Greyhound

Has anyone just emigrated over to Australia without visiting it first?

I've never been, but like the sound of it. Although I think I have a view of Oz that's probably only seen on Neighbours and Home and Away!

We are a stuck in a rut at the moment and have thought of several things that we would like to do. One of them is try a different way of life, live in another Country. So Australia is looks like.

Has anyone emigrated without seeing it first hand? How did it go? Would you emigrate again without seeing the Country first?

Thanks

DIMO8

Hi and welcome to the forum
We did contemplate not visiting Oz at first.......but then soon realised that to move that far away we needed to see it with our own eyes first. We plan a rekkie soon. However this site will give you lots of information and advise.
good luck with whatever you decide

wombat42

Theres no need to visit, after watching neighbours and Home and away,l'm
sure you have seen it all, say hello to Kylie Minouge and Jason Donavan for me when you get down there, l hope Mrs Mangles does'nt cause you any trouble. If you can't find somewhere to stay you can always try the caravan park near the beach at Summer Bay.

jensteve

I didn't visit first, I sent hubby over before our application went in to make sure he liked it. I was pretty convinced I could live anywhere and have found it absolutely just as I imagined it to be, only greener!
Jenny

biggy

I hadnt been......have been here 4 months now, have had our ups and downs, but would not change a thing...........its brill

Good Luck with everything

aussie73

It amazes me that some people would immigrate to a country based on what they have seen on some dreadful kids soap opera.

podgypossum

I think what many people dont realise is that each state and City of Australia is totally different to the next one. Its like trying to compare Austria to Spain in a vague sense. All have their own different laws and regulations, all have very different geographics, temperatures and climates also vary wildly.
Then theres things like daylight saving. I am told in summer that Queensland gets dark around 6pm in summer. Not so here is SA. We have sunshine till between 8 - 9pm in height of summer.
What you need to do is work out what sort of Australia you are looking for as comparing it all on the same playing field is silly.

renth

I think you'd have to be crazy to move to a country without visiting first.

Unless you are a Pilgrim Father or an Irish person fleeing the potato famine.

Mel Gibson

l agree many people overseas think Australia consists of Sydney , Melbourne
beaches and the outback which is all hot desert. This is not true, look at Southern NSW,Victoria and Tasmania the weather is cold most of the year, it has very green countryside ,Large Mountains and Rivers and snows in many places.

Ceri

I though it was more like prisoner cell block H myself with shaky walls ( actually a lot of the building work is like that..lol). and thought that there would be Bee's running around.. actually John howard could be Bee if he puts a wig on.
Doesn't Jason and Kylie live in Britain now , well they b*ggered off to "The Bill " land, they probably had enough of Mrs mangle, and "empty" beaches everywhere.


ahh I think I'll take a nice dip in the brown, umm I mean blue sparkling water of the Brisbane river this arvo or walk the empty unspoilt, non touristy beaches of GC


P.s seriously though, for the record, I came here without seeing Brisbane, but I wasn't intending to come here to live here forever like a lot of people . It was a move with the business, and not so called emigrating .
I had no formed opinion/picture of Aus before I got here.. came with an open mind. It's not for me.

cheers

MrsDagboy

LOL nahhh its not that bad, despite what anyone says . Its usually dark at around 7.30 in summer, latest sunset is at 6.48pm & we usually get about 30-40 mins of twilight. Not quite the same as the UK or down south & definitely no daylight saving (unfortunately! ).

Just proves you cant believe everything you are told on here .

Totally agree about the different areas as podgy mentioned, some places will suit some people & some others. Or for some people nowhere will suit.

Greyhound, plenty of people have come without visiting, some like it, some dont. Others have been here many times & still dont like it & end up going back. Ce la vie!

surfdude

We did it with two kids and had not visited. It took me 18 years to persuade Hubby to go for it and that fact that he was nearing the cut off 45 year old mark for a PR, was the only reason he changed his mind ! Life is what you make of it and the mind is a very powerful thing !

I can only comment on QLD - we wish we had had the guts to do it sooner ! If you have seen US (?) slightly similar but much more 'real'(my personal opinion). The comments on where you want to settle in Aus is good advice - Qld does not have much daylight - hence my last thread on going to bed early and waking early, its very hot and has had a major boom, so property is very expensive in most coastal areas.

Do your research but if you are of the same mindset we were (we can always come back but we can't always go) then as the aussies say 'you'll be right mate - no worries'

Good luck with your decision.

Mel Gibson

The biggest mistake people make who move here with out seeing it is some expect it to be just like Britain on the other side of the world, you have to be prepared to accept that you are moving to a foreign country, its not the Faulkland Islands where everyone is " More British then the British" and watches British TV on Satellite, reads British newspapers and talks about British football and refers to Britain as home.

Bella3

We had not visisted before we moved either. We have also had our ups and downs. Having originally planned on settling on the Sunshine Coast we popped over to WA for a rekky and changed our minds and bought a property here. Now, 18 months later we have decided to move back over to Qld. I can't say that not visiting first has really affected our outlook in anyway. We had the same opinion that we can always go home, but it's not as easy to get that visa to come out here. We had about 3 years to get used to the idea too, as it took 2 years for our application to go through and almost a year of collecting data for the application. So it wasn't a quick decision. At least we can say we tried if we do ever return to the UK.

podgypossum

I'm glad you said that as i have never been to Queensland and only had comments made on here to go by. I did find it odd that it would be dark at 6pm as i have been to Barbados a couple of times, its far nearer the equator and gets dark at 6pm like turning a light switch off. I couldnt understand how it could be dark at the same time up there being much farther south. SA does have daylight saving unlike Queensland...do you know any reason why they dont as i would imagine it would be quite beneficial?