Moogle87

Hi all,

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read my post

I need some advice on moving to Australia.

I'm 29 & a Teacher from the UK. I have 4 years experience (at present).
My husband is 27 & is a Pharmacy Assistant (basically a dispenser).

We are considering emigrating.

The biggest reason is for a change in lifestyle. Although I love teaching, I am starting to question if I can continue to teach in the UK. To put it simply, it is starting to make me ill & we are also considering how we will be able to have children in an environment where work is expected to take precedence over everything else. By this I mean that in the UK the culture in teaching is not family friendly at all.

So far I have done lots of research into New Zealand and that is an option for us. However, we also want to look into Australia because quite simply we aren't sure if we could afford to live in New Zealand with the increased living & housing costs. Wages are the same as what we earn in the UK.

If anybody could answer the following questions that would be really helpful:

1) How likely is it that I will get a teaching job in Aus?
We were thinking of NSW & Victoria in terms of areas to live.
I teach Business Studies, ICT & KS3 (years 7 & 8 in the UK) Computing.

2) What is my salary likely to be?
I've been teaching for 4 years, but it will be 5 once we move.
I have a degree in Business Studies (2:1) & a PGCE in Business with ICT.

3) Where are good areas for me to look into for housing?
I don't like really hot weather. So although I appreciate that Aus will be hot, where is the weather coolest?
As I said, we were thinking Victoria & NSW, but I'm concerned that it will be nigh on impossible for me to get a job there.
We are also not looking to live right in the city. We would prefer an area outside of the city, maybe 30 mins away.
As long as we have basic amenities like a Doctors & supermarket where we live, that will be fine.

3) Our mortgage at home is £600 a month.
How much would it cost to rent somewhere modern with 1 or 2 beds?

4) What are living costs like in Aus?
I currently earn £28,000 & my husband earns £15,000.
Although in September my wage should go up to around £30,500.

We currently spend around £75 a week on food (2 adults & 2 cats)
Gas & electricity is £75 a month (for a 3 bed, 3 storey new build townhouse).
Council tax is £120 a month.
Water is £25 a month.
Car insurance is £40 for me in a new Alfa MiTO (driving for 10 years) & £35 for hubby (driving for 8 years) in a 2012 Corsa.

There are of course, lots of other bills (eg. life insurance) but really those are the main ones.

However, I've heard that although wages are higher in Oz, that there are a lot of 'hidden taxes' which we don't pay in the UK, but you pay in Oz.

4) If we wanted to buy (which we wouldn't until we'd lived somewhere for a while first) would we be able to buy a house with a 10% deposit?
We have about £25k equity in our home at the moment (more hopefully when we actually look to move). But we will need to use some of this equity to move with. We recently got married and have no savings.
Realistically we are hoping to have around half of our equity left for a deposit on a house.
So would we be able to buy a fairly modern house in a nice area (it does not need to be in a city, we are quite happy to live in a smaller town as long as it has things like a supermarket, Docs etc) for around the $250,00 mark?


5) How easy will it be for my husband to find work?
He is prepared to take a minimum wage, full time retail job to start with & then try & get into a pharmacy role or look at other options later.

Again, thank you for taking the time to read my post

Bermudashorts

That is a lot of questions on the one post, it can be better for good answers to break things up into different areas. Anyway here are some random answers.

Firstly moving to Australia wil not change your lifestyle. Only you can change your lifestyle, getting onto a plane to a differnt country will not do it. My lifestyle was identical after my move. I worked in same occupation, Monday to Friday, same working hours, chores and shopping at the weekend.

I am not a teacher, but it is widely reported that it is very difficult for teachers to get work in Australia as there is a huge over supply. You may fare better than average as you are a secondary teacher. I am surprised that you find teaching in UK not family friendly, I would have thought it one of the most family friendly occupations you could have. But why do you think it would be different tin Australia. Generally Australia has poor provision for things like (paid) parental leave, annual leave, sick leave. I cannot comment on teaching specifically.

Your OH will find a job as easily as he could in UK as unemployment patterns are pretty similar. I cannot see any reason why he should be targeting minimum wage jobs if that is not what he currently does. It might be better to aim a little higher.

If you do not like hot, then you probably should revert to the New Zealand plan or perhaps Tasmania. All of the rest of Australia will get hot. Northern Queensland and Northern Territory are often considered to be the most punishing climate due to humidity but as I say, all of mainland Australia gets hot.

Australia is also structured differently to the UK. Most people live in the cities and they tend to just sprawl outwards. You can't live thirty minutes out from the central part of a city and classify yourself as not being in the city. Certianly in Sydney, thirty minutes away from the central business district would be considered a very central location. You would not escape the city until you travel an hour or two away. Suburbs just roll into one, you cannot tell when one suburb ends and the next starts, it is not like going from one town to the next as it is in the UK. But the suburbs will not feel like a city.

Where is "good for housing" in Australia is an unanswerable question. So is how much will housing cost. It varies. You need to focus in a lot more on a particular area and then ask these things. Other than housing costs, which vary, I think living costs are much of a muchness to UK. Swings and roundabouts, some things cheaper some things more expensive. If you earn something like $100-$130k between you then you will probably feel much the same as you do now, going off your current salaries. Obviously that depends on where you live in UK and where you decide to settle in Australia.

There are no particular hidden taxes that I am aware of. The average % taken by the taxman is much the same in both countries.

A 10% mortgage is possible, but unusual in Australia and you may get hit with big mortgage indemnity insurance fees. Again it is not possible to comment on housing costs, Australia is a big place and it varies hugely accross the country. I have to say though, I think you would struggle to find anything anywhere for $250k, I think this is just not realistic and you may have to rent for a little longer to boost that.

old.sparkles

You can probably find housing near Adelaide for $250k but SA has the highest unemployment in Australia I think, and it definitely gets hot. Rental costs (and later buying costs) will depend on where you are - there will probably be towns away from the major cities where you will find housing in your range.

With teaching, you'll probably be looking at casual positions for a while once you get through all the registration hoops. I think fulltime roles are somewhere near the $70k mark but google should be able to fid you actual figures.

Agree with Bermudashorts that cost of living is similar here to UK

Moogle87

Thank you for your answers, I really appreciate you taking the time to reply.

Firstly, teaching in the UK is most definitely not family friendly & it is getting worse. The average working week for most secondary teachers in the UK is 55 a week. We get paid for 37.5. There was a recent survey and nearly 50% of teachers are planning/want to leave in the next 5 years.

The reason for wanting to move away from the UK is because I've heard from friends that teaching in other countries is much more family friendly (eg. NZ, Canada, Aus.) We want to start a family in a few years time & just don't feel that the UK is the place to do this for us.

In terms of my husband and work, for the moment we are of the thinking that he can just take the first job that he can so we have a second income & then he will start looking for something better.
But we need a second income, even if it is only minimum wage to start with.
It is reassuring to hear that he shouldn't have problems getting work though.

We are looking into NZ & started with there actually, but I don't think that we can afford to live in NZ due to the higher living costs (& most people moan about how expensive the UK can be!) Or we could, but we think that we will struggle. This is something I am still looking into. But moving half way around the world is a huge commitment & I don't want to be in the position where we are going to to struggle.
Being in roughly the same position financially as we are in the UK will be fine. We are moving for a better life, rather than the potential to earn a lot more. If it was just about the money I would go to Dubai where I would get a significantly higher salary and highly subsidised living costs (they pay your rent etc.)

I forget that Australia is so big (living on a little over populated island syndrome probably, lol) as we live in what is classed as a city (albeit a small one, even by UK standards) & 30 mins away from the city centre is definitely not classed as being in it where we are.
I think because I have been looking at NZ as well & it is the same as here, I figured we wouldn't want to be more than 30 mins away from the city/big town because that is where most of your places to eat/cinema etc are.

I think its safe to say in terms of Aus, we would want to be/need to be further away than that.

I think that for us Tasmania would probably be our best option based off the climate. I've had a look at climate & it seems like a sightly better UK, so we would be happy with that.

Do you have any idea what the employment situation is like in Tasmania & where the best places to live/work are?
Like I said before, we don't want to live in the hustle & bustle, but want to be within reasonable access to cinemas/places to eat & have things like a Doctors and supermarket within a 5/10 min drive (like most English towns).

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to read my post & reply.

Bermudashorts

I would still do a lot more homework on the teaching thing and really try to pinpoint why it would be so different. I cannot think of any reason why it would be and Australia is not known for favourable working practices (e.g. refer to my comments on parental leave, sick leave, annual leave). I also thought it was pretty normal for any professional person to work 55 hours a week but have a contract that says 37.5. I thought that was normal life..

I didn't say it would be easy for your husband to pick up work by the way. I said it would not be much different to finding work in the UK. As you would know, sometimes people can have trouble finding work in the UK, depending on circumstances. Unemployment is a little bit higher in Australia at the moment, but it is not noticeably different over the long term.

I have never been to Tasmania, so no cannot comment on what it is like. The unemployment statistics are typically one of the higher ones.

Again, Australia is structured differently. The cities sprawl and suburbs roll into one. I lived in a Sydney suburb, but it was about an hour out of the central business district. And even though I lived in a Sydney suburb, I would not describe it as "hustle and bustle" and it was not like living in a city centre. My suburb was a beach one so had a lively cafe culture, some Sydney suburbs are as quiet as can be, you can wander around and not see any other people. So I just think you should maybe not focus too much on living out of the city as people might interpret it to mean you want to live in the outback!

Unless you do choose to live in the outback, I am quite sure you will have easy access to doctors, supermarkets and cinemas!

Moogle87

Thanks for the reply.

I have Googled salaries for teachers in Oz but it seems to be state dependent & then when you look at the different states it doesn't seem to be a simple system like it is in the UK. However, I have found out that the starting salary is around $55,500. Although I have 4 years (will be 5 by the time we actually move) this is still slightly more than I currently earn now at £28,000 (£30,500 next Sept). So I think that it is safe to say that wages will be higher for me.

That is also useful to know about living costs in general, thank you.

It would just be useful to know about house & rental prices.

I think after reading the post from Bermudashorts we are probably looking at Tasmania because of the climate.
All suggestions for where is good to live will be very gratefully received.

Bermudashorts

The earning /spending equivalent of £28-30k is above $55k. On £30k you would really want to be earning $65-75k to feel about the same. Don't use current exchange rates for a comparison, you need to use at least 2x and probably a bit more. Still presumably you would not be on a starting salary with five years of experience behind you.

I don't know that we have any regulars from Tasmania on here, but someone might come along. As Australia is a big place, if you don't live there then you cant really comment on best places. It is a bit like asking you where the best place to live in Poland is. You would be a bit nearer to Poland than some Australians are to Tasmania.

Try www.domain.com.au to look up house and rental costs in locations that you want to research.

Moogle87

Thanks for the reply.

I have a friend who knows a teacher is Aus, so I will ask her to pass on contact info & get in touch if I can.

Please don't think that I'm not prepared to work hard. I am willing to work hard. I appreciate that there are very few professions where you just work what is written on your contract, especially when you have a career. My issue with teaching in the UK is the fact that we have ridiculous targets, are asked to spend large amounts of time completing box ticking exercises & the whole Ofsted culture. We don't do things because they are in the best interests of the children, we do things to cover the school just in case we get an inspection because if you get a bad inspection life becomes even worse.
We have a big problem here with recruitment & the morale of teachers. To be honest though we also have a big problem with Junior Doctors at the moment as well, so this isn't just confined to teaching.

But I don't want this to become a bigger rant about teaching than it has become already, lol.

I do appreciate your comments on sick leave etc though. I will have a look into that as that is something to consider.

Oh, I appreciate that you were not saying that my husband is guaranteed a job. But I do find it comforting to note that it is similar to here. People in the UK say there are no jobs in the UK, but that isn't true. If you are willing to get your hands dirty there are jobs. The problem with our country is that a lot of people aren't willing to do this. It is just useful to know that if we move it is likely that he will get something, even if not immediately, and even if it isn't ideal.

I will have a look and see if there is information from people living in Tas & if not start a thread specifically about housing & employment.
The reason that I've said not in the city is because in the UK the reality of living in the larger cities eg. Manchester, London etc is that it is very hustle & bustle & you tend to find people either want to live in that or well out of it.

In the UK I grew up in an area where there is a lot of farmland (It's called Cheshire if you have heard of it.) Where I grew up there was no big supermarket, that was 20 mins away, as was the cinema. The nearest big city (Manchester) was an hour away without any traffic & 90/120 mins away in morning traffic. And yet where I lived was still classed as a town. It certainly isn't classed as being out in the sticks.
Also house prices in the UK are usually more expensive the nearer to the city you go. Which is why I have said that we don't want to live in the city. From what I've seen NZ is very similar to this & people have said to avoid the city to get cheaper housing.
But, like anything, it really is down to the budget that you have.

Moogle87

Again, thanks for the advice on salaries. I would definitely not be wanting to only be on a starting salary after 5 years. But in terms of moving, my thoughts are if we can afford it on the bottom salary then anything above that is a bonus really.

Lol, to be honest if you asked me about London I wouldn't have a clue other than it is just busy EVERYWHERE, the transport system is mega busy & that housing is ridiculously expensive. Never mind Poland! But you never know where people have come from/lived/have family & friends, so I always think its worth asking.

That website is very helpful, thank you. I will take a look & try & do a bit more research into Tas.

Moogle87

Just as an add on, the starting salary in the UK for teachers is £22k. So that would probably be in line with $55k that Aus teachers get.

Bermudashorts

It might be worth starting a thread with Teaching in Australa or something in the title. There are a couple of teachers knocking about, Quoll is a retired teacher I believe who is currently back in the UK but was in Australia for many years. I don't want to get into a debate on teaching in UK either, but I think it would be useful for you to find some people that have worked in both countries and can tell you about the differences.

I do understand very well how the UK is structured with towns and cities and indeed being born and bred in Manchester I do recall that place called Cheshire. .

I am just trying to get across to you that Australia is not structured the same and when you say you want to live outside the city, it could mean something different to you than to people in Australia. And you might be ruling out an awful lot of very good options for yourself. Most people in Australia do live in the cities, but they are sprawling cities and many suburbs will be as quiet as any small town or village in the UK, it would still be deemed the city though.

Moogle87

Lol, sorry. I just assumed that you were from Aus. I should have checked because it is very clearly states that you are living in the UK!
Rookie mistake I reckon, lol.

I do 100% agree that it is worth looking into the actual difference in teaching in the UK & Aus (& anywhere really) because it will always appear that the grass is greener at first.

All I can say is that at times I do love my job, but if anybody asks me if I would recommend teaching to their niece (or whoever) I always say no. It isn't until you do it that you realise what it really is like. But that could be the same in Aus for all I know.

I'll try starting some new threads aimed at teachers & also at living in Tas.

Thanks so much for all the advice.

Bermudashorts

Agree and indeed I always have had the impression (from other posters) that teaching and nursing salaries are much the same in both countries.

Moogle87

Can I just your advice on NZ then.
I've been working wages out based off exchange rates. Based off NZ exchange rates I would be looking to earn about $65,000 (5 years experience) & hubby $28,000 (min wage). Does this mean that we would likely be worse off than here in the UK?
That is massive for us because living costs are also generally higher.

Bermudashorts

I don't really know much about New Zealand. When I said both countries, I meant UK and Australia - in that I have always had the impression that pay scales are pretty similar for teachers.

As for NZ, well yes I have also seen people say that it is expensive to live there. But then I have seen people say that about Australia. My personal experience though was that other than for housing, it is not noticeably different overall. But housing can be very expensive in parts of Australia and I believe that Auckland is an expensive city for housing too.

I think it is generally accepted that nobody emigrates to Australia or NZ for financial gain, those days are long gone. But I think a lot of people can hope to emd up on a similar footing (except for moving expenses).