To want to move to Australia ? Need advice

[maxbradbury]

Cannot find suitable forum so posting here because of high traffic.

DH is a qualified gas engineer and we are considering a move to Australia. I dont know anybody who has done this and would like to know if anybody has done this or knows someone who has so i can get a insite of life there such as cost of living, lifestyle, education and how easy it is to get a job. Any helpful comment appreciated.

MaxBradbury as someone who ended up living 12,000 miles away from her family, albiet in the opposite direction, I would definitely recommend considering how you would deal with the aged parent thing. In the last two years my parents have deteriorated badly. Both are now in homes. My father has dementia, and no longer recognises anyone. He has no idea who he is talking to on the phone. Because of my mother's health she finds talking on the phone tiring. Keeping up to date on what is happening is hard. My siblings at home are find it really difficult as they feel that every phonecall is going over hugely emotional and traumatic events that a) they're living through and don't necessarily want to keep repeating and b) I'm 12,000 miles away and can't do anything about it, so they feel wrong about telling me. It is hard for me as I have to keep it all to myself - if they call to say look this has happened, I can't burst into tears as that's not fair on them either. How is it when you're dealing with your pain/situation, and have someone crying at you but they're 12,000 miles away so you can't comfort them?

It isn't necessarily a reason not to immigrate. In my case, there was little choice other than splitting up wtih husband. But it is so much easier when you're in your 20s and 30s. When you start to head towards 50 things can get a lot more difficult.

The thing is about Australia is there is very little class system. And usually you will find immigrants self-identifying with being Australian very quickly. So ime people just muck in whether Greek, Italian etc. They keep their own identity in part too but it is so fluid.

In the UK the class system segregates so whilst people may say we are not as bad here there is so much distance between the poor and rich it means a such a difference in opportunity. Not as open not as visible but still there.

I agree the indigenous situation is terrible and should be addressed.

Also that it is so expensive it isn't funny.

Hello, melons from a few pages ago. I live down from Brighton in Beaumaris, and just got back from work down the lovely Beach Road.

GateGipsy what you said about the distance and those phone calls. We dread the call at funny hour, i.e. outside the usual times for the UK.

I haven't read all of this thread, so I apologise if this has been covered already.

I am Australian. I have recently returned home to the UK from a trip to Sydney to visit my family. It was very very expensive. Wages are higher than here in the UK, but even with my family for support out there, my husband and I (who both earn good wages, have equity in property etc) would find it very very difficult to be able to afford to start again out there. A poll came out in February listing Sydney to be the 4th (I think 4th... maybe 7th??) most expensive city in the world. Above London, New York etc...

So you need to look carefully into the area that you want to live in- it isn't all as expensive as Sydney, but make sure you can really afford it.

It also is a really long way from here (duh!). Even further once you have kids. My trip home in Feb was my first one with DD (4mths at the time). She was a perfect angel, but even so I know it will be a really long time now before we return, as it will just get more difficult and more expensive. That can be really tough, particularly with ageing Grandparents (mine) and Grandparents (DD's) who rarely get to see their only Grandchild , though desperately wanting to.

I live in south east Queensland, near the Gold Coast. Have lived here a long time, and I love it. The people are friendly, it is extremely multi-cultural and loads for kids - millions of parks, sport clubs, etc.
I agree that the history with Indigenous Australians is dreadful, heartbreaking and shameful but disagree that there is racism among the general population towards them. The issues are complex and difficult, and righting past wrongs is a long process but attitude have changed massively in the past few decades. As for racism against other cultures, I think Australians are less sensitive/pc and more likely to take the mickey, but I have never come across any truly malicious racism. Obviously it happens, as it does everywhere. I do sometimes find it offensive but I honestly think its part of the tall poppy syndrome over here, which isn't all together a bad thing.
Health and dental care can be bloody expensive, but I have been here too long to know of other things are expensive compared to uk - however, dh and I are by no means big earners and we do alright!
Australia is lovely, but not for everyone!

Also agree there is no class system. On a visit to the uk the focus on class baffled me. Here, people genuinely do not care at all about your job, your background, your furnishings, which supermarket you go to....

Oooh... try saying you shop at Aldi in certain circles. :o

There is a class system of sorts, or else the label "battlers" wouldn't exist. Having said that I read an article a couple of years ago where a couple died in a rip off some beach. They were teachers, yet described as battlers!! This was presumably to garner sympathy for their no-doubt distraught orphaned children.

But really.

I hate HATE the term battler!!! But have only ever heard it used on dodgy current affairs shows to describe anyone who has been ripped off/injured by anyone else, ever. So annoying! Never heard it used by a real, proper person though!
On second thoughts though, there is the "bogan" tag, but the definition of what that is changes depending on who you talk to. I just don't think anyone would make judgements on your class, ever, really, as long as you seemed a good sort.

I actually think people that being a 'battler' in Australia is something to aspire to.

How they love a story about a 'little Aussie battla'.

My Mum even bought my Grandad a whole book, dedicated just to Aussie battler stories one xmas.

I hate it too Frizzy. Get the Fuck OVER the little Aussie Battlers. I find it soo cringey, it makes me embarrassed to be Australian.

It means underdog, really, doesn't it? It really irritates me. Not sure why!

Echt I still don't think the 'battler' title is a class thing. It is more a viewpoint that people given that name have worked really hard for what they have. It isn't looked down upon like the 'chav' title would be.

xpost Frizzy. I agree with you re the underdog description.

i am not so sure about there being no class system, i found there were a few who had carried old snobby values traditions on their grandparents and greatgrandparents as you can probably guess were from england. this was in sydney

I actually think people that being a 'battler' in Australia is something to aspire to.

*I actually think that being a 'battler' in Australia is something that people to aspire to.

Don't know what happened there....

Some friends of ours moved over a couple of years ago. They love it but have said its not quite what they thought it would be

They enjoy it, but cost of living is a lot higher than they thought it would be, the weather is nicer but at the end of the day, you've still got to go to work, take the kids to school, do the supermarket run.

I think they thought they'd be living in some sort of paradise where they'd spend their days surfing or sunbathing, when in reality it's not much different to their life here, just better weather.

''They enjoy it, but cost of living is a lot higher than they thought it would be, the weather is nicer but at the end of the day, you've still got to go to work, take the kids to school, do the supermarket run.

I think they thought they'd be living in some sort of paradise where they'd spend their days surfing or sunbathing, when in reality it's not much different to their life here, just better weather. ''

I think a lot of people believe this and a lot of people emigrate for the wrong reasons, including my friend.

I am amazed with those who have said they hadn't witnessed racism against aboriginal people. Both times I went I heard digusting comments against the aboriginal population. It was horrible. I travelled around the whole of Oz (except the far North) and heard racist comments in many places.

Isn't the term bogen (sp?) the same as a chav? I saw lots of class distinctions when I lived in australia, they are just different to the ones in the UK.

As for the racism when I lived in Melbourne there was a big outcry because certain areas were becoming mostly chinese or mostly english. The news was basically saying that real australians should be living there (I assume they mean the white immigrants rather than the aboriginal people.)

I wouldn't say there is no class system. A very small and mild one compared with the UK.

There is a small amount of segregation say in South Yarra along the Botanical Gardens etc and the attitude is quite different to the outer suburbs. But it is so mild compared with here.

Which is why when people point to the more obvious examples of segregation there (language) it is easier to dismiss the gaping great big differences in the UK.

With the disclaimer that the language is awful anyway, and sometimes you get into pockets of people that use it and it is shocking. But I seemed to have been around people who didn't.

There are definitely some class distinctions. I teach law students and they can be quite smug about the superiority of their opinions compared to the masses. And when I lived in canberra I moved in two distinct circles - the professional, academic/ public service types (who all went back to work 6 months after havimg dcs) and the playgroup buddies I made who I would describe as battlers. Battlers meaning hardworking families, generally not professional but a few teachers, not much money, very focussed on their children and wanting the best educationally they could get for them. Which usually meant, in our area, sending them to a semi-private catholic school. The professional types weren't rolling in in, but they lived in nicer areas where their dcs could go to local schools with children of other academic/professional types.

And in Sydney you are very much defined by where you live.

Bogan means different things, but generally, it means someone who is not educated and holds ignorant beliefs, or who wears heavy metal band t-shirts, thongs and has a mullet . Mostly (in my experience) it is used jokingly, though obviously it is an insult at its core.
There may be class distinctions elsewhere, but where I have lived, there has never ever been even the slightest notion of caring where someone comes from or lives, or how much they earn. Anyone who has a snobby or reverse-snobby attitude is shouted down swiftly.
The One Nation political party was often heard to be protesting the number of Asian people living here and taking over, but they were utterly ridiculed by the vast majority of people, and most were embarrassed that they ever even got a platform. Of course, some people supported the party, but it was a minority, absolutely.
Ilovesunflowers, it depends on what you think is racist. Here humour is used widely as a way of breaking down barriers, making things ok, etc and the terms used are inclusive in a funny way - that is, people take the mick out of everyone, and they are included in that. I have honestly not met anyone here with no sympathy, or with any hostility, towards Indigenous Australians, and Indigenous Australians I have met are as likely to make fun of white Australians in the same jokey way. White Australians are generally very ashamed and embarrassed by the past and have no ill feeling towards Aboriginal people, and want things to improve for them. There is a lot of focus on the culture in schools, universities and workplaces to ensure that people are aware and respectful. The Aboriginal culture, the language, and the understandable distrust many Aboriginal people in remote areas have for white Australians, as well as a genuine alcohol problem, has led to great problems in getting education, welfare, etc to where it is needed and it continues to be a very tough issue, but one that is being fought hard.
There was a Facebook group recently (with very few "likers") which had extremely offensive anti-Aboriginal content, and the outcry was deafening. I don't like that Australia has this reputation for being racist, because in my experience it really is not so.

Do you think it is as pronounced as the UK Trying? It might catch up as things get more engrained. The accents aren't so different so not as easy to determine and dismiss.

I am not familiar enough with the uk, Marsha. I only lived there as a student, which is being in a bit of a bubble. There are accents in Australia, just more subtle. A broader accent or certain ethnic accents can be a bit of a give away. But my feeling is that people accept others who have similar values (and lifestyle) and if that is the case it doesn't matter what your ethnic or class background is.