DEF!!!

Thats good to hear, think we will too!

Thanks Donna, good to hear

Well your observation would appear to be spot on, Yep I know lots of pohms come back each year or stick together in little groups and bitch about it not being the same, but the ones who make a go of it normally get on real well. It would be interesting to see the figures on how many come back.
I've worked closely with the scruffy bug**** for about five years now trailing back and forwards, We also lived in Aus for a year loved it and can't wait to go home. We where all devastated when I was recalled despite the Aus requesting an extension to the tour of duty. None of use has managed to settle down in the UK and miss everything about the place good and bad.

We moved here just over a year ago, having never visited, and have no regrets. We were happy in the UK, but fancied a change/adventure and what we perceive as being a better childhood for our kids. We had both lived abroad before, and were fortunate in that we could have afforded to return to the UK had we hated it here. We chose to move to Melbourne for various reasons, but had that not worked out would probably have tried another Oz city rather than move back to the UK.
There are good and bad aspects to living in Oz, but for us the good outweigh the bad quite significantly. If you know what you are looking for (for us; better weather, larger garden and house, 'proper' childhood for the kids) and do your research there is not necessarily a need to visit first. A two or three week visit will help you gather information, but won't show you what it is really like to live somewhere. I like going to France on holiday, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Most people who make the move without visiting seem as realistic as those who do a reccie, and I don't think that it makes much difference overall. Like so many other things, just a matter of preference.

Regards, Kirsty

We had never been here before but took the chance. Must say that home and away convinced me Oz was fo rus. Nah not really it was the TV programme get a life down under actually. My motto is 'if you don't take chances you will sit in your boring house with your boring life thinking What if!
No regrets so far for me. Go for it I say!

We had decided about 5 years ago that living in the UK for the rest of our lives wasn't for us - but due to family issues, illness (I nearly died 3 years ago - which made a big impression on my thinking) and feasibility of the application for moving (relevant work experience etc) we didn't progress with our - at the time - vague plans.

Then we decided that we wanted to visit Australia - we had travelled extensively around Europe and parts of America - and Aus was the next on the 'list' - we provisionally booked a trip away which included cars, internal flights, some accomadation - then thought 'sod it' - why spend all that money, why not take the bull by the horns, so to speak - and go for a Visa - by then, I'd got the qualifications and experience to meet DIMIA requirements.

I think that sometimes you have a gut feeling, and that feeling is worth the risk of taking - in our case - it has worked out so far - been here 7 months, and we don't regret for one second our impulsive actions.

I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to come here a few times before so I knew what we were if for. Having said that, it seems obvious but "living" in Australia is very different to visiting Australia for a holiday/reccie.

I always thought people moving here without having visited before were crazy but it's expensive, a lot of folk only have a few months to validate a visa so just go for the plunge.

In the "old" days - until quite recently, it was rare for a reccie, you paid your 10 quid and got on the boat. Historically emigrating to Australia was done on the basis of word of mouth, misleading posters of happy familys on the beach, bucolic images of free land for dairy farms (the reality was group settlement camps in the forest).

This is still similar to what we have today: word of mouth - British Expats, misleading posters - Qantas ads with singing kids, free land - the "bush" visa where you could end up living on Bogon Avenue, Rednecksville.

At the end of the day, a reccie trip is a luxury some cannot afford. People might be in for a rude awakening some will make it some will not. I don't think a reccie trip will make any difference to the overall success or failure of the process.

trust me, you'll be moaning about the politics in oz, the way they charge money for everything, etc, etc.

Nowhere is perfect - just some places are more perfect than others.

i agree about the sport, sunshine, beautiful scenery etc etc, but you are a bit deluded if you think there are more opportunities in oz.

my girlfriend finished uni almost 2 years ago and cannot get a job in her field in brisbane, and i can't get a job in my field where she is currently working. so we have to live in different cities.

all my girlfriends uni friends have gone over to the uk/us to get work and experience. we might have to do that too - although not until i have my citizenship

I think that you're right about a reccie being a luxury. However, I do think that a reccie may affect the process. Having just been to a place can provide a sense of familiarity and security that is almost completely absent otherwise upon first arriving; it's something to ground you. Even if you don't end up in the same place that you initially visited, little things can help make Australia not seem so completely alien and new. There's enough 'new' when you first arrive (new house, new jobs, new friends etc); having something that you recognise (a location, a shop, a brand - whatever) that you know and have experienced (not just seen on TV or in books) can be incredibly comforting. To my mind.

GG

I go every two yrs and believe me ANYONE who goes to live there, GOOD on you. You'll love it , nothing to worry about and yes youre all doing the right thing.
Josie

I don't think there is anything necessarily wrong with moving without visiting, but the main question would be deciding which city to go for. The choices might be summarised as:

1. Perth or Brisbane : "new" Oz
2. Sydney or Melbourne: "old" Oz

No offence to Adelaide, Darwin etc!

Each city has a different ambience and attitude which is difficult to capture in words, but is quite obvious when you visit. It's often this which leads you to decide "this could be home".

It's a tough decision to make. Ste had spent a years WHV here and I had heard *ALL* about what a good life Australia can give - the lifestyle, the people etc etc.

In the end it was me who pushed to migrate - I felt we needed a change, to have an adventure - lifes too short and all that....I didn't fancy going to europe - language barriers and all that, the states don't appeal to me at all, neither does canada, all of which I have visited.

We went to see an agent and got a preliminary go-ahead to apply to the TRA. At that point I told ste that I wanted to go for a visit. Had it just been the two of us, I might have bitten the bullet and just gone but we had a 2 year old and a four year old at the time and I didn't want to move them 12,000 miles without being sure we could make a go of it.

ANYWAY.... we spent 15,000 pounds on a 3 week reccie!!!! Money we didn't really have but we considered that if we thoiught 'yes' it's for us, then it was money well spent and if we decided it wasn't for us, then it would have been a damn sight cheaper than the whole migration.

3 weeks in Australia: New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria and it was good.

Money well spent? I'm not sure. Ste told me before we came out for the reccie, that we were only really going so that I could get a 'feel' for the country. Whether or not I felt at home. He told me I would know straightaway if I belonged here or not. It's a feeling. A reccie and life here are completely separate things.

Ste was right, I got the feeling, I felt like I belonged here. So in that respect, it was money well spent. But when I look back, theres plenty of things we could have done with 15,000 pounds when we got here.

SO (phew!!!), I say, go with your gut feeling. Ride the rollercoaster but BE POSITIVE. It's not the UK and you should never expect it to be so. If you do that, you should be half right.