Thinking of a life down under
 

...is the grass really greener? (well probably not literally greener than Scotland!) I am fed up of the damp grey Scottish weather and am considering a move down under. My husband is Head of Science teacher with a PhD in Astrophysics from St Andrews. I know we are eligible for a visa but what is the reality of finding a job when he is there. There doesn't seem to be that much on-line. I haven't worked for 6 years whilst bring up our three young boys 6 and under. I do plan on going back to work part-time when my youngest starts school so 2 years. My background is Coffee shop Manager but hope to make a move into Early Years, ie nursery assistant. My husband is a bit unsure of the transition from a scottish school to an australian one he has worked hard in this country to make a name for himself and is a bit nervous at giving that up for the unknown. How easy have others found it? and what is the standard of living like for a teacher? would he be able to be a Lead Teacher? And where to go?
Thanks for any help any one has to offer. Also is the Visa process really £5000 approx?

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

I would suggest a holiday first to find out if you like it. It's not always what people expect.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

The weather will be sunnier in Australia and warmer no matter where you go. BUT good weather alone doth not a successful emigration make!


.....plenty of jobs for you in Melbourne.... the entire city business district runs on coffee.....


A head teacher I think earns about $130,000. However I believe that teaching jobs are competitive and he might have to do a couple of years in a very rural (read: aboriginal) area before being able to apply for a position in a more sought after school. Having said that I think Science teachers are more sought after than some.

Depends on what visa you apply for and whether you do it yourselves or use an agent. Ours would have been about 3500 pounds, about 2000 of which went to a very good agent and he definitely earned his money.

BB

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

I agree that you probably should do a visit first, however, remember that you can't really compare that "holiday feeling" to "there every day working in and out" or, as my hubby says, I would have moved to pretty much every place we've visited ;-)

However, I don't want to put you off. If you've done your research and explored the place and visa, can handle being away from friends/family and (fingers crossed) jobs are sorted then why not. It's a huge thing to do but, in many cases, very rewarding.

Fear is fleeting, regret is forever (I've decided is my motto) ;-)

Good luck x

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Does your husband teach physics or chemistry? If so he will get a job easy (as long as the students can understand his accent!)

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

NO

Why move, have a six week holiday. You will love Scotland.

Thats the cheap bit, when you get here, the system/goverment will haul you over by the roadside, pistoleers firing, you will hand over everything, then they will revisit you every month till you decide it ain't right for you! Rents are mad, mortgages are crippling.

I have had a terrible experience here, so my appologies, i maybe a little scorned, but hey life's a journey, it might be a little different for you? Just have a holiday, i did not, got no fingers, they are burnt off.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Wise words.



I ended up liking it a lot more than I expected. And it was nothing like what I had expected, imagined even. In fact, I don't really know what I expected. :lol: but I was pleasantly surprised nonetheless.

Years of reading the forums (which I have) and taking in other people's views really don't count for anything towards your own personal experience but they do help you along the way.

Try it before you buy it I say.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Hi there,
I am retired and have family here in Oz, so eight years ago came down for a five week look-see (property & area), with a view to moving here. Unfortunately we found that it was quite boring, with the emphasis on sport (not much else to keep them occupied) and the continual brainwashing, that 'Australia is the greatest country to live in!'. The television is terrible, with loads of thirty year old U.S. & U.K. Program's, eg. 'Happy Days & Get Smart' on offer. I also found driving a dangerous pastime, - no lane discipline with lots of undertaking! Then we get down to the 'Nitty Gritty', fire and floods that are an ever present danger to much of the country!
Anyway, we chose to move to Spain, with its fantastic culture, historic buildings and average of three hundred days of sunshine!!!!!
Eight years on and we decided to re-evaluate Oz with a ten week visit.....
I'm sorry to say that we find it still the same!!!!!!!!!

So to wind up, I would recommend a long holiday here to check things out.
We're back to Alicante next week, Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Maybe find a way to watch a few hours of Australian commercial TV online from there, then see if you still want to come. because it will give you a very good idea of what is considered culture and entertainment here and I'm pretty sure you will be astounded. It's like being stuck in a badly written and poorly acted high school play, and that's just the news.

Oh and if you do come for a holiday, don't stay in a 4 star hotel in sydney and do all the tourist things, go book a motel in dubbo or cowra or grafton or gympie or winton or geraldton or somewhere like that. That will give you an idea of what life will be like here once you've seen the opera house and the beach at surfers paradise, (well maybe a week at surfers would be an idea too, it's a shit hole).

And the person above hit the nail on the head with the "It's the best (fill in blank) in the world" comments all the time, Australians who have never been to another country will continualy boast that everything here is the best in the world, constantly, after the first 30 mins it starts to grate on you, after 25 years one almost becomes suicidal every time one hears it.

And if you don't like sport and halfwit commentators who scream at an excited fever pitch at everything including lawn bowls (I'm not kidding)..... OK I'll stop, but if you are an educated couple with any kind of appreciation for intelligence at all you probably won't like it here.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

You could sum it up by saying, be choosy where you live and avoid the suburbs. The TV is mainstream tabloid and again you can choose whether you want to live that life.

There is plenty of culture here for those that want it.
If you are a teacher you probably won't be mixing with the sort of people who think Australia is the best in the world...

As to, is the grass green - no, in Melbourne, around summer, the grass which is already lighter than English green in winter turns to lime green. It then goes to yellow or brown in heat waves - and stays that way to March.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Where and what ?

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

I agree with everything said by the other posters. Except i would give my i teeth to be living in St Andrews and not Melbourne:blink: but hey ho, you gotta get on with it.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

here's a few if you're in Perth

http://weloveperth.net.au/events/

Writers festivals
Markets
Music nights
Artist Talks
etc..

really depends on what you're looking for

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

wow, what will one do with the other 360 days and nights of the year.

The burned a witch in new Guinea yesterday - I guess that's a form of their culture.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

the link is to a yearly event calendar

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

This comment is not representative of Australia as a whole. It is of a type often posted by people who have chosen to live in "holiday" locations.

BB

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

I know but the post is hilarious and mostly true.:lol:

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

[.


And if you don't like sport and halfwit commentators who scream at an excited fever pitch at everything including lawn bowls (I'm not kidding)..... OK I'll stop, but if you are an educated couple with any kind of appreciation for intelligence at all you probably won't like it here.[/QUOT




:lol::lol::lol::lol: OMG this comment has made me laugh so hard. Since coming to Australia my husband has taken up lawn bowls and is OBSESSED with it. Its driving me round the fleckin twist:frown: The only positive is there is quite a bit of money in lawn bowls here. However i wonder when they will be drug tested and investigated for game fixing.........

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

They tried to burn two, but I got away in time :D

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

LOL - I live in rural NSW after living in canberra - the south coast, sydney, melbourne, northen nsw, from some of the best locations to some of the worse, I've travelled all over the eastern coast and inland for almost 30 years, what I said applies to the whole place mate, nowhere escapes.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Your experience is not mine.

BB

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Thank christ for that.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Having said all that, Tasmania was lovely, but you may as well just stay in the scottish highlands, And the people there are very strange, I met people in Tassie that could have been their own dad.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

I've long come to the conclusion that I would not choose to retire in country Australia - I would rather get an apartment in the city - or if a hobby farm it is - it will be within an hour.

I don't see why you would retire to the back of beyond - by choice if there was no previous experience and without a lot of research.

:p Has he seen the movie Crackerjack - one of the locations in the movie is either near Frankston or Carrum - I forget now.

Has it occured to you that you were the common factor in all these experiences? :p (Just kidding!)

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

If you have to ask....;)

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

LOL - yeh I have thought about that too, but it never happened in any other country and from what i've read in the pages of this forum many many ex pats agree with me. :)

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

:rofl: I didn't know my kiwi husband had an alter ego ! His piss taking impersonation of an Aussie is to just repeat loudly in an Aussie accent, 'best bloody country in the world mate.'

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

have you met these expats? they might be the sort of person who see a ready meal and a whizz around Morrison as culture....

This will always run, mate!

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

May I ask pomikev if you hate everything about oz why you're still there? (Sorry if you're not and back in UK and just dipping into the forum, it doesn't state on your profile where you are). If you're so unhappy in Oz wouldn't it be the best thing to leave and go to where you're happy to be?

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Because I have an australian wife who has just lost her father and has an aging (in her 80s) mother, a daughter in college and have just kind of got trapped here, and I have made the decision recently to go back to the UK as soon as it's a viable option and financially possible.

And i never said anything about hate, I have just pointed out the inconsistencies between the spin and the reality, and their sausages are shit.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

fair enough, was genuinely asking the question. Shame you've had such a bad experience there, there are many great things about the country, but as you've pointed out there are things that aren't so great either. Like every country in the world I guess. I did wonder about your comment to my link re 'what to do with the other 360 days of the year' when I had provided a link to yearly events, sounds like you're so keen to get back to UK that everything swings in that favour.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Their sausages are indeed shit, I couldn't agree more.

The rest of the country is not, though, and there is plenty of culture on offer in Melbourne, never lived anywhere else in Oz so couldn't comment. I was watching Wanted Down Under Revisited this morning (I know, I know) and some shots of Melbourne made me come over all nostalgic, it's a great city. Then they said that the family had moved to Knoxville.

OP, where are you looking to live?

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

I just wish Sydney and Melbourne had the culture of say Halifax or Luton. I can only imagine what we're missing out on.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Do you live in Oz, you really don't seem to like it. Can I ask what sort of cultural things you did back in the UK? Also what is fighting like over there compared to the UK on a Saturday night. To be fair we live in a small village in Scotland so it is non existent but as soon as you go to big citys anywhere in the UK this is a major problem when pubs and clubs close. How do you spend a weekend? Thanks for everyones input camtom x

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

My husband has an auntie and cousins in Geelong. So probably there but also quite like the look of the Brisbane area???

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

I love the long Aussie beef sausages!!

(that absolutely sounds not like it was meant to)

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

:ohmy:

:o

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

Hi Camtom,

I don't have any figures to hand but no doubt you could find them on the internet. We were in Melbourne and there were definitely incidents at pub/club chucking out time, and other random alcohol-fuelled incidents. There was a fairly widely reported case in the news not long before we left (early December) about a guy being hit in a pub in South Melbourne during the day, if memory serves me correctly, and I think he died. I know Vic police were running a fairly high profile initiative to try and reduce the type of late night alcohol-fuelled crime you're asking about.

My OH said he always felt happier in busy pubs and clubs in Melbourne than he had in the UK, felt there was less of an undercurrent of tension. I can't say I felt differently in the UK vs Melbourne, on the other hand. I'm sure others will have had different experiences, and like I said you could no doubt find crime figures online.

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

I know, not meant like that at all!! :o :o

I blame the wine :thumbsup:

Re: Thinking of a life down under
 

I grew up in Geelong and spent the last 12 years in Brisbane, for me at least there is absolutely no contest and Geelong doesnt do well :D