Need to know everything

[Guest heljay2007]

Hi,

 

I know I could probably search through the forums and find answers to all of my questions but I thought it may be quicker to ask them all in one place.

Australia is still a dream for us at the moment but with a company possibly interested in sponsoring my husband in Adelaide I need to start looking into this as we are going to have to prove to a lot of people in the UK that this is the right move for us and our family and that it can give us the chance of a better life.

 

Basically in the UK our average combined income is about £30,000. Unfortunately at the moment it is not even half that as my OH was made redundant a few weeks ago. We made the mistake about 6 months ago of moving to a bigger house (rented) which we are now struggling to maintain.

 

We have 3 children between us. a 3 year old that lives with us full time and a 9 and 12 year old who are here at weekends. Our outgoings before food, fuel, shopping etc are about £1200. We cannot afford luxuries as a family and very rarely have days out or holidays.

 

The position that may become available in Adelaide is $55,000+ with a company car. I would be hoping to get a job as well but have no idea what I have the potential to earn as I cant imagine there is a similar position for me over there (Translation Project Manager) but I think an adminstrative role would be the type of job I could get.

 

What I need to know is how does the cost of living over there compare to the UK. I have heard it is a lot more expensive but could we live comfortably? I know there would be a lot more opportunity for family days out etc as the weather dictates a lot of what you can and cant do. (Not many good things to do for free when its pouring down and 2 degrees)

 

Also, I am hoping my 12 year old will be coming with me. Not going to go into too much detail on that as I know split families and taking children away is a touchy subject. But if she does come, how do the schools compare to the UK. (The job is in Christies Beach) Would she get the same standard of education? Have your children found it easy to make friends? the 3 year old i am not too worried about as he will hopefully settle quite quickly as they adapt well at that age.

 

thank you in advance for any advice you can give us

Edited April 24, 2012 by heljay2007

[Diane]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I think when people compare like for like and convert at the terrible Pound/Aussie exchange rate at the moment things can seem more expensive here, but I have found that you tend to adjust and live and shop differently once you are earning and spending the aussie dollar. Less ready meals, more stuff cooked from good fresh ingredients etc. Days out can be as cheap as heading for a beach and park with a cold box, so you're not always paying out for stuff like you maybe would elsewhere.

 

I guess $55k might be on the lowish side as far as wages go, and you would probably want/need to supplement that by working at least part time yourself - but if you are prepared to be flexible then even something like shelf stacking at Coles supermarket pays over $20 an hour casual rates so worth considering. Depending on the visa your husband is being sponsored for, you may also be entitled to child benefit and help with childcare costs, so definitely worth pushing for a permanent visa if you have the option there.

 

I find the schools here excellent - my kids went to state primary and private high school and I have been very impressed with both. There is a different emphasis to education, particularly in the primary school years - which seems to turn out confident and self-assured kids for the most part who turn into articulate teenagers, although towards the end of high school the academic pressure really does rocket! High schools start usually from Year 8 here so depending on your daughter's exact age when you arrive, she may find she might have to go back to primary for a year - again, not such a bad thing as Year 7s at primary school seem to have a fantastic time with lots of sports and activities, and lots of respect given to them for being the oldest in the school! It would also give your daughter time to make some friends so that when she goes up to High School with them all she'll have established groups, rather than coming in maybe halfway through the first year of high school and having to slot in with already established groups, if that makes sense. I'm sure she'll have no problem though whichever way it works out.

[Guest heljay2007]

Hi Diane,

 

thanks for your reply. I had to laugh at that fact that $55k is fairly low wages. That is such a refreshing thing to hear from over here where the average hourly rate where we live (unless you are skilled, which my OH is but cannot find work in his trade) is about £6.50! He has been busting a gut in his previous job for not much more than this and his yearly income was about £13,000!

 

I am happy to do any work I can find. I have packed lettuces for a living and loved it so stacking shelves at $20 an hour would be absolutely fine with me.

 

From our point of view (and I know this is not everybodys) the UK is getting worse by the day. The rich get richer and the poor are getting poorer. We are both hard workers and will quite happily put in 60+ hour weeks but it still seems to make little difference as the fuel prices rocket, energy prices rise, and the government have now cut help for working families and are paying less towards childcare.

 

We just want the chance to give our kids a better life, and to give ourselves the chance as well before its too late

 

As for the schooling, that is nice to hear. She was very settled at the primary school but since moving up to high school does not seem quite so happy. I know over here a lot of peoples opinions are based on OFSTEAD reports but I would just be happy for her to attend a school where she had good friends and good teachers and that she wanted to get up every day to go to school.

Edited April 24, 2012 by heljay2007

[Guest The Morleys]

Hi

Adelaide is a great place but everything we all come up against when we move here is handled very differently by the individuals.

We have now been here nearly 2 and a half years and apart from missing both sets of parents we miss nothing at all anymore. Thats not to say we have not had our trials and tribulations, I really did not like it here for the first year but that was not Adelaides fault it was due to the pressures we faced with basically starting again financially and myself starting a brand new business. If you come with good money, jobs etc it can be different to coming with hardly any money, no family, no contacts and no idea what you are going to do, not to say those lucky enough to come with some extras do not struggle. With hard work and your new friends becoming your family you will end up loving it. Our friends and us earn individually between $50000 a year to $110,000 a year but how you manage on the money depends on how you live, what you have and especially on how long you will be renting. The rentals are quite expensive and will be anything from $380 a week (on average). We spend on average $350 a week on groceries but we have 11 month old twins and a 11 year old as well.

Im not going to start giving my opinion on certain bad suburbs as it can offend but what I will say is Seaford, Moana, seaford rise, port noarlunga south and a few more are good areas not far from Christies.

Schooling takes some getting used to, our 11 year old who due to us moving suburbs ended up in different schools , again im not going to mention what we thought were the bad ones but I will say she is in All Saints school at Seaford now and she loves it ( it is prvate but only $80 a fortnight). The education is certainly quite different and doesnt seem as advanced as where she was in the UK but she and her friends are very confident, happy and kids educated through the Australian schools can end up doing just as well in the long run. I know through friends that McLaren Vale school is also very good and is public. Senior schools that seem good are Cardjin, Woodcroft and Tatachilla which are private and Willunga which is public, not to say there are not others, they are just ones Ive been told are good. Most kids seem very open and accept new kids easily.

From Noarlunga which the freeway and train go from (which is next door to Christies) you can do the city on a good day in 40 minutes, but if traffic is busy it can be twice as long. The train takes approx 45 mins to the city and the train line at the moment is being extended from Noarlunga south to Seaford.

The city is very nice and the beaches down here are top notch. We enjoy kayaking, golf, fishing and barbis with our friends as well as visiting some of the great places out there.

The weather has been very good but this week has turned a lot worse and is cold, rainy and windy. Lots better than the UK though :-)

Anything else you need please just ask......

Marcus

[Guest heljay2007]

Hi Marcus,

 

thank you very much for your reply.

 

I know that leaving family and friends will be one of the hardest parts for us, especially taking grandchildren away. OH and I are used to being away from home so think we will adapt quite quickly. And there is always Skype and luckily all of our parents are nearly at retirement age and financially able to come over and see us reasonably often.

 

What are your other living costs if you dont mind me asking? I know the rentals are quite high but they mostly include council tax and water rates dont they? With them included our rent here would be £850 a month so maybe not too much difference.

 

What other outgoings are necessary? obviously we will need internet and telephone to keep in touch back home. How much are these on average?

 

Are there any other outgoings that we need to consider that we wouldn't have in the UK? the ones I can think of here from the top of my head are

Rent

Council Tax

Water

Gas

Electric

Broadband

Telephone

Car Insurance

Mobile Phone

House Insurance

Life Insurance

TV (Sky etc)

 

Thanks in advance

[tina&steve]

Just a quick reply to say that when we came over i didnt worry too much about how much things cost, you live by your means. A day out here is put the body boards and rods in the car along with an esky and head for the beach, free to park and only costs you petrol.

i worked on the assumption that the pay must give you enough to live on, im full time and wife 4 days a week, we do ok. Sometimes money is a bit short, but then we stay at home by the pool or trip to the beach.

A night out generally consists of a bbq and drinks at friends, its great!!

[Guest The Morleys]

Hi

 

all approximates - this is on our home not a rental

Gas - $200 a qtr

Water - $250 a qtr

Council tax - $300+ qtr

Mobile $79 a month - can be less

Broadband through Adam - $50 a month (not impressed)

Electric $400+ per qtr

Car ins - $45 per month one car

House ins $73 per month

Rego - $274 per qtr (similar to car tax) one car

Medibank - extras cover for chiro, dental, optical $20 per month - highly recommeneded

TV free, unless get foxtail (same as sky) expensive

 

 

Water rates are not included in most rentals the service charge is.

We do not have a telephone, we just have mobiles that come with free minutes for use abroad.

 

When are you coming over?

 

Good luck, get in touch once here if you need help, is your 12 year old a boy/girl?

Dont worry its a great place with a lot of great and helpful people, our good friends Alan and Caroline run the poms meet up which is the first Sunday of every month, you can meet other newbies and also people who have been here a few years, highly recommened.

 

Marcus

[Guest smit]

 

I guess $55k might be on the lowish side as far as wages go, and you would probably want/need to supplement that by working at least part time yourself - but if you are prepared to be flexible then even something like shelf stacking at Coles supermarket pays over $20 an hour casual rates so worth considering. .

There is a lot of people out there now that would snap your hand off for 55k a year....$27ph employed!!!!. .....thats a good wage in todays adelaide. ....Average wage is 62k..down from 68k last year!!!!!!!!

[Guest heljay2007]

Hi

 

all approximates - this is on our home not a rental

Gas - $200 a qtr

Water - $250 a qtr

Council tax - $300+ qtr

Mobile $79 a month - can be less

Broadband through Adam - $50 a month (not impressed)

Electric $400+ per qtr

Car ins - $45 per month one car

House ins $73 per month

Rego - $274 per qtr (similar to car tax) one car

Medibank - extras cover for chiro, dental, optical $20 per month - highly recommeneded

TV free, unless get foxtail (same as sky) expensive

 

 

Water rates are not included in most rentals the service charge is.

We do not have a telephone, we just have mobiles that come with free minutes for use abroad.

 

When are you coming over?

 

Good luck, get in touch once here if you need help, is your 12 year old a boy/girl?

Dont worry its a great place with a lot of great and helpful people, our good friends Alan and Caroline run the poms meet up which is the first Sunday of every month, you can meet other newbies and also people who have been here a few years, highly recommened.

 

Marcus

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for this. From looking at this it looks like it works out pretty even to the UK and basing that on OH's wages alone we would still be left with about $2500 a month after bills. we would hopefully then have my wages on top so that is one good start.

 

Have also been reading some other threads on Christies Beach and surrounding areas and have read some very good reports on how it is for families. Christies Beach high school has some good recommendations as well which is good news.

 

we are not sure of time scales at the moment but I think from what I have researched that once accepted for a sponsored position it can move very quickly so if OH does get this job offer then it could be quite soon

[Guest railman2404]

nice thread for information this

will agree having just returned from noarlunga the beach and jetty are superb

[Guest heljay2007]

Hi

 

 

 

Good luck, get in touch once here if you need help, is your 12 year old a boy/girl?

Dont worry its a great place with a lot of great and helpful people, our good friends Alan and Caroline run the poms meet up which is the first Sunday of every month, you can meet other newbies and also people who have been here a few years, highly recommened.

 

Marcus

 

 

Sorry, meant to say as well that we would love to meet up with people once we get there. My OH has a friend already living there but that will be the only person he knows and I will know nobody so will be making every effort to make new friends. The 12 year old is a girl by the way. 12 going on 18!!

[jim and adel]

Thanks for this. From looking at this it looks like it works out pretty even to the UK and basing that on OH's wages alone we would still be left with about $2500 a month after bills. we would hopefully then have my wages on top so that is one good start.

 

Apologies if I've missed something, but if your OH's job is likely to pay around $55k I can't possibly see how you'd have $30k per year left over after paying bills (as well as what's in the list from Marcus you'd need to include rent, petrol, food etc). Is the $55k gross or net? If gross, you'd pay about $11k of that amount in tax. Would it be plus super? If not, reduce by a further $5k. This means the take home figure could be more like $40k pa.

 

A typical rental is about $350 per week (some less, others more obviously), meaning over $18k pa in rent alone (but some of the items in Marcus' list wouldn't be applicable when renting). Unless you mean $2500 per month before rent?

 

Also, if the job comes with a car this could affect take home pay (e.g. FBT) depending on how it's packaged (whether a novated lease or owned by the company).

 

Good luck with the visa!

 

Jim

[Guest heljay2007]

Apologies if I've missed something, but if your OH's job is likely to pay around $55k I can't possibly see how you'd have $30k per year left over after paying bills (as well as what's in the list from Marcus you'd need to include rent, petrol, food etc). Is the $55k gross or net? If gross, you'd pay about $11k of that amount in tax. Would it be plus super? If not, reduce by a further $5k. This means the take home figure could be more like $40k pa.

 

A typical rental is about $350 per week (some less, others more obviously), meaning over $18k pa in rent alone (but some of the items in Marcus' list wouldn't be applicable when renting). Unless you mean $2500 per month before rent?

 

Also, if the job comes with a car this could affect take home pay (e.g. FBT) depending on how it's packaged (whether a novated lease or owned by the company).

 

Good luck with the visa!

 

Jim

 

Hi,

 

My apologies my adding up is atrocious!!

 

After working everything out again properly I still think we will be better off than we are here (not hard considering my husband has just been told he is not entitled to job seekers allowance, despite having worked since he was 16 as he paid the wrong kind of national insurance when he was self employed over a year ago. This country is a joke!)