barnsleylass

Okay so we are currently trying to decide whether to move to Sydney permanently. We have PR visas valid for another three years and know Australia (Sydney especially) fairly well having lived there previously for a year.

But .....

.....that was 2002-2003 when we were young & carefree! We have since had three children (aged 4, 2, and 10 months) and life now pretty much revolves around the kids. We have never lived in Oz with a young family (we visited briefly in 2009 to activate our visas) so are finding it hard to imagine life out there with kids.

Our main reasons for moving are to get a better quality family life, better job opportunities for us and the kids when they are older and of course better weather!! We currently live in Northumberland and the very poor/cold summers are making family life pretty restrictive.

So for all you people who have made the leap over to Oz - please let us know how your family life has improved!! What is your typical day/weekend? What new activities have you taken up? Even if it's something fairly simple please can you share it with us.

We have a fairly straightforward way of looking at things:-
Australia=Better Climate=Greater opportunities to be active/outdoors

In reality is this the case?

Please share your experiences to help us make our life-changing (and very scary decision ).

Many thanks

Sally

steve`o

please take some of the replies that you will get to your question with a large pinch of salt

quoll

I wouldnt say that ours changed for the better but we came here a long time ago. We both had to work long hours to succeed in our professions - when the kids were growing up I certainly felt like a single parent much of the time because the DH was a workaholic - he'd have been the same no matter where we were I suspect but initially it was very difficult, especially living in a place where I had no social network and found it hard to get one of the same calibre as the one I had left behind.

Personally I dont like the heat and the older I get the harder it is to live with - I find that for much of the summer I dont go out. I dont like to get frizzled to a frazzle nor do I like having to slap sunscreen on every time I poke my nose out of the house - I also live with the guilt of having missed a bit of DS1's back when he was little and him getting nastily sunburned (got a bit paranoid after that). Similarly I dont much enjoy sharing my meals with flies and dont much enjoy being the first course (and dessert) for mozzies so the "outdoor lifestyle" hasnt featured highly in my life.

We chose to pay through the nose for private education for the boys - mainly because I had seen first hand what went on in our local school and, at the time, was distinctly underwhelmed. We have no regrets about that but it did seriously disadvantage us financially. Our boys enjoyed their sport and that was a bonus but very expensive when they got to national level - we even took one of them to UK to swim at UK nationals while we were on holiday and, to be honest, the standards weren't that much different at that level. They also had a chance to row while they were there and although the type of rowing was different, they didnt have any trouble with joining and training with their chosen sport so they would probably have done the same thing had we lived in UK I suspect.

One of my kids, now adult, has gone back to UK because of the better opportunities and lifestyle he found there. To give him his due he didnt intend to go forever but, once there, he found a whole new big life that he hadnt appreciated having grown up in this little pond and although he initially intended to return, his last holiday here had him champing at the bit to get back to his own life (I think he was really quite bored) and I wouldnt be surprised if he never comes back to live. I dont think growing up in Australia disadvantaged him but he did get his degree before he left - had he not done that I think things would have been different for him.

Now in my old age this isnt a kind country to the elderly, it's very much a young folks place IMHO. At the moment I am working (and I do have to thank Australia for always having had a job but I suspect I might have had better international qualifications had I stayed in UK for the same type of job!), having retired once, and am working with quite a few old people who are so scared of their power bills that they head off to the clubs for warmth and social connectivity and as a result have significant gambling problems. That's certainly not the life I fancy for myself in my old age but I can see that for them it was a logical step to take (apart from the addiction to the pokies!)

At the end of the day it is a foreign country with all the first world attractions and problems that you find in other first world countries. If you have an itch for adventure and want to give it a go then go for it - your life is going to be as good or bad as you make it independently of where you live it. Just dont burn any bridges in the process and you will be fine.

(Add salt here LOL)

Buzzy--Bee

Sally, instead of me typing a lengthy reply, maybe you could take a look at this very old thread I posted when I asked a similar question before I emigrated - I think the answers are still valid....

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=364535

BB

iamthecreaturefromuranus

On the whole, the weather got better, though plenty would disagree with that and my house got bigger.
Other than that, and I'm really not trying to be flippant, nothing much else changed.

Dorothy

Australia = first world country. UK = first world country. Same same only different.

Unless you're coming from the Cambodian jungle or India's slums you're going to find it's not better, not worse, just different.

Turban Explorer

There are more outdoorsy things to do than in the UK generally. Beaches are common place, sailing, walks and camping have all been greatly enjoyed by myself and partner. Although you need to expect to be smeared in deet and factor 30 before you can partake. Your skin will age much quicker regardless (as I have noticed on returning to see friends). I think the blandness of life here is a big deterrent and job wise I really don't see there are greater opportunities. It depends on what sort of life style you want. Alot of things you take for granted in the UK aren't here although the natural environment is certainly a draw for a while.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

That made me think... I live about 5min walk from the beach, supposedly one of Australia's big attractions, and I honestly can't remember the last time I went.
Perhaps coming with little kids makes it different, but with, at the time, two teenage sons and me in my 40's the beach doesn't have much of a draw.

DeadVim

Yes - I am a father, a husband, I get more exercise, I live in a house that has a few acres around it, I am learning to cook, I can service the car/ride-on/chainsaw/etc, I am generally a more complete person compared to 7 years ago.

Would all this have happened in the UK? Dunno, maybe ... not really much point thinking about it ...

4500 Times

Life is what you make it. I never look back or try and compare how our lives would pan out if still in the UK.

We probably spend around 75% of our time outside, which is a huge difference, watch a lot less tv, and spend a lot more time together as a family.
So for us our lives have improved no end.

Career wise, its probably on a par, as is the salary. We are very happy with our boys education so far, he is a very happy kid. We have a lovely home in a lovely area, so Australia has been pretty good to us.

Its not for everyone.......but we can't see ourselves anywhere else....

CrunchieFrog

Why are you only asking for how things have changed for the better? Surely you sold be asking just for how family life has changed, with no qualifier.

Or are you only after positive feedback?

asprilla

I agree strongly with Dorothy's post. In my opinion Aus & UK are both great countries and both have a different set of +ve's and -ve's.

It is true that a good climate will allow you to have a more active lifestyle.

However the real key to having an active lifestyle, is ensuring that you have the free time and the desire to be active.

Have you thought about making a move down south? (England)

jad n rich

Some things will be better some worse. Its a trade off.

For us:

Huge house with acerage, until the recent exchange rate we wouldnt have had that in the UK.

We arrived in boom time, I think we have more assets than if we had stayed in UK.

Very high income. But partners an aussie with specialist experience in his field, hard to say what UK would pay him, but I dont think it would be the amount here.

Kids found primary school 7 long years of play, they were very happy, I dont think they even thought of it as school

Not so good.

Climate, yep you think its a dream. In reality its a very harsh climate and if like us you are very fair you will pay for it, either by keeping out of it, or getting skin cancer.

Education, all that playing was fun. But dyslexia wasn't recognised, child got nowhere the help he would have got in the UK - applies to many learning difficulties.

Family. My family are so chuffed the only grandkids live on other side of world we no longer even get a christmas card. Sad is too mild a word

Isolated. Its hard to explain, its not just distance. The cost of travel from here the " aussie is worldclass ' bullshite even if something is crap. The cost of almost anything. The TV, the Media, the sometimes very racist or superior attitude of some aussies. And the current government

Probably like any country win some lose some.

Bermudashorts

My family in Australia is just the two of us, as the extended family are still in Blighty then I would have to say we have a lesser family life here as we are missing out on family get togethers and young nieces and nephews growing up.

We were happy in UK, we are happy here. Life is much the same in many ways as we are the same people we ever were. We have to work much harder here.

Cheetah7

Mr PP and myself see far more of each other now, we go round friends houses, have dinner parties, BBQs etc. In the UK our friends lived far away but not half as far as the ones we have now. Here our friends will think nothing of driving a couple of hours to see us and vice versa.

We have taken more little trips away, have breakfast on the beach - just more active really and just do more together.

When I think of the life we had there, we could not replicate it - and I would say our balance is just about right. Dont get me wrong, he still works late as a chef but we have our days off together - something in London that rarely happened.