Why did you do it?

[Guest maybeoz]

What were your motives for moving to Australia and Adelaide in general?

 

Are you happy with your decision and has it lived up to your expectations?

 

K

 

[xzibit]

Because it's an adventure. And a great opportunity.

[Guest guest3462]

I always knew I would come to Australia for years and years. It took us 10 years from deciding we wanted to do it, to plucking up the courage and actually being ready to come. We were originally planning on Brisbane as our destination (pre children) then I was offered a work placement on my degree course at uni in Perth and we loved it there, however while there we came to Adelaide to visit our friends who had recently emigrated to Adelaide and we fell in love with the place. Rich had arranged a meeting with a world renowned professor of anaesthesia here at Flinders medical centre who had just written a book, not out of anything specific immigration wise, but because he thought it would be beneficial to his skill development in anaesthesia to speak with the great man in person and get some advice. He was thrilled when he agreed to see him, and even more excited when he came home that afternoon with a sponsored job offer!!!! (We didnt expect that, in fact we had only a few months then to sort everything out in the UK tell everyone, arrange visas, save some money and sell the house!)

We have been here for just 2 years and it is the best thing we have ever done for our little family! We have seen the best and worst of what Aus has to offer and have had many moments where we almost threw the towel in and went back to the UK. Australian work ethics and the way the government run their immigration scheme is really not the best and it often seems that they tempt families here with stories of fortune and happiness when in actual fact once you are here you may (probably) have to retrain in your trade or begin again at the bottom of your corporate ladder despite being extremely skilled in your area of expertise and obtaining a permenant visa can prove to be a nightmare even if you think its going to be straightforward!!

However, despite our hardship in the immigration/work front, we battled on and have made the best life we could possibly give our little girls. We live in a beautiful house near the beach (5 min walk) go on camping holidays almost every month to some of the most stunning places I have ever seen and we live a very active and outdoors lifestyle. We have been very lucky and have a wonderful circle of friends whom we consider our aussie family and to be honest we have settled better into the Aussie way of life that we ever thought possible!

Financially we are worse off at the moment, but as Rich works his way (very slowly and painstakingly) back up the medical ladder things will improve and we'll be able to enjoy a fruitful life here. We are working on a self proposed 5 year plan that if it all goes well will see us into Australian citizenship and well settled in our lives. It seems to be working ok for us for now and we hope to have our residency some time this year.

[Guest Guest75]

For us it was the bug that had to be sated.

 

We love challenges.......... I was nearing my 40th and did not want to be doing the same old stuff forever.

 

To give our daughter a better life.

 

Worked out well for us :D:D

[Guest kangomik]

This may turn into a bun fight.

 

Because there had to more on offer than what the UK. (the polite way of saying it's on its arse:Randy-git:) for us.

If it wasn't Australia then it would have been somewhere other than Europe.

 

Adelaide has exceeded our expectations - don't set the dream too high be realistic you still have to work (you'd be amazed how many people think you spend all day at the beach!) - and the comments from friends and family confirm we made the right decision. Though i still have to see the money from all the bets that went on saying that we would be back within ......... date,

 

Remeber one thing, it's a bloody hard slog and for some it's worth it.

[Dawn]

better lifestyle, weather & opportunities ................

[nikkinoodlesuk]

We'd thought about emigrating off and on for yrs, got family in Brisbane, my gran used to visit Oz, every other year for months at a time.

 

We took the plunge in 2009 and as we were half way thru the process hubby got made redundant from his work, and we were waiting for the visa's to come thru he applied for various jobs in Uk as we still needed to live and didnt want to use up all our savings, but couldn't get anything as the Uk was spiralling into credit crunch and jobs were lost all over the place.

 

We knew we were making the right decision as no job offers were coming in at all.

We went with Adelaide as thats where the job sponsorship came from, but Brisbane would have been our destination choice.

 

Since being here we've had loads of ups and downs job didnt work out, but sorted quickly.

family back in UK have been a nightmare .

 

We love it here, and now the challenge is to sell our property we still have in UK and buy our dream house here.

 

We'd like to wish anyone starting the journey all the best

[HEAPS GOOD !!!]

Lifestyle.....has to be biggest driving force for us.

 

and what a lifestyle we have far better and fuller than the UK, we do more as a family etc etc.

 

More opportunities, work seems so much better here,

 

Could go on and on...but had better stop....lol

 

HG

[Guest kerfumph]

I'm seeing the world, only 2 more 'A's' to go.

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

We came here to give the 3 children a better life with more opportunities.

 

We came here to escape from violent crime.

 

It was the right move...but maybe a little late...should have moved years before!

 

There are things that are missed and there are times that you question the decision but overall it's the best decision ever. The friendliness of the locals is a real bonus...it can't be understated just how accomodating people are and what a difference that makes to settling here!

 

Tamara

[Diane]

Can't remember now..... probably because I used to get cold hands in England....but thinking about it, would have been a lot cheaper to buy some better gloves!

[Guest Mrs PHH]

The weather, the less congested roads and because we could!

[laura girling]

We came here after my hubby and I watched a programme called Life swap.

It looked as if the Ozzie's had it complete.

So we tried it, didnt like it at first cause it really was a big change, it took a long time for everyone to find firm friends the kids and us included. But in the end we did and have probably more friends here than there.

Our life here is magical work rest and a lot of play, I miss family dearly, but they will constantly flow here on holidays.

I would never ever not ever go back there to live, Im gonna hopefully become an Aussie Cit this year, just to put my son's mind at rest, he's worried that if we die he would have to live back in the UK!

 

Sums it all up me thinks Laura x

[Diane]

just to put my son's mind at rest, he's worried that if we die he would have to live back in the UK!

 

Just as a matter of interest does anyone know if - in the worst case scenario of both parents here dying and the kids' (aussie citizens) designated guardians living in the UK - they would have to go back to the UK, or would the kind lovely understanding flexible (yeh right) people at Immigration give visas to their guardians to come and live here and raise them?

[Guest guest569]

Just as a matter of interest does anyone know if - in the worst case scenario of both parents here dying and the kids' (aussie citizens) designated guardians living in the UK - they would have to go back to the UK, or would the kind lovely understanding flexible (yeh right) people at Immigration give visas to their guardians to come and live here and raise them?

 

As minors they would obviously have to go and live in the Uk with the guardian.

[jim and adel]

For us it was the adventure - we had a good lifestyle in the UK (certainly no worse than ours here - and we had more money then!) and weren't 'escaping' like so many seem to be. We fancied somewhere with a Med climate but without the language barrier of so much of the Med itself.

 

We enjoy it here but it's never blown us away; it has its charm (and its problems) and we're settled for now, particularly as we've built a house here. Still, it wouldn't surprise me if we upped and moved again in a few years' time, either to somewhere else in Aus, or some place totally different - that could easily be back to the UK.

 

Jim