Just my thoughts on this... I see you live in Calgary...summer there is always warm I believe. Autumn is lovely. Winter yes lots of snow can be cold... but can be sunny ?
When I read past threads thats sounds alot like Australia. hot summers..... . Autumn....... winter sound nasty somtimes.
Just my thoughts.........

Hi Jeannie,

There is cold....and then there is "freeze your nose off your face in 15 freakin' seconds cold". No kidding! Coming from the Southern Hemisphere, we had no idea of cold, until we went through a couple of winters here. Really, the lifestyle is different from what we are used to (indoors for 6 mos of the year!!). We have a brother in Brisbane, and have done research. From what we can see and from what we have been told, the climate is very similar to where we come from. Naturally, this is not the only reason we want to emmigrate, but it has played a very big part in the decision making process!!

I see what you mean.......I live in the okanagan so not so cold here.......all the luck in the world to you.. what a great adventure....
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I'm one of the 'it's not for me bunch'. Fortunately my expectations have not been dashed, nor my dreams shattered as I didn't come with any (I'd been to Oz 4x so knew what the country was like to visit. We came primarily so I could spend more time with my sister (who lives here) and it was an opportunity to live/work somewhere else.)

Nothing can really prepare you for living here, because your day-to-day life will be influenced by factors that you probably can't pre-determine (where you live, where you work, whether you enjoy your role, nice/bad colleagues, hard/easy to meet people, etc).

Having now lived here I realise the things that make up my quality of life are in the UK. Here, I work longer hours, get less holidays, miss the UK countryside, proximity to Europe, and would rather not be in a country that is so isolated. We're probably going back - BUT - we experienced it, and we had a ball.

I find the same social and economic probs that exist in the UK exist here - there is more crime, the health service is having a funding crisis, city congestion is out of control, there are big drug and alcohol probs amongst teenagers, obesity crisis, spiralling house prices, numerous environmental issues, etc etc. Australia is a beautiful country, but it has it's fair share of problems.

If you are going to do it, my one piece of advice would be don't come with high expectations or visions of utopia, come with an open mind. (If you find your utopia then you have lost nothing.)

Good luck in your venture

I moved here with wife and two small children ten months ago, never having visited before. Had a job lined up and some temporary accommodation but no idea which suburb to live in or anything. Not sure that it is necessary to visit beforehand, what would you find out other than people speak a bit differently and its warmer. Its only when you are immersed in daily life that you know what a place is really like. Do, however, do lots of research including the cultural differences and keep your expectations relatively low. Also, expect that everything will be difficult, hard work and frustrating and you will not be far off the mark. It's a lot easier to move within the UK to a new place as generally everything is very similar, same shops, banks, customs etc. Here (and in any other foreign country) everything is different. It is like becoming a child again, not knowing how things work or what you need to do to make them work. Not sure any holiday would prepare you.

We are applying without visiting. We are relying on our best friends advice. They visited and immediately applied when they came back to Blighty. We are going to have 2 lots of good friends in the same city, so add a few expats and we're all set.