Moving to Australia is now looking unlikely. Help me look on the bright side?

[Heatherbell1978]

It’s now looking highly unlikely that DH will get invited to apply for a visa (Skilled 189) before he turns 40, at which point he doesn’t have enough points and we’re out of the game. There aren’t any other visas we could apply for. In hindsight we left it too late to apply but we stupidly wanted to wait until DD was born incase we got an invite too soon and before we were ready to leave. DD is now 7 months and DS is 3. We assumed we’d migrate next year. Our plan was Perth where we have friends and we’ve visited a few times.
In one way we’re slightly relieved as there are numerous reasons to stay here (we have quite a comfortable life) but we’ve been daydreaming about this for 5 years and always said we’d go after we got married and kids were born in the UK. Now we have to prepare not to go and especially coming into winter in Scotland it’s going to play on my mind when the days are cold and dark.

I guess I’m just looking for some light hearted banter on why this is a good thing that we probably can’t go?!

I should add that we’ve been in the queue for a year now with 65 points and they’re only really processing people with 70+ points in DHs profession...and we’re on a ticking clock until his 40th...

Have you thought about NZ? Skilled migrant is still v possible to get well into your 40's as long as you both have degrees and you have a job offer and lots of work experience in the role you are going into. Once you get an NZ passport you are able to move and work freely between NZ and Aus.

This is what I recall so don't not take my word for it but worth a think. Temp not as high as Aus, beautiful country, less racist and significantly more socialist than Aus, housing affordable outside of Auckland, great lifestyle, 3 hrs to Sydney.

The Anglican church donated 1 Million $ for the No campaign for the same sex marriage referendum The Diocese of Sydney made a decision to donate $1 million to the 'No' campaign, the South Australian branch made no contribution, and had no idea that is what they were doing.

One cousin, in her 30s has just, 'had some cancer cut out of her face' as my other cousin charmingly put it. She was the one who would get sunburned. To be fair, my Indian born aunt in law had the same done & she lives in the UK! Add to that, my grandmother in law had some cut out too, and she barely sees or ever saw the sun!

My girls are getting a great education too.

The op is asking for bad things about Oz, and that is what people are doing, giving her reasons to stay I think giving the op what she asked for is fine, but generalizations and scaremongering are not needed.

If you run out of wine at 10pm here, you can go out and buy more! Not so in Aus. Erm..have you heard of drive through bottle shops? Some near me are open til 12am! And you don't even have to get out of your car! Although I strongly suggest you don't drive if you have been drinking.

Toomanyeggs

In the CBD where I lived there wasn’t a drive through and I most definitely would not have been driving if there was! Perhaps when you’re out of main cbd civilisation you’ll get that - but there’s no corner shop for an overpriced bottle of red that’s for sure!

And bloody lock ins - ridiculous.

We lived in Oz for 20 years (DH is an Aussie). I loved my time there, but I think we left at the right time. Over the last 20 years things seem to have changed so much, property prices are unattainable for many, the health service is becoming more like the US, wages have not kept pace with the astronomical cost of living.

What I noticed when living there is that the reasons many people give for leaving the UK, education, health service, immigration etc., are just as much an issue in Australia as they are in the UK.

I was also frequently annoyed by people from various trouble spots around the world who came to Australia to make a new life (Lebanon, Cambodia, Serbia etc) away from the wars and troubles in their birth countries, brought the past with them and raised their children to hate 'the old enemy'. There are definitely factionalised sections of society, which causes racism amongst many groups.

You can get just as fed up with wall to wall sunshine as you can of it raining all the time!

Thirty years ago, especially in 'country' Australia, there was a laconic good humour and an optimistic attitude which seems to be withering, sadly.

Huge chunks of the country (mineral rights etc) are being sold off to China.

Should we have a thread about the positives? There are many!

Theres loads of reasons why staying in the uk is just as good an option.

You wont need to spend all that money shipping your stuff over.

You wont need to pack up your life while trying to look after your dc.

You know the education system is better here and you know how it works.

You know you wont get 3rd degree burns taking the rubbish out like in Oz.

You know theres a working time directive in the uk and you wont be asked to work 6 days a week 12 hours a day (my cousin does this unfortunately).

You are entitled to minimum holidays in the uk. This often isnt the case in Australia.

You wont need to make new friends if you stay.

You dont know what will happen or how much time you have to deal with it if your child is bitten/stung by something in Australia (evil creatures live there).

You know what the food tastes like here and how much it should cost. (A loaf of bread is $7 at my Nans local store in Australia so no sandwiches for her anymore).

You understand how things work in the uk, Australia can be a minefield if you dont know all the right laws and restrictions.

Honestly theres loads of reasons why staying in the uk is fine and like you have already said you have a nice house and nice life. You will pay your mortgage off in a few years and your children are happy and healthy.

And the uk has history, proper pubs, real food, sense of humour, countryside thats safe to visit, real distinct seasons, more tolerance (personal experience with that), coffee shops that serve proper tea/coffee, and the best bit for me is less boob sweat in the uk it goes on for months in Australia

I went expecting great things but returned fairly quickly (18 month). Its just not my cup of tea. Its too hot, too expensive and you have to work too many hours just to make ends meet.

Ha Reinette, I don't miss the boob sweat and thigh chafing! However, hanging your washing on the line and even the towels and jeans at the beginning of the line being dry by the time you've finished hanging out the last items was a bonus (eyes miserable dreich morning and decides to leave bed linen for another week.)

Just have to say, Australia is one of the best countries in the world for coffee.

The boob sweat is dire though.

I would argue about the coffee though - there are loads of exceptionally good coffee shops in Sydney and Melbourne, and we wouldn't have the flat white without the antipodeans (refuses to be drawn into Aus v NZ coffee argument).

Fresh food is excellent but sadly now often too expensive - I remember when you could buy a kilo of huge cooked prawns at Pyrmont fish markets for $16, and a kilo of beautiful steak for $8. Trays of mangoes and peaches for $4-6, trays of avocadoes for $5 from Paddys (we didn't often buy avocadoes because we had a tree in the back garden full of them!) Dinner, BYO at our favourite Thai restaurant for $35 for both of us, a bowl of pasta at the local pub for $12.

DH was back 6 years ago for his Mum's funeral and was horrified when he went out for a pizza with his brothers, 2 pizzas and 8 beers and it was over $120 and this was just the local family run takeaway with a couple of tables out front.

You won't have to be worried about a fierce magpie divebombing you in the face during the season when they have babies. One got my PFB toddler on the cheek when we went to a park where the warning signs had fallen down & made him petrified of birds. But in the interest of balance, the MacDonalds have good play areas as do their equivalent of B&Q.

I agree, you can have good coffee in Sydney. Switzerland has the worst coffee ever.

coffee shops that serve proper tea/coffee

Can you tell me where? I’ve lived here 13 years and am yet to find many places that meet the average standard of Australian coffee.

There’s a reason Starbucks had to scale back in Australia.

You are entitled to minimum holidays in the uk. This often isnt the case in Australia.

That’s incorrect. I have quite a bit of sympathy with some of your list, but that one isn’t true. The statutory entitlement is 4 weeks plus public holidays. Shift workers are entitled to more. And it’s usual to get ‘leave loading’ on your holiday pay - varies by employer (and some pay none) but it’s generally around 17% of your usual pay, paid on top of your usual pay when you’re on leave.

The exception is casual workers who get higher rates of hourly pay (15-25% higher) to compensate for lack of annual leave.

A loaf of bread is $7 at my Nans local store in Australia so no sandwiches for her anymore Your nan needs to widen her horizons, I get a perfectly good sandwich bread at the local supermarket for around $3. Will spend a little for a bakery made bread, but never $7!

Wow loads of responses and definitely a lot of things I hadn’t actually considered! Strangely the spiders and wildlife had never really crossed my mind as I kind of assumed that it’s quite rare to come face to face with them! For sure the expense of everything was something I’d definitely been worried about - someone posted about childcare costs but I thought there was a new rebate coming in next year which paid 50% of these as long as both parents were working (caps apply) - so I’d figured these would be about the same as here. Plus I always heard good things about the health and education systems so it’s maybe good to hear that they’re not all that.

There’s always a lot of coffee related chat on these Oz forums...to be honest I like the odd coffee but not sure I’d consider it when it came to emigrating! Last time I was in Perth so many people talked about the price of a coffee being high. I was more 😳 about the cost of bananas to be fair.

Unfortunately there are no other visas for us. SA could be an option on a state sponsored visa but we’d need higher points which we can’t pull together. And we have no family in Oz. Frustratingly I have years of experience in my field, relevant qualifications and some contacts in Perth but it’s not on the occupation list (banking).

There’s no doubt that Australia will always be a bit of a spiritual home for me - I’ve visited many times and despite its flaws I truly love the place but I’m also a very practical person and definitely not a risk taker so quitting our jobs and making the move with 2 little kids in tow was always going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done...

different Yep, even bread at somewhere like Baker's Delight costs just around $4.50. Methinks that poster may have been exaggerating just slightly.

Think you've had a lucky escape. Been there a couple of times and like people have mentioned on other threads Australia is highly over rated. Have lived in many countries and have to say apart from the weather I still feel that the UK is still one of the best countries to live in...and I'm not even British.

To be fair to the above poster $4.50 is £2.70 over here. Basic supermarket bread is £1 so that's still more than double the price just for a basic staple.

I remember thinking basic fruit and veg were expensive too. So even living a fairly healthy basic diet was a lot more expensive than here. Of course there's other positive but daily living (esp housing)just seemed so expensive. Of course that's relative too - if you sold a house on London then you'd be ina very different position to if you sold a house elsewhere, and may not feelnthe housing issue so sharply!

I'm wondering if a generation or so ago the exchange rate was different or prices in Australia were a lot cheaper as people used to think you could just go out to Australia and have this wonderful exotic life with a house,pool etc...

Cappucino, when I first went to Australia the exchange rate was definitely in my favour (approx. $2.50 to £) - it's a lot worse now, but even allowing for that, prices in Australia have rocketed over the last 10 years - house prices are ridiculous, food prices have gone through the roof and wages have not kept up. I love the place, but it's not the land of milk and honey it used to be.

Well, yes, free trade agreements and the removal of tariffs have changed prices in Australia. I imagine once Brexit has been implemented, there will be similar issues in Britain?

The mining boom brought great wealth to our country and people were then able to borrow more, hence housing prices going up. They've since dropped in parts of Perth and have stabilised somewhat in Sydney now the boom has passed its peak.

Exchange rates became slightly better for Aussies vs the pound because we did ok out of the GFC (all that mining money in the coffers) and that means newly arrived Brits don't have that huge advantage so much anymore.

And FWIW, you can get a loaf of bread for $1 or 2L of milk for $2 - they are supermarket own brands that run at a loss to get people in the shops. Only artisnal sourdough hipster loaves would be $7

ICjump I'm from rural Australia and your post made me cry (in a good way!) - rural Aussie women are tough as nails, that's for sure; even though I now live in the UK, I've fought fires, worked hard days in dads woolshed, ripped my hands to pieces putting up fences.... when the shit hits the fan the community really pulls together in a way I've not experienced anywhere else.

Solidarity, Degustibus. That was my childhood too and I missed ICJump’s post earlier. Thank you. That expresses it so well.

😊 @ Jassy

I picked up some washing off the laundry floor the other day to pop it into the machine and several baby cockroaches were hiding under the clothes 🤢🤢🤢🤢
We might be moving back to the UK next year and that sort of thing is a huge incentive.

This might not be helpful for you op. Sorry I'm just annoyed with the amount of utter tosh on this thread.

$7 for a loaf of bread?
Yeah no
0.85c for home brand bread. Which is nothing like the likes of tesco value cardboard bread I'm happy to report
$1.50 for Woolworths own.
$2.50-$4 for a brand dependant on type.
$3.00 in my closest convenience store.
$4.50-5.00 (depending on brown/white) in my local baker, which is the pricey end, but they do a great bundle of 12 free range eggs, a bottle of milk for $9 which is a good deal.
A lot of people here think food is expensive.

When in season you can get half a kilo of strawberries for 1.99, mangoes 6 for $4, pineapples about $2 for a whole one. If you shop around... Those prices go up considerably when out of season. It's just using your brain and buying seasonally. You can't whinge that strawberries are $10 a kilo if you're buying them out of season.
Another thing is that the vast majority of food is made in Australia. I'd rather pay a bit more for that than do what the uk does which is buy most of their products (either directly or it's made from imported produce) from cheap countries, have cheap food then wonder why farmers in the UK are shutting down at the rate of knots and local butchers, markets and fishmongers are shutting down at the rate of knots.

Anyone in aus or who has set foot in Woolworths or Coles will know all about the "made in Australia" labels most of which only apply when it's made in Aus with a certain % of Australian ingredients.
Give me that any day over British food which is poor in comparison and barely benefits the economy, with supermarkets just stashing the majority of profits in offshore accounts and very little produce being bought from British farmers or producers.

In most cities and towns wildlife isn't an issue my bil has been here for 14 years and has seen one snake in an enclosure and barring that all he's seen is koalas (in trees near the highway) and plenty of harmless geckos.

The biggest spider I've ever seen despite living here now was a British house spider that measured the size of a large kitchen tap don't ask how I know that

As for workers rights. Everybody is entitled to between 4-5 weeks leave per year depending on if you're a shift worker, plus public holidays, plus fully paid sick leave for 2 weeks I believe. That's in addition to carers/compassionate leave (also paid, but
I'm not sure on the exact time frame because I've never needed it) the only people not entitled to this are casual workers. Which are essentially people on 0hr contracts, who are strictly protected and paid 10-25% more per hour depending on their award rate (a minimum wage defined by the job you do).

Healthcare is free in qld by and large as long as you have a Medicare card (citizen, resident or from a country with a reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the UK). You also don't have to fuck about registering with a gp, book an appointment, give them a couple of pages of info when you arrive (unless you've been before) they take your Medicare card numbers and then you're on your way as long as you've been to a bulk billing doc (no shortage of those) all I've ever paid for was $25 in prescription costs over 3 different prescriptions based on the medication it would've likely been more expensive in the uk. I'm not sure how it works outside of Queensland.

That said though, employers can ask you to work public holidays if you are paid extra for those hours and some employers also give a day in lieu (so extra days holiday to use at another time).

I don't know anything about Australia, but I do know that moving to the other side means it costs a fortune to see the loved ones you left behind and if you move back, you'd miss the loved ones in Australia. It has been eleven years now since I've seen some dear friends, but I would suffer so much if I was separated from the friends I have here, so you can't win. Also my dd who has two cultures is treated as a foreigner in both countries.