Moving to Australia?

[shannonhinton0421]

Me and my partner are 26, turning 27 this year we have an almost 2 year old son, we are planning to have one more baby.

We are considering our options to move to Australia, we want a better life for our children, my uncle moved his family over there 12 years ago now and his children have now grown up and they live a much better life than I believe we can offer our son living here.

We live in the west midlands currently and there is nothing to do here, I'm scared for my son to grow up here with all the crime, the cost of living crisis and everything else, I know things will also be expensive there like food but from what I've heard your overhead costs are cheaper and the quality of like is much better and that is all I want for my son, I want him to have opportunities.

We have our own house and I think we will have about £50k in equity if we decide to sell.

Has anyone else moved to Australia? How much did it cost? What would you recommend?

Yet many Australians move to the UK each year too. And many British people move back...

When I started reading your comment I thought I had really offended you. You definitely got me 😅

Google Ping Pong Pom

Hi OP! We in the same boat but hubby already been offered a job there so we still deciding if irs worth going.

I suggested that if he does want to take the job for him to go out first for a 6 months or so to ensure he actually likes his job. Last thing I want to do is move with out 2 small kids and him hating his job. And that will give him time to explore the areas and see if its worth us moving. Obviously we will go visit him in the holidays (expensive I know) but will also be able to see if the kids like it and me too. We will be around Sydney and I've seen that rentals are so expensive so need to factor all that in. We wouldn't see our house here in UK though.

Thousands of people do this every single year. Some even come here.

Flights have gone up SO much.

This alone would put me off. For us to visit family in Aus it would cost 10k in flights before anything else..

And this is only going to go up. People won't do it.

I would LOVE to go. I'm an architect and struggling to find work in my part of the UK (I'm not city based - wish I was!!)

My salary potential in AUS is wild and DH can earn highly there too.

But we're almost 40! And DC are pre teens.

So we think we missed our chance. 😭

I looked into Visas and it was so overwhelming!

Millions not thousands.

Check out https://www.pomsinoz.com. It's full of helpful discussions and also has sub-forums for the various states/territories.

Hi OP 👋.

I actually read your original post twice as it is so similar to my own thought process that I though I had written it and forgotten 😂.

We too are in a REALLY similar situation. Thinking about going back to Oz and taking our two boys with us for the quality of life for them. We have been out there before though. We lived in Adelaide for a year. Returned home due to family health issues (sadly my dad passed away two years ago) and now we’re thinking of heading back out there again. The quality of life we experienced out there was amazing and we were the people who had never visited the country and decided to drop everything and just give it a go! We don’t regret our decision at all! We’re of the thought that you normally regret 100% of the decision you don’t make, but experiencing life in another country with your children in tow would be an unbelievably amazing experience, so I would always say go for it and see what happens. There are obviously financial implications to this decision and we spend around £15k moving there and back in 2017 (we also took our dog, which cost a fair chunk of that money).

Some of the points we’re having to consider now moving back with children are schooling as we would want to privately educate our boys over there. All the friends we made our there were privately educated and spoke to highly of it. If anyone has any advice on this with regards to Adelaide I’d be most grateful. I know it’s roughly 2 years that you need to apply ahead of being offered a place. Also we’re looking at do we sell or rent our house? Our mortgage expires in 2027, so maybe renting is the way forward. I think with kids the biggest advice I would give is do your finances really carefully looking at how much you need to spend in order to set yourself up because when you have kids you can’t be in a situation where they’re suffering due to your management and if you can take a huge chunk of savings over with you and expect to spend a large amount of it until you establish yourself.

My final advice would be to give yourself time to settle over there and also let yourself feel homesick and if you do I would always recommend booking a flight home to remind yourself why you left before you decide to move your life back to the U.K.

Hope that helps and little. If you need any other advice then please message me. I love an adventure and am 100% behind a crazy wonderful life hanging move to a beautiful country!

all the best!

We moved to Adelaide with 2 primary aged kids a few years ago, we put them into catholic schools and found no obstacles. I would guess it would depend which schools and which area you are looking at. I know friends who have their kids names down for secondary school since reception, but we applied 7 months before to the school we wanted for our oldest to attend and there was no issues

@Downtherabbitholeagainandagain

thanks so much for that info. That’s really useful! Is your school fee paying and if so, do you have to pay on top of the school fees depending what visa you’re on or is it a flat rate for private schools? I ask because I know if you want your child to attend a state school then you have to pay a fee if you’re on certain working visas.

Did your children settle ok? I think the biggest factor of our move this time is our kids. Yes, we want that glorious lifestyle for them but we also want the to be happy in their schools.

The schools we were looking at were St Peter’s boys and Pembroke. We know some people who went there and they talk so highly of it! Don’t know if you have any experience with either of these?

Sorry OP for high jacking your thread, but hopefully some of this info will be useful for you too.

x

Yes they are fee paying, we chose fee paying as the visa we were originally on meant we would have to pay $6000 per child to send them to a public school. Didn’t have to pay anything additional.
we found they kids settled really well quite quickly. Ours were in reception and year 3 when we moved and choosing a private school allowed us to keep them in those year groups rather than repeating a year.

I have girls so dont have any experience with St Peter’s but the grounds there are fantastic.
not heard anything negative about Pembroke but have no personal experience of it.
Would you be looking to live in the eastern suburbs?

@Downtherabbitholeagainandagain

I thought that would be the case with fee paying schools so happy that you confirmed it. Did you just email the schools before your planned move? I think that may be my next step.

suburb wise: the last time we lived in North Adelaide, which we would look at again. Although we are gardeners, so would like a little more outdoor space. Stirling would be perfect, but I do worry about those pesky wildfires. But initially for renting, we would look at North Adelaide, Unley/ Norwood area and Prospect at a push. I think I would prefer to be in the southern suburbs- although my husbands job would be in Elizabeth, but I wouldn’t be going too near to there 😬. I worked in Prospect the last time we were there and used to walk in from North Adelaide most days (even in 30c weather- crazy Brits), which I loved.

If you really want to go I don’t think you have necessarily missed the boat. It all depends on whether one of you has a job on the “occupations in demand” list which has grown hugely post COVID. DH and I were early 40s, kids 3-13. You can speed things up with a job offer, the visa numbers have changed so I don’t know what they are now calling what was a 457 business visa, but that leaves you a bit vulnerable. We held out for permanent residence which took around 18 months but meant we had more security which was important to us moving three kids. Our kids settled well, we could afford private schooling and 15 years on we are having the kind of life we could only dream about in the UK (but in the interests of transparency I am not British so even though I spent nearly 20 years in England it was never home).

I do love reading these posts and peoples experiences.
We have just emigrated to Adelaide from the UK with a toddler. It’s a beautiful place and the people seem very friendly. I’m finding it a bit tough at the moment, maybe reality sinking in now that we are here and doing ‘life’ as the last few months were so full on and crazy with arranging/ packing up/ saying goodbyes/ travelling over.

@Talulah29 oh I’m sorry you’re finding it hard. I think homesickness definitely does hit everyone. Did you leave a lot of family behind?

when we got homesick I think the advice I wish I had been given was:

1. write a list of why you came to remind yourself and all the positives about Adelaide.
2. if you’re still home sick, plan a flight home asap and then back to Adelaide again. When you’re home try and tick off some of the things you want to do and miss about the U.K., but keep reminding yourself why you came.

i have been through what you’re going through (although I didn’t have a toddler at the time). If you need any advice or to vent, please feel free to message me.

all the best xxx

We emigrated here to Australia in our 20 s and didn’t go back to visit the UK for 10 years because in those days it just cost too much. We never looked back. The weather is better, the people relaxed and friendly and in those days the housing was cheaper BUT houses are now much,much more expensive. Think London prices plus. You need to do your homework and check out where in Australia because it varies a lot. People who live in the West, for example, are fairly cut off from the East because it is a long,long way. I wouldn’t live there for quids, personally but obviously some love it. I have lived in Tasmania and, beautiful though it is, that wasn’t for us either. Too small, too insular. We live in Melbourne but I could happily live in Adelaide, New South, or Brisbane but not Canberra. We are all different.

We are this situation too and debating this. I don’t think you are old at all. My colleague moved to Australia and she is in her late 40s and loving it there.

Sorry was replying to @Autocadelite

There are always exceptions to the general rule about age, depending on your occupation. DH and I came to Australia when 50.

you will love it - I have no doubt. Moved to Aus 4 years ago met my now partner here and had my first baby 6 months ago.

where are you planning to move?

it is hands down a better place to bring up kids, everything just seems easier here and the most stark difference is how much quieter it is than the UK. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still traffic and the odd queue here and there but seriously it’s unreal how much less busy it is here.

just make sure you get your kids into the water and learning as soon as - water safety is paramount!!

good luck!! Don’t listen to any of the neggy comments! Go with your gut. It’s an awesome, awesome place to live.

I do get homesick but I don’t regret it for a second!

Do you have the skills which would put you on the skills shortage list for a visa?

Interested to know what kind of life you have in OZ that you could only dream about in the UK? More disposable income, more opportunities to travel, better education, outdoor life, better housing and health care?

I like Australia and we could live there as DH is Australian and kids Have Australian passport, but the distances and distance in particular to my home country put me off.

Like you I have lived in the UK for nearly 20 years and even though I am
settled and kids growing up here I am not sure it will ever be home for me; butt same will be in Australia. Anyway, I think it is a bit late for us as kids teens now and settled; DD2 loved Australia when we went last time and said she was leaving home when we left. So we may end with one child in the UK and another one in Australia.

I absolutely love Australia but I’d only want to live in a coastal city or Melbourne ( joke). As PP has said, NSW is huge and living in Sydney is a lot different to living in Newcastle, and even more different to somewhere like Dubbo. Rural and regional Australia has a lot of poverty and often poor service provision because young people don’t necessarily want to live in those areas so while the non coastal areas are cheaper there can be good reasons why that’s the case.