Elaine & Nigel

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

stacey and jordan

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 Good Luck


Stacey xx

THE TURNER CLAN

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

stumpysean

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!

the4ofus

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

devilishdean

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

karm

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

grahampaula

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

4500 Times

We did exactly the same

Spikey

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

suesk

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

deb&si

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

Elaine & Nigel

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

suesk

Hi Elaine

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

Sue

liverpool girl

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.