Fooferfish

We live in Dorset and most people here just exist in one form or another, and if you are a first time buyer you have to be earning at least £40,000 a year to get on the property ladder, so for us we are hoping to move to NZ, and start a new life with the profit we make from the sale of our house we can get a good start in New PLymouth.We have just had are EOI selected out of the Pool and it was only in there 2 weeks so we hope they will ask us to aplly for residence .

But i am a great believer in you make your own destiny in life and if you want life to be crap it will be, and i think you have to be quite versatile in todays life and try to learn something new each year to broaden you skills ect. Lots of people come to Dorset each year and think wow this is a nice place but if you come from the midlands than yes it is but if you want to live here then then it is a different story, like it is wherever you go.

There is an old Japanees proverb i quite like that is quite true for most people in Dorset ....Life is a rat race and even if you win the rat race you are still a rat... every thing in England is focused on what house you have, what car you have and we want to gat away form all that, and if you have the chance to change that for a few years and experience another country then you will enrich your life ..so go for it because lfe is not a rehearsal..

Don

I think Dormice come from Dorset, true? - and they spend a lot of time eating and sleeping.

HiddenPaw

I do agree with what you say about life is what you make it and that any travel overseas is an experience worth having. But I don't agree that the whole of England is about houses and cars, and that the whole of NZ/Australia isn't about houses and cars.

Materialism exists in Oz/NZ just as it does in the UK. Snobbery is as prevalent in areas of Aus as much as in areas of the UK. Fancy cars, for example, are big business in Oz. Have never been to NZ so perhaps it's less consumer-driven.

Best of luck with your venture to NZ

MarkMyWords

Definitely. Time and again this comes up (and seems to spark the occasional controversial thread). What you find wrong with the UK you will find wrong with other countries too. People are people. By emigrating, you will escape neither them nor yourself. But good luck, all the same.

scottish

NZ would be consumer driven if there was a choice to consume. LOL

NZ, in my opinion has 2 types of people those who have and those who will never have. Young people here, like back home can not afford to buy there own home. Wages are crap and hours long.

But heck yeh its all an experience, just a very expensive one.

Paul&Ann-Marie

God knows i have been the author of a thread or two for debate, but i agree with you.

We want better for our kids ( is there really anything wrong with that ? )and HOPE that lies in aus.
you can only do so much financially etc. within the confines of the uk and when all you see on the news is more murders, child abductions, asylum seekers, victims becoming the accused etc etc. and the frequency of this news it IS hard to see the UK being a good place to raise your kids.
i have no doubt aus has its problems ( again ) but fail to see it being WORSE than the uk on the whole.

this is NOT our only reason for going so please ( you know who you are ) ease off, it is simply ANOTHER reason for going.

hoping, but not expecting, the grass to be at least a little greener.
It IS what you make it, we have a better chance of MAKING it in aus than the uk, that's all.
Paul.

here we go again.

booboo1

To me life is much better over here in Oz...
but I had to put my daughter in a private school as the public school was crap. A survey here from the governement also showed that children in private schools do much better over here when they start their working lives etc. Choose your school carefully and monitor closely what is being taught etc.

Houses and cars are important to alot of peeps over here. we are lucky as we can buy a big house outright with the profit from our sale in the UK.

I know loads of aussies who are struggling to make ends meet as the wages here are very low for the majority of people. Things are not cheaper over here especially when you buy them with the Aussie $.

You get taxed for everything over here...

But I Love being back here in Oz and I dont ever want to leave here.

I think Oz is much more preferable than the UK.

booboo

jayr

For the most part you will find the grass in Oz a lot browner.

bonza69

I find australia a nicer place for my 2 two children,every thing seems cleaner and less hustle and bustle we have done things here that we cud not simply do back in the uk,for a start we go out nearly every day on our bikes on the beach front,and the view is fab,kids love going in the sea,we go walking,the weather is better,we spend more quality time as a family,i walk to school with them,we r more relaxed as a family now,these things are priceless,we ve met loads of new and nice people....the houses are cheaper ...yes.....but also the wages are lower as well.....once u start to earn the au dollar,and live of it,then its all relative,shopping at the supermarket is no cheaper,theres still bills to pay,..once u get here and u have the English pound then thats great,but it wont last forever,U still ave to go get a job,pay bills,etc...so long as u have the rite attitude and spend wisley ,its ok....i personaly think that my sons school is much nicer than back home,they do exercise evrey day b4 school actually starts on the playing field,every couple of weeks they have an evening where dads only come in(or grandads,uncles) and view the childrens work and get involved,its great.......
I have to add as well,thats theres still poverty here,racism,problems with drugs,etc.......its not all fairy tale....We love it here,and life is def what u make of it !!!!
Family wise here ,the grass is def greener........finacially wise then then its the same......unless ur a millionaire
natasha

jayr

Natasha

I was being literal, the gass in my yard is brown due to lack of rain.

Jayr

jad n rich

Sunday paper Page 1 -Our violent babysitters, story on centres where parents can dump kids for 24 hour periods and the amusement is continuos video games, kids from age 8 upwards.

Last weeks headline, Oz kids have the worst rates of dental decay due to appaling diet and in some areas unflouridated water.

Page 2 Beattie orders urgnet review of homework bid to ease torment for families, Torment is families have so little time from making ends meet they cant fit in 10 minutes of homework help a day.

Page 4 Games centres used as cheap child care.

Police bitten as teenage party turns into brawl

2 17 year olds die in horror crash at 3.30 am saturday morning, alcohol may be involved.

Sex case sentences too short.

Teachers want a re think on the nightly burden of torment (homework again 0

Referee shortage threat to games, violent parents have caused a shortage of refs, nobody wants to do it incase attacked by violent parents.

War on cruelty heats up, story on child abuse and animal abuse.

Shot by mistake, wrong mom shot by violent bikie as her kids watch.

OK Thats taken me up to page 32 out of a 120 page newspaper.

My point - we do crap situations as well as any other country, the media here will be just as depressing, so where then??

Ceri

We don't have the same amount of murders here. We don't have child abductions, we don't have drugs, we don't have theft, We don’t have guns. We have cheap dental treatment. Our health system is over run by staff , no waiting lists at hospitals ,plenty of beds. We don't have higher unemployment than the UK. No under privileged poor people, or poor ethnic minorities here. Everything you need to live on is free or very cheap , unlike the UK .

Australia unlike the rest of the western world has a very low crime rate... and it's just like "neighbours, or home and away". We don't have higher taxes taken out of our wages. We don't have expensive property or expensive material things.

The people here who mention that there is as much crime and drugs in this country as there is in UK must be on drugs ( but they didn't buy their drugs here of course because there are no drugs here. They must have smuggled them in from the bad UK along with the needle bins in public loos)

All these things are much more likely to happen to you in the UK ( these crimes are everywhere even in your living rooms)

Accurate British expat forum stats, intellectual reality shows and news stories which are unbiased will back this green grass fact up.. The UN, police , victims of crime and gov stats etc that say some of these crimes are actually higher in Aus than in the UK should be ignored at all costs! .. These people must be on those smuggled in UK drugs too.

It is a truly wonderful and unique country, and the UK is the pits ( you can't walk down a street without getting murdered or abducted in the UK.. and gawd knows if you can find any green grass , or uncrowded beautiful beaches left, as all the Uk is like London , Blackpool and Liverpool or what ever)

The grass IS greener here in Aus. It's the "bestest" country in the world .. No Australian leaves Aus for another country. No expats leave either (the thousands upon thousands that do are totally mad of course)

We have sun , houses ,beaches.. and rivers which are as blue as the sky .. and that's just wonderful.. and I love it!

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my what a wonderful day!
Plenty of sunshine heading my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

jad n rich

Dont laugh my wifes mate in the UK has just left her husband and two teenagers, to follow the "F*$#ing dream"
of living in Aussie.

Pages of letters and emails gushing about the dream life shes seen ALL BASED ON TV!!!!!!!!!!!!

She believes it, every word, house and palm tree, its gonna be paradise.

We have tried in the nicest possible ways to get across gently it aint worth leaving anyone for, but nope it does not sink in. What I really would like to do is shout "Wake up you silly bat, its a TV show it aint real love".

Instead I will just agree to put her up in the spare room and pass the tissues and quite possibly sue the BBC

yvsie

very funny ceri!

we too have friends who have just put in their application to come here....
selfishly we cant wait to see them....
but...
we worry that they have to go through everything that we have..both financially and emotionally...
and hope that that they settle here without too many things going wrong for them...weve been lucky but know others who have gone through hell......

my hubby was on cloud 'oh this is a wonderful place'..for ages..took him at least 6 months to come back down to earth!
now it feels more 'normal' to be here....but still really miss friends, family ...suppose in time that may get easier but never go away...like a massive bereavement....leave everyone and everything all at once.
even the people who you didnt think you would miss..you do...!

Ceri

Stop it!! Wake up will you and see the light.."look into the light" It's quite nice in this mode..lol
Australia has far less problems than the UK. I think Uk is so bad .. it should just be nuked and put all those people living there in misery out of it.
I've seen the rose light at last . I can't see any crime, etc , etc here in Aus, I don't see any traffic jams etc , I don't see the tax man stealing my money. I see nothing which spoils my view.

I love Australia - I hate the UK

cheers