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The first year is a struggle
Okies, Ive read many many posts, all to do with cost of living in Oz, house prices, supermarket shopping leccy and bills etc....
Here are my thoughts. Its coming upto our 1st anniversary here. We left uk, with a CUSHY home, and lots of collateral, new car each year, second car. Takeaways 3 times a week, 1 main holiday a year. I ran my own business, and debs worked in a moderately paid job, for a lady ( i know its sexist, but women are far undervalued in the workplace ) We arrived with the proverbial rose tinted specs, and running on adrenalin and excitement. We had been to oz many times before, so we had a rough grounding into the , so called unknown. Please, ayone thinking of migrating here, COME first for minimum of 3 weeks, DO NOT do touristy things... try and pretend to be LIVING here. And for gods sake try and forget that £1 = $2.5 lol ,..... < been there and done that but you dont realise how irritating it is to constantly here SO WHATS THAT IN ENGLISH !! lol Anyways. When you arrive, armed with your suitcases and paperwork and plans and aspirations, it isnt all PLAIN sailing. Australia is riddled with beaurocracy, and red tape. Moreso than is let on, especially within the forums. Every i must be dotted and every t crossed, it can be frustrating to say the least. We lived in a mates garage for 3 months, sleeping thu the early pary of Summer ( late spring ) on a borrowed double bed, sharing the place with a Barracuda Car that leaked Oil, mozzies, tree frogs and spiders. Not to mention ants . For some reason, Aussies have this thing with naming Insects by the most obvious.. ie a red ant is called a red ant etc lol you get the picture. We immediately, DAY OF ARRIVAL frog marched the kids to school, and enrolled them. This was a friday, and still suffering from Jetlag, we decided NOW was a better time than any. They thus started school on the Monday. I had previously purchased a car from my aussie mat, when I was back in england, and so we had transport. First up was centrelink, banks, driving license and then bottle shop. Not my preferred order. Aussies LOVE scottish people. Unfortunately we fell into the POMME BARSTUD folder :) Viewing houses is exciting, but they are all nice, give or take a flea pit or two. What looked great online, looks better in the flesh. The calculator comes in handy !! Our house sale was still completing in the uk, so we couldnt move on anything. Although we did get a self cert mortgage in place with RAMMS. Can highly recommend them, and the guy we dealt with who is now a personal friend. Along came xmas, and we managed to do a deal with the people whos home in Brisbane we had put an offer on. We couldnt complete because UK solicitors and buyers pissing about, so we told them HONESTLY we cannot move in for xmas. Aussies will do anything for ya, dont for one minute think differently , they are the most accomodating and trusting nation we have met. The couple said SO !!! Move in , its a technicality. We moved in and spent XMAS in our AUSSIE home. Xmas day by the pool, in 37 degree heat followed by a night storm is weird !! January came, then february, and albeit we were paying rent for the house we were buying until uk completion, the worst happened. Late february, uk buyers JUST pulled out.... We had run out of money back in early January, no savings DIP !!! We had just unpacked all of our uk furniture on a whim that everything would be ok. OH SHIT !!!! Now we were in the MIRE Fitting air cons in the summer is brilliant, but end of feb, and its slowing down a bit. Its all we had, you cannot borrow money NOT that we wanted to. We couldnt use credit cards cos we dont like them and couldnt get them. EFTPOS has an uncanny way of saying DECLINED ! Frantically we had expected this, but inevitably had hoped it wouldnt happen. We told our aussie sellers, and they were a tad worried, including their solicitor who would have shot us, fed us to hyennas ad sent us back to uk given half a chance. We got an email from Debs mum cpl weeks later, after DELBOY tactics by us over here to avoid any confrontation, BULLSHIT sometimes does prevail. Another buyer had been found in uk, at current offer price, mortgage in place nothing to sell. WHOOPPEFUKNDOOOOOOOOOO Late march saw the completion of the sale in the uk, and some much needed relief financially. It was extremely stressful and now looking back, it seemed to hhappen in the blink of an eye. It of course didnt. Please for gods sake, SELL your home before you come here, or at the very least bring about 20 grand with you to see you thru, should things go pear shaped. Steve |
Re: The first year is a struggle
Originally Posted by Timber Floor Au
Okies, Ive read many many posts, all to do with cost of living in Oz, house prices, supermarket shopping leccy and bills etc....
Here are my thoughts. Its coming upto our 1st anniversary here. We left uk, with a CUSHY home, and lots of collateral, new car each year, second car. Takeaways 3 times a week, 1 main holiday a year. I ran my own business, and debs worked in a moderately paid job, for a lady ( i know its sexist, but women are far undervalued in the workplace ) We arrived with the proverbial rose tinted specs, and running on adrenalin and excitement. We had been to oz many times before, so we had a rough grounding into the , so called unknown. Please, ayone thinking of migrating here, COME first for minimum of 3 weeks, DO NOT do touristy things... try and pretend to be LIVING here. And for gods sake try and forget that £1 = $2.5 lol ,..... < been there and done that but you dont realise how irritating it is to constantly here SO WHATS THAT IN ENGLISH !! lol Anyways. When you arrive, armed with your suitcases and paperwork and plans and aspirations, it isnt all PLAIN sailing. Australia is riddled with beaurocracy, and red tape. Moreso than is let on, especially within the forums. Every i must be dotted and every t crossed, it can be frustrating to say the least. We lived in a mates garage for 3 months, sleeping thu the early pary of Summer ( late spring ) on a borrowed double bed, sharing the place with a Barracuda Car that leaked Oil, mozzies, tree frogs and spiders. Not to mention ants . For some reason, Aussies have this thing with naming Insects by the most obvious.. ie a red ant is called a red ant etc lol you get the picture. We immediately, DAY OF ARRIVAL frog marched the kids to school, and enrolled them. This was a friday, and still suffering from Jetlag, we decided NOW was a better time than any. They thus started school on the Monday. I had previously purchased a car from my aussie mat, when I was back in england, and so we had transport. First up was centrelink, banks, driving license and then bottle shop. Not my preferred order. Aussies LOVE scottish people. Unfortunately we fell into the POMME BARSTUD folder :) Viewing houses is exciting, but they are all nice, give or take a flea pit or two. What looked great online, looks better in the flesh. The calculator comes in handy !! Our house sale was still completing in the uk, so we couldnt move on anything. Although we did get a self cert mortgage in place with RAMMS. Can highly recommend them, and the guy we dealt with who is now a personal friend. Along came xmas, and we managed to do a deal with the people whos home in Brisbane we had put an offer on. We couldnt complete because UK solicitors and buyers pissing about, so we told them HONESTLY we cannot move in for xmas. Aussies will do anything for ya, dont for one minute think differently , they are the most accomodating and trusting nation we have met. The couple said SO !!! Move in , its a technicality. We moved in and spent XMAS in our AUSSIE home. Xmas day by the pool, in 37 degree heat followed by a night storm is weird !! January came, then february, and albeit we were paying rent for the house we were buying until uk completion, the worst happened. Late february, uk buyers JUST pulled out.... We had run out of money back in early January, no savings DIP !!! We had just unpacked all of our uk furniture on a whim that everything would be ok. OH SHIT !!!! Now we were in the MIRE Fitting air cons in the summer is brilliant, but end of feb, and its slowing down a bit. Its all we had, you cannot borrow money NOT that we wanted to. We couldnt use credit cards cos we dont like them and couldnt get them. EFTPOS has an uncanny way of saying DECLINED ! Frantically we had expected this, but inevitably had hoped it wouldnt happen. We told our aussie sellers, and they were a tad worried, including their solicitor who would have shot us, fed us to hyennas ad sent us back to uk given half a chance. We got an email from Debs mum cpl weeks later, after DELBOY tactics by us over here to avoid any confrontation, BULLSHIT sometimes does prevail. Another buyer had been found in uk, at current offer price, mortgage in place nothing to sell. WHOOPPEFUKNDOOOOOOOOOO Late march saw the completion of the sale in the uk, and some much needed relief financially. It was extremely stressful and now looking back, it seemed to hhappen in the blink of an eye. It of course didnt. Please for gods sake, SELL your home before you come here, or at the very least bring about 20 grand with you to see you thru, should things go pear shaped. Steve good post :beer: are you sorted now?? i love pears?? soz couldnt resist |
Re: The first year is a struggle
Originally Posted by Timber Floor Au
Okies, Ive read many many posts, all to do with cost of living in Oz, house prices, supermarket shopping leccy and bills etc....
Steve Thanks for posting your experience and more power to you both. |
Re: The first year is a struggle
Originally Posted by Timber Floor Au
Okies, Ive read many many posts, all to do with cost of living in Oz, house prices, supermarket shopping leccy and bills etc....
Here are my thoughts. Its coming upto our 1st anniversary here. We left uk, with a CUSHY home, and lots of collateral, new car each year, second car. Takeaways 3 times a week, 1 main holiday a year. I ran my own business, and debs worked in a moderately paid job, for a lady ( i know its sexist, but women are far undervalued in the workplace ) We arrived with the proverbial rose tinted specs, and running on adrenalin and excitement. We had been to oz many times before, so we had a rough grounding into the , so called unknown. Please, ayone thinking of migrating here, COME first for minimum of 3 weeks, DO NOT do touristy things... try and pretend to be LIVING here. And for gods sake try and forget that £1 = $2.5 lol ,..... < been there and done that but you dont realise how irritating it is to constantly here SO WHATS THAT IN ENGLISH !! lol Anyways. When you arrive, armed with your suitcases and paperwork and plans and aspirations, it isnt all PLAIN sailing. Australia is riddled with beaurocracy, and red tape. Moreso than is let on, especially within the forums. Every i must be dotted and every t crossed, it can be frustrating to say the least. We lived in a mates garage for 3 months, sleeping thu the early pary of Summer ( late spring ) on a borrowed double bed, sharing the place with a Barracuda Car that leaked Oil, mozzies, tree frogs and spiders. Not to mention ants . For some reason, Aussies have this thing with naming Insects by the most obvious.. ie a red ant is called a red ant etc lol you get the picture. We immediately, DAY OF ARRIVAL frog marched the kids to school, and enrolled them. This was a friday, and still suffering from Jetlag, we decided NOW was a better time than any. They thus started school on the Monday. I had previously purchased a car from my aussie mat, when I was back in england, and so we had transport. First up was centrelink, banks, driving license and then bottle shop. Not my preferred order. Aussies LOVE scottish people. Unfortunately we fell into the POMME BARSTUD folder :) Viewing houses is exciting, but they are all nice, give or take a flea pit or two. What looked great online, looks better in the flesh. The calculator comes in handy !! Our house sale was still completing in the uk, so we couldnt move on anything. Although we did get a self cert mortgage in place with RAMMS. Can highly recommend them, and the guy we dealt with who is now a personal friend. Along came xmas, and we managed to do a deal with the people whos home in Brisbane we had put an offer on. We couldnt complete because UK solicitors and buyers pissing about, so we told them HONESTLY we cannot move in for xmas. Aussies will do anything for ya, dont for one minute think differently , they are the most accomodating and trusting nation we have met. The couple said SO !!! Move in , its a technicality. We moved in and spent XMAS in our AUSSIE home. Xmas day by the pool, in 37 degree heat followed by a night storm is weird !! January came, then february, and albeit we were paying rent for the house we were buying until uk completion, the worst happened. Late february, uk buyers JUST pulled out.... We had run out of money back in early January, no savings DIP !!! We had just unpacked all of our uk furniture on a whim that everything would be ok. OH SHIT !!!! Now we were in the MIRE Fitting air cons in the summer is brilliant, but end of feb, and its slowing down a bit. Its all we had, you cannot borrow money NOT that we wanted to. We couldnt use credit cards cos we dont like them and couldnt get them. EFTPOS has an uncanny way of saying DECLINED ! Frantically we had expected this, but inevitably had hoped it wouldnt happen. We told our aussie sellers, and they were a tad worried, including their solicitor who would have shot us, fed us to hyennas ad sent us back to uk given half a chance. We got an email from Debs mum cpl weeks later, after DELBOY tactics by us over here to avoid any confrontation, BULLSHIT sometimes does prevail. Another buyer had been found in uk, at current offer price, mortgage in place nothing to sell. WHOOPPEFUKNDOOOOOOOOOO Late march saw the completion of the sale in the uk, and some much needed relief financially. It was extremely stressful and now looking back, it seemed to hhappen in the blink of an eye. It of course didnt. Please for gods sake, SELL your home before you come here, or at the very least bring about 20 grand with you to see you thru, should things go pear shaped. Steve The first year can be hard whilst you re-adjust to a new lifestlye. We found that the second year can seem more settled and a lot more down to earth. Yes Australia does look much differant when the holiday period stops and you may need some good collateral to get you through although we have heard from many who have managed with hardly any and they have had a smooth sailing. I guess that it depends on how much effort and luck is on your side. Are you enjoying yourself now that things are settling down? |
Re: The first year is a struggle
Excellent post Steve. Honest, informative and sensible without giving anyone any ammo to gripe at you for knocking anything. :rolleyes:
I read about people going while their house in still on the market and I know that I just could not do it in a million years. A bit like I daren't even put it on the market until we have have confirmation of having a visa. I would rather pay out money for a validation holiday, if needs be, then run the risk of our house not selling. Thanks for the info and I hope life continues to get better and better for you. |
Re: The first year is a struggle
Thanks for such and honest and refreshing post. It s great to hear about peoples real experiences rather thaan just the ideal scenario.
Lisa.x Karma on its way... |
Re: The first year is a struggle
Well done good post!
Kris x |
Re: The first year is a struggle
Good, sensible no nonsense post, thanks. :beer:
Regarding our UK home, we decided not to advertise it until our visa was granted AND we're not flying out until we've exchanged and completed, no mistakes then! Keebs |
Re: The first year is a struggle
WOW cheers guys, I mean it :)
Yes we are really settled now, and financially on the up lol I think we all at times live on our instincts and get akin to the reassurance back in the uk, of living each day the same ... or so it seemed for us. You do get complacent, and take normal stuff for granted. Stupid crap like nipping to shop by foot to get a paper and some milk and cigs. We all know is Oz its slightly different, and not necessarily for the worst, its as was said up above, re adjustment. I think deep down we all, have the idealistic view of our life, and moving to Australia kinda answered the dream, but missed the inbetweeney stuff !! We wouldnt move back for one minute and love and relish and thank god for every minute we have here, in fact we still keep lookin at each other and sayin ITS WICKED here AINT IT !! and it is, its an awesome country and i think to non visitors , of oz, its a culture shock in every extreme. Its so GREEN and full of life, but you always get that feelin everything here, is rooted in huge deep history and has survived because it needed to. And we aint any different, just a normal uk family not pretendin to be aussies, but happy to be Australians living our Dream. Whatever happens guys, especially the UK posters who are in the realms of moving here, it IS all worth it. ;) thankyou |
Re: The first year is a struggle
Originally Posted by Timber Floor Au
Okies, Ive read many many posts, all to do with cost of living in Oz, house prices, supermarket shopping leccy and bills etc....
Here are my thoughts. Its coming upto our 1st anniversary here. We left uk, with a CUSHY home, and lots of collateral, new car each year, second car. Takeaways 3 times a week, 1 main holiday a year. I ran my own business, and debs worked in a moderately paid job, for a lady ( i know its sexist, but women are far undervalued in the workplace ) We arrived with the proverbial rose tinted specs, and running on adrenalin and excitement. We had been to oz many times before, so we had a rough grounding into the , so called unknown. Please, ayone thinking of migrating here, COME first for minimum of 3 weeks, DO NOT do touristy things... try and pretend to be LIVING here. And for gods sake try and forget that £1 = $2.5 lol ,..... < been there and done that but you dont realise how irritating it is to constantly here SO WHATS THAT IN ENGLISH !! lol Anyways. When you arrive, armed with your suitcases and paperwork and plans and aspirations, it isnt all PLAIN sailing. Australia is riddled with beaurocracy, and red tape. Moreso than is let on, especially within the forums. Every i must be dotted and every t crossed, it can be frustrating to say the least. We lived in a mates garage for 3 months, sleeping thu the early pary of Summer ( late spring ) on a borrowed double bed, sharing the place with a Barracuda Car that leaked Oil, mozzies, tree frogs and spiders. Not to mention ants . For some reason, Aussies have this thing with naming Insects by the most obvious.. ie a red ant is called a red ant etc lol you get the picture. We immediately, DAY OF ARRIVAL frog marched the kids to school, and enrolled them. This was a friday, and still suffering from Jetlag, we decided NOW was a better time than any. They thus started school on the Monday. I had previously purchased a car from my aussie mat, when I was back in england, and so we had transport. First up was centrelink, banks, driving license and then bottle shop. Not my preferred order. Aussies LOVE scottish people. Unfortunately we fell into the POMME BARSTUD folder :) Viewing houses is exciting, but they are all nice, give or take a flea pit or two. What looked great online, looks better in the flesh. The calculator comes in handy !! Our house sale was still completing in the uk, so we couldnt move on anything. Although we did get a self cert mortgage in place with RAMMS. Can highly recommend them, and the guy we dealt with who is now a personal friend. Along came xmas, and we managed to do a deal with the people whos home in Brisbane we had put an offer on. We couldnt complete because UK solicitors and buyers pissing about, so we told them HONESTLY we cannot move in for xmas. Aussies will do anything for ya, dont for one minute think differently , they are the most accomodating and trusting nation we have met. The couple said SO !!! Move in , its a technicality. We moved in and spent XMAS in our AUSSIE home. Xmas day by the pool, in 37 degree heat followed by a night storm is weird !! January came, then february, and albeit we were paying rent for the house we were buying until uk completion, the worst happened. Late february, uk buyers JUST pulled out.... We had run out of money back in early January, no savings DIP !!! We had just unpacked all of our uk furniture on a whim that everything would be ok. OH SHIT !!!! Now we were in the MIRE Fitting air cons in the summer is brilliant, but end of feb, and its slowing down a bit. Its all we had, you cannot borrow money NOT that we wanted to. We couldnt use credit cards cos we dont like them and couldnt get them. EFTPOS has an uncanny way of saying DECLINED ! Frantically we had expected this, but inevitably had hoped it wouldnt happen. We told our aussie sellers, and they were a tad worried, including their solicitor who would have shot us, fed us to hyennas ad sent us back to uk given half a chance. We got an email from Debs mum cpl weeks later, after DELBOY tactics by us over here to avoid any confrontation, BULLSHIT sometimes does prevail. Another buyer had been found in uk, at current offer price, mortgage in place nothing to sell. WHOOPPEFUKNDOOOOOOOOOO Late march saw the completion of the sale in the uk, and some much needed relief financially. It was extremely stressful and now looking back, it seemed to hhappen in the blink of an eye. It of course didnt. Please for gods sake, SELL your home before you come here, or at the very least bring about 20 grand with you to see you thru, should things go pear shaped. Steve he he he only kidding. this is one of the best threads ive read in ages. i hope it makes people think ;) good stuff, i love threads like this :) |
Re: The first year is a struggle
good thread Steve.
|
Re: The first year is a struggle
Originally Posted by soapy
WHAT A CROCK OF SHIT !!!!!!!!!
he he he only kidding. this is one of the best threads ive read in ages. i hope it makes people think ;) good stuff, i love threads like this :) Saw the crock of shit, and thought u bassard i got inflictions and blisters typin all that !! :) |
Re: The first year is a struggle
Really excellent stuff ....
I'm going to have a slight dig now though, Tis obvious you are used to Q'land conditions. because towards the end of your last post you say It's really Green here, (hence my post on the water thread) We spend 4 months of the year looking at brown/golden grass here in Vic. I have to use grey water on my garden in inner Melbourne, as we are no longer allowed to use sprinklers. One thing I miss after 20 years plus, is the 1,000 shades of green of spring in England. More power to yah though mate, sounds like you are really enjoying yourself. |
Re: The first year is a struggle
Timber Floor Au
Your original post was very useful. There's so much griping on this forum in general (less so on the Aussie one) that you forget that posts like yours are actually what this site was probably made for. My wife and I are thinking about leaving the UK, considered Canada but we are put off by the 10 days annual leave thing and the apparent difficulty finding jobs there. I lived in Australia as a kid and now are thoughts are turning that way - more holidays, better weather, and higher wages. We think we might try and rent our house out in the UK until we are sure we like it in Australia, and then sell it if we do. I think your advice about taking 20K with us is very good, so I'll start saving right now. All the best for the future T. |
Re: The first year is a struggle
Originally Posted by Timber Floor Au
Cheers Soapy :)
Saw the crock of shit, and thought u bassard i got inflictions and blisters typin all that !! i just had to do that. everyone else was far too nice to u lol we always see threads with......we love it here or we hate it here. its rare to see one like yours and very refreshing. im really pleased there was light at the end of the tunnel :) what people forget TFA, is life is hard even in the sun. good luck mate, but dont think you need it. your making your own ;) |
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