We've now been in Australia for 6 months! Can't believe it, but it's true. but still fresh off the boat, as my new Aussie mates jokingly say...
What you want:
a new life in Australia
What you think:
It's going to be tough, wonderful, adventurous, happy, sad, hard work and fun
What they DON'T tell you:
you're right ;-)
It's all of the above, but not a single second of regret having made the move. Things are, of course, very different. It IS a new country, with a very different culture and ways of doing things, but it is also a civilised, first-world, english speaking, proud, patriotic, economically sound place to live.
There's loads of work if you want it and very few problems compared to good old SA.
To illustrate:
2 weeks ago the front page news carried the headline 'Golf widows unhappy' or something similar.
THAT'S exactly why we moved here - if the biggest news they could suck off the end of their thumbs was that the men are playing too much golf, and it's THE headline of the day, we (Australians) have no worries! I shudder to think what the news was in South Africa...
Loving it! Come on over...
'it's easy to live here, you'll love it' - Melbourne Cab Driver, aged 57, 2nd generation Australian, on the way to Melbourne airport, May 2007
He's right.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
WTF - Q & A
What you want:
Some general information on the day to day expenses
What you think:
Where am I going to get this?
What they DON'T tell you:
Here!
Some general info I've put together for some friends that are coming over...
Q - Medical & Hospital insurance/cover - Is this government medical?
A - Yes -Medicare if you're a permanent resident. Very expensive privately, so make sure you get medical included when you get employed if you come over on a 457 VISA.
Q - Do you pay for medical if there on a work permit (before Residency is through)?
A - yes
Q - How much?
A - The doctors , dentists etc are not regulated, so you should discuss with them before treatment. Also prescriptions are the same. Quite pricey.
Q - Pharmacies - Dischem equivalent?
A - yes - Chemist Warehouse http://www.epharmacy.com.au/chemistwarehouse/welcome.asp
Q - Cars - buying. Cash? Or deposit and credit?
A - Both. 10 % deposit.
Q - How much deposit if latter option. How does credit vetting / rating work?
A - Need 100 points. This is proof of address, copy of Visa, proof of employment, copy of SA drivers license.
Q - Car Insurance - More or less an average amount?
A - We pay $98 for house and car. see http://www.realinsurance.com.au/ . MUCH Cheaper.
Q - What is the transport system like (buses, trains, trams)?
A - excellent. all the above avialable - trams only within about 10km radius. clean and on time.
Q - Petrol/fuel price per litre?
A - Varies - cheapest on Tue/Wed morning - around $1.36 then more expensive towards the weekend - around $1.46.
Q - Process of getting your driver's license, some kind of ID card?
A - Have a look at http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/Licensing/NewResidentsVisitors/OverseasDriversLicences.htm
Q - Groceries - do they have equivalent of Pick & Pay or Woollies
A - Yes - Coles, Safeway. No Woollies or equivalent found so far. Markets are great - good quality food, meat and veg.
Q - What do you spend on groceries per week / month?
A - around $600 to $800 per month.
Q - Clothes - equivalent of Woollies, Edgars, Foschini.... or just name brand stuff?
A - Mostly brand name, but also large discount stores such as dfo (http://www.dfo.com.au/)
Q - Cost of a Starbucks cuppa
A - Dunno, but average good coffee around $3.50
Q - Eating out for two - decent restaurant, average bottle of white wine
A - Pricey - around $50 to $60. Wine is $8 per glass, beer around $6, spirits around $8
Q - Water, electricity, gas bill per month (Stoves - gas or electric?)
A - water - $50Gas & Elec - $50Gas cooker with elec stove
Q - Telephone - home phone vs cellular. Rental and call prices
A - Home line=$19 pm depending on package
cell= from $30 depending on package. $79 for equiv of talk 500. calls are between 27 and 40c, with 30c connection fee
Q - Malls - ZA or US equivalent?
A - very few - mostly UK type shopping strips
Q - Social life - do they invite/include foreigners?
A - very open to cultures. no issues
Q - Electric appliances - looks like all our South African stuff will work there?
A - Yes, except if your TV is older than around 10 years
Q - Garden Equipment - are you allowed to ship your lawnmower and spades, gazebo (I happen to like my metal sculpture) etc?
A - Yes, just make sure NO seeds/grass etc comes with - they will find it and destroy it. Steam clean it.
Q - Container / move - what size did you take, and how much did it cost?
A - 30m3/R40000.
Q - Hiring a car when you get there - cost per week / international license ok?
A - Varies - best site is http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au/. SA licence is OK.
I'll keep updating this as I get questions.
Some general information on the day to day expenses
What you think:
Where am I going to get this?
What they DON'T tell you:
Here!
Some general info I've put together for some friends that are coming over...
Q - Medical & Hospital insurance/cover - Is this government medical?
A - Yes -Medicare if you're a permanent resident. Very expensive privately, so make sure you get medical included when you get employed if you come over on a 457 VISA.
Q - Do you pay for medical if there on a work permit (before Residency is through)?
A - yes
Q - How much?
A - The doctors , dentists etc are not regulated, so you should discuss with them before treatment. Also prescriptions are the same. Quite pricey.
Q - Pharmacies - Dischem equivalent?
A - yes - Chemist Warehouse http://www.epharmacy.com.au/chemistwarehouse/welcome.asp
Q - Cars - buying. Cash? Or deposit and credit?
A - Both. 10 % deposit.
Q - How much deposit if latter option. How does credit vetting / rating work?
A - Need 100 points. This is proof of address, copy of Visa, proof of employment, copy of SA drivers license.
Q - Car Insurance - More or less an average amount?
A - We pay $98 for house and car. see http://www.realinsurance.com.au/ . MUCH Cheaper.
Q - What is the transport system like (buses, trains, trams)?
A - excellent. all the above avialable - trams only within about 10km radius. clean and on time.
Q - Petrol/fuel price per litre?
A - Varies - cheapest on Tue/Wed morning - around $1.36 then more expensive towards the weekend - around $1.46.
Q - Process of getting your driver's license, some kind of ID card?
A - Have a look at http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/Licensing/NewResidentsVisitors/OverseasDriversLicences.htm
Q - Groceries - do they have equivalent of Pick & Pay or Woollies
A - Yes - Coles, Safeway. No Woollies or equivalent found so far. Markets are great - good quality food, meat and veg.
Q - What do you spend on groceries per week / month?
A - around $600 to $800 per month.
Q - Clothes - equivalent of Woollies, Edgars, Foschini.... or just name brand stuff?
A - Mostly brand name, but also large discount stores such as dfo (http://www.dfo.com.au/)
Q - Cost of a Starbucks cuppa
A - Dunno, but average good coffee around $3.50
Q - Eating out for two - decent restaurant, average bottle of white wine
A - Pricey - around $50 to $60. Wine is $8 per glass, beer around $6, spirits around $8
Q - Water, electricity, gas bill per month (Stoves - gas or electric?)
A - water - $50Gas & Elec - $50Gas cooker with elec stove
Q - Telephone - home phone vs cellular. Rental and call prices
A - Home line=$19 pm depending on package
cell= from $30 depending on package. $79 for equiv of talk 500. calls are between 27 and 40c, with 30c connection fee
Q - Malls - ZA or US equivalent?
A - very few - mostly UK type shopping strips
Q - Social life - do they invite/include foreigners?
A - very open to cultures. no issues
Q - Electric appliances - looks like all our South African stuff will work there?
A - Yes, except if your TV is older than around 10 years
Q - Garden Equipment - are you allowed to ship your lawnmower and spades, gazebo (I happen to like my metal sculpture) etc?
A - Yes, just make sure NO seeds/grass etc comes with - they will find it and destroy it. Steam clean it.
Q - Container / move - what size did you take, and how much did it cost?
A - 30m3/R40000.
Q - Hiring a car when you get there - cost per week / international license ok?
A - Varies - best site is http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au/. SA licence is OK.
I'll keep updating this as I get questions.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
WTF?
So we decided in March 2007 to permanently move to Australia from South Africa. It's December 2007 and we're here now, so I decided to share some info around our experiences.
WTF is for 'Where to Find...?', 'What the F...', Why the F...', etc... ;-)
I'll let you know What To Find, What they tell you, and especially, what they don't tell you!
I know there's loads of info out there about Aus, but I thought I'd compile it into one place about the stuff that worked for me. I hope it's useful to someone...
Disclaimer: This is based on my individual experiences. I'll mention companies by name and recommend what I found worked - or didn't. Do your own research and use common sense when considering my view...
WTF is for 'Where to Find...?', 'What the F...', Why the F...', etc... ;-)
I'll let you know What To Find, What they tell you, and especially, what they don't tell you!
I know there's loads of info out there about Aus, but I thought I'd compile it into one place about the stuff that worked for me. I hope it's useful to someone...
Disclaimer: This is based on my individual experiences. I'll mention companies by name and recommend what I found worked - or didn't. Do your own research and use common sense when considering my view...
Friday, June 15, 2007
WTF - about the pets...
What you want:
To bring your beloved animals with!
What you think:
No problem - a few months in quarrantine is ok.
What they DON'T tell you:
Bad news, I'm afraid. We had 2 lovely chow-chow's - part of the family - that we had to leave behind. It was the hardest decision of all. The quarrantine period here is 7 MONTHS. That's insane! We couldn't bring ourselves to lock our dogs up in solitary confinement for that long, and then when they came out, they'd be weird and screwed up. So we gave them away to a lovely family in SA. Still breaks our hearts every day, but you're choosing a better, safer lifestyle for the rest of your life, so in the end it was them or us. Sounds selfish, but it was worth it.If you decide on solitary ;-) for them, they are well cared for by professionals, and you can visit as often as you like, but the centers are normally out of town. If you can deal with the heartache of deserting them every week (we can't), maybe it's an option. It's around R20000 to fly them out and around $3000 per month for them (times 7!), so you need to weigh up how much you need to get out of there... also, consider your housing when you arrive. Most rentals don't like pets.
To bring your beloved animals with!
What you think:
No problem - a few months in quarrantine is ok.
What they DON'T tell you:
Bad news, I'm afraid. We had 2 lovely chow-chow's - part of the family - that we had to leave behind. It was the hardest decision of all. The quarrantine period here is 7 MONTHS. That's insane! We couldn't bring ourselves to lock our dogs up in solitary confinement for that long, and then when they came out, they'd be weird and screwed up. So we gave them away to a lovely family in SA. Still breaks our hearts every day, but you're choosing a better, safer lifestyle for the rest of your life, so in the end it was them or us. Sounds selfish, but it was worth it.If you decide on solitary ;-) for them, they are well cared for by professionals, and you can visit as often as you like, but the centers are normally out of town. If you can deal with the heartache of deserting them every week (we can't), maybe it's an option. It's around R20000 to fly them out and around $3000 per month for them (times 7!), so you need to weigh up how much you need to get out of there... also, consider your housing when you arrive. Most rentals don't like pets.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
WTF - who to trust with everything you own on the planet!
What you want:
All your earthly possessions to arrive safe and sound halfway across the world - undamaged...
What you think:
It's very expensive, everything is going to break, and it probably won't arrive in Australia.
What they DON'T tell you:
We relocated with Crown International Relocations instead of Biddulphs for the simple reason that Crown offered an end-to-end Crown owned service, whereas Biddulphs used other service providers.
Crown was excellent.
The packing staff were great and thorough, and when we received our goods that were shipped on 20 October on 27 December, NOTHING was damaged or broken. Incredible, considering our whole house had gone via truck to Durban, South Africa, into storage, onto a container ship to Singapore, into storage, onto another ship to Melbourne, into storage, through customs, transferred to a new container, and eventually unpacked at our new home. Even our 40 plus bottles of wine and 80 or so glasses made it. Well done to them!
The packing process took 2 days and they pack it all. Loading is on the third day and takes most of the day.
Make sure you remove all animal, plant, untreated wood and grasses from your stuff. Don't try to sneak anything through. Customs and immigration unpacks the container into a new one on arrival in Australia, and they'll find most things. We had a honeymoon photo album with a banana leaf stuck on the front cover and they destroyed this - we didn't sneak it in, just overlooked it in the chaos.
Another thing to get used to - it took 8 guys to load the truck in SA, plus a driver to watch, and 2 guys to unload, one of which was the driver - bit more efficient and cost effective, methinks...
All your earthly possessions to arrive safe and sound halfway across the world - undamaged...
What you think:
It's very expensive, everything is going to break, and it probably won't arrive in Australia.
What they DON'T tell you:
We relocated with Crown International Relocations instead of Biddulphs for the simple reason that Crown offered an end-to-end Crown owned service, whereas Biddulphs used other service providers.
Crown was excellent.
The packing staff were great and thorough, and when we received our goods that were shipped on 20 October on 27 December, NOTHING was damaged or broken. Incredible, considering our whole house had gone via truck to Durban, South Africa, into storage, onto a container ship to Singapore, into storage, onto another ship to Melbourne, into storage, through customs, transferred to a new container, and eventually unpacked at our new home. Even our 40 plus bottles of wine and 80 or so glasses made it. Well done to them!
The packing process took 2 days and they pack it all. Loading is on the third day and takes most of the day.
Make sure you remove all animal, plant, untreated wood and grasses from your stuff. Don't try to sneak anything through. Customs and immigration unpacks the container into a new one on arrival in Australia, and they'll find most things. We had a honeymoon photo album with a banana leaf stuck on the front cover and they destroyed this - we didn't sneak it in, just overlooked it in the chaos.
Another thing to get used to - it took 8 guys to load the truck in SA, plus a driver to watch, and 2 guys to unload, one of which was the driver - bit more efficient and cost effective, methinks...
Sunday, June 10, 2007
WTF - to sell or not to sell?
What you want:
Start getting rid of the big things like cars, houses, furniture, pets in time.
What you think:
Start early so you're not stuck with it.
What they DON'T tell you:
For my views on what to get rid of, see this post.
Don't sell anything until the VISA is in your hand! A million things can go wrong in a year - the typical processing time for a PR/Permanent Residence VISA - so patience is needed. We started by getting a quote for the furniture relocation, which then let us understand how much space we had to pack into. We then measured up everything and decided what to get rid of. We also got settlement prices for the cars, and a valuation on the house. We prepared all the adverts for the household stuff, took some digital pics, and prepared an email to circulate amongst our friends... and then waited.
and waited.
and then the panic moment arrived. The VISA came through.
We sent the FOR SALE email to our mates and most stuff went within a week - you'll be amazed how effective this is - interesting to find out who's being coveting your possessions with lustful hearts!!! ;-)
Cars went within about 3 weeks with the right price -don't expect market value if you're in a hurry, but be careful not to get shafted. If you don't sell in time you can always leave signed papers with a lawyer or trusted friend to handle the transaction. It's not a big deal.
Selling the house is tricky because it's very dependant on demand in your area, but once you have a buyer and he's paid a deposit and all is signed, very little normally goes wrong. All the paperwork after you've accepted the offer can be done remotely, so keep things in perspective.
Pets were hardest, simply because we wanted to hand-pick the new owners.
So, repeat after me - Don't sell anything until the VISA is in your hand!
Start getting rid of the big things like cars, houses, furniture, pets in time.
What you think:
Start early so you're not stuck with it.
What they DON'T tell you:
For my views on what to get rid of, see this post.
Don't sell anything until the VISA is in your hand! A million things can go wrong in a year - the typical processing time for a PR/Permanent Residence VISA - so patience is needed. We started by getting a quote for the furniture relocation, which then let us understand how much space we had to pack into. We then measured up everything and decided what to get rid of. We also got settlement prices for the cars, and a valuation on the house. We prepared all the adverts for the household stuff, took some digital pics, and prepared an email to circulate amongst our friends... and then waited.
and waited.
and then the panic moment arrived. The VISA came through.
We sent the FOR SALE email to our mates and most stuff went within a week - you'll be amazed how effective this is - interesting to find out who's being coveting your possessions with lustful hearts!!! ;-)
Cars went within about 3 weeks with the right price -don't expect market value if you're in a hurry, but be careful not to get shafted. If you don't sell in time you can always leave signed papers with a lawyer or trusted friend to handle the transaction. It's not a big deal.
Selling the house is tricky because it's very dependant on demand in your area, but once you have a buyer and he's paid a deposit and all is signed, very little normally goes wrong. All the paperwork after you've accepted the offer can be done remotely, so keep things in perspective.
Pets were hardest, simply because we wanted to hand-pick the new owners.
So, repeat after me - Don't sell anything until the VISA is in your hand!
Friday, June 8, 2007
WTF - to take your stuff or not?
What you want:
To easily settle into your new life in Australia.
What you think:
Not sure whether to take your things with you or not. Some say yes, some say no...
What they DON'T tell you:
Our thought process started with listening to advice from 'others'. Bear in mind that each experience is unique, so you need to make up your own mind based on limited information. We were told that it's better to sell up everything and buy again when we arrived in Australia due to strict quarantine laws, different furniture styles, cheaper prices, etc. We were also told to hang on to everything for exactly the opposite reasons.
In the end, we compromised.
The obvious things that won't go through customs, like feathers, untreated wooden African souvenirs, anything made out of cane or grasses, or mud/clay, we gave away or sold. This included our lawnmower, weed eater and camping gear.
The other limitation was the container size. It's 30 cubic meters, which was 6 meters by 2 meters by 2 meters. Into this must go your whole life's gathering! Quite a challenge.
This had an upside - we finally tossed away all the crap that we clung onto for the last 20 years and moved from storage cupboard to cupboard and house to house and never used/looked at/ even knew existed until we tried to throw it away and couldn't.
I found this a very cleansing process - decluttering your life is amazing and refreshing. Even if you're not moving, I highly recommend it!
This included clothes, shoes, duplicate appliances, old sentimental furniture, papers and other rubbish.
We also decided not to take any vehicles with as the import duties are very high, and cars are about 30% cheaper to buy in Australia - I'll post about this later.
I also left my Jetski for the same reason.
...and yes, we did take our electrical appliances and TVs and hi-fi's etc - the power supply is the same as South Africa, so all it involved was a trip to Bunnings (similar to Makro in South Africa) to buy 25 new plugs and a morning to change them and everything worked just fine.
The only catch is that your TV has to be able to use the PAL B/G format. South Africa uses PAL I, so check this before taking the TV with. Most modern TVs can switch between the formats though.
We ended up taking only our best quality, most useful and most loved stuff and it was a very good decision!
I cannot tell you what a wonderful feeling it was when everything arrived thousands of kilometers away in our new country! It immediately makes your house feel like home, and settles you. And it's not a materialistic view - many things you own have good memories attached to them. We're very glad we decided to ship our stuff.
Another upside - settling into Australia is a lot of work initially - you don't know your way around, or where to find or buy anything. You also don't recognise brands or know what good or poor quality suppliers are, so I imagine having to buy your whole life back quickly would lead to some costly and regrettable decisions.
The next post will discuss relocation companies and our experience with them...
To easily settle into your new life in Australia.
What you think:
Not sure whether to take your things with you or not. Some say yes, some say no...
What they DON'T tell you:
Our thought process started with listening to advice from 'others'. Bear in mind that each experience is unique, so you need to make up your own mind based on limited information. We were told that it's better to sell up everything and buy again when we arrived in Australia due to strict quarantine laws, different furniture styles, cheaper prices, etc. We were also told to hang on to everything for exactly the opposite reasons.
In the end, we compromised.
The obvious things that won't go through customs, like feathers, untreated wooden African souvenirs, anything made out of cane or grasses, or mud/clay, we gave away or sold. This included our lawnmower, weed eater and camping gear.
The other limitation was the container size. It's 30 cubic meters, which was 6 meters by 2 meters by 2 meters. Into this must go your whole life's gathering! Quite a challenge.
This had an upside - we finally tossed away all the crap that we clung onto for the last 20 years and moved from storage cupboard to cupboard and house to house and never used/looked at/ even knew existed until we tried to throw it away and couldn't.
I found this a very cleansing process - decluttering your life is amazing and refreshing. Even if you're not moving, I highly recommend it!
This included clothes, shoes, duplicate appliances, old sentimental furniture, papers and other rubbish.
We also decided not to take any vehicles with as the import duties are very high, and cars are about 30% cheaper to buy in Australia - I'll post about this later.
I also left my Jetski for the same reason.
...and yes, we did take our electrical appliances and TVs and hi-fi's etc - the power supply is the same as South Africa, so all it involved was a trip to Bunnings (similar to Makro in South Africa) to buy 25 new plugs and a morning to change them and everything worked just fine.
The only catch is that your TV has to be able to use the PAL B/G format. South Africa uses PAL I, so check this before taking the TV with. Most modern TVs can switch between the formats though.
We ended up taking only our best quality, most useful and most loved stuff and it was a very good decision!
I cannot tell you what a wonderful feeling it was when everything arrived thousands of kilometers away in our new country! It immediately makes your house feel like home, and settles you. And it's not a materialistic view - many things you own have good memories attached to them. We're very glad we decided to ship our stuff.
Another upside - settling into Australia is a lot of work initially - you don't know your way around, or where to find or buy anything. You also don't recognise brands or know what good or poor quality suppliers are, so I imagine having to buy your whole life back quickly would lead to some costly and regrettable decisions.
The next post will discuss relocation companies and our experience with them...
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