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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To emigrate to Australia?!

257 replies

DarlingDuck · 16/07/2011 14:56

DH and I are 30 and have 3 DC's, we've wanted to emigrate for a long time. It would mean me re-training and doing a midwifery degree but I would earn twice the salary in Australia as I would here in the UK. The only cons we can think of would be missing our families and all the huge spiders/snakes!

I realise it will be a huge upheaval and our eldest will be around 10 years old when we plan to go which may be hard for her. Ideally we would like to do it sooner but we want to make sure we can earn a good wage.... AIBU?

OP posts:
savoycabbage · 16/07/2011 15:06

Yanbu if it is something you have always wanted to do and you have a plan.

There are many people coming and going here so being new at school won't be such a big deal. We are a year behind here so children are 12 rather than 11 when they go to high school.

Many private schools have primary and secondary schools together so if you did that there would be less school moving.

It costs a lot to live here. Wages are higher but so is the cost of living. My dh earns three times what he did in the uk but we spend the same.

hoolabombshell · 16/07/2011 15:09

YANBU. Although I may be biased, being an Aussie myself Grin

I have lived in the UK for almost 11 years and am desperate to go back and live near my family again. Now have a long-term partner and DS into the bargain so am having to sort out how to take both of them back with me!

The Australian economy was never as bad as here, so as far as I know the job and real estate markets are much better at the moment. The general cost of living, although not exactly cheap, is definitely less expensive when compared to the UK. No council tax or TV licence either - 2 of my bugbears!

I wish you the best of luck and hope you get everything sorted sooner rather than later. I think a 10 year old would see it as a big adventure, too.

Do you know where you're planning to move to?

floosiemcwoosie · 16/07/2011 15:10

This is probably a stupid question....but have you been?

I know it would be expensive but maybe a wee visit would help.

Original poster
DarlingDuck · 16/07/2011 15:14

Not sure where we're planning to go, DH's uncle has lived in Adelaide for 30 years so we thought there but my Aussie friends our age say it's a bit boring and Sydney would be better... we don't want to live in the city so thought maybe somewhere outside Sydney???

I've been to New Zealand, spend 3 months there and loved it although it was a bit quiet for me. DH lived in Australia for a year and loved it Grin

OP posts:
MrsKravitz · 16/07/2011 15:16

I was under the impression the cost of living was higher in Australia.

Original poster
DarlingDuck · 16/07/2011 15:18

I think it is about the same judging by the 'move to Oz' TV shows but I could be wrong.

OP posts:
floosiemcwoosie · 16/07/2011 15:19

Go for it, you will never settle until you try it.

although the spiders are big.....gulp

Oakmaiden · 16/07/2011 15:20

I have to be honest - I am a bit Hmm about the idea of getting the UK government and taxpayer to train you as a midwife just so that you can immediately jump on a plane and emigrate to Australia.

ThumbsNoseAtSnapewitch · 16/07/2011 15:22

hoola - I wouldn't agree with you on the cost of living - it's very bloody expensive out here. Food is exorbitant, clothes are expensive - petrol is the one thing that is notably cheaper and that's rising. Books and DVDs cost loads; I buy mine in the UK and either pick them up when I visit or get them sent over. Toys are expensive, especially play equipment. Baby clothes prices made me go Shock. Electricity bills are rising rapidly, housing is variable - Sydney is very expensive, places outside of main cities less so but not exactly cheap as chips.

DarlingDuck - start a thread late at night in the Living Overseas topic - ask there. You'll get more Aussie posters giving their views. In fact, search the Living Overseas topic for threads on pros and cons of various places. I have heard that Adelaide is a bit provincial - more like a small town playing at being a big city - but it suits some people. Depends what you're after really! I'm out in the sticks in NSW but it suits me; I wouldn't want to live in the city. Where I am is a reasonably large town though, not exactly out in the middle of the bush!

AuntiePickleBottom · 16/07/2011 15:25

i agree with Oakmaiden, i hope you are going to fund your own degree.

but if you want to do it, go for it you can always come back to the uk if you don't like it

ThumbsNoseAtSnapewitch · 16/07/2011 15:26

Spiders and snakes: well yes, there are the spiders - redbacks are not huge but are dangerous but fairly slow moving and easily hit with shoes or other weapons; Huntsman spiders are huge but less dangerous. They can bite but only under provocation and while it hurts it won't kill you. In nearly 2y of being out here, I still haven't seen a funnelweb (touch wood) and the only snake we've had in our yard has been a dead baby one, probably dropped by one of our resident kookaburras (they eat them).

Cockroaches are more of a problem - I hate the fuckers and they get in everywhere (old house).

TidyDancer · 16/07/2011 15:30

I totally agree with Oakmaiden. Are you paying for your own degree, OP?

One of my closest friends moved to Australia a couple of years ago. She lives near Brisbane. Worst decision she ever made and she can't wait to move home.

All swings and roundabouts though. Some people will love it there, some will hate it and be desperate to come home.

LadyLibra · 16/07/2011 15:30

Good luck:)

I would check out britishexpats.com and go to the Australia section.

Never underestimate how missing your family will impact your lives.

I don't want to sound negative, but it really is something to consider...

Original poster
DarlingDuck · 16/07/2011 15:33

Yes I guess I would pay for my degree, I haven't looked into it but I think it is be about 9k a year now.

OP posts:
TidyDancer · 16/07/2011 15:34

I'll be honest, it doesn't sound like you've thought about this enough yet....

How many years down the line are you looking at going?

Original poster
DarlingDuck · 16/07/2011 15:36

Not for about 5 years

OP posts:
LadyLibra · 16/07/2011 15:40

Would it be easy for you both to get visas btw? :)

hoolabombshell · 16/07/2011 15:40

Yes you could get another perspective in seeking out other British expat's opinions, after all it will be difficult living a loooong way away from family. Of course you will get homesick at times, however that reason alone shouldn't be enough to keep you from making the move at all.

I haven't lived and worked there for a long time but I did find when I went back for holidays that my pound stretched further on some things than others, namely eating out which I thought was cheap compared to here (and this was in central Melbourne). Clothes I found more expensive, so didn't buy much. There's no Primark equivalent, that's for sure! The Aussie High Street I found to still be quite boutique-y, if iykwim?

Coles/Safeway supermarket shopping I found to be about the same in cost as over here. As someone else said, it is swings and roundabouts.

agedknees · 16/07/2011 15:46

But when the OP qualifies as a midwife in the UK - guess what? NO JOBS. NHS is not employing the newly qualifieds, both nursing and midwifery.

I lived in Adelaide for 2.5 years (my dh was in the RAF, and it was an exchange tour). I loved it there. Worked as a double duty nurse/midwife in outpatients.

As for the spiders - you get used to them. Hardly saw any (saw my first redback when we were packing our boxes to go back home).

Australia is a great place for people with children. And the weather is perfect. Cannot comment about cost of living as it was about 19 years ago that we lived in Aussie.

TidyDancer · 16/07/2011 15:48

That doesn't mean the UK taypayer should fund her degree, just so she can bugger off to another country the second she is able to. If she intends to use her degree in Australia, she should expect to fund it herself. JMO.

MumblingRagDoll · 16/07/2011 15:50

Have you been out there for a holiday? Seen the reality?

LadyLibra · 16/07/2011 15:51

As an expat myself, (although not Australia) I would use these 5 years to think about this... we actually should have done this Wink

When you emigrate with children, you are effectively turning them in to that culture and expecting to accept that culture as their own.

if years down the line,its not for you ...they may then have very firm ties to their adopted country , it will then be very difficult to move them back!

I am in touch with many expats that are now stuck (wanting to go home to the UK) but now have Grandchildren to consider...

This all sounds so dramatic ,but please bear in mind it crops up time and time again with expats all over the world.

As I said, do check out the site I linked earlier ...it gives many different perspectives ,many of them wonderful too Grin

agedknees · 16/07/2011 15:52

But she has said she is funding her degree, so no problem. And if the UK cannot afford to employ its newly qualified nurses/midwives I would rather they move to somewhere they can use their skills then be unemployed.

Sidge · 16/07/2011 15:54

I have only been to Perth but it is a wonderful place.

I wouldn't want to live there myself (and they wouldn't have us!) but as I have family there I can visit and stay whenever I want. Which isn't often as it costs a freakin fortune to get there...

You really should visit and stay a while, I can't believe anyone would emigrate somewhere without visiting and checking it out first.

TidyDancer · 16/07/2011 16:01

Yes I know what she has said, I was merely pointing out why I and others have asked. And there is a world of difference between moving because there are no jobs and taking advantage of a subsidised education solely to make more money in another country. But as long as the OP intends to pay her way, that's n/a in this situation.