Hello People! Two years for us in Melbourne - so here is our little story:

Background

Youngish couple, no kids. I am in IT, wife is in Retail. I'm British, and my wife is Canadian. Our family is mostly settled in UK, Canada, India and Australia.

Reasons for coming

1. Been to Australia a few times before to see family and really liked it.
2. Thought we would try it for 2 yrs now before more commitments come along, kids, mortgages, season tickets to UTD.
3. Strained family relations - perhaps a break will also be good
4. Tired of the weather, constant pub life, and nusiance chavs.
5. My PR visa gained back in 2003 was running out.

So off we trotted to Australia on our two year (no visits home) experiment.

Good things in Australia (in my experience)

1. Jobs have been easy to come by. Wages have been better than I thought, though still much less than
2. I was getting paid in the UK. However, I was expecting this.
3. Less rain, more days to go out and about
4. I feel overall safer in Melbourne going out when I compare it to living in Birmingham. I dont have any stats to point to, it's just how i feel.
5. It's good not to have to relocate constantly for work as I had to do in UK
6. Getting to know my Oz family more has been great
7. Making friends slowly has helped us to feel more settled
8. Point Cook though at times souless is becoming more pleasant as is grows.
9. There are great spots to visit on the weekend; all with an hour or two.
10. Lots of great different cuisines, and pretty cheap too.
    
11. All the usual things i require are here: Foxtel, Broadband, Temples, pubs, casino, beach, and of course, golf.

Bad things in Australia (in my experience)

1. Driving efficiency, quality and standards are terrible
2. Houses though nice layout i've been hugely disappointed in the quality of the build, woodsticks
3. with a lick of paint.
4. Having worked for several Banks and other major firms - I've found the work here of a very low standard. Some people just are simply not good enough and there are non-existence/poor working practices in some areas which have caused several project failures, delayed projects, expensive projects.
5. The isolation of being here hits home when I want to go on Holiday and so be far from everything
6. It does get freezing here too and so windy though i guess bay living as something to do with that.
7. Pokie machines

Conclusion

All in all it's better in some ways to our life in the UK, worse in others. Neither places are a rosy paradise - but in their own individual ways they are great places to live - I've found the experience a great one though.

I'm now in the process of applying for citizenship. I know I could appreciate Oz more, and living back in the UK for a few more years will hopefully make it more clearer to us as to which place we will be content with the most.

I think you could attribute a lot of the good and bad things to both places, but in the short time I've been here I am just listing down my own perceptions based on my experience, and I hope I havent offended any of you good readers.

I was asked once whether Oz is worth immigrating to, and I gave the same answer I would give to anyone, "I dont have a clue, we are all different, we all have different expectations, different levels of contentment, and we come from different walks of life"

Anyway I have to get some rest as I'm working this weekend, so thank you for reading my ramblings. I hope all of you are enjoying life, be it here or over there.

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© Britishexpats and "gsidhu"