Chris&Jaime

Myself, OH and our 2 older children have a PR visa which has been validated and expires in Nov 2012, now here comes the dilemma/problem...
The move to oz was originally OH idea, so I did all the paperwork etc and we validated in May 08....then the recession hit!
I still very much want to go (most likely Brisbane) but OH is less keen (but says he'll go for me) due to the fact we will probably loss a fortune on the house and there's no guarantee of jobs when we get there (he's a plasterer, I'm a project engineer).
I've got a chance of getting redundancy which would give us a bit of money to pay for flights etc and means we could possibly keep the house and rent it out.
Another little problem we have is that we now have a beautiful 4 month old boy that will need his own visa should we decide to go.

So one question that keeps me awake at night is whether oz is as expensive as we think having read some of the posts on here?

Apologies if I've missed anything and please don't shout

Jaime x

Bermudashorts

I think it is absurd to worry about not finding work. I cannot believe that two adults with careers would go to Australia and never find work. Of course you will. I should not think a tradesperson in Brisbane would have too much difficulty either, you should point your husband to recent news stories.

Don't sell the house, rent it out. Many of us that moved in the last year or so went for that option. I didn't like it at first but am used to the idea now.

If you are going ot give this a try, doing it now might be a good time whilst your son is young. Then you could come back if it doesn't work without messing up his schooling.

I find accommodation expensive, takes up a lot of our income, although we were admittedly extravagant with the house we chose and will probably move when the lease is up. Other than that it is swings and roundabouts, we don't worry about comparing each and every item.

mvagusta

As Bermudashorts says finding work shouldn't be a problem due to the lower unemployment in Oz.

Is Oz expensive, it depends on who you speak too. I've just read a post on a different site and the person thinks that some things are dearer and somethings are cheaper although that was Melbourne. If you comparing like for like and converting using the current exchange rate then yes it is more expensive. The crux of the matter is that this will only affect money you exchange into $aud as you will be earning oz dollars when working.

Australian wages tend to be better than the Uk equivelent for most jobs anyway so that makes up for some of the added expense. Of the expats that I have spoken too every one of them has either the same standard of living or a better standard of living.

Chris&Jaime

Thanks for your replies, just got to decide on the redundancy before next fri which is the deadline

I do feel like every time he agrees to give it a go it's me that finds things that might hold us back, what I do know is that I don't want to regret not at least giving it a try.

eddie007

The opporotunity of giving it a go on a PR visa may never come again... Dont live with regrets...

spottydog

An old saying "You can only regret something you haven't done".

The question for you should probably be will you spend your life wondering what could have been or will you be happy with you life as is it if continues?

Max&Ozzy

[QUOTE=mvagusta;9147710]Is Oz expensive, it depends on who you speak too. I've just read a post on a different site and the person thinks that some things are dearer and somethings are cheaper although that was Melbourne. If you comparing like for like and converting using the current exchange rate then yes it is more expensive. The crux of the matter is that this will only affect money you exchange into $aud as you will be earning oz dollars when working.

QUOTE]

To be honest I think you really need to be earning the dollars and spending them on life's expenses before you can really qualify to answer; and please no offense intended! Personally I feel like my dollars are flying out of my hands all over the place and I no longer feel like a $50 note is a handsome fella in my wallet. I've begun to think that Aussies feel like they're quite well off, which seams dangerous because everyone wants a bit of the gravy train and so the prices go up and up. A few yrs ago in the uk I used to love a quick bacon sandwich for only a couple of pounds. Bugger me if I can't find a simple equivalent here for less than a $5 and I've travelled over 80,000 km's all over this lovely country testing plenty.

I think you'll find it more expensive than you are hoping it will be but that's not to say you'll regret doing it.

elice_in_oz

A few years ago, a couple of £ were about $5 at that time's exchange rate. Just because the £ has plummeted (or the $ sky rocketed - depends which side of the fence you're on ), does not mean a bacon sandwich is more expensive in Oz. If you keep comparing £ to $, you'll never get anywhere (as has been pointed out before me by hundreds of BE posters ). Unless you are going to live on money brought from the UK and not on Aussie wages, it is a pointless exercise.

It is very much down to your perception of what a currency is worth in the currency you are familiar with. Years ago, before the €, the £ was hovering around 10FRF. Every time I went to the Uk to visit I would find everything horribly expensive. When I started living in the UK, earning and spending £, I did not notice the difference so much any more. When we moved here with an exchange rate of $2.40 to £1, things seemed very cheap.

Now, it all seems very expensive because we have 2 kids, a mortgage and a car, things we didn't have when we moved Nothing to do with the exchange rate! Some things have gone up in cost of course, just like they have in Europe, but that's the way things go, ain't it?

mvagusta

[QUOTE=Max&Ozzy;9149076] No offence taken and I'll be earning dollars very shortly.

Your not comparing like for like as alot can happen in a few years. A proper comparison would be the cost of a bacon sarnie in oz a couple of years ago.

The simple fact of the matter is if you think it's expensive then don't buy it unless it's a necessity. If enough people started to do this then retailers would start to wonder why their sales and profits were down.