Have a car accident, heart attack, break your leg etc and need to go to hospital. Medicare will pay for it.

I had to spend a few days in hospital a while back and did not pay a penny.

After a long long wait. If you want quality it isn't without cost.

Where do you get that from?

If you have a car accident, heart attack or break a leg, you don't have to wait, you will get taken to hospital.

Still wrong. Both daughters had major ops with the best surgeon at a time best suited to them. I had major surgery with the best in his field within two months of being diagnosed. The husband had his treatment started within two weeks. Yes there are waiting lists (some ridiculously long) for some illnesses/ops etc, yes there are crap doctors out there but our experience, along with many other people I've spoken with is not unusual.

Tiddler's surgeon was in the midst of doing his resignation letter to Queensland Health when she had her appointment to make a date for her op. He was planning on having his final day at the end of March. He changed it to the end of the first week of April in order to be able to do her op in the Public system (and thus bring her surgery forward four months from the previously suggested date).

I accept that you have had bad experiences with Medicare (unfortunately) but it is in no way the same for everyone else so to make the blanket statements you have is disingenous.

This is a good point for OP to consider IMO. Unless you're talking about extreme ends of the spectrum, 'quality of life' for 0-4 yr old doesn't really exist in this context. Their life is their immediate surroundings and contacts (parents, grandparents etc), which by the sound of it would be a lot less than what the OP's kid has now.

Quality of life for older kids is a debate that will never be settled on here. However, the OP needs to be in a position to have those options to offer her kid, and unless there is a very clear pathway from 457 to PR, and a commitment from the employer, it's not something I would personally gamble on.

However, as a 4yr adventure in another country, that offer seems to be workable, but IMO there are some pretty heavy strings that come attached with it.

thank you for all of your replies. I am still confused and havent come any closer to making a decision. I think my partner is going to see if he can get the contract time reduced, and maybe fly out there alone to start with. If he thinks we should go then he will pay for us to come out and maybe settle down in oz. if he hates it and is still tied to the contract then we will fly out for a couple of weeks every 2 months. I think this may be the best way to go about it?? After all, if he hates the job than the move is pointless in the first place

No you won't. It'll cost too much and be too hard on you and the baby.

yes I admitt it will be hard on the baby and will cost a lot, but surely this is the best option to begin with?

All that flying will burn a huge hole in the earnings. And you need to try it, I found the last return trip to Uk enough to put me off doing it more than once a year. My wife and I have two teenage boys and earn less than $110k a year combined. We save up money and spend more than we did in the UK. With a $300K mortgage to. We`re on the Goldcoast,QLD. I`m 47 and we came over in `08 and wish I`d done it 10 years ago. You should not regret trying something but you may regret not trying. Good luck.

Thank you. I am so very tempted, I just dont want to give up everything we have here in the UK, to end up hating it in Oz, and totally regretting it. But I guess, I won't know unless I try? and even if i can stick it out for a few years, and save enough money to come back to the UK and start again? Would it be possible to save a fair amount on 120K AUD a year? There has been mixed views on this. Some say i will "get by" others say I will have a lot of disposable income left. Considering you are on 110K how has that panned out for you in regards to saving? Could you/have you managed to save anything? Tell me to shut up if this is too personal Thanks

Our combined taxable was $108K. I have a company vehicle and up until recently full private use. We have more money to spend on ourselves here, We eat out most weekends, Save up lump sums towards buying a car, will save up for airfare next year possibly and or a holiday here. We are paying over 10% extra on the mortgage each month which will save thousands in years to come. I`ve been able to buy a Laptop or new PC outright when we needed, which always took saving and budgeting in the UK. We sometimes use credit/loans etc but only where it wont cost Us ie 3 years 0% finance etc. Our mortgage in the Uk was about 1 weeks wage, Here its 2 and we are still better off. Its very expensive here and we were a bit shocked when we popped back to the UK last year how cheap everything was. But I was told many years ago don`t compare as its all swings and roundabouts. I`d be pretty happy on 120K, Well for a year or two then I`d be wondering how to get more, But thats us humans eh.

Thank you for replying. Yes, I could also get work which will boost out household income, eventually anyway. I personally think we would be better of in Oz, but it's nice to hear other people's opinions too, so thank you

OK first up, I know nothing about FIFO as I work in a namby pamby office (normally!), but just reading the JD and incentives I put in some comments, as some of that does not strike me as really great.

As for living costs, it's going to depend very much on where you settle, but FIFO is going to require a fairly large airport in the proximity isn't it? That means a city. I notice Hunter Valley mentioned, would that be FIFO?

as for flying very couple of months, forget it. I've done Syd-UK return 23 times, mostly BC or FC and that's either been on my own for work or just with Mrs TB. We are very lucky to be able to do that and get spoilt rotten on the flights, but we're both over it, totally. On your own with a toddler? I'd give you 3 trips before you knock that on the head.

I really hope it does work out for you all, and provided you are at the upper end of that package I'm sure you'd get by ok, but I think a frank and open discussion with your husband about expectations might be in order, as it sounds to me like you're slightly different trajectories.

Thanks for putting it into prospective for me. Seems a pretty average job when you look at it like that. Okay, I now agree that regular flying to and fro is not ideal. I have no idea as of yet where we would be based but yea I'm assuming near an airport and those are just the places listed on the ad. The person coming to speak to my partner will go more in depth about it all. Should know more in a couple of weeks.

Good to know I'm not saying the job or company is average, it could be a great opportunity for your partner and ultimately you. I think what I was trying to highlight is if that were me looking at taking that package, I'd have a lot more questions than answers at this stage.

Keep us posted