Hi,

My wife and I are from Scotland. We moved to Christchurch 4 months ago and we are struggling to settle here. There is not a lot to do socially. There are lots of outdoor sports and activities but if you want to go out for a drink or for a meal things are all pretty far apart and we are finding it is quite expensive. We also find that the Kiwi's have a bit of a strange sense of humour and they are a bit dull. Before I get lots of emails telling me that Kiwi's are not like that, this is our experience and I'm not saying they are all like this. We also understand that the city has been hugely affected by the earthquakes. We have been trying to embrace the outdoor lifestyle and we've been camping quite a lot. The only people who talk to us when we are at campsites are generally Europeans. Kiwi's tend to been quite private. They will be polite and say hello but they don't want to get to know you.

For these reasons we are considering moving to Australia. I am a civil design technician and I have been in touch with a recruitment agent who thinks he should be able to find me work over there. I was in Australia 12 years ago as a youngster on a working holiday and I spent a bit of time in Sydney and up the coast and really enjoyed it.

I'm just looking for some feedback from other expats to find out if anyone has had a similar experience. We don't want to make the move from Christchurch to Australia and it's the same thing. We will need to pay back my relocation expenses to my company because I've left within 2 years so it will not be a cheap move so I want to make sure it's the right one.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

David

There is certainly a difference between kiwis and Ozzies, though they are similar in other ways.

I think it depends on where in Oz you are thinking. You say that where you are can be dull and things too spread out. Well, avoid Perth then. It has the same problem. Locals call it Dullsville.

Sydney is great for places to eat and drink, though can be expensive to live in the places that have the sort of things you want. My advice would be Manly in Sydney. Housing is still expensive, but better than what you would get in the CBD and has lots on and then when you want to get to the city centre its just a ferry ride.

But do be aware that Oz is in general expensive. I dont how it compares to NZ, but we certainly find it expensive.

Do you have a work visa or PR for Australia?

I liked Christchurch (before the quake) as a visitor but don't know if I would want to try and make a living there.

Hi,

Thanks for your response. The recruitment agent did mention Perth to us as it is experiencing a bit of a boom at the moment. I was aware that Perth was geographically further from other cities in the country but was not aware that it was so spread out so it's all good to know.

I stayed in Glebe when I was in Sydney and loved it. I have some relatives near lake Maquarie so I was thinking about Newcastle. It's a smaller city obviously but within a couple of hours of Sydney if you want to go into the city.

I also thought about Canberra. I've heard it's not the most exciting place but there is a lot of development going on there so possibly a chance to get in early with an established consultancy.

I think we'd prefer to stay on the east coast so I can be near my relatives so we have some family close by as our own family is so far away.

Does anyone live in Newcastle that could tell me what it's like?

Thanks

David

I don't have a visa for Australia. I would need sponsorship from an employer.

Yeah, apparently Christchurch was really nice before the earthquakes.

Each to their own but why did you choose to move to a city that had had the heart ripped out if it by an earthquake?

Hi David

We among many others are refugees from New Zealand. My wife is a Kiwi. We have other friends too who have lived in the UK, gone to NZ and then moved on here. All of them, even the New Zealanders among them, say they find the people here far friendlier than in New Zealand. I found Christchurch very hard to live in even pre-earthquakes, the job situation and cost of living was horrendous, if the weather wasn't raining it was blowing a gale. Australia is expensive, however good friends who are recent escapees from Auckland say that it is considerably less expensive than there. Also the wages are FAR higher so that helps too. Tens of Thousands of Kiwis cross the Tasman every year.

BB

Sorry but noone else has said it .... 4 months may seem like forever if you're unhappy but in reality it's not that long at all?

We too heard that NZ is a hard place to crack but friends who have been/lived there say eventually there's friendships to be made. I'm sure this is something (the making of friends) that you'd discussed prior to moving, and could, as you said, be the same the world over.

Can you make some plans - as in ... we'll join two clubs, push boundaries, say yes to everything and review in a few more months? You might be able to look back in a years time, and say wow, how were we considering moving!

Good luck, it's not easy!

I had relatives move to Christchurch from the UK earlier in the year (post-earthquake) and they hated it. Moved back home 9 months later. Found it very expensive and not all they'd believed it was going to be. They'd alread had plans in motion before the earthquakes and went ahead anyway. In all honesty I think they would have hated it regardless. I'd say it was mostly the social thing. Sad to say, but if you're used to a "pub culture" back home, you're unlikely to find it in this part of the world -particularly somewhere like Christchurch.

If you're in Civils then NSW or QLD is probably the better states to find work, unless you want to be in Perth. I'm in the same 'game' so to speak and everyone I speak to here says pretty much the same thing "Oh damn, you're in Melbourne, if you were Sydney or Brisbane we'd have you tomorrow, we've got loads of work". Same goes for Perth, but that's a bit too isolated for us.

If you're looking for consultancy type work then register on the websites of the larger consultants, MWH, AECOM, Tenix, even Black & Veatch if you fancy Brisbane. Laing O'Rourke (my old UK employers) have a number of opportunities in Sydney & Brisbane as well, so it's worth registering your details on the careers section of the website.

From the feedback I've had in the last couple of weeks, certainly in my field of civils (infrastructure / water) it's Sydney or Brissy. Yes, there's work in Melbourne but it's a little slower to materialise at the moment.

Good luck

Create a LinkedIn profile and make some connections, within days you'll have recruitment agents calling you almost daily if you have the right experience. I would also try and get any potential employer to foot the bill for your relocation expenses.

Brisbane and Perth are the places to be Civils wise, Perth paying more but being in the middle of nowhere.

By the way the whole socialising thing just isn't the same in Australia either in my experience, I can't wait to go back to Glasgow in March for a holiday to get a decent night out.

Expect socialising to consist of a barbie at 2pm and everyone home by 7pm .

Good call on the LinkedIn profile. I did that last year, it's been very useful, certainly seems to be used for recruitment here in Oz far more than it does in the UK.

I,m in ChCh and i hated it when we first got here it,s still far from perfect (you are right they don,t have a sence of humor) but it,s slowly getting better but i have been here for nearly 3 years now, we are having a barbie this sat if you want to come and meet a few people ?

Neil