If you had a choice between Western Australia and North East England, which would you choose and why?

[Glitteryrosette]

NC for this as could be outing.

I have potentially got the opportunity to emigrate to Western Australia with DH and my two primary age DC. I have close family out there who would be relatively nearby (in Australian terms- a sibling less than an hour away and a parent 4 hours away).

I currently live in a lovely house (mortgaged but at least we are on property ladder) in a place I love, with lots of close family on the doorstep (including my other parent and in-laws). My two DC enjoy their school and are settled and happy.

I am finally in a position where I am progressing my career, making good connections with other professionals (crucial for my role), have paid off my student debt (it cost me £50k to qualify!), and all being well I will be promoted in the next year or two. I love my job and the people I work with. My commute is manageable.

About 12 years ago DH and I considered a move down under, but at the time I had only just qualified, had a lot of debt, and I would have had to do it all again to do the same role in Australia, which put me off and we decided to stay put. Then we had our first DC.

Following Brexit, the pandemic, the cost of living and the state of the UK generally, we are now considering whether we should make the move to Australia before it is too late in terms of both our ages (im late 30's, DH is early 40's) and before eldest DC starts high school. Whilst I would probably have to do some form of studying, I no longer would have to re qualify, but I would need to have my qualifications assessed by the equivalent Australian governing body, and would inevitably be in a slightly junior role and have to prove myself before any chance of promotion. So career wise, a move would set me back a good 3 years or so.

However, my family in Australia, who have just spent a month in the UK, cannot believe the state of things over here, and reiterated all the opportunities available in Australia, and how much better life would be for us and our DC.

I have visited Australia, and loved WA. Perth in particular. It is beautiful and a great city. So is the surrounding area. My DH lived in Australia for a year before we met and is desperate to make the move. He LOVED it.

But I love this little pocket of the UK. I am feeling torn. Would life really be better for my DC in Australia both now and in their future? I am happy to make sacrifices for my children but only if I am fairly confident they will pay off.

DH and I have both put feelers out with potential employers in WA, and (to our surprise!) there has been interest in both of us and we are waiting for an emigration consultant to get in touch.

I would be interested in hearing the opinions and thoughts of others, especially those with primary age DC who have made the move (either way)!

We are also in an environmental time bomb as if Australia is on its on this planet and the last couple of summers, at least in Sydney, have been awful because all it does is rain.

We also have snakes, sharks, and spiders most of us have never seen, but they are supposedly being in every household and school.

We also have too many beaches, we should have many more cathedrals to visit.

It's more cultural to fly to another European city than to Indonesia. Or visit Katherine George, or Kakadu or the Great Barrier Reef.

Yup, we are an uncultured lot.

Elsewhere on the board there's someone asking whether they should move to the US. So of course people are pointing out both the pros and CONS of that

It doesn't come up with such regularity.
People never mention the sharks and venomous snakes in the USA
They don't say the USA is sexist or racist
Posters aren't, on the whole, as mind-buggeringly ill-informed about the USA as Australia
Time after time after time.

Your country is not being bashed in these threads. People are discussing the pros and cons of each country. Because that's what OP is asking for.

The fact you can't see the way lots on this thread have spoken about Australia/Australians speaks volumes about you.

And the Brits who come to Australia, complain about the heat, the distance to Europe, the 'lack of culture'. Honestly, if you could hear yourselves the way we do you'd understand how incredibly fucking rude these continual posts are.

But having lived in the UK I get that January is miserable, and I'd rather be here in Aus than there too which is why I guess these threads keep coming up 🏖️🌞

God you lot 😂

I'd give my right arm, no, probably both arms, to emigrate to Australia right now. Bloody love the place. I'm British but have visited twice. We're not all Aussie hating twats over here.

Neither. Seriously

I would move to SE England. Within an hour of London.

best of everything

Bingo. 🙄

I'm a true ex pat. And by that I mean, we left Spain, our European home country, because my husband was working for a multinational company in Spain with a 4 year project in Sydney that he was asked to lead. We had a great life in Spain and 3 kids that were happy and settled. We also had all our extended family there so moving to Australia was not easy. It was a difficult decision that took months in the making. At the end we all decided it was only 4 years and we could always go back.

My English was not that great but I've never felt so welcomed in my life. The kids settled in schools without a problem, including my oldest who was already a teen. We just loved Australia from the beginning and didn't know any prejudice, specially with me with my desecrating English. Everyone has always been great.

My husband's company gave him another 4 year extension and after that, we either moved back to Spain or got sponsored by an Australian company. Again a huge decision that took 30 mins to make. We wanted to stay.

He had been headhunted and got a job with an Australia company that put the forms for permanent residency. It came thru 6 months later.

My eldest son went back to Spain, my middle one finished uni and it's working and the youngest is about to start uni. Neither of them are planning to go back to Spain.

Australia is an extraordinary country to live. Like all countries it has problems and issues that need to be addressed politically, housing affordability the biggest one. We live in the Blue Mountains and our house backs a reserve. I have a bird feeder and the amount of wild lorikeets, king parrots and rosellas I see every day is something I could only dream about in Spain.

I'm working 3 days now at a local hospital with a very good pay. We've travelled around Australia and countries nearby (Indonesia, Fiji, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Cook Islands....) and frankly we've all learned more about culturalal diversity than visiting the same old buildings in Europe.

We live barely an hour from Sydney and some great restaurants, museums and galleries. The best part is that there is also some great restaurants, cafes and theatre locally.

I've tried to give a true account of my life as an European resident in Australia. People can have various experiences, but one thing I won't ever accept is the amount of bashing of Australia threads. People have different experiences, bashing, stereotyping and insulting a country and their people are not about sharing personal experiences. It's about prejudice.

Sydney and the Blue Mountains are lovely. I wouldn't say living there is in any way comparable to living in WA.

I wouldn't want to live in Australia

I love Perth, it's a small city by European standards but with really great suburbs like Subiaco or Northbridge. Only been there a couple of times travelling to Margaret River but loved the atmosphere.

I've re read your OP and putting the
Ridiculous personal (hearsay) opinions on this thread about Australia to one side....

My motto (and that of friends who have emigrated) is you only live once and I'd hate to think 'what if'. Only you will know if it's right for you

Everything is worth a go. You can set your mind to do two years and at 18 months you take stock. Even if it's not for you it's been an experience. Rent your UK house out and rent a place in WA. Keep your options open.

We had the opportunity in NZ and even with a rented house in London and no kids we were torn. A close friendship group. Ageing parents. But I couldn't live with myself for not trying. We came over on a temp 2 year visa, me with the job transfer and DH left his UK job. He struggled initially but set up a niche business and we decided after a year to stay and now have citizenship

We will never go back. Born in NE England and I couldn't leave there quick enough (I won't say why lest I be accused of bashing). London had given us everything we needed. We now have a brand new exciting life with new interests, a new location and new friends. My career has gone faster than it ever would in the UK. DHs business is one we could never have considered in the UK. We own a house the likes of which we could never dream of in an idyllic location. Lifestyle is totally different for the better.

Only you can decide but hell, take opportunities when they come. They don't come often and only to very few people. but keep the path back open if it doesn't work for you.

Do you have children @BoganKiwi ?

London was 45c for several weeks last year was it not? London in 45c is fucking unbearable and totally unlivable. Nowhere has aircon. There's not a breath of breeze. I know I lived through 25 summers of it. The tube is vile in that heat, shops, bars and restaurants are unbearable.
Australia is at least set up for heat, shade is created and everywhere has aircon. Sydney and Perth are rarely that temperature anyway!

No. I said in my post I dont. I have many friends who do and who have emigrated to various locations with 1 to 3 kids. Some have moved countries several times.

That's why I said to OP has to work out what is right for their circumstance ignoring the ridiculous opinions on this thread about what Aus is like. Nevertheless the 'what if' and 'yolo' still hold true.

@BoganKiwi that's not true. London wasn't 45 degrees for a few weeks last summer. There was a heatwave and It reached 40 degrees for the first time last summer, but I think there was only one day it went over 40. Scary to see what climate change is doing. It impacts all of us on this planet.

I lived in London for 15 years and there may have been a few days in that time when it was that hot but hardly any? Certainly nowhere near 40 degrees. I mean its silly to suggest the UK is anything other than temperate.

Mind you, it rained solidly for 3 weeks when I was travelling in Australia, so I guess generalisations aren't helpful.

Go to Oz whilst you have the chance. Get your permanent residency or citizenship and then take it from there. Once you are over there you can move.

Take the opportunity. What's the worst thing that can happen? You don't like it and you come back! Having shown your children that life is an adventure!

Maybe it would be difficult career wise to do this, but if not then it's a good suggestion.

I think anyone who come on these threads and says 'I wouldn't' or 'I wouldn't want to live in Australia' should state if they have actually been there!

Having spent some time in Perth, I can see the appeal but on balance I wouldn't make the move. If your main motivation is opportunities for your children I don't think WA is the place to go. Despite Brexit difficulties removing children from proximity and access to so many countries to go to somewhere so isolated wouldn't be worth the risk for me. And agree with others, if you move them it becomes their home so when you want to move back you leave them behind, that would be a dealbreaker for me.

Scary to see what climate change is doing. It impacts all of us on this planet.

Agreed. Which is the reason many of us keep calling posters and their "Australia's heat is unbearable" posts ridiculous when climate change is impacting us all.

It is a lot hotter in Oz than the UK though and some people find that unpleasant. Not sure what's so awful about that.

your approach of “live for the moment” “take a risk” etc etc… brilliant when just a couple, absolutely.

but when you’re considering children… that approach is often just reckless and selfish

Are you kids of an age that you could go for a year, take a career break, rent over there for a year and be in a better situation to make a decision?

I adore Australia, living there was the happiest time of my life but I was in my early twenties and climate change wasn't a concern.

From my point of view the most negative aspect of UK now is the direction it seems to be heading (economy, NHS, strikes, Brexit..) versus climate change impacts in Aus. I guess you have to decide which of these is more of a risk.

You're lucky to have family there at least you can take great holidays in winter (although I believe UK very strict on taking kids out of school unlike here-Ireland)