Job Discussion Forums

[lozwich]

I lived in Melbourne until I was 19, lived in Sydney for 5 years, and Brisbane for 4. I agree with LS, the accent gets softer the further north you travel, and people in Brisbane definitely use a lot more 'love's and other familiarities with strangers than in the southern cities.

And that upward inflection in Melbourne is truly revolting!

[naturegirl321]

[lozwich]

Best of luck Naturegirl!

Really, once you go to live in Melbourne, you probably won't even notice the accent after a while. Half of my family still live there, and I don't notice their accents at all. Its not grating, and your ears won't start bleeding or anything, and Melbourne has heaps (that means a lot, in Australian) of things that more than compensate for it. Culture, nightlife, very interesting weather...

Lozwich.

[Crazy Eagle]

Hi,

Lots of great feedback. Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne all seem to have their charms.

How does the ethnic mix differ between those cities? I hear Melbourne has a lot of Greeks. What about Brisbane and Sydney? Ethnic diversity makes a city more interesting, and does wonders for the restruant scene.

[lozwich]

Apparently, Melbourne has more Greeks than many parts of Greece! As far as population density goes, its Athens, then Melbourne!! Lots of my friends in high school were Greek. The food at what we called 'Greek Easter' was truly a wonder to behold. There are also lots of Italians, Vietnamese and Chinese people in Melbourne.

I think statistically Sydney has more Italians than Melbourne, but both cities have a high mix of different cultures, like those mentioned above, Turks, Indians, Eastern Europeans etc etc etc.

Not that I ever counted, but Brisbane seems to be less multicultural than the southern cities, although in one place I lived, there were lots of Greek people who had been there for generations. There are lots of Asian migrants in Brisbane, from places like Japan, China, Thailand and Korea. There are some brilliant food hall type places in Brisbane that sell some of the best Asian food I've ever tasted - but then I only have a limited experience of travel in Asia..

Is there a drooling icon here anywhere? In general, I find the food available in Australia varied, reasonably priced, and delicious! 'Australian Cuisine' is a mixture of all the different nationalities in Australia using local and imported ingredients, and it's great!

Have an excellent day!
Lozwich.

[Crazy Eagle]

Glad to hear there is cultural and ethnic diversity in Oz. Makes a place much more interesting.

On another note, I heard there was an uproar in Oz recently over a billboard that showed a woman walking two men like dogs! Seems that a bunch of men were outraged at the image of female dominance.

Is this a symptom of something deeper? Have women achieved equality in Oz, in the workplace as well as in relationships? I realize that there are people with few neanderthal attitudes everywhere. When I worked in a bank in California, 60-70% of the bosses were women, and nobody seemed to think much of it. Howz the situtation in Oz? Tense?

[lozwich]

Naaaaah...

There is a strong push in Australia to eliminate sexist advertising. A few years ago there was a shoe billboard that had a woman sitting at the feet of a bloke wearing the said shoes and the way he was holding her chin looked like she was about to perform a certain service...

Women's groups complained vociferously about that one. It just sounds like this is just men's groups getting a bit of their own back.

Ideas like the glass ceiling, women doing too much work in the home, men being 'forced' to be more understanding and so forth are pretty much the same in Oz as anywhere else. But, I'd never say it was tense. There are people who get really upset about it, and there are other people who take a more relaxed approach. Just like in other countries around the planet.

L.

[vik]

Hello, i'm a bit new to this so please bear with me, but I'm currently waiting to find out if I have been accepted for skilled migration to Oz & I'm in the process of doing lots of homework & research about it. I am a primary school teacher (full time class teacher of a class of 5 & 6 year olds in a state run Catholic Primary school) with a 4 year B.Ed degree and 6 years experience. What I need to know is, what are my chances of finding work in Brisbane or maybe an hour or so north or south of Brisbane in the same sort of job although not neccessarily in a Catholic school? and also what would my expected annual wage be? would I be able to afford a decent place to live or would I have to flat share? Or would I be better refocusing my ideas? Absolutely ANY info you can offer at all will be very welcome. Thanks!

[lozwich]

vik,

Try checking out www.couriermail.com.au and www.realestate.com.au. You can look at classifieds for jobs and housing in Brisbane.

Your definition of 'decent' will define what you can afford, but you'll be fine.

Where are you from? Have you been to Australia before?

I think you will have no problems, as long as you get the skilled migration thingy.

Good luck,
Lozwich.

[vik]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for replying! I have just opened both of the sites that you mentioned. I'm going to have a real good mooch through them both & do my sums to see if they all add up. fingers crossed......

[lozwich]

vik,

In just under a week, I'll be back in Brisbane for a few months . Let me know if you want to know prices of groceries and petrol and stuff. I can't remember how much these things cost (in fact, I never paid much attention to the costs of essentials), but it might help to work out your average expenses.

BTW, no worries about my reply - no need to say thanks. I think what you are going through is normal. Kind of tickles me that you're feeling this way about Australia, because life is pretty easy there, but I'm glad to help!

Good luck,
Lozwich.

[calsimsek]

I'm local Melb lad (left home 15 years ago ) and have now settled in Ist. Got married and have stated to think about going back home. Got full paper work and over 15 years teaching O/S, especially E.S.P in Economics and Bus/Admin in Turkey, Oman, Poland and Budapest. What are the chances of getting full time work in Melb and what are the monthly take home rates after tax
( God I hate the idea of paying tax again ). Plus anyone out there know how Collingwood is doing this session.

[KCA420]

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[Bisa Dong!]

Hi KCA420

What about the prospects of teaching ESL in state, Catholic and independent schools? I know you need a DipEd with an ESL teaching credential. I plan to a DipEd in a year or so and am in the process of finding out what teaching subjects would give me the widest employent opportunities. I'm settled on English for my first teaching subject and at the moment it's a toss between ESL and Indonesian for the second.

Bisa Dong!

[KCA420]

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