Guest Tara Branson Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Hubby may have a job offer which means locating to Canberra, we have been looking into moving to Oz for a while, but have never considered Canberra, I guess our dream was sun all year round, house by the coast. So a little unsure about whether to make the move, can anyone give me some advice on the area, we have 3 small children and twins that are 7 in January so I assume they will be going into year 2 next year. Is there a man made beach closer than the coast? Much to do for children? What are the seasons climates like? Cost of living? Thank you in advance :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Wow, heaps of questions. I guess the question really is what are you looking for to tick your boxes, as to whether Canberra would suit. Climate wise, Canberra is a bit extreme. Winters can be bitterly cold especially if there is a wind chill. Definitely our temperatures were the lowest in Australia this winter because I kept muttering it would be nice to be in Melbourne. lol. The thing to watch out for here is that older houses aren't really built for cold weather and have poor insulation. Definitely you'd need to bring good winter clothes and coats etc. On the flip side, summers get hot, over 30 degrees and up to 40 degrees for a couple of weeks each year. It's a dry heat though which does make a difference. I tend to dehydrate quite a lot because I never drink enough water and I've never had this anywhere else I've lived although everywhere else I've lived is pretty much at sea level. If you've got anyone who suffers with eczema, eczema does tend to be worse here because it is so dry unfortunately. On the other hand, because it is dry and the temps aren't always high, you probably have less problems with creepy crawlies etc than in other parts of Aussie. Loads to do for kids I'd say. Canberra is far more a family orientated place than a singles place. If you are outdoorsy type people there are heaps of National Parks and things. Mountain biking etc. There isn't a man made beach, well, there are tiny beach type places on the shores of the man made lakes but I personally wouldn't be swimming in them. But the coast is only a couple of hours drive away and people often head down for the weekend. Also, if you like skiing, the ski fields are only a couple of hours drive away too. There are downsides. Shopping is crap and centred round malls (a personal hate of mine). Public transport is pretty rubbish so you'd be looking at running two cars really. The cost of living is expensive, but probably no more expensive than other parts of Australia. The average wage is slightly higher than Australia as a whole I think, so it all evens out. Pretty much depends what boxes you want to tick as a family. Not sure about schooling, my twins are just about to turn 2 so haven't reached that stage yet. If you come in on a temp visa I think you get charged school fees but you'll probably find people talking about that on other threads. I'll PM you with some twin group links FYI. Cheers Janet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surhythms Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Completely agree with everything Jurls has said although as regards the wages being higher Im not too sure about this. I think Canberra wages are advertised as being because of all the governement work available in Canberra and the government do pay higher wages - however alot of the jobs in the government do require citizenship etc. This I know because myself and my OH had been applying for jobs and even for non IT jobs citizenship or a security clearance is required. However there are lots of jobs in Canberra if you are not too fussy about where you work. If you have a job offer well thats fantastic!! The cost of living is high here but with three small ones and depending if you are going to work or not I would guess that you would need to be earning at least 100k between the two of you otherwise you might find it a bit of a struggle. Rents are high but if you have a budget of about $500 - 600 per week to spend on your rent you should be ok. we have a 13 year old and she struggles with finding things to do but thats because she is a teenager!! nothing to do with Canberra. Ive heard lots of people say that it is great for younger kids. If I had younger ones I would definitely say it is a nice place for them to be. Canberra is very relaxed and it is a very very easy place to live. We have been to Melbourne and Sydney aswell just on holidays and I find Canberra alot less hassle overall. Suzanne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Completely agree with everything Jurls has said although as regards the wages being higher Im not too sure about this. I think Canberra wages are advertised as being because of all the governement work available in Canberra and the government do pay higher wages - however alot of the jobs in the government do require citizenship etc. Yes, Suzanne is probably right here. My view is slightly skewed as my DH works for the APS as does half of his immediate family (he is a citizen). I'd also agree that you want to have about 100k between you to live comfortably. :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 If you have to live anywhere in Australia it is probably one of the better places to live. You wont get the year round heat but you will likely get the year round sunshine - even in the coldest of days you will usually still see the sun and it is really nice to have seasons - the constant humid heat and monsoon rains can get old pretty quickly. Mind you, so can living in a drought (we had around 7 years of drought which broke only early last year) 'The' beach is less than 2 hours away but there are little beaches at Kambah Pool, the Cotter and even on Lake BG but watch out for the blue green algae. There are more olympic sized pools in Canberra than in the whole of the UK - some inside, some outside seasonal ones. There is a fair bit for kids to do but you have to go out and look for it - most of it is interest related so quite a lot of sport, arts, science, music stuff going on. For teenagers, unless they are heavily into sport or some other interest activity there is a fair degree of trawling the malls and like kids everywhere the wii is god. If your kids are 7 in January then they will, indeed, go into year 2 for 2012 and you will find that schools reflect the suburbs so if you wouldnt want to live in a suburb you wouldnt want to send your kid to school in it. Most people would advise to avoid Charnwood, Richardson and Narrabundah (the Fyshwick side of Sturt) but all suburbs have their pockets of 'avoid at all costs'. There is a strong participation in private education with over 50% of HS students going to private schools, mainly systemic Catholic ones. Housing is expensive and they are not well built to withstand the weather (hot or cold) especially the rental properties. The new builds are further out - bigger houses on small blocks. The older suburbs, except where they have become dual occupancy, are small houses on big blocks. Most suburbs have a reasonably thriving small shopping centre (it varies, some are quite moribund) Average salaries in Canberra are well above the national average at around $80k - hugely inflated by the APS personnel who earn more than someone doing the same job in the community. Community wages can be appalling - $50k is struggle territory but considered reasonable in the community sector. I agree with the others, a household income of $100k - 120k is really necessary for a degree of comfort. Working hours can be a bit of a chore too - some jobs expect you to go above and beyond with your time. You will notice the PC-ness of Canberra especially if you work in the public service/community/welfare sector. It can get up your nose a bit. The Canberra community tends to be quite insular - you may go for years and have no contact with your neighbours, it really depends on you and them. With most families being two income you have families which are 'out' most of the time and then when they are 'in' they are often chasing around after their kids' activities and catching up with whatever friends they have. It is also a pretty itinerant town so people come and go a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tara Branson Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Thank you all for your replies, we guessed that AU100K would have to be the minimum we live on, I will be a stay at home Mummy for a while. Its all a bit daunting at the moment, I think as it becomes more real, I have started to wonder if we are doing the right thing lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Which visa would you be going on? Would it be the 457? It's been mentioned before but the state school fees for ACT are the highest in Australia if you are on a temporary visa. It's something like $9,000 per child per year. It's cheaper if you go to a private school (eg a Catholic one) though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tara Branson Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Wow ok, we are travelling on a 457. We would be looking at a catholic school, they are in Catholic education at the moment, do you know how much the costs are for catholic schools in ACT or a website I could find out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Wow ok, we are travelling on a 457. We would be looking at a catholic school, they are in Catholic education at the moment, do you know how much the costs are for catholic schools in ACT or a website I could find out? Tara, also bear in mind that if you are travelling on a 457 you won't be eligible for Family Assistance Payments (such as Family Tax Benefit, Child Care Benefit, Child Care Rebate). So if you wanted to return to work you would need to take this into account. I don't have any experience of schools here yet as mine aren't old enough. But try having a look at the schools websites direct. You could have a look here http://www.ceocg.catholic.edu.au/schools/Pages/School-by-location.aspx or here http://www.privateschoolsdirectory.com.au/canberra-schools.php to find schools. Also http://www.myschool.edu.au/ is a good site as well. Cheers Janet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surhythms Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Tara, also bear in mind that if you are travelling on a 457 you won't be eligible for Family Assistance Payments (such as Family Tax Benefit, Child Care Benefit, Child Care Rebate). So if you wanted to return to work you would need to take this into account. I don't have any experience of schools here yet as mine aren't old enough. But try having a look at the schools websites direct. You could have a look here http://www.ceocg.catholic.edu.au/schools/Pages/School-by-location.aspx or here http://www.privateschoolsdirectory.com.au/canberra-schools.php to find schools. Also http://www.myschool.edu.au/ is a good site as well. Cheers Janet hi Jurls Are you eligible for Family Assistance Payments on a 176? I thought that you could not get these for the first two years? Suzanne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 hi Jurls Are you eligible for Family Assistance Payments on a 176? I thought that you could not get these for the first two years? Suzanne I haven't been through this myself Suzanne as my husband is a citizen. However, believe that the 2 year wait is for unemployment benefit and social security type payments. If you have PR you should be eligible for Family Assistance straight away. It is mainly income calculated of course. Have a read through this form. http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/994i.pdf The family assistance office has a lot of online calculators so you can go through those to get estimates etc. Not sure if it asks you residency requirements on there. :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surhythms Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Wow thats brilliant! I guess it all depends on your income but no harm in looking into it. We had no idea of this. Cheers Jurls Suzanne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Wow thats brilliant! I guess it all depends on your income but no harm in looking into it. We had no idea of this. Cheers Jurls Suzanne You're welcome. The one thing I've really found useful, is that if you are eligible for FTB Part A then a different Medicare Safety Net Threshold Applies. Basically the threshold for those on FTB Part A is $578.60 wheras the general threshold is $1157.50. As a family, we reached our threshold within 3 months of this financial tax year (with a couple of specialist visits) and now get 80% of our out of pocket costs back for the rest of the tax year. Which makes health care a whole lot more affordable for families imo. So yes, definitely check it out because it's worth it for this even if your income means you would only receive a tiny part of FTB part A and you might not think it worth it. :wink: Cheers Janet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Wow ok, we are travelling on a 457. We would be looking at a catholic school, they are in Catholic education at the moment, do you know how much the costs are for catholic schools in ACT or a website I could find out? Catholic schools around $3k pa per child and you are lucky that they only charge the local rate and not the international rate. Get references from your local priest and school, that will help establish your Catholic bona fides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Wow thats brilliant! I guess it all depends on your income but no harm in looking into it. We had no idea of this. Cheers Jurls Suzanne Not only that, if you are eligible for FTB and you are on a low income you may also be entitled to CRA (Rental Assistance) http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/rent_eligible.htm Worth checking out - and also not liable for the 2 year wait AFAIK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SandP Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Wow ok, we are travelling on a 457. We would be looking at a catholic school, they are in Catholic education at the moment, do you know how much the costs are for catholic schools in ACT or a website I could find out? Hey Tara We are here on a 457 too. As it has been pointed out as such you don't get any family assistance benefits which will affect you going back to work. I have two kids and was offered a job at $42K but I couldn't afford childcare on the wage and bring home enough to make it worhwhile. Plus childcare is very hard to come by in some areas. Our daugher goes to a catholic school and we pay around $2500 a year for her and will do same for our other daughter next year. Our youngest is at a public preschool at the moment and we don't have to pay fees to government as hubby has a job that is on the wanted list so may be worth checking that. Some public school seem very good. Note that schooling here is slightly more relaxed at some schools than UK as well. My year 3 daughter has very little set homework but gets a learniing log that she can do if she wants! A bit differnet to the set homework she had at home. We have been here 6 months and arer enjoying it. The winter was cold but no colder than the Uk and now it is hotting up and the shorts and t-shirts are out. I know it is all very daunting but if I had the choice over I would come. Being away rom family is hard but so would the what if you could have in a few years - we didn't want to wake up 5 years later and wondered what life would have been like if we had taken the plunge. On a 457 you have a return date in mind but if you like it here and want to stay you can become permanent through various routes. Good luck with it all Sara:wink::smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ralfjnr Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 On a 176 you get family assistance straight away, and also medicare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ralfjnr Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 We've just come back after a month in Canberra - check out my other thread re living costs on the ACT home page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest biomedical scientist Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Hi Tara - we are arriving in Canberra on a 457 visa next week (!) If your/your partner's job is on the Skilled Occupation List, you may not have to pay school fees. I sent them the international educational department an email with my job offer and visa evidence and had a reply the next day saying the fees were waived. It's worth a try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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