I have been told that in Australia they work to live, where in the US we live to work...so it will be interesting to see the differences in the work culture. I will post more as I observe things. For now...I have to get out of here and catch a tram to work!
Brighton Beach bathhouses with Melbourne in the distance
Friday, August 12, 2011
Hi Ho Hi Ho, It's off to work I go....
After a number of interview with recruiting agencies (which is how most employers hire staff) I found a job with a medical practice (without a recruiter). It is a husband and wife practice, she is a neurologist and he is an endocrinologist. It's a super flexible job, in fact I was able to pick my start and end times so that was nice. One of the nice things about working in Australia is the "benefits" of the job. I say "benefits" because everyone who works get the same benefits, so in the Australian sense not really benefits but in the US sense we would consider them benefits. My work hours are 8 to 4pm...with a lunch break and tea breaks (so I see that as 7 hours of work a day), there is 4 weeks of annual leave, 10 sick days and 10 public holidays and if that were not benefit enough, employers are required to contribute 9% of your base salary to superannuation (like 401k)! In the office that I work in, they close for 1 month at Christmas so they prefer that I take 2 weeks of my annual leave at Christmas time (ahhhh..no problem) and they ask that I take 1/2 day off per week or 1 full day after 19 days worked! I think I'm going to like this job!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Apartment secured!!!
After many weeks of searching, applications and disappointments we finally have secured an apartment! The apartment rental market is very tight here in Melbourne. There are many more people looking for apartment than there are apartments available, therefore it becomes very competitive and the owners can get large amounts of money for their tiny 2 to 3 bedroom apartments. In addition the process is very complicated. You inspect a property (in a 15 minute time frame along with everyone else interested in the apartment) then you submit an application along with a number of supporting documents (bank statements, passports, proof of employment, and previous rental history, in our case mortgage statement records) and you wait to see if the agent chooses you to rent the apartment. So it's important that you are nice and personable with the agent as they have a say in who rents. Nic will tell you that I laid it on thick when there was a place that I liked. The average cost for a 3 bedroom apartment in the CBD (central business district) ranges anywhere from $750-$1100 per week! CRAZY! Our apartment is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment on Russell Street at Little Collins. It is right on the north end of the city, know as the Paris End. It is a half a block from the 5th Avenue or Michigan Ave of Melbourne CBD. I can see the Louis Vuitton and Gucci from our balcony! I'm very relieved to have found a place and now can get that off of my to do list! Now all I need is our container to arrive and to find a job! I'll post pictures soon!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Oh the ways around things...
I have found many work arounds to get things that we got in the US here in AU. First there is the Magic Jack...the BEST $49.99 US I have ever spent. I am able to call the US for 19.99 a year and my family and friends in the US can call us for free! I love the Magic Jack.
Apple TV, another wonderful item. I purchased it in the US for $99 US, I could have purchased it here as well for about $25 more but I wanted to insure it worked before coming to AU. I have maintained my US iTunes account, therefore I can download US television programs, pay US prices and watch all my US tv shows. The television programming in AU is not so great. There is one AU comedy/drama series that we've started watching but for the most part there are a lot of old US programs on TV. My dad would be a happy guy here as all the old westerns that he liked to watch are one TV here all the time (The Big Valley, Gunsmoke, etc).
Lastly something I recently discovered is Hotspot Shield. This is a free program that shields your internet IP address so that you can do things you otherwise would not be able to do. For example, Nic can download books from Barnes & Noble to her Nook, we can even watch TV programs on US websites (Hulu, etc). I haven't tried it with Netfliks yet, but I will.
For now...off to watch Big Brother (I know...poor tv)!
Apple TV, another wonderful item. I purchased it in the US for $99 US, I could have purchased it here as well for about $25 more but I wanted to insure it worked before coming to AU. I have maintained my US iTunes account, therefore I can download US television programs, pay US prices and watch all my US tv shows. The television programming in AU is not so great. There is one AU comedy/drama series that we've started watching but for the most part there are a lot of old US programs on TV. My dad would be a happy guy here as all the old westerns that he liked to watch are one TV here all the time (The Big Valley, Gunsmoke, etc).
Lastly something I recently discovered is Hotspot Shield. This is a free program that shields your internet IP address so that you can do things you otherwise would not be able to do. For example, Nic can download books from Barnes & Noble to her Nook, we can even watch TV programs on US websites (Hulu, etc). I haven't tried it with Netfliks yet, but I will.
For now...off to watch Big Brother (I know...poor tv)!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Busy days
Been a long time since I've posted. I've been quite busy looking for jobs and places to live and of course continuing our exploration of the city! On Sunday we visited the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne. I love living in the city where everything is just a short stroll or tram ride away. The gardens are about 15 minutes by tram from where we are living. Although it was winter, there were still many beautiful flowers in bloom and lots of pretty birds flying around. We did spot some black swans and some parrots but they did not land so I could get their pictures.
The apartment hunting continues to be frustrating. Nicole and I run all over the city and get to the 15 minute inspection times to find out the apartments are too small to fit our furniture, or we find one we love that is too expensive to fit our budget. We still have time before we need to find one. We are in the serviced apartment until the middle of September and can extend that if necessary and our container is not due to make it to Australia until August 22 and not scheduled for delivery to us until September 4. We can place our things in storage if necessary...but I really want my stuff!
Job hunting has been interesting as well. I'm trying to figure out exactly what my job is called here and what the appropriate pay should be. Also most employers use employment agencies to find their employees. I have had 3 interviews with 3 different recruiters about positions. I am waiting to hear from 2 of these recruiters about interviews with the actual employers.
Rich has been traveling quite a bit the last couple of weeks. He's been to Perth, Canabera, Sydney, Brisbane and who knows where else. It's strange I know where he is but I have no clue where he is. These places are all foreign to me. I could not even pick out on a map where they are all located!
The apartment hunting continues to be frustrating. Nicole and I run all over the city and get to the 15 minute inspection times to find out the apartments are too small to fit our furniture, or we find one we love that is too expensive to fit our budget. We still have time before we need to find one. We are in the serviced apartment until the middle of September and can extend that if necessary and our container is not due to make it to Australia until August 22 and not scheduled for delivery to us until September 4. We can place our things in storage if necessary...but I really want my stuff!
Job hunting has been interesting as well. I'm trying to figure out exactly what my job is called here and what the appropriate pay should be. Also most employers use employment agencies to find their employees. I have had 3 interviews with 3 different recruiters about positions. I am waiting to hear from 2 of these recruiters about interviews with the actual employers.
Rich has been traveling quite a bit the last couple of weeks. He's been to Perth, Canabera, Sydney, Brisbane and who knows where else. It's strange I know where he is but I have no clue where he is. These places are all foreign to me. I could not even pick out on a map where they are all located!
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| Nicole and a black swan |
Friday, July 15, 2011
Back to 1990?
This is a total vent post...but I'm doing it anyways. I am extremely frustrated today. Sometimes I feel like I've gone back in time. For example, I have a cell phone that has no key pad or camera, like when cell phones first came out. Do you remember how hard it is to text? Not to mention I pay a connection fee of $.39 per call and then $.89 per minute oh and of course no data! Lets not forget the internet. Seems we have used our allowed bandwidth for the month, so we are now on speeds similar to dial up! Yippee fun times! Welcome back to the 90's.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Bait & Hook
otherwise referred to as "apartment hunting".
We have learned a lot in the very short time we have been here about apartment hunting. Here is how the process goes. You look on line for available rental properties, if there is an inspection scheduled (open house) then you simply go to the inspection, which only last 15 minutes (yes 15 minutes), if an inspection is not scheduled you can contact the agent (yes they use rental agents) and schedule a time to inspect the property. When you attend an inspection they take your name/phone number and you and several other interested in the property view the property. If you are interested you take an application and apply for rental and you are notified if you are accepted. Sounds simple right? Well it's not...here are the catches:
The apartment looks nothing like the picture on the internet.
Just because the pictures on the internet show a pristine and lovely apartment/house doesn't mean that is what you are going to look at. I scheduled an inspection for a lovely 4 bedroom house, in our price range which looked beautiful in the pictures. I am not sure I was even at the same property. This place in real life was a dump. There were tenants living there and there was food on the counters, garbage piled in the bins, dirty laundry on the floor and not one made bed. How can one look past this and see the potential? Many places were not total dumps, but did not match the pictures on the internet listing. For example one place we really liked was lovely in the photos and lovely in person, however the photos were not of the same apartment. The kitchen was a different colour (white bench tops vs. black; white appliances vs. stainless steel) and the rooms were laid out differently.
Just because the price is listed at one amounts does not mean its what they really want.
Rentals are extremely expensive in Melbourne so we have a budget on what we can spend. When I've done searches on the internet I look only at properties within our price range. We looked at one place (where the pictures did not match what the place looked like) that was listed within our price range to find out from the agent that the price was actually $75 more per week or $300 per month more than our budget.
It turns out that the agents use old or fake pictures and make up prices just to get you there! What a total waste of time (mine and the agents). Then they tell you that all prices are negotiable as are the lease terms and the payment terms. Ugh...
With that being said, we did find 3 places that we really liked and applied. We were notified last night that we were "accepted" for one of the places...but now we're negotiating...ha! Here are some pictures of the place we liked...of course they don't look anything like the apartment we saw and would get if we accept the offer of acceptance!
We have learned a lot in the very short time we have been here about apartment hunting. Here is how the process goes. You look on line for available rental properties, if there is an inspection scheduled (open house) then you simply go to the inspection, which only last 15 minutes (yes 15 minutes), if an inspection is not scheduled you can contact the agent (yes they use rental agents) and schedule a time to inspect the property. When you attend an inspection they take your name/phone number and you and several other interested in the property view the property. If you are interested you take an application and apply for rental and you are notified if you are accepted. Sounds simple right? Well it's not...here are the catches:
The apartment looks nothing like the picture on the internet.
Just because the pictures on the internet show a pristine and lovely apartment/house doesn't mean that is what you are going to look at. I scheduled an inspection for a lovely 4 bedroom house, in our price range which looked beautiful in the pictures. I am not sure I was even at the same property. This place in real life was a dump. There were tenants living there and there was food on the counters, garbage piled in the bins, dirty laundry on the floor and not one made bed. How can one look past this and see the potential? Many places were not total dumps, but did not match the pictures on the internet listing. For example one place we really liked was lovely in the photos and lovely in person, however the photos were not of the same apartment. The kitchen was a different colour (white bench tops vs. black; white appliances vs. stainless steel) and the rooms were laid out differently.
Just because the price is listed at one amounts does not mean its what they really want.
Rentals are extremely expensive in Melbourne so we have a budget on what we can spend. When I've done searches on the internet I look only at properties within our price range. We looked at one place (where the pictures did not match what the place looked like) that was listed within our price range to find out from the agent that the price was actually $75 more per week or $300 per month more than our budget.
It turns out that the agents use old or fake pictures and make up prices just to get you there! What a total waste of time (mine and the agents). Then they tell you that all prices are negotiable as are the lease terms and the payment terms. Ugh...
With that being said, we did find 3 places that we really liked and applied. We were notified last night that we were "accepted" for one of the places...but now we're negotiating...ha! Here are some pictures of the place we liked...of course they don't look anything like the apartment we saw and would get if we accept the offer of acceptance!
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| kitchen except the one we looked at had darker cabinets, black counters and was oriented differently |
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| living area looked like this but again oriented differently |
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| The outside actually looked like this! |
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Kiwi
ki·wi/ˈkēwē/Noun
1. A flightless New Zealand bird (genus Apteryx, family Apterygidae) with hairlike feathers, having a long down-curved bill with sensitive nostrils at the tip.
2. A New Zealander, esp. a soldier or member of a national sports team.
3. The egg-sized, edible berry of the Chinese gooseberry, having fuzzy brownish skin and a slightly tart green flesh.
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| Kiwi |
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| Kiwi |
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| Kiwi |
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| Brekkie |
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