Yve

Hi,
My husband and I, plus our 2 year old have been in Canada, for 5 months now and its not for us. People are not that warm and very materialistic. House is No. 1 in many lives and work, work work, fast paced environment. We are considering NZ or Australia for the friendliness and laid back lifestyle. I was in Sydney for 6 months 12 years ago, things would have changed, plus I was single. I've been reading some BE comments...NZ is behind, damp houses, lack of good jobs, and over priced, Australia also sounds over priced. We would have 100,000 pounds and OH works in IT networking, not sure of wages out there yet. I've seen many websites with all the gloss but we need the hard facts, Australia or New Zealand? Any thoughts?

Thanks

celcite

Australia is hot and humid.With outback lifestyle and slow paced life in summers you will expect flies and spiders.Its also very far away from the rest of the world thats why there is no competition in market and things are extremly poor quality/overpriced.

kiwinow

Both NZ and Australia will probably seem behind to you, but both offer a reasonably laid back, less materialistic lifestyle (depending on who you mix with, of course). Coming from Canada I think you might find NZ a bit too quiet, but I don't know you so can't really say. Both are isolated, but if you have the money there is Asia and the Pacific Islands to explore on holiday.

In your profession Australia generally pays a better than NZ and there are more job opportunities in the cities. Take a look at seek.com.au for jobs and salary ideas and realestate.com.au for houses.
Australia offers a warmer climate for beach and water sports. However, NZ offers seasons and skiing. Both offer beautiful scenery but quite different scenery and not everywhere is beautiful in any country.

I've spent much of my life in NZ so don't really notice the under-heated, damp homes. I don't think we've ever lived in a damp one, but the house we now live in is the first to have double glazing (we installed it) and central heating is not common. Until recently they used to have ads on TV encouraging everyone to save electricity by putting another jersey on, and that probably sums up the NZ attitude, but things are changing and if you build your own house you can install what you want.

I think it depends what you want out of life and the best idea is to gather as much information as possible, look at houses and jobs, schools, shopping etc in both countries. If you can make a trip first, all the better.

comet555

Where exactly are you in Canada? That perhaps, could be your biggest problem. Have you thought about trying another place?

Dorothy

Exactly. Canada is the second largest country in the world. Certainly it's more than the one place you have settled. If you find the Canadians unfriendly perhaps you're in the wrong area.

29palms

Not in the south of the country its hot and dry, desert heat not tropical heat

comet555

We moved from Fort McMurray which we really hated (or at least I did). But having lived in several other places across Canada I can tell you that you might get a completely different experience in another city.

Mikeyc

It depends where you go and what you want as in a lot of place Australia is work work work, fast paced, far from friendly and far from a laid back lifestyle and it can be the complete opposite, it all depends on where you settle, and that usually depends on your job.

Most people are friendly, but cost of living can be high and unless you are in a well off job then you will be working working working to pay the mortgage. What type of laid back lifestyle are you expecting? People here work and pay bills and get stressed the same as any other country, it’s not a BBQ and beach every single day.

You said you have been here on a holiday, but a holiday is very very different from living here, and yes 12 years ago is a very long time, things have completely changed, even more so in just the past 2 years.

Like other posters said, why not try other parts of Canada?

Mikey

Yve

We have lived in other countries, Kenya for 1 year and Italy for 2, but this is the first time we feel homesick, which we put down to the place..but we don't want to return to the UK as yet, especially with the current credit crunch. We think it will take us 2 years to make the move and we need to settle before our little one starts school. We have considered Vancouver but that would be a big move too as it's far from us as we are now an hour outside of Toronto, Barrie, a city of over 100,000 and we are concerned that Vancouver may be the same experience. What places in Canada are worth a try? We only want to make one more move for our child's sake. Thanks for all ideas...info will really help.

Mikeyc

Good luck what ever you decide.

Mikey

comet555

If you can work in Ottawa why not move to a smaller town outside the city. Depends on the kind of commute you want though.

I grew up an hour from Ottawa in Brockville and I can tell you a lot of the smaller cities do not have that focus on money like you might see in the bigger cities. Brockville is about 25,000 people but there is enough to do and bigger cities nearby. There are lots of other places around Ottawa, or even Kingston that would work. If you're in a somewhat smaller city then you can get a lot more house for your money too.

I would imagine Vancouver might give you the same experience as you've already got.

melbournegirl

Maybe a third of the country is hot and humid, the rest is either meditteranean climate, temperate or cool climate.

Outback lifestyle Yes, if you live in the outback but 90% of Australians live in urban environments.

There are many parts of Australia where you can find a laid back lifestyle but there are also fast paced cities such as Sydney and Melbourne.

Things are not all extremely over priced and poor quality. There are plenty of good quality and reasonably priced things to buy here. There are also cheap and nasty and overpriced just like anywhere else. It might cost more to buy certain designer brands and products than it would in the U.S. I have had no trouble finding good quality products at a reasonable price in Melbourne.

Australia is generally cheaper than New Zealand for many goods.

JAJ

Many people in Australia might say the same thing. I'm not sure if it's what you want to hear, but if you have difficulties settling in one country, you may face all the same issues and more if you select another one.

5 months is usually too soon to get over the phases of culture shock.

And can you get a visa to migrate to Australia?

Dorothy

If I moved back to Canada, which I have no intention of doing, it would be to either Montreal or Kingston. Montreal because I love the feel of the city and it's proximity to so many wonderful things and Kingston because it's such a nice place with an excellent University for my kids, only a couple of hours from Toronto if we want theatre or major shopping, the lake, history and lots of work for both my husband and me.

Barrie is probably not a place I would have chosen to emigrate to. It was only a few years ago that Barrie was a little hick town at the end of the 400. The only reason people stopped there was to fill up their cars on the way to the cottage. There are so many nicer places that aren't so new.

Yve

Yes, we do think that Barrie is very Hickish but we came here as my cousin and her family live here. Probably not a good choice coming from London, Hertfordshire.