Margaret River

[DesmoFan]

Me and my family recently spent some time down in Margaret River, and it rekindled that need in me to get out of the rat-race and move down south. To my suprise, my wife now says the same thing (this is a marked difference to her previous feelings on the subject). So now I am looking very seriously at how we could do it.

Housing is no problem - we could sell our place here and move down to a similar quality with little on no mortgage. Also, the Mrs could work down there no-prob as her job fits the area well. It's my job that is the problem. I am in software development, and there isn't much call for that down there. Anyway, I am desperate to get out of it, anyway. I did a short viticulture course a few years ago, and am toying with the idea of going back to school to go into that more.

So questions:

• Anyone out there know much about the wine industry (creating it, not drinking it)?
  <blockquote>
• How hard is it to get jobs in that industry?</blockquote>
  <blockquote>
• What is the pay like?</blockquote>
• Anyone other suggestions for work down there?
• Anyone know much about Margaret River?
  <blockquote>
• Do you know someone down there who might be able to help me?</blockquote>

I am really interested in peoples input.

Thanks,
Al

[wackster]

Im doing the exact same thing , over in Bridgetown , Looking to get out of Town , out of the offshore industry and kick it back a bit amongst the twistys and sweepers. Looking to do it ASAP but not knowing what to do when I get there , is the SW screaming for Sparkies? kinda looking to get a full change in career too.
will keep a close eye on this thread as I am open to anything right now, all the very best to ya

[Stoneville]

Drop Nathan a line he has moved down there

[D'Artagnan]

We&#39;ve just done the reverse! We come from a little village in the heart of Australias cool wine country but have moved here to be closer to family. Luckly we&#39;ve kept our place there and the temptation is huge to move back. Better money (we&#39;ve dropped to a third of what we were on), lifestyle and roads (flame suit on )...

We were extremely fortunate in that both my wife an I are in IT and were able to work from home 3 days each so there was a nice overlap for kids etc...Unlike Margaret River, the commute was only 40 mins to the city so it wasn&#39;t bad.

Anyway, enough of that. The point of my rant is that our neighbour was a web developer who pined for the life of a wine maker and looked into it seriously. Of our endless discussions (over a nice plonk or four) these points came out alot:
[*] Wineries look for experienced or young people (who they can train)[*] There is a massive downturn in the wine industry (over east, not sure about here)[*] He ended up setting up a community forum for the village and got contract work developing from home. Very rarely did he need to commute.[*] Most people in our town happily forego money for the lifestyle.

So my thoughts are:
[*] Stick to your day job at least initially. The romance of the wineries is far removed from the reality. If you want to do it, do a vitaculture course in your spare time and go from there.[*] Think outside the square. Is there something you can do using your skills from there?[*] Put a price on the lifestyle there and here and work out how much you are willing to give up for that lifestyle. It may not be posible to have the same income, but it may be worth it.

Ahhh, now I will spend the rest of the day, dreaming of home

D&#39;Art

[chief wiggum]

my off-sider and his other half recently did this, sold the place in karrinyuip for $700k and bought 3 acres in redgate (south of margs) for similar price. he still works alongside me, but via the phone and internet. just be warned that the internet connections can be a problem if you&#39;re abit out of town.


that&#39;s 5 people i know who&#39;ve moved there now. must be something about the place.

[DesmoFan]

...he still works alongside me, but via the phone and internet.[/b]

Doing what sort of work?
Any chance I could have a word with him? Very interested in peoples experience.

[nostars]

It&#39;s defiantly possible... as I&#39;m slowly being forced/reeled/nudged into a relationship the girl herself wants to live in Margs, but my nerd jobs in Perth, but really I.T is VERY flexible, what cant you do on your notebook with adsl/vpn that you cant do from your office PC?

Just gotta find the right employer I guess.

[chief wiggum]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(chief wiggum @ Apr 20 2007, 10:52 AM) [snapback]474233[/snapback]

...he still works alongside me, but via the phone and internet.[/b]

Doing what sort of work?
Any chance I could have a word with him? Very interested in peoples experience.
[/b][/quote]
work is desktop studies of power and aircon stuff. i&#39;ll ask if he&#39;d talk to someone about it, cant tell with him sometimes

[reddog]

Any reason why you are looking to choose Margaret River? Plenty of other not so commercialised places to go. I know where I live there is plenty of expansion work going on, really depends on whether you want to stay with an IT realated career. I work in IT but jobs down here are few and far between, with most employers expecting you to look after a whole site on your own which isn&#39;t much fun. Especially when the truck drivers outside are earning the same if not more than you and they don&#39;t have to be on call.

[DaveR6]

if you are a software engineer just do some contract type work where you work from home. you could be doing work for a yank company etc. all you need is your computer and an internet connection.