Matt Down Under
Ruby developer, founder of choc media, bushwalker, MacGyver fan and hobby photographer, German citizen and Australian Permanent Resident.
In 2008 I moved from Germany to Australia, the best decision of my life. On this blog you can find stories and photos about hiking in Tasmania and on the mainland, travelling, and life in Australia — my journey from Working Holiday to Permanent Residency.
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26 posts tagged Insight
I applied for permanent residency
Tuesday was a special day. Not only was it my dad’s birthday, but it also was exactly two years since I received my current provisional visa which allows me to stay in Australia for up to three years. It allows me to apply for permanent residency once I have lived for at least two years and worked for at least one year in Tasmania — it is bound to a regional state sponsorship from the Tasmanian government.
With Tuesday this week, I have fulfilled all requirements, therefore I started the application process for a permanent visa that allows me to work everywhere in the country without limitations. It’s not that I’m keen to leave Tasmania as soon as possible — the reason I don’t want to lose time is merely because I’m interested in a secure future. It’s just so difficult to make any longterm plans unless I know I will be allowed to live in Australia permanently. I would so love to spend the rest of my life here, I can’t imagine a better place to live.
I thought it would maybe take me a few days to complete the application (last time it took me 6 months), but after only one small issue that was quickly resolved on the DIAC hotline, I managed to complete the application form yesterday, paid the fee, attached some of the required documents and submitted it. Now I can only wait for a response from a case officer, who will hopefully tell me which documents exactly I still need to send in. There’s a bit of confusion around that.
Fingers crossed!
Photography equipment for travel and wildlife
Over the last months I found myself diving more and more into advanced fields of hobby photography and since I’m happy with both my equipment and the results it produces, I thought I should write a short piece about my current equipment and what I use it for.
I’m not a professional photographer, I take photos only for memories and for fun, it simply gives me a great feeling to look through the photos of my travels in recent years - it reminds me of the wonderful moments I had. Whenever I think my life it boring I look at the photos only to be impressed to see what great places I visited.
I mostly take photos of nature and wildlife, there are simply a lot of opportunities in Australia to take stunning nature scenes. For me as a German who didn’t grow up with such an abundance of wildlife and colourful birds it is also very fascinating to photograph wild animals like parrots and kangaroos, it just feels very exotic and makes for a great photo.
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How I got an Australian driver’s license
A few weeks ago I was thinking about getting an Australian driver’s license. I have a German driver’s license and an international one which I got before I left Germany. The German one isn’t accepted in Australia, but with the international one I could potentially drive a car. However this is only for visitors, residents are urged to apply for an Australian license, which turned out to be quite easy.
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Australia votes
In two weeks Australia will hold the 2010 Federal Election. As I am not an Australian citizen (yet), I’m not eligible to vote. Nevertheless, as a person living here and interested in national and world politics and as someone who’s job it is to be up-to-date about everything related to online, I’m consuming a lot of news every day, and I’m following the political campaigns closely. Here’s my take on which party to vote for.
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Two years in Tasmania
Two years ago in early February I arrived in Tasmania. I had been planning to stay for a couple of weeks and now I am starting into my third year, so far with no plans for leaving. A lot has happend during the last year, exciting things, disappointing things, adventures and travels. Here’s a short recapitulation of 2009 with an outlook on what’s planned for this year.
