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Activation Trip: Adelaide and Melbourne


KayB

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Visa activation trip:

We made the trip in March to activate our 489 visas. Our visa was granted on 11 Jan with initiation date of 21 March, so there wasn’t much time to plan a permanent move. (DS just started grade 1, house needs to go on sale, jobs etc etc). We will be moving to Tasmania but on this trip, we decided to visit family in Adelaide and have some fun in Melbourne. After searching for flight deals for days, we decided to go the agent route. We booked Qatar airways which had a long layover (20hours). Luckily, the airline threw in a five star stop-over package that just added thrill to our trip as we had a whole day to explore Doha. Breaking up the trip also turned out to be the best option for the kids (aged 4 and 6).  We arrived in Adelaide after a blissful trip to a very short immigration queue. After watching multiple episodes of Border Patrol, we were over-prepared and declared everything from roasted peanuts to allergy medicines. The immigration officials were very nice, and we were done in a couple of minutes.

 

Setting foot on Australian soil had an exhilarating effect on the entire family. After all those months of compiling documents and waiting and waiting and waiting we were finally here!!! It was just incredible. Adelaide is absolutely beautiful, instantly felt like home and I wished we were moving there as we had initially wanted. The city is highly developed but not as intimidating as Johannesburg for instance. My husband had to take the medical exam (AMC), so I spent a lot of time exploring and playing at the beach with the kids while he studied.  We visited Victor Harbour, Mount Lofty Summit, Adelaide Hills Botanical Garden, Glenelg Beach and of course various shopping centres. On the Sunday we visited the Influencers Church and met a few South Africans, Kenyans, Zimbabweans, Nigerians and other African nationals.

 

I opened a bank account with Commonwealth, the whole process took less than 20 minutes, and everyone was friendly and helpful. All I needed was my passport and tax number. They also gave me 12 months free of bank charges and loaded the bank app on my phone. Also applied for a tax file number online. I plan to start having my salary paid into the OZ account since I am employed by an international organization. One thing I learned during this trip is you can’t survive in Australia without a smart phone. I am a little old school and try not to be so reliant on technology, but over there you would just be left behind. The self-serve checkout points at service stations and grocery stores also took me by surprise. (Sadly, I know a few people who would drive off without paying or try to sneak in a few items). There is a general level of trust in the community that just amazed me. You can completely relax and have fun and let your kids run around without worrying about their safety every second. Everyone follows the traffic rules and it’s normal, which is totally absurd right?

 

We were so fortunate that the Australian Grand Prix happened during our visit. My husband and son are totally crazy about Formula 1 (OK, I am too). This turned out to be the highlight of our trip just a notch above the drive from Adelaide to Melbourne with overnight stops in Mt Gambier and along the Great Ocean Route.  Melbourne is grand, the only activity we did outside of Albert Park was to go on the Melbourne Star. Traffic was insane, and we got lost quite hilariously a few times, in part due to the GPS.

 

In general, I found Australians to be nice and helpful (diverse too, if you throw in all the expats become citizens). I went in worried about their accent, but it was OK. I am the one that had to be asked to repeat myself a few times. And I tried not to convert to rand as I was buying things but hey, it’s inevitable. A lot of things are a lot more expensive than SA, food, clothes, Airbnb, car rental etc. The food portions are quite large though (Costco pizza) and even fast food has good quality (never had a KFC twister with such crispy lettuce). I took 3 suitcases with books and sentimental items and left them there. My sister can ship them later to our new home in Tasmania.  I will definitely take along my cast iron pots and other fine kitchenware. These are crazy expensive over there. You pay Boardmans prices for Kmart quality, which is more like Checkers.

 

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and the grand missions (visa activation and AMC test) were accomplished. Although we didn’t make it to Hobart, I feel like I have a good idea what Australia is like. And I know that actually living there will be different from the vacation. I definitely see myself happy there and I believe the move is for the good of my family, and the benefits to be reaped are more than just financial. If you were ever robbed at gun-point in your home, you will understand that there is no price for safety and peace of mind. 

 

 

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Welcome to the land of Oz :)

 

We are relatively new too. Just completing seven years in Adelaide. We love it here. The pace of life in "small Adelaide" was just what we were looking for. 

 

You will love Hobart too. We were there on holiday two years ago. Loved the place!

 

Don't do the Rand conversion. It will drive you insane. Apart from the exchange rate difference keep in mind our high standard of living comes at a price. Which I am quite happy to pay considering back in RSA we used to pay for none value-adding things such as high walls, electric fences, alarm systems, fear of being robbed and the list goes on :)

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