To Emigrate to Australia?

[waloxlon]

So DP and I are starting to give this some serious thought. We don't have any kids yet, and nor do we see ourselves having any for a few years. (We are late 20s/30). DP is a GP and so I believe 'in demand'
I work for a city law firm that has a big presence in Australia, there are often jobs going that I could apply for. For me it would mean a pay cut, for dp a pay rise.

Neither of us have ever been, but we are both in love with the idea of living there. We are both out doorsy people, and at our happiest when the sun is shining. I am a miserable bitch half the year due to the gloomy weather!!

Neither of us really want to live in London for much longer, and with Brexit coming it may be good time to jump ship

Has anyone decided to emigrate without kids? I mean we wouldn't have to necessarily live there forever, but we would like to give it a go. My sister lives in California and we liked it there, plus dp's cousins are in Cape Town which we also love.

My sister did in her early twenties and she loves it. 10 years on, she's happily married with one boy and another on the way.

Children have changed things however. The lack of time they are able to spend with their family here in the UK is hard. And whilst I've been over about 5 times, and my parents go almost annually, I now have a child, so it will become increasingly expensive to go out, and in the next ten years or so, my parents will get to the point where they will have to go less regularly, and obviously stop altogether at some point.

Obviously it can work, and it sounds like you have a fairly international family set up already anyway! you can only try these things and see if it's for you. 🤷‍♀️ much easier before kids!

Best time to go and give it a try before children :)
I moved to Sydney in my 20s, got married, had children, lived there 30 years, have just all moved back to London 4 years ago. My children had a wonderful outdoor upbringing, and now they're in their twenties they're loving London!
Just make sure you both are happy to stay there if/before you have children there. I worked in mediation in Sydney and some people are left in awful situations if one parent doesn't want to be there anymore.

You're not unreasonable for wanting to, but remember, the grass is not always greener...

Husband and I were in Aus for 6 years, and I'll give you some of the cons...

Cost of living - everything is bloody expensive! Property is expensive, rental is expensive, food is expensive, health care is expensive...

Holiday entitlement was slightly less and our working hours were slightly longer.

Yes, it's lovely having the sunshine but it's not so much fun when it's been high 30s for 3+ weeks, the power grid is reaching collapse and they start doing brown outs 😭

We found that through our industry, we were forced to take a huge chunk of our hols over Christmas (primarily so the fat cats on the board could shut down operations and push off to their beach house for 3 weeks). It's the most expensive time to take hols and takes a big chunk of the budget.

It's a different kind of outdoors. We're back in the UK now, and live that we can drive for 90minutes and have oodles of different places available for a day out. In Aus, a day out was limited to the beach or a handful of places because it is so vast. We also got bored of visiting Asia and craved European cities.

We, and our circle of ex pat friends, also began hitting the choice of spending time with sick/elderly parents or simply going home for their funeral.

It's a great place, better in some way and worse in others. I'd give it a go, but don't go into believing it's somehow up on a magical pedestal. There's definitely an element of 'same shit, different window' 🤷🏼‍♀️

you might want to check the whole 'GP in demand' thing - especially if you want to be in a city - there's a 10 year moratorium on overseas trained doctors, specifically because there's too many in the popular areas, and not enough remotely/regionally. Basically it means that you can't claim under Medicare (NHS equivalent) for services until you've spent 10 years out in the regions.

Lifestyle wise - it can be pretty lovely. The sun does indeed shine (and you'll go through a lot more sunblock than ever before), quality of life is definitely higher, but all depends on where you go. There can also be some interesting cultural differences to get used to - it's not just the UK down-under, which I know has caught some ex-pats unaware, but nothing bit of a tough exterior and positive outlook can't get around!

We have friends who 'boomerang' - they come and go, come and go. Ideally he would like to come back (family ties) she likes the Australian life style (dysfuntional upbrining, no family ties). What has become apparent as they get older is the cost of health care and insurance. It makes you very grateful for the NHS. Also the stories they tell, the Australians, they don't like next generation migrants, there is a lot of prejudice against the British. You have to be thick skinned. That said, they are back off to Oz again until they need to come home again

My friend did this. There are some disadvantages:

• the beach life that we tend to associate with Australia isn't really true - they both work longer hours than they did in the UK
• she and her DH have both (separately) had to fly home urgently for a dying parent and didn't make it in time
• when they come back to the UK every few years it costs a fortune (they went out childless but now have two kids) and isn't really much of a holiday for them as they have to spend it catching up with family etc

However, although she moans about these things, she does like the climate and at the end of the day they are still out there!

We did it and it's the best thing we ever did. We're very happy over here and I can't see us ever moving back to the UK. We came over before we had kids and started having them shortly after we arrived because it's such a great place to start a family.

Please visit before you move. I would advise you to travel around as much as possible - Australia is massive and the different areas might as well be different countries because the life style is so different. For example, I really don't like Sydney or Melbourne, I could never live there. But a small rural town in tropical North Queensland has suited us perfectly! So make sure you get a good feel for the different areas and find one that's most suited to you.

Myself and DH lived there for 7 years. In your situation I would go for it as it will be an experience and since you don't have children you have the flexibility to come and go/travel around to see if you'd prefer to live in a different part etc.

It's a great country and the lifestyle can be wonderful. For us it was just too far from family. We had our first DD out there and that was the turning point for me - I wanted my mum! I wanted my children to grow up with their extended family around. We would go to the park/beach at the weekend and see all these big family get-togethers with grandparents etc. and I would ache for home. We had lots of friends but it's not the same, especially as a lot were expats like us and so people are always coming and going which is hard.

As a pp said we also missed the variety of European cities being just a cheap Ryanair flight away. Australia is so remote, holidays are expensive and it all becomes same-same after a while.

We're back home 4 years now and we still regularly get wistful and consider moving back but I doubt we ever will - unless we experience financial hardship. In my line of work (media) I actually make more money here but DH has taken a huge hit (Engineering). He earned frankly a ridiculous amount of money over there but it came at a cost (he would work remotely for weeks at a time flying in and out to site) so that just wasn't sustainable for family life - most people he worked with were on their second/third marriage which was hardly surprising!

God I do miss the lifestyle though... sigh...

Just do it, it's wonderful. I agree with the cons outlined above mainly except for the prejudice against Brits. Haven't experienced anything of the sort, we have made lots of aussie friends.

It's expensive but not if you're coming from London. We are able to live off one salary here (I'm a lawyer too) and save my husband's and yet we live in a much nicer area, eat out a lot more and just generally have a much nicer life!

Your work hours will be much much better here also.

I'm so happy here that most days I actually do pinch myself!

Oh to.be that age again and have this choice. My OH and I are now planning to retire to France but Australia sounds wonderful (albeit 20 years ago). I'd go and visit and get a feel for it then if you are still keen take the leap. Life is far too short to be wistful in later life. Good luck.

Do it now before having kids. Best thing my wife and I ever did. We had never set foot in Australia when we decided we wanted to move. Fast forward 8 years and we have never regretted it. We both get paid so much more over here and have such a better life. It’s tough because we miss family but it’s a good excuse for a holiday for them to come over or for us to go back every few years to see everyone.

Yep, get up and go have an adventure now.

Australia is of course excellent (though I might be biased).

It is also a really big place, and the cities have very different cultures to one another, where are you thinking?

There are pros and cons of course but I'm still here after 13 years (can't quite believe that). We have a much better lifestyle/income than we had at home. Kids had heaps of freedom growing up compared to what I would've allowed in London.
However, family problems are horribly exacerbated by the tyranny of distance. When my mother was dying I nearly went broke flying back and forth plus it was so traumatic to leave her. Kids have grown up without extended family and gawd, I miss the history and culture of the UK and Europe.
I wish I'd had the chance to try it out before I had kids!

Australia is great.. I second the part about looking into how in demand GP’s are in the area you wish to live.

In regards to healthcare we have Medicare and I believe a reciprocal agreement with the UK which should cover some costs..

I’m not sure what problem Aussies have with next generation as mentioned above.. we are very multicultural especially in our cities.

Some areas are very expensive to live, some are not. It depends entirely where you chose.

I’m not sure how many holidays you get in the uk.. we generally get 4-5 weeks a year and some companies do shut down over Christmas yes.. half of that is public holidays and the rest out of annual leave. Working hours are generally Mon-Fri 8:30-5pm and of course some industries are different.

Be prepared for family not wanting / not being able to visit. It’s too expensive for our family of 5 to visit BIL in Australia now and getting time off school is a nightmare - we just can’t do it now.
Parents are ageing and flying really takes it out of them- soon they won’t be able to go. It’s so bloody expensive to visit - uk money doesn’t go very far out there so it also puts us off visiting.
They’ve Also had a dash back here to try and see relative before they died but didn’t make it.
They are fed up of holidays in Bali now, apparently Australian don’t holiday in Australia!
Having said all that I think before you have kids is the ideal time to go if your heart is set on it.

We have friends and family who have emigrated and loved it, others that returned and several Australian friends who have chosen to permanently settle in the U.K. its a personal preference thing. Do your research, for instance drs may need to work in regions with a need rather than rocking up in Sydney. Costs are exorbitant for everything, but wages are higher (just not high enough to compensate) and outdoors basically means beach in the big cities, fine if you love it, if like me you have a sand allergy not so much!

Go for it! At the end of the day if you don't like it you can always come back so don't sell up etc.

I am in Australia (Melbourne), Australia's political climate isn't that greater here either (if your considering leaving for Brexit), we have an election this weekend and could be facing out 7th Prime Minister in just over 10 years...

I am a kiwi so that makes things easier (tbf its only my mum still over there). But DH is a Brit and I lived in the UK for 15 years so I pretty much built up a life there.

It is hard, we are only 2 months in and whilst I am already loving our Australian adventure it is extremely difficult being away from all our family and friends in the UK, and that's coming from someone who already has cousins and friends over here. I am scared of losing in touch with some of my UK friends and DH family were significant figures in our sons life. This is why it isn't a permanent move, 3ish years we will be back in time for DS1 to start secondary.

BUT the lifestyle is incredible, the weather is amazing, easy distance to the beach and lots of outdoor activities on offer, lot more relaxing in general, really lovely people. (although I am a bit aphrenrsive for a full blown Melbourne summer!).

Oh and the television is shit...

Sounds an ideal time to try it! Go for it, it might work for you, it might not be better to find out then have regrets.

I'm Australian and emigrated to the UK over ten years ago. Married a Brit and have British children. On an extended visit back and having to deal with the politics on tv is painful as there's an election going on. It's like Brexit but every 3 years.

As for doing it everyone is different, I think the best thing is to have a holiday first, and go to some regional areas if your husband is a GP as this is probably where he'll end up.

Excellent advice on this thread. Except the bit about there only being the beach as outdoors in the big cities

Well not in Melbourne it isn't.

Australians do holiday in Australia.. a lot travel overseas while They are young.. and then buy caravans and do australia as they get older.
I’ve done bits of both

We are living this right now, moved over 2+ years ago. There are wonderful things about Australia but it is not all lying in the sun and cocktails. We work longer hours, jobs have been challenging to come by and we actually spend less time outdoors. It's freaking hot, not 'a few weeks in Italy on holiday hot' but don't go out in the sun between 10 and 2pm hot. Flies and bugs destroy most picnics and if you don't like wildlife creepy crawlies then don't even book the flight! You'll lather on the highest sunscreen you can, frequently. On kids and pets too. Repeat. Repeat.

The wages are higher, in my OH's role it is 2.5 and mine is 2x. It's really reaaallly expensive out here but the higher wages do definitely cover that and more. Once you get a job, unless you spend every cent on inconsequential forgettable things, savings are easy to come by. The landscape is beautiful. People have mostly been extremely friendly (surface level but not much deeper) and we do enjoy doing lots of cultural things (don't believe anyone who says Australia has no culture - absolute lie).

It's hard work. Yes lots of lovely moments too but really hard being so far away from 'home'. Hard being away from families and friends at times of celebration and times of need.

I don't want to put you off, it's a big adventure and what amazing memories and experiences you and your family could have.

Don't believe any of Wanted Down Under and less of what people who have never been have to say.

Go do it if you can! Have fun, look at it as an adventure with zero expectations. Expect to work hard, find work hard to get. Be paid well, go on some amazing journeys, swim in pools and beaches that are like paradise. But just remember you still pay bills, have to get up early to work, clean the house, put out the rubbish etc etc and do the usual normal things that is life.

The first thing you need to look at however, is do you qualify for a visa? More info here immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-finder

Don't worry about flight prices and 'distance'. We've just booked return flights with Malaysia 4 months ahead of our trip for just under £600 pp return. Really not that bad if you earn well (which I assume you do). Parents and friends have booked similarly priced deals with 'good' airlines - Emirates, Qatar, ethiad etc and no, for the avoidance of doubt no one is having 30 hour layovers in shanghai to get those prices. 24 hour trip times.

(unfortunately if you need to fly home for an emergency that's a different story).

We do plan to holiday more in Australia but that's no hardship - there is SO much to see and it is such a stunning and diverse country. Great city breaks to melbourne, brisbane, adelaide, lush tropical beach rainforest for longer trips, woodland, hiking, beautiful islands, romantic getaways to byron Bay and the hunter valley...

Bali, Japan, Fiji, NZ are all close enough for 5 nights / a week break too.