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Arrived Canberra, 16th Oct 2014, this is our Story...


KalahariHarry

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Our Settlement Post 22 October 2014

By Trev, Monique and Liam (1year and 2 months)

Good evening all,

So after a 2 week holiday in Thailand we arrived in Canberra last thursday the 16th Oct. We are staying with friends we made via the forum and facebook, and they are so good to us, and we are very thankful, not only for a place to stay but the valueable advice and guidance. We will certainly do our part to help newcomers, when we are settled. There is a very strong community spirit here.

We have since we arrived:

-Got cell numbers sorted, and bought a GPS

-Activated bank account

-Registered for medicare

-Registered for centrelink

-Met with settlement officer

-Applied for TFN's

-Registered a car (that we got given, from other Saffas, a hand-me-down, that we will hand down when we get properly sorted)

-I Have had a meeting/interview with a recruiter, and another Interview lined up for next week.

-We have applied for a house in Nicholls, Northern Canberra, and just waiting to hear

So If all goes well, in a few days we will have some great direction, and the only thing outstanding to resolve is work. I Must say I am happy with what we have done so far. As we obviously could not get much done over the weekend, we just looked at koala bears and roo's.

One of my biggest surprises was the effieciency, to register a car took me 10 mins, the facility was shiny new and modern, with soft chairs for us while in the cue and there was no smell. All gov depts have been a pleasure to deal with and yes, I can see a very bright future here.

A big thank you to anyone on here that has offered advice and assistance.

I Will update via this post as soon as we are a bit more settled.

Trev

Edited by KalahariHarry
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That sounds like really good news. Its amazing how we see so many similar stories on here..

Just remember to keep it simple for recruiters. Be clear on what you want to do, what will make you love your job and be realistic about what you want to earn.

So, find jobs online that sound like what you do. Then look them up on an online salary survey to see what they pay roughly.

You could even look at http://peoplelikeu.com.au/%C2'> to see what people like you, who live in your suburb spend each month. That will show your recruiter that you understand what you actually need to earn at a minimum.

Cheers

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Hi KalahariHarry... And family,

Sounds like you have had a good and productive start.... How fantastic. May things continue to roll favorably. Keep us posted... Not long and we will be trying to figure all this our too!

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Thanks for the post ! Wonderful to read settling-in stories, that will be us, soon, as well. It really is comforting to hear so much testimonies of people making things work.

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Great post, and so happy about the relatively soft landing.... keep us posted :ilikeit:

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Rental in Nicholls, Canberra Approved - BOOM, yes that just happened!

Babysteps, now to address the work issues.

Trev

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Awesome news!! Is it me or was that real quick!? I'm having nightmares about me and my container full of stuff on the pavement because no one will rent to me :/. Other than ID stuff, I'll have a rental reference from RSA and my Aus bank statement to prove I can pay... Will that be ok?

I stayed in Nicholls on my LSD trip - lovely suburban area!

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Great news Trev! Glad to see everything is going great. We are flying out this Thursday...lump in throught. Very lucky to have a car hand me down and such great friends! :ilikeit:

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Thank you all, yes we are very pleased with the progress, but as always the job is the most important and most stressful thing.

Will update as soon as there's some action

Trev

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok so here is the update peoples....

I Was going for interviews in Canberra and not much happening, Wifey was offered a job imediately. But here's the kicker.

I Was contacted buy a guy in Caboolture, QLD. He put me on a plane the next day, so I went up and spent 2 days up there, he offered me a position straight away, great money and hey.....its the sunshine coast. Needless to say I accepted and now we leave Canberra sometime next week. I Have been in touch with my settlement officer and we have been released from the ACT. Free agents baby!!!

We were however planning on giving Canberra a go, as we do really like it. I Could prove this as we had a currently signed lease in Canberra so she was happy that we could prove "leaving was not part of our plan", it was an offer I had to accept. Now to get out of the lease.... EISH.

So a bitter/sweet ending to our stay in Canberra as we have made some amazing friends, thank you, you all know who you are.

Will update once arived in The Queens Land, and found a rental.

Trev

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If you don't mind me asking, what field are you in? I'm so afraid we might face the same challenge in Canberra.

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Hey Trevor,

Glad you took the advice and opened up your search. Congrats on the new position. Wish you all the best Give us a Bel when you are all settled in and we can get together for a lekker Braai! Gareth

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Thx Gareth

@Erica, I Am an Entrepreneur from CT, had 3 panelshops, so I have received an offer to Manage a Large shop for a local Businessman.

We are very happy to move to the coast and look forward to it, also happy to be "free agents" in Aus, OFICIALLY!!!

Trev

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So happy for you Trevor. My hubby is also an Entrepreneur tradesman (running a maintenance contract for a factory). I think we will also have to broaden our search to outside of Canberra if necessary.

Best of luck to you and the family on the move and settling in on the Coast - I'm sure you will love it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update:

Arrived in Queensland, staying on Bribie Island in a holiday rental until we find a place.

Very happy to be here, and start work on monday the 24th Nov.

I Will write a more thorough update as soon as we are settled.

Trev

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I am so jealous. Cant wait until it becomes a relaity for us. My cousin and her family live on Bribie and from what I see via them, its an awesome place.

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Great News, Bribie Island is a great choice. Beach, Rivers, Sun and surf!

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What an amazing story you have KalahariHarry! I'm following your updates. How was the first day on the job?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All,

Update time. We have been in the-queens-land for a few weeks now, and spent the first 2.5 weeks in a rental on Bribie Island.

We have moved into our new rental (6 month lease) yesterday and today, so lots of running around. We are getting settled quick. A new daycare opened around the corner as its a new estate and when wifey booked our son in, they offered her a job - haha, who ever said its tough in aus. I guess we have been very fortunate and my work has been going well too.

We plan to check out the area and buy in the next 6-12 months.

What an awesome ride, I'm sitting on our matress on the floor of our bedroom, we have bought most of what we need but still a few more things to come.

We dont have much but we are super happy.

Loving AUS, LOVING IT.

you will hear from me soon

Trev

@Mattcuzz, yes my referral in the previous post was about us being "free" noe in aus, as I had to chat to the settlement officer to let us go, we were on a 190SS,

I Guess we still are but I have written consent that we could leave the ACT.

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Hi Trev,

How did you manage to get out of your lease in Canberra?

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@Erica,

There was an RSA couple that bought and they had to break lease, they had 3 months left so we took over those 3 months. Our lease had not yet started and I got the job in QLD, so we got another RSA couple (they were busy building a new house, but the build had been delayed and their new house was not ready yet - they had to get out of their rental) to take over the 3 months.

We had no issues and got full bond back, as the new ppl signed on the same terms as we did.

It was a mission but we made it work, or else I would have had to bite the bullet and pay the 3 months, I would have as I had made the commitment, but now I can put the $5k towards my prado :whome:

Happy days

Like I said we have been very fortunate!!!

Trev

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Trev,

you rocking one credit for another! nice going mate! And welcome to Aus bro, be in your neck of the woods sometime!

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