[Debbie P.]

Having had a bit of a (baby shaped) delay in our emigration plans, I'm beginning to wonder whether NZ is the best choice for us after all. I'm particularly concerned about salary/cost of living for a teacher (we may be a couple with 1 child living on 1 salary for a while at least). We're not extravagant in terms of material things (clothes, Internet etc), but we do have a weakness for frequent holidays!

In particular, it looks like Tasmania may be the best of both worlds, having similar scenery and weather to NZ, but with better salaries and a better cost of living (that's what I've picked up from various forum messages, anyway).

I wondered whether any teacher on the forum has taught in both countries and could comment on issues such as the work environment, salary, hours of work, cost of living etc? Just so I can get an idea of whether I'm barking up the wrong tree here.

Or if anyone else has a view on Tasmania as a place to live, that would be helpful. We're looking for a quiet lifestyle in a country with a lower population, plenty of opportunities to explore wildlife and the natural world, and we're not that bothered about having a dazzling night life (occasional meal or film).

Oh, also what's the creepy crawly situation like compared to NZ? Not a big fan of large spiders :exit I know I'll have to put up with them in either country, but does Tasmania have the same poisonous spider problem as the rest of Australia?

Cheers :nice1

[Debbie P.]

no one??

[Lupin]

AFAIK Tasmania does not have such a creepy crawly situation.

It's also one of the most unpolluted places on the planet and would be an awesome place to bring up children. I haven't been there but have family friends that live there and my mother in Oz adores the place and has sat me through hours of her photos of the place (stunning, absolutely stunning :) )

[Aussie Pom]

As far the creepy crawlies are concerned I haven't found a problem. No one has died from a poisonous spider bite in years. We have redbacks but even then they are only a problem for children under 2 or those who have serious allergies...I think the OZ creepy crawly factor is pretty over emphasised overseas. I find the cockroaches worse but I think there is the same problem in NZ.
I have been looking at the teacher situation in NZ and Tassie as we want to leave WA. All the same hoops seem to have to be jumped through but with my WA teacher registration I might get through them slightly quicker. I think that placement in Tasmania is more centralised which gives you less control over your choice of school, I have found this frustrating in WA. I am not certain about this though, you can find out from the Ed department.
Currently housing looks slightly cheaper in Tasmania. We have been looking just outside Hobart as we probably wouldn't consider anywhere else in Tassie. However as the $NZ is currently going down this may have evened out again.
You sound as if you are in the situation as us.:roll
Gina

[Debbie P.]

Thanks for advice. Tasmania does look stunning. Actually, looking at the visa requirements, I'm beginning to think it's unlikely we'd get in anyway, as they're not particularly looking for secondary school English teachers (although there are shortages in other subjects). Also, it says in rural areas only, and we were probably thinking of Hobart.

So we may have to forget about it and just go there for holidays instead!

Gina, good luck with the decision making. The placement thing sounds quite strange - so you have to register centrally to teach in a State of Australia and then get given criteria for the type/location of school you can apply for??? I can see how that would be frustrating.

[Aussie Pom]

You have to register in each state to teach, so my registration is only valid in Western Australia. So I have to pay again to register if I want to move interstate, they would recognise my registration but I would still have to meet all their requirements like... teaching in a rural area etc if I wanted to obtain a permanent position. WA has central placements and I think Tassie does but I am not sure, I read something about after a certain amount of time you could move within 70km of your home or something. There is always relief teaching and getting in that way. You could always go to a private school, you still need to register but they pick staff independently. These usually have a religious denomination, so if you were Anglican (C of E) or Catholic etc you would have a good chance of getting work, although they usually say something like (support Christian ethos) or something like that so it not totally exclusive. Private schools are a great deal more prevalent here than in the UK, so there would be a lot of schools. Science and Maths are always the big draw cards, as everywhere.
Gina

[Debbie P.]

You have to register in each state to teach, so my registration is only valid in Western Australia. So I have to pay again to register if I want to move interstate, they would recognise my registration but I would still have to meet all their requirements like... teaching in a rural area etc if I wanted to obtain a permanent position.

That's so mean - talk about making money from hapless teachers!