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According to the good folks over at the BBC, if your male and single then you’ll benefit from an apparent ‘man drought’ which is hitting Australia.

An analysis of new census figures has shown there are almost 100,000 more females than males in Australia.

The problem is worse in the coastal cities, where women have moved seeking better jobs and lifestyles.

Thirty years ago Australia was flush with men thanks to immigration policies that favoured males, however that position has been reversed as thousands of Australian men in their 20s and early 30s have gone overseas either to travel or to work.

Countries such as the United Arab Emirates are now home to tens of thousands of Australian males in 25 – 34 year old demographic Read the full story

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Bugger, I’ve just been checking through our Archive and I’ve just realised that last Wednesday the 17th January, Gettingdownunder turned one!

Since making the first post way back then, quite a lot of stuff has happened in my life.

I guess the biggest and most obvious change is the fact that I’m now writing new Blog entries whilst residing in sunny Perth. A little different then Bradford in the UK I must say.

We’ve launched our forums which appear to be getting well used and I hope that some of these Blog entries provide a useful introduction and insight to life down under.

Feel free to post a comment in relation to any of our posts. I love reading your feedback and welcome any suggestions on ways in which I can make this Blog even better. Read the full story

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The Yarra Valley is located a short 90 minutes north-east of Melbourne, the capital of the southern Australian state of Victoria, and is an idyllic destination for a day tour or weekend getaway.

The Yarra Valley’s rolling green hills are brimming with vineyards, boutique wineries, orchards, cheesemakers and quality restaurants, and the whole region is quite simply a gourmet’s delight. Whatever your interests, Melbourne’s Yarra Valley has something for everyone.

The Yarra Valley is home to many excellent food and wine festivals. In January, raspberry lovers can enjoy the Kinglake Raspberry Fair, while May offers the Kellybrook Cider Festival and the Grape Grazing Festival. In November, the Victoria Strawberry Festival is held in Seville and the Country Harvest Festival is held at the Warratina Lavender Farm. In December, the Victorian Cherry Festival is held at Wandin.

The Yarra Valley is home to at least 23 wineries which are open to visitors and where you can sample their award-winning produce. The wineries range in scale from large operations such as Rochford’s Eyton and Tarra Warra Estate to small boutique wineries such as Ainsworth Estate in Seville and Warramate Wines near Healesville.

If history interests you, the historic Yering Station-Yarrabank winery near Yarra Glen claims to be the first vineyard established in Victoria.

Pioneer history can also be experienced with a visit to Gulf Station, an early farm in Yarra Valley now managed by the National Trust.

Lovers of Australian animals can pack a picnic lunch and visit the world famous Healesville Sanctuary to view a large variety of native animals including kanagroos, wallabies, wombats, emus. echidnas, goannas and platypus.

On a sunny day the Healesville Sanctuary is a great place for a picnic, and there are plenty of picnic shelters for damper weather. Opposite the Healesville Sanctuary is the Galeena Beek Living Cultural Centre, where you can learn more about the cultural heritage of indigenous Australians from the Melbourne region.

Healesville is delightful country town nestled in the Dandenong Ranges and is a haven for lovers of art, crafts and cafes, making it the perfect place to while away a relaxing day. Healesville is surrounded by charming picnic places, including the Maroondah Reservoir Reserve, which has barbecues and bush walking tracks along the Badger Creek. Visitors of a literary or historical bent can visit the magnificent two hectare Singing Gardens of early Australian author C.J. Dennis, located near Toolangi. C.J. Dennis lived in Toolangi from 1915 until his death in 1935, and wrote his famous work The Sentimental Bloke there.

The Yarra Valley Regional Food Trail allows you to independently explore 14 ‘farm gate taste and buy’ gourmet experiences and 11 ‘pick your own’ produce farms. With more than thirty top quality eating places dotted throughout the Yarra Valley, there’s plenty of gourmet experiences to choose from. And all that is before you even consider the Yarra Valley’s world-renowned wineries!

Whether you love fine food and wine and abundant fresh farm produce, are seeking a relaxing, therapeutic or romantic getaway, or are inspired by natural beauty and want to walk through towering eucalypt forests, an unforgettable experience awaits you in Melbourne’s idyllic Yarra Valley.

Miguel Scaccialupo writes regularly on Outback Australia Tour topics, including Alice Springs Tour destinations and Yarra Valley Tour itineraries.

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Australia’s Northern Territory is a land of swirling, near-phosphorescent, ochre dust, rocky mountain-high thunderclouds and sky-shattering storms – a region of pawpaw (papaya) and mango farms, pearl oyster meat from the pearling industry, farm-raised alligator and Thai spices. Indigenous people still dive for lily roots and burn the forests to trap game and make passage through the undergrowth possible.

To journey through this land and taste it was one of the greatest privileges of my travel-writing life.

Equivalent in size to France, Italy and Spain combined, Australia’s Outback Northern Territory is bordered by Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. A vibrant, developing economy, the Northern Territory has one-sixth of Australia’s land mass and just over one percent of the population, but with the youngest, wealthiest people in the nation.

It has an environment that ebbs and flows with the seasons, of contrast and colour, where change is the only constant. Of awe inspiring iconic wonders – the World Heritage National Parks of Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta (Ayers Rock).

Darwin, the state’s capital, is so close to Asia that it’s much easier to head to Singapore than Sydney. Immigrants of every Asian culture have brought their foods and cooking traditions. At Darwin’s Hanuman, Thai Nonya cuisine meets Tandoor Indian: soak up the lemon grass and basil-flavoured sauce drenching the grilled rock oysters with warm naan bread. These are served in the trademark earthenware plates with little lids covering the oysters.

Australia’s Outback Northern Territory is renowned for its colourful characters. The type you’d meet at one of the legendary outback pubs, cattle stations or country towns. The gateway to Asia for the rest of Australia, or the window into the country for the rest of the world, the Northern Territory is a unique part of the most exciting continent on earth.

It’s almost hard not to fall in love with its down to earth attitude.

Don’t miss this great once in a lifetime experience. National Visas can help you get a Visa for Australia. Visit our website for more details.

Source: nationalvisas.com.au

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Well. We are still here

Our ‘buyer’ is still to sort a mortgage out so we continue to market our property as best as we can.

The Little house company hasn’t generated eny enquiries (although their hit counter is showing that over 40 people have looked at the property via their site) and the Halifax Estate agency folks continue to be beyond terrible when it comes to their lack of appreciation for proactive customer service.

We’ve been through the old emotional rollacoaster again this weekend. As we continue to market our house, we had a couple of viewings last Friday and one of these looked really positive!

The viewing was actually under quite sad circumstances for the family looking at our house. The lady who booked the appointment was here with her family and sister-in-law who had recently become widowed following the death of her husband.

She was looking for a smaller property close to her immiediate family and by the looks of things our house certainly appeared to hit all the right buttons, so much so that we started having the discussion about money and what we were considering.

I mentioned that the house was already under offer so their offer would need to be pretty near the asking price as our buyer was a first time buyer which for us, not being in a chain and all, was a very good thing.

For this family though, being a first time buyer was nothing. They ‘had cash’ so no mortage was required. They loved the house and could have everything finalised inside two weeks. In fact they liked the house so much they would be ring the estate agent, first thing on Saturday to make an offer.

Woohoo! great news, after the recent dissapointment, this was a really positive sigh.

I called the Halifax first thing to give them a quick heads up that they were going to get a call and to advise them that I’d have my mobile swicthed on all day.

I also wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t divulge the current offer price to ensure that a counter-offer could be as competative as possible.

I was assured that the only time they would detail anything around offers made would be if the asking price had been met. Otherwise, no specific info would be given.

So, we waited, and waited and waited. Nothing!

Its Monday as I type this, I’ve not long got off the phone with the Halifax and they have still to hear from this family!

I’ve asked them to chase them up for feedback but its not looking hopefull! It begs the question though. Why say your so interested and that your going to make an offer if you have no intention of doing so..

One small glimmer of positivity is that one of the other couples who saw the house on Thursday are interested in making an offer. At time of typing though, I won’t be packing just yet.

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Tourist attractions in and around Perth

Weeks or even months can pass in Perth without substantial rainfall. One of its main attractions are its beaches, located along the city’s coastal suburbs. Perth’s beaches are not as developed as becahes in other Australian cities.

Perth City

The centre of Perth is located on the northern bank of the Swan River, a part of the River known as ‘Perth Water’ and roughly comprises three parallel sections.

The central business district, close to the river, runs along St Georges Terrace and Adelaide Terrace and is the historical core of the city. It includes Government House and several office towers. Parliament House is on the hill to the west looking along St Georges Terrace towards the Darling Scarp.

The retail district, which has its focus on the Hay and Murray Street Malls. These pedestrian malls are interconnected by arcades and walk through shops. Over time the number of hotels in this area has declined, with new hotels being built at the eastern and western ends of the city. Forrest Place, connecting Wellington Street and Murray Street, is a popular meeting spot, and is the site of political rallies and public events. Closed to traffic and redeveloped in the mid-1980s, it is flanked by the Commonwealth Bank and GPO buildings on the west, and the Forrest Chase retail development on the east.

The entertainment and cultural precinct, known as Northbridge commences at the point where the railway land cuts through the city. It extends for at least four blocks north, and is bound at the east by the Library, Art Gallery and Museum, and to the west by the northern suburbs railway.

Kings Park Perth

Kings Park occupies 1,000 acres (4.06 km ²) of the crest of a large hill (Mt Eliza) overlooking the CBD.

Larger than New York’s Central Park (843 acres (341 ha)), Kings Park contains Perth’s botanical gardens as well as tracts of natural bushland.

During spring, Kings Park bursts into a world-class display of wildflowers, which is a popular tourist attraction. In August 2003, the Lotterywest Federation Walkway was opened in Kings Park. It is a 620 m long elevated walkway through the treetops, providing a remarkable bird’s eye view of the park and gardens as well as sweeping views of the Swan River.

Perth is a relatively green city, with an abundance of parks and tree-lined boulevards.

Swan Bells

The Swan Bells is a bell tower siting on the edge of the Swan River. It is a copper clad structure representing the sails of a ship.

It houses bells from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which were gifts from the United Kingdom to the people of Australia on the occasion of Australia’s 200-year anniversary of colonisation.

The Swan Bells was opened to the public in 2001.

The government of Western Australia took a significant amount of criticism for creating the Bell Tower; it was said that the significant funding allotted for the project (millions of dollars) could have been better placed into the health and education systems, and that the structure could have been better designed aesthetically.

The Perth Convention Exhibition Centre

The Perth Convention Exhibition Centre opened in September 2004. Situated on the river foreshore, only a short walk from the CBD, the Centre is WA’s only purpose built convention, exhibition and meeting centre. It can cater for functions of up to 2500 delegates.

The Centre is expected to attract increased tourism for the state. It is jocularly referred to as ‘The Hayshed’, because of its flat and extended design which originally was intended to resemble a gum leaf.

Perth Mint

Perth Mint is the oldest still-operating mint in Australia. One of two legal tender mints in Australia, the other is in Canberra.

It is open to the public 7 days a week and includes displays and the Perth Mint Shop which buys and sells precious metal proof quality gold and silver coins, bullion, nuggets and jewellery

Islands off the coast of Perth

There are a few islands off the coast of Perth, notably Rottnest Island, a significant tourist attraction.

Other nearby islands include Garden Island (home to a naval base), Carnac Island, Seal Island and Penguin Island. It is possible to walk from the mainland to Penguin Island at low tide. All of these Islands are ‘A’ class nature reserves with restricted access.

The deep shipping channel between Perth and these islands is called Gage Roads, the site of the America’s Cup yachting challenge in 1987.

Fremantle

The historical port city of Fremantle is located at the mouth of the Swan River, and is home to many attractions including Fremantle Prison and the mammoth newly-constructed Western Australian Maritime Museum. Located on the dock at Victoria Quay, the museum houses ‘Australia II, the yacht which won Australia the America’s Cup in 1983. Also in Fremantle is the Maritime Museum shipwreck galleries, with recovered artifacts and part of the hull of the shipwrecked Dutch ship Batavia, from hundreds of years ago. A more recent vessel, the Oberon class submarine the HMAS Ovens has been retired next to the Maritime Museum.

Fremantle (or ‘Freo’ as the locals call it) is renowned both locally, nationally and internationally for it’s easy-going, laid-back lifestyle. Cafes are the heart and soul of Freo, and one cannot visit Fremantle without going to the Fremantle Markets, before having one of the many varieties of coffee on the city’s infamous Capuccino Strip – South Terrace. There are numerous arts and crafts stores to suit all tastes and budgets. Fremantle is well-known for its local Arts scene.

At nightfall, Fremantle is a music-lovers’ paradise. Venues such as the Fly by Night Club and the Newport Hotel offer intimate, but venerable paradises for concerts, other events, or merely chilling out. Fremantle showcases the best in local and international talent. In addition, Fremantle offers many opportunities for clubbing with venues as the Harbourside, Millennium and the Metro.

Other must-see attractions include the Fremantle Arts Centre, as well as the historic precinct around the Round House – Western Australia’s earliest remaining building.

The Aquarium of Western Australia

Perth is home to Australia’s largest underwater walk-through aquarium, AQWA (The Aquarium of Western Australia), at Hillarys Boat Harbour, about 20 km North of Perth.

AQWA first opened in 1988 as Underwater World, but changed its name in 2001 to emphasis it’s links to Western Australia and to avoid confusion with the Underwater World in Singapore, has over 400 species of marine life including fish, sharks, fur seals, sea dragons, turtles, crustaceans and stingrays in a natural like environment.

Following the closure of the Atlantis Marine Park in Yanchep, Underwater World was the home to performing sealions and dolphins. In late December 1999 all of Underwater World’s dolphins died, with forensic tests revealling that the cause of death was deliberate poisoning. AQWA is also used for rehabilitation of injured or sick sea creatures, mainly sea lions, turtles and seals.

Whiteman Park

Whiteman Park is situated in picturesque bushland 25 minutes North East from the City Centre, it forms the western boundary of the Swan Valley wine region. The Park covers an area of more than 42 square kilometres (16 mi ²) with nearly half of this classified as high value conservation bushland or wetland. The Park also protects the southern portion of the Gnangara Water Mound – a large underground water source that supplies up to 40% of metropolitan Perth’s drinking water.

The Park takes its name from Mr Lew Whiteman (1903-1994), a prominent local identity and enthusiastic collector of artifacts. His family settled in Guildford from England in the late 19th century and Lew acquired some land around Mussel Pool in the 1940s. This, and other land held by a variety of private owners, was purchased by the State Government in 1978 and combined to form Whiteman Park.

All native wildlife in the Park is protected and more than 100 bird species have been identified. Along with 32 reptile, 7 amphibian and 8 mammals. The Caversham Wildlife Park, containing over 2000 animals and birds of 200 different species, recently moved into an area of park near the Village. There are also a number different collections of transport and machinary equipment as well as working historical tram and Rail lines

Swan Valley Wine Region

The Swan Valley wine region is approximately 16km East of Perth and is Western Australia’s oldest established wine region. It is home to over 35 wineries, many of which have restaurants or cellar-door facilities that are open to the public. Bus and boat tours of the swan valley run regularly from the city.

Perth Beaches

Relatively warm water and mild to large swells make beach-going a popular activity during the warmer months of the year.

Perth’s Indian Ocean beaches stretch for 30km north of the Swan River. There are also inshore beaches along the Swan River at Crawley, Nedlands, Peppermint Grove and Mosman Bay on the north shore, and Como, Canning Bridge and Applecross on the south.

Swimming beaches include the popularCottesloe , near the Cottesloe train station, City Beach, Swanbourne Free Beach, which has nude bathing, Scarborough Trigg and Hillarys.

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One of the (more obvious I guess) reasons why I love Australia is down to the fantastic climate, to at least attempt to personify this I thought I’d chuck up a couple of photos that I took when we took our rekkie to Perth earlier this year.

Western Australia must have some of the best sunsets in the world, you have to be quick though as I’ve never known the sun to set so quickly anywhere. You can literally see the sun setting, slowly falling under the line of the horizon (or the ocean on our case for this photo).

The second picture is one that I took whilst enjoying some quality family time in a park right next to the Swan River in Perth.

The thumbnail may look just like a blue blob but this is actually a pic of the sky… You’ll never realise how blue the sky can be until your sat on a nice grassy bank looking….err…skywards Click it, I know you want to.

It was a beautiful day and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky (apart from the miniscule wisps you may see in the top left of the photo)

Feel free to save these as your desktop wallpaper. Click the image (opens on a new page) Click the image again (to maximise it) and right click with your mouse.

You’ll be presented with an option to save the image as your desktop background (or similar depending on the browser you’re using).

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Ok, for starters (and because I didn’t start this site until we actually received our Visa’s. I thought it might be a little useful to give a little background about how and why we ended up getting to the stage where we are now

Please also keep in mind; I’m a pretty typical bloke with an average education. I may not necessarily have the literally talents of Shakespeare or J. K. Rowling so please stick with me through the typo’s. Please also keep in mind that we’ve done a lot before we got here. As a result, some of these earlier sections may be a little long but I’ll type as fast as I can to try and get up to date

Anyhow, I won’t get to heavily involved in the specifics about how we did this, how we did that. However as the site matures I’ll make sure that all these areas are covered and will link to and from certain sections of this article to help you guys navigate around the site.

I guess it all started in the summer of 2004. I took voluntary redundancy from the company I was currently working for at the time. My wife and I had been to Australia (Sydney) in 2002 to catch up with my brother-in-law who has lived and worked in Sydney as a permanent resident for over 7 years.

We fell in love with the place, the weather was fantastic, the sky was blue and probably most strikingly, the friendliness of the people and the Australian culture as a whole took our breath away.
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