To be sick of living in the UK and to want to move to Australia?!

[MsKLo]

Australia has been in our thoughts for many years - the outdoor lifestyle, the good weather, seems like a much better lifestyle for kids...

But we have never even been there - yet we dream about just saying 'fuck it' (!) and move there! Don't get me wrong, I do love my country but I just feel the lifestyle would be better there and better for our kids. I know every country has problems, but am quite fed up of living here.

Would love to hear from pons in Oz too! Are you glad you moved?

Should we pursue this dream and leave family and friends behind and just go for it or stay?

Bleurgh! I just don't know!

We are looking at houses at the moment, going to need at least AUD$850k for a 3 bedroom place in the suburb we are in, which is what £500k(ish)?

This is an 'OK' suburb as well, not super posh but not feral either, right in the middle.

I guess it depends on where you live hoovercraft. My husbands aunt has just bought a lovely house 4 bed and a pool in brissie for $350k Just means Her hubby has a bit longer to commute.

YANBU to want to leave the UK, but personally Australia doesn't appeal to me. Not that I've been - I'm sure it's beautiful, and providing you pick your area VERY carefully I'm sure it's a perfectly civilised and pleasant place to live. But I have always found Australians a bit brash and rude. Vast over-generalisation, I know (apologies to any non-brash Aussies!) but my preconceptions cloud my judgement. I'd choose Canada any day.

YABU - come to NZ instead ;)

Seriously - it's a big move & you need to do a lot of research with potential living areas, job market, what sort of home you can realistically afford, how well you'll adjust to being so far from family / friends, how you'll go about making a new social circle, etc. Online forums are pretty good sources of info.

Your life will probably be more or less the same - you still have to work, clean the house, do the grocery shop - but the scenery and the weather are better on the whole.

One of my favourite quotes goes along the lines of "the grass is greener down under, but just as difficult to mow :)"

I was in Brisbane last year and thats incredible........I didnt see any for anywhere near that. Where was it?

North lakes.

As I say its all about compromise. They have a longer commute but a nicer house and no mortgage.

Ive never heard of north lakes...its must be a new suburb on the outskirts?

yes, i just googled it...it is

Oh my goodness, I would move tomorrow. I get the feeling that people are much more friendly, in and out of eachother's gardens and houses.

Mo Posie - that' just Home and Away.

But my lovely neighbours who were Welsh and NZ had lived in Oz for years (12) and said it was more friendly, stamps foot.

Adn Home and Away was more Caravan and beach cafe based.....

come to Perth. we are 800mtrs from the beach, 4 double bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, opp park, near beach and schools, easy to get public transport to perth( about an hour to cbd), double garage front and back garden. this cost $435,000 last April.
petrol is alot cheaper. pay around $1.15 per litre( this does go up to $1.35 per litres on some days)
way of life is much better and if you want to get kids into sport there is so much more to do and quite cheap.
food- meat is a little more expensive but not over the top and we get paid in dollars not pounds so relevent to what you get paid.
private schools are cheaper but state ones are also good.
just had a great australian day in perth. free day out. kids went on bouncy castles, had there faces painted, went on climbing walls, gym buses, listened to music, watched fireworks and more. all free and it was in a smoke and alchole free zone which was very well policed.
the traffic is alot less
the weather is better
can you tell i love it over here!!
i had never been to australia untill i got of the plane to live here.

if you cannot afford to go and visit atm, maybeyou shouldspend more time around Aussies where you are if that is practicable to get a feel for the Aussie way of life. Save as much as you can before you go if you are going, the more money you have, the easier it is going to be.

Some people fall on their feet there, others don't. Hard to say how it would pan out for you. I got on fine there when I visited my sister who is married to an Ozzie. I get on ok with the people but I don't know how I would like the world of work there (not having experienced it) or just living there long-term. A visit is never the same as living somewhere on a day-to-day and long-term basis, you just get a glimpse but never the whole picture.

I would say Australians are fairly down to earth but that is not to say there are no snobby elements there. Australia also has a sort of priviledged sector, it isn ot entirely classless but more so than the UK. It is true IME that people don't hide their light under a bushel so it seems perfectly acceptable to tell people what you do well, what is great about yourself, blow your own or your dc's trumpet. It is a big place, so different parts of Australia definitely have their own feel. Not sure if I would like to settle in Australia or not but it has a relaxed, creative feel on the whole - way people dress, look of shops, what's on offer in restaurants etc which I do like. My sister's dds have had a lovely childhood so far, certainly when I compare their schools/lifestyles to my dd's, I think their childhood has been nicer. (we're mainland Europe btw)

My sisters both have a small ladder and chair at the bottom of their gardens/at the fence lines so they can chat to the neighbours. One has a small outdoor setting set yp and they sit on opposite sides of the fence gabbing and drinking cocktails lol

zzzenagain I totally agree with you about the "class" elements.

I've been to Australia three times and travelled round extensively, (the first time for a year's working holiday) and there is no way I would live there. I found the casual everyday racism and sexism horrendous and the heat oppressive. It's really unpleasant trying to have a meal outside when flies constantly land on your plate and don't get me started on the flying cockroaches which mean your windows have to be closed at night.

The music scene is too important to me anyway; I don't want to wait six months to see a decent band. I really don't understand the hype- I found the whole place pretty dull tbh.

The cockroaches are massive! (had a close encounter of the cockroach kind the night before last!)

heck those cockroaches

not to mention the spiders

cockroaches are fine it's the red backs i hate! but still they don't want to make me feel like moving back to uk
malovitt bands never came close to Plymouth so more likely to see a band here than in UK! even if they are abit out of date! ( not that I ever get to see any of them)

thereisnospoon -
I'm not sure. I find the class system here pretty stifling. My inlaws insist on seating plans for meals and phone calls before every visit and all these things which we just don't do at home. Much more a casual style But I've been here over 10 years now so just got used to it. I think maybe going the other way might be harder. The size of the country alone I think people are quite shocked about.

IME, expats are much more successful if they're moving for a "pull" reason than a "push" one, eg a career-making job or a native partner.

Is it really better for your kids if they never see their GPs? Are you ok about missing weddings, births, anniversaries and life generally moving on without you?

I am in Australia and it is very expensive. If we were in average-paying jobs we simply wouldn't be able to live in a capital city - I have no idea how nurses, bus drivers etc cope. Actually, they don't cope - DD's favourite nursery teacher has just resigned because she had a two-hour commute from where she could afford to live to the daycare centre.

for some reason I always thought you were in Hong Kong..