Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Hi ! Would appreciate any views on this subject as currently feeling very disillusioned with this country.Is the grass greener on the other side?

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Hi Cal :)

The answer is really a question.

It may or may not be greener on the other side but that will depend on what you are looking for.

What is it you want from life that you feel UK is failing to give you ?

Once you can answer that, then you can investigate if indeed Aus can offer you better or different. :)

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

You've just opened a big can of worms with a very valid question and you'll get lots of different opinions.

You can ignore anyone who isn't actually living here for a start and don't forget many forum users stop posting, for various reasons, when they arrive.

You'll be amazed, if you follow British Expats for a while, to see the number of people arriving on this site all bright eyed and full of optimism then a few months later you see the same names on the returning to UK forum.

Anyway, back to the original question, is the grass greener on the other side?
Again it all depends on what you've left behind and what you achieve here.

Personally speaking it's loads greener for me, I've got a better job, the weather is fantastic and the family can do loads of exciting outdoor activities and I just like living here generally more than in the UK. From my wife's perspective, probably not greener - about the same, missing her friends. From the kids educational perspective they' had to leave an excellent school in rural East Sussex.

In a year or two, and posssibly after a trip home to remind us why we left, I'm hoping everyone with all agree it was a good move. :lecture:

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Fed up of the rat race,Bix.Always chasing around.Hate all the congestion,weather,high petrol prices and paying through the nose for everything,high crime rates etc.Feel there must be a better life somewhere and wondered whether that may be Aus?

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Nope! Its brown most of the year.

Aus has the same problems as the UK. It has high tax, crime, drugs, extortionate dental fee's, heavy traffic in the cities, and graffiti, so if you are disillusioned with this in Uk, you will be the same here only possibly homesick aswell!!!

However Aus offers IMO a cleaner enviroment, a very diverse set of flora fauna and climates AND a unique lifestyle and outlook that i have never expierienced anywhere else on my travels.

So it all depends. What are your expectations????

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

LOL!!

We posted at the same time Cal B, its your call :)

I forgot to say, i love it and have NO desire whatsoever to return to the UK. (couldn't afford to even if we wanted too :eek: )

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Overall I think we gave a similar reply Renth but this bit was poppycock.

There are a lot of people not actually living in Australia who have a lot of experience of the country and therefore a very valid viewpoint.
A lot of them being Australians some of whom want to return home.

I don't qualify in either category which is why I didn't try to presume anything in my reply. :)

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Former backpackers or Australians who have been away for a long time aren't going to know what Australia is like, now, to live in.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Cal,
You are at the point where most of us started. :)
A discontentment that has made you search for something new or different, or better.

Some will look at your post and consider you a very naive person; someone wearing rose tinted glasses. Of course at this stage it is correct and that's why you asked the question wasn't it ? We learn by listening and researching as well as by making mistakes. Stick with it. :)

Remember the people on this site are not just the middle ground. We are also the extremes in both directions. For every ecstatic person there is a miserable one. For every positive there is a negative.

Remember too that you are an individual and what suits you may not suit any other person here but it does not make you wrong. As a small and pretty irrelevant example lots of people bemoan the lack of a "decent" English style pub in Aus. Personally I don't give a rats arse about them so although in the minority am I wrong ? No, of course not.

Most things have already been discussed on the forum so use the search function to look up particular items but also ask any specific questions. Don't worry or get upset if the responses are not always as expected.

Good hunting ;)

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Conversely Britains who have been away for a long time aren't going to know what it's like to live in Britain.

Therefore misconceptions in both cases. :)

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Hello Cal!

Having moved to Australia I have realised that you need to look at what YOU want from life and whether the UK or Australia can give you this....took me a while to work this out :rolleyes: And you have to be very selfish when you think about this as you will not be happy anywhere if you are not fullfilling your dreams.

Australia gives us that lovely feeling of space, even living near the city we don't feel as hemmed in as we did in the south east of England. People are friendly and open, although that could be because we have become more receptive to people as we have had to make a new start.

Crime,congestion,high prices etc are here, don't expect that to change. If you are close to friends and family in the UK it will be very hard not having that network around you.

Wherever you are in the world the grass does always seem greener elsewhere.
Life is what you make it and if you've got determination you can make it anywhere IF the country you are in has the resources you need.

Think carefully!!!! :)

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Sometimes the details can sort themselves out.

In hugely simplistic terms. I like to sail and go trout fishing, so I live next to the sea in the South Island of New Zealand...

On the whole it suits my purposes better, but I also love the UK for very different reasons. NZ and the UK are both great places.

Try to weigh up what it is YOU want from life...

I don't live in OZ but the principle is the same.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

I must agree with that. I spent 10 years in Australia, and ended up missing the UK that I had left. But when I went back, it wasn't the UK that I had left anymore. Things had changed. It would be the same for an Australian returning to Australia after that amount of time.

I spent 4 years back in the UK, but then came back to Australia again, and changed my attitude to what I really wanted, dropped my income to accomodate what I wanted to do, and found time to find myself again.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Too true, our friends over here left Bradford 15 years ago and realise that they haven't a clue what it's like now.

They know it's gone downhill though.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

This is true; it's why I ask questions here. I can only present a view of Australia pre-1998 (and what my sisters and my Dad tell me).

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

I don't agree.. I've been an expat for a little over 12 years, my most recent visit back to the UK was in Feb/march this year for a month. To me nothing has changed .. my home is the same place that I love and miss, except for the cost of houses that's all that has changed, plus they have curry in the deli counter in Tesco's and Asda.. that's a new one to me lol
It all depends if in your memory you have a distorted , rose tinted view of any place, whether it's a view of the Uk or a view of Aus.. that you may find it odd... ie your memory is playing tricks on you.. you choose what to remember . Haven't got that prob myself :D

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

True to an extent but most Australians that have been living away from australia for some time still have family contacts that keep them informed about how life is. Not the same as living there I agree but still not out of touch with the situation also.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

[QUOTE=hevs]Nope! Its brown most of the year.

Aus has the same problems as the UK. It has high tax, crime, drugs, extortionate dental fee's, heavy traffic in the cities, and graffiti, so if you are disillusioned with this in Uk, you will be the same here only possibly homesick aswell!!!

However Aus offers IMO a cleaner enviroment, a very diverse set of flora fauna and climates AND a unique lifestyle and outlook that i have never expierienced anywhere else on my travels.
QUOTE]

Agreed. Australia has bad points, but IMHO it is the value-added aspects which I like here.

Also Australia, may, give the people who were the ''have nots" in the Uk to become the ''haves'' here. eg. Parts of Melbourne are as bad as where I had a home in S London, only here I can afford to buy away from all that.

BM

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Ceri
I assume you had a good look around the area that I lived in, in the UK then ? To be able to state that my memory is playing tricks on me. :)

Also it took me more than one month to figure out what my area was really like again, and that I ended up preferring Australia after all . Maybe my area was so much more different to yours, being such a big place. In 10 years things had certainly changed. I went back for 4 years, and gave it a real chance.
No distorted, rose tinted views, but a REAL comparison. On balance, taking account of positives and negatives of both countries, Australia wins for me. Thats why I now live here, happy in the knowledge that I have really looked into both countries fully. :)

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

But, please compare like with like. Melbourne is not comparable to S London - parts of Sydney are. As the second Oz city, perhaps you should be comparing Melbourne with Birmingham.

Have a gander at this Oz report (2001) pages 10,11 - the gap between rich and poor in Oz and UK are comparable (UK is slightly worse). But, with children - the gap is significantly worse in Oz than UK.

www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/seminars/japan.pdf

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

London <-- city.
Melbourne <-- city.
Comparison - both have a high density of roads, buildings and dogs.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Who's got the signature "same sh*t different bucket"??? That sums it up for me perfectly.
Australia has many of the problems the U.K has and more besides.
The grass around here is black and burned for as far as the eye can see. The bush fire seasons here early this year.
Don't get the wrong impression I/we love it here and don't regret the move in the slightest. I had serious doubts with all the hastle's we've had but all things considered, now there all sorted I'm more than content with my life :D

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Einstein <-- man
Millwall football supporter <-- man

Just like your response : not a useful comparison.

London is one of the world's great cities, more than 2x Melbourne's population and is one of Europe's hubs. Melbourne is a city stuck on the bottom corner of nowhere significant.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

London is a sewage and garbage factory once at the centre of a military and industrial madhouse responsible for global social and environmental destruction.

Melbourne is a sewage and garbage factory notable for relative innocuousness.

GRYB.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Ah, something that can be compared.... UK has signed up to Kyoto, Oz has not - and continues to pump out more greenhouse gases per head than any other country. Probably explained by Oz's massive consumption of Mcdonald's hamburgers....

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Hi Cal B

As you can see you have opened a very big tin of worms in Oz v UK personally i can't be **!!** with all the bad karma of it all.

We are trying to emigrate to Oz simply because we want to live near the sea -something we cant possible afford to do in this country- sit and look at the flora and fauna on a big varandah sipping a large glass of wine and overall start a new life if its not what we hoped it will be then ke sara sara we return at least we've tried it.

Kay

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Really I cant understand whats the point of a fight to see whats the best Uk or Oz. We all know no place on earth is perfect.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Exactly.

One mans meat is anothers poison.
Individuals must decide. :)

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Hi

Im choosing oz as im not that bothered about all the downsides of england and oz as they are comparible.

I want to go to a country thats warmer than the u.k. and want to live near the sea as im a diver and what better place than the G.B.Reef to live near with english(or a version of) speaking people with generally a more laid back approach to life than us in the uk.

I dont have any more expectations than that as i will be very dissapointed if i wanted a massive house with a jetty pool etc, im more than willing to have a 1 bed apartment wit a balcony thats 5 mins cycle to work or beach which wouldnt be in the piss rasin every day like it is in the north.

People are happier when the bright weather comes out and im up for that for however long it takes to get bored, as i know that i can return to the 6 day 65hr weeks in my shop and my nice house in rural cheshire that i rarely see due to being at work all the time..............yippeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

Im just turned 33 and had a heart and 2 brain ops 2 6years ago!!

Is it worth the blood sweat and tears to pay for all this??

Hell no, thats why i want the sun and the ocean and the outdoor life, whilst working for enough for a couple o beers and the rent!

I HAVE LEARNT MY LESSON.

And if it all goes tits up at least we can say we tried and didnt like it and come back

Only you can make your own destiny happen..................oh, and TRA and DIMIA and ,and , and,.............................................. ......


GOOD LUCK IN WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO.

alk

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Good on yer mate just sorry it took such a shit tide of events for you to get here ;)

Kay

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Thanks for all your advice/info everyone.I still feel very cautious,more so because we have two children and if it didn't work out,we would feel so guilty about unsettling the children again.We just want the best possible start in life like all parents do and it is just taking that chance.Scary!!!!!!

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

no i ve always wanted to retire somewhere warm, but after being told i had 15% of living or getting through the operations at 30 years old i now feel like a new person with loads more goals as i laid in my hospital bed and regretted all the things that i hadnt done before in my life as i would never get the chance to do them again if any more tings went wrong wit hme , so i vowed that if i made it then i would save up enough money to do a round the world trip which is happening in january and we decided that as im a hairdresser that we would have a go at australia and try and open more branches of my shop and spend a year building them up and then trying for semi retirement fishing and diving as the missus wants to run a business from home so that we can have kids and spend more time together.

This may seem like pie in the sky, but we have actually planned it to intricate detail over the past year with all pros and cons, but we arent selling up we are renting as we are mortgage free which is a nice predicament to be in as we always have a house to come back to if all doesnt go to plan.

Ho hum, NOW BRING ON THE HOLS IN JAN 05!!!!!!

Be happy everyone.

al and clare k

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

[how old are they??

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

They are nearly 9 and 5.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

i think the 9 year old depending on what he/she was involved in with friends sports etc and how much of a tear away for them to rebel will be best jugded by you. the 5 year old aswell as the 9 year old can be problematic but it depends on their teperament, but at this age the bonds arent very very strong as in teenagers so its up to you i think.

We weighed up all pros and cons and mine was about health and more time.
clares was about adventure and sunshine and the ocean.

Whats yours??

answer that and you may be caught by the bug too!!

al and clare k

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Hi Cal

We too have 2 kids, one only a few months old and we will be leaving a close knit family and fabulous friends behind. BUT...I have dreamt of this for years,as has my husband. I would hate to get to the ripe old age of 40 :D (im nearly there!) and have regrets..Life is too short for regret. And if we dont like it? Well, we chalk it up to experience and come back to the UK, but at least we tried! Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.........Im putting my money where my mouth is this time!!

Good luck
Lucy
xxx

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

I'll ripe old age of 40 you Lucy. Cheeky bugger.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Well answered Bix, this seems a very well balanced post. The way I look at it is if you don't try you will never know.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Well Said I have to say thats just how we feel.We have the opprtunity and we have to take it.At the end of the day if it does not work out we can always come back home.Easier said than done I understand!.

Re: Better quality of life in Australia?
 

Good Luck Lucy B .Feel the same.Lets hope it all works out for all of us.