Hi,
My husband and I are thinking about moving to Australia from the UK in the next few years. We are interested in Adelaide and I just wondered if anyone knows of any good science recruitment agencies or if there are science jobs in this region as I am a medical scientist and would love to be able to do something similar.
Any advice would be great and would help in our decision.
Thanks
Lou

Adelaide is an interesting choice some would say and of Australias capitals, after Hobart it is possibly the least developing region.
It has always had a water quality problem in relying largely on Murray river left over flow and ground water and subsequently can have a brackish or downright awful flavour but maybe they have improved it in recent years which they could well have had to given Australian drought and reduced Murray flows - good snows this year and it might pick up.
Other than that, Adelaide along with Perth is normally a drier climate than other capitals but is an interesting enough location in being sandwiched in between adjacent Adelaide Hills (with picturesque villages and wine areas) and St Vincent Gulf coast. It is also not all that far from southern coast open sea, not that St Vincent is very closed - also open sea really.

Though I said above it is not developing so much, there is perhaps one of the smarter infrastructure thoughts you can come across - you know how it always seems only one side of a motorway gets used in peak hour traffic? - well for southern motorway out of Adelaide, there is one section not fully duplicated and a flip flop arrangement to allow one direction peak flows to have more lanes.

On to the medical facilities and there are a number of major hospitals in Adelaide region, Royal Adelaide associated with University of Adelaide, Womens and Childrens Hospital, and St Andrews Private all in CBD area and then Flinders Hospital, a major centre in south and Modbury Hospital serving northern suburbs.
You may well find that people training in Adelaide look towards bigger and better? in Melbourne, Sydney or overseas and thus people with qualifications and experience could be welcome.
Probably would do no harm in making contact with Royal Adelaide and Flinders I'd think would be best opportunity.

You could also have a look at sites like Job Search - Australian jobs - Job listing - Find a job - CareerOne or SEEK - Australia's no. 1 jobs, employment, career and recruitment site tosee what is advertised in your field to get an idea, though job market will always vary in time.

You ought to also have a look at Skilled Occupations List on Department of Immigration and Citizenship within skilled immigration section and on finding a category for your occupation, you will see a Qualification assessment authority nominated and right at end of list of all occupations you will find contact details.
Even if it is your husbands qualifications that are being assessed for immigration purposes your qualifications will also need to be assessed by the relevant authority and accreditation issued for employment in your field within Australia.

Come back with any other queries if you like and hope you get to enjoy Australia soon enough.

Thanks for the information. We had only looked at Adelaide from a cost of living point of view (e.g. rental prices, transport costs etc.). We don't know much about the diferences in the Australian regions and any information we have is invaluable. Taking into account what you mentioned previously it may be better for us to look more at Melbourne or Sydney.

I have always had a desire to live and work in Australia and know a few people from the UK that have moved over and would not dream of returning. My husband and I are looking to start a family sooner rather than later and feel that the UK cannot offer us the right work/life balance.

We are required to work long hours and although the pay is reasonable the cost of everything else is very high. The only place we can afford to live leaves us with a 3-4 hour daily commuting time. With property prices and the cost of living rising rapidly this is not going to get any better.

As far as we understand, there seems to be 2 options open to us, the first being to apply for a permanant visa under the skilled occupation list. (I am a project scientist with a batchelors degree in science, my husband is a laboratory manager although he does not have a degree he has several years experience at this level). The second option is to move over on a WHV and apply for permanant residency once established. Any advice you could offer us on these options would be helpful as would any other suggestions you may have would be gratefully received.

Lou,
Recent thread on housing affordability - Housing affordability hits new record low has a link and some opinionated views but essentially the largest cities in Oz, Melbourne and Sydney are right up there with housing and transport issues and Perth (another country nearly!) and Brisbane not too far behind even though size is a lot smaller but perhaps our problems are relatively insignificant compared to that in UK, European and US and other giant cities.

That said, over a million people call Adelaide region home and probably love it for reasons you raise - cheaper housing and less transport issues, and then there are a few regional cities that might have industries/hospitals that you both may be able to find work, and for what ever reason Australians have an aversion to regional cities, but often best place of all to live, a few worth checking out being
Geelong (close to Melbourne) and CSIRO research labs there
Ballarat, Bendigo, or Albury all inland and Albury on inland highway between Melbourne and Sydney, in NSW but closer to Melbourne.
Along eastern seaboard, there's Wollongong and Newcastle either side of Sydney, Coffs Harbour further north of Sydney, Gold Coast, an hour south of Brisbane (and arguably best climate in Australia) has a couple of larger hospitals and a University, and then north of Brisbane, Bundaberg, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns would all be worth checking out.
Townsville, I think it is has the James Cook University and centre for studying tropical diseases.

For further info, google those places, have a look at Travelmate - Australia Accommodation and Hotels, Tours, Car Hire, Maps, Australian Travel Guide for some maps and distances etc. and www.domain.com.au and Real Estate, Property, Land and Homes for Sale, lease and rent - realestate.com.au will give you an indication on prices.
Google earth is also a great site to look at locations to get an idea of proximity to beaches etc., and if you have the time, a good map, an address from a real estate site, you can with Google earth zoom right in to locate a particular house or at least the street if house is obscured by trees.

One of the reasons a lot of people from UK or Europe (and America) like to make Oz home is possibly whereas people in those climes live predominantly in the higher latitudes and it can be predominantly colder wetter and cloudy, Australia is closer to the equator and you have a mix of mild European weather to sub tropical/tropical and even dry desert like inland to choose from, our weather being more predominantly warmer, drier and clearer blue skies - sometimes we pray for clouds and rain! - farmers inland more so.

I'd reckon your idea of coming out on a WHV has some merit in that if you are prepared to do some seasonal work (all info on Department of Immigration and Citizenship ) you could if age is OK be eligible for a second WHV and that makes two years away from home, family and friends to assess the physcological aspects of a big move and to also get about and spend a bit of time in different locations.

If it is you that has the qualifications, it'll more than likely be easier for immigration to be approved for you even if Lab Managers are on the SOL, but either way check it out with the assessing authoritry.

Some areas of Adelaide might just get a bit cheaper re realestate too - Free housing land on offer in Adelaide - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
And another good part of Adelaide region is country hills living is only about a half hour out of CBD, maybe a tad more at peak times.