Living in Tasmania

[cheezelkat]

I'm in love with the idea of living in Tasmania, as I *hate* summers in Queensland with a passion. However how practical is it to get up and move down south? My partner works for a bank and is trained in credit card work and call centre stuff, so how easy would it be for him to get a job? Whats the weather really like, and how much do you like living there? Is there plenty of rental housing available? Does it rain often?

Any info would be great!

[scorpio]

LOL, wow, we are doing the exact opposite of what you are considering!!!

Our family are moving to South East Qld and the sooner the better!!!...we are born and bred Tasmanians but have just had enough of the cold cold weather, especially in Winter..which is right now!!!!!...its cold, very cold!!......the day temps hardly rise above 10oC. We are sick and tired of having a Summer thats maybe 2-3 months long if we are lucky and the rest of the year yearning for a bit of warmer weather again!!! lol

So my dh is looking for a good job up North and as soon as he gets one we are off. We have 2 schoolage children, 10 and 12, and we have no qualms about starting them at a new school half way through the year.

To answer some of your questions though..........yes, it rains heaps, probably a bit less down Hobart way but its hell cold all over!!.........some times the rain can go on for a week!!!.....and if its not raining its just plain cold!!

There seem to be a few rentals about down here in Hobart which is where we live, but its not cheap!!.....rentals in Hobart can be expensive and so is buying a house!

There are a few contact centres in Hobart.........Centrelink, Qantas, various Telcos, Aurora Energy, RACT, and probably quite a few more Im not aware of.........there is a bank contact centre but not sure which bank, I think Commonwealth......so I wouldnt imagine there would be too much trouble gaining employment in a contact centre down here. You would have to search careerone.com.au to find out employment options in the Hobart area. Not sure about the North and North West of the state, maybe jobsearch.gov.au???

How practical to move here????......well, we are doing it, only in reverse to you! lol Its going to cost us around $4000 to move our stuff via a shipping container which first has to cross Bass Strait to Melbourne, then be railed up to Brisbane!!...its our cheapest option as none of the car/truck rental places will allow one-way rentals from Tassie!!........we will take the ferry Spirit of Tasmania from Tassie to Sydney to get our vehicles over (we have 2) and then drive from Sydney to Brissie, so thats also an added cost......such is life on an island state!! lol

Good luck with whatever you decide.....we are looking forward to a warmer climate and realise we may suffer during the Summer months, thats why we plan to rent a home with a pool!!! ;) And we will also look forward to living in a place thats not so isolated from the rest of Aust.......its expensive to fly/ship across Bass Strait every time you want a change ie., shopping in Melbourne, catching the footy....etc.....

[Ponyboy]

My husband and I also have a plan to move to Tassie - although not for a few years - have to finish the renovations on our house here in Goodna, Qld.

I'm an almost qualified Librarian and he is a forklift driver with aspirations to be a full time artists once in Tassie - should I manage to get a good paying librarian position and then he can stay at home and do his art and look after our daughter - although I think little art will be done. :)

His mother lives in Sisters Beach and tells us how beautiful it is in the Northern Tassie region. My husbands work has a branch in Longford so it is possible to get our foot in the door through him getting a transfer and then going from there. So we will be looking to move in the Launceston region - although I'd prefer to live on the north coast.

We will be planning a holiday down there sometime this year or early next year to test the waters!!

[Hokey Pokey]

Hi all
Well we left QLD earlier this year to come back to Tassie (lived in QLD for 4 years)
The hot weather is so overrated in my experience, nothing can prepare you for the heat. It can make life just as hard as living in the cold, infact I prefer the cold as you can always rugg up, but you can't always cool down!

[Kaileysmum]

Hey there,

I live in Tassie, and there are plenty of rentals around. As for the job thing it really depends on where yoou want to live. There are a few call centres in hobart as someone else has said, also there is 2 in Burnie and 1 in Devonport (both NW coast), which all deal with different things. I used to work for one and I got the job very easy and there are always plenty of jobs going in them. Also there seem to be jobs advertised for banks all the time too.

I love living in Tassie, its wonderful. The cold weather can be annoying, but Id rather be cold than hot all the time. Anyways good luck with your decision.

[neans74]

Tassie is a beautiful place, however we are seriously considering moving back to Melbourne. We've been here five years now and we have found it hard to make friends, we miss our families and we are really tired of the cold. We live in Ranelagh (southern tassie) and most days the fog is soo thick and doesn't lift until 12pm!
We are also thinking about opportunities for our kids, we think there would perhaps be more in melbourne.
My husband absoulutley LOVES the trout fishing spots here though and the scenery etc, I guess it depends on what your looking for..if you want great views, cold weather etc then come on down!:)
it's always good to give things a go!

[julz_06]

The weather isn't that cold down here this morning was freezing but the suns out now and the sky is perfect blue.

Summer it can get hot but it's a different heat to QLD thats for sure. I've noticed its more of a humidity heat over there where here it's more of a burning heat. I find it funny how people are always wondering about the weather it's not that bad it's no worse than Melbourne in fact melbourne is often colder. Hobart is very cold in winter.

I think it depends what type of job your hubby is looking for.

scorpio we haven't had any rain for about three weeks :rolleyes: it's not that bad and getting to melbourne etc is cheap as on Jetstar

[Hokey Pokey]

There is also a call centre for vodaphone right over my back fence hehe!! ;)

[scorpio]

Yes, you can always use Jetstar or Virginblue IF they have a sale seat on the day you wish to fly AND IF you can get a return flight on the day and time you wish to return. We are so over being at the mercy of the airlines and their timetables for cheaper flights out of Tassie, but thats just our family.

We also have older children, 10 and 12 and we have begun to wonder about their career opportunities and future prospects. They will be limited as to what they can pursue in Tassie. We have 3 older girls, all in their early twenties now, and only one still lives in the state. They needed to leave to follow career paths.

Honestly, it really is a very personal decision for a family to make. Their reasons for doing so are varied and unique to that particular family. If you have travelled a bit, as we have, you begin to realise that there is so much more out there to explore and experience. The world is a very big place and we feel we dont want to spend it tucked away in Tassie any more. Sure, Tassie is very picturesque and can offer a great life for kids, but for us, the weather has worn us down, we are ready for a change, and as I mentioned earlier, we would like to be able to offer our children a little more in the way of career options down the track.

All our family live in Tassie so we will be returning to visit, but we are looking foward to a change in weather, scenery, jobs and life in general.

To all those looking foward to a move down to Tassie, I hope you truly enjoy the experience. A move is what you make it I guess.

Cheers :wave:

[poppet]

Tassie is great to bring up kids. It has excellent schools, with fantastic sports facilities. I live at Lauderdale, which is a beach side suburb just east of Hobart, and we haven't had any rain for at least 3-4 weeks, and when we do get rain it is only for about an hour at a time, and it alsdo mainly overnight (Ihave lived on the gold coast, and to be honest with you it rains more there than in Tassie). Yes it gets cold, Average temp over winter would be 12 degree's, but it doeas have clear blue skies with sun, so you can still go for a walk.

Rentals you shouldn't have a problem, just depends on what price range your after average $300 a week should get you a decent house.

Now jobs, I'm a manager for Vodafone, and we have a huge call centre down here, there is also a CBA, Qantas, and heaps of Government department call centres in Town(Hobart).

Just to finish we love living here:ecomcity:

[cheezelkat]

Sounding good!

I seriously detest Queensland heat - summers make me physically ill and I just sit around and whinge. My electricity bill is sky high with the air conditioning on nonstop tpp :rolleyes:

I guess the hardest part would be friends and family - I'll probably have to wait until DS is a little bit older and in the naughty twos! He's the only grandchild for both sides of the family for now and I'd feel awful taking him away.

[Hokey Pokey]

Wow it's funny how we all have different views hey? I find the education to be far better down in Tas!!

[porridge]

I have to agree that the weather is S@#$% and it does rain alot... They do have the odd day or two where the weather is beautiful but for the most part... :no:

The cost of living is SO CHEAP!!! Purchasing a property in Tasmania is faaar cheaper than Queensland!



hmm, yeah it does rain, but we've been without a good rain for weeks now :no: I love the crisp autumn and winter mornings! Sure, it's not as warm as QLD but we have GREAT days (and a lot of them)

The general cost of living isn't cheaper - petrol is more expensive and so are most things :mad:

BUT Tassie is a great place to live! I've lived in the North of the state for my whole life and have great memories of going to the beach and bush walking :D

[annie71]

Hey Tassy guys,
Im not sure where the people that are posting that it rains alot in Tassy live but as the second driest state in Australia this is not really the case.
It does get very cold but alot of the days through winter are clear blue skys and driving into town when there is snow on the mountain is picture perfect in my books.:D
I park about 15 minutes from work to save on parking and I need to rug up in winter but the umbrella doesn't come out that often.

But like people have said it personal choice. I was born in Tassy but I lived on the mainland for 10 years in various places mainly Queensland as an adult. When I left I swore I would never return. But I think you need to leave to come back an appreciate Tassy for what it is.

Currently live in Seven Mile Beach and I love being back home, it is a great place full of great people, food, wine and a generally wonderful place to have a family and raise kids. :smiliedance:

[BlueGin]

You're all making me jealous! I would love to move to Tassy, I adore cold weather, and from what I have heard, a lot of houses over there are much better buit to withstand it! (Me - living in Melbourne's northern suburbs in a house with no insulation in the walls...Brrrr!)
My favourite evening activity is lighting a fire and cosying up, and the scenery just looks so good in Tas!

As to work for kids, not sure as I haven't lived there before. I guess it depends what they want to do! I imagine there would be a lot of academic jobs at the universities, a lot of environmental work, primary industries, retail, medical... can't really see a prob there, but as I said, no experience of it myself!

If we were to move it would probably be to some land down south of Rokeby, anyone here know the area well enough to give me an opinion of the various aspects of it?

[Lillynix]

Just thought i'd put in my two cents worth about living in Tassie :p

Rain - Nowhere near enough! I don't know why people say it rains alot? So far this winter it's barely rained at all, and when it does, we may have one day of rain (and rarely a solid day) then the next day it's stopped. We are afterall suffering a major drought right now, that wouldn't happen if it rained much :p
It rains more in Melb than Tassie. Tassie gets cold overnight and early mornings, but generally warms up enough to be bearable! It was a lovely day today, sun was shining, was great...I even wore a skirt today...and thongs! LoL

Education - Obviously it depends on the school, but my education was fantastic. I went to good public primary schools, then went to a good public highschool. I had no hassles at all!

Housing - There is a fair bit of rental properties around, just depends on how much you are willing to pay. (keep in mind, our cost of living may be cheaper than the mainland...but our wages are also lower) In general, for a nice 3bedroom home, be prepared to pay $210pw and up. But it really does vary between suburbs, you may find a great bargain...but also may get ripped off.

Kids - Don't have any as of yet, but my opinion is Tassie is a great place to raise kids. A more relaxed life style, and with Tassie being so small and everything being close together, you're kids are never far away if you need to go and pick them up from somewhere! LoL
It's also a great place for outdoor activites...go for a walk up one of the mountains, bike riding, go on a day trail with horses down near the beach plus more!

Jobs - There are alot of call centre jobs here in Hobart and they're always being advertised so I doubt there'd be a big problem there, as for working in Bank/Credit Union, don't think there'd be a big problem there either, i've seen a few bank jobs advertised lately! Of course, it all depends on the time of year :)

Well I think that pretty much sums up my opinion...maybe I should be a travel consultant? LoL
Either way, hope that helped a little :)

[Mischief]

Kat - I've PMed you! :)

[Hokey Pokey]

I can't agree more, I find the people to be really friendly and chirpy here despite the cold weather :yes:

[LoopyLyndaLou]

Hi well we made the move over here in Frebruary this year. I think we can safely say it was quite a momentous move as we travelled 11000 miles from England!

As far as we are concerned the weather is not cold, I find heating in the houses a bit naff, we have MUCH colder weather in the UK but our houses seem to be more geared up to it and the heating is much more efficient. Other than that we think the actual days are not too bad at all, rarely the temp fall much below 10 during the day.

I have to admit that dh and I do have a giggle because as soon as it gets slightly cold everyone seems to put on huge coats and scarves and gloves when the reality is it is light jacker weather....lol.

I don't find the rain too much of a problem, there have only been a few really wet grey days since we have been here other than that it is cold but bright - who can complain?

Tas is a beautiful place and what makes it so beautiful is the climate, having four definite seasons means that the flora and fauna diversity is amazing. It is worth a little bit of cold and wet to get all this surely?

My husband works for the infamous 'Betfair Australia', they are currently recruiting call centre staff so there are definitely jobs there!

We find the education OK. The boys are in a private school here that has a great reputation and we find it a lovely school but we do find the education system a little backward. In England our 5yo had completed half a year of prep but over here he only qualifies for Kindy although they have put him in prep the work is still incredibly easy for him. Our 8yo was half way through grade 3 in England but had to start at the beginning of grade 2 here. We find the maths very weak here, I don't think it is unique to the school, more the fact that kids don't start school until much later here and the gerenal expectation seems quite low.

Having said that, it doesn't appear at all that Tasmanians are backward so they must catch up somewhere along the line and perhaps it just goes to prove that children don't need to start full time school when they are only 4, they instead could have extra time with the mummy/daddy and still go on to achieve their potential perhaps a more confident happy child because of that extra time at home.

Hopefully we shall get to see you here before too long!

Lynda xx

ps I know how hard it is to move away from family. MY three boys are the only grandchildren on both sides, my mum even moved 100 miles to live near us and spend time with the boys. It was awful moving so far away from her, we miss her a lot and vice versa but she knows we have done what is best for our family and has already been over once to visit. We also moved away from th eplace where our little boy, who was stillborn, ashes were scattered. that was/is incredibly hard but I know that as with all my family he is with me where ever I go.