To think we would be silly to turn this move to Australia down?

[wanderingwillow]

Long time lurker, first time poster; i hope it's alright to post here and get some opinions.

DH is a licensed aircraft engineer, I am unlicensed. DH has been contracting for a while, and has been approached a couple of times for work abroad. Most of the time, he's said he wasn't interested and wanted to stay in the UK. The other week, he got a call and was just generally pissed off with life, so he listed to what the job was offering.

It turned out to be rather interesting. The position is in Melbourne for AUD$125,000 a year. They are also recruiting unlicensed positions in the same city for AUD$55,000, which I've had the odd email about, but again never really taken seriously.

I think we could make a go of this. We have a 4yo DS, and I lived in Melbourne (Coburg) for 2.5 years between 1998 and 2001 when I was younger. I loved it, and always wanted to go back.

I think we'd regret not at least trying; we're 25 and 27, no debt, reasonable savings (saving for a deposit) but no mortgage. We've nothing to lose, surely?

Am I being reckless? I've read all the forums I can on the subject, which bemoan the expense of general living, but I can't get a good marker on whether our wage would cause us problems. Every opinion forum I've seen has championed the state education (I remember it being good from personal experience), the lifestyle and the weather.

AIBU and living in a dream land? I think DH thinks I am, but I really think we could do this.

Give it a go. Normally I wouldn't follow pipe dreams, but you are young enough and qualified enough.

There has been a series of pre-news fillers recently about the ozzie air ambulance - almost totally staffed by UK Ex-pats.

We have friends in oz, been there 12 years now looking to come back to the UK because of the prohibitive cost of medical treatment - that is the downside when you get older - so they will be back to settle into the UK for the NHS to pick up their old age tab

holly Thankyou for your honest reply.

I think DH thinks I'm enthusiastic because I've been there before, and might be viewing through rosé tinted specs. I could be, I guess. But I do remember some shit times. I remember it tipping it down, I remember a marked increase in racism, I remember having no air con because we were in a horrible little house and I remember my parents struggling to make friends. But I remember a long, decent summer, and loving school because it wasn't pressured like our system was, feeling really free and like a child, lots of fresh produce and being outside all the time.

I'd like a different lifestyle for DS; for him to try something else.

Also, when you mention healthcare; I understand there is no NHS, but if you pay into a good health insurance policy, will it not sort you out?

How close are you to family and friends? I've always hankered after a stint abroad but I think I would miss contact with family. I've recently returned to live in the same city as them and I've really enjoyed being close to them.

I think its something you would regret and oz is great for young children, great outdoors life, so much to do and great weather obviously.

Personally if I went there to live it would be only for a few years for the out doors lifestyle, I miss the culture here to much to settle.

I'd say do it before the secondary school transition. Do it, make your money, live frugally, stash it away and come back to the UK if you want to, and be able to afford to buy your house here outright.

I do have friends who are aircraft engineers in the Middle East - again they prefer (preferably) ex military engineers, one is one isn't - and they make a fortune. And it's a very nice lifestyle. Middle East may not be your thing though.

There is no point to working abroad unless you are entering a gravy train of superior pay, funded apartments and lifestyle. So long as you don't co-opt into that expat hedonistic lifestyle and keep your eye on the reason you are there, then you will be fine.

Right. Melbourne (my home town BTW) recently was rated joint with Oslo as one of the most expensive cities in the world, joint 4th.

This really depends on what you are used to living on, what assets you have here that you may be willing to sell, and just generally your personal cost of living.

You really really need to do your maths. I am quite aghast at how expensive it is there these days. We were looking at moving over there a few years ago and were a bit nervous about it and DH would have got more in the £200k's but I would have been a SAHM if that helps. Also, you have to look at what you can borrow to get a house etc - they don't lend out so freely there AND you may have credit rating issues.

It doesn't mean you shouldn't try if you aren't risking that much. Its a great city, I miss it sometimes everyday

We know a lot of people in a different industry (heavy civils/rail etc) who moved out there to come back. "boomerangs" we call them.

Do your research (which is I appreciate what you are doing). Any questions about Melbourne itself (areas etc) feel free to ask or PM me, I can tell you what you know or find out. Locations, distances, demographics etc x

Llareggub we aren't close to family at all, but do have lovely friends who we would miss very much. But we have moved before for work, and would do again.

I do appreciate that some of them, we would potentially never see again though

On the upside; we are used to not getting free babysitting from family because we don't have them, really. If we go out for a meal on our own, then we pay for a babysitter, but we more often than not just tag DS about with us.

If you will still be able to see family, I would go. I don't know whether the $ is enough for a comfortable lifestyle tho.

tatty thank you for that! See, I read a few other forums with people who said they'd been offered mortgages within days of opening bank accounts (with proof of earnings), credit cards as well. It seemed that as long as they could pay; the banks weren't too bothered. Is that bad information?

We're with HSBC, so I wondered if perhaps any credit history (we have excellent scores) would travel with us?

Holly we are both ex military, the Middle East thing has come up before, but I'm not 100% on that.

The friends thing is a consideration; but if you have lovely friends here, you will have lovely friends there. These things sort themselves out.

You can't replace family but if you don't have a super close (geographically or otherwise) family here, no great loss.

Though don't underestimate the cost of "just visiting".

I am going home for Christmas for the first time in 8 years this year; it is costing in excess of £6k for us all to go.

Obviously we have been home in non Christmas times before now but, well, yeah.

I would do it in a heartbeat. It is grey and bloody horrible here and it is nearly midsummer. Bleurgh.

OP I can confirm that HSBC doesn't share credit history - we moved back from Oz 2 years ago and they even struggled to help us open a current bank account remotely in the UK (and we were premier clients).

It is quite expensive there at the moment, we lived in Sydney for 8 years (childless at the time) and did ok on close to 200k, but nothing extraordinary. If it wasn't for bonuses we wouldn't have been able to save a lot.

Good luck with your decision.

I also have friends teaching in the ME - they love it. One married, one single, neither have children. It is a debauched lifestyle though - I have no idea how any teaching gets done, they seem to be permanently pissed up in bars and hotels. However their days are shorter, there is very little pressure in private schools.

A cousin of my fathers has been in Dubai since the 1950's (not debauched!!) he loves it out there, still working a s a civil engineer. He'll never come home.

The question is: are you looking to go for good, or just make your fortune and come back to the UK?

Yes I don't know whether the money (AUD$175,000 combined income) would be enough; some forums, people are earnings not even half that and seem fine, but others seem to suggest you might 'just' be alright on that.

I have no real way of getting a grasp on it. Our outgoings per month at the moment (to give an idea of our lifestyle) are:
£1350 on rent
£150 council tax
£150 gas and electric (although we over pay and have teeny bills in summer)
£60 water
£500 on 2 cars
£300 on petrol
£90 on Sky & landline
£50 on mobiles
£600 on food
£550 on childcare (DS in school in Sept)
£125 on insurance (life, contents etc)
£80 accountants fees
£3000 savings, maybe more if DH works overtime (I work less hours for DS)
Then we have around £1K spare every month.

We holiday in the UK at the minute once a year for around 10 days.

We have no debt (cars are leased but we run these through the business so this makes sense for tax reasons), and £40K in savings. We have a credit card that I like to use for Internet shopping.

holly I'd like to go for good, I want a nicer lifestyle out of work.

dopeysheep I'm feeling the same!

What other overseas locations has he been offered in the past?

Where we live in France there seem to be lots of jobs in this area (Airbus) -- we have a great quality of life, it's not expensive at all, and still close to the UK.

I think it would be great for you guys to take a chance, just wondering if it has to be Australia? What about the US even?

Could anyone help me out with the cost of living over there? The only websites I can find give you prices of cost of a litre of milk etc, nothing really that informative.

Over the years I have met no one in RL who has regretted giving living in another country a go.

It might work for you, it might not. You will only know if you try.

We lived abroad with 3 small children (Europe so a language to learn) for 5 years. No regrets, it opened our eyes to the world.

dreaming we've been offered Toulouse and Hamburg, and DH has seen good contracts with good terms in the UAE. The US seem to use a lot of their own engineers, but other than that their immigration policy is just crazy to get your head round; it's really hard for him to get a Visa for him to work, and me to be able to look for a job once out there, for example.

I feel like because I've seen Australia before, I've got more confidence with it. And I'd love to go back. It's always been a 'thing' for me.

But DH would never take a step back, lifestyle wise, I don't think. And I get that. He's worked incredibly hard to get where he is today.

Another ex_Melburnian here, and concur with Tatty on the absolutely outrageous cost of living.
We left a bit over four years ago, and have been back three times since then. The cost and disruption of long haul is not to be underestimated, and the cost of housing is truly insane. It's cheaper to buy property here in Paris, than in most areas of Melbourne.
The only people I know who have bought have had substantial family assistance. At least over here we can buy a house in the country - that's not even possible in Australia any more.

It depends where in Melbourne you want to live and the size of the place of course but I think you would be paying a fair bit more in rent than you are now. Your son is almost old enough to start school - you would have to pay full school fees as a foreign national even if he attends a government school. That is about £4000 a year, might be a bit less than kindy. Private schools range from £3000 to £14000 a year. Many have long waiting lists (eg parents have applied to enroll them at birth) If he doesn't start, childcare costs would be more than you are paying now - it's the equivalent of about £35 a day. Cost of groceries is usually fairly cheap in cities unless you do your shopping solely at the big-name supermarkets.

Sorry, that should have read "might be a bit less in kindy".

The property websites seem to suggest that you can get a nice 2/3 bed house with a small outdoor space and a car space, and in good nick for about AUD$500-650,000 in the suburbs.

Which would be about 5-6X our annual combined wage, along with a good deposit, would be achievable I think?

I don't want a big outdoor space or a pool tbh, it's just more stuff to look after.