have to do it in the UK too for the flat we are renting out (Don’t forget to complete your P85 to let the tax office you are leaving the uk!) I have been looking at health insurance; you must take this out as you have to pay for the use of an ambulance if you should need it! It’s a mind field! There are loads of companies: have a look at http://www.Iselect.com.au to compare, also look at AHM, MBF, nib, HCF, Medibank, have yet to actually sort mine out! Food shopping is more expensive than the UK, now hubby is earning, I need to stop converting back to pounds! Its true when you are back home and you need to work out the salary into pounds, don’t base it on the exchange rate, do it by doubling or by 2.2 – u need to as its very expensive here! Rent is ridiculous!! We are going for a 2 bed flat in Kingston (fab place to live) with a pool and its $450 a week!!!! Some are $550 so that’s why u need to base the currency on the higher rate - for info my hubby is earning 12,000 pounds more than he did in the UK! We bought a cheap Canon printer/scanner/copier which is helpful to scan copies of the rental forms so that you can email them to the agent. The apartments we are looking at don’t have gas, so the bills will only be electric which we have been told should be $250 a quarter (approx), you wont need to pay council tax or water. Just internet (seems very expensive based on today’s research so we will prob stick to the USB I mentioned earlier ($79 for the USB which included 3GB of data allowance) hasn’t run out yet (4 weeks later!) Phone not sure but again seems expensive on today’s research! We have bought a Labarra phone card (http://www.lebara-mobile.com.au) which we use when calling home, it’s a sim card for your mobile and calls cost 5c for a landline and 19c for a mobile, we get $10 and each call has connection cost of 25c. One more thing! TV is a bit naf! Good thing tho is its showing the current Desperate Housewives as back home by one week! and Downton Abbey has just started which I missed first time round! Hope I’ve been helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 lol, I'm also in Canberra. I have to say, I don't think Kingston is one of the cheaper places to live!! :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RobzNdebz Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Nope its not! Love Kingston & Manuka areas tho! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richste Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Great post RobzNdebz, glad you are enjoying Canberra and getting settled, we arrive 26/7/11 and posts like these as you know are a great source of info, would be great to meet up when we arrive Best of luck for the next 4 weeks Rich & Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest destinationoz Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 OMG RobznDebz - that's one brilliant post thank you!!!! I loved reading it and was frantically noting down all your tips and links!! Thank you! It's also great to hear someone being sooooo enthusiastic about it - problem is - I can't wait to get there now!! Please keep these posts coming - they are so helpful and great to read when we are back here in Blighty!! Have fun and enjoy every moment Maybe see you when we arrive - hopefully in late August ! Cal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RobzNdebz Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Thanks! I know its helpful when you get posts like this so i will keep u informed! it is blimin cold tho, thats the only gripe, been wearing scarf and winter coat almost everyday! but when i look at that blue sky and see the amazing birds, i just grin like a goon to mysef and say "OMG we're in australia!" just cant wait to the summer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest destinationoz Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Must admit when we went for our validation trip last year we were the same - damn cold sometimes but LOVED that blue sky and fresh air! What made us smile thou was when people referred to winter starting on the 1st June as the seasons are so distinct - unlike here where we get cold wet weather most days and a few hot days in Spring!! Your posts sound so happy thou which is fantastic!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RobzNdebz Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 My dream has come true! Always wanted to live here! one bonus is, i can drink my fave New Zealand Marlborough Sav Blanc wine in the pub as that is reasonable (compared to back home anyway!) normally at home i would have the house white as NZ Sav Blanc is usually the expensive one! Beers/ales are dearer, so when we have a glass of wine and a beer/ale it costs $11-14 depending on where you go! For info a bottle of Oyster Bay here in supermarket varies from $19-25 a bottle but you can get other brands for $8-11 just need to shop around for bargains like home! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zman Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Nice post RobzNdebz. Hope you settle in. We've been in the ACT for nearly 20 years and it's definitely the best place to work and live in Oz, despite the cold winters and scorching summers - Spring and Autumn are excellent. The Rainbow Lorikeets you mentioned are probably Eastern Rosellas (but happy to be corrected). I find that living a hybrid life is the best way to enjoy Oz and Canberra in particular. Once you're established, get a connection with TransACT. My monthly download limit is 180Gb (for about $80/month) which lets me download and watch BBC (and Channel 4 streaming). To do this, you just need to setup a VPN connection to a site in the UK and route all your web requests through that. The service I use is from the following company: http://vpnuk.net/ This way I avoid having to put up with the rubbish that's on the local commercial channels. We also have Foxtel which means you can watch BBC news (as well as some of the idiotic US news services) and UKTV which shows British programmes, although once you've been here for a while, you might find Eastenders and Corrie a bit of a challenge to watch. As well as reading UK papers online and in print (Guardian Weekly), doing my clothes shopping online from M&S, we get the best of both countries. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Watsons Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Great post RobzNdebz, we arrive in 2 weeks so looking forward to the fresh air, blue skies and will put up with the cold. Look forward to meeting up when we get there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dferri2000 Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Fantastic post, we are mid move at the minute, fly on wed but travelling for 3 weeks, see you all early July!!! Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claireg Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Thanks for this great post, need to go and write down all these useful tips and info, as sure will forget come October. We can't wait to get there too, sounds amazing. Claire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest celran2 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 hi Loved your post, your obviously loving it here, we came over in Jan 09 and the temps had gone into the 40's which was a bit of a shock coming from the freezing wintry UK so maybe this is the best time to arrive as it will give you time to acclimatize and by Sept you know you will have glorious weather right up till the end of May. A good place to get wine is Dan Murphys theres one in Belconnen Mall and is really good value I couldnt get over the choice. When we came over we were getting about $2 to the pound and the first time I hit the supermarkets I couldnt believe how expensive it was and there were no BOGOFs ! We were in a panic as we thought we would never be able to afford to live here, however once we sussed out how to shop we have never eaten better. Always buy seasonal and read the mailshots for the bargains. A confession Id never tried TBones until I got here now cant get enough. After two years i still get at thrill when you see the gorgeous birds in the garden and I know the cockatoos screech a lot but how good are they? I hated the telly when I first arrived but its scary how you get into it especially during the winter, but still hate all the ads which seem to be every 5 mins. Think you'll be disappointed with Christmas telly, really is rotten but you should be sitting outside enjoying the sun and having a barbie:biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SandP Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 We too are loving Canberra. Its a bit cold yes but the sky is almost always blue for at least part of day, we see kangaroos regularly, there are so many public open spaces to walk and cycle, play equipment for the kids and the people we have met couldn't be nicer. They are all so welcoming and often a little in awe of people making the transition to Oz - "Good on you" and "Fair go to you" are comments you get a lot. If you have kids be prepared for them to pick up on the accent very quickly. Our 8 year old daughters already has an Aussie lilt which makes me smile. When you get here don't turn any invite down and talk to people that you may not have chosen to in UK. I met a lovely lady in the library and a week later I was in her kitchen drinking tea and today I went to meeting of the CWA (a bit like WI - don't laugh Im only 40) at her invitation. I was very pleasantly surprised as they were all young mums who brought their children with them and there was a guest speaker on chocolate with tasting - all good so far. Basically be open to all things new and you can't go wrong. Good luck to all those on the way and if anyone already here wants to meet maybe we should arrange something - I am not volunteering to arrange it though. lol Sara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest destinationoz Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 Thanks Celran2 and Sara - its great to hear positive things from those who arrived a little while ago - Sorry Sara I must admit I "giggled a little" at WI (and I'm "that" age too!!) but it actually sounds a great way of meeting people anmd if chocolate is involved even better Look forward to meeting you all - we arrive in Aug/Sept - had a HUGE set back recently but brushed ourselves down and now back on track so see you all soon ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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