stay or go

[Guest mayjess]

Me and my family came here for a so called better way of life as well. Personally I have not had the best of starts and if someone offered me a ticket home I'd take it and not look back. When we landed on 4th August 09 we went to a friends house and lodged for our tax file numbers straight away. 28 days later I still hadn't got mine so I phoned the tax office to get some info. They had cocked up and then said I'd have to wait another 14 days.......thanks . Meanwhile I'm working and not getting paid because of that and I'm travelling up and down Adelaide and working like a dog which is what I didn't want for my so called new life.

We both needed reliable vehicles for work and blew most of our money on them as second hand car prices in Oz are ridiculous unless you want an old banger. By the way don't buy a car from Stillwell ford in main north road or rather main north rogue where you will find loads of car dealers ready to rip you off. As soon as they hear a pommy accent you are shark food because for some reason they think we're all loaded.

Cost of living is more than the Uk for sure and I'm sorry but anyone who says different must be going out at night poaching or eating road kill and drinking their own body fluids. Beer is more expensive, wine is more expensive, food is more expensive , road tax is way more expensive.

Positives are income tax is less, fuel is less ,the beach is nice, our house is nice and is a 15 minute walk away from said beach and we can watch the sun go down from our balcony and you can't put a price on that. Adelaide city is fantastic with a feeling of space and cleanliness unlike cities back home.

I do try to think positive but right now I keep getting pushed back down my own mountain. All I want to do is provide my family with a decent standard of living but all we do is shell out money for this and that and with not much coming in it's damn tough. There's plenty more I could say but you'd get bored and I'd be responsible for mass suicide.

Dissillusioned definitely !! Staying....yeah why not, after all a month isn't really long enough to give the place a fair go.

 

All the best

 

I agree with you, the 1st few mths is just money going out, but hang on in there it will all even out, we felt exactly like you & more but I stuck it out & it did get better (even tho we came bk the UK) we didnt come bk because of money matters tho!!!!

 

A month is definatley not long enough to settle anywhere, you spent a lot of time in your original country-built up friends & familiarity didnt you? well the same has to happen in OZ, Im on the outside looking in now & believe me, it takes a long while for some to start feeling even just slightly settled, the statement you made about sunsets & beaches and no price can be put on those things, thats exactly right!!!

 

Hope you start feeling better soon

 

Mayjess

[Guest guest569]

Just think back to how hard you worked in the UK and then on what your doing now. Its tough at the begining but i'm sure you'll look back in a short time and smile.

[Guest norah battie]

Me and my family came here for a so called better way of life as well. Personally I have not had the best of starts and if someone offered me a ticket home I'd take it and not look back. When we landed on 4th August 09 we went to a friends house and lodged for our tax file numbers straight away. 28 days later I still hadn't got mine so I phoned the tax office to get some info. They had cocked up and then said I'd have to wait another 14 days.......thanks . Meanwhile I'm working and not getting paid because of that and I'm travelling up and down Adelaide and working like a dog which is what I didn't want for my so called new life.

We both needed reliable vehicles for work and blew most of our money on them as second hand car prices in Oz are ridiculous unless you want an old banger. By the way don't buy a car from Stillwell ford in main north road or rather main north rogue where you will find loads of car dealers ready to rip you off. As soon as they hear a pommy accent you are shark food because for some reason they think we're all loaded.

Cost of living is more than the Uk for sure and I'm sorry but anyone who says different must be going out at night poaching or eating road kill and drinking their own body fluids. Beer is more expensive, wine is more expensive, food is more expensive , road tax is way more expensive.

Positives are income tax is less, fuel is less ,the beach is nice, our house is nice and is a 15 minute walk away from said beach and we can watch the sun go down from our balcony and you can't put a price on that. Adelaide city is fantastic with a feeling of space and cleanliness unlike cities back home.

I do try to think positive but right now I keep getting pushed back down my own mountain. All I want to do is provide my family with a decent standard of living but all we do is shell out money for this and that and with not much coming in it's damn tough. There's plenty more I could say but you'd get bored and I'd be responsible for mass suicide.

Dissillusioned definitely !! Staying....yeah why not, after all a month isn't really long enough to give the place a fair go.

 

All the best

 

Shame you thought that...my OH works there and is honest and fair and goes out of his way to give the best deal....

[lorluc]

Yeah...hang on in there Steve. It is soooo hard at the beginning. I had forgotten what it is like...but have recently been reminded. My friends arrived 3 weeks ago....and their time has certainly been full of ups and downs....frustrations....job hunting etc.....

 

Totally agree with you though....I believe it is more expensive here....especially when you consider the wages. My friends who obviously only left the uk recently...are also finding many things more expensive.

 

There was an interesting news article on the tv recently....they compared exactly the same shopping basket here and in the UK...it came out $30 more expensive here for exactly the same products....

[Guest Bodie]

Steve I can empathise with you. We spent like drunken sailors in the first couple of months here and hadn't any income for the first 6 months. Drop me a PM and I'll discuss the matter more with you if you like.

All the best.

Bodie

[Guest kangomik]

Why should you spend money "like drunken sailors"?

 

No one is extracting this dosh from your wallets.

 

We are all grown adults, we didn't leave the UK with our eyes closed and our wallets open., Piss poor excuse. get a grip

[sueoc]

Donna,i know exactly what you are saying,as i felt the same for yonks,and even kept getting ill like you,and i know everyone keeps saying it will all fall into place eventually,but that is no consolation when feeling as you do.Time will tell for you,and i sincerely hope your outlook will change.All the very best to you,and keep you chin up.Sue.

[Guest Bodie]

PP.

Thanks for that.

Kangomik,

Thanks for the input. But to clarify: I used a simile. In the same way that other posters have talked about haemorrhaging cash (we all know they weren't actually bleeding money but you get my drift about a perceived lack of control).

I agree nobody is putting their hand in your wallet to extract cash- though at times it may feel this way.

Like you, I didn't leave the UK with my eyes closed and my wallet opened ,probably the reverse is truer but as said earlier establishing yourself in a new country is expensive and these initial costs are an investment in the future.

As I said I can empathise greatly with many of the posts here.

Regards

Bodie.

[elainew]

I'm so sorry you are unhappy,where do you live?

[Guest skoobzz]

Reading all these posts brought tears to my eyes. Having come out on my own 10 years ago and experienced some really major ups and downs I never considered moving home til this year. I missed my family and friends and life became really, really difficult for a while. I went back to the UK in July and I was so homesick, I didn't want to leave.

 

It wasn't until after I arrived back in Oz and something happened that meant I might HAVE to move back to the UK, that I realised how much I love Australia and how lucky I am to be here. I still miss the UK and I do feel a bit torn sometimes, but I think that is just natural part of leaving all your family and friends on the other side of the world!

 

It's true, Australia isn't perfect, but neither is any other country and life in general isn't perfect either. There will be ups and down wherever we are and we will always have ties pulling us back to our roots but that doesn't mean we've made the wrong decision. The most important thing to remember is that our lives will always be what we make them. If we focus on the bad, then that's exactly what we'll get. If we focus on the good, then that's exactly what we'll get.

 

We are so privileged to have the opportunity to live in this country and enjoy another way of life and I am 100% certain that our experience of this will be exactly what we make it. So if it's not working, look inside and ask yourself, why isn't it working? What am I doing to create this?

 

So I'm now off to a Barby with my mates to watch the Grand Final and yes, the weather is crap and it's bloody cold, but who cares? I'm just glad to be here!

[Guest Guest75]

Reading all these posts brought tears to my eyes. Having come out on my own 10 years ago and experienced some really major ups and downs I never considered moving home til this year. I missed my family and friends and life became really, really difficult for a while. I went back to the UK in July and I was so homesick, I didn't want to leave.

 

It wasn't until after I arrived back in Oz and something happened that meant I might HAVE to move back to the UK, that I realised how much I love Australia and how lucky I am to be here. I still miss the UK and I do feel a bit torn sometimes, but I think that is just natural part of leaving all your family and friends on the other side of the world!

 

It's true, Australia isn't perfect, but neither is any other country and life in general isn't perfect either. There will be ups and down wherever we are and we will always have ties pulling us back to our roots but that doesn't mean we've made the wrong decision. The most important thing to remember is that our lives will always be what we make them. If we focus on the bad, then that's exactly what we'll get. If we focus on the good, then that's exactly what we'll get.

 

We are so privileged to have the opportunity to live in this country and enjoy another way of life and I am 100% certain that our experience of this will be exactly what we make it. So if it's not working, look inside and ask yourself, why isn't it working? What am I doing to create this?

 

So I'm now off to a Barby with my mates to watch the Grand Final and yes, the weather is crap and it's bloody cold, but who cares? I'm just glad to be here!

 

Welcome to PIA - and a real big thanks for an excellent first post!

 

I really hope this helps people!

[Guest skoobzz]

A thousand thank you's for your feedback and happy birthday!!!

[Guest skoobzz]

By the way, do you mean you have to renew your 'driving licence'? If so, you can actually get a 10 year licence if you want - same as the UK. Just tick the relevant box on the form next time you renew it. Personally, I like getting a photo done every year so i'm not stuck with a dodgy photo, lol!

 

... and don't forget that there are no MOT's in Oz plus no legal requirement to have car insurance or a TV licence , so there is definitely a trade off. Plus, if renewing my driving licence was the worst thing I had to do, then I reckon I'd be doing pretty well.

[jim and adel]

... and don't forget that there are no MOT's in Oz plus no legal requirement to have car insurance or a TV licence , so there is definitely a trade off.

 

Hmm, while I agree with the rest of your post, I'm not at all sure about this. The state of some of the cars here (broaden this out to the standard of motoring in general) and I'd rather there was a requirement for MOTs and insurance. No MOT might make for cheaper motoring in the short term, but at what price?

 

Jim

[Guest skoobzz]

lol, I wasn't saying it was a good thing, I was just giving examples of other costs we don't have to pay. It is as it is. Whether or not the lack of them is a good or bad thing, wasn't part of my debate. It was just a reminder that costs here aren't as bad as people sometimes suggest

[Anne B]

... and don't forget that there are no MOT's in Oz plus no legal requirement to have car insurance or a TV licence , so there is definitely a trade off.

 

Think this might give people the wrong impression that there are loads of uninsured drivers out there. Third party insurance is compulsory (CTP) and provided via your car rego (equivalent of car tax).

[Guest sarahsmartiepants]

Think this might give people the wrong impression that there are loads of uninsured drivers out there. Third party insurance is compulsory (CTP) and provided via your car rego (equivalent of car tax).

What a lot of people sadly dont realise is the CTP insurance is nothing to do with paying for cars in the event of an accident it covers damage to human body only. So in other words some uninsured idiot hits your car (no damage to humans) then you have to claim from your own insurance if you have it for the repairs to your car, or did what we did and hound the person who hit you....not fun!!!!

[Guest kangomik]

You mean you sue em

[Guest graandjac]

:)It seems when your head is in the "I want to got back frame ", you see everything differently. Evarything is no way dearer here, if fact LOTS of things are cheeper, yes you have to renew your driving license......on the flip side you dont pay a rip off TV license........!! As for nothing for the kids to do , there are clubs for everything and more, a huge part of the "Lifestyle" as its called is the outdoor scene and just have the nice weather to to do more outside with the kids even if it is just a walk down the beach , or in the hills. For us quality family time is doing the easy things that dont cost a cent. good luck

[Guest Guest75]

:)It seems when your head is in the "I want to got back frame ", you see everything differently. Evarything is no way dearer here, if fact LOTS of things are cheeper, yes you have to renew your driving license......on the flip side you dont pay a rip off TV license........!! As for nothing for the kids to do , there are clubs for everything and more, a huge part of the "Lifestyle" as its called is the outdoor scene and just have the nice weather to to do more outside with the kids even if it is just a walk down the beach , or in the hills. For us quality family time is doing the easy things that dont cost a cent. good luck

 

Totally with you on this Gra.

Lifestyle is what it's all about - might take a few years to get there after all the fuss of settling here.

A lot of people (including us) are doing things here they would never have dreamed about doing in the UK.

 

With the rubbish exchange rate the lifestyle factor /change of pace really must be top of your priorities.

[Guest graandjac]

:)As for the time scale thing , we have been here 18 months now and are still waiting for our "home" to be built, when its ready ....its ready, so we will be patient untill then......but it all takes time

[Guest tooeasy]

SA is a lovely place but why is it so bloody cold here brrrrrrrr wheres the warm weather gone

[Guest soggy]

SA is a lovely place but why is it so bloody cold here brrrrrrrr wheres the warm weather gone

 

it's back Tuesday:)

Simon

[Guest SA Great]

SA is a lovely place but why is it so bloody cold here brrrrrrrr wheres the warm weather gone

 

I agree too easy. As most of you would know by now I am very pro sa but the weather is one of the things i dislike. I never dreamt it would get so cold and I am constantly looking at the gold coast area to live at this time of the year!!

[Anne B]

What a lot of people sadly dont realise is the CTP insurance is nothing to do with paying for cars in the event of an accident it covers damage to human body only. So in other words some uninsured idiot hits your car (no damage to humans) then you have to claim from your own insurance if you have it for the repairs to your car, or did what we did and hound the person who hit you....not fun!!!!

 

Good point, but at least if someone runs you over or you get injured in an accident and you end up off work for 6 months or whatever there is some compensation available.