Should we move to Victoria (Oz)?

[kerloch]

To go or not to go......

We have had a visa (skilled migrant) for a while but decided Australia was too expensive and we would be downgrading not upgrading if we left the UK . But DH is fed up with his job and needs a change and so we are now thinking of it seriously again.

Friends who went out there a few years ago have just come back though saying the skilled migrant visa has changed and now they have to pay more taxes, school fees etc. They said it was totally unaffordable. I wondered if anyone was in that situation over in Oz and could share their words of wisdom!

[hazchem]

Couldn't help myself so did a quick comparison
Tesco organic sirlion steak £22/kilo or $40/kilo
Coles organic porterhouse steak $ 31/kilo

Or you can get Coles budget rump steak $13/kilo and australian beef is routinely given antibiotics.

[Mosman]

Well that's worth knowing :-)

[hazchem]

When will I learn to proof read before posting.

Australian beef isn't routinely given antibiotics. You miss a couple of letters and all of a sudden the Australian cattle market is plunged into crisis :)

[kerloch]

Luckily I'm a vegetarian but I do like strawberries LOL.

[Mosman]

I'm going to try growing strawberries next summer, we have grapes and a lemon try already to make wine and gin and tonics hic hic

[BonzaBlue]

We have strawberries, they grow like weeds in my garden, have a bowl of strawberries a day. Well if my toddler would let me eat them! Also have two blueberry bushes and one raspberry bush, plus trees I gave grown avocado, apricot, lemon etc love my garden here.

[hazchem]

Wow Bonza that sounds amazing:)

[Mosman]

I bet she's in the uk lol
Giggle PM me sounds like we should have a wine or two pun intended :-)

[saffronwblue]

I think it is really nice for DC to eat seasonally. We love it when the cherries, mangoes and watermelons etc come in but would not expect to eat them at the other times of the year.
OP if your husband is senior in finance, then his work is most likely to be in CBD. Ballarat is very much a separate small city - I think you would be better off living in Melbourne than having someone commute so far each day. Not sure what your budget is but here is a lovely house in Fairfield, near the river
www.domain.com.au/Property/For-Rent/House/VIC/Fairfield/?adid=8648671

Here is another lovely one in Ascot Vale, about 5 k from the CBD
www.domain.com.au/Property/For-Rent/House/VIC/Ascot-Vale/?adid=8733047

[BonzaBlue]

Nope not in the UK, on the Central Coast, NSW. Been here four years.

Just frozen a batch of basil, cherry tomatoes and green beans.

[CadleCrap]

OP -what visa do you have? On mine, buried in the small print, there was a little clause stating that we had to have arrived (not necessarily to stay) in the country by a certain date, even although the vise a "valid" for 5 years.

When we moved into our last rental, the passion fruit vine in the garden was amazing. The kids were having 4 or 5 a day each, I froze a heap and still had enough to give away to staff at work.

[kerloch]

saffron are those weekly prices.

[kerloch]

Also can anyone tell me what Ballarat is like - is there employment? Is it a nice place to live? I hadn't really thought beyond living in Melbourne.

[arfishy]

Kerloch - yes, houses are listed with weekly rentals, so you'd need to multiply by 52 and divide by 12 to get the pcm price. They'll usually also be unfurnished.

[hazchem]

kerloch I have a soft spot for Ballarat:) It's a bit rough round the edges but has a good heart. It's pretty working class. It has had a Labour Member in the house of reps since 2001.
It has a multi campus university. Which was called University of Ballarat but is amalgamating to become Federation University. The uni has an arts school (performing and fine) right in the center of town. It also has the School of Mines, which is technical education but is older then the uni:)
It has a great live music scene, a wonderful art gallery, good dinning options, is a stones throw from several spa towns, has a cinema, has several theater and loads of pubs :) Oh and excellent charity shops! It has an amazing flower festival.

Not sure about employment but maybe have a look at the ballarat courier

Things I don't love about Ballarat. It's cold. Really pretty darn cold and grey. I found I had to have at least a week away during winter to cope with it's grey wetness. It can be a bit parochial. When I went to the Arts school the reception women had famously never been to Melbourne because "why would you need too?"
Oh and it's inland so not the aussie beach.

[cleofatra]

chloeb2002 I would love to know what suburb you live in. We are looking for acreage just outside Brisbane and close enough to decent schools as well.

[kerloch]

hazchem sounds like a place to visit rather than live maybe?

[hazchem]

Kerloch either really. I've lived there twice once when I was small then I spent 3 years there as an adult. Also had a stint for 6 weeks doing a contract there recently. That being said Melbourne is a great place to live too. I guess I was just trying to widen views as I think people from O/S forget Australia is really very large and full of lots and lots of different cities with their own unique character that might be a better fit for a family then just a capital city.

[kerloch]

Would all you mums netters living in Oz, say the economy is quite buoyant at the moment?

[chloeb2002]

It certainly isn't or hasn't been through the same crash as the uk. It's well supported by mining and tourism. The dollar recently has fallen against the pound. It has been flying high! There has been some turbulence with political changes and this should settle down. I think all in all the economy is in fair shape. I don't think anywhere is amazing at the moment!

[cleofatra]

I haved found the job situation is poor but people seem to be spending (things cost so much here). The economy must be ok in general I guess.

[saffronwblue]

The manufacturing sector is wrecked with lots of job losses in the auto industry. There have also been lots of jobs lost from professional service firms, government, and universities. There are jobs around but can take a while to find. We have china buying much of our mineral resources which gives Australia a good if finite income stream.

[cleofatra]

Yes, in Qld we lost all of the jobs for my profession in education and Qld Health, Not so good.

[kerloch]

Ooh, doesn't sound so good. DH would have to give up v lucrative job here and cross fingers to find one in Oz. Am a bit worried

[cleofatra]

My top tip is get a job first.
We have really been struggling and I was on a £45K job in UK before we left. It took dh 6 months to get anything and he only has a causal 21 hrs a week. I just finished a 16 hrs a week job and am unemployed again.