Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hi there
Family and I have made the decision to go hopefully early 2008 (awaiting skilled assessment for 136 visa at present )

We were thinking of going out there for say 2-3 weeks in Oct this year (once second child is here!) for a taster, but is it worthwhile as after all this would be holiday? and i think you would not know the real deal until living out there properly, working ect child in school, renting home ect

Any thoughts? or advice please?, on above plus experiences of anyone who has emigrated without visting previously? Is it worth putting things on hod till we have been to Oz?

many thanks, Queensland Bound Matt Lowe + Family

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

3 weeks could be useful if its spent looking at housing, schools, medical care, cost of raising kids, watching the news/current affairs, rush hour traffic, food prices, wages etc.

Not much use if you plan doing several theme parks:rofl: , dining out 3 times a day and keep converting australian living expenses back to pounds which will be a dream currency once you live here.

Can be V useful or a complete waste of time. But any visit is probably a lot better than becoming yet another family who discover its not really for them a few months AFTER they have emigrated. Costly experience at best.

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hey Matt,

We have just submitted our 136 modl visa and have never been to Oz. we are a family of 6 and have a lot of friends and family who have holidayed there. Some which live there, we have researched it as much as we can on the net and have just made our minds up to go... Might be a bad move but seeing it more like an adventure, we adapt pretty well to change so think we will have a good chance..

I hear it's about 50/50 anyway!

We decided to not waste money as we dont have a lot anyway! Bit of a gamble but hey ho, gonna have a go!!

S-j and Si :thumbup:

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

we arrived last august without ever visiting australia...............:ohmy:

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

I am another crazy one who will go without looking! (a bit like the opposite of window shopping - good for a female!)
Was involved in the travel industry, however...I feel as though I have been as I talked about it every day for nearly 3 years!

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Yes we did. Sold our house and shipped all our stuff before ever seeing the place.

But we did watch a few episodes on Neighbours and home and away before we decided to move :)

We figured you can only know a place by living there, a visit would only waste time and money. We wanted to move away from the area we lived in anyway.

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

We decided the £8 - 10k that it would cost for us to visit would be better spent on setting up our new life. It did too, we more or less furnished our new house with brand new stuff when we got here for that.

Not regretted it at all. :)

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Good advice everyone!! I'm not too mental then?:rofl:

s-j x

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

We came last February without ever having visited either [although my wife lived in New Zealand for a while 10 years ago].

Having said that, both of us have lived abroad before, so the move itself to be honest held no fear for us at all. [The way I looked at it was, if I we move 100 miles or 10,000 miles, it the same logistics of selling the house, packing up, moving, new jobs, new schools etc].

Also my wife had a job lined up before we left and I got one very quickly.

A visit will give you a flavour of life, but it's not realistic as you will be in 'holiday mode' all the time. You won't have to go to work, pay bills, sort out childcare, find somewhere to live etc etc etc.

If you are unsure what part of OZ you want to live, then yes it would be a good idea.

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Nope - me too - never set foot on Oz soil and I shipped up and shipped out :)

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

We arrived here on the 8th February. Had never been to Australia have no family here but had one couple who we had met twice in the UK before they left last year.(Must say they have been a brilliant help) Also the people on this site have been a massive help as well.
So far all we can say is that its the best decision we have made just wish we had done it sooner. The girls started school last week and have fitted in quite easily, OH started work within a week of being here.
One and only down side - waiting for furniture to arrive!
Sitting on deck chairs are not as good as a settee;)

Good luck with whatever you decide. Have a reccie or not its up to you.

Lynne :)

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Us too, we came without ever setting foot in the place before, me hubs and two kiddies 3 and 8yrs. I wish we had of come on a reccie first, although at the time we were of the same opinion as many on here, the money was needed to set up in Oz. We've been here 8 months and are just about settling in (me more than hubs) he's fine! of course! But not sure what we would have done if came on reccie, really don't know if we would be here or not, at least like this we don't have a choice but to try and make a go of it.

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

We moved here in November 2005 without visiting first as we felt we didnt want to use up part of our available cash. When we did arrive we spent half the time setting up our new lives and half having a well deserved break.

I wouldnt change a thing, I think it worked for us, as we dropped ourselves in the deep end and had to make it work. I don't think we would have had a realistic view of things had we been here on a 'holiday/reccie'.

Julia

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hi we've never been just waiting for tra results hoping to go on a 136. And hope to be in Brisbane by this time next year.

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

we arrived beginning of Oct 2006, we had never visited before either!

So far so good, we are over in Perth WA, had a bit a a hicupy time the first 2-3 months,

But now

All's good, bought our own house, we are both working (admittedly i'm doing supply in schools, No i dont teach) Girls settled really well into school!
Things are now looking up

I won't lie and say everything is so s**t hot out here, but it aint too bad either :thumbup:
The first 2-3 months were the hardest for us (as adults, the kids settled straight away) but now, its becoming a way of life for us!!! :thumbup:

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hi All,

Thank God to see we are not the only family that has decided to move to Oz without ever being there, we are in the frame of mind the money spent on a holiday will be put to better use when we finally move there.

Waiting on our TRA result (2nd attempt)

Elaine

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Don't know if this helps, but my friend spent thousands on a reccie trip to Adelaide before emigrating, as that is where she wanted to go. Whilst there she decided that Adelaide wasn't for her (money well spent for her) and ended up going to Brisbane.

Where me on the other hand had no reccie trip. Sold everything and moved to the Gold Coast just on the research i had done on British Expats, and i love it and saved myself a fortune. My friend is now moving down to the Gold Coast :) It worked out well for me, all i can say is if you are not going to do a reccie trip just make sure you do a lot of research on the area to make sure it's right for you. There are loads of BE members who will help you on your way.

I'm off to finish the bottle of Aussie wine :D Good Luck


Stacey xx

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hi there,

Yes we too have never been and are hoping to be in Queensland by the end of the year. We were introduced to my mum's friends who emigrated 23 years ago (they have never looked back). Their words were "don't think about it, just do it", so thats exactly what we are doing:) We would have loved to have visited first, but like others have said, we will need the money when we get there.

Lisa T

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hi, we're looking at coming out end Nov time for 3 weeks to do a recky trip. We went to Perth last year but decided it wasn't for us.

Don't you think it's important to go to the country/place where you'll be spending the rest of your lives? Letting the kids see where they'll be going instead of just up sticks and leaving. Children don't understand the logisitics of it all by going on this expats site!!!!

I know my 2 boys will be excited once they've visited schools and actually seen where they're going to go. I'm not sure how they'd settle in without doing that first......just my opinion of course!

I also look at it from the other perspective......you wouldn't move to an area in this country without going there first would you.?.....I know it's a whole cost thing but we're talking about the biggest decision of your lives, I think the money is well worth it to make sure you know what you're doing......at the end of the day, for alot of us, kids are involved too. It's too important to make rash decisions when there are others involved!

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Have never been before altho OH backpacked there 10 years ago. We (2 girls, aged 12 and 4) hope to be there by christmas - fingers crossed.

Lynn

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hi,
we are moving around the brisbane area in the next few months and have also never been. I have lived abroad before and feel you never really get an idea about a place until you are actually living there.
We did by some DVD's initially of Ebay which gave us some great info on living in Aus. I can really recomend them as my son (16) found it very useful to be able to get a glimpse of every day life before he would comit himself.
You can get them on www.livingdownunder.co.uk
Good Luck,
Andy:thumbup:

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

hi
i have never been to australia but i decided to go anyway hopefully going in the next few months on my 136.
Im going to adelaide because of the free meet and greet,as im going on my own (with dog), i dont know anyone over there so thats why i opted for this way,i may change place once i get to adelaide but i will not know this till i land

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hi there matt and family , we have never been but looks like we will have to go in may to validate our visa because the house sale is draging it,s heels good look to you all in the same boat :)

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

We did exactly the same

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

We had never been to Oz before coming to Melbourne last November. No regrets about not doing a reccie - I don't think it would have helped at all as we would have been in a holiday frame of mind which is different from living in a place.

We did research as much as poss beforehand though. My mum is an Aussie (though from WA and has lived in UK for 40+years) and my SIL & BIL live here so they helped us find our feet in the first few weeks.

We couldn't really afford a holiday/reccie here for the 4 of us, it was better for us to use the money setting up our new lives :)

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hi Elaine & Nigel
Good luck with your second attempt. I agree with you totally that the money is going to be better spent when you arrive for good and besides i cant stand flying absolutely dreading the flight but excited to see what its like the other end. What visa are you going out on? And where are you hoping to go?

We have (2 girlz 14 & 6) me & oh hope to go to Manly or thereabouts.

Sue:thumbup:

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

hi we moved he in november never been before with two kids we live on the sunshine coast kids are17@15 boy @girl both have settled in to school well pm.me if you need mooe in fo

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hi Sue

We will be going on a 136 hubby is a Baker so he's on the MODL we have 2 kids, girl 11 and a boy 10.

So far we are planning to go to the Gold Coast area tho it will just depend on where OH gets a job.

Elaine

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hi Elaine

Were going on 136 OH mechanical engineer. same here on job front though.

Sue:thumbup:

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

We arrived in Sydney on a 457 visa last June having never visited Oz before and I just loved the place the minute I stepped off the plane. As we were going down the pacific highway in the taxi to our apartment on the north shore, I was hit by how green it was (in the middle of winter), the clean streets and the blue skies. There are a few things like the supermarkets that I have had to get used to (I still prefer UK supermarkets) but overall I love it here. I was expecting some great culture shock but as it was, I didn't really find it that different culturally from the UK. Sydney is just beautiful and I feel very fortunate to live here and have no regrets abouts not visiting beforehand.

Re: Anyone emigrated to Oz without ever visted there?
 

Hi, bit of a mixed bag for us. My wife has worked and lived in Oz before about 10 years ago, however all on the East Coast (mostly Queensland). I have never been myself, and we are going on a 136 to Perth (we've a couple of friends there).

We look at it as a great big adventure and in the worst case scenario if it wasn't for us we could always move back to UK.

Denis. :thumbup: