Hi everyone, I'm currently on holiday in uk from Dubai which is great. But they had a programme on last week about a couple who had immigrated to mornington (melbourne) and was considering going back to the uk. Anyway after four years the house they had lived in was out of their reach it had gone up 100,000 pounds in four years and the one in melbourne had gone up 7,000 pounds. The irony was they had a house worth 165,000 pounds they could come back and get a house for 210,000 pounds and still have more disposable income than they have in oz, also the hubby said that the food in the UK was so cheap and that the ozzy public was being ripped off, it kind of confirmed everything that I was thinking when I lived in Melbourne, your on more money but you seem to be worse off. Anyone thinking of going please make sure its what you want because you might not be better off financially and may not be able to come back.

Mandy

thanks for those words of wisdom

erh thats the idea I dont want to come back

A lot of people don't know whether it is what they want until they give it a go and I am sure everyone who emigrates goes through the 'are we doing the right thing' phase. I think it is the same programme that was debated here at length a little while ago. If it is the guy did himself no favours at all and the general consensus here was that he was a a right moaner. He ended up posting on here, you should do a search as I am sure you share quite a few similar views on life in Australia.

Yes, house prices in many parts of the UK are ridiculous. House prices in many parts of Melbourne are ridiculous. It is a dilemma that anyone wanting to move back or move here will need to face.

I do disagree that it is more expensive in Melbourne or elsewhere in Australia than the UK. Somethings are more expensive and somethings cheaper and some just the same.

We find these things cheaper:

household bills
household goods and furniture
childcare (marginally)
new cars
taxis on a longish journey
public transport
wine
casual dining
butcher meat
fresh market produce
craft items and arty stuff
petrol

we find these things about the same:

beer
rent


we find these things more expensive:

second hand cars
supermarket shopping
prescriptions, healthcare etc
schooling
clothing
business clothing (formal wear).
Lack of childcare vouchers etc

My OH and I are paid more in Melbourne than the UK and have not been disadvantaged unduly by the taxation system. We feel that we have more disposable income than we did before but are duly aware that this is not the case for everyone.

I think it's good to show the other side of things, where not all emigrating works out for people. Whether their moaners or not.