Need advice from Mums for living in Adelaide

[pixelpeeper]

Hi All

I need advice! Apologies for long post and background... but I think it's a bit of a WWYD scenario!

DH is Australian. We met in Adelaide over 10 years ago, when I lived out there.
We were pretty happy out there but decided to move to the UK to save money, go travelling, etc etc.

Fast forward 10 years, we now live in London. We have a nice-ish house, (rented), a car, 3 kids from 6 weeks-5 years old. No debts. Good friends.
I run my own business as a photographer, and whilst certain things about the UK make us unhappy, we aren't actually 'unhappy'.

My parents and sister live in the US, my brother lives in China, but I have a brother and sister here who whilst I don't see very often, we have a good relationship and my sister adores my DC's.

In summary.. we have a pretty nice life here, but we don't think we'll ever get on a decent housing ladder and the rising cost of things has us a little alarmed.

We told my family we were thinking about going back to Aus to give the DC's a 'better life', and on came the tears. It's been heart-wrenching, and caused me to have a wobble about going.

So I have questions before we actually make this decision, now I have had a wobble... and the best people to ask are parents who are there!

I hear it's REALLY expensive out there now - is this the case? How does it affect you?
Are the schools good, generally?
Do you find the lack of cheap things like M&S Uniforms and Primark and Amazon and Tesco's a problem? The UK can be very cheap for some items!
I know that healthcare can be expensive out there, as can health insurance - has this been an issue?
Is there plenty of work for me? I am a baby/family photographer, I have a good amount of work here but I live in West London where people are happy to spend their money on photos - would I still get clients in Adelaide do you think?
Are you happy? Do you regret your move there? Why did you move, and has it worked out?
Is there anything else I should know or consider?

I am crying about this... it has to be the right decision before I hurt my family any more :(

Hi

It's a nightmare decision isn't it? We're in a similar position and also have major doubts. But...we're going through the visa application process and hope to be in Oz within the year! It will be sooo hard doing it and leaving people behind but it feels like we should do it. It feels like we'd be giving the DC a better chance of a decent future, and a healthier lifestyle in the meantime. Sorry I have no experience to share (yet!) but I know how difficult the dilemma is. Hope someone will be along soon with some words of wisdom

Thanks sensible! If I am honest... I am still keen to do it. They'll get over it. That said, I AM worried about the cost of living out there.

I wish I could go back right now!!, sadly i'm in Northern England so job prospects and salary are poor by comparison to Adelaide or SE England.

Hi pixel - in the same position. Planning to leave before end of this year and seriously considering Adelaide to live in. I haven't even told my family yet (they are all in Ireland) as while they know it's something we have always thought about doing I think the reality will bring on the tears and the pressure. So not much help to you in terms of info....

Ultimately, your own family unit has to come first. We are moving to give DD a better life too - London is ok but I cannot imagine raising DD here. It's just so removed from the relaxed childhoods DH and I had in NZ and Ireland. We have debated cost of living too and ultimately we might be a little worse off but we are up for having a bit less money but hopefully more time together as a family and a more relaxed lifestyle.

Ooh we are torn between Adelaide, Sydney and Tasmania..,slight differences between those places! I loved Adelaide when we visited last year, but we have relatives in Sydney and Tasmania is more affordable. Pros and cons everywhere I guess. I know the cost of living is high over there but people do manage. I hope I'm not being too naive? The cost of living is astronomical where we are at the moment (outside of UK) and I can't imagine it can be any worse in Australia. I think we've just got to the point where we have thought about going SO much that I cannot not try it. It may not work out, we may miss everyone too much, we might not settle, but at least we'll have scratched that itch, y'know?

We've recently moved back from Adelaide for career reasons.

We found that things were really expensive over there although Dh's wage was also better. Housing it depends where you want to live - in the CBD and nearby is very pricey, if you can live further out obviously its not so pricey. Have a look on realestate.com for guide prices.

We found electricity was really high to the point where I hated putting the heating on. We had friends who lived in the hills who spent $3000 over the winter quarter just because she was a SAHM and had the heating on all day.

Food is more expensive for basic but if you shop at the greengrocers then fruit and veg can be quite cheap (as long as its seasonal). We stopped eating blueberries at $10 a punnet. Meat is cheaper. Eating out is cheaper than the UK. Once again you can check prices using the Coles online site.

Schools are variable. There are some good state schools but private is a lot cheaper than the Uk, and there are tax breaks for opting out of the state system.

Health insurance isn't too bad. We paid £200 a month for a family of 4 with extras (speech therapy, physiotherapy, dental and optical). Having to pay to see the GP and for contraception was a shock but you get used to it.

We bought kids run-around clothes from Target during sales. Its more expensive than UK and poor quality. For better stuff we shopped at Myer (super expensive) or had MIL bring stuff out.

I could have quite happily lived longer in Adelaide. I'm not sure if I could have stayed there forever. Its quite small and life was very repetitive. Flights to other cities are quite expensive and everywhere was so far away.

hth

Ooops, forgot to mention, I met someone at a playgroup who set up a photography business and she seemed to be doing okay with it. I think its like anywhere else, and as long as you can produce nice photos then they'll sell.

Thank you everyone!

I didn't realise Coles was online now, I have been having a peruse. Thanks for the tip.
It does seem to me that the cost really has escalated since I last lived there.
That said - I am trying to think - what is more important to me? A 'nice life' with a bit of sun and different opportunities for the kids, or staying here and having a bit of extra money for an ipad?
What do I want to wake up to? pigeons or kookaburras?
There are a lot of things I didn't like about Aus, but there are increasingly more things about the UK I don't like.
I suppose I just either need to say stuff it and go, or not!

What's the playgroup scene like?
When I was there before I didn't have children so have no idea what the toddler scene is like.
I have a 6 week old, a 2 year old and a 4 year old - is there a good mummy social network?

Life there is really easy with children. We phoned Playgroup SA when we arrived and I got given a list of all our local playgroups. There are lots of child friendly activities: Stateswim for swimming lesson, TheatreBugs (fairy ballet for theatre classes for pre-schoolers), Kindermusik, etc. I found that it was a lot easier to do activities with 2 pre-schoolers than it was in the UK e.g. swimming had a creche for 1 child to go in whilst I was in the waterbabies class.

I found we had to do activities everyday because otherwise we just didn't see anybody. Parks are deserted in Summer (too hot/watch out for metal slides, they burn) and in Winter (too cold).

You'll find that a lot of the problems we see in the UK exist in Oz too. I used to get upset walking through Parklands because of all the homeless people sleeping rough, although I think they've made an 'effort' to move them on now. Violence is rife - we regularly heard of drive-by shootings, post office raids etc... Here's a link to the local newspaper www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia

Great info snoozymum and thanks for the thread OP. This is all really useful. I am aghast at the $3k electricity bill...

Thanks Snoozymum!
Libertychick yes me too. I remember when I lived out there before I owned a house and found the bills extortionate THEN, it's taking the piss now!

I lived there for 4 years in my twenties but without kids - I remember there was some violence and crime, especially car crime (thanks for that you bastards, stealing my passport from my car 2 weeks before I was due to fly out).
That said I currently live in Ealing, my nursery was caught up in the riots, my house was burgled (while we were in it asleep!) last year and my next door neighbour was burgled last night, so I am not sure if Adelaide is any worse than where I am now!

Good to hear about the activities though. I have a really busy and active social life here (around the kids really) and I wouldn't want to go somewhere that I was 'lonely', although obviously there is a transition phase.

I've decided that it's up to DH - I realise Aus is not a nirvana and it has lots of problems, as does the UK, just different ones.
If DH can ask around and check his earning potential, if we can have the same sort of financial stability there then I think we'll go - I just don't really want to go from 'comfortable' to 'struggling' so we'll see how the salaries measure up.

I had a look at Coles and it seems to me that fresh is about the same as the UK (value wise) but processed food like biscuits etc were a lot dearer.

I suppose the other dealbreaker for me is the mummy scene. My boys are bonkers and the ability to get out of the house every day to go to playgroups/have friends over etc is what keeps me sane!

What does your dh do??

He's a technical architect - but 'software development manager' would do as well!

Hi there pixelpeeper, I've been in Adelaide for the past few years, moved from Brighton in '06.

It's mostly great, but you obviously know it as you lived here for a while.

Being a parent here is ace actually, I think I'd be happier being here with kids than as a young professional really. I think it's a bit dead culturally (compared to Syd/Melb/UK) but with children it's really wonderful.

Heaps of playgroups, parks, swimming pools, beaches, museums, art gallery etc so loads of stuff to do. I disagree with the comment about parks being deserted in Summer - well YES on 38+ days but they don't happen all the time. And in winter our local park in the Adel Hills is pretty busy with kids in hats and jumpers but still well used.

Also the woman who spent $3K on heating is either nuts/rich or doesn't have enough jumpers! The cost of heating is very high here, and the houses are MUCH colder in winter than UK ones, but we have a wood burning stove which gets put on when its very cold and otherwise use jumpers and hot water bottles etc (it is fucking freezing tho sometimes and I do miss central heating). I would estimate that we spend an additional $600 on fuel every winter but we save on air con costs in the summer as it is cooler up here.

I would research your biz opportunities well, I have a few mum friends who have started photography business and also know a few pros, so the market, although I guess not saturated is certainly not under provided for. But there are LOTS of wealthy people here so if you have talent then I'm sure you could make a business.

Snoozymum WHERE DID YOU LIVE? I understand that I live in a particularly calm and restrained part of Adelaide but the most exciting things that have happened here are a few boozed up teens after the Xmas Pageant, and we had our recycling bin stolen last week. Otherwise NOTHING happens. Unless of course you are a bikie and live in the northern suburbs then you run a risk of getting shot over a crack deal.

Be prepared for earning a lower salary than an equivalent job in Sydney or Melbourne though, if you do look at job ads to compare $$$s make sure you look at Adelaide listings as people are paid much less here than in the Eastern states as a rule.

Sometimes I find Adelaide frustrating but on the whole it is a wonderful place to bring up children. Good luck with whatever you decide.