Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

We did it, same as OP, decided to come for a couple of years before making the final decision (I guess that was our reccie!) Just keep an open mind and a sense of adventure at hand.

Gilly

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

like lots of you we havn't been before, we did think about a reccie but decided to go blind and save the money for when we get there. we want a better lifestyle and are prepared to give up what we have here in order to achieve our goal. we have all had itchy feet for many yrs and decided to settle on OZ. we are all open minded and dont have a clue as to what it's going to be like but this just adds to the adventure!!! we cant wait!!!!:thumbup:

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

We are hoping to be in Perth by feb never been before and the only friends we have are the friends we have made on here.
We no how you feel, we have two girls aged 11 and 17, hubby is a plasterer, if you need any info get in touch:confused:

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

[QUOTE=Shakmaty;5210384]
Would I recommend it? Some people need to see it for themselves, and some don't. I don't think a reccie of a couple of weeks gives you a real feel for a place, so to me it doesn't seem worth it. But then again, we are all different and I would recommend that you find the right answer that suits yourself:)


I'd agree with Shakmaty here - everyone is different. I've insisted on visiting before making the move next year (we're coming on our validation trip in November). The OH didnt want to - but he's been to various parts of Oz over the years (his sister has also lived in Perth for 17years). As we are undecided where to live and because we have kids to consider - we are doing the trip so that i can decide for myself whether i like the look of Western Australia (where there's family) - or Tasmania - which we love the look of.
It's a lot of money to spend - ie, 4 return flights to Perth, internal flights to Tasmania, 3 weeks car hire and accomodation for part of our trip - plus spending money and for the OH loss of wages whilst we're away - so the decision to do the trip wasn't taken lightly.... However, hopefully we're
going to try and make sure we dont see the place through "holidaymakers" eyes....
I hope for us it will be beneficial - but i must admit i take my hat off to all you guys that are brave enough to go without visiting 1st - that does take a lot of courage :thumbsup:
But i know i wouldn't move to somewhere in England without visiting 1st - so i guess i'm not that brave :(

Good luck to those of you that are planning to just go - I wish you every success and hope that wherever you land it's what you've been looking for.....:D

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

Cheers guys, thanks for the replies. I've read alot of posts on here by people who have moved over and had bad experiences. Reading this thread, it seems there are plenty of good experiences aswell.

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

we couldn't afford a reccie... and to be honest we believe that we are going to live and work and not holiday so are best just to go... I didn't go and stay for a week in Yorkshire when I moved up there, just got the job and went... I figure it's basically pretty similar in prinicple

I have a job to go to,... which is great, because I found another poster here who already works there and made the move a while ago... so I know it can be done and have at least one friendly face when I get there ... and have had LOADS of help/advice/support from her.... (Thank you W:thumbsup:)

With the internet I realise that the photos tend not to show the powerstations/ factories billowing smoke, and the tourist sites tend not to mention the armed robberies/drive bys/ muggings/ no oil slicks on the best beach pages...... but I'm not ASSuming that these things don't happen in Australia too... I know that we will struggle and that the pavements may look yellow and sparkly but I wont be digging them up to pay for the houses which only cost 3 pounds fifty...

We have invested a fortune in the whole deal... emotionally and financially but I really do believe that any sensible investment will pay off with hard work... I know I will never be rich or much better off financially, I'm a nurse and we work hard, play hard and die poor....

As for bad expereinces... I've lived here in the uk all my life and had some real crap go down here (but thats not why I'm going) ... life happens... and it happens where ever you are..

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

hi ya, never been, can not wait though to get over there and live our new life
(still in selling hell at the moment):ohmy:

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

hi
we have just started the process but haven't been over - from reading all the stuff on this website it appears that we need to go over once we have obtained our visa and have upto 8 months to get it validated. I suppose plenty of time then.:blink:

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

Hi there - you normally get 12 months from the date of whichever is the earliest - police checks or medicals....i think when people "frontload" their meds etc that they're normally in a position to move quite quickly once their visa's are issued as obviously the dates eat into the time you'd have available for that initial entry.
We're validating our's 1st and will then come back to the joy of house selling :eek:

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

Do you have a link to Buzzies reccie posting? I've only scanned through this posting so apologies if it's already on there.:)

We were going to just sell up and go, but due to a change in cirumstances (potential redundancy and £20k+ pay off next year:thumbsup:) we are going to have to go and get our visas stamped.

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

Cheers Travelbug,
just about to pay some wonga to our agent and start ball rolling, wished we had of done it years ago but couldn't find my job listed on the MDOL.

regards
Ivor

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

Hi,

We're in the same boat...haven't ever been to Aus, or OH. Am very excited about the whole thing, but obviously apprehensive too...but think that would apply even if we had previously visited!

As far as sniff out trips go...we just couldn't justify spending that kind of money on a holiday (with a little exploration thrown in) when we will be gagging for the money when moving out...for a deposit on house or buying a car etc.

I like being thrown in the deep end. :D

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

Hi same here, its a lot of money to see if you like it and anyway what is there not too like? We had our visa's granted 9th Aug and they have to be validated by 12th Dec 07 because of my PCC date. There are 6 of us so very costly to take a visit. We sold house hopefully all goes ok, we just gonna head out to Brisbane and go from there. Will take a couple weeks reccie as such before getting jobs and just look around for places to live, schools etc. Can't wait its an exciting new adventure, at the end of the day oz is such a vast country there are plenty of places to go if you not like first choice. Good luck to everyone moving to oz.
Caroline x

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

I came here last week having never been before. I get homesick easily but am loving it at the moment. Definately the best place I've ever been (Melbourne).

I'm glad I didn't do a reccie trip - I would have thought 'nice place for an holiday but UK is my home' and gone back. I needed to throw myself in a the deep end, and actually have to experience proper interaction with people beyond asking for food and coffees.

The only thing I would definately recommend is getting out as much as possible to see the suburbs - you have all the time in the world to see touristy stuff, but you need to see where you might want to live, so you can build a future life for yourself.

Z

Re: Making the move without being ther before
 

We moved without Bert ever having been here, but then we cheated a bit as Stella is from Sydney. That said best decision we ever made, after dodging the bombings in London, a great job and career was the last thing on my mind.

Now i'm sitting looking at blue skys, and a gorgeous sandy beach, and thats just from my office window. :D

I believe it depends on the person, some people can make that kind of life changing decision in a fraction of a second, for others they have to plan, recce and plan some more. You'll know yourself what your like, and from there you can make some kind of decision. But unless you know exactly where your going, or what you want to do, its always going to have some element of risk involved.