Humongous tricky question!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best or worst decision oz!!!!

[phil&Sue]

Comments please!!!

 

 

Hi,,,,

 

 

is anyone willing to leave HONEST BRIEF COMMENT,STORY on,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

 

 

 

whether moving to Oz (in hindsight) has been the best/worst decision ever!!!!,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

 

Obviously Its very broad question and i am purely interested those mainly that have been in Oz say 1/2 yrs + (mainly but not exclusively.......) For most i expect it is a mix of .......

 

LIFESTYLE V FAMILY,,,,,

 

 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH INDEED... COMMENTS WELCOMED!!!!..

[Blossom]

I don't think it has been either for me. I was FAR better off financially and emotionally in the uk. The weather and space in oz are far better. I go fishing and can grow more things in oz. That is the main positives.

The idea of having children here (them growing up here, not the actual having them) scares me a lot.

[phil&Sue]

Hi blossom,

 

thank you for your comment,,,

 

do u mind possibly (going in to bit more detail,,, on the ,,... having children grow up in Oz,,,,, part,,,,

 

 

THANKS AGAIN,,,,

 

im currently a little undecided!!!!

[Anne B]

Everyone's experience will be different. Coming from a different situation in the UK, moving for a different reason, different experiences once here. For some it will be the best decision they ever made, some may have regrets, others have already voted with their feet and gone back! We are all different ages with different expectations too. I think people who moved over before the GFC and the collapse of the dollar/pound exchange rate had it good, as they were the 'cashed up poms' you used to hear about. Since then it has been harder (financially).

 

If only we had the benefit of hindsight before we made decisions, life would be much easier. We have concluded that if we knew then what we know now, we would never have moved. It's not a conclusion to arrive at lightly, certainly doesn't make you feel great. Going back to England a couple of months ago we realised that life there was good, everyone was doing well and we felt a bit stupid for giving it all up. Life rarely works out how you expect it to. We were much better off and had far greater job security in the UK. It's been an adventure with plenty of good times thrown in, but we too are debating whether to stick it out or cut our losses and go back now.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Anne B

[beckdownunder]

I'll throw a positive post in here...

 

We have been here 2 years in 3 weeks and LOVE it!

 

We had a good life in the UK, both had good jobs, nice house, nice family, so we weren't running away from anything so to speak. We moved here (myself, hubby and then 2 year old) in 2011. Now I admit, we came over on a 457 visa, so I already had a job, which I think is a huge advantage. However, hubby found work in the first couple of months too. We both love our jobs here. My career in the UK was very stressfull with lots of demands and travelling.....here it is exactly what I had hoped for and more.....laid back, I do my own thing, boss never bothers me.....of course there are times that are stressfull....but hey thats life!

 

We bought a house in Nov last year and like typical POMS have put a pool in.....well hey, we do live in australia! I just love being able to kick back on the hot summer days in the garden with the family messing around in the water.

 

We have been very lucky and we have made a great circle of friends too :-)

 

Of course, we do miss our family and friends back in the UK, but overall coming to Aus is the best move we ever made. I am happy to bring my son up here and believe he will have a great life.

 

Beck

[Guest Guest75]

It really takes time to feel any kind of settlement here for a lot of folk.

 

I was great for the first few years, then got a little unsettle.Then settled again,then became unsettled a couple of years ago.

We moved house which helped.

 

It's part of living here.

 

The constant has been the good times and new experiences here in Oz.

 

I took a couple of Aussie mates out fishing the other day,they have never met but turns out they have so many mutual friends !!

I just had to sit and listen as I don't have that history here..............so what?? I don't have it as much in the UK now.

 

It takes at least acouple of years to even begin to feelsettled and then another couple at least to catch up financially.

 

You all have to agree upon a decision.

[Guest BurgessFamily]

Pros: the beaches, warm weather, open wilderness.

 

Cons: Cost of living (possibly coming from the north of England over 4 years ago - was earning $35k there and under $90k here), dental costs, limited things to do here, laughable housing standards (poor rattly windows, cardboard walls, small land blocks, no garden space etc...), school bullying, no family, long working hours (used to work 37hrs in uk, now work about 50+ - lots of unpaid of course).

[spanners]

As Beckdownover has said, I think it makes a big difference how you got here visa wise. My wife was wanted by the University so everything was easy and almost everything was paid for by the employer. The business visa came within a week or so and then PR was granted within 3 days of them receiving the application. Hearing / reading about people going through the long process of getting here without jobs planned etc just sounds hard.

 

I've been here 3 years. I enjoy it. Most of everyday life is the same as the UK. Some things are frustrating and harder than the UK but I wasn't expecting the land of milk and honey - I wanted an adventure and a change. I dare say I'm financially worse off here and occasionally I do find being broken at the end of each month a bit depressing but I don't much care as life is easier and more laid back. The only real killer here is the cost of living / fuel / electricity / food etc - if prices rose in Europe like the rise here people would be rioting in the streets. The UK offers all links of things that you don't have here but they aren't the things I want. Will my kids stay ? - they are still at primary school but I wouldn't mind if they left Australia, after all thats what I did. I can't imagine anything worse than living in the same town as ones parents.

 

In short, the good bits out weigh the bad.

[star123]

With hindsight, we would have NOT come, SA is portrayed as something it is not in our opinion....

[Blossom]

Hi blossom,

 

thank you for your comment,,,

 

do u mind possibly (going in to bit more detail,,, on the ,,... having children grow up in Oz,,,,, part,,,,

 

 

THANKS AGAIN,,,,

 

im currently a little undecided!!!!

The children thing, it is more when they get older that I worry about. Firstly, they don't have the same opportunities job wise as they would in the uk. Of course, if they choose to be a nurse or hairdresser etc it wouldn't be a problem, but some of the more specialised fields they would struggle.

Also, my experience of Aussie teenagers has been that they seem to get away with far more than kids in the uk. I mean finding people to buy them alcohol underage, drugs being more the norm etc.

 

I hope to move more to the country at some point so this wouldn't be as much of an issue, but some of the country towns I'm told are just as bad as they have less to do.

 

In the uk I felt I could move to nice areas and get away from that type of thing. To me at least, it seems it is everywhere here.

[spanners]

Blossom - I think you must be living in the wrong area! Up here in the Barossa the kids lives are like mine was at school in the 70's and 80's in the UK. Kids do have a slightly limited range of jobs here but they have the outlook that having seen their parents move countries then they are not restricted by geographical borders.

[Nairnandtain]

We also were better off financially in the UK. I'm hoping to start work in November ( I have a baby so aren't worked here yet) maybe things will get better. Planning to spend another summer here then possibly return to the UK, luckily we still have our house in Scotland.

[Keith & Linda]

It's a real big ask really and you will end up even more confused about what to do, with everyone having a different view points, as others have said it there are so many variables which differ greatly due to personal circumstances. As a family we struggled emotionall and financially at the start, my two children were both at working age when we arrived both struggled at first but are well settled now ( in Queensland), daughter married to an Aussie army bloke this year, son went back to uni and is working teaching music production and he is presently back at uni again doing his masters at 34 yrs old.

My brothers children were born here both have done uni degrees, both have good jobs ( again in Queensland). so there is opportunity for children in Aus, though not always an easy road.

I started work here on just over half of what I was earning in the UK, now it's the other way around, though since being here I have progressively worked longer and longer hours, My wife does not work.

We have a good lifestyle, better than what we had in the UK but we have never ruled out not returning some day, we have duel citizenship, a purposful decision, which would make that option of being ping-pong poms a little easier to manage.

 

It seems you have grave doubts about moving here, which, in a way is really answering your own question. You really do need to come here with a determination to make it work, otherwise there is no point in putting yourselves through such mental and financial stress in the first place. If you do come and find after giving it your best, that it really is not for you then all is not lost, you can return home, put it down to experience and get on with your life again. There are members on this site who are doing/done just that, but there are also others trying to get back out here again after finding that life was really better here than back home.

 

Good luck

[Diane]

Also, my experience of Aussie teenagers has been that they seem to get away with far more than kids in the uk. I mean finding people to buy them alcohol underage, drugs being more the norm etc.

 

I'e got to admit as a parent of two teenagers here, we have found the complete opposite! Friends kids in the UK thought nothing of downing a couple of bacardi breezers before a party at the age of 14, whereas when I was taking my daughter to an 18th birthday party here, and we stopped at a bottle shop (off license) to get a bottle of champagne for the birthday girl, they refused to sell it to us as they had seen on the security cameras that my daughter took the bottle out of the fridge , before handing it to me to buy, and she didn't have her ID on her. This despite me being the one buying it! I don't think we live out in the country at all here - we are 20 minutes from the city. Obviously it varies from area to area, and perhaps from school to school, and perhaps we have been lucky with the friendship groups our kids have made, but we haven't found drugs to be prevalent either. Of course, they are around, and the kids usually know who takes them and sells them, but I think because there is a lot more to do in their free time, and the role models are more sports people than showbiz types (obv with the exception of the Essendon team!) hanging around on street corners drinking and causing trouble happens a lot less here.

[Guest BurgessFamily]

With hindsight, we would have NOT come, SA is portrayed as something it is not in our opinion....

 

Your spot is still here...

 

[star123]

Your spot is still here...

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6753[/ATTACH]

 

Yep :-) Queensland :-) :-)

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

We've been in Oz nearly 19 months now, but only settled in SA for the past 2 months ( we were on a lovely lovely long holiday previous to that, travelling around Oz in a 4 wheel drive - don't think we were very monied up though, we spent around $25K for the 16 months we were travelling in total, for *everything* in those 16 months (not including the initial paying for the car, but literally every single other thing for the two of us for those 16 months), so not sure how helpful this will be to you.

 

We completely and utterly love it to bits and you can't make me get back on a plane...ever ever ever.

 

In a nutshell - we had a horrid life in the UK, chasing our tails and never getting anywhere, we would never have been able to get on the property ladder, I was earning the most I ever would (a teacher on a payscale job), hubby couldn't get a job, we couldn't afford to have kids ever and we didn't see family as they mostly lived overseas and/or we were all working too many hours to enable it.

 

Here we have what we think is a heavenly life - Obviously the holiday was amazing, but since settling down hubby found work in 2 weeks of half heartedly looking, I've worked every single day I've wanted to (I'm a TRT teacher at the moment - supply), being offered work days when I'm already booked and so on, everything just seems far far too easy and we are holding our breathe for when it all goes wrong (but having talked about it at length just think we are being too british and pessimistic over that - there isn't any reason things should 'go wrong' given all the facts too numerous to go into here); we've seen more of my parents than we had in the previous 5 years, and they are due to come out again for another 6 weeks in November; the sun is shining today and I'm a happy bunny indeed. We're planning on kids at some point and have started our house deposit fund.

 

I simply cannot believe the difference in our lives. I think we are rather extreme cases, but then we came from a pants situation and have very low standards (although when I look at the house we rent I don't really believe that too much - we have 3 beds a massive walk in wardrobe, an ensuite, a bathroom big enough to play ice hockey in, and live right on the banks of the River, a 20 min door to door in rush hour traffic bus ride from hubby's cbd work....), we are deliriously happy, so whilst I know not everyone is like us, I cannot believe for us how fab it has been. Cliche, I know, but the only regret would be we didn't do it 10 years ago. We're in heaven

Edited August 30, 2013 by Adelaide_bound
silly keyboard

[Keith & Linda]

we spent around $25 for the 16 months we were travelling in total, for *everything* in those 16 months (not including the initial paying for the car, but literally every single other thing for the two of us for those 16 months),

 

 

Can you let everyone know what fuel your car runs on?!! and which supermarkets you got you food?

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

Can you let everyone know what fuel your car runs on?!! and which supermarkets you got you food?

 

LOL - it should have been a K after that 25 - my laptop is very old and kanckered (it came with us, and could now do with replacing lol), and the keyboard misses every so often, sorry! so $25K in total....(have edited original )

 

To answer your questions though, we were on diesel - I have a spreadsheet somewhere that we popped down most of our fuel costs on as we wanted to record it. We tried to only fill up when we could get it on special offer, ie with coupons.

 

We shopped at Coles or Woolies when we shopped at a supermarket, but generally shopped the cheaper way, at indy shops and markets. We were camping, so didn't buy anything too posh, mainly lived off camping rations, steak/mince and pasta type things...'in a bun' featured highly on the menu lol (chicken snitzels/sausages/home made burgers.....I didn't say it was a particularly healthy year lol) along with salads. We didn't eat things like biscuits/cakes and so on as they were so stupid expensive. We only ate out I think twice, with a couple of visits to maccas as well but only a couple of times a month max (when we were near one - we weren't a lot lol).

 

We free camped for most of the time - I think we spent a total of around $5K on accommodation in total for the year, we have that on spreadsheet too - which obviously made a *massive* difference to costs and money spent.

 

Ands that about all we spent money on - diesel was our big expense - living in Docker River at $2.35/litre was a bit harsh lol - but we had the best time as sleeping out in nature and going on lots of gorge walks and on the beach and so on is what we like doing.

 

Have a look at our sharkaroo blog for the details When you're not in the 'real world' of living in a house and stuff its easy to live very very cheaply indeed in Oz

[Keith & Linda]

OK, just clarifying as to $25/day/week etc. You have still had more Maccas than me though, 2 burgers in 14 yrs in OZ, though I do like thier McCafe coffee and Muffins. Glad that you are liking Australia, and hope you settle well here in SA. But still find it hard to believe that you could not afford to have children:confused: always thought you had children for love, no matter what the cost. Anyway all the best for a happy future family life in OZ.

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

But still find it hard to believe that you could not afford to have children:confused: always thought you had children for love, no matter what the cost. Anyway all the best for a happy future family life in OZ.

 

Depends on the person I guess - we're the responsible sort whom think if we only have enough money just to pay our rent/bills/food costs without anything left over then perhaps we shouldn't have children, as whilst love is important, being able to afford to clothe and feed them is also important. In the UK 100% of my wage went on our rent, so we didn't have any money left over at all for children, and didn't see a way out of that situation for us (A very long story that I don't really want to go into on a public forum tbh).

 

There's a difference between being able to afford them in the sense of giving whistles and bells (ie holidays and the such like luxuries) or just being able to afford to clothe and feed them. Babies don't take up much but once they grow past the very little stage, they cost a bomb, as I'm sure you appreciate.

 

Well done you, btw, for not having any Maccas. Not really sure what else to say to that declaration lol

[Guest Ajwilko27]

Have been here for Almost 4 yrs in October and have I only recently just felt settled. We have had both our children over here and it was definitely the best move for us. We could not have afforded to have kids back in the uk, seeing how much we spend in nappies and food ect and did not want our children being brought up in a situation where we struggled financially. So much more for the kids to do, only downside is being away from family and friends but have to say moving to oz was the best thing we ever did

[jim and adel]

I don't really do the binary best/worst thing. There's a ton of stuff I miss about the UK, and we didn't come here because things were bad for us; just for the adventure. There'd be a ton of things I'd miss about here if we moved away (perhaps 'when' we move away). I love going back to the UK, seeing family and friends, having a beer or two in some of my old haunts and being staggered by both the amazing architecture that abounds and the countryside. I also enjoy being here (for the most part) and seeing parrots in trees and having great countryside and beaches in such close proximity.

 

I probably wouldn't make the move at the moment if I had a good job and lifestyle in the UK - it's getting tough here with prices and tight job market - and I'd not move here for a better standard of home (a larger one perhaps, but not a better standard). Got to say, even the weather has lost its attraction for me - too cold, wet and windy for too many months for my liking!

 

I lived the first 40+ years of my life in the UK and lived to tell the tale (in fact, with hardly a scratch ...) and have lived here for more than five-and-a-half years and still have to go to work, pay bills, put the bins out ...

[Blossom]

I'e got to admit as a parent of two teenagers here, we have found the complete opposite! Friends kids in the UK thought nothing of downing a couple of bacardi breezers before a party at the age of 14, whereas when I was taking my daughter to an 18th birthday party here, and we stopped at a bottle shop (off license) to get a bottle of champagne for the birthday girl, they refused to sell it to us as they had seen on the security cameras that my daughter took the bottle out of the fridge , before handing it to me to buy, and she didn't have her ID on her. This despite me being the one buying it! I don't think we live out in the country at all here - we are 20 minutes from the city. Obviously it varies from area to area, and perhaps from school to school, and perhaps we have been lucky with the friendship groups our kids have made, but we haven't found drugs to be prevalent either. Of course, they are around, and the kids usually know who takes them and sells them, but I think because there is a lot more to do in their free time, and the role models are more sports people than showbiz types (obv with the exception of the Essendon team!) hanging around on street corners drinking and causing trouble happens a lot less here.

My boyfriend's daughter is 13. The stuff they get up to is shocking. Her and a friend have been picked up by police late at night with weed and alcohol (they made them do councilling) after sneaking out.

For her 13th birthday her grandparents agreed she could have a birthday party at their house. She hasn't long ago started at Brighton high school (for a location of kids idea). In the end about 85 kids came. She posted on Facebook that no alcohol was allowed. We were offered the chance of going, but we could see it wasn't going to go well. They had said they were going to get security. They didn't. About 45 of the 85 kids were all blotto, chucking up, starting fights with adults telling them they had to leave etc.

She has friends phoning her drunk or stoned (at least they are telling her that anyway) every weekend we have her.

There are far too many things for me to list, but from what I can tell they are all as bad as each other (although she would be leader).

 

I don't believe if I had a child they would get a chance to be anywhere near as bad (I'm far more switched on than her parents, and nowhere near as soft), but it does worry me.

[catherine.c]

Having experienced 5 years here now..... I just wish we had come out here earlier!