Wow, There's (not-so)Merry-go-rounds and Roller Coasters here in Limbo!

Unfortunately the Roller Coasters are just the emotional type and the Merry-go-rounds consist of Les and I hypothesising and playing, not all light hearted, games of devils advocate till the wee small hours of the morning. Any semblance of our usual routines have fallen by the wayside as we:

• Trawl Perth real estate (and Google Earth) for Rentals with as many of the right credentials as possible.
• Read expat forums
• Look at broadband and phone costs
• Try and get a basic grasp of the school system
• Search used cars
• Ask questions of other parents at Essential Baby
• And other modellers on RCSoaringOz
• And ask what are we getting ourselves in for?
• And is it the right thing to do?

Believe me we did do a LOT of thinking before Les sent off his CV and we did a little bit of internet research but nothing in depth because at that point he hadn't applied for the job- in fact he never did apply for the job. He sent off his CV- heard some positive second hand feedback and then nothing for quite sometime. So he followed up only to be told they were planning on advertising internally first and then maybe going public. So essentially we gave it no more thought. Les did check almost weekly to see if it was being advertised but really we had flagged away the idea till the nice lady rang and said we'd like to interview you for the job you have applied for in two days.

Lucky for us one of the panel went on sick leave for a week giving Les a whole heap time more to prepare and research- which I guess combined with his freakin awesome talent and skill and professionalism in his work is what got us to here- with Les about to wing his way to Perth later this week to have essentially interview part 2.

So here we are having to think more seriously than we probably ever have before.... forget the great high school debate of September 2010 (agonising which may now be moot). Now it's Perthgate October 2010!

Our friends and family all seem to have a similar 3 part reaction;

1. Wow, Perth? (as in what, the other f'n side of the world for all intents and purposes)
2. Cool that's awesome for you guys- go for it! (Heartfelt and honest)
3. We'll miss you guys. (Bugger shit poo!)

This has been really nice, really really nice.

Les' S&S work mates all have the same response...

Shit yeah! Get the hell out of dodge, run run, go save yourself while you can!

(This is a direct reflection of the state of both the trade and the Air Force in general- more on that later).

What we are really missing is some sage advice, a sort of mentor, life coach, or trusted confidant. It's a hell of a decision and one we obviously want to make wisely.

So here's the low down feel free to comment in this post, ping me on facebook or send us an email, or go truly old fashioned and get on the phone.

Right Now:

• We live week to week financially. We aren't going without in any way and could be a bit more sensible with our cash but it's still pretty tight. We're not having a roast lamb on Sunday- but it's not all mince and sausages either.
• Les leaves for work just before 7:30am and is home by five pretty much everyday. There have been some late nights in the Para Bay and there will be some time away. This comes back to us in the form of Toil (time off in lieu) for the late nights and (meagre) allowances if he goes away. But we have a goodly amount of time in the evenings for Dad and kids stuff and Gypsy and Les stuff. Weekends are 99.9% free.
• And if the neighbours tramp jumps the fence in wind, or I lock a kid and my keys in the car Les is free to come home and rescue me.
• He's never missed a midwife appointment or scan and has had a couple of weeks off with both the C-sections most of which wasn't annual leave.
• He can go to meetings at the school, assemblies and drop in for the likes of cross-country and athletics day. He has a decent amount of leave each year which has allowed him to go on two school camps.
• The S&S Trade is in a state of flux (read big sinking pile of fresh wet dung)- it's not news that the government even lefty National don't value our defence force and there are continual reviews going on one in which has recently resulted in the removal of a section of Les' trade (liferafts and lifejackets- all to save $150,00 p/a. and four salaries) the suspicion is that there will be more of this outsourcing in the next few years- so we will most likely lose the Paintshop, the Fabric Bay, the Signmate Bay or maybe even the Parachute Bay.
• The opportunities for promotion are limited to 3 ways- someone needs to leave or cark it, or get promoted. They aren't promoting the non-commissioned officers at the moment unless absolutely necessary because they can't afford to pay them more. And they removed the Merit List- so whereas the guy who applied and was at the top of the Merit List was most likely to get the job- now it's more likely that the guy who is working on that base in that area may get the job even if he has been in the RNZAF for more time and may not have as good appraisals as some one else applying.
• That said Les' job is essentially more secure than pretty much any job you can have in New Zealand. This job security is HUGE.
• With the Air Force also comes;
• Dental and Medical for Les,
• cheap housing (more on that later),
• and intermittent free travel to Chch, Wellington and Ohakea,
• holiday homes and a variety of things that we can use for a small fee through base welfare (tools, trailers, campervans etc).
• A community house,
• full size pool,
• gym
• and a library.
• He got representational leave when he went to France for the worlds.
• He gets time off for exercise including a half day every 2 weeks for golf.
• There is the option for him to do tertiary study in his own time and work time and get reimbursed for the costs.
• And there's little things like printing the certificates for our rugby prize-giving, knowing a great photographer, mechanic and metal worker.
• And if we need it there is a fairly supportive community and welfare set-up. There's a cheap day care, after school care, holiday programme and a baby sitters list.
• A good Super scheme- we have a fairly decent hunk of money waiting for when we leave that would probably form a sizeable deposit on a house when Les gets out.
  
• (Oh and there's the price of a beer or Bourbon at the mess- not something we usually do but it all adds up).
• Les is VERY good at his job and well respected by peers, bosses and juniors alike. He enjoys his work even though finds the management of the greater defence force and the lack of value they place on their own people incredibly frustrating.
• We have a house admittedly it's crap but it is mighty cheap especially by Auckland standards. It's mouldy and only semi-insulated we suspect it is the cause of Merenia's environmental asthma- a problem that flares up each winter. It's small and there is no real space for living. Will and Merenia share a bedroom so that I can scrapbook and Les can work on his gliders. But Hobsonville is a lovely place to live our yard is huge and we have a green space and the kindy a 1 minute walk away. It feels almost rural but still has all the big city stuff. We know all our neighbours are defence and for the most part lovely (20ft containers not withstanding) and there are no P-Labs in Married Quarters!
• That said we will have to move out in 2-4 years as the house go to HLC (part of housing corp) and no plans have been made as to a replacement option.
• Our friends and our children's friends are here.
• Our family is close enough that we can see them relatively regularly.
• Our Cat is here.
• We have free-ish Kindergarten which Will will attend next year.
• We have an excellent maternity system- (I heard the collective gasp there- yes, we wouldn't mind just one more).
• We have some great schools which are a known quantity- including Timatanga (population under 20)>
• Homeschooling in the style we have been doing it would be next to impossible- as families are 'moderated'.
• I don't have to pay money on my Student Loan.
  
• We have Starbucks. There's none in Perth waistline and wallet benefit- taste buds bereft!

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Perth:

The Job: I It's called Hub Foreperson and essentially the company (which is world class and has a great reputation) got sick of paying exorbitant freight costs to send their gear out for servicing- (they contract Helicopter services to Oil Rigs and Mines and such) so they built a new facility which is currently an empty building near the Airport in Perth. And then they created Les' Job. Les will be maintaining 80 Life Rafts and 640 Life Jackets and will have responsibility for the Engine shop- essentially managing it- making sure everything that needs to be there is there and everything that needs to happens happens. He gets a hand in setting it up- a challenge I expect he will relish and it will look great on his CV.

He'll be working regular hours for the most part so will finish work later than he currently does and most probably will have some sort of commute more than the current 10 minutes.

There will also be some occasions where he has to work late or weekends or work away from home on site. Whether there is financial allowances, time in lieu or overtime for any of this we don't currently know. The time away isn't a huge deal.

Les is concerned that if they do servicing on a 6 monthly basis that it is more than a full time job leaving him stressed and over worked.

The company is BIG, has a few posts around Australia and also in the UK, UAE and USA. We don't currently know what Les' options are for promotion but it could be a positive both for more overseas living experiences and promotion and further work in the Civilian Aviation Industry which is the goal.

There will be on the job training and it sounds like he will have good support. (positive) There is a chance that they may also train him on some of the Engine servicing stuff (very positive).

It is a foot in the door in the Civil Aviation world.

The MONEY. We think we'll have about $1250 in the hand each week (including the aussie equivalent of working for families). Rent will be about $400. So that leaves $850 for everything else. The cost of living is higher in Australia and Perth in particular due to it's remoteness.

The House- we can get a fairly nice house close to work for about $400 (only 3x what we pay now :-) It will have a scrap of back yard but heaps of living space inside. We'll be in the thick of suburbia.

Or we can get a possibly better house with decent backyard relatively close to the beach in a smaller community and Les will have to drive maybe 45-60 minutes each way each day to get to work.

Either way the house will not be teeming with Mouldy spores!

A lot of rentals say no cats. It's going to cost $1000+ for us to get Ruby to Aus and she'll probably hate it- both the trip and the weather (have you seen that cats fur!?). Plus we will be essentially homeless for up to six weeks so we'll need an interim home for her once we leave Hobsonville (maybe around 16/12) and move into our (pet friendly) rental maybe towards the end of Jan- it's going to take 6-8 weeks or so to get our stuff maybe more.

Obviously we'll have Perth (and some distance away the rest of Australia to explore as well). Les has visited there before on deployment about 9 years ago. It is by all accounts a lovely city and a good place to bring up your kids.

It's a LONG expensive way from home- and friends and family. And one particular family member that Les and the kids are very close to.

It is actually great timing for a move, Kieran is about to start High School and we had already decided that Merenia would be going back to school next year- although we hadn't intended to send her to one with 400 or so pupils and are not sure it will work for her. Will of course hasn't started anything yet.

Kindy is a bit strange over there and seems quite school oriented from what I have read they have three and a half year olds working to a timetable similar to school but rather than doing academics they are doing art, craft, and outside play etc in 30 minute blocks- Free Play be damned!

They do have Gymbaroo though (lots of Gymbaroo) I would love to take Will to Gymbaroo- but it may be beyond us financially $175 per term!

Australia is very definitely more family friendly they give out cash left right and centre; have a baby, send them to daycare, buy them educational software, vaccinate them (yeah right) and they hand out money in nice big amounts!

We will lose money; on selling the cars and buying new cars, on the furniture we sell to get our gear into a 20ft Container, on buying new furniture at the other end to replace what we got rid of. And lets face it- I may lose a lot of money at IKEA and the many scrapbook shops!

The Company has said that they have a generous relocation package- we don't know what that means but still believe that we'll have to take a decent size bite of that Superannuation nest egg to get over there and set up- I don't think we'll be saving a whole lot while we are there.

We will have to pay $2000 - $1000 per year on my student loan. That will amount to approx $10 off the capital each year as I will still be charged 6.6% interest on around $15,000.

We'll have great weather. We'll be stupidly hot. (I hope we can find a place with a pool).

*By the way this is the first job Les has really applied for outside of the RNZAF.

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So here's the deal our kids and each other are our number one priority. If we are just breaking even like we are at home but seeing a stressed and busy Les less often. Is it worth it for Les to make some good ground on the career ladder?

In the long term I guess there may be more money and better prospects. We are also aware that the UK Air force are about to drop around 8000 personnel who will flood the market as will a decent number of disgruntled NZ guys as well.

There is a big Aviation Centre being built in Queensland which will most likely have jobs in the next 3 or so years so we could go East Coast and Les will have some experience behind him that others lack.

It's a huge decision- East Coast, more money and it would be a stack easier but it's not so here we are....

Your thoughts?