Moving back to UK
Oct 25th 2003, 6:47 am
#91
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Originally posted by megawho
a hell of a lot more like. For all the people back home complaining about the sky rocketing cost of housing, wait 'till you get here and see whats happening in the main cities...prices are booming, and bear little relation to wages.
a hell of a lot more like. For all the people back home complaining about the sky rocketing cost of housing, wait 'till you get here and see whats happening in the main cities...prices are booming, and bear little relation to wages.
exactly...thats how he managed to buy low, do some work on the old house and sell high.
Oct 25th 2003, 9:28 am
#92
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Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Townsville
Posts: 2,106
Originally posted by welshboybilly
they looked like nice places pete, where did they go?
they looked like nice places pete, where did they go?
Do'h. Can't be arsed to go find them again....
Suffice it to say that there are plenty of nice 2 bed apts in Bondi for under $400..... Have a look on www.realestate.com.au
Oct 25th 2003, 9:37 am
#93
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Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Townsville
Posts: 2,106
Originally posted by HiddenPaw
I think you've taken the wrong end of the stick if you think my comments are an attempt to 'undermine' other posters. If you re-read my post you would see that I was outlining the difference between 'free' and 'not free' doctor's appointments. Nowhere have I stated that a 4 day wait is unacceptable. And isn't it rather crude to make assumptions about my acceptability threshold?
I'm disturbed by some of the new healtcare proposals in OZ - a recent one is that if you are willing to pay at a bulk-billing clinic, you can jump the queue -walk in to the surgery and get seen ahead of others who may have been waiting hours. Healthcare shouldn't be about looking after those with money first.
And doesn't the fact that some Australians are concerned with increasing waiting times tell you something? That the service is being underfunded? Children's operations have been cancelled in Melbourne hospitals in the last few weeks due to staff shortages and lack of money. The Oz health service is indeed better than the UK service at the moment, but from what I see, the outlook isn't that good....and will remain under a cloud until some major changes are made.
If you read between the lines of the story you have referred to about the 3-hr wait in A&E, are you likely to find that the issue is not so much having to wait 3 hrs but that the service is in decline, and therefore there is a problem that needs to be addressed?
I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the future of the the Australian health service.
I think you've taken the wrong end of the stick if you think my comments are an attempt to 'undermine' other posters. If you re-read my post you would see that I was outlining the difference between 'free' and 'not free' doctor's appointments. Nowhere have I stated that a 4 day wait is unacceptable. And isn't it rather crude to make assumptions about my acceptability threshold?
I'm disturbed by some of the new healtcare proposals in OZ - a recent one is that if you are willing to pay at a bulk-billing clinic, you can jump the queue -walk in to the surgery and get seen ahead of others who may have been waiting hours. Healthcare shouldn't be about looking after those with money first.
And doesn't the fact that some Australians are concerned with increasing waiting times tell you something? That the service is being underfunded? Children's operations have been cancelled in Melbourne hospitals in the last few weeks due to staff shortages and lack of money. The Oz health service is indeed better than the UK service at the moment, but from what I see, the outlook isn't that good....and will remain under a cloud until some major changes are made.
If you read between the lines of the story you have referred to about the 3-hr wait in A&E, are you likely to find that the issue is not so much having to wait 3 hrs but that the service is in decline, and therefore there is a problem that needs to be addressed?
I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the future of the the Australian health service.
The main reason i think you should be heading back to the UK is so the kids have have grandparents........
Just an opinion, but i LOVED mine when i was a kid (still do...), and it was always great going to the beach with granny etc.
Our kids will have a granny in both countries, so we will be ok whatever, but i know my mum would feel a touch miffed if we did have kids down under. We will just have to wait and see.
As far as the health service, education, crime and like goes. I honestly believe that your kids would be in as a good an environment in either country. They, in my opinion are not a reason to move (in either direction, Aus to here, or here to Aus).
Now.......PEOPLE.....PLEASE don't flame me for this, but something that our PB once posted, which has always stuck in my mind...
"people matter, places don't".
To most, family is the most important thing.
Oct 25th 2003, 9:40 am
#94
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Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Townsville
Posts: 2,106
Originally posted by MrsDagboy
Of course that article must be wrong as everyone knows from reading these forums that aussies never even go o/s on holidays, let alone live there!
Badgers has a point, at least some of them come back, my cousin & her hubby were living & working in London while we were there, raking in as much money as they could & living in a squallid little flat, so they could come back home, buy a house mortgage free & have kids. There first baby is due any day now
.
Of course that article must be wrong as everyone knows from reading these forums that aussies never even go o/s on holidays, let alone live there!
Badgers has a point, at least some of them come back, my cousin & her hubby were living & working in London while we were there, raking in as much money as they could & living in a squallid little flat, so they could come back home, buy a house mortgage free & have kids. There first baby is due any day now
.
She is an aussie...has lived and worked in the Uk for the past 4 years, and now wants to go back more than anything. She wants to go home. Who am i to stop her
Oct 25th 2003, 9:50 am
#95
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Originally posted by HiddenPaw
I think you've taken the wrong end of the stick if you think my comments are an attempt to 'undermine' other posters.
I think you've taken the wrong end of the stick if you think my comments are an attempt to 'undermine' other posters.
If you re-read my post you would see that I was outlining the difference between 'free' and 'not free' doctor's appointments. Nowhere have I stated that a 4 day wait is unacceptable. And isn't it rather crude to make assumptions about my acceptability threshold?
As the whole of my post was based on that premise - please disregard the rest of my comments referring to you in that particular post (including the bit about undermining!), and accept my apologies.
(4 days is still good by my reckoning
)
Oct 25th 2003, 9:53 am
#96
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PS. Love the 'Melbourne Top 40' post!
Oct 25th 2003, 10:02 am
#97
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Originally posted by dotty
Is 300,000 pound considered expensive to the average UK buyer, that sounds very very reasonable to me, I thought we'd have to spend probably double that there depending where we end up. Suppose like here its all relative to employment.
Is 300,000 pound considered expensive to the average UK buyer, that sounds very very reasonable to me, I thought we'd have to spend probably double that there depending where we end up. Suppose like here its all relative to employment.
Dotty, are you loaded or what? I certainly don't know anyone who even owns a house worth £300k. I live in a lovely village where house prices have doubled in recent years, but for that amount you could probably get a huge 5 bed round here.
Oct 25th 2003, 10:05 am
#98
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Since I am retired and about to apply for a retirement visa our circumstances are clearly not the same but I know couples with young children who also see emigration to Australia as a better option for them. They fear the violent crime and drugs problems in the UK combined with rising taxation, high house prices and the difficulty of finding good schools for their children. They believe, rightly or wrongly, that their children will be better educated and have more job opportunities in Australia. Perhaps the other mans grass is always greener and the tendency for dull, damp, cold weather here from November to March certainly doesn't help. They also think that keeping in touch with grandparents will not be so difficult due to the world becoming a smaller place, e-mail, and cheap flights but this is one area where I think they are wrong. In my opinion, even the most active of grandparents are not going to find the journeys to Australia all that easy to make and it might not be so convenient for the family to visit grandparents in the UK on a regular basis. If close family ties are really that important then I would advise people to think twice before making such a separation.
Oct 25th 2003, 10:06 am
#99
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Originally posted by dotty
Is 300,000 pound considered expensive to the average UK buyer, that sounds very very reasonable to me, I thought we'd have to spend probably double that there depending where we end up. Suppose like here its all relative to employment.
Is 300,000 pound considered expensive to the average UK buyer, that sounds very very reasonable to me, I thought we'd have to spend probably double that there depending where we end up. Suppose like here its all relative to employment.
Oct 25th 2003, 10:11 am
#100
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300k would get you a terraced house where I come from in SW london!!
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Oct 25th 2003, 10:14 am
#101
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Originally posted by badgersmount
300k would get you a terraced house where I come from in SW london!!
Badge
300k would get you a terraced house where I come from in SW london!!
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Oct 25th 2003, 10:22 am
#102
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£300k in port talbot would buy you 5 nice semi detatched houses.
my house was valued last month at £80k but then i only paid £30k for it 5 years ago so i am hoping by the time we sell it will be worth 90k...not a bad profit.
$150k to start in australia will be a nice deposit on a house.
my house was valued last month at £80k but then i only paid £30k for it 5 years ago so i am hoping by the time we sell it will be worth 90k...not a bad profit.
$150k to start in australia will be a nice deposit on a house.
Oct 25th 2003, 11:29 am
#103
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Originally posted by young_lad
PS. Love the 'Melbourne Top 40' post!
PS. Love the 'Melbourne Top 40' post!
OK, ok, all is forgiven
Oct 25th 2003, 11:59 am
#104
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Lots of valuable comments on here about family ties, family support, grandparents, and doing what feels right. I feel guilty to dragging this thread back to talking about 'me', but lots have people have offered great advice so I just wanted to say I appreciate the comments. 
A baby wasn't in the plan when we set off so we didn't at all consider the impact of having children whilst overseas. Now things have changed and although we weren't planning on going home this soon, we realise this is now best for us and baby (even sis is 500kms away). We have no experience with kids (no nieces, nephews) so even changing a nappy is going to be a mammoth task!!
Johnboy - just wanted to add that my parents have been coming to Oz every year for the last 7 years - they are now 60 and are getting tired of the endless travel and find the journey arduous. I know for a fact that they don't want to be doing it for much longer (or certainly not as regularly). The other side of it is the cost - pre-retirement it wasn't such an issue,but now their financial situation is completely dfferent.
Good luck to everyone on their own adventures - whichever direction you're heading!
A baby wasn't in the plan when we set off so we didn't at all consider the impact of having children whilst overseas. Now things have changed and although we weren't planning on going home this soon, we realise this is now best for us and baby (even sis is 500kms away). We have no experience with kids (no nieces, nephews) so even changing a nappy is going to be a mammoth task!!
Johnboy - just wanted to add that my parents have been coming to Oz every year for the last 7 years - they are now 60 and are getting tired of the endless travel and find the journey arduous. I know for a fact that they don't want to be doing it for much longer (or certainly not as regularly). The other side of it is the cost - pre-retirement it wasn't such an issue,but now their financial situation is completely dfferent.
Good luck to everyone on their own adventures - whichever direction you're heading!
Oct 27th 2003, 9:26 am
#105
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Originally posted by Goodpubmisser
Firstly out of respect to you I will run this reply through my spell checker - but please note that it set to American English although I do jump over words like "thru". But while I am on this subject "schoolteacher" is actually two words, not one as in your post i.e. "school teacher". Please make sure to teach that to your kids!!
You obviously have more experience in regards to the Australian and British teaching system than me - I work in industry. I was expressing my generalized opinion from my own experiences - is this not the purpose of an open forum?
Another opinion from me is I think that the education system is generally getting worse with the practicality of what the kids learn going down and it being biased towards the academic.
I still today look back at the three years that I spent in England at University and think about how much time that was wasted. I calculate that in three years I spent a whole year on holiday, i.e. summer holidays, christmas etc.
Oh and by the way I have 9 'O' levels, 3 'A' levels, a degree in Materials Technology, a H.N.C In Electronic Engineering and a Graduate Diploma in Computer Systems Engineering (the last done in Australia).
Firstly out of respect to you I will run this reply through my spell checker - but please note that it set to American English although I do jump over words like "thru". But while I am on this subject "schoolteacher" is actually two words, not one as in your post i.e. "school teacher". Please make sure to teach that to your kids!!
You obviously have more experience in regards to the Australian and British teaching system than me - I work in industry. I was expressing my generalized opinion from my own experiences - is this not the purpose of an open forum?
Another opinion from me is I think that the education system is generally getting worse with the practicality of what the kids learn going down and it being biased towards the academic.
I still today look back at the three years that I spent in England at University and think about how much time that was wasted. I calculate that in three years I spent a whole year on holiday, i.e. summer holidays, christmas etc.
Oh and by the way I have 9 'O' levels, 3 'A' levels, a degree in Materials Technology, a H.N.C In Electronic Engineering and a Graduate Diploma in Computer Systems Engineering (the last done in Australia).
Therefore I won't mention that you had left out IS on line 2 and the jury is out on school teacher/schoolteacher I will make a few points here just to add to the debate. You will find that the UK education you went through is not the UK education system of today. I have taught in Scotland only so can't say much about England and Wales other than what I read and hear from colleagues.
I was told and still get told today that the Scottish education system is the best in the world. Heaven help the rest of the world if that is the case! Standards have fallen markedly in the time that I have taught here. The population hasn't become more intelligent but a much higher proportion of the population now enters higher education. You don't have to be Einstein to work out that pass marks must fall, topics must get easier and marking more lax to accommodate this push towards a higher % entering higher education.
Governments then pat themselves on the back and say things like 93% passed A Levels so we must be providing sufficient funding, pupils are getting better etc. It is just like telling someone about to jump 6 feet in the high jump that the bar is set at 7 feet! I have friends who work in universities and they report that most people have A's now so how do you distinguish between candidates for allocating places on courses. Would you believe they are considering the introduction of A* above grade A in A Levels! I'm thinking of old Mr Grace in 'Are you being served' - you've all done very well.
I don't need to point out in a forum such as this that at the same time the problem has been exacerbated by the 'brain drain' which the UK has had (and the type of person who has moved to the UK - no jokes about me please
It is a problem everywhere I know but indiscipline has become a much bigger issue as well. Social inclusion policies haven't helped. (Let's keep the crime figures down by keeping the miscreants in school when they should be excluded). Teaching (everywhere) is now a much more stressful occupation. This might be the 'screwball' (screw ball??) factor you have observed in some of the teachers you have come across? I should mention the pay levels as well because salary levels for graduates entering teaching are towards the low end of the scale.
I spoke to 2 colleagues of mine who teach Mathematics and the Sciences. They told me that their subjects have been similarly 'dumbed down' over the years.
That'll do just to keep the discussion going.
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