Moving to Maui... job for wife

[whtviper1]

When I was at the Maui Onion Festival a few weeks back I just missed a bike fatality by only an hour. I don't know, it doesn't seem terribly bike friendly with the cars zooming by in that area.

[whynot?]

Seems that nobody in Hawai'i has asked WHERE you are in Australia. Most of Maui is rural. Kahului has the main airport, inter-island cargo port, main hospital, big box stores, car dealerships, etc. So Kahului is the center of Maui's commerce. (Nearby Wailuku is Maui County's seat -- Maui, Lana'i, Moloka'i, and Kaho'olawe islands -- thus the center of government.)

If you are in Sydney or Melbourne (or Perth or Adelaide, etc.), the whole island of Maui is probably more like, well, Hobart. I know that's not -- technically -- Australia, but only Honolulu is a/the major city in Hawai'i. (Check the population, etc. Maui is a major tourist destination, which inflates the temporary count, but fewer than 150,000 permanent residents in 2010. It's pretty close to Hobart, especially given that it's not adjacent to or the primary destination airport/port.)

Maui, despite its tourism name recognition, has few urban amenities when one lives here. Biking in most areas is on the shoulder of 2- and 3-lane roads with 25-45 MPH speed limits. Public transportation buses are MUCH better than when we moved 12 years ago, but hardly like any urban area I know of. (I lived in Metro DC for 25 years from 1979 - 2001.) Like any rural area, Kahului is the hub where one shops (other than for convenience), where one flies out of (except in very limited circumstances), and where the non-tourism jobs are (except for nearly-adjacent Wailuku, where many government jobs are).

Hard to say how difficult it would be for your partner to find career-type work, but I'd expect it might take a while to find her way to the right spot, where she feels challenged, adequately compensated, and like she's making progress in her field. Maui and Hawai'i are somewhat remote, so if you're in a very populous area, any job might feel like a step back in time.

That said, Hawai'i and Maui are wonderful and full of wonderful people. Most people who have been on the forum for a while strongly recommend a pre-move visit for as long as you can possibly manage to get a feel for the place. This would be a huge move for you guys, so I'd double that for you if possible. If not, I hope you have such a sense of adventure that you find living in a tropical paradise compensates for the predictable issues of uprooting and resettling.

Best of luck,

Whynot?