Why Australia???????

[minty]

Ive always wanted to emigrate ever since i left the Army back in 98. I always fancied Canada as i had been there and loved it but the wife was not keep on the idea. When i left the Army i retrained as a sparkie hoping that it would be a good migration trade when the time come.

 

Two children later it seemed to be taking a back burner but in September 2008 we started talking about it again and the wife said not Canada but we could do Aus. We researched and reasearched and after a bit to much vino one night i just said sod it and 15 minutes later had spent £2500 on plane tickets for April 2009 to Melbourne. We reccied Melbourne & Adelaide for over 3 weeks and fell in love with Adelaide.

 

Just got our visa this May and the funny thing is we are in the best situation in the UK we have ever been. Live in a great area and have a good job (minus the commute to London every day) but our hearts are in Adelaide. Doubt if we will be much better off but still belive we will have a better work life balance and the weather is much better. Honestly belive it will be better for the girls and the bottom line is now we have come this far if we didnt give it a proper go we would regret it forever.

 

Hope to be out in September and if anything more excited now then when we first started out booking the recce back in 2008, that tells me we have made the right choice.

[Guest The Standrings]

Well in our case, Darren's Mum passed away in September 09 at only 47 to cancer, that was the turning point for us and anyone who has lost someone close will know that life really is too short to not chase your dreams.

Here in the Uk although Darren is a spark, we are in and out of work like a yo-yo! The cost of living is rising everyday, it costs me £500 a month in nursey fees and £200 a month in petrol just to go to work!

I live in Rochdale and honestly there is not one school here I would put my daughter in, I believe after much research and having some friends out in Adelaide, Australian schools will allow her and the bump when it gets here, a good opportunity not only now, but when they finish school. Over here in the Uk things certainly don't look good for you when you finish school, no jobs, huge university fees and a mentality of why bother working!

Then there's the weather, I'm sure we are under a permenant raincloud! Rather frustrating when you want to go for family days out and you can't because it is so wet! Not to mention I can never dry my washing outside!

We are not trying to uproot a luxurious lifestyle here in the Uk, we just get by and sometimes we are actullay skint! So we figure we may well come to Oz and get by, or be skint in the sun!! In a country that seems to have a better work/lif balance and will give us an opportunity to enjoy quality family together!

Plus we did not want to live with those infamous words what if! Life only gives you once chance so sod it, you've got to give it a go!!

[Guest moonraker1959]

Why Australia?Well for me the only reason I would return to Adelaide is because of family reasons.

[jim&nik]

It started for me in 1995 on a back pack trip to the east coast with a mate left my girl friend (now wife) at home, Had a fantastic time. On return to UK myself and Nik said that we would go out to OZ as soon as we could. But as life went on we seemed to go with the flow had 1st child (Jemma) bought house,got married,moved house a few times had 2nd child (James). In 2008 we looked in to the points system found I had enough points as refrigeration engineer. We talked about emigrating and starting the visa process - did not take long for us to say yes. Our home life was great we were living comfortabley and I had work for the same company for 20 years just stuck in routine. Once the visa application for 175 was started the roller coaster ride started, my skill was taken off the list, , changed visa to 176 state sponserd SA (which was where we wanted to go), Medical issues also, so lodged visa only to find visa applications put on hold 2012!! But good news when out of the blue our visa were granted Feb 2010. We validated the visa August 2010, when we had a wounderful 2 weeks Stayed in Glenelg. As soon as we got back the house went on the market, wish we put it up for sale sooner though.

So as it stands for us now as soon as we sell the house we will be over. The house has sold twice and fell through twice due to lower in the chain so our dream gets close then falls away but we keep on going we've got this far and are not going to give up. We are an out door family Love the beach,fishing,swimming,surfing,cycling and sports, which we are offten held back and governed by the english weather on what we can do and when we can do it.

 

We would like very much for our children to grow up and have opportunities that may not be available here. We want for them to enjoy experiences that weren't available for us, although we are under no illusion that its going to be an easy transition for all of us and that we are going to have to work hard to make it work. Sometimes its worth remembering:

 

Nothing lasts foreve,r so live it up, drink it down, avoid the bull s**t, take chances, have no regrets because at one point everything you did was eactly what you wanted!

[RockDr]

I moved here to be with my partner because he was already working in Adelaide, and I could find work. Personally I don't see this as a permanent move, when circumstances change, we'll go wherever the wind/work blows us, might be another part of Australia, might be Europe, might be SE Asia, probably not Scandinavia, Russia or Canada though as OH doesn't do cold.

[Misplaced]

Well for us it means that I am returning home but the main the main reason is for the kids. We are both in settled jobs (although at the moment they are putting more an more on you to do the same job as they know there are no jobs for you to go into) and not too bad off financially. There is no work life balance anymore. However, the main reson is we beleive, rightly or wrongly, there is nothing for the kids here and with having to work longer hours/years they are seeing less of me, especially. We are under no illusions that it will be hard for the first few years in Oz and we will probably just have to work as hard if not harder but I believe that the 'work life balance' is better in Oz. The kids have been warned that they will not be able to just get things when they ask for them and that times will be tough but they are both up for it, the eldest more than the youngest but the youngest is getting more excited as time goes by. Getting use to the weather may take a couple of years but i am sure we will all acclimatise and get to really enjoy it. To sum up you only live once and we think that if we never try then we'll probably regret it for the rest of our lives.