Hi there... new to this but been reading loads of threads.

Still thinking about which visa is best for us at the mo. But one question, none of us (me & hubby) has been to Australia. Has anyone out there migrated but never been to the country before?

Just wondering... :

We hadn't been before we migrated here. Moving here was the best we ever did too

oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

that makes me feel much better now!!

There's actually quite a lot of people on the site that didn't holiday here first so you are not alone.

It also seems that the ones who didn't come here for a visit first settle better

We've never been to Oz either, but are planning to just pack up our stuff & take the plunge.

A lot depends on having an open mind & being determined to make it work, I think, so if you're that kind of people, then go for it

I've never been, OH went many years ago to east coast but we leave for perth on sunday

We are planning to go in a few years, and I was also thinking of just taking the plunge, but family suggest visiting first, but that would mean alot of our savigns gone!!
I think we will just take the plunge - and if we really dont settle I will see it as something like a working holiday for a year or two!

Life is an adventure, i wouldnt waste your money on a reccie trip as you will need it for re locating, just take the plunge, we did and love it so far and at the end of the day australia is a huge country you can always try elsewhere if you didnt like it, but life is what you make it good luck with your journey x

We had no intention of doing a reccie first but then my brother who lives in Wollongong decided he was getting married (luckily his girlfriend went along with it…!) so the whole family ended up going out. But if it hadn’t been for that we would have happily gone having never been just based on what he and others told us about it. We would also not currently have a hole of about £4000 in our savings (thanks bro!!) but hey ho.

As long as you are willing to be flexible once you get there and don’t compare everything to ‘back home’, you’ll be right!

That's the thing. It will cost us about £2000 to go for a week say, as we wouldn't be able to take too long from work! And that could go towards our moving (when we do get the green light!)