pomikev

Would love to hear her opinion on that comment

Gill73

Thank you for your comments.

My other daughter is 5 so will have no issues if we emigrate. My husband is of the same mind set as myself. We are concerned that the exchange rate is so low that to leave a mortgage free life in the UK is a worry. I'm 40 and my husband is 46. My husband is a mechanic and he's been out of work for 6 months. I work full time and thankfully what I earn covers all our expenses with a bit spare otherwise we would be in trouble. My husband has contacted dealerships in Melbourne had had instant replies to say they are very interested in meeting him so I understand that he's keen to persue this. I work in shipping/logistics and couldn't find work in Perth. I'm worried that I'll be the one out of work in Melbourne and then we won't earn enough to cover our costs.

It's a big dilema !!! Any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated

GunnersCandy

I guess it is hard to read people's humor on here!! I am also used to Perth getting such a bashing!!!

Why put you have 'no experience' of Perth, if you have visited?! and no I didn't notice your little statement at the bottom otherwise I probably would have got that you were trying to be funny!

I have spent years researching Oz and TBH my first choice would not have been Perth it would have been Melbourne, however having my sister in Perth it makes more sense to go to Perth.

DeadVim

For our kid we like her growing up in a semi-rural environment on a few acres with all the fun of the countryside on our doorstop.

1 hour's drive to the city, 1 hour to the Gold Coast, 30 minutes and you're in the hinterland or up a mountain.

Bought the place for $315k 6 years ago, not sure we could get this kind of space close to a city in the UK for that kind of cash.

And the winter weather is great, you can stick summer though

Eddie_W

I have lived in the UK for the last 12 years and have found exactly the same thing has happened here, this is just the world economy moving on. (not in a good direction necessarily though...)

chris955

The interesting thing we have found is we definitely get more for our money here compared to when we were last living here in early 2000. It is why so many say how much more expensive Australia has become, not just me. Australia apparently had the fastest increasing grocery prices in the world and we have really noticed the difference.

northernbird

I hate agreeing with you I love living here and it is my home now but I have been here almost 8 years. Would I move here now with the exchange rates, house prices, cost of living etc?? No, definitely not. I think for the majority of UK people it will be financial suicide. Just my opinion of course.

Eddie_W

I originally come from Melbourne, but moved to the UK 12 years ago and am now about to move my family of 4 (kids 8 and 4 +1 on the way) to Perth, my experience has taught me this so far (this is an opinion subjective to me only)and also take into account the being away from family is the same both ways for us:

UK
- The winters are very long and do effect your mental state, especially with the extended darkness, leaving the house and coming home in the dark is very draining
- The longer days in the summer do not counter balance this because as someone else pointed out the kids still need to get to bed.
+but when it is nice over here, people appreciate it it more and definitely make the most of it, it is an extremely pleasant place when the weather is good (20+ and the suns out is all you need) because people really do have a good time
+ people are more capable over here in making the most outdoors even when the weather isn't ideal (although I still can't enjoy it as much as they do even after all this time) I'm talking about things like a walk on the beach on a cold day.
+ The UK work life seems much more supportive of the family situation (I know Australia is catching up, but it is still behind) things like paternity leave better maternity pay on offer by most companies, less pressure on you when your kids a sick. And in turn you feel supported therefore I think work a bit harder for those companies (again remember this is only my situation, there may be plenty of examples where this isn't true)
- people are generally not very positive over here and do not appreciate what they have, they are constantly complaining about where they are, there is no inherent love or patriotism (and I don't mean in the US sense, sorry to generalise)
+ and - Education is more structured here, I am yet to believe this is a positive or a negative, I do believe there is too much pressure over here (in the UK) for kids to perform academically too early.
+We do ok financially and have a pretty good understanding about the cost of living and it seems to weigh in more favourably that Australia
+The NHS is better, no doubt, the more complete offering that is government and tax funded is better than the model in Australia (IMHO), but from what I know and can remember the quality of care is comparable and even pretty much
+access to Europe for Holidays is much more cultural diverse if you can afford it
-Where we live our kids can't just play on the street, but that is specific to us and location
- In my industry (IT) you are much more expected to commute longer distances. Even with the shorter distances between towns and cities, the larger volumes of people mean a five mile commute can still be an hour long easily

Australia
-Australians (including me for a long time) are convinced that theirs is the best place to live and why would anyone want to live anywhere else. This can be a good thing in small doses (see note above about love for country), but sometimes there is too much arrogance about it, its just not that straight forward.
- and + The heat can be as oppressive as the cold in the UK, but you can still use the cooler ends of the day to effect as someone stated earlier
+"Generally" people are friendlier and less cynical
+ You tend to default to an outdoor lifestyle more because it is more accessible, in the UK you have to "try harder" to make the outdoor lifestyle work, in Australia you make assume the weather will more likely be good on any given day etc (although growing up in Melbourne I may be stretching the truth a bit here, but we are going to Perth)
+ Outdoor stuff is always cheaper if you plan properly (go to the beach, go to a forrest), take your own food etc, because when you are indoors someone is having to pay for the building and therefore pass the cost on to you
+ People in Australia (this may have changed in my 12 years away) will tend to help each other more without expecting it in return, in the UK you always feel like you are managing an unwritten "balance sheet" of support, this may just be me or the area we live in
+ Australia manages diversity more openly and better (but I am about to contradict this a bit), mainly based on growing up in Melbourne
- Australian are generally more racist (but not as Xenophobic, but its a close call) as the UK, my "feeling" is there will be much more lumping together general statements of people based on their shared race, rather than a fear of the unknown (and yes I completely see the irony of that in what I have been saying) I think in the UK generally people think they aren't racist or Xenophobic, but they are and are just practised at hiding it, whereas Australian's are a little bit more honest and tend not to hide it and deal with it more head on.
+ In Perth the commute will inherently never be as long as in the UK


There are many other points that could be listed and I may add more after I re-read (I reserve the right to contradict myself )

Generally though when it comes to the practicalities of day to day life, there isn't much in it, there are pro's and cons both ways and generally if you are living in or near a big city; life is not going to be that different. I agree that the whole "the weather is better" statement is so much more insignificant than people realise when it comes to raising a family. It only means something if you make the most of it.

chris955

Eddie W, I agree with many of your points but looking at some I think it is fair to say that you will find that things have changed since you have been away. It has been our first winter back and definitely hasnt been a long one, in fact it only seemed to really start about a month ago.
We certainly havent found people here to be any less friendly.
As I say I agree broadly with what you have said but I would suggest 12 years has perhaps clouded your memories a little

Eddie_W

I agree with Both of you, it is the biggest challenge we are facing now is the adjustment of our cost of living.

I will concede if anything doesn't fit in my original statement it is probably groceries, but we do find that if we really didn't focus and manage the cost of groceries (in the UK) and weekly shop could easily match what it might cost in Australia. This is based on us doing a comparison shop on Coles online service.

In general though having earned Pounds and now moving over, we are trying our hardest to avoid taking any money as the exchange rate is a killer, it seems when it was 2.5ish the prices were favourable in Oz, but now the exchange rate is 1.5 the prices haven't changed.

Eddie_W

Absolutely agree that is possible and will only know once we try.

But I have found the winter has just shifted and the summers have gotten worse. So the Darkness still lasts just as long (as expected), it may not be as cold for as long, but then you dont get the benefit of a proper summer, the last two years especially have felt like no proper summer or winter for that matter...

One other point from above, the Internet is SOOOOOO much better in the UK, in terms of cost and availability of content (shopping etc) and speed (depending where you live)

GunnersCandy

Thanks so much for your reply and I agree with many of your points.

I can not remember the last time we had a summer?! last year I think April we had a bit of a heatwave but the rest was a wash out. It is also true that when the sun comes out everyone is in such a happier mood!! including myself. People seem to have more fun and a better attitude in general.

After I cam back from my reccie in 2010, I went to Tesco's to do a big shop and I just noticed the difference in people. We are always 100 mph no patience, so arrogant , I don't know it just felt different.


I agree with the cost of living aspect. Australia cost of living may have gone up but so has the UK. When we did our cost comparison we found that when we were basing the cost of living in Australia against the income that we would have coming in we are definitely not worse off than in the UK.

However I won't be in a rush to buy a property out in Perth because of the exchange rate and the fact that we would be looking at using the funds from equity we have made from our house in the UK as a large deposit.

I also agree with this statement that you made "I think in the UK generally people think they aren't racist or Xenophobic, but they are and are just practised at hiding it"

Do you mind me asking why you have chosen Perth over Melbourne?

Thanks

Eddie_W

We have chosen Perth simply because work opportunity came up with my current company therefore it is affordable for us to move. All things being equal I would still prefer to live in Melbourne for the diversity of options (lifestyle) with beaches/Snow mountains nearby changing weather (I miss distinct seasons) etc.... and the City is second to none overall. In saying all of that Perth is a beautiful city, still growing and I like that my kids will get to have their own unique experience as kids growing up from me and my wife as neither of us grew up in Perth.

GunnersCandy

Yes I totally agree, they are the same reasons that Melbourne was our 1st choice. However having my sister in Perth and the fact my parents visit her every year it just made more sense.

We have 2 daughters, 5 and 16 months. My sister has connections and we can live with her until we find a rental etc I feel it will just make the whole settling in process a lot easier.

I did like Perth when we visited, I still feel it will be a great place for our children to grow up :-)

Peepster

It's deffo a big dilema. The exchange rate is a killer. I agree with what other have said in terms of not waiting 4 years - the exchange rate still might not have improved, it could have even got worse!? Also, (and not wanting to be ageist) but would your husband still have lots of interest from dealerships when he's 50? My parents moved from NZ to Aus when I was 16 and I refused to go, ended up staying behind and living with my cousins.

As the exchange rate is so crap it wouldn't be worth bringing money with you apart from to get you set up in terms of cars and so on - so could you not rent out your UK house and use the rental income to cover your Aus living costs until you're at least both in work? Obviously this would mean that you couldn't buy a place straight away but would you even be able to unless you had a years payslips etc anyway? And the UK house might even rise slightly in value over that period of time (depending on where you live I guess). I know it's not ideal but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do x