Moving to Australia?

[Haole]

Originally Posted by -Dex-

TJV's moving diary:


August 31st
Just got transferred with work into our new home in Kalgoorlie!! Now this is a city that knows how to live !! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place !! I watched the sunset from a deck chair on the verandah, It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my home. I love it here.

September 13th:
Really heating up. Got to 35degC today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I’m turning into a sun worshiper.

September 30th:
Had the backyard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

October 10th
The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected.

October 15th:
Fell asleep by the pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol’ sun in a climate like this.

October 20th:
I missed Kitty (our cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car for lunch, Kitty had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stank up the $3,000 leather upholstery. I told the kids that she ran away. The car now smells like Wiskettes and cat shit. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat.

October 25th:
The wind sucks. It feels like a giant fucken blow dryer!! And it’s hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is on the blink and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive over and tell me he needed to order parts.

October 30th:
Been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bloody $300,000 house and we can’t even go inside. Why did I ever come here?

November 4th:
It’s 38 degrees. Finally got the ol’ air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 25, but the bloody humidity makes the house feel like it’s about 30. Stupid repairman. I hate this stupid fucking place.

November 8th:
If another wise arse cracks, “Hot enough for you today?” I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucken heat! By the time I get to work the car’s radiator was boiling over, my clothes are soakin fucking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!

November 9th:
Tried to run some messages after work. Wore shorts, and sat on the black leather seats in the ol’ car. I thought my fucking ass was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and my fucking ass. Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried ass, and baked cat.

November 10th:
The weather report might as well be a fucking recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn’t it ever rain in this damn fucking place ?? Water rationing will be next, so my $2,000 worth of palms just might dry up and blow into the fucking pool. Even the palms can’t live in this fucking heat.

November 14th:
Welcome to HELL!!! Temperature got to 41 today. Now the air-conditioner’s gone in my car. The repairman came to fix it and said, “Hot enough for you today?” My wife had to spend the $2,500 mortgage payment to bail my arse out of jail for assulting the stupid fucker. Fuck Kalgoorlie !! What kind of a sick demented fucking idiot would want to live here?

December 1st:
WHAT????? This is the first day of Summer???? You are fucken kiddin !!!!!



It's an oldie but a goodie.

Totally different than my first December down under.

Snowed on Christmas day. (I was on Mt Wellington near Hobart.)

[TJVigilante]

Originally Posted by Scaly

12 hour days, 7 days a week on lots of sites

Depending on your roster, the site and company it can be anything from 8 days on 6 days off up to 4 weeks on 1 week off

Practically what I do right now, and I don't go home every day even just to eat and sleep. That alone is a bonus.

You're all saying that my wife is going to hate me...I've put the heat, the move, the dryness, and the increased costs on the table for her and she's still excited to go. More so than I am, even.

[hoggyn]

Originally Posted by TJVigilante

You're all saying that my wife is going to hate me...I've put the heat, the move, the dryness, and the increased costs on the table for her and she's still excited to go. More so than I am, even.

Just go for it. If they start to hate you, you can always buy a caravan to live in and move your family to the coast. Fremantle has a nice breeze.

[The Adam Blaster]

Originally Posted by hoggyn

Fremantle has a nice breeze.

I've been to Perth, and I wouldn't describe those daily gale force winds as "breezy"!

I saw a few windows blown out from the office towers and taller hotels facing the Swan River.

[Tigerchief]

Originally Posted by TJVigilante

You're all saying that my wife is going to hate me...I've put the heat, the move, the dryness, and the increased costs on the table for her and she's still excited to go. More so than I am, even.

Originally Posted by hoggyn

Just go for it.

Agreed. If you're being honest with yourself TJV and what you say here is true, I'd go for it if I were in your shoes.

I asked you earlier to consider your kids for a reason: it will be a not so nice adaptation for them environment-wise, make sure you're aware of what it'll take to help them with it.


Kids adapt easier than adults (wives) however, so, again: go for the adventure.

You're kids might actually benefit from this more than you, going from a bastard cold environment to an arid one, experience wise.

Maybe they'll grow up to be astronauts. If they've got their Mom's brains.

[hoggyn]

Originally Posted by Tigerchief

I asked you earlier to consider your kids for a reason: it will be a not so nice adaptation for them environment-wise, make sure you're aware of what it'll take to help them with it.


Kids adapt easier than adults (wives) however, so, again: go for the adventure.

You're kids might actually benefit from this more than you, going from a bastard cold environment to an arid one, experience wise.

TJV, if it helps I can put you in touch with a family who moved to the Perth area from the US a year or so ago. Their children (3 & 9) are thriving.

IIRC Their main gripe was the cost of living compared to the US (they don't work in oil or mining.) Minor gripes were few but included getting used to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road and having to learn new words and new pronunciations of old words in order to be understood by the locals. "Banana" seemed to amuse them the most.

[Scaly]

Fair dinkum cobber. Get used to the frog and bone for a yarn and drinking heaps of piss

[77bawls]

Originally Posted by ademb

Don't worry, your american women love us just as much And you have more of them to go around then we do

That's true. Swedish women like us even more than Ausie women.

[nate379]

What makes you think anyone will miss him?

Originally Posted by Scaly

I see this ending badly with a missing yank at the bottom of an mine shaft

Make sure you take your fine attitude and have a drink at the Ora Banda

[Tigerchief]

Originally Posted by 77bawls

That's true. Swedish women like us even more than Ausie women.

Swedes are funny.

It's not a compliment if they like you, it's just that they think they're safer with you, while they check whatever it is they're trying to save while using you...

(Apologies for the generalization to any native Swedes here.)

[-Dex-]

Originally Posted by Haole

Totally different than my first December down under.

Snowed on Christmas day. (I was on Mt Wellington near Hobart.)

Big difference between Tasmania and Kalgoorlie.

[zookstock]

Originally Posted by RickP

I can only think of one reason to move to Australia...and her name is Trish!

http://www.myspace.com/misscheiviousgemini

In, thanks for the chance....

[zookstock]

Originally Posted by TJVigilante

There's a huge mining boom going on down there and this listing is one of about 6 or 7 that I saw looking for US, Canadian, or South American citizens to relocate to Australia, including full repatriation, relocation, and work visas taken care of. No, I didn't mention this earlier, but it's a non-issue as long as they're cool with a family of 5. These listings mentioned family as well, so I have something to go by there as well.

It's not my only option. I'm looking at Juneau, and there's a local mine that's hiring annually that I can probably get with next spring for a drastic $$$ increase over my current, now that I have the required experience.

Sorry,

We're full. No room for you!

[zookstock]

Originally Posted by Teryx

Wut happened to the TJVagina???

Still going down under LOL....

No! The officials got hold of his P4x4 reputation and put a lifetime ban on his spawn....

[Haole]

Originally Posted by The Adam Blaster

I've been to Perth, and I wouldn't describe those daily gale force winds as "breezy"!

I saw a few windows blown out from the office towers and taller hotels facing the Swan River.

The only time in my 20 years in the Navy that boating was secured for going ashore was in Fremantle. Score, extra 24 hours on the ship.

[Haole]

Originally Posted by Scaly

Fair dinkum cobber. Get used to the frog and bone for a yarn and drinking heaps of piss

Don't talk about his kids anymore.

[Haole]

Originally Posted by -Dex-

Big difference between Tasmania and Kalgoorlie.

Yup, I know. Been to both Tassie and WA.

[kirstyandgrace]

I live in Perth and work nearish to Kalgoorlie (500km further north) so I feel qualified to comment.

I don't recommend taking a wife and kids to Kal, a good looking wife in particular. If you catch where I'm coming from.

Whilst it is a self sufficent town with most conveniences I wouldn't want to live there. The cost of living in Kal is high, even by West Australian standards.

Gun ownership is allowed but heavily regulated.

Google 475 visa and you will find a ton of useful information.

The closest beach to Kal would be Esperance (general area) and it is a spectacular spot.

My advice would be to relocate to Perth and obtain fifo work (fly in fly out)
Anything geology and exploration related is in quite high demand at the moment, but investigate the visa rules.

Companies generally pay relocation up front but require you to stay for a fixed minimum period, usually 2 years for international.

Edited to add http://www.ato.gov.au this is the official taxation site

Anything you want to know in particular, fire away.

[Tigerchief]

Originally Posted by kirstyandgrace

I don't recommend taking a wife and kids to Kal, a good looking wife in particular. If you catch where I'm coming from.

Why? Are there better looking women there than TJVag?


Explain.

[GQtim]

Town with 80% men

you will be hit on all the time by blokes.

I worked there and will never be back many other mines id rather work than Kal

[Trish]

Originally Posted by RickP

I can only think of one reason to move to Australia...and her name is Trish!

http://www.myspace.com/misscheiviousgemini

Originally Posted by tacoma73

dang, that's plenty of reason. Me gusto mucho

awww... thanks guys... you're going to make me blush... lol...

[Tigerchief]

Originally Posted by Trish

awww... thanks guys... you're going to make me blush... lol...

From my experience, the only loose women in Wellington, were Australian.

Thank god for them.

[keeptahoewhite]

Originally Posted by TJVigilante

I expected all of this.

Yeah I know it's out in the middle of nowhere, but I already drive 100 miles to work one-way, and it's no big deal driving a few hundred more to get anywhere. The town I'm seeing is pretty self-sufficient. I see there's a road straight south to the coast that's around 100-150 miles as well so that'll be a better trip if I need to see some water. It'd be nice to be able to bike to work but still afford to go wheeling whenever I want.

I'm fine with dry, if it doesn't mean it's all frozen. I already live in an arid climate so it's no different. I'm kinda stoked about the potential of it never really getting below freezing. I'm tired of snow, to be honest, and I'd like the ability to keep my entire living quarters open and aired out rather than having to seal it all up for half the year.

My current income that I mentioned before is net. It's more like 62k gross, working 9 months out of 12, and that's also due to me being at one of the lower paying exploration firms in the area. The tradeoff has been that it's a great company to work for, it's very casual, and I've had a lot of paid downtime lately. But I'm ready to step up.

One of my favorite bands is out of Perth, too...so that kinda sealed the deal for me. Now I'm hoping they're willing to relocate a family of 5.

Definitely the only place to meet those requirements..........

[LeadfootCJ7]

I was out in the garage last night and heard an ad on the radio for a career fair coming to Houston that is put in by Australian employers who are in need of welders, etc. I did not hear the entire list. It sounds like they are coming to hire tons of people. If you think you have a sweet gig, jump on it before the market gets flooded.

[TJVigilante]

Originally Posted by GQtim

Town with 80% men

you will be hit on all the time by blokes.

I worked there and will never be back many other mines id rather work than Kal

According to the demographics I read up on, it was just shy of dead-even men and women, with a couple grand more men than women. Out of 25-30k.

Originally Posted by keeptahoewhite

Definitely the only place to meet those requirements..........

And when the fuck did I say it was? It was in response to saying it was a small town out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. If it's self-sufficient, that's great. I already drive 100+ miles to work, I can make an occasional weekend drive out to Esperance for some beach time, or out to Perth for a concert. More than what I can do here, actually.