Baby75

hello
Just wanted to see if their was any other Irish applying or living in Australia and if yes what do you make of it and is it really better than trying to live in ireland thanks

JohnandMichelle

We're on the Gold Coast sixteen months and loving it..

Baby75

Fair play, we are probably heading up to the sunshine coast direction my husband was over there in April and he really has itchy feet now he was at a stags in the gold coast said it was a lot like las vegas good night life so.
So is the food shopping better and what the clothes shopping like sorry for all the questions
oh did you use an agent to get your visa don't know if we should try that or not

Thanks for replying

Gonnago

DH is Irish - been living with us in Essex for 8 years and we are trying to get to Adelaide or Brissy. IF we dont get in for any reason it is off to not so sunny Donegal for us!

Uuuh Patsy

We are heading to Perth next year. Never been, and can't wait. Seems so far away

Baby75

hi are you Australian your self my husband is a welder/ fabricator and its one of the most sought after trades in Australia we went to the expo in the RDS and my husband was talking to the IMMI and they told him he is in the top 5 sought after trade so you shouldn't have any trouble as long as he has his trade papers it can take longer if he doesn't.

we are heading to brissy our selfs apparently there is loads of work there for welders and great opportunities to set up your own business.

good luck and hopefully Donegal will be a nice place for a holiday instead

Baby75

I know all this waiting it drives you nuts, we are not good on patience are we

andrew63

Must confess, I am a Brit but lived in Ireland for 10 years with my Irish wife (Kildare/Dublin/Wicklow/Wexford). Absoultely loved Ireland. In my view, Oz is a similar lifestyle to Ireland for the 2 days it is summer there. People are just as great (the majority of course!)
There is an irish forum but no so busy www.irishozforum.com

Good luck

Andrew

Mid Lifer

I was born in sunny Battersea,London but my Mum and Dad are from sunny Donegal.I spent all my summer hols there as a kid.The long hot summer of '76 was like Brissy weather.There were even jellyfish just off the beach.

JohnandMichelle

No - ask away - glad to help. Food shopping - you can get most things here. Decent sausages took a while to find and I miss McCambridge's brown bread ... Clothes shopping - okay for kids and guys, but women's clothes are another story - you'd miss Penneys and Dunnes - but, believe me, the upsides definitely outweigh any downsides like missing family, etc. I'm lucky because my brother's here and, hopefully, my cousin and family will be moving here soon. Australia's a great place to live and, personally, I think the Gold Coast is the best place to live in Australia ....

No - we didn't use an agent - I think most people don't really need one, but only if (a) your case/work history is particularly unusual/complicated or if neither one of you is used to a lot of paperwork.

Haven't been to the Sunshine Coast yet, so can't comment on that. Best of luck with it all. Michelle xx

Gonnago

nope im an Essex girl

Big Galah

Erm, only since about 1795...

It's the most Irish country outside of Ireland (just pips the US) with about 30% of the population claiming some Irish ancestry. I can believe this going by the number of Irish surnames I encounter.

IMO, despite the distance, you'd feel less an outsider here than you would in Britain.

I've been here 3 years (grew up in North County Dublin by haven't lived there for many years).

Best of luck of you decide to come.

Big.

Baby75

that's good you are enjoying it how do you find meeting people and making friends. our paper work is fairly straight forward so hopefully it will all run smoothly . we have friends living in Alexandra headland and my brother is in nz at the mo but is heading over to Australia soon my sister is going to follow me over and my husbands parents are going to come and stay for a while so that will help i hope im worried about missing home as long as the kids are happy it should be good, it will be so nice to see more sun it has been raining every day for nearly 5 weeks and its meant to be summer oh how will i live with out penny's:lol il be getting my sister to get stuff for me i think

Baby75

Guess we are loved were ever we go thats a bonus any way we are diffidently going ive been reading through all the other threads and have noticed some people find it hard to make close friends how did you find it we have friends living in the sunshine coast and they never had a problem i was wondering if the Australians take to some expats better than others like does it all depend on were your from im sorry im not being clear really don't want to offend any one here

how have you found that

gidxg03

Were from Ireland (Galway). Just got our visa last week. Heading to Melbourne in December. Jesus I'm scared!!