Moving to Tassie eventually - let me know good towns

[Ponyboy]

Hi to all the Tassie bub hubbers!

My husband, DD and I plan to move to Tassie in the coming years - once house is all fixed up and market is right and I've finished my degree (Librarianship). I am wondering what are the good areas to live in (i.e. not too cold, good employment prospects for a librarian and storeman (artist)), good schools etc etc.

And if anyone has made the move from Qld to Tassie, how'd you find it?

My DH's mother lives in Sisters Beach and says it's lovely so we are thinking the Northern part of Tassie might be nice, and not too cold for me who loved it when I lived in Central Qld - my DH loves the cold but I'm not too fond of it.

Any info would be great!

[Mischief]

Come to hobart! :) Its great down this end of the state.

And the Salamanca art scene would be great for your hubby. There are soooo many galleries and things down there! Plus for you there are libraries everywhere! :)

Plus, you would have ME! LOL

[Ponyboy]

:laughing: I realise my wishes of "not too cold" possibly won't be met!! And as for unemployment, no I wasn't aware of the stats for Tassie. I keep my eye out for library jobs as they come up and there seem to be quite a few each month. :confused:

What about schools? My DD is only 1 but we hope to be down there before she starts at school. I did find one Steiner school but am interested in the public system and what it is like too.

And I suppose I'm interested to hear people's views on mainlanders moving to Tassie?

[Funkychicken]

Hi Ponyboy,
I'm not from Tassie and no nothing of theior state system but just wanted to let you know that the waiting list at Tarremah Steiner school is huge. I have a couple of friends who have been trying to get a place for a while with no luck yet. A friend of mine was one of the teachers at the Launceston Steiner school. She had applied at Tarremah for a teachers position but couldn't get a place for her son so went to Launceston-which then closed down anyway. Just a bit of a heads up if you are looking to enrol at Tarremah. :)

[sandoz]

My grandparents lived at Sisters Beach, it is really lovely.I grew up on the North west coast so I can tell you more if you need it.
A friends of DHs went to Tarremah for primary school, loved it. She was quite a bit ahead of her class when she got to high school. My nephews are all in the public school system and doing well.

[Hokey Pokey]

:laughing: I realise my wishes of "not too cold" possibly won't be met!! And as for unemployment, no I wasn't aware of the stats for Tassie. I keep my eye out for library jobs as they come up and there seem to be quite a few each month. :confused:

What about schools? My DD is only 1 but we hope to be down there before she starts at school. I did find one Steiner school but am interested in the public system and what it is like too.

And I suppose I'm interested to hear people's views on mainlanders moving to Tassie?

We moved from Brisbane (forest lake actually) 12 months ago, we live around Hobart.. down near the beaches in Kingston/Blackmans Bay. We love it here.
There is a Steiner School this way too if that is what you are after..:thumbsup:

[Hokey Pokey]

As for employments, it took DH 6 months or more to get work when we moved to Bris... when we moved to Hobart it took 4 weeks!! So it isn't that bad at all! Depends on the kind of work I guess???

[Mischief]

My parents moved from Central West NSW to Dover (a small community in Southern Tas), they were made very welcome.

I think that if you are prepared to make friends, then the locals will befriend you! If you come in thinking that they wont, then they wont. Simple as that!

As for unemployment rates, there is always work there if you are prepared to do it. OK, you might not walk straight into the job you want, but if you are prepared to start something and move on, then you can always have work. Ive been employeed full time since I was 15, 9 whole years! My hubby has been working full time since he was 15 too.....14 years!

We have both left our jobs, and gone straight to another one. Its all a matter of being prepared to start on a lesser level.

I'm sure you will do GREAT! It would be lovely to have some more tassie hubbers. Most of us girls catch up every so often for a cuppa and have heaps of fun!

Hobart is alot more mild, our temperature ranges are more even. Launceston is colder over night, but generally warmer during the day.

When we moved to Tassie, mum and dad were told to bring their woolies, we ended up buying tees and shorts, because it was no where near as cold as everyone said! :)

So...Pony...COME ON DOWN! :o)

[squidge]

my DH two children and i moved to Tassie in mid 2004. We loved it. We lived in burnie not too far from sisters beach. We also stayed in a friends holiday house at sisters beach for a month or so. Absolutly beautiful!!

The people are friendly, and it does seem to be a different culture in Tassie compared to the mainland. Oh thats the other thing, some-not all- see it as the mainlanders and the Tasmainians. Us and them sort of view. However i did say some, not all.

I guess the reason we decided to move back to the mainland was because even though Tassie is beautiful, it is also quiet isolated. It costs a lot of money to visit people on the mainland, especially if you want to take your car with you. So it is good that you have family there. Hopefully the isolation thing will not be a prob for you. It was for us cause we knew no one when we moved there and also we had never even gone there for a holiday.

Good thing is buying a house is not as expensive as it is on the main land. not on the nw coast anyway. They are going up steady though. Not such a good thing... second hand furniture and things are expensive in Tassie. Everything is "antuiqe" even when it is obviously not. This means that a lounge that would be clean and very nice in a second hand store in Melbourne, Canberra, sydney anywhere else would range from $50-$300. In Tassie the same thing could range from $500-$3000. No joke, we looked. It was hard for us to get furniture second hand! We moved down there with whatever was in our car and trailer. The biggest item being the washing machine.

[Ponyboy]

Well we are going to try and head down for a week or two in October. If anyone knows of cheap accommodation, please share. We will have access to a car but hope to see a few places where we might like to live (and the touristy things) - so if you can recommend things to see, that would help too.

[Mischief]

Hey Sharon, if you are coming to Hobart check out www.wotif.com.au (http://www.wotif.com.au) and have a look at Sommerset on the Pier or on Salamanca. Both are really LOVELY accomodation and are often quiet cheep on Wotif. :)

The Black Buffalo Hotel also has accomodation at a very reasonable price, its basic, but clean and within walking distance of North Hobart Dinning Strip.

Might help if I knew what type of price range you are looking in?

[LoopyLyndaLou]

Hi,

we moved from the Uk to Tassie about 13 months ago and I have to say Tas is not cold! Despite people thinking it is, even the tasmanians themselves, it is NEVER cold here. It is occasionally chilly but the temp rarely falls below 10 degrees in teh winter unlike temps of below zero from where we were before!!! Although, granted. if you are coming from Qld it may feel a little cool!

It is truly a beautiful place to be, very laid back especially with regards to service whether it be in restaurants, tradesmen etc, nothing happens quickly but I am thinking if everyone jumped when you clicked your fingers you may as well live in London, Sydney etc as you would lose what makes Tasmania special. (although it is bloody frustrating at times!)

There always seems to be loads of work around if you are prepared to do it. It is like anything, sometimes it may not be exactly what you want but it is always easier to find work if you are in work if you know what I mean.

We are based in Hobart but are slowly working our way out. My peference is down towards Kingston way as you can pick up property with land at a very reasonable price.

A friend of mine has many friends with children at the local steiner school, I think they are really happy with it.

The comments that have been made already are very true, not only second hand, but ALL furniture is abusrdly expensive as are second hand cars (totally ridiculously priced!) and also getting anywhere else is a pain with timings as well as expense. We have just booked a goliday back to the Uk and the only affordable way we could do it was with really long waits in Sydney both on the way out and the way back as none of the flights to Tasmaina seem to correlate with overseas flights. Will be a nightmare on the return trip as I will be on my own with 3 kids as dh is coming home earlier.

Lynda

[Static_Cat]

hi ponyboy. my husband and met in melb in early 1990 then moved back to his home state of qld we left there to come to tassie in dec 1997. my father lives here. we live in port sorell 22 k's from devonport. port sorell is on the river that joins the bass strait. very quiet place. we have ppl moving here from all over oz. my husband and i used to work for a rental car for 7 yrs. we got it 2 weeks after we moved here. we know lots of places to see and do. yes it does get cold in tassie. but if you live in the top part on the coast it will be warmer. and since your husband loves the cold you'll be just over 1 hr from cradle mtn from devonport. so he can have the snow. tassie is the most beautiful state that ive been too. each state has it charm but i will never move from here unless i have no choice. you'll love it. do come for a holiday and just look around 1st. jobs in tassie arent high. but it depends on what you can do etc. even try rental car companies that is how my hubby and i travelled around the state and saw things that you dont always see on the maps. well if i can help further or you want a guided tour just holler and i will see what i can come up with. you'll love our perfect state. remember we're double friendly cause we have 2 heads. lol.

[Pobblebonk]

remember we're double friendly cause we have 2 heads. lol.

This line is a classic! I cracked up laughing! Geez you Tasmanians are a riot!

I dunno why I find that so funny but I'm still laughing.

Oh dear Sharon, you will look quite funny with two heads once you move down there! :laughing:

[miakat]

Hey DP and I moved from Central Qld to Launceston almost 2 years ago and I have to say I love it here! It can get pretty cold, esp. overnight in Lonnie but maybe we are still getting used to it since we are from CQ where it is incredibly hot all the time!

Although I am a SAHM at the moment I found work very quickly but it was only temp work - which ended up lasting 6 months and then I had to leave to have DD so it worked out really well. It wasn't what I wanted to do workwise but there is work out there.

We came down for a holiday a few years before we moved and had no hesitation in moving when the opportunity arose - do come down for a look if you can!

[charlieangus]

I live in Launceston. It's a great town, like a big counrty town, but with all the modern conveniences of a big city like myer, target, kmart and lots of supermarkets. We also have a great playgroup network in and around the city so its great for kids.

We'd love to have you!!!!!!:fingerscrossed: