What's all the fuss about - positives (and negatives?) for move from UK to Australia?

[polar515]

I'm finally starting to think we might look into making the move after DH being up for it for many years, following the arrival of 2 DC's, family support not being as expected, job changes etc etc.

We would be able to get visas/work etc with the professions we have.

So, please tell me honestly what are the positives and negatives in reality. Do you really have a more outdoor lifestyle? What about the family distance? Schooling? Bringing up children?

Polar - there are loads of threads on this subject. Do a search for Australia.

Positives for us are much higher salaries here (at the moment) because of the line of work we are both in and of course the chance to live somewhere else in the world. Would we be here without the much higher salaries - no.

Which part of Australia would you be heading for because unless it's in the southern part of the country (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide) then the outdoors lifestyle isn't great (too hot most of the time).

It's 12.10am here and all four of my children are "up" because they can't sleep in the heat. If it wasn't for DH working as aposed to not working in the UK we would not be here.

I don't understand why you don't have air-conditioning?

Weather.com says it is 21 degrees in Perth right now which is not that hot, especially if you have a fan.

Yes not that hot in the day but v uncomfortable to sleep in and if you have recently had an electricity bill like we did, putting the AC on at night is totally unaffordable

While I didn't move here for the weather (a daft reason IMHO), I know I'd miss it if I moved back to the UK. It's the prevalence of clear skies, even in winter, which makes it so attractive.

Attachment to family seems to be the big issue for many.

Making friends is not easy, I've found -though it may be my rebarbative self to blame here, who can say? Interesting that most of our friends are Poms or non-Australians. That could just be a feature of my suburb, though. somebody told me that Australians are friendly but not easy to make friends with, which is just about right.

Schooling is fine, rather more relaxed than in the UK, though you need to pick your suburb for government schools. We've been very happy with DD's gov schools. Not the emphasis on testing as in the UK. Are they any thicker than the UK kids as a result of this? No.

Bringing up kids - a lot of socialising is through sports: surf life saving; AFL, soccer, netball (massive over here), cricket.

Our average lows for August are about 20 and I only know of two neighbours in our street that have air con. We have portable fans for when it gets hot. It got to over 40 in my neighbourhood this september (which is very high for us).

I was in Paris this summer when it was La Canicule (heatwave). Hot and sticky and no air con and a really pathetic fan, lots of gov public health warnings. My DS couldn't get to sleep so I took the top sheet and rinsed it out in the sink and wrung it out and put it back on him. He slept fine after that.

Brisbane..
advantages...yes its hot n humid (36-42 degrees) for 12 weeks of the year.. cold ( overnight 2-8 degrees) for 12 weeks. the rest is magical weather.
Kids.. we have 3 dc number 4 due in a few weeks. great outdoor living. pool in the garden. ponies in the paddock, cheap access to sports.
property we live under an hour from the cbd and 10 mins to the beach and for $500,000 we have a 5 bed house on 5 acres. big huge plus for us.

ok..negatives.

cost of living has shot up in the past few years. some things are still cheaper, car insurance for one. no licence,... but TV is rubbish so we pay or foxtel. fuel is cheaper but you may drive longer distances.

School, private education is cheaper and generally we like it allot and for us it has been far better than the public system. However it is very much "god " based religious schools. But again even as non church goers the kids love it.
Downside is yes we pay. about $3500 a year.

weather can be a bit wild.. very very hot, no rain for months the like this week huge storms.

family and friends, yes they are a long way away and i accept now that many will never visits and i have little desire to head back to the uk for holidays. far too many new places to see! the phones only work one way.. from aus to Europe... and the planes often fly one way too. we just accept that and move on

no i wouldn't go back. we moved here on a 4 year visa before getting PR. We did however move with the firm intent that we would stay. we packed up everything. left nothing behind and decided we would face out whatever challenges we faced head on. I think speaking to others that's the way to do it. there will be challenges, lots of them, changes... lots of them too! and a new life beyond. I think it takes a good 5 years to feel settled.

thanks for that info. Very useful. Can anyone please comment on the cost / how good pre- school childcare is (nurseries, child minders)?

long day care aged 6 weeks till school age. we paid about $75 a day. with pr you get 50% of that back up to I think the first $7500.

kindy, 2 1/2 days a week from age 4 (year before school) about $400 a term. with a rebate of about $150 (with PR).

Au pair we pay $120 a week, live in au pair, plus food, petrol phone etc.

I found day care was good but not for our son who has special needs. He did much better at kindy.

Not used child minders but people I know have done and are happy.

depends what your needs are, as a nurse I couldn't find a childminder/ day care centre that would accommodate shifts. Also with a few children it is just too expensive. Hence we have a live in au pair.

hope that helps.

Polar - don't know if Perth is on your radar but a friend just sent me this link. au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/16044013/perfect-perth-expensive-for-many-locals/

Where are you looking to live? Property prices in some of the capital cities can be prohibitively expensive although that might not be a problem if you are selling up in a nice part of London. Domain.com.au is good for checking rental prices and how much houses are selling for.

The upside is that we have an abundance of fruit at really great prices compared to many other places.

Mimishimi - where do you live to get fruit at great prices?? I find fruit extortionate. I can buy Australian fruit cheaper in the UK than in Australia.

Fruit is cheap as chips here in Brisbane... we pay $1.99 kg for bananas... oranges are 99c kg.. melon is also 99c a kg.. i buy a big box.. sometimes two for $35.. it contains lettuce, cabbage, corn on the cob, apples, oranges, beets, mangoes, potatoes.. etc... that comes from community shop. otherwise fruit and veg comes from fruit barn. meat is also cheper and much better quality. No i dont buy chicken as cheap... but hugh's chicken and Tesco.. I would rather pay a it more for it!

Jesus plums are $7 per kilo apples and bad ones at that $5pk

Chloe, watch your bananas sky rocket after the recent floods/tornadoes in QLD. Apparently one ripped right through the banana plantation, so expect bananas to go up to $25 (max here last time) over the following months!

Yeah last time it did.. more expensive than gold! however fingers crossed that the big plantations in coffs and more southern plantations are apparently untouched! Still i ought a whole crate yesterday for $6.. will freeze some just in case! oh and Perth and west coast are generally more as its all transported from east coast...

Im Australian but live in North Wales and have for a long time. At the moment it is snowing and its very very cold and the log fire is crackling away. Im wearing furry boots and long jumpers, scarves, gloves, hats and keeping warm. (during the day that is, Im in pjs now). For me I love the seasons. Im soo looking forward to March April when Spring is here again and then Summer and then the beautiful leaves in Autumn. The healthcare here is free and we are lucky to have that. My parents live in Bargara where the cyclone has recently struck and they tell me that they have to pay for private healthcare and they have been paying into a scheme for many years as healthcare is very very expensive there. You have to try hard to fit in there as Australians are not always very welcoming to the British. They used to call them "whinging poms" when I was younger.

"They used to call them "whinging poms" "

All the Brits or just the whinging ones?

All Brits .