My Australian experience
It is exactly 6 months since we arrived in Australia. I am sure you are asking,” Is it what we expected?” Well it has been and much more. Let me tell you about my experience.
I arrived with my family on the 6th January 2010.We had heard that Darwin is as hot as hell and we were mad to be going there, however as a family we had decided that the Northern Territory( NT) was the place to be because of the skills shortage and the good salaries that they pay. My husband and I are both in our mid forties and couldn’t afford to waste time.
I managed to line up an interview with a school before we arrived and to our surprise I was offered a permanent teaching position at a top school in Darwin with an excellent salary. My husband took about a month to secure a job for himself. My son was offered an apprenticeship as a car mechanic by a reputable car dealership and my daughter had no problem finding employment at a child care centre. We were all settled with jobs within the first 2 months. Yes, there are many jobs available and if you have the right qualifications and the correct attitude and work ethics you will have no problem.
We have been told that living in the NT is very different to living in the rest of Australia; however we prefer the relaxed atmosphere that the NT has to offer .If you love fishing and do not mind the heat then this is the place to be. The wet (which is summer here) is very hot and humid and there are downpours of rain practically everyday .The dry (which is our winter) are absolutely beautiful. Many tourists come to Darwin at this time because of the lovely weather. NT stands for “Not Today” and the saying,” No worries mate”, is applicable. People are very friendly and go out of their way to help you.
The next question is, were we able to cope financially? Yes, because we were able to secure jobs we were able to find a place to rent for a reasonable amount. We are paying $495 per week for a three bed roomed house in a very good area. We had to fill in an application form to rent and made sure that we bought over from South Africa a rental referral from the previous agent that we rented from as well paid a months rent upfront.
We had to write a theory test and do a practical driving test in order to get our NT drivers licence. We were all very nervous but once we had done it, we realised it wasn’t so bad. My husband and I have both bought a car through a dealer and are able to pay the cars quite comfortably on our salaries. A car in Australia is affordable in proportion to other costs. If you want to buy a new car you need a NT drivers licence, an international or SA licence is not accepted.
The next important point is crime. Since we have been here we have not been affected by crime in anyway. We still lock our cars and houses at night and I am sure it is something we will always do having lived like that in SA for all our lives. There is crime in the NT and throughout Australia, but it is not the violent crime that occurs in SA daily. I do feel save and do not feel scared to drive around at night. The police are very vigilant and what I like is that rules apply. If you are caught drinking and driving you loose points on your licence and pay a fine. When we first arrived our children were sitting in the back seat of the car and did not have their safety-belts on. My husband was fined $800(R 5 600).Well we learnt a very hard but good lesson. Rules mean something!
There are many times that we will feel lonely and miss our family and friends but looking at the quality of life that we lead, we know that we have made the right decision to emigrate. As they say “Oi Oi Oi Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie!”
Thank you for this little article Leanne!
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