CDM

What are you top reasons FOR and AGAINST moving to Australia? Here are mine:

FOR
- Better/larger house for the money
- Better weather
- Better life for the children
- Outdoor lifestyle
- Better working conditions (commute, etc.)

AGAINST
- Too far from family
- Giving up something known for something unknown
- Missing out on visiting historic sites around the country

- CDM

Mrs Old

Ok, let's see:

FOR:
New adventure, new sights, new culture
Space, space and more space
More family time, hopefully
Long way from relatives

AGAINST:
Unknowns - will the kids settle, will the new job be ok, etc
Long way from relatives

pumpkin blossom

For:
Sunshine
Space
Being able to grow more of my own food
Friendly people

Against:
Terrible tv
no choice in food
House quality not so good
Crapper working conditions and hardly any rights

Tomski Tribe

For:
Good weather
Life experience
Outdoor lifestyle
Quality of Life

Against:
Wildlife
Far from family
School fees
Commercial TV

brandyslad

For:
Good weather
Better opportunities
Change of lifestyle
Better public transport

Against:
Leaving friends and family
Costs
Wildlife
Heatwaves

iamthecreaturefromuranus

All excellent reasons... just a reality check on a couple.. Better commute and better public transport

The better commute depends a lot on where you live... live regional and you can be pretty sure it will be a dream compared to the UK... live in some of the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne it can be a nightmare.

Better public transport Not a chance of that one. Public transport in some places simply doesn't exist at all and what there is of it is patchy. Melbourne trams look OK and the Sydney ferries are an experience, but the buses and trains are not up to much.

One other thing... while the weather is an often stated plus point, just try asking the people in Queensland what they think of the weather in the last ten days !

The Flintstones

Advantages: Better weather = Improved Lifestyle, Health and Attitude.

Disadvantages: May possibly miss friends and friends.


Everything else is materialistic or just takes time to adjust.

pumpkin blossom

LOL, that is why I only put sunshine. I don't care if it is cold or hot, as long as it is sunny. I would rather have 10 days of weather like in QLD and the rest sunny than all year like the last 10 days in QLD (or at least the risk of) and then two weeks of sunshine. Here in Adelaide I never have to worry about my home possibly being flooded, as I did where we lived in Manchester (and it happened to our garage a couple of times).
Here we have never not been able to go down a road because it is flooded, as we did every year when we lived in Cambridgeshire. Hubbie even had to wade through upto his waste on his bike to get to work one morning.
Unfortunetly here I have never had to have a day off work because of the weather (twice in the UK in the last few years, one from work being flooded, once from it being snowed in).
And my car hasnot once slid across the road on black ice here.
Sure the weather here can have bad times, but nowhere near as many as in the UK.


I have to agree on the public transport and commute though. They are not different enough to count as a plus point to me. I also find parking is more expensive here for whole day parking (used to having company car parks) so you don't even have the choice to drive.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

I was born and raised in Manchester and no matter how much they claim it rains there all the time, it NEVER rained as hard as it does here... when it comes down here, it REALLY comes down.

Wendy

In Adelaide it usually rains very hard, but only for 10 minutes at a time - maybe twice a year

Shakmaty

The only reasons for going were I wanted to go to Australia and didn't want to stay in England.

The only reason against was the amount of effort it took to get here.

In hindsight, the effort was worth it.

pumpkin blossom

Yep, I think this year I have seen two bouts of rain simular to what we had in Manchester and that did last about 2 minutes (it was exciting enough to watch lol).

The funny thing about Adelaide is though, they go on and on about how dry it is, but it actually rains more here than where I grew up (but far less than Manc land ). Ok, ok so they do have higher evaporation rates....

CDM

With regards to the commute, at the very least it has to be a 'cheaper' commute. We're planning on going to Melbourne and I can get an annual season ticket for the daily commute into the CBD for a couple of thousand dollars. Here in the UK, I pay around £500 per month!

- CDM

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Trains are certainly much cheaper. No argument there.

brandyslad

We live in rural Ireland, before my OH and I moved in together, he was 6 miles from the nearest bus stop and even then there is only one bus an hour to the biggest town. So unless we move to the outback the public transport for us will be better!!! We are planning on Adelaide so we will also have the novelty of a train service, something we don't have here.

Also as for the commute my OH travels on one of the most dangerous roads in Ireland to his work, it is the main thoroughfare from the West to Belfast and they are currently carrying out a 3 year upgrade because so many people have been killed on it. I also used to travel this road but now I am out and about but believe me the roads are terrible here with the downturn in the ecomomy and the politicians here not able to agree, no money is spent on the roads. We will be chosing out location so that we can make use of the public transport, believe me any sort of system will be better than the one we have.