OZSpur

Hello all,
Been a voyeur on the site since we got here, mainly to see how other people are finding Australia.
Been in brisbane for 8 months now and here are my thoughts:

Good points:
Outdoor lifestyle; gets the kids away from the TV, PS2 etc, my two couldn't swim in England but here they have learnt in 3 months.
Friendly people; most will stop and say hello in the street. They also seem to be more trusting and believe you! Massive change from London.
Half hours drive to some of the best beaches I've ever been to (sunshine coast).
1st home buyers bonus (even though I owned in UK), baby bonus. We have bought a 4bed house with pool for the price of a 2bed flat where we used to live
The sun shines more often than not, winter here and still 22 in the day time (No more buying anti-freeze for the jam jar!)


Bad points:
Work: money is crap, your previous experience counts for absolute FA, aussies would rather employ aussies than us British.
Prices; I have found almost everything equal or as in the case of food, more expensive than at home, this shocked me immensely coming from London.
Schools: Rubbish! If I could afford to send mine private I would.
Social life: I enjoy the BBQ's and pool parties, but how much would I love to find a decent local boozer for a pint, away from pokie machines, TAB and food
Also find it hard trying to fill my time at weekends
Racism: Considering Australia was founded and developed by immigrants, the aussies attitudes amaze me. Not just racist to aboriginies, but just about anyone, that includes us! The constant 'POM' reference even on the TV, I find shocking and harmful

Overall we are quite happy here and we have a lifestyle that was impossible in London; but the way I feel at the moment, we will get our citizenship in 2 years time and then return home. Therefore giving the children the chance to come back if they wish to when they are older.

All the best

phoenixinoz

Hi OzSpur and welcome to the site......... as a non voyeur

Enjoyed reading your post as it's great to get feedback from various people.

This is a balanced post pointing out the good and not so good about living in Aus from your own perspective. And that's what it's all about. Different viewpoints...

Great post. Cheers

jond

Hi we have been here a similar amount of time and I have to agree with quite a few of your points,

Food, I agree every bit as expensive but on the whole I find it better quality.

Work, I found that once I got into work then my experience was appreciated, but hard until then.

Pubs are rubbish, I suppose it depends if you used to enjoy them in the UK or not I did and struggle to find a decent one out here.

The racism I have not really had that I am called a POM a lot but it is always light heart and I always give as much as I get. I do get fed up with the constant reference to the English weather, my BIL and myself played golf the other Saturday and it was quite damp and misty if we heard "you must be used to this its like an English summer" once we heard half a dozen times. We have a standard reply we come from England not Finland.

We enjoy it here and have no plans about moving back but its different for me as all my family live here.

Good luck.

John

Mrs Jackaroo

Good honest post and I must admit that I agree with most of your comments. I cant comment on the employment side of things as I dont work at the moment but the rest of it is pretty much spot on (in my experience). I havent however experienced the racist thing. I went out on a night last night with a gang of girls and was called POM most of the night but that really doesnt bother me at all. In fact I actually quite like it!! It was either that or have an Aussie flag draped over me all night (it was a fund raiser for a local footie club so everyone was dressed in Aussie colours) and I wasnt having any of that. I sat proud with my Welsh flag on my hat dressed in red and green!!

jubily

I agree with most things that you have said. We came over here on a skilled visa, my husband is a bricklayer. He had to prove so much when we were in England to get our visa. He has been working as a brickie for 22 years and has built shops,offices,flats and houses,amongst other things. He had to show all city and guilds cert and other references. We didn't mind that but when it comes to him working here his qualifications don't mean a thing. We have found the Aussies better on the sunshine coast(where we are now living) to Toowoomba. The Aussies seem to think that England is really expensive, some things are, but other things are more expensive here. Anyway we will get our citizenship and then think of what we will do then. Anyway good post and I'm glad other people think the same as us.
Julie

Vash the Stampede

Brilliant!

mark937

Fantastic and honest post, very well balanced. Must admit I kinda 'gave in' and accepted I was a POM! I even refer to myself as a POM. I don't see it as an insult. The only time I found it offensive was while I was watching Big Bro the other night - it was the context they used it in, something like "yes its pommie night, where the english beat and punished our ancestors, sending them from dark and dreay place with crap food to a land of sunshine". Well something like that!

ElshaUK

Honest post!

I lived there for 16 years and used the word 'pom' frequently - I also didn't mind being referred to as a pom (although I'd lost most of my accent, having grown up there).

My OH was a little worried about racism in so much as he found Perth to not be as multi cultural as he'd have liked - he is Indian, although having lived in Northolt, back in the 80's - He has experienced racism in this country too. He has been to Australia 5 times and apart from a few aboriginal's coming up and calling him Brother (we laughed about it later) and a few other light hearted comments, he has had no bother.

Last time we went, he kept saying 'There's one' and in the end I was like 'WHAT?????' and he whispered 'There's another non white person'! He was excited to see he wasn't completely alone!

EDITED TO ADD COMMENT FROM OH - I can understand people's points of view about it being racist, in that there does seem to be a layer of passive racism (ie not out and out hostile racism) BUT you will get that in places here in the UK where you are in a minority. I should add here, that I grew up in West London which is extremely multi-cultural.

OZSpur

Bricklayer myself! Your husbands firm don't need a good trowel do they!!! I have to say I think the standard of workmanship here is poor compared to home. They are more interested in getting the job done quickly than the finished craftmanship. Half the blokes I work with wouldn't last 5 mins at home on a building site, theyr'e just not up to it

hedgehog

What do you do in Oz??. Does that mean that after you get citizenship you won't be returning?. Hope the time up until you get citizenship is better for you and the family. Enjoy the sunshine.

Poppy

Hi

Good post. We are not there yet, plan to go in October. My OH is a bricklayer by trade, although he is a general builder here and has been for years doing lofts etc., but he will be back on the trowel in Oz. is the money that bad? we plan to go to NSW, maybe a northern suburb of Sydney or a bit higher up, we are not sure yet.

All the things you have said, are all the things I really do worry about, wages, cost of living because if the wages are lower and the food is the same etc then surely it must be a struggle? or maybe the fact that the overall lifestyle is better that it makes up for it? and especially schools, one of the main reasons for this move is to give the kids a better life, so I'd hate to think the schools were bad although I'm sure like the UK, there is good and bad in every area, its just finding the right one?

I must admit, I was thinking well we'll get the citizenship and if things are OK, brilliant, we'll stay and if not, come home as we may feel it would suit us better later in life or the kids can go back later too if they want to, I'm keeping an open mind!

I do worry about my OH going back on the trowel as he has a bad back which seems to flair up every couple of years and it's not going to help him at all and he has worked for himself for the past 11 years and I think he is going to find it hard and if the money is crap too, then it will be even harder! he is just thinking of how is stress will be reduced, not working for himself, dealing with customers that would rather buy a plasma tv than pay a tradesman for top quality work etc etc and then VAT, etc. I hope it does work out and he loves doing that, but it is back breaking work and must be more so in the heat although like he says its better than in the freezing cold!

Good luck to you, I hope it works out well.

All the best

joeyb

Hey, we should start a club (Pommie Brickies in Oz) as my husband's a bricklayer too and we are due to head over to Brisbane/Sunshine Coast in January! Do you need any one to make up a gang? LOL!
We have heard that the workmanship is pretty poor over there too. Did you need any special licences to start work or can you get on site straight away? (got to get him earning those dollars asap).

Cheers
Jo

OZSpur

I used to work for myself at home doing all building work not just bricklaying; so going back to working in a gang just throwing bricks up all day is pretty boring and mind numbing. It is better than working in the cold but believe me the summer we just had, working outside everyday in it nearly killed me! Starting at 6.30am by 6.45 I am covered head to toe in sweat and its extremely un-comfortable and you flake out at home by 7pm. Not much time to enjoy your new lifestyle! I want to work on my own again here but I have to go through the whole licence bit, having my city+guilds tickets assessed etc (I have done all this already to get here!) If I get the licence it will just be bricklaying work. And of course no gaurantee of finding work. You don't need a licence to work for someone else.
I'm looking to get out of bricklaying ASAP and do something else.
The money is approx $30 an hour, why they pay by the hour I don't know! Expect one 40min break a day about 10.30 before the whip comes out!
If any expats want to get a gang together I'm all ears!
Knowing what I do know there is no way I would have come over and left everything behind at home, but we made the choice so got to stick with it until we get the citizenship.

joeyb

Thanks Ozspur for your honesty.
We have all these worries about the heat, the pay, the licenses and ultimately what we are going to be leaving at home. :scared:
I think it is a case of hubbie will bricklay for a while and then hopefully find something else to do.
He is away at the moment but I will get him to PM you as I know he would like to talk to you and find out a bit more.

Cheers
Jo

Poppy

Thanks for your reply. I got the OH to read it as I think he has rose tinted specs on and always says I am being negative. it's not that, just I want him to go out there with eyes wide open knowing the pitfalls and that way, he will be prepared for anything.

I have said he should think of doing something else to do, but we'll see. At least we are going to keep our house and rent it out to cover our mortgage and then there will be a reasonable amount left over each month which will add to his earnings although the tax will come off that and probably leave not much else!! I am quite happy to work too, its just our 3 yr old, who is 4 in August and has been in full time state nursery for the past year, will not be able to start full time in Oz for another year and a half so I can't work unless we pay a fortune in childcare!

$30 per hour is pretty bad, equivalent to around a £100 a day here! but that's without a licence I suppose. Do you know what the pay is like if you have a licence?

A guy who we knew from up North is now living in Perth and he was a chippie with his own business in the UK, he has gone back to the tools, but I heard through the grapevine that he has been given a licence to build three houses so we are going to get in touch with him and ask about it as my OH would love to do that if he could. This guy has only been there for around 3 months too! If I hear, I'll let you know.

Anyway, thanks again for your experiences, it really does help and I hope that it works out either way for you.

Cheers