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| Topic Started: 10 Jan 2008, 11:55 PM (270 Views) | |
| justydood | 10 Jan 2008, 11:55 PM Post #1 |
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Hi there everyone, and I must say you seem a friendly lot! we are justine and paul from S. Wales, we are awaiting our visa and have had sponsorship from victoria to teach there, we have booked our 'rekkie' to melbourne for end of july for 4 weeks and so excited, we hope to get the visa by then and sell our house which is on the market, if all goes well with the rekkie and we all love it we will tie up loose ends with our jobs and move out next Jan 2009, we have two kids age 9 and 5 who are very excited, but devastated grandparents who nearly fell to the floor when we told them our plans!!! that will be the hardest part, taking the beloved grandchildren away from them!!! sure many have experienced this!! any advice on places to live would be fab, we'd like to live near coast approx 40-50 mins from city need good primary and secondary schools for our kids AND for us to teach in, any advice from melbourne teachers would be greatly appreciated. we lodged our main visa app. oct 1st 2007 is there anyone else also waiting like us (Have had file number but no case officer yet) would love any advice, Justine and paul x |
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| Jimma | 11 Jan 2008, 12:05 AM Post #2 |
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Hi Justine and Paul Welcome to the site and you're spot-on about it being friendly. We dont post much, but we have spent months trawling through the previous posts, and the information and help has been invaluable. Someone is always willing to help, and someone will always have an answer (although sometimes, not the one you might want). Good luck with everything Jim, Kath Jack(8) & Jess (3) |
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| Amanda & Simon | 11 Jan 2008, 01:12 AM Post #3 |
Badger In A Strange Land
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Hi Justine and Paul. Yes, breaking the news to the family is not an easy process. Caused some emotional moments with my mum when we first brought it up though my dad was supportive. They'd more or less switched places as the departure date drew close, and naturally saying goodbye at the airport was hard. That said I've probably spoken to them on the phone in the last 8 weeks at least as much as I did in the UK. Regarding ideas for your reccie trip, going down the east side of the bay I'd say Mentone is about a 40 minute drive off peak and Werribee South is about the same on the western side. Both coasts have train lines into the city as alternatives, one going more or less parallel to the Nepean Highway in the east and the Geelong line in the west. However, I think property prices are generally less in the west, which is why we're looking in that area. There are also a lot of new residential developments around there, and many of the new estates are having schools built which may be handy to you jobwise. A teacher friend (primary and junior level) has told us that competition for teaching positions can be quite fierce closer to the city and that a friend of hers had applied for a load of jobs in schools near to the CBD without getting an interview, but she believes that it's easier in areas with lots of new houses and new schools. Of course there are other areas that have a lot of residential development going on, but if you want to be near the coast I'd certainly suggest taking a look at the area between Williamstown and Werribee. Good luck for the visas and reccie. |
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| The Riddler | 11 Jan 2008, 12:06 PM Post #4 |
Grand Poobah
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Only on a moped. :wink: The bottleneck that the bridge poses sometimes is well documented but a FYI to the original poster, Todd Rd to Kororoit Road exit is 9 mins off peak. That trip to Werribee from the CBD "off peak" is 25 mins max i reckon. Where in S.Wales y'all hail from? I'm from Risca and the wife is from Abercarn. RD |
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| Amanda & Simon | 11 Jan 2008, 01:43 PM Post #5 |
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Badger In A Strange Land
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Maybe we're unlucky, but having done Middle Park to Werribee and back more than a dozen times it's never been less than 30 or more than 40 each way. I guessed that it's about the same to the CBD though I should have put in the caveat that we don't have an e-tag so we never use the Citylink. Not done it in the morning rush hour but have done it at various times of day between lunchtime and early evening and it's always about the same. It may only be ten minutes to the Kororoit Creek exit but for Werribee we normally use Duncans Road or Hoppers Crossing which are that much further on. |
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| The Riddler | 11 Jan 2008, 02:39 PM Post #6 |
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Grand Poobah
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I put the Kororoit Creek Rd time in as a reference. On the same time board by Todd Rd it designates the time for Duncans Rd also which is only a futher couple of minutes anywho (i'll check as i'm going home today
:D ) As my ref: i live in Point Cook and travel the route on a daily basis. Office in Kings Way, most off site work in Dandenong. From my front door to office this morning was 19 minutes (6:50 am but not many cars on road at present, holidays and kids off school etc so maybe comparable to "off peak"), no way is Werribee 21 mins from my house. 40 mins going the other way and i'm in Geelong from PC. Why would you need City Link to Middle Park or CBD? Middle Park by St Kilda right? would you be coming via Kings Way or through Port Melbourne? That could be the difference to the travel times like. Change your route..... or change up from 2nd gear :wink: j/k B) RD |
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| Amanda & Simon | 11 Jan 2008, 03:32 PM Post #7 |
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Badger In A Strange Land
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Er, I wouldn't use Citylink to get to Middle Park. I'm sorry, I should have made myself a bit clearer. Living in Middle Park is the reason why our (borrowed) car has no e-tag. We don't need the Citylink to get home and the 112 and 96 trams are on the doorstep for trips into town. Being unlikely to need an e-tag anytime soon I've never looked at the map. When I mentioned the Citylink it was to make it clear that I don't use it and so wouldn't know if there was a quicker way to the CBD from it. I didn't mean to suggest that there necessarily is, just that if there was I didn't know abouit it. Judging from your last post I assume that Citylink doesn't do you any favours for getting into town from the west and is more of a benefit for through traffic? Our usual route to/from Werribee (by car, not moped :haveit: )- either Beaconsfield Parade and through Port Melbourne or Graham St and Williamstown Rd (Parade is sometimes busy southbound in the afternoons so there's a whole bunch of back streets we use as well), then on the freeway at Todd Road and cruise to Hoppers or Duncans Rd exit mostly at the legal limit, no honestly officer :whistle: . Actually I do still behave myself speed wise even though I'm doing at least 20mph less on the freeway here than I'd be doing on the M3 in England. Might tend to be closer to 30 mins than 40 normally but I don't time it exactly every trip, and it certainly seems to be longer coming back normally. Last trip on Weds was near as makes no odds 10 minutes to the freeway on the way back, though if you want to split hairs it was more Wyndham Vale than Werribee. Typically 8-10 mins from Middle Park to the freeway or vice versa, slightly more if Beaconsfield Parade gets busy or we get stuck behind a B-double. Freeway time usually ~15 mins judged on how long I normally take to smoke a ciggie rather than having bothered to time the freeway bit. It's all moot really since the OP wanted to know what's within 40 to 50 minutes of the city and we both agree that Werribee certainly is. |
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| The Riddler | 11 Jan 2008, 03:45 PM Post #8 |
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Grand Poobah
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Gotcha. :thumbsup: And the answer to the second part is "no" unless theres an accident on the bridge. :wink:
Theres the rub i reckon. Off peak the freeway is a doozy but as soon as you come off and hit the back streets with all them lights, crossings and trams it can really add to the journey time. I only go the scenic route if theres a pile up somewhere, ie over the bridge i'd bail down W/town Rd, Millers or Grieve and head in to Point Cook through the back way.....that in itself can take a long ass time.
Watch out for the cameras on the back of the sign for the Miller's Rd turn off outbound....and i think on the back of the Grieve Pde bridge coming back in. :thumbsup:
I just had a decent run home (loving the low traffic volume this week :D ) Todd Rd services to Kororoit was 9 mins, the time sign on Kororoit was Duncans Rd = 8 mins....it's all that back street stuff you be doing man. :boxer:
Agreed B) :Beer: |
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| Amanda & Simon | 11 Jan 2008, 05:19 PM Post #9 |
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Badger In A Strange Land
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Mmm yeh, light traffic :thumbsup: . When I think of some of the horror trips I had in the UK - 8 hour drive home from Newcastle one time, most of the trips into London unless I was in the cab going down bus lanes, every single time I used the M6 which hates me. Really I can't complain that I've not got a really quick route from here to the freeway. On a slightly tangential note, just been on the phone to family in the UK - in the Bracknell area it's £1.06 per litre for unleaded yesterday :ugh: . |
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| justydood | 11 Jan 2008, 11:37 PM Post #10 |
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we are from bridgend Justine & paul x |
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| True Blue | 12 Jan 2008, 06:31 AM Post #11 |
 
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Justine and Paul Welcome to Britvics...... Both my hubby and I are teachers (secondary) and although Pete had his job secured before we left the UK, I've had no problems getting CRT (supply) work since we arrived (Aug). I've just got myself a 2 year contract so will now be paid over the holidays - yippeeeeeee! If you are primary then there are a lot of applicants applying for each job, but as you said you're on the STNI then you must be secondary - DT, IT, maths or science?? That's how we got over here - if you do teach a shortage subject then I can't believe you'll have any problems gaining employment, they are still crying out for those subject teachers. Do you both have your VIT registration? With regards to your visa application - we submitted our visa in Feb and had the visa by May - all much quicker than we expected! I'd start the packing now if you haven't already. :lol: I totally understand what you mean about telling the grandparents - worst thing we've ever had to do. Skype has been a Godsend, we bought the family webcams and had a few (well actually a lot) of test lessons before we left the UK. It's great, our boys (7 and 9) have only said on a handful of occasions that they actually miss anyone back in the UK! We live in Pakenham, out east, obviously with a job to come to this made the move over less confusing as we already had an area to pick a suburb from. We love where we live and if we wanted the same house any closer to the city we probably couldn't afford it! There are plenty of new estates "popping" up all over the place, with this extra housing comes the schools, sometimes a bit too late in my opinion! If you need any more info just give us a shout! Good luck with all your plans. Di x |
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| justydood | 12 Jan 2008, 07:19 AM Post #12 |
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Hi, Thank you so much for the reasurrance about teaching jobs in vic, yes we are both secondary teachers, me D&T and hubby is science so thats how we got the STNI, we were 5 points short for the normal skilled visa but glad to go this route as seems easier and we have set our sites on victoria now anyway! yes we have registered with VIT that took ages (3 months) but did that in may, and we have sponsorship, have booked the medicals for feb half term week so just waiting for the visa!!! we have booked to come over on 24th july until end aug to have a really good look around (Thank heavens for school hols being both teachers!!!) so lucky to be able to do this! was fantastic to see your reply and would love advice about schools, differences with teaching in UK etc, how to look for jobs, we're thinking that we will both probably do supply for a while to get our 2 kiddies settled and rent so we are sure we like an area before we get permanent work! I will send you a personal email on here if thats OK!!, but thanks for your replies everyone am now addicted to britvics (even sneaking on to it in my breaks in work) but don't care if I get sacked am coming down under anyway!!! ha! justine and paul |
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