paulry

Blimey, lighten up. Next you (the current "collective") will be saying she needs shock therapy to deal with her warm rosy glow!

Beoz

For me, I just got all Englanded out. I needed a change of scenery. I was getting tired of the long winters, the Tube, and living in a small house. All these things I have in opposite in Sydney. Mind you, there are plenty of things in Sydney that will eventually tire me out. Reporting to a bunch of Indians at work will be must first temper tantrum.

jad n rich

Cherry I did list what I liked about brisbane.

I would ignore advice that if you were moving to somewhere else in OZ everyone would be happy there. More realistic would be there are bits of any OZ city that people love/dislike, no matter where they live.

I too moved here with an aussie, and I wish had this forum pre move. I didnt know about the extreme weather, not in bris, not in melb, all I heard was 'sunshine and oranges' somewhere over the bloody rainbow it was so freaking marvellous. You know aussies overseas, a bit homesick and the motherland is elevated to heights of paradise only one tripping out could achieve.

Hes not tripping out now, he moans a lot about it. Living cost, rip off prices, way too freaking hot, traffic, yep he commutes in brisbane I just tell him to suck it up he wanted to move here. His family are really awful too 8 kids, biggest bun fight you ever saw over 4 kids cutting the other 4 of of the will. They were the salt of the earth when we lived in the UK, oh yeah...

Main thing I would be cautious of, moving here with a aussie is as someone mentioned the kids, once in aus, with aus dad, in the hopefully terribly unlikely event of divorce guess where the courts will have them stay, so do think about it, if you move here, be prepared to stay.

I would also negotiate the yearly airfare back. I realise by now you think negative old cow. Not so. But to me a trip out every year was essential to my sanity, if your close to family that might be what you want. Its so expensive particuarly in the 6 weeks hols which falls at christmas. So my 15k a year was written in to get out. It could have sent us broke but hell or high water I needed it. Kids went to state schools, savings there to trip, they turned out alright for state education anyway. Paramedic student, Electrician, and Aviation industry. Wonderful, but trust me they went through a lot of crap before they got those jobs, and a lot of crap even in those jobs, youth unemployment is very high here, its no walk in the park for kids here either.

LittleButton

I live in Melbourne, I have been here 2 and a half years, and came here with my Australian citizen husband. There is a lot I like about Australia, but a lot I don't like too. Not so different from how I felt, and still feel about London. Nowhere is paradise. The following is a bit of a jumble of the good and the bad from my experience.

I desperately miss my family, but I will say that it has got easier for me, and homesickness is something I experience only occasionally now and it can strike at the most unexpected times. In the first year I couldn't settle and was often distraught, mainly because my family took it very badly that I was leaving. My sister, who I am very close to, had her first baby the day I emigrated, born two weeks late, while I was in the taxi on the way to the airport (as if the day wasn't difficult enough!). She's since had another baby. Facetime is excellent, and I have managed to build a good relationship with these two tiny people, which is better than nothing, but not the same as being able to see them often. I am extremely lucky in that my husband travels a lot for work and builds up so many FF points that I get to go home at least a couple of times a year and that costs us nothing. However, bear in mind that annual leave here is 20 days, and many companies expect you to take leave at Christmas (2 weeks at my company!) which means I take a fair amount of unpaid leave each year to live the quality of life I want to - which works for us but wouldn't work for everyone. Also flights back to the UK are expensive. Flights anywhere from here are expensive. Australia is massive and there isn't the variety of places you can go for a weekend away like there is in Europe, with much in close proximity and cheap flights. I miss the culture, variety and history of Europe. Australia is a long way from anywhere.

Groceries are expensive. Housing is expensive. Cars are expensive. Cost of living = generally expensive. I still do much of my shopping for clothes etc. from companies in the UK, many of them offer free delivery to here and easy returns. I find the quality and price generally better than here.

The climate is definitely very much better in Melbourne than in the UK. It is just beautiful in the summer, and never gets as cold in the winter as London (I noticed ice on windscreens once last winter). However! It gets dark earlier and I miss those long summer evenings we had in London. We don't get the humidity here, but we do get 4 distinct seasons. We are firmly into Autumn now and it is 26 degrees today and gloriously sunny. I absolutely do not miss the long winters in London.

My commute to work is miles better here. I live closer to the city here than in London, and I'm right on the bay. I can cycle to work on a safe off-road cycle path all along the bay in 20 minutes. Having my morning start with an incredible view of the city ahead of me and the waves crashing a few feet away from me is glorious. The sky here too, is beyond beautiful. I feel like we get to see more of it than when in London and I can't really explain what I mean by that. The sunsets are plentiful and stunning. At the end of a working day in summer, we will often take our supper down to the beach and watch the sunset. We lead much more active lives here (we cycle, run, kayak and sail regularly), but yes you do have to be very careful of the sun. I do not go out on any day of the year without factor 50+ on, and this is Melbourne. The sun is very, very strong.

We have made excellent friends in Australia and are lucky in this respect. I have found it easier to make new friends here. We are both very fortunate to have found excellent jobs, and I have worked my way up to a far more senior position here than I possibly would have done in London. It feels safer here than in London. I am far less aware of crime, I rarely think about it; in inner-city south-east London it was a constant presence. That does not mean that there is no crime here.

I don't regret coming here, and the experience enriches my life in so many ways. Will I live here forever? Probably not. But then I probably won't go back to London now either.

KJCherokee

You want a positive view? Here's mine.

After 9 years of living on a modern 'little boxes' housing estate just west of Reading and commuting daily to work in a factory in Slough my (then) wife and I decided to emigrate to Australia. We were granted PR visas (no idea what type they were in 1982) and arrived here in January 1983 with our two children aged 5 & 3.

I have loved the place ever since. We started off living in Adelaide where we eventually bought a house in a cul-de-sac on a quarter-acre block (1012 m2): no air conditioning which made it uncomfortable for maybe 5-10 days each summer. The kids had plenty of space to play, the surrounding country was varied and interesting and easy to get to for weekend outings, and my job got me out into the real outback of Australia which I have been in love with ever since.

After I got divorced (which had nothing to do with the emigation) I moved to Brisbane and I have lived in either Adelaide or Brisbane ever since. Our house in Brisbane (I am now married to an Australian) again did not have air conditioning (we installed it last year) and once again I would say that the house was only uncomfortable for 5-10 days each year.

Do I love Australia? you bet I do. Do I think there are negatives? of course there are. Brisbane rush hour traffic is appalling, but probably only by local standards. When it rains (in summer!) it can come sheeting down, but it doesn't usually last for long.

I've been here so long that I've got past comparing prices between here and the UK, so I have no idea whether it is cheaper in one place or the other.

I love the outback of Australia - to me that is the real Australia. One western city is very much like another in terms of having a CBD, suburbs with schools, shopping centres and residential developments: whether it's Brisbane or Basingstoke the differences are outweighed by the similarities. It's only when you get outside the major cities that you realise what makes Australia unique. And in most cases the outback starts within a 1-2 hour drive from the city centre.

Come to Australia if you want to experience something different - you won't be disappointed as long as you are prepared to go out and look for it, because it isn't in the metropolitan areas.

paulry

Yep, satisfy your wanderlust and enjoy the rollercoaster ride!

Amazulu

Do what you gotta do - make the decision and live with it

Opinions on BE don't mean shit and are like assholes

Good luck

MountainHiker

All first world countries have a massive list of pro's and con's. There isn't one place that is going to be best for everyone. I've met people who moved thinking how great it will be to be shocked that the things they disliked about country A is just as bad as country B.

Having experienced a lot of other countries you need to make a big list of your pros and cons and figure if its a right move or not.

chris955

Its why I used to get annoyed when someone was listing their reasons for leaving the UK and everything on the list was at least as bad in Australia. I can understand why people do it, they desperately want their new country not to have those issues and some amazingly seem to block it out when they get there. I remember someone a few years ago said they couldn't wait to get away from the graffiti
There is lots to love about Australia and there are things I miss but it's important anyone goes there with eyes wide open and realises it is as you say a 1st world country with all the same problems as any other 1st world country and a few more.

paulry

You're like a dog with a bone!

I think Cherry has established by now that her perceptions of Australia and how they will benefit her are different to several others who came here before her.

There is no one size fits all. We all come from different circumstances and settle here into different circumstances. Some might achieve their expectations while others do not. To continuously bang on, contradicting anyone who dares to say they are after a better life is as sad as it is unhelpful. It's squeezing the life out of this once vibrant forum

CherryUK

Thank you Paulry. I appreciate that.

I certainly don't have rose tinted glasses. My brain is full of reasons not to go and Ive tried weighing up the pros and cons so many times. It's been quite upsetting for me to read so many negative responses and has made me question if there's actually any good in the country so the recent positive emails have been helpful! Thank you everyone.

It's been a very hard decision to decide to move over and I'm petrified! Im not a fool and am aware the sunshine and beaches of Australia don't equal an amazing life. Australia isn't what it used to be with cheap housing, cheap cost of living and it doesn't mean i'll be "living the dream" Im scared (read as petrified!) of how hard I will find it to start off, the pressure it will put on my relationship, how I'll be homesick and miss my friends and family and all the other things about the uk one takes for granted. All those things are at the forefront of my mind but I'm prepared to give it a go and take the plunge. But when I've been reading so many negatives about Australia and very few pros has really made me question what we are doing. I've why the hell are people living there if its so bad?!

I understand people are trying to be helpful and don't want me to blindly move. But just hearing negatives again and again is very soul destroying. A balanced email of the good and the bad is what helps. And thank you so much to those who have provided this. X

To be honest ive found this forum more upsetting than helpful and I realise people are probably getting frustrated with my replies! I just think some replies need to be more thought out, to be honest, holistic and to try and reassure and help people rather than pee all over Australia. There's good there's bad. There not just bad.

And to say same shit different bucket I don't agree with. I love life. My life's not shit. The UKs not shit. And I hope I will be saying the same when we move to Oz.

Thank you everyone who's helped. X

chris955

I have always said and I will say it again there is plenty to love about Australia and as long as people come with their eyes open then they will be fine. I have also always said that if the itch is there then scratch it, nothing is forever. I know there are some that like to paint me as a hater of Australia but that really couldnt be further from the truth as those who actually know me would confirm.
Give it a go, life is short.

northernbird

You can't compare country against country, you can only compare your own old area against your own new area. Yes the same things happen in all countries around the world but you can live in another country and not experience the things you did in the area in your old country. That's my experience. the UK isn't bad as a whole for me, just my old area. My new area is far better.

chris955

Exactly what I have said many many times.

roaringmouse

Interesting how you view yourself as providing some kind of balance on the Australia forums...