Colin wrote:


>As a part foreigner living in Australia and about to get belted by the
>real Australians here Id' say.....

>For jobs you are really needing to look at either New South Wales
>(NSW) or Victoria (Vic), these two states tend to have the most
>electronic jobs advertised, Queensland (land of humidity and heat)
>does have a very small (compared to the above mentioned states) though
>there are some bespoke places on the Gold Coast and in suburban
>Brisbane. Here is where I get shot - my impression is that for it's
>size NZ fights far above it's weight in the electronic industry
>compared to Qld - I know that from job hunting.

Nice tips.

>I can't really comment on the schools here apart to tell you that
>there are public schools (for the British - that's a state school) and
>private schools, most private schools are either denominational or not
>exactly attached but still proclaim certain a form of
>denominationality - most private schools are subsidised by the
>federal government - so most aren't that expensive (thinking of UK
>private schools here).

I don't think I understand the meaning of  =93denominational=94 in this con=
text.

>Healthcare (I'll try not to get political) is a bit of a mixed bunch,
>it consists of a bias towards private insurance, but there is a
>medicare funded health system - but it isn't always free (coming from
>a land of state benefited health I find many thinks strange).

Ok.

>House prices are ridiculous in NSW and Melbourne, Gold Coast, Sunshine
>Coast - rest of Qld is reasonable (average 3-4 bdr =3D AU$300 - 500K)
>Western Australia is too far away to worry about (apologies to WA'ers)
>weather is nicer than Qld (my opinion) dry, but the mining boom has
>seen WA become very expensive.

So you would need to have around AU$100 =96 170K as =93first payment=94 (I
don't know the english term, in spanish is called =93initial=94) and the
rest through a bank credit, right?

>Cars are cheap so long as you don't want to buy European models (my
>Peugeot 207 just cost me AU$36K compared to a Hyuandai and similar
>which are about $16-20K).

That's what I have found online.

>Australia has a bit of a water shortage - though it's been raining
>here in Brisbane since just before Christmas almost constantly - not
>today the sun was out =3D hot and humid (have I mentioned I don't like
>hot or humid? - that's why I want to move to NZ South Island).

If crime and some other things were different, I would recommend
Venezuela. Weather is outstanding, although it's been pretty dry and
hot last two months, we have cities with some nice 20-28C .

>Australia has just tightened it's immigration rules, so you'd need to
>double check that you can reach the required number of points AND  the
>family have no current health problems - you'll need to pay a health
>bond which I think lasts 2 years before you are allowed to start using
>state health - you also have to have a certain amount of money to
>bring with you as you won't be allowed to access any state assistance
>for a certain period of time.

I checked and we cover the points. We would need to put part of savings as =
bond.

Thanks for your tips, Colin.

Regards,

Carlos.

-- =

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