Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

You wouldn't believe the sense of relief that I have now that I don't have to watch the dollar's strength compared witht the pound or keep trying to look at what my possible mortgage payments would be in different circumstances for a crap house.

Having said that, this has been replaced with angst about yet more upheaval and uncertainty.

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

This is my biggest moan about the place. The whole shrug-your-shoulders-that's-just-the-way-it-is attitude really gets up my nose at times.

Nobody seems activistic enough to do anything about any of the worse aspects of things. I think that we - as outsiders - just see it differently, because we have a different frame of reference. We have something to compare things to. It's not whinging - it's just pointing out the inefficiencies or inequalities that we see.

My personal bugbear is banking - Aussies sit around bitching about paying endless fees for this, that and the other, but as soon as you suggest switching to one of the fee free alternatives, then you become a whinging pom. To anybody from the UK, fee free banking is the norm, not the exception, so you feel obliged to point out that there are alternatives. Sadly, I find that few people are willing to listen - just shrug their shoulders - that's just the way it is - leave us alone to carry on bitching about it.

Without people voting with their feet, nothing changes for the better. Sadly the apathetic attitude of lots of people here means that the status quo will always be maintained.


S

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

excellent thread.
showing reality without bitterness.

it has shown up issues that everybody, even the most rabid pro australia posters, can recognise.
i think more people would post like this if they were not afraid of being slaughtered.
nothing is perfect in any location however much we would like it to be.

i wish you all the best for when you move :)

i would be interested to know where you see your family ending up/settling in the future.

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

Here is a question from a "Never have been to Oz" poster.

The cost of living is obviously either the same or higher in Oz in comparison to the UK, mainly due to the lack of competition along with other variables?

To buy a house, a second hand car, broadband internet, taxation in genaral, all seem to be higher in Oz?

How the hell do locals survive, i mean 18 to 30 year old's born and bred Australians, how do they pay the mortgage, pay the rent, live in general, buy a second hand car, how, what do they earn?

I ask because with all these housing equity cashed up Poms arriving over the past five years, which have obviously contributed to lifting the cost of houses, maybe cars, taking jobs etc etc?

Do you think that they feel a little bit p!ssed off maybe, i do not know, but it cannot be easy for anyone? Any thoughts?

Cheers.

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

Nice post, have seen less similar posts trolled on in the past for giving a less "honest opinion", its feeling very non-biased today.

However, the way your currently measuring your prospective home is edgy at best. Drifting from country to country depending on the current currency benefits and political policies isn't the way to go. I'm sure all these things you moan about are correct, but they aren't exactly catastrophic, they aren't reasons to pack your bags and move to a foreign country lol.

It would take a bible of corrupt government policies, five civil wars and a deportation order to kick me out of my "home". Moving to another country for adequate weather or vastly improved lifestyle is justifiable, moving to another country for financial or political reasons is dubious. Many ex-pats of the last few years now have a touch of affluenza since "finance" was a great reason to emigrate to Oz when they did. Perhaps you immigrated partly for the wrong reasons in the first place.

Many people are brainwashed after endless years of work, work, work and you just know that when they realise Oz isn't a magical land of opportunity and very comparable to home, then they'd be packing. If you can stomach it, it could be better for you to just relax, care a little less about issues (which will be resolved in future anyway) and love your country for the things that you can't buy in life. Give it a go, perhaps you'll end up enjoying life better and taking a liking to Oz, Perth or not.

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

Are you living in Oz yet?

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

This is the most sensible reply I have read on this topic. Totally agree with you.

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

This has to be one of the best and most reasonably debated post of anyone returning to the UK ever seen on these boards.


Got to say I dont personally notice Aussies whinging about things in general though, must have my rose tints on. I do accept that when it comes to lack of competition through lack of Broadband carriers/Supermarkets and other areas where things maybe better organised overseas, one does get a short attention span if people are advised there could be a better way. There again when it comes down to it, do you really think people in the UK are that different in this regard.... maybe the exposure to closeby European countries has tuned people into looking at other countries systems for better systems.

Perhaps the geographical isolation of Aussie, is the main cause of Australians perceptions.

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

I ofte wonder how the average australian survives myself. TBH I have never heard any aussies moan about 'cashed up poms'. One of the theatre techs, I work with, who is about 30, married (wife works part-time in a dept store), with one child, rents and has no intention of buying, it does not enter his head as he knows he will never be able to afford it, he travels to work by train, and is entitled to concessions tickets for travelling coz their combined income is low and does not own a car. He is one of the happiest dudes i know.
Most of the younger nurses i work with do moan about 'never being able to get on the housing ladder and lots share with other peeps, even other couples.
\one of the young lads i work with said, he was lucky enough to buy his house 5 years ago, and he says its a long process 'doing it up', coz it was all he could afford, he said he would never be able to buy a house now.
Dont just think there is alot of cashed up poms, there is also alot of 'cashed up aussies', cashed up asians, and cashed up indians, etc. Lots of aussies bought years ago remember, , (e.g my aussie neighbour told me she bought her house 18 years ago at $50,000 , she would easy get $500,000 to $650,000 now and says when the time comes, she will down size and get her son on the property marked). Lots of aussies have investment properties they bought years ago, and can also help their siblings out.

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

Well, I'm not going to drag my family acoss the world because the leader of the state opposition has a penchant for sniffing the seats of female staffers. Nor would I uproot them because the Construction and Forestry Union has a dodgy leader.

Any of the issues I raised, taken in isolation, would be minor. When your family is financially stable, when the roof over your head is your own and when you enjoy your local community then issues such as the Coles/Woolworths duopoly and $8000 for a dental brace for your child might become minor irritants.

However, when financial and home security are not present, all of those minor irritants add and compound the whole experience of Australia. When you add the distance from family and the poor career prospects the outlook becomes bleak.

As I've said in a previous post, I migrated for my children to have the option of living in Australia for university and careers. Maybe that was the wrong reason although with hindsight I don't think that it was. We now have citizenship and they can return when they wish. At some point, maybe we will return also (I can't see myself growing old in England).

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

Don't believe all you read on here. The numbers of 'cashed-up' Poms arriving with wads of money are minute compared to the rest of the population.
There may be a few of them on here who arrive with a big house deposit but, in reality, they're in the minority and the cash they bring is hardly going to make a big dent in the Australian economy. There's certainly no backlash against them by the locals that I've ever noticed.

Locals survive exactly the same way they do in the UK. They buy flats or houses in unfashionable suburbia to get a start on the ladder. They buy with two incomes and they don't expect a McMansion, a swimming pool or a place right on the beach as a starting point. ;)

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

We brought a big house deposit with us but it hasn't helped us financially one jot (when I say big I'm talking $170,000 - I guess it's all relative?).

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

We'd be bringing well over $200K. It still means we'd need a big mortgage in a pretty crap area.

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

You're talking about going the other way, back to the UK, right?

Re: Finally decided to leave Australia...
 

No - when we were considering buying in Perth we'd be bringing 200 from our UK house sale.