Thadie

Well we did the recce trip to Adelaide....nice city and surrounds but hubby could not see himself living there ! He wants to go check out Perth! For me, I am sure you could find a nice area to live but.....well just but! We did a sort of holiday/research trip so did the zoo, wildlife park, beach etc as well as houses, schools, jobs (I was not impressed with the job situation. I was told I would have to go back to graduate level as I have not passed the aus tax and company law exams.......and husband would take about 4-6 months before he could get his licence to trade as an electrician. I thought our jobs were on the in demand list) ! Houses were pretty expensive in the good suburbs close to the city. The Hills were lovely !

I want to make sure Australia is the right place before we make a move. I don't believe it is as easy as "if you don't like it come home". We would lose our place on the housing market, our businesses would no longer exist and it would take a number of years back in the UK to get back to where we are now if at all. Not to mention the upheaval for the children.
Perhaps I am not a risk taker......I did not fall in love with Australia like I have with some places in Europe.

Do you think this is a normal way to feel......should I try Perth or just call it a day ?

Hutch

One thing is certain - the 'feel' of each of the large Australian centres of population varies enormously. I've never been to Adelaide, but having travelled up and down the east coast a fair bit, I can assure you that certain areas appealled to me - and certain areas did not. No different to the UK in that regard. So yes, you probably should have a look at somewhere like Melbourne or Sydney or Perth and you might find it floats your boat. However if you're looking for a European feel then perhaps you should consider moving to Europe because you simply are not going to find that flavour, distilled over several thousand years of settlement, in a country that's (officially) only a couple of hundred years old.

You mention the job situation and the fact that you'll need to take a few rungs down the ladder, whilst your other half takes his exams. That's just the way it is - it's another country, and whilst your skills may well be in need, they have different laws, rules, assocations and qualifications. If meeting the requirements to practice in your chosen profession bothers you, and you're not prepared to battle for a while, then you really shouldn't go. You'll just end up getting bitter and pissed off. Fact is, the only people who tend to swap like-for-like jobs are those being moved internationally within a company - pretty much everyone else has to take a couple of steps back.

You say might not be a risk taker, which is fair enough. Not everyone that emigrates is a risk taker either, but however you look at it, it is a gamble. Selling up and moving to another hemisphere isn't for everyone - if you've started to realise that now then you can save yourself a lot of heartache and a serious amounts of cash by not taking it any further, instead of hoping the place grows on you.

Just my 5p's worth.

kakadu chris

hi

the company I work for is crying out for sparkys.get him to qualify soon as.
contact me via a pm for more details

Amazulu

We went to have a look at SE Queensland & absolutely hated it.
We came to Perth & love it.
Never been to Adelaide so cannot comment.

Australia is not for everyone.

I've had to take a step back work wise, but as I don't really earn any less I couldn't give a sh*t.

Elaine M

Hi,

It sounds like you're an accountant if you're talking about doing tax and company law exams - to get you into the CPA scheme?

I came to Adelaide as a UK qualified accountant (CIPFA) and had no problem with prospective employers over my qualification. It seemed to depend more on your experience. That was an issue for me as my experience is all in the public sector; however I've now got a job with the University of Adelaide with a salary only slightly below what I was earning in the UK. No requirement from my employer to get CPA but I guess it might be different if I went somewhere else.

My friend and ex-line mgr (also a CIPFA qualified accountant) emigrated to Perth a couple of months after I came here and also got a good job without doing CPA.

Where did you get the advice that you'll have to drop back? I guess it depends on what level you're working at currently and your background. The agents I contacted didn't say anything about me not being a CPA but then they didn't find me work either - I spotted this job in the paper and went for it.

It might be worth trying Perth but if Aus really doesn't appeal to you I guess you might not take to Perth either? I love the big country town feel of Adelaide and the 25 min train commute to the CBD is about the same as I had in the UK. However, the dream a lot of us share on this forum isn't for everyone so as Hutch says, if it doesn't float your boat then you might be happier moving somewhere else.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do,

Elaine

rossfive5

I agree totally. In the few months we have been in Perth, I have come across a number of Brits who are bitter and see the down side of just about everything. I have also met a couple who love it here and are living their dream. Everyone is different and some have a real struggle when they find themselves out of their comfort zone with no family and friends for moral support. It wont always be easy.

kevinbloomfield

Why don't you move to Europe then?

As to losing your place on the housing market, why is this so? Are you giving the proceeds of your house sale to charity? if not then surely you will be still on the housing ladder (or have the money in the bank)?

If you are not a risk taker then maybe you should stay the way you are?

There's a saying (which you might know)
"If you always do what you've always done then you'll always get what you've always got"
If you are happy with what you've got then I wouldn't change it

Nicky & Dave

Thadie,

Personally, I'd recommend travelling to a couple of other cities within Australia, if that's possible, to get a feel for whether or not they suit you.

I think it's the same where-ever you visit, irrespective of the country. Some places you 'take' to and they just feel right, others don't. I didn't like Brisbane but loved Sydney - equally, don't like Glasgow but love Leeds!

Don't call it a day yet until you've really explored all your options.

Nicky

Vash the Stampede

Your jobs are indeed on the "in demand list", but that doesn't mean that you can just walk into the country and practice them without the relevant qualifications.

The Hills are indeed lovely, and I intend to move there when I eventually return him.

First impressions are not the be-all and end-all, but they are still very important.

I suggest you try Perth (my hometown) and possibly even Melbourne (which is much bigger and far more cosmopolitan.)

Best of luck to you.

Australia_bound?

Go visit Perth you MAY feel differently about it? But in the end do what you feel is right for you and your family, if it's not Aus then why not Europe? Or stay where you are if you're happy there, you come across as not needed to make the move maybe that's a good reason not to make the move!
Good luck with your decision

kellyjs

Hmm I love Oz but it isn't for everyone. Deciding to move to the other side of the world requires some serious passion about the place. We all go on holiday to places and think wow I want to live here but a month later the idea starts to wear off. With me, I've wanted to live in Oz before I ever went.. when my next door neighbour bought me a book about the great barrier reef (I was 14). It took me 15 whole years with two kids in tow before I got there and you know what? I remember sitting in a packed shopping mall 3 days before christmas with my shades on waiting for the kids to come out of a toy shop and thinking...Can life get any better than this? It was more the whole experience, not just the city we were in, or the climate, or the good fresh food, or the laid back no bullshxt attitude of the natives. If you don't remotely feel that way and your looking for the cosmopolitan historical feel of europe, maybe try there first? Or maybe try Melbourne before you make any decisions? Its as cosmopolitan as you get in OZ (Never been but loads fo friends living there). I still don't understand why people would force a decision to move to Oz on themselves though, as if they HAVE to like it and so travel round frantically looking for that "right" place. Forgive me if I'm wrong, can I ask though, what made you decide on Oz in the first place? Whatever you do good luck and I hope you find what you are looking for

majortom

Do you think this is a normal way to feel......should I try Perth or just call it a day ?



I think your own line of your post answers your question.................there is doubt....your own admission is that your not a "risk taker"..........what's the other half think ???

Thadie

Thanks for all your varied replies........

When I say that I love Europe, that is just a feeling for the place......the reasons we are looking at Australia as a place to live is for the long term opportunities it may offer our children. One reason why I find the moving issue so difficult is that I do not hate the UK or our life here...we live in a beautiful part of the country and have a good standard of living. But I do not believe that this lifestyle will be open to our children for lots of reasons.....

I was not planning to give away the proceeds of my house to charity strangely enough ! The housing ladder issue was based on the strong likelihood of UK properties increasing in value at a higher rate than Aus properties.......

We have already been to Perth and Sydney many years ago but purely as a holiday. We will probably visit Perth next year and look at it from the moving there aspect.

It may be that we keep our house in the UK, move to Aus for 3 years, obtain citizenship and then return to the UK. The children then have the option to go back in the future at any time. Thats one option I guess !

Thanks again all for taking the time to reply....it is always helpful to look at things from a different perspective.

NKSK version 2

[QUOTE=Thadie]
Perhaps I am not a risk taker......I did not fall in love with Australia like I have with some places in Europe.
QUOTE]

Don't come.

When we travelled out here on holiday a few years ago, we loved Australia - Darwin, Birsbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Alice Springs(!), Hobart, Melbourne. Loved them all and had a great holiday.

We moved because the UK was just not a place which we wanted to stay long term. We still feel like that - and won't return to the UK.

But.....in our opinion Australia (Perth) is nice but that's about it. Great beaches, great summers, nice facilities, nice people. But it's crap in a lot of ways also (just like the UK).

Now if you loved the place when you visited, I'd say that there was a good chance that you'd be able to put up with the crap.

But you didn't so I think you won't.

It's a bit like marrying someone and hoping that they'll grow on you. It might happen but it probably won't and you'll become resentful.

I would say give it a go for a few years which is what we are doing (we'll go to Asia but you could go back home), but as you've said, you have a lot to lose.

hedgehog

Stay here and live your life. If your kids want to live in Australia when they are older then they can apply for a visa !!!!!! You might go and live in Oz for 3 years obtain citizenship move back to the UK and your children may NEVER want to go to Oz when they are older. My OH is a Chartered Accountant, and has a great job which he loves, he has gone through all the dilemmas of I will have to go down the ladder in work etc, and start at the bottom again. I thought it would be the one hurdle up against us going. He handed his 3 months notice in this week after deliberating since January. His bosses and staff were great almost everyone said they wished they were younger and could do it, even the auditors who he has in at the moment can't stop talking about Oz with him (and believe me they never speak) all people keep saying is can I come on holiday. (we've not left UK yet). We both love Spain and Europe but we want Australia to be our new home, I couldn't bear the thought of going for 3 years just to return to the UK. I think that is a HUGE decision. I have my own private practice in the UK which I am passing over to colleagues, more out of respect for my patients knowing they are in safe hands rather than try and sell it to a stranger.
It is like Vash said although our skills may be in demand, we still have to follow another countries rules. I am more than happy to step back and watch how it is done in Australia, but then we are in it for the LONG TERM hopefully forever and I know that is a long time.
Could we both take a step back for 3 years just to obtain something out children may never want or use (Oz citizenship) DEFINATELY NOT......

Good Luck and as previous posters have said you can put up with the crap if you like most of the other bits!!!! if you don't, save your money and stress levels and stay in the UK.