Please can I have your HONEST opinions on Australia

[gem1981]

Hi

Hubbie and I are looking quite seriously into moving abroad

DH lived overseas (mainly the middle east) when he was growing up as his dad travelled alot with his job.

He has alsways had ambitions to move away from the UK and we have looked at the options and decided that Australia is probably our best option.

we want to move for the following reasons:

1)Better quality fo life for our DCs
2)more relaxed way of life
f3)ed up of being fleeced for every penny we earn in taxes by the UK

I suppose what I want to know is how realistic are we being in thinking that moving to Australia is going to give us this type of lifestyle or is it just a pipedream?

I would love to hear all experiences good and bad.

If you have emigrated there do you have any regrets?
Thanks

Message withdrawn

Ha you are so right bloss. Went I went back to the UK this May for the first time in 2 yrs. I was at how crowded England was, how dirty the streets were, the fact that all the streets were full of cars parked all over the verges, how small the houses are and how cramped everything felt. And sadly how miserable people looked.

I think I spent my first 2 years here missing rolling English countryside and had somehow forgotten all the shitty bits.

How funny.

Hadn't thought about the boobs tho. Must ask DH he notices that kind of thing

for you Jackaroo - that is something that bothers me a lot as well; Dad is nearly 75 and Mum died last year so he is on his own, but my sister and I live within 15 mins of him at the mo so he is not too isolated. Obviously he has issues with me going to Australia but he has never complained about it at all, knows I must live my life and do what is right etc. BUT I worry about leaving him.

I wish someone would get on and invent some kind of hyperdrive plane that would get us round the world in less than 12 hours, preferably in some kind of stasis so we go to sleep in one country and wake up at our destination. - dream on...

I am more than aware of the greyness, dog crap, etc, but I thought the post was about Australia - otherwise I'd of gone on at length about the things I don't miss. I can put up with the greyness for the sociopolitical diversity any day. It depends what is important to you of course.
As for Page 3 - I can choose not to read The Sun, but I can't choose to read a paper that isn't vacuous if one doesn't exist! I have yet to find a paper here where most of the columnists are interesting/varied/cynical mixture. And they all seem to report the news in very similar ways (however high-brow/ red top they seem to be)...

Bloss, your point about the words just being stronger in Oz. That's why it reminds me of the 70's in teh UK. Because since then there have been social changes that make people realise that none of it is acceptable.
Oh, and I'm middle class late 30's, and obviously was surprised with the language I heard too. I'm not "claiming" it's normal. It geniunely seems to the norm. Oh, and everyone has degrees too, but I don't understand why being educated shoudl be seen to make a difference, it doesn't in the UK. Racists come at all academic levels!

To take the point about "cleavage is constantly thrust into your face", maybe that explains why so much breastfeeding here seems to be behind closed doors, perhaps if people were less cautious about covering up , until it becomes less of a big deal, it wouldn't seem so threatening/obvious - I'm sure men brought up surrounded by a certain amount of cleavage stop noticing in quite the same way and can get on with their job. My DH seemed to manage though, despite being Aussie

OK, going to stop now because I'm just getting ratty.

Three anecdotes from the last 6 months to finish with:
1 - Whenever I mention living in a certain area (it was very near where we are now, but a bit cheaper) - almost TO A PERSON, everyone I mentioned it to asked me if I realised it was a Jewish area, and "full of them".
2 - First estate agent we worked with to find a rental said she was going to recommend us to the owner because "every other applicant is asian".
3 - When we put an offer in to buy our current house the new estate agent said "i'm sure the owner will take your offer, because the other couple are like the ones next door" (ie Indian/Pakistani one side, haven't met them so don't know yet, and Chinese on the other, I didn't assume, I asked what she meant by that). The other couple offered $20k more than us. We got the house.

Message withdrawn

Very gracious of you Bloss, but these things happened before my Dad died, so I don't think it's that.....

New to this site. Living in Oz but have also lived in Europe. Can't believe some of the things that have been said. I thought these sites were suppose to be supportive as well as informative.
For those thinking of moving to Australia all i would say is try it and see. The worst thing you can do is live with regrets. You can always go home again if you don't like it.

You sound very miserable here, Jackaroo, can you not go home?

don't understand the comments about Melbourne winters being "hard to bear" - aren't they akin to the 'summer' we've just had here?

I got pneumonia in Melbourne in winter... Proper double pneumonia. It was the coldest I've ever been in my life and I've been camping in South Shields in November!

I lived in Brisbane for 2 years - loved it. I live in London now - love that too. I agree with the 'life's what you make it' opinions expressed here. But sometimes moving can help you to shake things up and start making more of life... Good luck whatever you decide!

cripes - but what was the temp? I thought it rarely got below feezing?

lived in sydney and melbourne and agree wtih all the other posts about news/telly/ shops etc. But the crux of it is, it's just not home and that's how you gfeel after a while. I missed pubs too...

Lived in melbourne for 6 months. Loved it!! It is suppose to be the most liveable city in the world!!! I fell in love with the city and have lived in several countries but nothing was like Melbourne. As far as the Temp goes you can get frost on your car outside the city and it is as windy as anything at times but never felt as cold as the UK.

Its nowhere near as cold as the UK but the difference is that no-one heats their houses properly. Small electric heaters if you're lucky. Its colder inside than out half the time. Madness.

Hope you're feeling better Jackeroo. I can sympathise with a lot of what you're saying.

"Its nowhere near as cold as the UK but the difference is that no-one heats their houses properly. Small electric heaters if you're lucky. Its colder inside than out half the time."

NO, that's in AUCKLAND, NZ, where they are under the misapprehension that they live in a Tropical Climate ....

I have heating in my house in Melbourne - I don't know anyone who doesn't.

It's the Kiwis that are totally barking when it comes to heating ....

A really really 'bitterly' cold day in Melbourne will start out at about 3/4 degrees and then get to about 9/10 degrees It is cold for the Aussies, who have 40 degree days in the summer here. TBH I prefer the cold days to those horrifically hot summer days ....

By the way, you can't catch pneumonia by being cold ...

I hear yuor Auckland, GHosty, and raise you Christchurch where it's even colder. My curtains blow in the breeze.

kiwis and heating (i.e. lack of, also lack of insulation, double glazing, windows that even pretend to meet the frames etc.) = utter, utter madness

have recently been to both Melbourne and Canberra and Melbourne was much warmer than canberra. Took my lovely wool coat to Melbourne and only needed my hoodie and scarf. Did however need my wool coat in Canberra.

I still think what also makes it feel colder than in the UK is the range of temperature. Instead of days where the low is around 9 an dit only 'warms up' to 13 - then you do not feel the cold as much as days like we have had recently 5 or 6 degree lows up to 21/22 highs.

especially in QLd where a lot of the older houses were built for the long hot summers rather than the very short cool winters.

Ah Ghosty you must live in a smart house! All the houses I lived in when in Melbourne were cold cold. But then again that was nothing compared to the houses in Christchurch....

my aunts house was warm - although she said it was drafty. She had a huge fireplace and central heating.

Yes that's what I thought, I just don't believe for one second that melbourne in winter has the temps that mid bloody wales does in winter.
Are you anywhere near Mornington Pennisula Ghosty? So thinking that we should go for it and apply for visa.

Shells, my house is niceish but nothing too swish - we don't live in a shack, however. I never got over the kiwis and their belief that they live on a Pacific Island. Well, it is a Pacific Island I suppose, but Fiji it is not ... Our first house in Auckland was too old to insulate and we managed two winters before caving in ... [brrrrr]
Having said that, I love not having double glazing ... the last time I went back to England in an English winter I had to beg my dad to turn the heating off during the night and I slept with the window open - the double glazing made me feel like I was suffocating.
Katie - we live in a city 'burb, about 8km north of the city. The MP is a two hour drive south but worth it ... there are a few MNers who live at that end of town and have a short journey to the MP ...
We are 2 hours from skiing fields in the winter though ... and then not far from beaches in the summer ... perfect

ah ok, my sis lives in Mount Eliza and I love it there but was thinking it would be a longish drive if we did move out and if DH got a job in the city.

Hi..oh should I be really stereotypical and say G'day?
I am an aussie who has been living in the Uk for the past 2 or so years.
There are positives and negatives to both countries.I will agree that Australians can be blunt and yes there is evidence of racisim but that occurs everywhere. I can't give you any info on anywhere apart from Queensland. I have lived everywhere from the city to waaayyy out west and everywhere inbetween. But anywhere here is my 2 cents:
the weather is better
the fresh food is better
the tv is crap
the news is crap
the school system is better
it is getting expensive
clothes shops are better in the uk
if you dont waste water then we wont run out
very multicultural - people and food
i could go on and on but goo dluck with everything. LIsten to everyone. Listen to the good and bad and make up your own mind.
I love living in the Uk but Australia will always be home.

Katie, we are moving out in Jan, and really wanted to live on the peninsula, but, after deliberating, it is a hellish journey to the CBD from there. We have decided to move up to the bayside area fro an easier commute !