Brucey

Thanks for all your replies, definitly have a really good insight into the current cost of eating out , though we never do much of that anyway.
What I was really getting at was when we moved to perth 5 years ago the house we bought was 6 times my salary (4 bed currambine), same house now is 10 \11 times salary. What made oz attractive was the reasonable house prices for us and in a few years our kids. Now I dont mean that we emigrated for cheaper houses but the fact that prices were not crazy like they were at home allowed us get away from the rat race of life back home, the rat race seems to have arrived in Oz.

When house prices go mad life tends to speed up (work harder, less familly time etc), so what made oz special is gone. If oz is special and house prices hold or rise I think it will change the whole fabric of what was attractive about it. I do get the idea that our kids will have to work hard like many before them and buy a house as others have to, but a big part of us moving is to give our kids a better future and moving them to Oz where they will have to buy a house at some point in the future in a market where house prices relative to income are crazy seems like a bad idea. Were lucky as we would have little or no mortgage if we go back but it just doen't seem as attractive as it use to.

Thanks for all the replies its been interesting to read them.

JenniGee

*....yawn....*

Lord_Farquar

I was right then. Your post was just a whinge about the UK.

JAJ

Perth has a cyclical housing market, with extreme swings (both directions) depending on the resources industry. The current upswing may be longer than in the past, but the next resource-based recession will probably bring Perth prices back to relatively "cheap" levels. When this will happen is anyone's guess.

Ultimately house prices can only be sustained by the ability of people to pay for them. Rental values are a better indicator of real value of property.

Brucey

Once again thanks for debate an info good points all and great help in our decision making, apart from Lord whatever your name is, usual sad contribution , get a life. Im not from the uk, lived there about 15 years ago for about a year and like it. Try reading something bofore showing your ignorance.

Nu-Shooz

Steady on...it's an opinion, that's all. Be very bland if we were all sucking each others ahem

joydot

ah, then you'd be in nz

Lord_Farquar

Wind your neck in. It's a messageboard.

My comments were in response to someone that seemed to think food was much cheaper in Aus (which I don't think it is) and used it as an excuse to whinge about the UK.

Try reading something before showing your ignorance.

Nu-Shooz

jensteve

We arrived 6 years ago, house prices had just had a jump, we managed to buy in with a mortgage but if we tried to do the same thing now we would have ended up renting for ever more I reckon.

The min for a house in Perth is I suppose around $350k, the average is more like $500k we could not have even managed the lower amount let alone the average.

Would I change it though, not a chance. Our lifestyle is much better, we both work full time, own 3 cars, have a 4x2 on 5 acres, could I have ever had that in the UK well no. We have both changed profession and are reaping the benefits so thumbs up to Aus but for new people entering work hard and you will get there in the end, yes housing is expensive, shopping is a nighmare, you have a huge mortgage but its the lifestyle your buying.

Jenny

JenniGee

Interesting how you come to that conclusion from my expression of disinterest in your opinion....oh well....no accounting for chronic narcissism I guess

Oh...& since I'm here...my post was clearly about the cost of a meal I had enjoyed in Melbourne & the cost of a typical McMeal here in K*nt. Have I griped about the UK? Have I made any other comparisons about which I have had no personal experience? Do I care about your $7 Big Mac in Sydney? Do I indeed care about your incessant online onanism even....?

ABCDiamond

You mean like this in Woolworths for $4.79


Some people have more money than sense to spend $18 on a cheesecake, unless of course it is something like the cheesecake shop ones that will feed a big family.

rinkerdink

Yeah, understood but i do sympathise with the OP, most people that 'can' make a move to Oz have a skill or trade that gives them a reasonable (at least) quality of life in the UK. While the outdoors and the lifestyle possibilities are appealing (that's why people migrate for the most part) I do have concerns that I'll be skinting myself for the privilege - what i think the OP is looking for is some reassurance that he isn't going to be doing the same. I remember being able to have day's out that cost practically nothing and having packed lunches and picnics in Oz without feeling like a pikey (as I do in the UK)... So aside from house prices, shopping (food, white goods, electronics etc) & crap wages is it still all it's cracked up to be or are we all heading for a miserable existence that spirals down through depression, alcoholism, drug dependance and an early death?

BadgeIsBack

It's not all bad news mate. The sum total of 7 years living in Australia and reading these forums:

Actually, there are several people that do well in Australia.

People with niche skills, outlooks, drives - even a sense of adventure. A mix of people, fair to say. Range from successful tilers out in country QLD to high-income earners in Melbourne's Inner South East. IT bods to diving instructors, and surf rescue people, volunteer firefighters and SES.

People who are quite content to shift down a few gears and live differently than they did in the UK - whether that is a 3x2, 4x2 and a weekend BBQ being quite fulfilling. These people tend to cop it from the people who have an intellectual aversion to Australia's very existence. I can't say I am a big fan of some of Australian living - much of it yes - many of it no. We find by virtue of the way we have set up that we get a view out from within. Bit surreal at times.

People who fare the worst seem to be one of the following:
A self-confessed, but also unverified, high-flyer/career-minded/culture-loving individual. They tend to underline this, but ultimately they are only assessing themselves and what happened to them. We can never know the real extent of their situation in the same way they don't know ours.

People who are marginalised, in low-pay, low responsibility, jobs with little autonomy who seem to be particularly vulnerable to the average way of life in Australia - suburban life, (the worse, even ordinary suburbs) embattled and insular colleagues, acquaintances and neighbours. Others fare better. A well-paid job in the UK with benefits gained over the years translates to a starter-average salary here. What is water off the back for many posters pile up and cause fustration and resentment - hence, for example, problems with bag searching in the supermarket hitting home and that's before they mention the range of groceries.

The price of groceries.
Ever increasing rent hits.
Problems with red tape - some posters in certain sectors and industries won't have noticed this - others report they need a 'license to fart', or retrain, or reattend school. Some posters light their woodburner and put on a jumper - others rue the lack of insulation and standards in older homes and freeze. Some report easy driving - and good fuel economy as a result, others can't believe they now have more than 2 cars and spend all their time at lights on grid systems...was not like this in Derbyshire. There's more..

Lack of broadband choice.
Lack of double glazing.
Birds too noisy.
Lack of internet shopping.
Fruit too big and glossy.
Chicken breast too big, and watery.
Supermaket aisles too narrow.
Books too expensive.
Foodstuffs have the wrong ingredients.
Chocolate is different.
Sun too harsh - that's just the UV to say nothing of the temperature or humidity.
Not enough soccer. If soccer is the biggest participation sport in Australia, why it is not the most watched on TV in the big winter comps?

Some find the people they live amongst plain bizarre and strange. 'The Aussies' do this, 'The Aussies do that'. 'They don't like the Poms you know'.

That's before we get on to homesickness and family, even the dreaded MIL and FIL, and, what the OH says. Must be No 1 and No 2.

It all depends mate!

rinkerdink

Badge,

Thanks a bunch, I do forget that people can be a bit intolerant but i find a broader range of negative stuff on this forum (compared to others) - bracing myself to be told to f@ck off to the other one then! I probably won't now I've said this but hey.

I would put myself firmly in the list of those that enjoy it based on your parameters, can't wait to sip that first ice cold crap beer, get burned within an inch of my life and whine about the supermarkets and officialdom.

You have lifted my day thanks!