Moving to Australia…?

[sunshine1037]

This is a pretty vague question but I hope the thread becomes full of lots of useful information / advice / experiences etc.

I am currently in my early 30s, living in London. I have been here for over 6 years and am from the South. I’ve never lived anywhere else except when I moved away for uni for 3 years.

I am single (trying to meet a partner but no luck). I have no children and I have no ties or loyalty to my job - infact, I am not enjoying it at all at the moment.

I’ve always considered moving abroad (temporarily, not forever) and now I just feel like it’s the right time for me to do something like this. I need a change.

I have always thought about Australia - in particular Melbourne, but I am open. I have never been, and I am aware that it is a long way away. But I know there is a big expat community there and lots of people seem to rave about it.

So, basically the point of this thread is, if you’ve lived in Australia / Melbourne, would you recommend? What was your experience like? Or even if you have close friends / family that have done this, how did they find it?

I've a friend who moved to Melbourne. Loved it for years. Met an oz man, got engaged, had a baby then separated. She can't move back home unless she wants to leave to dd there (which she wouldn't). She's trying to make a life there but it's hard with no family support. If marriage and children are on your radar then I'd think seriously about what you'd do in the situation my friend found herself in.

We did the move. To Perth though (weathers better!!)

best thing we ever ever did. Don't regret it for a second. I know plenty of people who have come and feel the same but equally as many who have gone back for various reasons.

There's lots of Fb groups with heaps of advice . Try 'Poms wanting oz' first.

My friend's husband wanted to move to Australia so they went about 10 years ago. They loved it initially but now just miss home. My friend in particular wants to return but husband refuses due to wages being lower here. She would have left him but they've now got children so she's stuck out there as she can't bring her children back. Added complication of 2 of her children want to be in UK but 1 wants to be in Oz. They are very much a split family, having to live together. She also had an awful time when her sister died as couldn't get enough annual leave to fly and see her very much.

She's in Melbourne and likes the outdoorsy stuff the kids can access. She does feel she can offer them more there but still just feels it's not home.

She gets paid well but everything very expensive, including medical stuff.

Thank you all!

any more experiences?

@Malteasersarered I have barely ever paid for anything medical??

both me and DP have had multiple scans and issues and never been out of pocket. We had some private health last year to avoid the surcharge but it wasn't bad and it was only because we earned over a high threshold.

we can go to the drs same day if not, next day. That's our preferred one but you can get into any.
Any issues are resolved quickly with any further investigation you need.

I'm about to have a baby and care has been amazing - all in all ill be out of pocket the equivalent £200 for the whole pregnancy and that's only because I wanted my scans at a particular place.

She quite often mentions dental costs and medical appointment costs. I don't know anything about the Australian system for health care so I'm just going off what she said.

My son is out there.. Adelaide in his case. He went out 3 weeks before Covid hit on a couple's visa, having met a wonderful Aussie over here 4 years previously.
Getting a permanent visa is NOT easy unless you are in a profession they are desparate for, or your company can sponsor you. DS1 had to jump through a lot of hoops to prove they were a genuine couple (she lived with us for two years) and it wasn't cheap!

However... if you can afford to live you can get a one year working visa (my son did that for his first time out there)..see if you like the life and test the waters.

My son loves his life there and will probably not return.. he is hoping to take Aussie citizenship. But there are downsides.. work is still work, wherever you go. The summers are cucifyingly hot, the winters often rainy. Food is expensive. Renting is eyewateringly expensive.

He gets homesick sometimes although he has built up a great network of friends, has a decent job and is now very happily married.

Dental is expensive, medical seems ok.. so far he's broken his elbow and arm and had a cyst removed from his head (he's a skater!) and it hasn't cost much at all to be treated.

DH and I did the 1-year working holiday visa, had 10 months in Melbourne working, then went travelling. We loved it so much, and would have looked to stay long term - but it is just so far from friends and family, all in the UK. Do consider what would happen if you met a serious partner there who didn't want to leave.
I'd suggest doing the working holiday visa first, they've put the maximum age up to 35 now I think.
Can't comment much on healthcare, we did get Medicare cards and I saw GP a couple of times which was straightforward. The pay was excellent, although rent is also very high in Melbourne. Food costs high as well.

What do you do for work? Getting a permanent visa is really hard if you aren’t on the list of careers they want.

Everyone I know who did it ended up coming back… for various reasons, but the main one was generally despite wages being high so was COL

One friend recently returned from 13 years in Australia because he felt that the climate, at least in Sydney, had got a lot worse in the time he was there.
severla months of the year he had to rely on aircon and his house was under threat from bushfires several times.
something to consider, but I still think that going on a working holiday visa if you can is a great idea. It’s a lovely country with a lot to offer, no way could I live there long term but for a year or 3, yeah.

It's a long bloody way away. Husbands best mate went with his wife, had a kid, they divorced and now he can't come back.

I did 2 years in Sydney. Great lifestyle and better quality of life in many ways, and agree I found the medical system in particular GPs very good (we did pay a fair bit for insurance and stil had out of pocket costs). Eating out and takeaways was also cheaper and so much nicer and healthier than here and in Sydney at least, people in general seemed healthier (maybe income related as well though). I think I did get paid comparatively more than here though difficult to compare properly as some stuff is cheaper/some more expensive.

Drawbacks though were distance from family, the heat in the summer, the expense in travelling pretty much anywhere else due to how far away it is, less choice in a lot of shops, food shopping more expensive, and Aussies work hard! I had less annual leave than here. I couldn't imagine getting older and still living there tbh, I think overall life is more varied over here.

Depends what you value in life & how much close family you have in the UK. My sister went for 7yrs bought a house as her DH is Ozzie. We looked at it critically but decided financially & our lifestyle we were better here, plus we both have elderly parents. The reality is you would struggle to come home more than once/every other year due to cost and limited leave. The speed climate change is increasing heat & fires & awful storms, my sister got cut off from floods a couple times a year, they mostly went veggie as meat was very expensive too. I’d go for a year see how you enjoy it.

Thank you all.

Yes, I would go on the working visa as I am under 35.

I work in HR.

I've got siblings, in-laws and, until recently, two of my dc out there. I would have gone in a heartbeat when my siblings, and exHs sibling went, but exH wanted to stay in the UK.

My DC went out on the work visa, got decent jobs that sponsored them to stay longer. Both came back because they missed friends and family here, but loved being near the Aussie cousins, loved the lifestyle etc. Friends who went at the same time as them have stayed and are applying for permanent residency.

Go for it. You might love it, you might not. You won't know until you give it a try.

I am English born and bred. I grew up in beautiful Somerset and so was very spoiled. I moved to Australia in 1999 - married an Australian. I went at a time when I had all the same feelings of being unsettled and unattached Guess what, I took myself with me to Australia and in many ways felt even more unsettled and unattached.
Australia is NOT England in the sun or England by the sea. Culturally it is a very different place. It has its issues like anywhere else on the planet. I find the people are not as friendly - despite the reputation Aussies have as easy going larrikins.
I have moved miles from my family and it has been hard to keep in touch. I don’t miss England every day but I definitely have a constant sense of not belonging here. I have a great job, great friends, live in a lovely house in a beach town - but it’s not home. I am still (in their eyes) not an Aussie.
Australia has a deep seated inferiority complex and spends a lot of time promoting itself as the best place on earth with the best sports teams. It isn’t.

It is doing a great job of ruining its own beautiful natural phenomena. More species becoming extinct here in short time spans than anywhere else on earth.
koalas are endangered - no one mentions that.

Australian politics is notoriously corrupt and they are all slaves to the billionaire fossil fuel mining magnates - who along with Murdoch, are the real people running this country.

Because of the extreme weather events of recent times, the insurance premium on my house has gone up so much (because I’m in a high risk flood zone - just like anywhere on the densely populated east coast), and in another couple of years I won’t be able to afford to insure it.

I also believe this idea of Australians being more healthy is a myth. It’s got one of the biggest obesity problems in the world, is very much modelled on US fast food culture. In my view people in this country are very UNhealthy - the people out running on the beach are in their minority.

Outside of the expensive cities, Australia is a cultural wasteland (the actual long standing culture of First Nations australia is still barely recognised in the scheme of things). It is miles between places - with not a lot to realistically explore in between.

The country, despite its so called standing as a successful multicultural nation is pretty racist, and the culture is hugely misogynistic.

I love the wildlife, I love the big skies and I do love the warm days before they become flesh melting - it’s nice to have the doors flung open.

Having given it a bloody good go, I’m moving back to UK in 2024-25. Partly so I can actually spend some time with my ageing mum, partly because I just don’t want to be here anymore. I want to be back in my spiritual and cultural home. I don’t want to endure the impossible heat, huge storms, horrendous and traumatising bush fires. People moan about the rain and cold in the UK keeping you indoors for four months of the year. Australia is getting so hot you have to stay in air con for four months of the year unable to do anything. What’s the difference?

if you do it don’t expect it to be a big welcome party with people inviting you to the barbecue on the beach. It wasn’t my experience. I found it very hard to break in to social groups. Don’t expect it to be a panacea to all your woes.

I expect to get a defensive pile-on from lots of Aussies reading this. But this is my experience and you can’t argue with that - others will have different experiences. As already highlighted.

My sister lives in Adelaide and has built a good life, went with her DH and 2 kids who are now adults.
From a lifestyle pov they have a better one than they would here because both in well paid professions.
Kids are definitely Ozzy now, so no coming back. They miss friends and family back home.
I don't envy their life as what they've gained on the one hand they've lost on the other. So it seems to be a neutral life enhancement from a net benefit pov.
I think they feel it was a good move because the kids are thriving, but they may have done just as well here.
I think since you are at the threshold of a new chapter in life, you could dabble in a life oversees, but if that new chapter starts there, and that would be lovely in many ways, you could find your choices don't stay so open, and where you are become where you have to be whether you like it or not... so I think be careful what you wish for...
What you really need is someone who can see the future!!

Here are some comparisons to help:

https://livingcost.org/cost/london/melbourne#:~:text=The%20average%20after%2Dtax%20salary,to%20live%20in%20the%20world.

https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/interactives/costofliving/compare/london-vs-melbourne/

Something anecdotal is the early 20s child of friends who has a year working visa said everything is cheaper except alcohol, and wages were significantly higher. They are doing bar work and have a house share.

I live in Melbourne and it's a great city, but my circumstances are very different to to yours. OP.

Renting is the real issue; my young friend was in a spare room for 10 days and fell on their feet with getting a rental very quickly, in a good area, with excellent transport.

Good luck, @sunshine1037

I am Australian, not British, and moved to Europe (Spain) 16 yrs ago so I cannot compare UK to Australia. I have been back to Australia a few times, mainly work related reasons and am now in NSW for a wedding. I would never want to live here again, it is eye wateringly expensive, a cultural desert and so very far from almost anywhere. I agree with previous poster re friendliness, there is more of the rather fake American friendliness, very racist and sports mad. Of course it has many advantages, especially for kids.

a cultural desert

There's always one.

Apart from being home to world's oldest continuous culture. i.e indigenous Australians, it is cultured in the sense you probably mean:

Melbourne Theatre Company
Opera Australia
Melbourne International Film Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne Writers' Festival
The NGV
The State Library
The Botanical Gardens
Red Stitch Theatre Company
Arts Centre Melbourne
Bendigo Art Gallery
Ballarat Art Gallery
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Music venues: Corner Hotel, the Forum, Northcote Social Club and many more

More multi-cultural restaurants and cafes than I can shake a stick at.

Or do you mean bulidings? Both Melbourne and Adelaide are repositories of 19th century architecture. Not enough, thank you developers.

Buildings!!!!!

I'm Australian in Sydney but Melbourne (I have lived there too) would be my city of choice, there is so much to do there! You can get around easily in the CBD by tram, and there are theatres, art galleries, lots of trendy cafes - it's a great city. Summers can be hot and winters cold and windy/rainy. You get used to it! It's famous for four seasons in one day.

From Australia you can visit the Pacific Islands and New Zealand easily and countries like Thailand, Bali etc. Also Tasmania of course!

It is a huge trip back to the UK if you have family there you want to visit.

It is a more outdoors lifestyle in the milder months here in Australia. I think it's hard to break into a new circle of friends anywhere - your best opportunity would probably be through your work initially.

Medical care is largely free, General Practitioners probably now will charge you a gap payment, dental is expensive unless you get private health cover. Renting is insanely expensive unfortunately. If you could get a nice share house, that could give you a cheaper alternative to living alone and an instant circle of friends.

I think it could be a great experience!

BTW, we are not all sports mad! I used to attend the opera and concerts a lot in Melbourne, also art galleries, cinema, author's talks... there is heaps to do there that is not sports related. I would say Melbourne is the best city in Australia for this sort of thing.

Loads of my nieces and nephews have spent time there and my DH’s nieces and nephews also. He currently has 1 niece who is in her second year of three. She’s a nurse and in high demand. His other niece got her PhD there. However, none of them have opted to stay, but all enjoyed their few years.

As someone who left home and moved to a far off land (US) “for a year” I don’t recommend it. Being away from family is awful, but I’d definitely say do it for a year or two. Just don’t marry someone there!