Just starting out.....
#61
Banned
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 4,432
Originally posted by pjr55
Christ Florida ! I didnt mean to ofend you mate,
I was just trying to give another point of view and some encouragement. I thought I might have had something positive to contribute after living here half my life. Obviously not.
You are right, the same thing could be achieved in many other countries and propably easier too
the new arrivals in this land are going to need a lot more than just luck, I've had a lot of personal emails in my short time on this forum and I can see what Wilf is saying now, 3 of them have asked if there is a Mcdonalds and KFC ??? sigh!
I wish them all the luck in the world when they get here anyway.
Christ Florida ! I didnt mean to ofend you mate,
I was just trying to give another point of view and some encouragement. I thought I might have had something positive to contribute after living here half my life. Obviously not.
You are right, the same thing could be achieved in many other countries and propably easier too
the new arrivals in this land are going to need a lot more than just luck, I've had a lot of personal emails in my short time on this forum and I can see what Wilf is saying now, 3 of them have asked if there is a Mcdonalds and KFC ??? sigh!
I wish them all the luck in the world when they get here anyway.
#62
Originally posted by pjr55
Christ Florida ! I didnt mean to ofend you mate,
I was just trying to give another point of view and some encouragement. I thought I might have had something positive to contribute after living here half my life. Obviously not.
You are right, the same thing could be achieved in many other countries and propably easier too
the new arrivals in this land are going to need a lot more than just luck, I've had a lot of personal emails in my short time on this forum and I can see what Wilf is saying now, 3 of them have asked if there is a Mcdonalds and KFC ??? sigh!
I wish them all the luck in the world when they get here anyway.
Christ Florida ! I didnt mean to ofend you mate,
I was just trying to give another point of view and some encouragement. I thought I might have had something positive to contribute after living here half my life. Obviously not.
You are right, the same thing could be achieved in many other countries and propably easier too
the new arrivals in this land are going to need a lot more than just luck, I've had a lot of personal emails in my short time on this forum and I can see what Wilf is saying now, 3 of them have asked if there is a Mcdonalds and KFC ??? sigh!
I wish them all the luck in the world when they get here anyway.
Your point was that Australia provided your opportunity. My point was that hard work provides opportunity to a certain level and the rest requires the breaks (which I call luck). I stand by my statement that winners of golf tournaments are those who had the most breaks.
I'd bet your success was also punctuated by a few lucky breaks?
Last edited by Florida_03; Sep 9th 2003 at 6:48 am.
#63
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Australia
Posts: 31
Thanks Meglamania
and you're right Florida, please except my apologies.
I don't even know what I'm doing on this forum anyway, I just came across it by mistake a few days ago, until then I wasn't even aware that people were still emigrating here. I'll go back to my life now.
bye, thanks, and good luck all
and you're right Florida, please except my apologies.
I don't even know what I'm doing on this forum anyway, I just came across it by mistake a few days ago, until then I wasn't even aware that people were still emigrating here. I'll go back to my life now.
bye, thanks, and good luck all
#64
Originally posted by pjr55
Thanks Meglamania
and you're right Florida, please except my apologies.
I don't even know what I'm doing on this forum anyway, I just came across it by mistake a few days ago, until then I wasn't even aware that people were still emigrating here. I'll go back to my life now.
bye, thanks, and good luck all
Thanks Meglamania
and you're right Florida, please except my apologies.
I don't even know what I'm doing on this forum anyway, I just came across it by mistake a few days ago, until then I wasn't even aware that people were still emigrating here. I'll go back to my life now.
bye, thanks, and good luck all
#65
Originally posted by Wilf
PS Leonardo (you should not say da Vinci, because it is just where he was from, not his surname. It is like saying Wilf of Oz and calling me "Of Oz" - does not pinpoint me, you see) was indeed one of the great genii. A man more unlike Edison you could hardly have chosen.
PS Leonardo (you should not say da Vinci, because it is just where he was from, not his surname. It is like saying Wilf of Oz and calling me "Of Oz" - does not pinpoint me, you see) was indeed one of the great genii. A man more unlike Edison you could hardly have chosen.
As for genius, perhaps Edison was short of the mark but given that he actually had learning difficulties because of suspected scarlet fever when he was a boy, he worked twice as hard to overcome his difficulties; hence the quote, I believe.
That should be an inspiration to all. He most certainly wasn't a thicko, Wilf.
#66
Re: my two cents worth
Originally posted by pjr55
I don’t know Wilf but I have lived in Australia for over 30 years, and I have to agree with a lot of the stuff that he says on this forum regarding Australia, It is not the place it was 30 and 40 years ago, nowhere is. However… my 30 years experience down under is slightly different.
I find it is still the land of opportunity, the reason for this is that if you are willing to try anything, and can think outside of the square you will find that you will make it here, most of the people I know in the UK are employees, most of the people I know in Australia are employers.
I had no qualifications when I came here and yet I have only been an employee for 3 out of 30 years I have lived here, the rest of the time I have been my own boss, sometimes employing up to 30 people, the reason for this is simple, I do not think that the average Australian tries as hard as the average English person.
Every disadvantage here you can turn into an advantage very easily, even the distance from the rest of the world is an advantage if you find something that is not available here and there is a demand for it, then instead if complaining start importing the item, I started a transport delivery company with one vehicle when someone said they couldn’t get something delivered.
I used to enjoy driving out to the desserts in Western Australia, within a few months people were paying me to take them out there, I started an off road adventure tour business, leading up to a dozen 4WD vehicles at a time into outback Australia
When I found I couldn’t get certain software packages here that were available overseas, I started importing and distributing software, after 8 years my company was one of the largest importers of computer hardware and software in s/e Asia, importing from all major continents, we even had translators working for us in the UK and made 4 business trips around the world every year looking for opportunities to import stuff that was not available here.
My last move was 7 years ago at the age of 47 to another state in Australia, 3,000 miles away from my first State Western Australia, I knew not one single person there, we bought a house with land in the country. I saw they were quite a bit behind the State I had just left as regards IT, so I bought books on Dreamweaver, Flash etc and taught myself HTML programming, I can now support myself by creating web pages and networking and repairing PC’s. I also breed sheep as a hobby, I’d never done this before and guess what, you can even make good money out of breeding lambs and selling wool
So don’t think its all negative, your life here will depend on why you want to leave the UK in the first place, what you are looking for in life, and how hard you are prepaired to work when you get here, if you can manage to think outside of the square and turn every negative into an advantage then you will do well.
Having rambled on about this, Australia is not a sunny UK, it is and can be a very dangerous place in more ways than one. It is hard, and it has a short often tragic history. You have to learn new rules and play by them, begin to understand the Australian’s obvious sense of humour, its about halfway between UK and US, you will have the mickey taken out of you for your accent, but remember you are here by choice, they are here by chance. I still miss certain things about the UK, my wife does not even though she has 11 brothers a sisters still living in the UK, she doesn’t miss some of the things that I do, I changed states to have most of the things that I missed from England, 4 seasons, hawthorn hedges, long summer evenings, mountains, country roads, villages with greens and churches, deciduous trees, snow, log fires etc. I have them all now
I’m 55 years old now, 5 years younger than Wilf, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it is not so much England that we are missing, it is our youth, I know England isn’t what it was when we were 20 years old and living there, but hey! That’s still where our childhood memories are and always will be, so no matter how long we live here we will still have memories of how England used to be when we were in our youth.
For what its worth, my wife and I have been to every major continent in the world, including India and Africa and all of Asia, and the conclusion we have both come to with Australia and New Zealand is that they are the only two countries in the world where the advantages outweigh the disadvantages at this present moment in time.
As John Lennon once said. “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans�.
My two cents worth
I don’t know Wilf but I have lived in Australia for over 30 years, and I have to agree with a lot of the stuff that he says on this forum regarding Australia, It is not the place it was 30 and 40 years ago, nowhere is. However… my 30 years experience down under is slightly different.
I find it is still the land of opportunity, the reason for this is that if you are willing to try anything, and can think outside of the square you will find that you will make it here, most of the people I know in the UK are employees, most of the people I know in Australia are employers.
I had no qualifications when I came here and yet I have only been an employee for 3 out of 30 years I have lived here, the rest of the time I have been my own boss, sometimes employing up to 30 people, the reason for this is simple, I do not think that the average Australian tries as hard as the average English person.
Every disadvantage here you can turn into an advantage very easily, even the distance from the rest of the world is an advantage if you find something that is not available here and there is a demand for it, then instead if complaining start importing the item, I started a transport delivery company with one vehicle when someone said they couldn’t get something delivered.
I used to enjoy driving out to the desserts in Western Australia, within a few months people were paying me to take them out there, I started an off road adventure tour business, leading up to a dozen 4WD vehicles at a time into outback Australia
When I found I couldn’t get certain software packages here that were available overseas, I started importing and distributing software, after 8 years my company was one of the largest importers of computer hardware and software in s/e Asia, importing from all major continents, we even had translators working for us in the UK and made 4 business trips around the world every year looking for opportunities to import stuff that was not available here.
My last move was 7 years ago at the age of 47 to another state in Australia, 3,000 miles away from my first State Western Australia, I knew not one single person there, we bought a house with land in the country. I saw they were quite a bit behind the State I had just left as regards IT, so I bought books on Dreamweaver, Flash etc and taught myself HTML programming, I can now support myself by creating web pages and networking and repairing PC’s. I also breed sheep as a hobby, I’d never done this before and guess what, you can even make good money out of breeding lambs and selling wool
So don’t think its all negative, your life here will depend on why you want to leave the UK in the first place, what you are looking for in life, and how hard you are prepaired to work when you get here, if you can manage to think outside of the square and turn every negative into an advantage then you will do well.
Having rambled on about this, Australia is not a sunny UK, it is and can be a very dangerous place in more ways than one. It is hard, and it has a short often tragic history. You have to learn new rules and play by them, begin to understand the Australian’s obvious sense of humour, its about halfway between UK and US, you will have the mickey taken out of you for your accent, but remember you are here by choice, they are here by chance. I still miss certain things about the UK, my wife does not even though she has 11 brothers a sisters still living in the UK, she doesn’t miss some of the things that I do, I changed states to have most of the things that I missed from England, 4 seasons, hawthorn hedges, long summer evenings, mountains, country roads, villages with greens and churches, deciduous trees, snow, log fires etc. I have them all now
I’m 55 years old now, 5 years younger than Wilf, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it is not so much England that we are missing, it is our youth, I know England isn’t what it was when we were 20 years old and living there, but hey! That’s still where our childhood memories are and always will be, so no matter how long we live here we will still have memories of how England used to be when we were in our youth.
For what its worth, my wife and I have been to every major continent in the world, including India and Africa and all of Asia, and the conclusion we have both come to with Australia and New Zealand is that they are the only two countries in the world where the advantages outweigh the disadvantages at this present moment in time.
As John Lennon once said. “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans�.
My two cents worth
I hope you don't mind I have sent you a PM.
Kind Regards
ACE
#67
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,185
Originally posted by <")))><
If I'd said Leonardo, you would have not known who I meant.....da Vinci was sufficient for you to understand.
As for genius, perhaps Edison was short of the mark but given that he actually had learning difficulties because of suspected scarlet fever when he was a boy, he worked twice as hard to overcome his difficulties; hence the quote, I believe.
That should be an inspiration to all. He most certainly wasn't a thicko, Wilf.
If I'd said Leonardo, you would have not known who I meant.....da Vinci was sufficient for you to understand.
As for genius, perhaps Edison was short of the mark but given that he actually had learning difficulties because of suspected scarlet fever when he was a boy, he worked twice as hard to overcome his difficulties; hence the quote, I believe.
That should be an inspiration to all. He most certainly wasn't a thicko, Wilf.
I am used to hearing the da Vinci/Leonardo misunderstanding, so that is why I knew what you meant. Indeed, I would have understood if you had said Leonardo. That is what it should be and that is the way he is named in art books. I am a painter and so read quite a few art books. Leonardo da Vinci is one of my favourite artists.
You will not get my sympathies working for Edison with the learing difficulties thing. By all accounts he was a self-centred tosser who sexually harrassed his employees, choosing especially young and vulnerable victims who were under his employ and not in a good position to challenge "The great Edison". Such bullies are, and never will be, an inspiration to me. He was a very arrogant, conceited, and selfish man who pinched ideas from others (a thicko who could not stand to be so), fought to stop them getting just recognition for their ideas and work, and championed execution by electric chair just to try to make popular his form of electricity generation. In short, he was a nasty piece of work, though good at conniving, self promotion, and a sort of bullying management style. Keep him as your hero if you choose. I prefer the average man/woman in the street trying to make their way on their own merits without hurting others to someone like Edison any day.
Wilf
#68
Originally posted by <")))><
Fantastic...I would never have guessed my first thread would be akin to a drunken intellectual conversation down the local on a Friday night !!!
Fantastic...I would never have guessed my first thread would be akin to a drunken intellectual conversation down the local on a Friday night !!!
online 7 days a week. It's saving me a fortune in beer money.
#69
Just Joined
Joined: Feb 2003
Location: surrey
Posts: 6
moving to oz
can you advise to which type of visa i need to get us over to oz. we are 46 and cant go on the skilled even though my husband is an electrician we were looking into the option of moving over by buying a business outh there need advice
#70
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2004
Location: liverpool
Posts: 31
Re: Just starting out.....
Originally posted by Florida_03
<")))><
"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, feed him his entire life."?
<")))><
"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, feed him his entire life."?
we too are just starting the process we have three children 14,10,8 so this is going to be quite daunting for us as the eldest is reluctant to go, good luck
#71
Sunning it up in Benowa
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Body in benowa, Mind in Benowa, the whole fricking thing in benowa MAN !!!!!
Posts: 1,224
Re: Just starting out.....
Originally Posted by <")))><
Hello all,
Thought we'd say hi and introduce ourselves. We are just starting out on our plan to move to Oz.
Looking at all the visa application posts on here, the waiting, the heartache, the stress, the disappointments, it looks a very daunting process.
However, we are determined and positive. I work in I.T., my wife and I have 2 kids, 4 and 2 y.o.
Where to start??? This is going to be a long process..........this looks like a cool place to hang out while we wait !!
Thought we'd say hi and introduce ourselves. We are just starting out on our plan to move to Oz.
Looking at all the visa application posts on here, the waiting, the heartache, the stress, the disappointments, it looks a very daunting process.
However, we are determined and positive. I work in I.T., my wife and I have 2 kids, 4 and 2 y.o.
Where to start??? This is going to be a long process..........this looks like a cool place to hang out while we wait !!
Hi we are just starting too Good luck ! going through the visa application too Russ is a chef so we are living in hope .... we too have 2 kids just a bit concerned about health check cos i have high blood pressure... trying to get it down.
#72
Re: Lifestyle and culture...
Great introduction for newbies to this site, a couple of people getting into personal insults. From reading Wilf vs anyother's posts I see no relevance to the original question.
Why do people have to argue openly on this forum? we all have our opinions and that's exactly what they are, our opinions. It is not our right to shove personal opinions down other peoples throats
Welcome to the newbies (sorry forgot your name!!), good luck in your visa application. If you can't get a job in IT do what I have done and setup your own IT business, hundreds of people out there with PC's (businesses and home users) that need maintaining / fixing. I think the current rate in OZ for fixing PC's is $50 - $70 per hour (supplied by a OZ resident), lower than the UK but still enough to live on.
Why do people have to argue openly on this forum? we all have our opinions and that's exactly what they are, our opinions. It is not our right to shove personal opinions down other peoples throats
Welcome to the newbies (sorry forgot your name!!), good luck in your visa application. If you can't get a job in IT do what I have done and setup your own IT business, hundreds of people out there with PC's (businesses and home users) that need maintaining / fixing. I think the current rate in OZ for fixing PC's is $50 - $70 per hour (supplied by a OZ resident), lower than the UK but still enough to live on.
#73
Re: Just starting out.....
Are we having another competition to see who can drag up the oldest thread?
#74
Re: Just starting out.....
Originally Posted by Bordy
Are we having another competition to see who can drag up the oldest thread?
#75
Re: Lifestyle and culture...
Originally Posted by kevinbloomfield
Great introduction for newbies to this site, a couple of people getting into personal insults. From reading Wilf vs anyother's posts I see no relevance to the original question.
Why do people have to argue openly on this forum? we all have our opinions and that's exactly what they are, our opinions. It is not our right to shove personal opinions down other peoples throats
Welcome to the newbies (sorry forgot your name!!), good luck in your visa application. If you can't get a job in IT do what I have done and setup your own IT business, hundreds of people out there with PC's (businesses and home users) that need maintaining / fixing. I think the current rate in OZ for fixing PC's is $50 - $70 per hour (supplied by a OZ resident), lower than the UK but still enough to live on.
Why do people have to argue openly on this forum? we all have our opinions and that's exactly what they are, our opinions. It is not our right to shove personal opinions down other peoples throats
Welcome to the newbies (sorry forgot your name!!), good luck in your visa application. If you can't get a job in IT do what I have done and setup your own IT business, hundreds of people out there with PC's (businesses and home users) that need maintaining / fixing. I think the current rate in OZ for fixing PC's is $50 - $70 per hour (supplied by a OZ resident), lower than the UK but still enough to live on.
Great courage you have...
Hope we get through all the hurdles of IT jobs..if not then we have to look alternatives out there as you did...