We are a family of 5 and have decided to move to australia for various reasons.My husband is a Director of Human Resources and hopefully we are going to apply under the Skilled visas program.We have contacted various agents to help us through the application process as we do not not have the time ourselves.Our children are 13,11 and 6. Does anybody have any useful advice for us about where to live in Aus? We thought that there would be more opportunities in Australia than New Zealand.
Any info would be gratefully recieved.

Hi Fizz

Advice on where to live. Well it very much depends on what you like really. We have chosen to move to the Melbourne area. Our reasons for this are

1) Climate (Four seasons in one day) is not as hot or tropical as other areas
2) Western Australia is beautiful and cheaper though we felt there was not enough longevity and prospects as there were in Victoria.
3) Its not as expensive or built up as Sydney though there is a big city there.
4) We can go skiing in winter

This site will have loads of stuff in the archives about different pages. Dip in there to find out more

We are also a family of 5 and are currently awaiting or TRA (Trades Recognition for Australia). I am a Toolmaker and have been looking at all the web sites for employment in Aus. There seems to be no problem in any of the main cities but Brisbane area seems to have just a bit more on offer! Wages in the Brisbane and Sydney area are also better than Victoria and Adelaide. I am currently the Works Director where I am but have had enough of being a boss and want to go back to the simpler way of life. This we feel will be possible in Australia as we can sell-up here and set ourselves up with what we get for the house in U.K. Have also looked at the climate and Brisbane appears to be warmer all year round (a bit wet at times) and not so seasonal as places further south.
Our kids are 15 (really looking forward to it), 9 and 7 (haven't told them yet!). WE CAN'T WAIT!
Good Luck.

Just like you we haven't told the kids going to wait until further down the line.
Melbourne was recomended to us but i will definitely do a bit more research now. Been looking at all the web sites i can regarding schooling and feel it is a more positive system more work skills orientated than just passing as many exams as possible just for the sake of it.
Also looking at job sites etc for hubbies and there def' seems to be lots of jobs available which we were slightly suprised about as we had been told otherwise
thanks for your reply let me know how it goes(your application)

Hi
Just incase you are interested I am in similar position to husband - Fellow of the CIPD etc. Partner and I have now got visas and waiting for exchange on our house and flat before booking flights. We are heading for Brisbane hopefully beginning/middle of November amd I will be looking for position in Human Resources when we get over there. Looked into HR job market when over there last year on a research visit. I think I have accepted that I may have to take job lower to grade that I would have had here but also had some good feedback on CV also. I am also led to believe that job market on HR front not great. Time will tell but if you wish to keep in contact so that I can give you feed back when I actually start to look in Novemebr please feel free to send me a personal message via this site.
I hope that helps.
Jan

Hi Austen Sue
Reading your post was like reading a story about me and my family.
I was amazed at the similarities.
I am also a tool / mould maker but started my own toolroom 2 years ago after a long period as a department head.
We decided that Brisbane was probably the best bet for us and the reasons are as follows,
1) the weather - i don't want to move 12,000 miles and find the weather is only a bit better than the u.k (melbourne). Brisbane seems to be hot nearly all the time which is great.
2) houses are relatively cheap compared th melbourne / sydney and this is good news as i dont want a big mortgage.
3) there seems to be a bit of life to the place and it is also more up and coming as opposed to perth etc

I agree with you about the simpler way of life and i especially view the career change as a step back to take a step forwards.
I still work on the "bench" when I can and have no problem working hands on full time in Oz. Having your own business is not all its cracked up to be and i'm sure you also appreciate the stress involved.
What type of moulds do you deal with ? i do a lot of investment casting tooling.

Have you seen any areas in Brisbane you like the look of and have you visited Oz before.

Would like to hear from you.

Dave

Dave (and family)
Nice to hear someone else with the same idea! We also look at it as an adventure. I am 38 and if we don't do it now we never will. I have spent this evening talking about the whole thing with Sue (as usual) listing all the things we want to do when we get there. I work mostly with blow mould tools and about 40% injection mould tools.
We haven't been to Aus before but have spent a lot of time looking on the internet (this forum in particular) and have also talked to many friends and family who have been. All say it is great. I have many reservations but what the heck - lifes to short!
Where are you from and where are you up to with your Visa?
Keep in touch! It will be interesting!
Good Luck
Austen And Sue

Fizz38

Hi to yourself and other newbies. I am sure you already know about the `Australian News` which is a monthly newspaper which you can subscribe to. i have just renewed mine and it was £ 18.50 for 12 months. It is full of helpful articles etc and also has a penpals page and at the moment is promoting `Opportunities Abroad` at Sandown Park the weekend of Oct 10-12. We thought we would go to it.

footie chick

Hi, Im a kiwi going to Aus next year. For me its either the Brisbane area or Perth. Im tired of 4 seasons in a day weather and want more sunshine. I need a change as well. Perth sounds as though its quite a bit cheaper to buy a house and rentals are cheaper compared with Brisbane area it appears. I think perth is quite a nice place as well. alot of Brits are choosing Perth. From what Ive read on this forum it sounds like jobs are easier to come by in NZ but pay is pretty slack in both Oz & NZ. If I could get a job on good pay and have enough $ to buy a suitable house I would choose Brisbane/ sunshine coast area. there seems to be much more to do, more fun parks etc and with my 6 kids its a consideration.

Hi Austen & Sue
Thanks for your reply.
Which type of visa are you going for. We are going on 139 skilled inependant sponsored as i have an aunt in melbourne.
Have you looked into the work situation in brisbane, it seems reasonable for our type of work and i have no worries about getting a job.
We live in Baldock which is near Stevenage, i see you live in essex so you can't be far from us.
We have just got all our TRA stuff together ready to be sent off, but have paid to be fast tracked, i don't know about you, but it takes quite a lot of work to get all the papers sorted out and to sort out references etc.
When are you hoping to go ? , we would like to be there in July next year.
Have you looked at houses yet, they do vary in price from area to area and the idea of a house for £80,000 is not realistic from the real estate sites we have looked at.
I have found a couple of interesting job web sites and also web sites about Brisbane, if you want the links let me know.
I spoke to an old workmate of mine from 8 years ago, he now lives in Adelaide and has been there for 7 years, he said it is great and would never come back and he also said it much nicer for the kids to grow up.
I think if Brisbane doesn't seem right we may move on to Adelaide but you never know.
When do you think you will tell your children, its a difficult one, we told ours from the start and they seem fine about it.
Anyway, speak to you later maybe.

Dave & Kerry

Thanks for the info could you let me know a bit more about the event at Sandown park it sounds like something we should go to do you register for the newspaper online by the way?

Thanks for the info! definitely going to look into Brisbane a bit more now