Every time it rained, I put a bucket under our ceiling. By morning, it was a quarter full. The carpet underneath was wet. The rugs were wet. This went on for days before the ceiling finally gave way in our living room. By this point we were in our second year renting here. We still
What to Do When Something Breaks in Your Rental in Australia Read More »
Is the job you were just offered actually the job you applied for? It sounds like a strange question to ask. But it’s one worth asking every single time, especially as a new arrival still learning how employment works here. My husband applied for a role advertised online as permanent. He went through every stage
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What does it mean when a form asks if you have a HECS or HELP debt? I remember sitting down to fill out my tax file number declaration when I first started working here. Every question made sense until I got to one line near the bottom. It asked if I had a HECS or HELP
HECS or HELP Debt in Australia: A Guide for Immigrants Read More »
You finally get the visa. So why don’t you feel settled yet? If you’re holding your permanent residency and still feel unsteady, still checking your bank balance more than you’d like, still not quite sure you belong here yet, you’re not imagining it. And there’s nothing wrong with you. We Thought the Visa Was the
Why Permanent Residency Didn’t Make Us Feel Settled in Australia Read More »
In our first year in Melbourne, I thought the hardest part of driving here would be adjusting to the roads themselves. Cars in Australia are right hand drive, and everyone drives on the left side of the road. Back in my home country, it is the opposite. Left hand drive, driving on the right, same
Converting an Overseas Driver’s Licence in Australia Read More »
It took us too long to change how we spent. When we first arrived in Australia, my husband didn’t have work yet. We were living with family, and no money was coming in. Not a little. None. And yet, for a while, we kept spending like everything was normal. We ate out. We bought the
How We Cut Our Spending in Australia When We Had Almost No Income Read More »
How long is too long to wait for a job in a new country? Is it normal to still be searching after months, not weeks? If you are asking yourself these questions right now, we want you to know something before you read any further. You are not behind. You are not doing this wrong.
What To Do With Your Money While You Wait For That First Job In Australia Read More »
A few weeks after we settled into our first home in Australia, a letter arrived in the mail. It had Medicare on it, and it mentioned something about turning 31. We did not understand it. My husband read it twice. I read it once and handed it back to him, because my mind was somewhere
Finding a place to rent in Australia is hard enough on its own. Then you finally find one you love, you sit down to apply, and you hit a wall nobody warned you about. You need a pile of cash before you can even move in. I remember that feeling so well. We had been
How Much Money You Really Need Before You Can Rent in Australia Read More »
When we first arrived in Australia, the word tax made my stomach turn a little. Back home, tax was something that just happened quietly in the background. Here, it felt like one more thing on a long list I did not understand yet. New job. New bank. New everything. And now this too. If you
TFN and Tax in Australia: A Simple Guide for New Immigrants Read More »