if we like it, we like it, if we dont we dont!!!!!! we need to find out for ourselves, i think this site is fair, everyone is entitled to an opinion, good or bad. brissy here we come, where we shall decide for ourselves if it is the life for us, if we dont try we will never know

Here, here !

We are all individuals, you cannot expect to know whether you will like living in Oz, UK or anywhere else in the world until YOU have lived it! Just because someone else has problems with culture, lifestyle etc, does not mean you will too. Likewise, just because someone doesn't have problems, doesn't mean you won't.

We migrated from South Africa to the UK just over 9 years ago. For the first year we battled, longed for home (SA), friends etc., went back on holiday and realised that the same problems we had there were still there and in many cases worse. The funny thing is I wasn't patriotic until I left the place! We came back to the UK after the holiday, and for the first time felt at home. Since then, we feel that the UK has changed and our lives are not going in the direction we want them to go. We will try pastures new, not necessarily greener, but we believe Brisbane has what we are looking for in this stage of our lives. We believe there is more to offer our children and ourselves. We may be wrong, but we are resilient and the world is actually quite a small place.

Only time will tell, but there is no use whinging about it, the only comman denominator in the equation of Your life is YOU! For things to change YOU have to change!

Read the posts, but never forget, no-one else is YOU and you are the only one who can know what is right in your life. Don't let the posts sway your own judgement.

Okay, lesson over ....
Hazel:lecture:

Hi Mandy,

Glad to hear you are happy with your move to Oz
My husband and I are just about to submit our application for PR and are hoping to move near Sydney(if we get accepted!). We also have kids, our eldest is 2 this Friday and our youngest is 7 months.

We've started to investigate areas around Sydney but could you give us some guidance on good areas you have come across since you have been there? Also, am I correct in thinking that children don't start school until they are 5? How have you found the schools and the education system.

Nice to 'talk to you'

TOB




QUOTE]Originally posted by Mandy Bale
We've been living near Sydney for a year now and still love it. We feel very much at home and have made many friends. Husband has landed a good job and kids are in a good school. I have plenty to do having volunteered for various things at the school and have now taken up horse riding again (fantastic places to ride here). I really feel like we are living our life now rather than planning, but my god the time dun arf go quick when you are living your life!! There are still many things we haven't done around here and we have the rest of our lives now to tour this huge country, really looking foward to discovering it. Haven't really found much to moan about yet but then we are only 'newbies'!! mind you I don't like the amount of Maccies and Kfc's etc there are here, its rediculous some are within a few hundred metres of each other!!

Mandy [/QUOTE]

Very interested reading, thanks everyone. I aren't going to be swayed, however it is good to hear a balanced story. We are hoping to be out in early June and looking forward to the change,
Cheers,
Sarah

Hi guys

Well we've been here for 8 months now and are still enjoying things. Yes we have had challenges, yes it has been hard at times, but we expected them and have handled them as we thought we would. The people-sickness can be hard, don't underestimate it, but we set out on the adventure of our lives and are actually living it instead of wondering 'what if'.

Those of you who know me and know our story will know we never said it would be forever, but after the challenges that the last couple of years have thrown at us we figured it couldn't be any harder to do this....and we were right!

Forever is a scary concept wherever you live, we don't know how long we'll be here but at this moment in our lives we are very happy with our decision.

And yes, I don't really have that much time to devote to sitting in front of the computer telling people about it....it's the first time I've looked in ages...and guess what, it hasn't changed a bit...

Life is for living so do what feels right for you and your family!!

Good luck and peace and love to everyone

love sophia xxx

For what ever reason those of us that are going through this process know the potential pitfalls we could all face. Most of us realise that if we fail or we hate living in OZ then we can come back. Penniless but we can still come back.

Every person has their own reasons and we should respect those reasons.

Madly hoping to up sticks to Brisbane



footie chick

Hi Sarah,

Here is my/our experience since arriving in Australia in January 1999.

We've been here in Aus for 4ys and 3 months and are still enjoying it here. Yes, Australia does has it's faults but then so does *every* country. For us, it is still more preferable to live here than in the UK. I was born in Jamaica in the West Indies and preferred to live in the UK than in Jamaica because I felt the UK had more to offer.

We decided to leave the UK partly because we both wanted to try a change of lifestyle from the UK but weren't prepared to try anything too different from the UK. Canada and Australia seems like good choices - both English speaking (I'm terrible at *all* languages) with societies both similar to the UK.

We arrived in Australia in January 1999 initially for a 6-12 month trial period. However, within a month we found out that my wife was expecting our first child, and were then immediately thrown into a great deal of turmoil about whether to stay or return. We decided that because it had taken so long to plan and emigrate we would stay until after the baby was born. During the pregnancy, I booked to have an operation on my nose as an intermediate patient in a public hospital (i.e. I paid to get it done quickly) and was nearly *killed* off by an incompetent junior doctor in the emergency ward. We were not impressed despite the professionalism of the specialist who actually performed the operation, and decided that this was a bad sign - so we'd return to the UK as soon as possible. However, by this time it was already too late for my wife to get on a plane (>6 months). D-day arrived and we booked into a private hospital - we were most impressed by the professionalism, the customer service and the hotel-like surrondings - but the cost, ouch (even if you take out private health cover as soon as you arrive you will not be covered for births for a full 12 months). It made us realise that Australia is a country with a wide range of both incompetents and true professionals - the only problem is it can seem like *pot-luck* finding a professional. After this experiance we decided to stick it out for a few more months until the baby was old enough to travel.

When our son was 6 months old we booked a holiday back in England - what an eye-opener. We flew all the way to Manchester. Before heading off to see the relatives I popped into a chemist in Manchester and was immediately greeted with the scene of 2 shop assistants chasing 3 under 13-year old kids who were hurling amazing foul language and trying to run out of the store with fist-full of stolen goods in full view of everybody. *Welcome to the UK*. The traffic was crazy - most of the people we met in the street seemed sullen and unhappy. One day we went into a local store where all the (female) shop assistants we standing around looking quite scared - apparently 2 local lads had come into the store made lewd and threatening remarks and then left when they were told that the police were coming. On the upside, we had a great time visiting relatives and catching up with old friends.

The weather for the full 4 weeks was fairly consisitently cloudy and raining. By the end of the holiday - we were glad to get on the plane and head for the Brisbane which now felt like home. Whan we got back - we weighed up our experiences and decided that Australia felt like a safer place to live and bring up children

Now I realise some will try and tell me that I'm trying to paint a black picture of England - but these are real experiences we had on a (shortish) holiday. So far we've not come across one similar experience in Australia (Brisbane). Yes I watch the news - and I know that these crimes happen here too - but the seem to be more remote (they happen predominantly in specific suburbs ) and are less of a daily occurance.

Over the following 3 years since coming back we've had another child - and the birth went very smoothly. After a slow start we've made some good Australian friends here. With 2 small kids we find the range of childrens activites both stimulating and fun (for the kids - not us). We like the quiet, relaxed (i.e. less hectic - less aggresive) lifestyle with the constant warmth and sunshine. The Sunshine and Gold Coasts are close - beaches are in easy reach and are of a very high standard - you have to be pretty lucky in the UK to live near a half-decent beach (and even luckier to go there on a weekend when it's not raining). The driving style is less hectic but more erratic. The range of shops and services and is more limited and you really 'pay-for-what-you-get'. Usually if things are priced cheaply there is a very good reason - they are of cheap quality. Simple uncomplicated oudoors activities seem better here (in Brisbane) - sports, reserves, parks, picnics, sailing, fishing, eating outdoors, swimming, beaches, etc. 'Sophisticated' activites are much more limited but do exist - plays, concerts, ballet, 'fancy' eating. Visiting sophisticated Europe is obviously out of the question. We'd like to visit 'interesting' Asia when the kids are old enough.

The 2 main things that bug us most are family and travel. The distance and cost back to the UK to visit relatives and/or friends is too high for us to travel regularly. Especially as the salaries for a professional (I'm an I.T. Consultant) are lower than in the UK - approx. 2/3! Worst of all being so far from family can seem very hard - especially for the children. Also with advancing age of the grandparents this is still the greatest reason we would have for going back. We have obtained our citizenship and so would be able to return to Australia at a later stage if we wanted too.

Our feelings for staying and returning have ebbed and flowed -and it was during one of my more negative periods that I first visited the misc.immigration.australia+nz usenet group when the british expats forum was 'linked' to the usenet group. At first I found some comfort that other 'expats' had had their own problems but as the times moved and things got better for me I have found that I now share very little with those who come on here and regularly complain about any little gripe they have about Australia. I personally know quite a few expats who are all are happy - and not one (apart from me) comes onto this forum. They're not ignoring it - they are just not interested in contributing - they just want to get on becoming more Australian and less British.

Australia is not just a UK in the sun - it's a way of life. It doesn't suit everybody, and the vocal few can't accept that they made a go and couldn't/didn't want to adapt.

AndyH
Brisbane

N.B. I will be ignoring all flame and troll posts.

I have to say, whilst still adjusting ( I think this puts me in the more negative than postive position??), it's got a lot of nice things about it too. I would expect that on my first visit to the UK it will likely confirm that I am quite happy with life over here - we shall see. I reserve my right, however, to post 'negative' (otherwise known as 'please wake up to the reality') comments. If you take such postings in this light you will find there's actually a lot of well thought balance in the postings of many of the so-called negative posters. A lot of us find it amusing (or often infuriating) that there's so much running down of the UK and talking up of Oz by potential expats, as I have said elsewhere, it's not one long holiday.

AndyH - you forgot to say how good South Bank is!

Well, funnily enough I don't much like Southbank. I find it too *touristy* for my tastes!

I have no problem with balanced posts with both positives and negatives - indeed my post contained both good things I like about Aus and some things I don't like. I'm just happy to be living here (at the moment at least). And I'm fully aware that could change - and I'm lucky to be able to get on a plane and return to UK if we wish. At the very least this will have been a great adventure.

AndyH.
Brisbane

Exactly.
Many may find, like us, that they actually do not want to stay in Australia long enough that they miss their families back home less. We know of course that over time we would become desensitised to being so far from our families, but our choice is not let that happen to us. We do not want our distance from our parents, brothers, sisters and life long friends to matter less and less to us. We choose to share our lives and the lives of our kids with our families. A pretty basic human instict, and quite a strong one, that for us outweighs such trifling issues as the weather and little grains of sand under foot.