OT: I'm a bit sad...

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by Antonino Giglio, May 7, 2005.

  1. Antonino Giglio

    Antonino Giglio Junior Member

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    Hi everyone.
    I wanted to share something with you and ask you some suggestion.
    I'm italian, and I've been studing horticulture in Melbourne for almost 2 years.
    I came to Australia to change my life and to do that I change my job.
    I was web produc designer in Italy but coudn't migrate with that qualification.
    So I choose something that I liked and started studing for a new qualification that would allow me to stay.
    Changing country is not easy, as you can immagine, and here i've no relatives.
    I study and live in Melbourne and i love this city, its multiculturalism.
    Untill some day ago I thought I could stay in melbourne after the school and ask for residency.
    But the immigration laws in this country changes all the time and makes things more and more complicated for people like me that are trying hard to live here.
    Ok for the changes in the laws but is it fair that they change so many times and is it fair that the rules of the game change when you have already started playing? Well I think it is not fair!
    Anyway, now it seems the only way I could try to get residency is to go to live (for at least 2 years) in the regional area in areas where there are big farms (and therefore jobs in demand) like Swan Hill.
    That means starting everything from the biginning as I need to find new house, find new friends (Swan Hill is 4 hours drive from melbourne) and so on.
    In this moment I feel really stressed...
    My desire after the school was to start working in the permaculture field but it seems that for now I've to forget this.
    Yes because by the immigation law I can only stay here if I find a farm or nursery that could sponsor me for 2 years and I don't think there is any around in the sustainable field who can do it.
    So... does anyone know Swan Hill?
    Any suggestions?
    Sorry but I feel a bit depressed...
    Tony
     
  2. Richard on Maui

    Richard on Maui Junior Member

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    don't be sad Tony, give it go! That is the Aussie way! Have a go! Seriously, I've never been to Swan Hill, but the immigration policy makes sense in terms of the fact that rural Australia needs an injection of something if it isn't going to just about go belly up and frankly, you can do better than MElbourne. Take the bull by the horns and see what Sdwan Hill has to offer... It's only for a couple of years and who knows it could be the start of the rest of your life!
     
  3. Antonino Giglio

    Antonino Giglio Junior Member

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    Thanks for your words brother but you live in the subtropics!
    I will put my signature to come there!!!
    The other day I went to see how Swan Hill looks like, and now I understand why they are desperate to find people working there and willing to give residency in that area.
    It is a desolate desert with thousand of hectars of dry land, lots of dust, high temperatures and virtually no rain. Desert!
    Therefore they sucking life out of the Murray river.
    Really a sad picture...
    I really love Aussie life and I really like the country!
    I'm not one of these posh italians that like only the city. The first time I arrived in Australia I lived with 2 students, very aussie, really down to heart people that introduced me to the "real" Australia. And I love it!.
    I spent lots of my childhood in the mountains and therefore I'm a nature lover.
    But if I have to go to live for 2 years to that desert then I prefere to go back to Italy, do my practice there and then come back!
    Really sad that Australian land is raped in this way...
    Ciao!!!
    Tony
     
  4. Richard on Maui

    Richard on Maui Junior Member

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    Yeah, yeah, I know, what they are doing to the country is appaling, but even the worst of the rapists have something worthwhile to teach you, and the beauty of that "desert" may just be hiding underneath all the dust...
     
  5. mel

    mel New Member

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    Hi Anotonio,
    I think your story is very sad. But wanted to write and say that Swan Hill isnt all the bad to live in.
    I am a city person into permaculture but my husband is from Swan Hill orgininally. He is lovely! :D There are a lot of other lovely people who have farms up that way, we know quite a few.

    The city of Swan Hill itself is really nice. :razz: The Comfort Inn in the main street is clean and cheap to stay in. I travel all the way from Melbourne to Swan Hill to go to the Dentist there. Crazy I know, but Dr Harrison in MCullum St Swan Hill is worth the travel. Much cheaper than Melbourne dentists and doesnt hurt you.

    Nice Italian resturant in main st too. Interesting Australian tourist attraction of a Pioneer settlement park.

    I agree the land is very barren :cry: but many crops are sucessfully grown. Mostly wheat and barley. We are going to use straw from a farm up there to build our straw bale house with.

    The weather is fantastic up there, much better than Melbourne. Winter has beautiful blue skies and mild temperatures. In summer they have seisters like in Itlay.

    I agree with the others, give it a go! Tou'll love the freindly people.

    Mel (of Melbourne)
     
  6. Fee

    Fee Junior Member

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    Hi Tony,
    This could be an amazing opportunity, what an adventure! Near Canberra where I live there is an amazing place I have stayed at with my daughter on a school camp. It is a very unusual and inviting place. I found this exerpt on the net. And even though it is rural it is close to Canberra with the benefits of a beautiful city, unis etc.

    The most intriguing place to stay in the area is at the Gunningbar Yurt Farm , 20km out of town on Grabben Gullen Road (tel 02/4829 2114; $20 as a helper with four-hours' work per day required, but all meals included; or as part of a WWOOF placement. A yurt, in its original form, is a Mongolian round leather tent, and the concept was enthusiastically adopted and adapted by Californian New Agers. The ones here are mostly of wood and are portable prefab buildings in the Californian mould - solar-powered, naturally lit and wood-heated. Essentially a sheep property, the "yurt village" has several yurts, each with a different function, providing an educational centre for groups of children to help them become more self-sufficient and environmentally aware. If you want to stay, you must call in advance; if you don't have your own transport, someone can pick you up.

    Goodluck!
     
  7. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    You might try to consider it a challenge instead of a sentence.

    Sue
     
  8. Antonino Giglio

    Antonino Giglio Junior Member

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    Dear everyone,
    thanks for your help, support and precious suggestions.

    Today I drove from Melbourne to the Swan Hill region and back.
    Long day, long time driving (nearly 10 hours to go and come back) but happy.

    I decided to give a go now, move over there in 1 month and give it a go for few months and see if I fit in it or not... Ha ha ha...

    I found a wholesale nursery that grows fruit and ornamental trees and they are willing to employ me as nursery labour.

    It will be a big change for me as I'll move from the comfort of my Melbourne house to an old cabin in a caravan park on the nursery land.

    Actually I'm a bit scared but have to try, don't I?

    What do you think guys and gals? ;-)

    Cheers,

    Antonino
     
  9. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    As long as you're not chained by the leg to the place, you can always leave if you hate it. By then, another option may show up.

    Sue
     
  10. murray

    murray Junior Member

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    It'll probably turn out to be the best time of your life. Stranger things have happened... :toothy7:
     
  11. melinda

    melinda Junior Member

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    hey,
    the murray/darling river system needs you! i lived in broken hill for 12 months and fell in love with the landscape and the darling river. the cotton farmers upstream are destroying the river system and alas many of the locals in these rural outback towns dont seem too worried about it...there is a lot of work to be done out there. i hope you find the inspiration.

    and welcome to australia
    mel
     
  12. miss.vitalis

    miss.vitalis Junior Member

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    antonino, I'm sorry for your problems, it will get better!
    for now I will just tell you: su con la vita! andra' tutto bene! ciao!
     
  13. clonte

    clonte Junior Member

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    hi tony

    not all growers on the murray are rapists - we are gradually changing our irrigation over to drip system - but it is so expensive and our returns for our dried fruit is dismal in recent years.

    i used to live in a coastal city and found it really hard to live in the big red desert, but here i am, i've grown to love it. one positive thing, when it does rain you really appreciate it!

    think of the cup as being half full not half empty

    clonte 8)
     
  14. Antonino Giglio

    Antonino Giglio Junior Member

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    thanks guys for your posts!!!
    and thanks clonte for your live experience message!!!
    now i'm actually looking forward to go to wood wood!!!!!!!!!!!
    ha ha ha...
    love,
    tony
     

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