Thanks mate for a good honest reply.
I am doing the trade skills thing in UK, then as far as I am awere I do another exam in OZ to get the A license.
My wife is beginning to change her mind I have already paid money for the visa process not alot yet only 1400 pounds, but the agent is looking to know if we are proceeding as the course is in August.
My wife seems to think we will get it tight there and wont be able to live, as she would be bringing up our unborn until school years. So there would be only my wage.
I do have my own business here which was really good but with this big downturn there isnt much work about and I know itll never be the same.

I do think in myself if we go that give within 5 years I will be HOPE setup in OZ were the is work and forseeable expansion to its economy for years to come.

It really just boils down to can we live and not worry on one wage!

I am going to read ur post thanks mate

I noticed on FB the other day that you were friends with someone I know here. C&D's kids go to my school, her youngest daughter and my daughter are friends. My eldest daughter knows their eldest quite well. Small world eh.

As a lot have said, make sure the reasons for comming are right. I am a proffesional working in the mines and we have no children but while are standard of living in many ways has gone up, it is incedibly expensive here and arent able to save and thats with me being housed and fed at company expence for half the time.
Do not come thinking this is the UK with sunshine. It isnt.
First the Ozzies are culturly closer to the USA. And as others have said, for a big chunk of the year the weather is great, but for a sizeable part it is cold and wet. It was 5c when i left home this morning and the house feels a lot colder as it has no heating or insulation and Perth has a higher rain fall than London

As I mentioned on Mark's thread, everyone's experience here is different.

My husband is an electrician. He had a job waiting when we emigrated. He started work about 2 weeks after we arrived. He's really settled here, loves it, and never wants to go back to Canada.

He did not find the process of getting his license much of a bother. Sure, it was not particularly great having to pay for the course and then also having to suck up the two weeks of lost wages (so thousands of dollars), but it was what we had to do for him to finally get official. Now that's done.

And yes, we live on one electricians' wage...a family of four. We do it nicely. Our bills are all paid, the kids don't lack for anything, we have a chest freezer full of grass fed bio beef (we're not living on tins of beans), I have money for a flat white at the shopping centre. The kids eat more fruit and veg than they ever did at home (I like being able to buy local or Australian produce than stuff flown in from Mexico and Chile). That said, many things that others might consider essentials to their lifestyle are not in ours, so it's about compromise and priorities and for us, we do just fine here.

Good luck!

Mate, Andrews has some really good points. If you are going to come try and do as much as possible in the uk. Try and get your TRA done get all your references together and even try to get a job to come to. I have been a sparky in the uk for seventeen years and worked on loads of big projects and ran jobs. To then come over here and go back to college is a pain and when you start work you may find yourself bottom of the pile. You will also find that employers out there will be more than happy to employ you for about $25 an hour as a TA and charge you out as a spark. Your licence will be difficult to get and the money poor until you have achieved it. Also coupled with trying to find your seven year old a good school which again will probably cost you cash. Your child may also find that there education suffers and when returning to the uk if you do may have to go behind a year to catch up with uk education. At the moment over here it seems as many brits want to go home as there is that say good things about oz. I think this is due to many being stuck here but now the exchange rate is good for the dollar and housing cheap in the uk. After being here for a bit now i am realising that sparks are not that well paid out here in comparison to some other jobs ie sparks getting $32 an hour when as a labourer you can get $30. Also if your having a new baby and you come and struggle for money your wife may have to work. Its really hard to find a good but resonably priced nursery out here. Sorry to sound really negative but just trying to be honest.

Do these families you know have medical insurance and insurance if they get sick or injured? I know families who 'are living the life' and yet they don't have this basic cover for themselves and family because they can't afford it and prefer to spend every spare cent on a mortgage and basic living. If you are unable to work because of illness or injury, the centerlink payments aren't enough to cover food bills.

Good honest post Mark and I agree with your sentiment.

The people who are struggling with their mortgages are the ones who have come out in the last several years where house prices and cost of living have risen so much. My guess is that Poms will stay away from Aus until either house prices come down or exchange rate is a lot more favourable. It's not worth coming over to Aus unless you have a stack of money to buy a property of a high paying job waiting for you.

I'm guessing that most migrants are under 30 (more points) and these 'youngsters' wouldn't of been in the UK property market long enough to build up plenty of equity in their homes so can't see them bringing loads of cash with them to set themselves up nicely.

Perth house prices are almost on par with London now, something to think about.

In the 4 years I've been here I must say I've seen and know lots of families with 3 or more kids whereas in UK I hardly knew any.

Well considering the average male wage in Perth is higher than London, London looks a far poorer value option....

Average London wages in 2008 were £46K GBP ($79K AUD at today's rate).

Average City of London wages in 2008 were £82K GBP ($140K AUD)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/7802792.stm

I don't know. We didn't discuss health insurance but I know my family has it.

I do know of many families who don't have medical along with life/injury insurance.

For instance, my friend had a cancerous mole on his face, he wasn't insured and had to wait around 2-3 months to get it removed on medicare. He paid $1200 to get it removed a few days later out of his own pocket instead. Imagine if it was an more expensive surgery, like bowel, stomach, brain cancer surgery? I personally couldn't let my family or myself wait longer than necessary for that kind of surgery, it could be a life saving decision.

Ho hum, you gotta do what you think is best regarding your personal circumstances, I suppose.

I have worked in the oncology department of a public hospital here and you do not wait 2-3 months for an appointment or surgery. All cancers are classed and appointments are made according to stage. A lot of times the wait list for urgent/emergent surgery is less in the public system than private. In the oncology department where I worked the average time between receiving a referral and appointment was less than 2 weeks with surgery booked within another 2 weeks. I do know that cardiac procedures (angiogram/plasty) is quicker in the public system than private. The main difference is that in the private system you get to choose your specialist an in public you don't.

I am planning to get married next year, and then have a baby soon after, should I upgrade my medibank pvt insurance (which I have to take now becuase of my high income as a single, but most likely wife will be not working so I wont have to pay medicare levy surcharge by then, as combined family income will be below threshold)? or should I dump it and save approx. $2000 a year?