dotty

For all those who arrived recently do you think you had a bit of a rosy view of it all from the UK or is it better than you imagined.

If you did have a rosy view what caused it. Newspapers, People, TV, wishful thinking.

If its better than anticipated, what is so great.

(silly questions, just doing my bit to stop the forum dying a long

death.

DianeOZ

Oh most certainly Dotty! Thought I'd never have to work again and would spend wonderful quality time together round the dinner table!

I still can't get the kids to eat at the dinner table without WWIII. (The Simpsons has a lot to answer for, maybe I should move the TV to the dinner table like on that advert).

Anyway back to the original question, what was it, oh yes.. .

Things aren't drastically worse than I expected (except wages v cost of living) and anything that is I put down to my own "wishful thinking daydreams". My hubby read quite a lot of books on Aus before we came but I thought best just to get there & take it on the chin so to speak.

I think things have worked out okay for us so far & we're happy enough with our little lot (little being the operative word). I am happier than I thought I would be. I thought I would be unbearably home sick but it hasn't been too bad at all so far.

Diane

Badge

Nice one Dotty. Let's face it, most people have a rose tinted view of Aussie. Not just us migrants - most people in general . If you tell people (Europeans) the word "Australia" then they always open their eyes, smile etc. They connect Australia with positive things. Australian mates tell me that they are used to getting good reactions from European girls when they find out they are Australian. If you told someone you were from Bulgaria/ Romania etc or were moving there, wouldn't have the same effect, would it?

I can only put this down to

a) Programmes like Neighbours and Home and Away
b) Common knowledge of the "Sun" and "beaches"

which gives it the notion that it is "laid-back/friendly". Mixes First World sophistication with an untamed, yet simpler life.

badgers

janeyray

Oh yes very rosy!!

We got a new computer last May '03 and thats when it all started, looking at the real estate pages in Oz thinking about what kind of house we could have compared to the UK!!!
A lot different than anticipated, far far higher cost of living than we had before! One of the main reasons for wanting to go back to the UK, thought we would be better off financially but we are worse off by far!

garywarby

Hi All,

Just thought I would stick my beak in, I haven't posted for a while. I must disagree with the financial view that some people are making, I can only assume that they are talking about the major cities. We are living in Rockhampton, not the most cosmopolitan city in Oz granted, but that is one of the reasons we decided to move to a smaller place (population 70,000).

We rent a 3 bed detached,garage, air-con, modern, spacious $200pw

Bought a new car £3,000 cheaper than we could in the UK

Insured it at half the cost.

No council tax to pay on rented property in Oz

House insurance half the cost

Fresh food, meat, fruit, fish much cheaper.

I know there are health, medi-care issues and Oz isn't for everyone, I have been here 3 months in my mind I have not once thought about going back. I know it's still early days, but my partner and I are pretty sure we won't be going back to the motherland ! Clare has settled in work at the hospital, I am still trying to find a suitable job in sales, but for the meantime I am working in sales on a self-employed basis selling pay TV it doesn't matter to me as long as I earn a crust. To be honest Oz is what I expected, the only negative is the lack of friends we have made, but as I say early days!

Everybody is different, different ideals, different goals( oh yeah, i miss the football, although I have seen every United game so far!)
Leave the rose tinteds off, put things in perspective and get your arses over here!!
Cheers
Gary

jandjuk

I'm intrigued that a few people say the cost of living is far higher in Aus than in the UK?

Can I ask what makes you say this? I'm not necessarily challenging this, I just would have thought it was about the same, but I guess it depends what profession you're in and in what town you live in...

For me, in NZ, I earnt 40000 per annum, and in the Uk I earn 20000. In NZ I spent $800 a month on rent (including council tax/rates) for a 2 bedroom detached house with garden- in Uk I spend £750 + council tax for similar size terraced house.... so in NZ I got far far more for my money...

then I go to supermarket and spend about £60 a week to feed two of us, in NZ I spent $120 a week to do that - so that's about the same (as my earnings are half as much).

But I guess every town is different, and I'm coming Hamilton NZ with Oxford UK, so Hamilton will always come out better as oxford is very expensive to live in....

But what is it like in other parts of Aust and NZ??

jopaulss

Suppose its all different as you say in all areas of australia , just the same as the UK. We are in Perth and we pay $250 rent here for a 4 x 2 , basic no pool etc , in the UK we paid 100 pound a week for a 3 bed house. One income same as UK , $50,000 here , 26,000 in the UK , spent 150 pounds on food for a family of 4 , here 200 at least dollars a week , we are no better off here , we struggle with money and to make ends meet , as in the UK we had 2 holidays a year abroad , cant do that here dont have enough left over. But i have to say i much prefer the lifestyle here , i like to drive to work ( as i work 15 hours a week wow ) and see the sea out of the windows where i work , its lovely . Kids love it here , but as Di said they still like the computers and Pcs !!!
Think now we never convert to pounds , bad mistake , as everything will always look cheap . We earn dollars we spend dollars , and its not cheap when you take home $800 and with food and rent over half has gone . But hey suppose its the same where ever you are , still have to work and pay the bills , kids school etc etc .
Joanne

jandjuk

I don't really understand why you're worse off??

You earn twice as much right? (just talking numbers not exchange rates). So lets say we halve all the Aussie amounts to roughly compare it... That is

You are earning 25000 units in Aust, 26000 in UK

You are spending 500 units on rent in AUS, 400 in UK

And you are spending 100 units on food in Aus, 150 units in UK

So that doesn't seem that different to me.... and how does it compare when you add on the UK costs of council tax, TV licence, & petrol?

Yes holidays overseas are less affordable because of the exchange rates, but in terms of day to day cost of living are you really that much worse off?

I'm just confused about why people keep saying the cost of living is more in Aus/NZ - it doesn't seem to be when I do the maths.

ACE

Yeah this is something that has always confused me too

ACE

Amanda&Paul

Confuses the hell out of me too.

Average rental for a reasonable 3 bed house here £800-£1000 per month. Average expenditure on weekly shop inc nappies £100. Council tax on the house we own here - detached 3 bed in OK area (nothing special) - £1200 per annum - oh and just sold it for £203,000 - I stress it is not in the best area! Car Insurance on VW Golf - old model - £495 per annum (we are in our mid-thirties with 70% no claims). VAT at 17.5% versus the equivalent tax (GDP or something like that) which is 12%ish? Reasonable 2 week holiday in 3/4 star hotel in Canaries £1900 plus £1000 at least spenders - how much is it to go to Bali or equivalent?

Am I missing something? The sums just don't compare or am I living in the most expense area in the UK?

welshpom

I don't know if I had a rosy view of it from the UK or not. I know I did a lot of research online and with books before coming out, but I'm not disappointed with what I've found having never visited before.

I will admit that the winter here in South Australia is cooler than I expected from the historical stats and that coming over in May meant that it got colder rather than warmer didn't help. A couple of weeks of nice spring weather will make me forget all that.

debbie+dave

We are moving to Perth from California shortly... when we moved to the USA from the Uk two years ago we thought a lot about whether we would be better off, we thought we would be. My wages more than doubled when we moved over.. however the cost of living turned out to be high too. Now we are moving to Oz, on direct comparison I will be earning less than half what I do now, but we've come to the conclusion that if you are working doing the same job in different countries, at the end of the day there is not going to be huge difference in your financial circumstances......we know we are never going to be rich!! We feel that as long as you can afford a reasonable standard of living, and not have to worry how you are going to pay the next bill...enjoying life is more important. Although we may have a little less money than in the US, we feel that the lifesyle, culture and people of Australia are what we are looking for in life.

RichS

I think the cost of living thing usually gets people when they arrive and not prior.

In IT I earn less than 50% of my UK wage. In the UK I had a mortgage that cost me $A1200 per month. Here I rent a 3 bed house in Est Subs (admittedly an exe choice) for $A1900 per month. Buying in a nice Syd suburb for a 3 bed place will set me back about $A600k + easily - thats $A2000 per month roughly.
Tax from my wages is a nightmare.
I have 2 toddlers who stack up medical bills like you wouldn't believe.
Holidays are really pricey.

I think when people come and see the wages are 50% or less of what they had, and then the tax man gets even more its what changes perception from when they were at home and things look cheap.
Now my other half is a nurse and her wages (after all the add ons) are not markedly different to back home, so clearly her perceptions would not match mine.

Also - I moved from London to Sydney. If I had say gone from London to Melbourne or say Bristol to Brisbane things would look different again.

Please don't interpret this as me bagging the place - I love it. But the money does fall short of previous places and we have made economies in some areas.

dotty

From Jos figures she is talking 1000 units on rent a month 800 = units plus on food a month, you just seem to have understimated her figures. We know a lot of people here who take home $600.00 a week approx, food for a family of four is certainly 200 a week (we spend more) Just food alone would be one third of an aussie average wage if you had a family of four.

I dont want to turn an interesting post into an argument, but some factors are forgotten when in the UK. Say cheap petrol, great untill you realise how much more you need for distances here. Food is very expensive, my past annual expenditures report 5 years ago we spent 80-100 week on groceries, now its 200+. Food goes up weekly, and I am not on a budget, but even I notice it. Houses have doubled round here since 2001.
Just yesterday from a question I asked I realised that even electrical items in the UK are cheaper than here. Our leccy bill, yep the big house, pool, airconditioner chews up almost $400 a quater in summer months which up here is most of the year. Cars we need 3, Need not want, no public transport here, unless you want to walk 3klm to a bus stop for a once a hour service which ends at 6pm. Probably, just like anywhere else most families need 2 incomes.

DianeOZ

I know when you put it on paper it does look comparative (cost of living) but somehow it just doesn't seem to be when you actually do it. Don't ask me why, maybe it's just appears that way because we were under the impression we'd have more free cash and the dollars just seem to be spent like monopoly money.

Maybe we just can't look after our dosh Jo & Jane:scared:

Diane