KellyAndSteve

Thank you all for your help and comments!

I would love to hear about everyones experiences please, good and bad! I know that everything isn't always as rosy as it may seem on the TV etc! I have 4 kids (17, 13, 10 and 8yrs old) so I'd like to be 110% certain we would be doing the right thing (if you know what I mean!!!)

We have never been to Australia, but it has always been a life long dream! My parents wanted to emigrate when I was a child, but never went through with it. Now that I'm a parent, it is something my husband and I are more than interested in doing for all of us! The lifestyle, the sun, it all appeals to us so much!

Please be honest!! I want us to go into this with our eyes wide open!!!

Alfresco

If you're going to apply, you should do it before your eldest turns 18, otherwise he/she may need apply for his/her own independant visa, which could be problematic.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong anyone, but that's what we did.

KellyAndSteve

I would like to ask some questions, but I don't know if I'll end up just sounding daft!!! But I've been told some things about how life would be living in Australia, but I don't know how truth these things are or if I'm having my leg pulled!!

garyp

go ahead and ask

jad n rich

To be even slightly certain you are doing the right thing you need to come out here and ignore every tourist attraction on offer, and search jobs, schools, funding, cost of living everything. If you want the sun and lifestyle research weather at different time of year, look into the reality of the harsh climate, sunsmart education might be a good start, you might be outside far less than you think! With all those kids education, you often read people in the UK moaning about something that is worse here!

Moving a family that size is not cheap, do you intend to see family in UK, a airfare back to UK in school hols runs around $2600+ each. Kids are at that tetchy age will they settle? will their education be stuffed up by moving, will you be stuck here if you dont like it and their education gets behind.

Try not to think about the beaches and bbq's most tire of that after a while, look at the real stuff that the complex family X 6 involves

Read the forums and read the moving back forums too, that way you get both sides of the piccy.

I know people emigrate without even seeing it, but with 4 kids some of them teens, the risk if it does not work is a split up family, so worth the extra research.

Neil52

Go for it but for a family of 6 to get settled in Oz is going to be £10,000 to £15,000 with all the hoops and fares and shipping you have to absorb..not being negative but you must have the money before you start thinking about it....it aint cheap to move,

KellyAndSteve

Please don't laugh!!!!

Is it true that spiders and snakes (and other things) come into the house? Am I likely to wake up one morning to find I'm sharing a bed with something other than my hubby?
And is it true that a croc and call round for a dip in the pool anytime it fancys?

I know these must sound like very silly questions, but it's things like this I need answering please!!!!

jad n rich

Yes if your going to Darwin, no if your going to the 99% of OZ that is suburbia.

Dorothy

After 3 1/2 years here I've seen about 5 spiders. One juvenile huntsman outside and the rest were either redbacks (outside) or whitetails. The only snake I've ever seen was roadkill on the coast highway. You are more likely to see a spider in UK than you are here unless you live in bush. As J&R says, if you're going to far north Queensland or NT then you are likely to see crocs, otherwise no. Your biggest threat comes from driving to work every day.

You really have to look at what you want out of living here. We moved from a big city with an hour's commute to a smaller city with an hour's commute. We left behind a $200k mortgage so we could rent for 3 years while we saved and built a house and took on an even bigger mortgage. We still go to work every day, the kids still go to school every day, we still have bills to pay and no, we don't spend every weekend at barbies or on the beach. We're busy cleaning the house, grocery shopping and doing all the mundane things we did before we moved to Australia. If you're coming to Perth, take a look at the BOM website for what the weather has been these past couple of weeks. We haven't had rain since November, so everything is tinder dry. We had 3 days of temps in the mid 40s and it's only just cooled down to 35 yesterday. I know, it sounds great when it's snowy and cold there, but trust me when I say it's no picnic. It's too hot to go outside, too hot to sleep and even my dogs didn't want to go out to pee. As others have said, travelling to visit family will be extremely expensive for a family of 6.

I know it sounds like I'm trying to put a damper on your dreams, but I'm not trying to do that at all. Actually, I'm quite content with my life here and just trying to show you that it's not at all what you see on Wanted Down Under or any of the travel shows.

Sherro

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but the very fact that you ask those questions suggests you have absolutely no clue about what Australia could be like or whether it is right for you and your family. Thats not an insult, i was in the same boat before i moved over, no reason why you should.

Moving a big family is a massive upheaval, if I were you, id get onto Air Asia website and find some cheap flights from stanstead to KL and then to Melbourne and (as mentioned by another poster) come over for 2-3 weeks and get a feel for the place, hire a car, stay in a cheap serviced apartment and get a feel for the weather, environment, jobs, lifestyle. it may be completely different to what you thought or just the ticket.

We had a couple from Essex that came to stay with us, wanted to move over, and built it up as being nothing like the reality and they were back in Walton on the Naze within 10 days. if it were one or two of you id say just go for it but 6, no way, you need to do a trip....

God luck

Neil52

I would be more worried with the bloody mozzies getting in to be honest

Neil52

Best answer and should be a sticky.

KellyAndSteve

Sherro, you are right, I don't know what it's like to live somewhere other than the UK, that is why I need to ask as many questions (silly as they may sound) as I can! That is why I asked for everyone to tell me the good things AND the bad!

We haven't got family here that we would want to come back to visit, so thats not an issue. My Son will be 18yrs old in June, so he would have just finished his A levels and wants to train as an accountant. My 3 girls are very keen on starting a new life the other side of the world too. Yes they will miss their friends (of course) but they all love meeting new people and make new friends very easily!

We are not going into this lightly, we are looking into and finding out as much as is humanly possible!!

And thank you Dorothy for what you said about the spiders etc!!

Rainydaze

Also have you tried getting Australia and New Zealand magazine?

MDawson

We have had snakes in the house, only three over a period of about nine years.
One of them was a 'red belly black snake' It probably wouldn't kill you but apparently if it bites you your flesh rots and you could lose a limb.
It was about six foot long and we had to call the local snake catcher, yes they do have snake catchers and this is a true story. We lived in Brisbane.