hannesb Posted May 29, 2006 Report Share Posted May 29, 2006 Hi all! My wife and I are currently living on the east coast of Canada. We came here from SA about 5 years ago, for Hannelie to start her PhD. She just graduated two weeks ago, and we have been looking at our future. We are contemplating a move to Canberra, where Hannelie was offered a post-doctoral position. However, to somewhat complicate matters, we recently found out that she's pregnant! Needless to say, we're now investigating more than just the cost of living in Aus, we're also looking at the cost of having a baby down under...HannesPSI have a little blog-thing going at Dispatches from the frozen wastelands, if you want to have a closer look at our mundane lives! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riekie Posted May 30, 2006 Report Share Posted May 30, 2006 Hannes, in the Ladies Lounge is a post on medical aids and babies - maybe your wife can register and pop in there. There was another recent post on this forum on the costs of having a baby in Oz, which I cannot find now....?? But there was a lot of info in that thread which might answer most of your questions. If I come across it, I'll PM you with the detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny Posted May 30, 2006 Report Share Posted May 30, 2006 Hi Hannes,You'll love Oz.... great place to be! My husband and I had a little boy 19 months ago and we're having a little girl 28 June 06, I can assure you that it is a lot more affordable than in SA, there is no way that we could afford having children there! I'm a stay at home mom and we live in a very nice area in Sydney in a very comfortable house, so, what I'm trying to say is.... if we can do it on one income, surely you'll be able to afford having a baby here. We also made use of public hospitalisation and I have to say I was very impressed, we are going back to the same public hospital for number 2!I have also recently entered my son into a day care facility about 5 minutes drive away from my house for one day a week, I have to say that is very expensive, but the cost differs from area to area. Just to give you a rough idea... we pay $70 per day for day care and it includes everything ie: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and snacks, it also includes special needs like soy milk and they provide nappies etc. the care they give is fantastic! You can see that they don't just leave the children to sit around and play all the time, they actually teach them things.... my son is afrikaans speaking and came back the first day and was able to use english words and know what they mean, like "good boy", "nappy" and he was able to count to three in english.Hope I was of some help to you.Best of luck with your moveKind Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannesb Posted June 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 Thanks for the comments, it's much appreciated! I'm still a bit nervous though, (least of all because this will be our firstborn)...we won't have any medicare to cover any pregnancy-related expenses...But, we've managed to survive for 5 years in Canada with high tuition costs and only one income, so I guess we'll survive Aus as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riekie Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 so I guess we'll survive Aus That's the spirit!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madelein Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 (edited) HannesYou won't make a mistake going to Canberra. It is a beautiful place and a good place to kick-off your Career in Oz. Canberra offers many white-collar jobs. It is also very central if you want to visit the coast, skiing in the winter.I can also mention that Oz do not discriminate against pregnant woman. You can be halfway through the pregnancy and you'll still be able to start with a new job. There is a lot to do in Canberra: herewith some useful sites:http://www.canberra100.com.au/http://www.totaltravel.com.au/travel/nsw/c...irectory/eventshttp://www.karman.au.com/dorothy/canberra.htmlhttp://www.canb.auug.org.au/~lpb/MCD/http://www.bloomintulips.com.au/avenue.htmRegardsMadelein Edited June 2, 2006 by Madelein Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatterbug Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 HI Hannesb,Welcome! Congrats with the news of the pregnancy, We also have our firstborn on the way, and although we have been in Aus for over 2 years we'll also now only start to discover the costs of the pregnancy. Although we are on PR (free Medicare) which makes it cheaper. In SA we were both earning professional salaries (no kids), and here in Aus we are able to live quite comfortably on only my salary and still bring up a kid. I had however stayed in the same line of work with maybe one step up ito seniority, but hey that could have been the case back in SA too. I know this is only an armchair comparo but still we live more comfortable here. Anyway how far pregnant is your wifey?Enjoy and good luck with it allC'bug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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