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| Kaz and Malc Reccie Report and Photos | |
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| Topic Started: 11 Jun 2007, 08:52 AM (2,298 Views) | |
| Kaz and Malc | 11 Jun 2007, 08:52 AM Post #1 |
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Well hello everyone, long time no see! Finally, here is our reccie report on our 3 week trip to Australia. We spent 8 days in Melbourne, 7 days in Cairns and 4 days in Sydney. I have loaded up 10 slide shows from Photobucket at the end of this report. Sorry some of the photos are twisted round, couldn't get them to rotate. Just double click on each of the photos separately and it will take you in to the slide show. then go back to britvic icon on tool bar to click on the others. Sorry it is quite a long report but i hope it gives a good idea of Melbourne to those who have yet to get there. Here goes ..... Arrived at Tullamarine airport Sunday night at 7.30pm. Flew with Malaysian Airlines, who were very good, staff were excellent and the 34” pitch seat in economy was sooooo worth it! Also the foot rests made a lot of difference. I can’t say I relish the thought of doing such a long trip again but it went fairly smoothly. The food was pretty rubbish though and very irritating on the return journey when they wake you up to see if you want any food. Duh! I’m asleep godammit!!! Anyhoo, the airport was very efficient, in fact I noticed with pretty much every airport we went to (Sydney, Cairns, Kuala Lumpar and Melbourne) they are so much more organised, no queues anywhere and we pretty much breezed through, not so Heathrow unfortunately but lets not go into that! We picked up our hire car from Budget, pre-booked, no problem at all. Had to pay for tolls upfront which was supposed to be included but anyway, well worth doing so because we certainly got about during our trip. To any one interested, and I know there have been a few 4x4 debates going on, we hired a Nissan X-trail automatic. I had test driven it in the UK before I bought my Honda CRV and I really liked it, though the turning circle is terrible!! Anyway we drove to St.Kilda, not too many hissy fits between co-pilot and captain, and arrived at Quest East St.Kilda on Inkerman road. We had a 3 bed town house which was really nice (about $285 per night). They had an indoor pool but it was freezing! St.Kilda Few minutes drive to St.Kilda which I thought was really nice. It was fairly quite in the evening, we twice went to dinner on the beachfront and it was still nice enough for kids to play on the sand while we sat outside to eat. No needles in sight incidentally. Just people riding bikes and jogging along the lovely coastal path which goes on for miles, through Brighton and towards Sandringham. Acland Street, famous for its cake shops, is really nice. People buzzing about, very bohemian!! It was Malcolm's 40th birthday that week so I ordered a big choccy birthday cake from the Acland Cake Shop to celebrate. P.S. cakes are horrible! Just like cakes in Europe, the icing is like shaving foam and they taste really plasticky! Sorry, but that’s me. Give me a lovely victoria sponge or a fuit cake any day. I think it is the butter. The packet says butter but it tastes like margarine. They must put something in it to keep it from melting, like a lot of the foods, namely CHOCOLATE!! Anyway, it tastes nothing like butter and hence the butter icing tastes like plastic. Sorry, I will shut up now. I will have a separate section for food… can you tell I’m a bit of a fussy foodie!! Bank We set up bank accounts with ANZ from UK. I contacted the London office and although I filled in the online forms to set the account up, a girl at the London office helped liase with Oz via email. I was told that once at the bank we could be given generic till cards straight away, or wait 5 days to have our proper named cards. But I requested named cards be sent to St.Kilda branch the week before we left and they were waiting for us when we arrived. We activated the account with just our passports no problem. They were really helpful in the bank and I would definitely recommend them, service was excellent. !! It was really great to be able to use an Oz card for cash tills and also could use it to pay for stuff in shops. Money Transfer We opened an account with Halo Financial some weeks before we left. And as a test we transferred £2000 to our new ANZ account before we left. Everything went very smoothly. My agent phoned me when the rate had started to climb again (2.4) and I booked it on the phone and sent the money within 5 days. So we had $4,800 waiting in our account, seems a lot, but believe me, you can get through some cash very easy Mobile Phone I bought a pay as you go mobile phone (about £79). Just phone up to initiate. You can even put money onto the phone by using the ATM machines at the banks. Jobs Well, we were suffering from major jet lag for the first week and a half, falling asleep at 2.00pm in the afternoon and awake about midnight! But poor Malc spent the first week in a suit. He had an interview for a job on the Monday morning, which we found out about just before we left. A senior IT role which amazingly enough was paying more than he gets in UK! Salaries have been a major stumbling block for us and so we were pleasantly surprised to find that there are senior jobs out there. He had three meetings with agencies and a second interview for the job. Now I’m loathe to say it … but what are the odds of getting a job in the first week….. well I don’t know yet … I will have to let you know at a later date, but I will say that the company flew Malc down from Sydney to Melbourne in our last week for a third interview and numerous hideous psychometric tests etc. …. So fingers crossed!! CBD This leads me on to the CBD quite nicely. Malcolm absolutely loved it!!! I don’t think Malc has had such a strong reaction to anything before … quite shocked me really …. But I have to agree. The city is sooooo brilliant. The buildings are beautiful, the Yarra River, the crown plaza. Went up to the observation deck at the Rialto Tower and what a knockout view!! Amazing. Everything about Melbourne City is so accessible and it’s all so compact. The cricket ground, racing circuit, Telstra sports dome, concerts, Botanical gardens. Its all there just minutes from the centre. We went into the city on a Sunday and it was so quiet. You could drive straight into the city centre, barely any traffic, and park right in the street. FREE! Unbelievable! We strolled up the Southbank and had lunch. Looked in the Crown Plaza building which was really beautiful inside. Everything from top class hotel, conference, shopping, restaurants, cinemas, casino, food court it’s really amazing. The Yarra River snakes right alongside the city and we took a 2 hour leisurely cruise down the river, gliding passed the museum, ferris wheel, and down towards the Melbourne Cricket ground. Everywhere along the banks people walking, jogging, having picnics. It is such a relaxing outdoorsy city. Weather The weather was lovely on the whole, few bits of rain and did need a cardi sometimes, but sunny and really enjoyable. Though in the city centre we looked a bit out of place, people with thick coats, long boots and even a scarf or two!! 26 degrees!!! I am a bit concerned what it would be like at 45 degrees though! Shopping Didn’t really get chance to shop in the city. 3 kids moaning isn’t the best combo but had a good look round for future reference (!!). Spotted a nice handbag (my downfall) in the Crown Plaza but had to leave it behind – Just for the girls, I took a picture of the one that got away! Oh Yes!! Food Have to say didn’t really experience the diverse culinary delights apparently available in Australia. Mostly pizza, pasta and the eternal burger or nuggets choices for the kids!!! Though did go to a great deli in the city where you can have any kind of bread and hundreds of fillings all laid out like a buffet, brilliant. Not too bad prices I thought. Obviously the café lifestyle is superb and the choice of coffee is much like here. Supermarkets Now don’t get me started here. I know we have to accept that we are not in England but I have to say that I am really unimpressed. Coles was so uninspiring. Even though there is a lot of choice and all the essentials are there, it is really cheesy and cheap looking. The racking, the presentation, the packaging it just leaves you feeling quite flat. I love food shopping, I know I maybe in the minority but I genuinely like doing the supermarket shop. But in OZ, just depressing. I’m not sure if the prices are expensive, I did think so at the time and I have a $300 till receipt with most essentials on it, so if anyone wants to know the price of food stuffs give me a pm. I can only really liken it to somewhere like Lidl or dare I say it Morrisons which I didn’t used to like, but I think Morrisons is miles better. Brand Names Heinz – well that’s what it says on the tin! Tomato ketchup is like vinegar - tomato soup is horrible, blood red, just like tomato juice in a can of tomatoes. Tea bags are terrible. I took some of my lovely yorkshire tea bags over but even they tasted crap. I think it might be the water. Are the kettles designed not to boil at boiling temperature! Whenever you boil the kettle and pour it straight out, it’s just like pouring water that boiled ages ago on your tea bag! Don’t even get me started on the tea bags with a string. Butter – as I said before does not taste like butter at all. It’s all whipped up and pale like margarine! Chocolate is horrible. It doesn’t taste sweet and it doesn’t taste chocolatey!! Skimmed milk is not as skimmed as over here. Tastes like semi to me. Heinz baked beans look identical but sauce tastes bland. PROPERTY Why does every house in the estate agents window look like it’s just stepped out of Habitat!! I have never seen so many ‘corner sofa suites’ (very uncomfy I feel). All the homes are like show homes, carefully co-ordinated and not a speck out of place. Do the estate agents give a ‘House Doctor’ makeover to all their clients before they go on the books. I’m not complaining I don’t really want to see peoples knickers hanging over the radiators or piles of crap in the corners but how do they live like that. They must hook the kids onto a hanger and pop them in the wardrobes at night. I am getting used to the single storey house, and the weird space-age modern designs but I am quite traditional and like a few victorian features. My furniture would look absolutely ridiculous in most of the houses in Australia. I am also amazed by the lack of outdoor space. I had seen this trend on the internet sites but what also put me off was the increasing popularity of knocking down an old bungalow type property and building three ‘town houses’, one behind the other, on the same plot of land. This seems to give the property about enough room to put a bit of decking/patio and bang, there’s another house. Plus from speaking to Diane (Britvics in East Bentleigh – Hi you lot) it brings up all sorts of issues and squabbles with the neighbours. I’m even more convinced that I am going to have to have a swimming pool. Water restrictions aside, I just don’t know if I can cope with the heat without one! The house will definitely have to have air-conditioning and heating as a pre-requisite. It was quite cool in the evening and we used the heating in the town house in St.Kilda. Beaches Well, I did feel that Bayside was probably the place for me. On paper, it should be perfect, 10 minutes to beach 20 minutes to CBD, lovely jubbly! However, I wasn’t knocked out by the beaches. They were quite small and not that exciting. Maybe it was because it was winter. They were quite quiet, but the thing that I never realised was that there would be no surf/tide. The water is like a lake, so no surfing. I’m wondering what goes on at the beaches during the summer apart from swimming/paddling or maybe if you like kayaking!?!?!? The sand was littered with black washed up debris but again this could be because it was winter. We would have to go to the West to Torquay / Bells beach for the surf or down to Mornington! My son Christopher (12) had a 2 hour surf lesson in Manly, Sydney and absolutely loved it! He is now convinced he wants to be a surf instructor when he grows up !?!?! The ‘West’ Williamstown We took a trip over to Williamstown, we over-shot the motorway by a bit but wasn’t too put off by the industrial area. We had lunch on the esplanade, really nice. Then we found our way to the beach. We really liked the beach front. Bit more like you imagine Australian beach life to be but also a little bit English seaside as well. Can anyone tell me, what’s with the huge pipes that we have seen leading off the beaches into the sea at various places. Is this raw sewage????? Yuk! We travelled further down and by-passed Sanctuary Lakes etc. (sorry Hayley… trying to pack so much in). I wasn’t too sure about this area – only going from what I could see from the Highway, but it did look a bit out of it – like a housing estate plopped in the middle of knowhere. We made it as far as Geelong, and I really loved it. Admittedly we didn’t venture into the town part but the sea front was absolutely amazing. You can definitely see they have spent millions on regenerating this area, with its beautiful landscaped gardens, kids play park and huge toddler pool and sea pool/boardwalk. It was an absolute pleasure to hang around here and spotlessly clean. The public toilets were incredible, you could have eaten your dinner off the floors and they smelt nice too!! Sorry, I’m starting to sound like my mother now!! It was a really relaxing place, even though we were the only ones there approaching dusk, apart from the wedding party on the beach and the little bridesmaids running about between the wooden figures . I would definitely recommend a visit and definitely if you have kids of all ages, worth a day out for the park/pool and beach. Puffing Billy We drove out to Ferntree Gully eventually to go on the Puffing Billy train ride, unfortunately it absolutely pelted down with rain. We ended up just sitting in the car park and deciding that t-shirts and shorts just weren’t going to be up to the job and shooting off again. Driving back to Melbourne city took an absolute age. I think we took the Burwood Highway and the traffic was a nightmare. Although I could see some of the housing estates and there were lots of big shopping sections along the way, I didn’t get the feeling that the area was for us. Mornington Took the Nepean Highway to Mornington. The drive does follow the ocean most of the time but there are some quite rough bits along the way. Carrum wasn’t that nice and the early parts towards Frankston. Although passing through Frankston looked like they had developed the beach front area quite nicely. We had a drive around Mount Eliza which was a really nice residential type area. Nice and green with a good village shopping area. I could see this area as superb for holidays or retiring. Not that it had an old feel to it, but just that it is sooooo far from the city and for us, the sort of work we need. Mornington was absolutely lovely. Beautifully green The village/town centre shopping was really comprehensive. Like a high street, but it went on and on and had just about every kind of shop. If you are in a trade where you can find work in any town, then this place is for you. If we didn’t need to be near the city then I would absolutely, 100%, no hesitation settle here. And the houses were fantastic. Wall to wall estate agents and the prices were amazing. You could get a huge house like ‘Southfork in Dallas’ for the price of a town house or even an apartment in Melbourne. We only had chance to see one of the beaches. I couldn’t find the one in Mount Eliza but in the end we stopped off at Fishermans beach, because I remembered someone mention it on Britvics, I think it was Buzzy-bee. I didn’t think much of it at all. Very grey and uninteresting. Although I suppose again, it was winter and an overcast day. It was probably as its name describes, a good place to set off on your boat but not maybe sunbathing. I’m sure there are better beaches with great surf down here we just didn’t have the time to seek them all out. Also, would have loved to go further down to Sorrento, which Gail says is fantastic and from the pictures I have seen I think she may be right. Maybe Sorrento would be a good place to have a weekend retreat!! What do you reckon Gail?!??! Meet up with Diane- Britvics I had been chatting to Diane on Britvics for a while and we met up one day. We had a great meal and later went back to her house, which was really nice. Libby and Alex had a great time playing with Isobel and Meg and Libby thought the hot tub was the ‘bees knees’. Chris was happy as larry playing the ‘new’ PS3, so a good day was had by all. It really does make such a difference to make friends and arrange visits. You can get a really good insight into general life and it’s a real comfort to know you have someone to chat to, especially if you have no rellies out there, which we don’t. Diane, thanks so much, we really did enjoy meeting you all and I shall definitely be holding you to a few games of tennis! Hayley, sorry we didn’t get over to see you, but I shall keep in touch and definitely get together if we get over. Congratulations by the way on being a ‘Mrs’! Suburbs The most disappointing part of the visit was I suppose the Melbourne suburbs. I don’t really know what I expected but I just found some of them a bit ‘tatty’. Oddly, places like Toorak, which have huge houses and is really expensive, I didn’t particularly like. The nice streets just rubbed shoulders with the not so nice streets and everyone shared the same high street so I couldn’t really see why you would pay a premium to live there. Yes, you can get into the city directly on a tram/train within 5-10 minutes but it just felt too inner-city for me. Although the shopping in Chapel Street is amazing. Very trendy and the street seems to go on forever. I found the houses are so on top of each other in most areas and its not very green. Well coming from the peak district I guess it would be difficult to keep me happy but I was surprised how sort of ‘grey and blah’ it was in parts. After a while of driving around I decided that Sandringham and Beaumaris were my favourites. Incidentally I had already picked these two out about a year ago when I started researching. I thought from looking at the map at home they would be too far down from the CBD but they are easily good enough driving distance. Also, the other side of the highway, I did like Bentleigh and East Bentleigh and also Parkdale was nice on both sides of the highway. Brighton was very nice. But the prices were absolutely ridiculous. Malcolm spoke to someone in the city who said there is no way the prices in parts of Bayside are sustainable. Maybe they will come down a bit but they must surely start to top-out soon. Apart from say Brighton, the village high streets in the Bayside area something to get used to. The best way to sum up the shops is ‘un-sophisticated’. They have all the basics you need, bakers, newsagents banks, estate agents but the shop fronts are very low-key. It sounds a bit petty, but I guess as my life revolves around the kids, schools, the house, shopping, all the usual family things, so these places will be my regular haunts and I can’t help comparing them to the UK. I’m sure I could make a life for myself in Melbourne, but I don’t feel that it is better than what I have now. Just quite different. I would get used to the shopping, the ladies clothing shops are quite terrible. I’m sure eventually we would be wearing Parkas in 25 degree sun. The major difference would be I think for my husband, Malc. His life is the inside of a car, the inside of an office and home. So I can see how he was knocked out by the thought of actually spending time in Melbourne city. Lunch hours would be so much nicer and as he is a mad keen photographer, he would never run out of inspiration. The kids would be fine. I’m sure the schools compare just as well to UK, though we didn’t actually get as far as looking at any. So in summary, I have to say that I am not ‘desperate’ to go to Melbourne, but I think that is what we will eventually do. There is a lot to do in and around the city and I’m sure it will take many many trips and weekends to exhaust all this area has to offer, just not enough time to really appreciate it all in a week. I would have liked to do things like wine tasting tours and all that grown up stuff. Sydney We had a great time in Sydney, could have spent longer there. We stayed at Quay West Suites on the harbour, with floor to ceiling picture windows with a view of the bridge and Opera house. It was the most fantastic place to stay and was worth every single penny ($525 p/n)! We did whale watching just out of Sydney harbour which was absolutely amazing. Sydney Aquarium and Darling Harbour, also brilliant. Cairns We stayed at Cairns Lakes Resort & Spa which is absolutely beautiful. Fantastic landscaped grounds and pools but needed a taxi ride into town, especially for some food shopping – they were charging $13 for a tin of Heinz beans in their shop!!!! Malcolm wanted to make sure we had some time to have ‘a holiday’ – lying by the pool etc. Unfortunately, we were rained out most of the time in Cairns, so in the end we decided to go down to Sydney a day earlier. We just couldn’t wind down and relax after packing so much into the week before and felt like we should be doing ‘something’ and not hanging about the apartment. The kids held a Koala and fed kangaroos at Kuranda village. Saw giant turtles and enormous crocodiles on Green Island and snorkelled on the reef. All in all we did some great stuff and had a really brilliant holiday. I hope you enjoy reading our blog and the pictures. Kaz and Malc - and the kids Chris, Libby and Alex. 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| koalakim | 11 Jun 2007, 09:50 AM Post #2 |
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Hi Kaz A very informative recci report with a good all round overview. Like everything it's swings and roundabouts. There are some great aspects to living here but also some very frustrating things, like trying to get anywhere in a hurry! The thing we've found most frustrating is the amount of time you spend trying to find the equivalent of products in the UK or shops etc. As you say most of the shopping strips are functional and many more are independents, like newsagents and chemists. I agree with you about supermarket shopping, I find that they don't always carry the same line of say fruit each week. Clothes are very odd out here, but then I discovered that a few years ago when I set off for a shopping spree in Sydney - ended up saving it all for Singapore! It's fine in summer when you just want beach gear or the surf shops are great (cheaper than UK) but ordinary clothes, em! However, now I'm self employed working at home that's not an issue right now! You just have to decide if it's right for you and your family, but at least you have had a taster now. Good luck with whatever you decide. Kim |
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| buzzy--bee | 11 Jun 2007, 09:21 PM Post #3 |
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Not guilty your honour - I haven't been to fisherman's beach! Great reccie report and photos - I liked the ones of Geelong beach. Thanks very much for taking the time to post this. Simon |
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| North2South | 12 Jun 2007, 05:56 AM Post #4 |
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Great Reccie report it must have taken you ages! Very useful we are off on our reccie next week. So I hope we get to see as much as you! :flower: |
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| Gail.C | 12 Jun 2007, 06:05 AM Post #5 |
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Hi Karen Like I said on the phone, you came to the same conclusions as us. The only difference is you'll be at home and you need to feel happy in your surroundings or you'll be miserable and want to go home. We were as excited as Malcolm about working in the CBD that's why we're going to live there for a while first and really enjoy it. We'll have 18 months before no 1 child starts school so we've got a bit of time to play with. At first we weren't that excited about Melbourne but it really grew on us. While we were there we made a list of all the things that are important to us and gave each one a rating out of 10 for the UK and Australia. Our conclusion, given all the negatives we found is we'll be 50% happier in Melbourne (hope this makes sense). I.e. the negatives in the UK far outweighed the negatives in the UK. As for the shops they are dire especially the supermarkets. They are very similar to America and Bermuda where I used to live. I got used to them in the end and it didn't bother me. After you stop looking for British things, you'll start finding things you like and it won't be an issue so don't let that put you off going. As for a weekend retreat in Sorrento.....would be nice!!!!! Need to see what salaries we end up with first :D . Fingers and toes crossed for Malcolm. Hope he gets the job as you'll have a much smoother transition over there then. Good reccie report and pics by the way.... Take care Gail :flower: |
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| debndave | 12 Jun 2007, 07:50 AM Post #6 |
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WOW What a fantastic post - thank you Debbie |
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| bigAPE | 12 Jun 2007, 08:04 AM Post #7 |
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We live in Hampton between Brighton and Sandringham, coming from a cliff-top house in a Cornish surfing town the beaches in Bayside are not brilliant. Our boys (avid body boarders) are out of luck here. If you're after Surfing then you'll will need to go, as suggested, past Geelong or to the east or south coast of the Peninsula. We went to Sorrento looking at houses this weekend and were surprised how "Cornish" the coastline was. That said, the beaches at Hampton are really nice and relaxed in the sun. We have been there many times in the last three months. Clear blue sky, nice clean yellow sand, clear calm blue water with little fishes and starfish certainly makes for a relaxing beach experience. What staggered us was how empty the beaches were, even on some of the "beach fun days" there always seemed to be plenty of space, unlike Cornwall in the Summer with wall to wall tourists. You can also make cracking sand sculptures in that soft thick grained sand, it's also easy to get out of your toes! |
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| Miykael Poly | 12 Jun 2007, 08:25 AM Post #8 |
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I think the fact that most beaches are not to the sea but to the bay, means they are not exposed to the raging powers of mother nature, that are necessary for a good surf. |
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| Kaz and Malc | 12 Jun 2007, 08:27 AM Post #9 |
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Hi BigAPE Glad you liked our reccie report. So what goes on at the 'beach fun days'? We didnt get as far as Sorrento but I was looking at properties on the internet today. Not as cheap as i thought they might be but it does look nice. Looks like surf on one side - bay on the other - best of both worlds. How long would you say it would take to drive down there from Bayside? Which school do your boys go to in Hampton. I probably drove through Hampton at some point but the suburbs start to blur into each other so I cant remember what its like. Karen :flower: |
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| bigAPE | 12 Jun 2007, 08:55 AM Post #10 |
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Well the one we witnessed was for the local cubs scouts, but there are plenty of them. They included beach games, races, BBQ/"Sausage sizzle" and lots of fun from what we could see. What you need to understand is that here there is much more of a community spirit here than in the UK. One of our son's Teachers even arrange a "BBQ days" at the park for their class and parents during the Easter vacation! The beaches and parks all have public BBQ stations where you just "rock up" (get used to the Aussie slang) and fire up your family lunch! There is less to do when the sun isn't out but from what we have seen and been told that's only for the equivalent of a 4-5 weeks of the year. We arrived in Autumn and it was very hot (to us) with brilliant sunshine. We were at the park every day. Only recently has is got much colder, even going as far as feeling almost like a Cornish Winter (although not really as that's -4'), but the rain has never been as bad as in the UK. So I would say, crisp cold sunny days most of the time with rain in the evenings/night time.
I'm a Software Architect and spend most of my time working from my home office, so distance to the CBD isn't as important as it could be. That said I do like going to the Footy and that could present a problem. Sorrento looked real nice and noticeably "upmarket" compared Rye and some of the other towns on the way up the coast. You're correct that it has a Coastal and Bay beaches for the best of both worlds (a little like Cornwall's North and South Coasts). Unlike Bayside, there wasn't a lot of property for sale. House prices are about 80% of what they are in Hampton, which is about ~$1.2m for a 2Level 4Bed 2Bath 2Car on a small plot. Sorrento seemed to be $900k for a similar with much more land. However these certainly seemed to be bought as "beach houses" for the social elite, rather than high end homes for "Gromets" like us. The drive back (full pelt) from Sorrento to Hampton took almost exactly 1 hour, so about 90 Mins to the CBD in fair traffic, 120 in poor, would seem a good guess. That was travelling on the 100k Mornington Freeway which doe snot go all the way to Sorrento "yet". Although plans are in place, and in Melways, there is no sign of working being done. Another alternative in a couple of years would be to do Mornington Freeway -> EastLink -> Monash. Which providing the traffic on the Monash was fair at rush hour (which it usually isn't) could bring the trip down to 70-80 mins given that it's multi-lane "high-speed" all the way. The EastLink Toll road is expected to be open in 2008.
Our boys go to Hampton Primary and they love it there. The public primary schools here are much better than in the UK (OK, depending on where you lived I guess). be prepared for some serious "involvement" in the running of the school. We thought we were "involved" in the UK but its taken for granted here (which is sort of nice in a way). Music, Arts & Crafts are all well represented, my only concern is that which they have 3-4 computers in each class they don't have dedicated "ICT" classes and spend a few minutes a week on the computers in unstructured games, but we make up for that at home |
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| Kaz and Malc | 12 Jun 2007, 09:17 AM Post #11 |
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:waving: Shame about the IT in shool. Do you think they are just a bit behind us or do they not place the same importance in IT education? Do you miss Cornwall, if so what do you miss? I have defintely 'rocked -up' in the past. I spent a year in Oz when I was 26 so sort of remember the local 'speak'. Our budget keeps creeping up and up for property! Especially as the prices the estate agents quote go up at least 20% once the hammer falls. Sneaky business to get people interested, but I cant see a way to avoid it. There are so few private house sales. Really wish Malc could work from home. Would definitely settle in Mornington I thought it was nice and green, which is what I would miss most about home. I quite like the idea of getting involved in the kids school. I never did where we lived in Surrey but since moving to Derbyshire have found it quite different. And it is very community minded and friendly up here and the schools are very well supported by the parents. I guess all this involvement would give me a good excuse not to get myself a part time job once my little one starts full time :thumbsup: Cheers for the advice Karen |
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| bigAPE | 12 Jun 2007, 06:29 PM Post #12 |
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I think it's not placed as highly in their education system at this age, which is just plain daft in my opinion
Everything, but I'm hoping it's a phase I'm going through. Blues from the lull after having completed everything to do with the move. It's the "OK, now what" syndrome.
From what I have seen I think it's about 70% Auction, 30% Private Sale/By Negotiation. This "+Buyers" rubbish is just awful. The ombudsman, if there is one, should really step in a quash this.
When are you planning on moving out ? |
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| tonydu | 13 Jun 2007, 03:22 AM Post #13 |
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WHAT A WELL LAID OUT REPORT ON YOUR RECCIE, AND VERY INFORMATIVE, WELL DONE :D |
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| Kaz and Malc | 13 Jun 2007, 04:29 AM Post #14 |
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Well if Malc gets this job, would be as soon as. Possibly end August early September. Dont really want to start the kids new school year, especially Alex as its his first year at 'big school'. We got an email today saying they are still considering him so that is promising. Trying not to get our hopes up. I have to say that I got quite excited when i saw the email. That is a positive sign at least. Don't know whether it was the thought of going to oz or just getting something settled and decided. All this waiting is so stressful :rolleyes: It's annoying what the mind does to you. When your'e not there, everything seems more rose coloured. I guess these feelings may always come and go, just have to ride them out. What exactly is the '+-buyers'. Is that like the estate agent fees and searches etc. K :) |
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| NTH SHARMAN | 13 Jun 2007, 04:55 AM Post #15 |
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Great reccie report. :bow: Nice to hear from you again. :D The Sharmans :mate: |
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| Kaz and Malc | 13 Jun 2007, 05:05 AM Post #16 |
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Hi peeps Hows it all going? Karen |
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| NTH SHARMAN | 13 Jun 2007, 05:21 AM Post #17 |
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Hi Kaz n Malc :mate: Not too bad,still waiting for Acknowledgement so can go for medicals,house up for sale but market seems very slow.I have been able to secure a job for when we arrive.looks like house sale is what will stop us going in October. Tracey & Hayleigh fine,we are now just playing the waiting game,.everything now seems out of our control(everything we can do is done) Glad you had a good time and it looks like you have now made your minds up to go. :rolleyes: Neil,Tracey & Hayleigh :D |
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| bigAPE | 13 Jun 2007, 09:34 AM Post #18 |
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Someone can correct me on this, but as I understand it, it's an extra amount the seller sticks onto the final "sale price" just because they think the market has risen since they put it on the market. At least that's what I have been told. Apparently they used to do it a lot with commercial property and it's now becoming popular with private sales as they feel they are missing out on the extra cash people are currently making on Auctions (about 10%-15% more than the reference price) |
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| Lindsay Clan | 13 Jun 2007, 10:48 AM Post #19 |
 
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If a house is for sale for $450,000 + buyers then they are really looking for $450,000 + 10% = $495,000. It still amazes me why they can't just advertise it at that and be done with it!! It really does depend on the area as well as to whether you do offer more for it and how quickly the houses are selling. |
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| dolly | 13 Jun 2007, 09:26 PM Post #20 |
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Great report, really enjoyed reading it. Can't wait to get there. :D |
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| bradybunch | 13 Jun 2007, 10:07 PM Post #21 |
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Thank you for a very comprehensive report - it was really interesting. Our situation is that we are coming over for a reccie on 15 December for a couple of weeks. I must say that I am certainly less 'up for it' than my husband (emmigration that is!) but will be keeping an open mind. We have both become disillusioned with the UK, particularly the attitude of teenagers who, round here, spend most of their time looking thoroughly pissed off,, doing graffitti and completely up for a fight. Increasing changing goalposts by the government and bloody massive sneaky tax hikes also maddening (we run our own business and spend most of the time filling in forms and tax cheques) and working 11 day, 6 day weeks for the priviledge. We also can't see a fantastic future for the kids with property prices practically guaranteeing that they will never own their own place (they are only little at the moment but with hubby age 44, time for decision making is running out). I read The Age online every day and am a bit concerned that things seem to be changing over there, in that the last articles I read were about a serious increse in teen binge drinking and several articles on gangs rounding on innocent passers-by. Also the possibility of a nuclear power station in Victoria and a very real problem with water shortages/fires in summer and global warming increasing temperatures I am a bit concerned that I might as well stay here. I'll shut up now before anyone commits suicide! PS, I posted a question about Fishermans Beach a while ago so it may be that I'm the culprit. Am a bit cheesed off with your observations though as we've booked accomodation there and from the photos it does look a bit like a typically English beach - at least we'll be prepared! Thanks again for the report and sorry to be a bit of a moaner and so negative it's just that if worrying we're an olympic sport I'd be a gold medal winner. Cheers |
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| Kaz and Malc | 14 Jun 2007, 06:41 AM Post #22 |
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Hi Bradybunch Glad you like the reccie report. Gee I thought I was was pessimistic! :lol: .... just kiddin. My advise: never ever ever read newspapers :yeap: I never read them here because they are always full of doom and gloom. The Daily Mail particularly would have you slitting your wrists within days if you took everything to heart. Everywhere has its problems and I must say there is a fair amount of graffiti around Melbourne too. I was however quite concerned about water shortages/fires etc. but hopefully they will catch up with everyone else in the world and start processing their water somehow. Bit worried about Nuclear power station. Where exactly is this going to go then :o There were definitely some pictures of Fishermans beach somewhere, which is where I got the idea it was quite nice. But I'm sure mostly all the beaches will look enticing in the summer and when its 45 degrees B). I expect there will be a lot more people about too as it will be Christmas holiday season for everyone. You will love it in Mornington, especially the town centre, the main street is lovely and wide and the shops seemed so much nicer (smarter) than other high streets I saw along Bayside. It almost had a sort of holiday resort type feel, not just local essentials, but where the effort was made to make the shops enticing and attractive. Are you planning to settle in Mornington area. It is a fair trek to get to the city and surrounds from there especially in rush hour. Hope you have a good trip and just try and see as much as you can. You will find a lot of us have had pre-conceived ideas of where to settle and have had a complete turn-about once there. Check out Nagiboys threads he is out there at the moment. Karen :flower: |
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| bigAPE | 14 Jun 2007, 08:01 AM Post #23 |
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You just summed up most of why we moved out here. Let me reassure you that while binge drinking and gangs of youths on street corners threatening old ladies appears to be pandemic, from what we have been told here it is restricted to a very few tiny areas in a HUGE metropolitan area and even then nothing like the UK. We have yet to witness anything like this and every one seems to enjoy a drink in good humor and rarely is there any tension. It's a very safe feeling place (if that's even English). Work wise, we spent thousands of pounds a year ensuring our, totally legal and above board, software consulting firm was clear of IR35 (the king s**t of all stealth taxes) even though there was no possibility of us being caught by it. The fear of just being audited for IR35, and the £10k+ bill for doing so, just made us nervous. They have similar laws here but they are not vague or open to interpretation by spotty 17 year old college leavers working in HMRC. There's a little more tax here and its just as officious here, but it is better here.
Nuclear energy is one of the safest and least polluting forms of energy production on earth. Saying that I'm not sure I would want to live next door to one. Saying that the State of Victoria is a HUGE place, almost twice the size of the UK (VIC 91,749 sqmi, Victoria vs UK 50,346 sqmi). I doubt they would build one near a populated area, which is eays to avoid here, so as the UK has Nuclear power plants even if they put one well out of the way your no worse off in the UK. Also, three-eyed fish might be good for the local economy and vary local restaurant menus for a while. It's also good for a self-sustaining Australia |
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| kirsty&al | 14 Jun 2007, 01:43 PM Post #24 |
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I have to disagree on the Nuclear option. Victoria is roughly the same size as the UK (slightly smaller in fact) and as the stations need a good water supply they have to be on or near the coast which is unfortunately where a lot of the people live. The main proposed site for the Victorian nuke is Hastings which, as you probably know, is about 60kms from Melbourne CBD. Another proposal I heard was for Victoria to have 8 nukes including one at Werribee although I suspect that this proposal was wishful thinking. I have to disagree that Nuclear Power is one of the safest and non-polluting forms of energy production. They are only safe if they don't go wrong. Unfortunately when there is a problem they are devastating as Chernobyl and 3-mile island have shown us. I know people point to lax procedures in both of these cases but even with tighter controls problems can still happen. On the pollution side I find it hard to believe that an industry that produces such highly toxic waste can be considered low pollution. And remember it's not just the waste that is dangerous; some of the plant and machinery gets irradiated as well and requires special disposal. This seems to be conveniently forgotten. All stations from time to time release low level toxic waste into the atmosphere and into the water. They are allowed certain limits by the governments environmental agencies with the amounts determined by limiting the number of increased deaths that will probably occur as a result of the release. People (mostly politicians) keep telling me that Nuclear Power is cheap. This however has not been the case in the UK and US where investment is only stimulated with large government handouts and guarantees. I also question the carbon credentials of Nuclear Power. Although the fission process itself does not produce CO2, there are lots of processes around the main process that do. It would be interesting to see what the carbon footprint of a nuclear station is, once the carbon costs of building, decommissioning, fuelling, running, maintaining and reprocessing are included. Personally I think Aus should reject nuclear power for the above reasons but also economically. If we go down that route then we will just be playing catch up and we'll be spending our tax dollars on foreign experts and companies. There is an opportunity for Aus to take advantage of green power and possibly become a world leader in this technology. Obviously there are issues with green power and the electricity base load but these are not insurmountable. Al :) |
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| Miykael Poly | 14 Jun 2007, 05:28 PM Post #25 |
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I find it oddly and saddly strange that no one has ever asked for a carbon footprint calculation of a water dam. And just a side note, the carbon footprint of a dam is estimated to be bigger than power station using coal, but if people came forth with the information now, they would be lynched publicly. I guess the thing is that with Nuclear power the dangers are so clearly huge and fatal if something goes wrong, that everyone wants to come up with a excuse to not to build them. This new rage about absolute enviromental protection, is starting to get on my nerves, because it starts from the assumption of that man is the most powerful force in the nature. REALITY CHECK! Your arse is NOT more powerful than Mt Saint Helens. And are we forgetting the sun? That big Fusion Reactor in the sky, it may seem pretty small when you look at it from earth, but believe me it is huge. So what are the chances that sun putting out in a second more energy than we have used in our entire existence, has more to do with the globe warming up than your tail pipe? Have you heard of Fusion reactors? yeah, they are building the first one to france, know why? BECAUSE FRANCE HAD ENOUGH NUCLEAR POWER TO START THE DAMN THING. Want the ultimate in clean energy? Fusion reactor is the way to go, only worry about pollutants is when you tear it down. Want to actually get the fusion reactor? BUILD ENOUGH FISSION REACTORS, so you can get the fusion reactor working. if you ask me, Australia is already playing catch up, better to catch up now and be ready to change to fusion power when they get it right, than to be even futher behind. |
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