11 replies to this topic

[WannabeinT]

Good morning you lucky Tassie folk

My name is Morgan, I'm 28 with a husband and 1yo daughter, and we're trying to work out how to move to Tas. (beyond the "just drive to Melb & get on the boat" part!)

My husband works as a clerk of the court up here in Qld (we are just north of brisbane) and is JP Qual. I work two part time jobs, and manage the house/farm here where we live, and look after Lillien during the day of course. I'm also a freelance livestock photographer (published) although I don't spend as much time on that as I used to due to my life commitments!

I originally come from large property myself, and basically I yearn for true rural living. We keep a couple of cows (i milk) with calves to raise, and I buy & sell hay, and keep a good sized veggie garden. Thing is, the property we are on is rented (and expensive) and we are just not getting ahead. We don't want to be renters forever, and are trying to save.

We've been wanting to get away from the horrid heat & humidity of Qld for a long time now, and have looked at Vic, NZ, even Canada - but decided a few months ago that Tasmania is for us - everything we see and hear says "god's country" and so for our sakes and that of our daughter, we wish to move there, post haste!

My husband has already started applying for jobs in Hobart, and we've started looking at properties (there's a 50 acre place at Ellendale that made me cry I want it so bad) but we don't think we will be able to buy straight away. Looking online I've not been able to find anything at all in the rental market that is more than a standard houseblock, and while I could scale back to a single cow, I'd hate to leave all of them behind. (a cow's bond with her milker is special)

We also have 2 dogs, chickens, ducks & turkeys, and I'd be ok with losing the poultry but we will need to bring the dogs. We're prepared to sell everything we own if we have to, and start from nothing. Ideally we would be able to find a caretaker's position or a farmhand's cottage on a dairy farm somewhere within commuting distance to Hobart, for a year or so until we can find our financial "feet".

We're not looking for handouts, we are both very hard workers, but we want a life for our little girl where the crime rate is low, the people are lovely, the air is clean, the food is healthy, and the schools are good.

we've probably got enough money saved (plus a little more if i sell my cattle) to make the move & pay a rental bond, but not enough to make a deposit for a mortgage. please if anyone has any advice? I would be most grateful.

[dave]

Hi Morgan,........welcome to the forum,.....cant help you in any way shape or form apart from advisaral (my word, I just made it up and it's mine).......but the natives are friendly and will offer plenty of advice, in the meantime, sit back and enjoy the pleasant company!

[WannabeinT]

Thanks Dave :-)

I'm just having a poke around the site to glean what information I can - we're having a beautifully cool rainy day here in Qld today so I'm taking advantage of some indoors time, and researching the move! The site from what I've seen so far is fantastic - love the use of internet to join the community - and as a photographer I'm delighted to see that section too :-)

I'm thinking the best way to do it will be to sell everything we can, pack our clothes and dogs into the car, and just drive... or perhaps to keep things like our fridge & chest freezer, and our kitchen stuff (&, beds etc) in a trailer to tow behind the 4x4, and bring a single trailer load with us?

I'd like to get a place to go to organised before we do the move of course, and the job for hubby. it's just going to be getting that sort of thing organised I think. and doing it before the first snows of winter!

I'd love to be working on a dairy or something myself, doing the morning milk shift before the DH leaves for work maybe. I currently work at nights for a pizza place (delivering) and work weekend-days at Harvey Norman up here, then I'm home during the weekdays with my daughter while my husband is at work (we sort of do shifts i guess!) just trying to get ahead.

Morgan

[Mystic]

Welcome to the community Morgan. Good to see such a nice and detailed introduction

First question... why Hobart? Assume it is for work reasons, but the north often provides more jobs, and more rural locations close to large population areas. You might want to think about the north, and possibly north west. MUCH cheaper rents up there too. Beware the Launceston/Hobart trap in that people think as those are the largest cities that is where all the employment opportunities are. The region around Burnie can offer quite a few opportunities. Rents in Hobart have gone through the roof, and Launceston is just as bad, but there are many rural areas around them that are not so bad.

First, down south, you may like to check places around the Huonville area (Cygnet, etc). This is where you are more likely to find rural production, close to Hobart (driving distance).

Dairy production is mainly located in the north west, though can be found all over, but lots of dairy farms in the north west, especially around Burnie and points west of there. If you are used to city commuting, then a drive from Burnie region to either Devenport or Launceston is nothing (4 lane highway and no traffic jams). VERY cheap rentals can be found around Burnie and surrounds, including farms. Hate to complicate things for you, but if you want cheap, then that is the region to consider above places around Hobart.

Loading the car, and possibly a trailer is most likely your best way to go. It is always fun starting over and searching for new stuff when making a big move like this. And, .... don't worry about the winter snows...it's the summer snow that gets you caught out

had a bit of a nosey around your website... (very bright ) Looks good, and that bread looks yummy. Look forward to seeing some of your photography (the 52 week challenge makes for a good photo journal).

You should find lots of info hidden around this website, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Enjoy the journey, and then fall in love with your destination, because this place is paradise

[dave]

no worries Morgan,......good advice from Mystic,............... although we don't live there we are regular visitors to Tassie and absolutely adore the place, we love the "bottom end", port arthur and bruny island,.......but the thing is with Tassie is that the distances are bugger all, lunch in launceston and the lovely area up there then dinner in hobart,........ we were going to make the shift but she who must be obeyed said "no" so that's that...........the wild west gets me in every time along with the western tiers, spectacular,......

we were going to sell everything then simply buy new when we got there, or maybe buy a shipping container then sell it afterwards to someone who has had enough of the cold and wants to come back .....LOL!

[WannabeinT]

Thanks Mystic!

You know its funny, I originally said the north side, but I'm not sure on how your court system works down there (definitely the DH's domain) as that will likely dictate where we go, certainly to start with! I'm open to suggestions about anywhere on the island personally, it's all beautiful!

It may be a case of moving there close to Hobart to start, and then moving somewhere else in a year or so, when we are more accustomed and ourselves knowledgeable of the terrain and districts. I prefer to live as large & wild as possible - as I mentioned earlier I come from a very large property myself - so I need acreage to breathe! Ellendale was also attractive because of the nearby-ish railway at westerway, which is how DH prefers to commute (drive to train, then train to city). he's happy to commute about an hour, or 90 minutes each way.

i'll link you the property i've fallen in love with... DREAM PROPERTY something like this, well I'd never leave, my kids will have to bury me there. I'd love to open a little farmstay / B&B there, with ourselves being 90%self sufficient (a fresh spring, think of the quality of the beer/mead/cider i can make!) and I know how to raise cattle, horses, pigs not to mention my poultry. as said, that property made me cry - that's the sort of place we'd love to rent for a year or two, then buy, and live happily ever after!

realistically, something like the small place we're at now, will suffice, i can make do until we can afford to buy (no point renting a palace if you can't save the money to buy it!) where we are now, I have 2.4 acres to graze, we are on a main rd, and oh my gosh is it noisy. We have a 6000v fence which is dual purpose, keeps the cattle in, but keeps the locals out, if you get my drift! Caboolture (the local courthouse, where Shaun currently works) is one of the STATE's busiest magistrate districts... and the schools, don't get me started on that. we want out so badly!

we don't mind living with bare essentials for a couple of years, I mean a mattress on the floor and the lack of a TV is a small price to pay if it's a Tasmanian floor ;p neither of us are preppy or snobby, but we are clean living people, and we can get by.

[Mystic]

Sounds like you have a very healthy attitude, and I am sure you will do fine in the long run.

Most major centres here have a courthouse...Burnie is quite busy, being a regional one for the west.

Just a note on trains... there are NO passenger train services in Tasmania, with the exception of a few tourist runs, like the one at Westerway that only operate on certain days and are short journeys. The longest is the Abt Railway, here in Queenstown, that runs from Queenstown to Strahan and only costs an arm and half a leg to ride one way. There has been much talk of a light rail system for Hobart, but unlikely in the near future. Car, bus, or shanks pony, but no regular rail system down here.

[WannabeinT]

Mystic, on 07 December 2011 - 11:50 AM, said:

Just a note on trains... there are NO passenger train services in Tasmania, with the exception of a few tourist runs, like the one at Westerway that only operate on certain days and are short journeys. The longest is the Abt Railway, here in Queenstown, that runs from Queenstown to Strahan and only costs an arm and half a leg to ride one way. There has been much talk of a light rail system for Hobart, but unlikely in the near future. Car, bus, or shanks pony, but no regular rail system down here.

well cackle my gackle!! that's the sort of heads-up that the realestate agency does not give you, regardless of how nice they seem on the phone!!

thanks

[Mystic]

WannabeinT, on 07 December 2011 - 12:30 PM, said:

well cackle my gackle!!

Love it

[Shane V]

Hi Morgan and welcome to Real Tas. Hope you enjoy your stay and the exciting journey ahead of you. I can't really expand on anything that the others have said at this time, they seemed to have covered it all to date, but please don't hesitate to ask any questions, we'll see what we can do for you

[WannabeinT]

Thanks guys, both for the ideas and the warm welcome :-) It's a lovely community you have here!

[Shane V]

Thanks for the kudos Morgan