Cost/Standard of Living in Australia

[dejags]

No major changes are imminent but DH and I are thinking about the long term future for our boys in South Africa. We are very interested to find out the following about Australia:

1. What would a nice 4 bed house cost in a suburb close-ish to Sydney/Perth/Melbourne (just averages would be good)?

2. How does the schooling system work? Is it state funded or do you have to pay? If you have to pay how much does this cost? (School & Uni)

3. What is the average weekly cost for groceries (for a family of four)?

4. Is crime a major factor in every day life?

5. How easy is it to find jobs (again generally speaking)? For working mums are employers generally flexible or is the working ethos in Aussie more rigid?

I have got loads of others and am off to start a similar thread about New Zealand.

TIA
dejags

come to "Little South Africa" ie Perth

there are so many zims and SA's here it's got to mean something

so to answer your questions

1. AUD400k - that'll get you a pool and a very nice house indeed, you could scrape by on AUD325k
2. it's all freeeeeeeeeeeee! don't know about uni though 3)AUD200 4)not in my life (famous last words). There is a lot of car theft and cheap heroine but if a granny is bashed it's BIG news here in Perth, I mean headline news it happens so rarely
3. very easy to find jobs here, and there is a general skills shortage all over. Fairly flexible AFAIK

come to WA, it's not that far from SA in terms of flights

thanks Suzy. How are you doing anyway? From what I see on other threads you seem to be as happy as the proverbial pig ?

we are happy over here but both worried now that farms are starting to be reposessed, and even more worried about lack of integration in schools etc etc. Crime although not too bad where we are is horrendous in some parts of the country.

We are planning a big world tour next year and deciding whether or not to use our Aus/NZ leg as a fact finding mission or holiday. Will definitely include Perth on our list - first port of call if I remember correctly.

Thanks for the info.

rolling in the happy sh8t right now thanks!
Spring is in the air and all is good

seriously there are a lot of Southern African people here so I guess the climate and living expetations must be comparable.

See you next year

ditto everything suzy says - although housing is a little cheaper here in Brisbane - bit more expensive Melbourne/sydney

schooling is free - obviously you buy their uniforms and everyday equipment - stationery etc. You usually pay a textbook hire fee - but I think that is government subsidised - or was when I was teaching 5 years ago. You can choose to send your children to a private school - where you will have to pay fees - these fees are variable depending on the school. Uni - you will have to pay some fees - like a HECS fee - but that can be waived until the graduate is working and earning over a certain amount of money

We are a family of 4 - but my two are little - so nappies etc take up our bill - 200 a week we allow.

Crime not a major factor - I have lived where I now live on and off for over 14 years and we did have an attempted break in whenI was in hospital last year having dd2 - we figure they were kids after dh's expensive mountain bike - they did not get in though so we were lucky. Again this can depend where you live.

Jobless rate is dropping and there seems to be a lot of vacancies around. We are so much better off living here than in the UK - means financially we can afford for me not to work and other than not having a massive overseas holiday every year we do fine.

Work ethic - depends on your industry but I think ( having worked both here and in the UK) Aussies seem to have a better work/life balance - in that most work to live rather than the other way round. Dh's working hours are a lot more flexible. For working mums- I think again it may depend on your employer but generally things are good.

Anything else you want to know - feel free to CAT me.

Thanks Eidsvold!

I hadn't considered Brisbane. Will go off and do a Google now.

dejags
x

i will bump this for you, you may have seen in a previous thread that we are moving to sydney within a year.

Update: A major change may be imminent

We have spent the better part of 6 weeks thinking about this, researching, discussing and discussing again.

We spoke with a recommended migration Agent and have decided to go ahead with Skills Assessment for DH. The Migration Agent says he is 99% sure we will qualify but we will be slightly short of points when DH turns 35 so best to do it now.

On the one hand we are loathe to admit we may have been hasty in returning to SA. I feel like a pratt that the boys will be so disrupted, on the other hand, the trip to SA allowed us all to spend nearly a whole year together as a family, so it's not all bad.

I know the skills assessment phase will take about 3 months. Any Mnetters out there who have been through this process and have any advice, I would be grateful.

Are you coming to WA then?

Hi SW, how are you?

We haven't 100% decided. The biggest factor will be DH getting a job. He has an ex-colleague in Melbourne who has extended an open job offer, I think he will probably take it.

I think we will confirm either way once DH is through skills assessment. We are both hesitant to say too much to friends and family until we are fairly certain it is going to happen.

bump.

Is there anybody out there who has been through Skills Assessment as a pre-requisite to application for Permanent Residence Visa's for Australia?

that sounds fab - don't be too disappointed about the time spent in SA - your ds's have had the experience of living somewhere different..... my dh like sw got in on a spousal visa. So can't help with the skills thingy. But wanted to wish you every success.

We are going through it all at the mo, not sure of the technicalities and dh isnt here at the moment. We are possibly looking to move to Sydney, but thought if we get the visa bit done then we are ready to go if we want. DH works in the computer industry, as he doesnt have a degree he had to get loads of references/job descriptions from previous employers (no easy task, he has just joined the british computer soceity and that should make it easy to join the australian computer society (which he is doing at the moment), then I think that bit is down. We are using a migration specialist called First Contact who so far seem pretty good. We should just scrap through points wise with DH's skills and the fact that we have relatives out in Oz who are more than happy to sponsor us.

have just seen this and am interested in the cost of things out there, has been too long and I have no idea anymore. So $200 seems about average per week for groceries. How about utitilites, petrol and childcare, could you give me an estimate of how much to allow for them? Wanting to make sure I don't have to work for the first 6mths or so when we're first there

scully - we have a 6 cylinder car and the mist it costs us is about $60 a week for petrol.. If your jeep is diesel then it will cost more. Dh commutes to his work by train and you can save by buying weekly/monthly tickets. utilities depends on where you are. If you are renting you will not pay council rates/tax but if you own you do and that depends on the council. We pay annually about 1200. Road tax/car registration is \link{http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/}

dds have never been in childcare so can't comment there but dd1 attends a c and k kindy and that works out about $13 a day. She attends two days and children can attend when they are 3.

Unlike the UK we don't have a number of companies that provide things like gas, electricity etc. The only thing that has really be deregulated has been the phone industry. So it depends on your lifestyle and what sort of set up your house has.

Just been a story in today's paper about the skilled workers that are on the decline in Queensland and what they are crying out for. Will see if I can get a link. \link{http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18330508%255E3102,00.html\here}

Hope that helps scully. If you want to contact me direct then you can email me at edwali at excite dot com.

\link{http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/\car registration}