Is the grass greener in Adelaide?!!

[Guest MandiMR2]

I've just finished reading a very lengthy thread on the PIO forum titled "is the grass greener on the other side" & there are some very interesting posts submitted with mixed views expressed.

So I just thought I'd ask the same question on here to get some Adelaide based views & opinions...

 

My partner & I are planning the move to Adelaide later this year, Sept/Oct. We've been twice before on long holidays and loved it. We know living there will be different to holidaying there, but we love the outdoors & have many hobbies such as walking, photography, climbing, cycling, rock crawling, model aircraft flying, etc. so we thought we'd move to Oz for a better outdoor lifestyle. We have a good general lifestyle here in the UK, I'm a nurse, he's an electrician, we earn good money & have our own property, but we want to be able to do more stuff outdoors on an evening & on our days off without having to wait, take annual leave & go to Europe or further to warmer climates to facilitate our hobbies & interests. We're going to rent out our property here to provide a safety net, just incase it doesn't work out for us, but we are going with a positive outlook, strong determination & commitment to making it work. Emigrating there will no doubt have its ups & its downs. I acknowledge that it involves huge adjustments & changes & the cost of living in Adelaide will be different to here, but we just want to enjoy spending time together doing the things we enjoy doing.

Ultimately we think we'd rather regret trying then regret never trying & live in wonder!

 

So is it greener? or is it as green as you make it? All views & opinions welcome...

Edited February 18, 2013 by MandiMR2

[snifter]

I think it can depend vastly on your personal situation once you arrive. If you find work, a decent place to live, find a good balance of friends and interests (if they appeal) and so on.

 

You can migrate with the best will in the world of making a go of it and wanting to enjoy it and still find yourself unhappy, homesick, in a job you don't like or not in one at all and so many more things. Any one of those things can cause problems in settling in a new country, if you have more than one of those it can magnify it over and over.

 

Some people think keeping their UK property for a safety net is a good thing. Others will tell you that its better to cut those ties and move over 100% without the safety net as it'll always be too easy to just head back on the next flight sort of thing.

 

I'm of the view that to migrate successfully you need to move countries with both feet firmly planted in the new one. Don't leave toes dipped in the water back in the UK or one foot over there. Sure, keep a house, rent it out, but for the rest, make that move in body and spirit. My moves overseas I've always totally embraced life in my new country. I learnt the language (I liked the challenge of learning new languages), worked with local people, lived, breathed and ate the countries news, TV, culture, sport and so on. I hardly mixed with other Brits back then either. I spent most of my time with the natives so to speak. I didn't sit on Skype or on my phone texting as those things were not around then. It probably helped me as I just got on and got out there and lived life. I had one phonecall a fortnight back to the UK on average. And that was it.

 

I also think people can never rule out how homesick they may feel, or if not them their partner or kid(s). That can destroy relationships and if one person is truly unhappy about continuing to live in the country is it really worth it at the expense of your relationship or happiness of a person you love. If you had both been happy in the UK then be open to going back if it means you could both be happy there rather than only one of you being happy in Aus.

 

Also remember that holidays are very different to living somewhere. There will be work, bills to pay and so on. And Adelaide doesn't have light summer evenings like we do in the UK. It gets dark earlier that you might think. Be aware you won't have those late light summer nights like you have in the UK till 10.30pm http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=5 To balance its a bit lighter in winter than the UK but it can still be jarring.

 

I think if you want to give it a go, of course you should. If you don't have kids or pets to ship then you have a lot more freedom and I'd say go for it in a heartbeat. But keep in mind and have a plan for it if one of you doesn't find the dream as great as the other.

Edited February 18, 2013 by snifter

[snifter]

I think for me the thing I found most jarring was the housing. The huge sprawl of suburbia. And how I just boggled at it and felt like it was Stepford Wives land. It took me a fair while understand it and work out where I could see myself fitting in in terms of areas to live and so on. When we move over later in the year we'll be starting off in Glenelg and I know I'll be happy in and around that area. And then a year or so down the road we'll hopefully have found somewhere we want to settle for the longer term. But I'll at least be up to speed with the housing and also the layout of said housing (bedrooms at front of houses which is something many Brits seem to struggle with reading forums).

[Guest Guest75]

Not at the moment - everything is very dry and parched here.

 

It's best to think along the lines of "Same poo- shinier bucket" for the first few years.

Then you will have worked it out - stay or go.

 

No one can tell you what to do.

 

It generally takes 2 years to start to feel fully settled and 4 years to catch up financially.

 

Looks like you will be OK financially here with your careers - that helps A LOT!

 

Yes, you can spend an awful lot more time outdoors here - plenty to do as well!!

We take our dogs for some lovely walks but it's been too hot to take them out this last few days - so it can be in reverse at times.

[ian mc]

In the summer it can be just to hot to do anything outdoors the last few days it has been like that, in summer it gets dark about 8:30 ish and winter 5:30ish there is plenty to do here its just searching it out and finding whats on where .

Edited February 18, 2013 by ian mc

[Jessica Berry]

Having a job to come to will certainly help smooth the process.

 

Just for information - in terms of annual leave, we get much less annual leave here than what we used to get in the UK (again it depends what you are used to). In general employees get 20 days leave per year but usually you have to accrue the time before you can take it, so you would have to work 6 months to accrue 10 days leave. We find we take less holidays here than when we were in the UK. You also generally only get 10 days sick a year, which again you have to accrue, so it would take you 6 months to have 5 days off sick paid. These are big differences compared to what we were used to it the UK and I know of poms that have got sick or had an accident and quickly got into financial trouble. We have insurance to cover us in case something happens (something we did not have in the UK).

 

Having said that, we personally, as a couple with no children have a great life in Adelaide and enjoy living here. I have wrote this before on the forum, but as an example my partner had never visited Australia before we emigrated (but I had). We met a couple who emigrated, the husband was the same age as my partner, worked in IT in the same specialist area and on paper you would say their circumstances were very similar to ours, they lasted 3 months in Adelaide and went back to the UK. My partner however absolutely loves it here and his career has gone from strenght to strength. Everyone is different and will have a different experience.

[DougM]

Hi Mandi, what a nice name. I knew one when living in the UK. Such a beautiful curvy blonde. Oopps, sorry, I digress.

 

As Tyke says, everything is very brown here at the moment, and in reality, it's never as green as the English spring which I still miss after 32 years.

 

Now, on a serious note, Australia is what you make it. It suits most people, but there are the so called 'whinging poms' who don't give it a real go and should never have emigrated in the first place. They probably came with the belief that Kangaroos bound down gold plated streets on a regular basis as well.

With your work qualifications you shouldn't have too much trouble BUT, retraining will most likely be required. Be prepared to start at the bottom of the ladder again. You don't mention children which works both ways. At least you're young enough to have them......aren't you?? You're already knowledgeable about Adelaide having been here twice before so you're ahead of many other for a start. What you need to do is make a decision instead of prevaricating. Don't leave yourself in a position that can jeopardize your successful emigration. By that I mean, sell you house and come here fully armed to make a success of it. Lack of cash to get really settled as fast as possible will only make you regret coming. The home 'back home' will only work against you in the long run. I know the housing market is slow over there so get onto it asap.

Believe me, and all other successful emigrants, it really is better here that there. Once here, make the not to go back for a visit until you've been here 3/5 years. Don't go sooner. You'll be soo surprised if and when you revisit UK and won't be able to get back to home (Oz) quick enough. UK is not what it's cracked up to be, by some.

 

Now, off subject. in your opening remarks you mention 'PIO' . Pilot Induce Oscillations. As a fly boy myself that really got my attention. What does it mean to you?

MandiMR2 , do you drive an MR2 and if so, are you a member of the MR2 Club. An old RAF colleague Bryan(Taff) Elliott runs the club and we stay in regular contact. Know him?

Also FWIW, I've recently found a branch of my mothers family that has been lost in history, living in Silkwilloughby (Sleaford area). You anywhere near there?

 

Ah well, time for a dip in the ocean, been nice and hot here lately but today is just right.

 

Cya, Doug

[Diane]

@Doug: PIO = Poms in Oz - the parent site to this one (aka PIA) - go over and have a browse! It's quite a bit livelier than this with some interesting characters... http://www.pomsinoz.com/

[Lazy Cow]

We take our dogs for some lovely walks but it's been too hot to take them out this last few days - so it can be in reverse at times.

 

Don't be so lazy! Take them to frolic in the waves early in the morning! Or just down the oval for a run.

 

If I can do it before work, I'm sure as you can!

 

But I do agree that really hot days can limit outdoor activities - which is when it gets hard to get a park at Marion lol!

 

LC

[jim and adel]

It's greener for some, not for others. I don't subscribe to the 'it's better than the UK' idea; to me it's different from the UK and has lots of plus points. The UK, on the other hand, is different to here and has lots of plus points. Both also have their negatives - lists of which can be found on various migration boards' threads ... that debate has been done to death, and ultimately it's different strokes for different folks.

 

You'll be well served in your hobbies - some great scenery here and its size means there's no shortage of isolated places to explore. Having said that, plenty of people visit the UK for walking, climbing, cycling etc, so you're not in a bad place for your hobbies already. Generally (and once again different people will have different experiences), Aussies work some of the longest hours in the developed world, and as has been pointed out it gets darker earlier here in summer. I find winter here to be similar to much of the weather in the UK (a bit like spring but with some summer and winter spells chucked in for good measure), so no different traipsing around here than over there, other than it stays light longer here in winter.

 

Once the novelty has worn off, you'll be working, paying bills, doing the normal stuff that normal people do. As you say, you'll be coming with a positive outlook, determination and commitment to making it work, so give it a try and enjoy the adventure!

 

Jim