Hello,
I have so many questions that I do not know from where to begin....

I will be moving in 2008 from Vancouver, Canada to Melbourne or Brisbane and would like to hear from people who moved from Canada to Oz about their experiences.

ANY INFO IS IMPORTANT TO ME.

I need to know about the moving agents, the cost of moving, the cost of living to compare WITH CANADA, what do you like better and an opposite- what you do not like in Oz.

I really need this Information to make a final decision since I am really worried about the cost of livingin Oz. From what I know (but I may be wrong) it is somewhat high in all parameters down in Australia compared to Canada (general goods, furniture, major appliances, cars and the salary is lower as well).

So, if anyone can help me I will be in debt to you.

Tnanks a lot.

Tahititim

I've never lived in Canada but I have spent time there and if anything I would say Australia is marginally cheaper - wouldn't have thought it was more expensive. Also I get the impression that taxes are higher in Canada, so you might have more money to play with in Aus? These are just my thoughts, not based on anything concrete.
I know there are people on here who have made the move from Canada to Australia, so it can't be all bad! Sure there will be others who can offer more useful advice....

Are you a Canadian citizen? And on what visa do you plan to make the move (temporary, permanent etc?)

I am going on State Sponsored one (old 137, had been approved by Vic gov and have more then enough points - 125 for this type of visa as per new changes effective Sept. 1), I am critical care and PACU RN and yes I am Canadian citizen.

Thanks for your reply. Well, from what I see (mostly from local newspaper ads and flyers) cars are significantly more expencive in OZ, major appliances too as well as most household electronics from TV to a toaster. RN salaries are much higher then in OZ in my view (however, I am not sure about the taxation part) and I do not know how much a "take home" salary for an RN in Vic.
I am going to OZ due to climate (it is freezing cold pritty much every where here in a winter time which may last up to 8 months).

Thanks again.

If you want the 137 in its current form (or the 134 Skill Matching visa) then your application needs to be with DIAC or or before 31 August (assuming you meet the criteria etc).

Under the 1 September changes - will you need state sponsorship?

The fact that you're a Canadian citizen means you will not lose your right to return to Canada later on if you wish.

I know that in comparison to the UK, second hand cars are a fair bit more expensive but new cars are cheaper. I don't think a toaster would cost you more in Oz than in BC. You just have to look out for the best deals, same as anywhere. Also Australia has salary sacrificing, I don't know if it exists in Canada, which can allow you to buy e.g. a new car and make the repayments out of your pre-tax salary. Makes it very affordable.
Bear in mind that at least in Vancouver most houses & people are built to deal with the cold, Australia panics if it drops below ten degrees!! (However I won't even try to argue that the climate is better in BC... only if you like it cold and wet! Better for skiing!)

Well, since I want to settle in Melbourne anyway for the next 3-5 years or forever, I thought why not to do it through state sponsored visa (I am qualified now and after Sept 1 I have even more points). If I want to do 136 (independent) I have to wait until the end of October to get 120 points (that's when I will have 3 years of experience which will give me an extra 5 points to make 120 in total thus far I only have 115).

So, I do not mind to have a state sponsored visa since I am only obligated to live in Vic for 2 years.

Thank you again.

Thank you,
No, Canada does not have salary sacrifice that's why I am nor really sure if it is really more expencive in OZ or not. And I just hate BC climate, it rains more than twice more compared to London :curse:. Thanks for your reply.

I moved from Burlington, Ontario just a little over a year ago. Prior to that we lived in Lions Bay BC. Don't know if you know where that is, but it's just north of Horseshoe Bay on the Sea to Sky.

So far we have found the cost of living to be fairly comparable to Vancouver. Housing is not cheap and I think in Melbourne you will find buying a home to cost about the same as it would be in the GVRD.

If you are coming for warm year round weather, then I'm afraid Melbourne is not the place to be. It can get very cold there in winter and there is little if any insulation in the homes here. Single pane windows and R2 is the norm. If you want heat all year, you need to go to Qld or NT. A couple of weeks ago it went down to 4 degrees here in Perth. While Victoria had a terrible summer with drought this year, it does rain there.

Other things here are probably more expensive. A head of lettuce will set you back $3 on a good day. Bananas, which are grown here in the country are on sale at our local fruit & veg market at only $6.99 per kilo. Hardly the $1.09 per kilo we were paying last July in Ontario. I found cars to be about the same once you convert the dollar. I bought a Holden Barina (Pontiac Firefly in NA) for just over $13k last year, which works out to about $11k Canadian. Not bad for a brand new car.

We have not found taxes here to be higher by any means! If anything we take home more money at the end of the week than we did under M Cretien or Mr Harper. We have different tax brackets, just like there. On your paycheque you will see your tax taken and that's it. No deductions for things like CPP or EI or RRSPs. Your employer will give you your base pay plus they pay you a 9% super which is like our RSP. You can make your own contributions if you want to top it up. EI is called Centrelink here and it's the main social security for everything from the child tax credit to welfare to unemployment insurance.

If you look through the members list, Comet555 is Canadian and she and her husband have just moved from Ft McMurray to Brisbane. She's relatively young and very nice.

All in all, it's been a great move for us. My little family unit is quite content in Perth. As a matter of fact, we're just on our way out to Scarborough Beach to meet some friends. If you ever want to just chat, you can email me.

Thanks for the mention Dorothy....I thought I'd find you on this thread.

Yes, we just moved from Fort McMurray to Brisbane around the end of May. We've been here through the winter months and I must say it's been fabulous weather. During the day it's usually around 20 degrees and nice and sunny. There has only really been one month that I found to be a little cold, particularly at night and in the morning. As Dorothy mentioned the houses really aren't built the same. So for the times it was really cold we had blankets to watch tv in the evenings and used little space heaters when needed. But it really wasn't that big of a deal and we're only talking about a month.

I haven't really found any huge differences in price, except for maybe eating at restaurants which I find more expensive here. Some groceries are more expensive, but I haven't found any differences in my overall monthly spending.

I paid about $18,000 for a Hyundai Sante Fe which is about 4 years old I think, so not too far off what it was in Canada. I didn't find a big difference in vehicles when I was looking around. But you won't be buying a GM or a Chevrolet here because they are imports and very expensive. The equivalent here would be Holden and they are a decent price. As long as you're not looking for a fancy imort I doubt you'll find a big difference in price.

Have a look here: http://www.carsales.com.au/

The housing really depends on where you're coming from and where you're going to. We sold our house in Fort McMurray for $480,000 (it's insane there) and just bought one in the greater Brisbane area for $460,000. But I must say our house here is a lot newer, bigger and nicer, plus it has a pool. But anything less than $400,000 wasn't that great.

For housing prices check out: http://www.realestate.com.au/

I'm actually working on buying appliances here and I don't think they're much more expensive. I'm going to buy a pretty cheap washer and dryer (about $500 each). You'll find drying clothes on the line a lot more popular here too. Fridges seem a bit more expensive to get a decent sized one. You're looking at at about $1000 plus or minus depending on the fridge.

Where you will live will obviously depend on where you're working. If you working in or near a downtown area (called the cbd here) you would have to spend a lot more for a house there. However if you work farther out or want to commute in to work then you will be spending less.

I have a lot of comments and comparision in the blog I've been keeping for my family. If you look back to the May entries and onwards you'll see the notes I've made since we've arrived. There are also lots of things on our kids so just skip those ones There might also be a few links to other sites that have comments as well.

http://haleyculver.spaces.live.com/?lc=4105

In terms of costs to get over here it depends on what you want to do. To get the visa we spent about $3000, no migrations agents used. We were quoted about $15,000 to move our stuff from Fort McMurray in a 20 foot container. I think Dorothy was quoted almost $10,000 to go from Ontario to Adelaide, so I think my quote was expensive because of the Fort McMurray factor. Anyways...we chose not to bring any of our stuff over. We sold some of furniture and put the rest in storage at the inlaws. So our costs have been about $15,000 to furnish our new place. We brought all of our clothes on our first trip here, and when we went back to Canada for a wedding we brought back 3 hockey bags and 2 sets of golf clubs, along with all of our DVD's and a bunch of kids toys. We really used up our luggage allotment. When we really looked around the house at what we needed to bring we decided we only needed pictures, important documents and our clothes. The rest could be replaced.

Sorry for the rambling....I just know what it's like to be in your position. Good luck with all the decisions. If you have any questions just ask here there are lots of people ready to help. Also feel free to PM me if you want.

Haley

tHANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR SUCH A VALUABLE INFO. dO YOU REMEMBER WHAT MOVERS DID YOU USE?

I didn't use movers, but my quote was from Allied. Dorothy's was Allied as well.

Something to consider when thinking of moving costs is your electronics. You may find it's pointless to bring some of it. We weren't planning on bringing any of our stuff that wasn't dual voltage. Our receivers, dvd players, alarm clocks or our tv (which works on NSTC not on PAL as they have here). Our computers, printers and digital cameras were find though.

You can get converters, adapters, etc, but I had read that unless the voltage matches they might burn out eventually.

What time is it there, almost 12:30am? Or are you in Australia right now?

We did bring some electronics, but you have to be careful what you bring. Our laptop was a little older, and even with the converter/adapter we managed to blow it up - including the mysterious white smoke - about 6 weeks after arriving. Also my blow dryer got so hot on the cold setting that I managed to fry off a very large chunk of hair one morning. My food processor works fine but my blender spits out smoke and black oil every time I try to make a Margarita. Must buy a new one before summer comes.

We got quotes from Crown, Pickfords and one other who I can't remember. We went with Pickfords because we had used them for 2 previous cross-country moves and they offered a discount for being a frequent user. They also moved us interstate here and offered the same discount. I think it worked out to about 20% off the original quote.

Just FYI, Haley, Holden is GM here. A lot of the Holden dealerships now fly the Holden/GM banner. I know when we bought my car the financing guy said it could be financed through GM/Holde. Any other questions and we're here to help.