Also, I add in edit that many of the tradesmen get to Australia and realise that they can't charge the outrageous sums they have been getting away with in the UK, yet housing costs are the same, so they are often much poorer. This doesn't help.[/QUOTE]



Australian immigration is based on a skills shortage of skilled labour.
Carpenters, Bricklayers ;Plumbers etc, to fill gaps for Australian Companies
who need them skills.
Not all tradesmen are self employed

And as for (outrageous prices getting away with) this is a legal matter
for your local trading standards to take up to overprice extortionately
is an offence

Try and use a tradesman who is a personnel recommended
get a minimum of three quotes
Ask to see work done, and references.

aswell as alot of us that are more readers than posters

I have found the saying 'same sh*t, shinier bucket' to be very true, there are lots of things that would have worked out the same way whether we were in the UK or Oz and some that wouldn't but thats life really. I am not saying its been plain sailing but on the whole we are all very happy we have moved here.

Good luck with whatever you decide

little bear x

If its any help there is a lot of IT work in Sydney and the work environment is almost identical to the UK. However my view is that financially you are worse off certainly dont agree with people that say its all relative i.e. lower wages but things cost less. However you have beaches on your doorstep and the Sydney weather is perfect (not too hot or too cold and mainly dry and clear blue skies). If your OH has work lined up you are laughing.

We lived almost 3 years in Italy before we came here. I like Australia so much better for its quality of life and its variety. The average italian meal in Melbourne or Sydney is better than the average meal in Milano, excluding pizza that is. And there is plenty of italian influences if you look.

At least my experience of Italy is that it really forces a lifestyle on you, i.e. long hours during the week, stuck in traffic over the weekend, arguing about lost mail and other daily dramas.

In Australia you can have the "classic italian" dream lifestyle, grow olives and drink wine, drive classic alfa's etc if you please. Or you can live a more american style life, or whatever you please really. I've got a guy at work who proudly took today off work to go drinking and shooting at his brother in laws farm!

Yes it's awful, don't go.

I thought so.....

Yeah, we've got the impression that salaries are a lot lower which is why we're waiting to see if the figure my OH is asking for is matched.

We do actually really want to go... only problem is if we do go I will be left to live a lonely life as a surf widow as OH was born with neoprene feet and wants to be the next Mark Occhilupo...

I agree with other posts which suggest that people probably have different expectations from real foreign countries in Europe and Australia. Australia is often just expected to be a sunny little Britain, and of course when people eventually find out that it is in fact a different country with different ways of doing things then they spit their dummies out.

I also wouldn't use this forum as a benchmark for judging people's happiness in Oz. When people are complaining they generally have a lot to say. When they're happy and content they might do the odd post to the forum stating so, but they're hardly likely going to post a "I've just had another happy day in Oz " thread each day.

P.S.
It really isn't that bad at all. Nowhere near.

THIS IS

Fair point... and thank you!

Lovely measured, balanced response. What do you really think?

There is an assumption that working in Australia necessarily means less salary. Both my OH and I earn more than we did in the UK. I also do not think that things cost less here.

In general, I love my life here. The grumbles I have are no different to what the average aussie has ie. petrol prices, uncompetitive supermakets, feel like you're being ripped off, blah blah blah...

I live near Wollongong and the local council has been dismissed because of corruption, happened to a place in Sydney a couple of years ago and I would hazard a guess that most government agencies are corrupt in some way or another, but, my bins are collected, street lights work and the area is being re-devolped and modernised in lots of ways, so my landlords council tax isnt being wasted.

I think deciding on wether you are happy here depends on your expectations before you arrive. Its not utopia, its not perfect, but there is something about it that makes me happy.

Sydney is great, and if you are after a bit of the Italian vibrancy then you will be well catered for. The whole place is great, can be a bit pricey though, so make sure the hubbys job is a good one, oh, and live somewhere near his work otherwise he will spend hours in traffic, and that would solve the "not seeing the family" problem.

Good luck

I heard a similar remark not long ago,

by a three year old

Thanks. You've given Vash and myself something to aspire to.