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Wanted Down Under Series 5 – How to Apply for Series 5 of Wanted Down Under

Mark — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:20:38 +0000

Wanted Down under Series 4 and Wanted Down Under revisited have finally come to an end and like many other episodes of Wanted Down Under its caused a bit of a stir with our visitors.

As Getting Down Under sounds similar to the title of the popular BBC show I’ve found that many of our visitors get ‘website blindness’ resulting in emails being sent to Getting Down Under HQ asking how they can appear on the next series of the BBC’s Wanted Down under program.

In an effort to try and reduce the number of enquiries we receive in relation to this show, we contacted the BBC to check if Series 5 of Wanted Down Under was on the cards and at time of typing I’m please to say that it is.

So to be clear.

How do I apply for Series 5 of Wanted Down Under?

It’s easy, as with previous series, To apply to appear on the show please send an e-mail to: wanteddownunder@bbc.co.uk to register your interest. If you’re lucky enough to get onto the next series then please drop by to let us know :)

Good Luck!

Regards

Mark

Getting Hot! Hot! Hot!

Mark — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:00:27 +0000

Phew! What a scorcher.

Yesterday saw the hottest day in Perth for nearly two years with the mercury hitting 42.9C . By 5am, the temperature at Champion Lakes near Armadale were already 30.4C – warmer than in Marble Bar, which is Australia’s hottest town and only 20.6C at that time.
At time of typing the temperatures are just shy of 41C so it looks like it’s going to be another hot one today

The hottest ever recorded temperature in Perth was 46.2 °C (115 °F) on 23 February 1991 and I can imagine, back then it must have been pretty unbearable.

In a slightly crazy kind of way, even though it’s nearly three years to the day since I burnt my bum due to this heat, I still really enjoy it. Sure, my view on the subject may be a little different if we didn’t benefit from the technical luxury of air conditioning but still, I enjoy the heat.

I was sat around the pool yesterday afternoon and the temperature was just a notch over 40C at around 5pm. I had my factor 30 sun block on, a large Aussie style hat (minus the corks) and an icy cold beer. In my hand I held a copy the ‘International Express’ bearing the headline “Battling Brittons Beat the Big Freeze”.

I certainly know where I’d rather be and for those looking to make the move down under from the UK who are struggling with the ongoing delays, please be rest assured that the wait really is worth it!

Is Australia a Racist Country?

Mark — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 07:45:15 +0000

So before I even begin to tackle this sensitive subject, let me give you a little context behind the purpose of this article.

Today the federal government said the Indian media is unlikely to show restraint when reporting on alleged racism in Australia. India’s foreign ministry has called on its media to exercise restraint when reporting on recent attacks on Indians in Australia.

The call follows media reports that suggest the stabbing death of Nitin Garg in Melbourne on January 2 and Saturday’s attack on Jaspreet Singh, who suffered burns after being allegedly set alight, were racially motivated.

So there we have it, more attacks on Indian students but are they racially motivated?

Possibly.

Is Australia a Racist country?

Absolutely not!

I’ve written in the past about the small numbers of Aussies who appear to have a distinctive dislike for the local Aboriginal communities.

Unfortunately this appears to be a generation thing more than anything else. If you travel to any large Australian CBD, you won’t have to travel to far before you happen across members of the Aboriginal community, sometimes drinking or worst still, sniffing petrol or glue.

Aborigines that you’ll find in most city centres are not a representation of the Aboriginal people as a whole. It’s unfortunate therefore that these underprivileged folks are the ones that most city dwelling Australians will identify as being a ‘typical Aborigine’. They’re not doing much for the PR of their native people, that’s for sure.

Now back to my old home, the UK. Having lived in the UK for the first 30-odd years of my life, I think I can confidently say that I’ve acquired a reasonable level of experience living in a country which adopts a pretty sensible attitude to multiculturalism. Spending my life growing up in Bradford I found myself in one of the UK’s ‘hotspots’ for Indian and Pakistani families and in general everyone got on pretty well.

Politically though; the UK is not the most welcoming of countries. High profile political groups such as the British National Party (BNP) see too that. To give you an idea of why, I’ll give you a little background.

The BHP is a far-right political party formed as a splinter group of the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982.

At its founding, the BNP was explicitly racist. In October 1990, the BNP was described by the European Parliament’s committee on racism and xenophobia as an “openly Nazi party … whose leadership have serious criminal convictions”.

When asked in 1993 if the BNP was racist, its deputy leader Richard Edmonds said, “We are 100 per cent racist, yes”. Founder John Tyndall proclaimed that “Mein Kampf is my bible”. When Nick Griffin became chairman in 1999, the party began to change its stance with regard to racial issues. Griffin claims to have repudiated racism, instead espousing what he calls “ethno-nationalism”. He claims that his core ideology is “concern for the well-being of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish ethnic nations that compose the United Kingdom”.

The BNP requires that all members must be members of the “Indigenous Caucasian” racial group. The party does not regard non-white people as being British, even if they have been born in the UK and are naturalised British citizens. Instead, Griffin has stated that “non-Europeans who stay”, while protected by British law, “will be regarded as permanent guests”. Not very British is it and the scary thing is, in the last election over 20,000 Brits voted to try and get these guys into power.

It’s not very British is it?

I guess the point I’m making is this. There are countries out there in the world (Britain included) that has a significantly worse track record than Australia. To a certain extent it’s almost accepted to the point where scuffles (or worse) don’t even make it into the local papers, let alone gain worldwide attention.

I’ve been living in Australia now for over three years. Prior to moving to Australia I’d travelled to every single continent around the world and I can honestly say that I have yet to visit a country whose people are as welcoming as the Aussies.

Violence against Indian Students is shocking because it doesn’t normally happen. As it doesn’t normally happen then the stories become big ‘news’ and the media jump onto these news stories because it helps sell newspapers!

Some of the stories I’ve read recently are just plain silly though. Take this article titled “Students think twice to go to Australia” where the story centres around a nervous Indian Student called Neha.

Neha it seems has to live life disguised as ‘An Australian’. Why? To keep her safe from the racial attacks of course.

The story goes onto say:

“Neha’s mother, Soni has a reason to be scared. She agreed to get a blonde look for Neha to make her resemble an Australian. She now spends huge money to stay connected to her daughter in Melbourne by calling her almost every day. She said: “Neha over the phone told that this time, one needs to be extra cautious”

Extra cautious, blonde hair, disguises? Come on guys… these stories are just plain silly

Have both Indian and white Caucasian students, living in low cost / high crime areas become the victims of muggings in Australia? Yes!

Will the international media report that the people being questioned in relation to the recent attack on 29 year old Indian, Jaspreet Singh were all of Indian origin? Most probably not!

Is Australia a racist country? Far from it!

Wanted Down Under Series 4 back on the BBC

Mark — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:18:20 +0000

Wanted Down Under makes a return to the BBC with Series 4 Being aired this Monday at 10am on BBC 1.

I think this is the first time that Wanted Down Under has made it’s way onto BBC 1 with the last few series being relegated to obscure times of the day on BBC 2.

For those looking to Migrate to Australia, wanted down under has proved to be a very popular series to watch and I’d really love to hear your views of the latest Wanted Down Under series if you’ve seen one of the programs which has gone to air so far?

Unfortunately I can’t watch the new series from down under and BBC’s iplayer is also out of bounds for us non-Brits.

Still, I’m already down under so perhaps I shouldn’t moan to much

The fourth series of the show is due to be shown at 10am on BBC One each weekday and will last for 20 episode, each one focusing on people who have decided to up sticks and move to Australia or New Zealand.

Poor Weather? Take It Easy Man

Mark — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:32:32 +0000

So I’ve been getting updates on email and Facebook from friends back in the UK and the general consensus of opinion seems to be that the snow was great over Christmas however everyone is kind of getting ‘over it’ now.

Looking on the BBC’s website today it looks like the severity of the bitterly cold weather is causing significant disruptions across the UK and much of Northern Europe with over 16 inches of snow being recorded in a 24 hour period in some places!

If it’s any consolation for those getting a little fed up, the weather down in Australia can cause problems to. I saw the attached poster on the train yesterday and it made me chuckle. So much so that I had to take a picture of it to share with our Getting Down Under readers.

For those who can’t read the writing on this poster (click images for larger versions) the text reads:

“Hey man, just to let you know when the temperature gets over 39 degrees we have to slow down. Because the tracks feel the heat too and sometimes they warp, you know. On the really hot days, like when it’s more than 41, they might warp a little more so we have to go slower just in case. Which means the timetable might be a bit out and you may not make your connecting bus or train. That’s a bummer we know. But don’t worry. There’ll be another along real soon”

Cool man, or perhaps not so cool… Either way, not an excuse this Pom is used to but kudos to the advertising ‘dudes’ all the same.

Has the snow ‘up North’ been as bad as it appears to be on the news? Hope you guys are keeping wrapped up!

All the best

Regards

Mark

Happy new year

Mark — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:46:42 +0000

Hey all, well it’s nearly 1 am down under on the 1st of January 2010!

Much food has been eaten and much wine and beer has already been drunk

With that in mind, this is a very short post to wish you all the very best for 2010.May this year be the year that your down under dreams really do come true.

All the best and enjoy the new years break!

Regards

Mark

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Mark — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:03:16 +0000

G’day everyone! Well, in less that 14 hours time it’s going to be Christmas day here in Australia.

For those ‘enjoying’ the snow throughout many countries in the Northern hemisphere, you’ll be interested to know that it’s forecast to be a not so chilly 36 Celsius here in Australia tomorrow.

We’ve got the ‘outlaws’ over from Sydney this Christmas so were looking forward to what will be the largest ‘family Christmas’ we’ve had in the three years that we’ve now been here. All we need to do now is work out how to cram 60 hours of defrosting time for the turkey into 24. I’m sure we’ll be OK

I know when we were in the UK planning our move to Australia we spent many years saying ‘just imagine what it’ll be like…. Christmas in Australia’. I can concur that it is the most wonderful place to spend Christmas and the sweat, tears, frustrations and almost endless waiting really were worth it.

I know for many of you reading this, 2009 will have turned out to be a very frustrating year. We’ve been through the worst economic financial crisis of modern times and the Australian immigration department has moved the goal posts so frequently in recent months it’s been hard to keep track.

Please just know this though. Time ticks on, visas get processed and dreams do come true. This time next year there’s a good chance that you won’t need to ‘just imagine’. You’ll be here, down under, living out that dream.

In closing, let me take this opportunity to wish you, your families and loved ones a very safe and fun packed holiday season. I’ll be sure to throw a few proverbial shrimps on the BBQ for you! Once I’ve bought and wrapped the wife’s Christmas present anyway!

All the best

Regards

Mark

Our Mate Marmite – The Australian Drought Is Over

Mark — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:46:35 +0000

Our mate is back - And it's all mine!

Before I even begin this entry I must take a few moments to apologise to the 1500+ folks who have decided over the last 12 months to subscribe to our free newsletter so they can benefit from receiving our â€˜latest breaking immigration news’ articles as they happen!

It’s easy for me to forget that I started this site as a personal blog back in January 2006 and since this time it’s evolved into more of an online immigration magazine which makes the following blog entry (and the email our subscribers will get) seem that little bit more random.

Anyway… I’ll get to the point. Marmite!!

Back in August 2007 I wrote a blog entry titled â€œMarmite vs Vegemite – Buying Real Marmite in Australiaâ€. In a nutshell I’ve been a big Marmite fan for many years and struggled to find the yeasty substance here in Australia until I found that the Marmite you get back home in the UK is rebranded here in Australia under the name â€œOur mateâ€.

The article attracted quite a bit of attention from other Marmite fans, however of late I noticed that the yummy brown stuff was getting harder and harder to get hold of and this was validated by some of our visitors to. Perhaps an Australia wide Marmite drought was on the cards????!!!!.

One of our readers; Olivia commented:

I moved to Brisbane 3 years ago, along with a couple of 750g jars safely packed in my suitcase, just in case. Quickly found out about Our Mate, relief. A few weeks ago, catastrophe!! I go to Coles, it isn’t there anymore. I had bought the last jar on display a few days before, so thought they had forgotten to re-shelf. I ask a staff, he can’t find it in stock, he gets his manager who tells me their store will not distribute it anymore. He doesn’t know if it’s just his store, are all Coles stores. So I go to another Coles where I’ve already bought Our Mate in the past, same thing. Another one, same again. Aaah! I call Coles Headquarters, and they tell me no Coles stores distribute it any longer! Whatever you are able to find on the shelf is all they have left! I frantically go online to try and find it, I find this Aldi with a special offer $3/jar because they’re getting rid of what they’ve got left, so I head there in a flash and buy their entire stock, 40 jars – but that will hardly last 6 months now that my hubby’s become a junky tooâ€¦
I went to a couple of specialised UK stores, they don’t have it any more either.â€¦

And the search goes onâ€¦.

Thankfully I’m happy to report that the drought seems to be over. Our Mate is back in plentiful supply at the local IGA (well it was until I bought 7 jars of the stuff) and the staff there confirmed they are no longer having problems obtaining stock.

I hope this story gives hope to Aussie marmite lovers everywhere. If you can’t get hold of the stuff just yet, perhaps print off this picture, stick it on the shelf at your local supermarket and I’m sure they’ll get the idea eventually!!

Good luck!

Time to get into the mining industry

Mark — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:04:33 +0000

Hi all, well life down under has been busy and as there’s not so much news going on right now in the wonderful world of Australian Immigration I thought I’d write a quick personal update just so you all know that I’m still alive

Life down under has been pretty full on recently. On the job front, after 6 years working in financial services I decided to jump ship after being approached by one of the large mining companies here in Perth.

Similar lines of work (contracts, sourcing and procurement) but buying much bigger and more expensive stuff.

On the basis that I’ve not worked in the mining industry before I have to be honest and say that I’m currently working a tiny little bit outside of my comfort zone. That said, it’s only been three weeks in the new job and when it comes down to sourcing things ’strategically’ then you apply the same principals to just about anything.

I recon I’ll be just fine once I get my head around all the new forms that now need to be completed for each transaction.

Apart from the usual increments in salary and benefits that come with most proactive job changes, the new job also sees me working 9 day fortnights.This is the biggest bonus for me as it means I can work the same hours I’ve always worked whilst getting a little time back to spend with the family. As we move into summer it’ll be an even bigger bonus!

On the subject of summer, it’s late October which puts us into the middle of spring. I think I’ve mentioned before somewhere that the winter this year seems to have been a really long one. It’s been a great one for the garden but a chilly one for a family of British Expats who are just starting to get used to the warm Aussie sunshine.

Last weekend saw the first really warm day in a long time. Much to the discomfort of Charlie (our black cat for the benefit our our less regular readers) it hit 36C on Saturday and most days are now hitting the mid to high 20’s as we venture closer to the yummy Aussie summers.

Junior number one hit 7 years old this month and Aussie born Junior number 2 hit 2 years old

Time flies when your really having fun huh?

Snowing in Australia – nearly

Mark — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:10:28 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve complained about the weather and as I’m an Englishman wishing to retain at least a small portion of my Englishness I thought today was as good a day as any.

Back in the UK, the English summer is in full swing. From what I’ve heard from the friends and family back in the UK; it’s been a pretty good one to with UK residents receiving more than two whole days of sunshine!

Season wise Australia is exactly six months in front of the UK so here in Australia, Winter is in full swing.

This will be the third winter we’ve experienced since being down under and I don’t know if it’s simply because we’re becoming acclimatised to the weather (or I may be just going soft) but this feels like some of the coldest winter weather I’ve experienced since moving to Australia.

We’ve had some very heavy rain today and whilst I was out and about in the Perth CBD this lunchtime the rain turned into hail. Now hail is just hail but to Aussies, it’s like some strange mythical beast has just come down from the sky.

Much delight seemed to be being had as snow balls (or more accurately) hail balls were made and thrown.

Not something I ever imagined seeing down under I must say, it’s not quite snow but near enough I reckon. I even had to capture a picture for prosperity.

Something to consider when it’s about 100 degree’s in the shade in approximately three months time

Brrrrrrrr, where’s the central heating when you need it

Getting Down under » Blog Entries

Wanted Down Under Series 5 – How to Apply for Series 5 of Wanted Down Under

How do I apply for Series 5 of Wanted Down Under?

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