Why Are You Going?
 

Hello all
It seems in my short time on this forum most of us seem quite "normal"
:eek: as in have jobs homes and pretty good standard of living etc, we have just started the TRA process and are gathering the info slowly but surely and my god it is sooo stressful I know most feel the same I think!
So what are you hoping for when you finally arrive in OZ and what are your main reasons for going?
For us its more out door lifestyle, climate, safer enviroment for kids and just because I feel the need for adventure before its to late I would hate to get to retirement and say we should have at least tried it.

Looking forward to hearing everyones views ;)

Cheers Kris

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

My husband's Australian, we want to spend sometime with his family, he's been over here since 1999. I want to go also for the change, we're going to Victoria. I think Australia is a very beautiful place, there's so much room over there. We plan to start a family there as I thinks its a better country to raise children in!

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Pretty much the same reason as PAKO, My husband is also Australian and he was in the UK with me from 2001 until we left last year to move back to his home town (sorry City :D ) of Geraldton WA.

Kala

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Hi all

My wife and I are planning to head out to Melbourne to start a family and hopefully live a slightly more relaxed life than here in London. Also my wife's family live in Melbourne which of course is a factor!

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

We are going for same reasons as Kris, and probably most people are doing the same. We cant wait! kids didn't like the idea at first but now have come around. We have gotten our TRA and now just putting final touches to main app. Agents gets it all on Monday so fingers crossed its all in order and should go off as soon as poss. (we are Maynard's aswell lol).

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Nobody has said "Just for the hell of it" yet - so I will :D

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

To be honest, I don't know exactly why I'm going.

All I know is that I have always been fond of Australia since I was a child. In part it is because my father was fond of it, too... we always watched docs about Australia together...

When I was 16, I decided I wanted to move there, at least for a while, and see how it was... if this "push" I felt inside towards Australia meant something or not...
I would have gone there after I finished studying, but unfortunately my father died right during my last year at school, so I suddenly had other things to think about for a while.
Then in 2000, at the age of 28, things started to look up again, at last, although I was crossing a bad emotional period.
I was invited to the US by some friends, but I was about to decline because I kept on telling myself I "couldn't do it", it was too expensive, I couldn't afford it, etc.... but at a certain point I realised that I wasn't even trying. For example: I hadn't even checked my bank account to see if I had the money or not... I realised I was taking my father's same path of denial of self, which in the end killed him... it was a sort of electroshock, but a positive one... so I checked my bank account and, there you go, I found I did have the money, after all... so I went to the US, enjoyed myself greatly, came back... and I told myself: "Well, if I managed to do this, I can move to Australia, too!"

When I talked to my mother about this, I found out that my father, too, had seriously thought of moving to Australia, but he didn't because he already had a family and children... he had never told me that.

So, I can't tell precisely the reasons why I'm going... it's because of all the above, and more, but I think I will really find out only when I get there...

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

That just about does it for me too. I would also add that having had the thought I couldn't live the rest of my live thinking "what if" if we had stayed.

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Fed up with life in London.

Crap choice of schools, having to pay extra council tax for that w@nker Ken Livingston, just so that he can exclude Londoners from driving through our area without paying, yet have the front to increase the cost of public transport.

Had enough of being run from Europe, and corpus amounts of illegals living over here, and the fact that we can't send them right home when they are identified as being illegal.

Crime, especially Gun and violent crime, going though the roof, but what really gives me the hump, is how when someone gets life over here, there then put a - "to serve a minimum of nine years" aghhhhhh.

The complete loss of "community".......

Well, you did ask..... :D

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

fetish for spiders and tiny flying biting things :D

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Hi ours is a similar reason to everybody else, more relaxed lifestyle etc. I also have more family in Australia than I do in the UK, before I was born my Parents had their Visas for New Zealand and the day befoe the Ship sailed my Mum decided that she could not leave her Family. My Dad always wondered what life would have been like if they had got on that Ship ( one things for certain they would have seen more sheep than they did spending their lives in Dagenham) and I do not want to spend the rest of our lives thinking "what if".
We have just got our Passports back with our Visas in them and cannot wait to go.

John & Julie

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Cant believe there are another lot of Maynards in Essex!! Where in Essex are you?

Kris

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Cheers everyone for replying reasons are mainly as i thought they would be.
Come on any one else!!

Kris

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

I would echo the above and add that for me personally, the thought of being able to sell our teeny weeny little house here in affluent Surrey, that costs us a fortune each month in a mortgage, then be able to buy a house in WA (near to my beloved sister) twice the size of the one we have here with the equity from the sale of this one and have no mortgage would be such a HUGE financial struggle off my mind. :)

I want to be able to spend time with my family whereas at the moment all we ever do is work work and more work just to keep our heads above water. I want to be able to enjoy my son not just purely EXIST :)

Anne

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

hello we are echoing everyone else for our reasons of moving over, hoping for a more chilled out life

toni :D

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Hubbie and I felt we would have a better life here, and it would also be a better place to raise our children. I love the climate here, the fact it is sunny so you want to be outside enjoying it.

Katie

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

to get away from the bloody traffic and tourists :mad:

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

here here :D
toni

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Er got itchy feet, and it feels like time I should be packing a few boxes again!

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Our son is the main reason we are going. He has ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) which means when he is cooped up he bounces off the walls. We went on a holiday to visit my sister-in-law in Melbourne and for two and half weeks solid, we did not have one outburst from him. The whole outdoor lifestyle was made for him. We got in touch with schools over there and they appear to be a lot more accepting of his condition and say that they will tailor his education to meet his needs. Here we have battled to get firstly, his condition diagnosed (which they still won't really do - we had to get it privately diagnosed and the NHS won't accept it!) and secondly, get the special attention he needs. Sports don't play a big part of the culture here and he loves sport, so again, Australia meets that criteria channelling all the energy he has into something positive and to give him something to focus on (something he finds quite hard).

Of course, we all want to go for the usual reasons as well - more laid back, nicer weather, etc. But our son was the main motivating factor - giving him the best possible opportunity we can.

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Because I can't stand another 4 years of President Bliar :mad:

Oh ... and because I want some adventure and new experiences ... and some warmer weather wouldn't go amiss :)

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

well said jc ive been considering it for 2 years and now the missus and daughter are talking about it so im gonna start the process soon hopefully. one of the reasons ide like to leave england is the pensioners are treated like shite whether you saved or not ,paid in or not and your better of if you never paid in, so thats peoples way of thinking , kids are out of control because of PC and the head cases that run it, so can you imagine the next generation with absolutely no respect or ambition, i dont want to be around to witness it. The picture ive got of australia is vast amounts of space and a country who are standing back and looking at every other countries mistakes and taking note, im not slaggin england because its a great country to live in but i dont think the future looks as rosey as aus.

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

We have a nice house and have good jobs, kids are doing well in school.

But hey, you only live once and why should we carry on in the rut until our dying days.

We are going to Australia, we are going to the sunshine to live a better, longer life where the days will be full of unknown adventures, just driving a bit further up the road will take us to somewhere weve never been to before. Our kids will thrive in the fantastic lifestyle and live in a country where the opportunies are plentyful.

And apart from anything else I want to achieve more than I have and living in another country and adopting another way of life will give me a full future of living and adventure...

...bring it on.

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

I'm undecided but coming to the conclusion that we should go. Family support for our kids (my mother and stepfather are there) would be the main reason. That, and me being at a crossroads job-wise.

Anyhow, I was really glad to see that most of the respondents so far have close family ties there already or a really specific reason for going.

I think that the more vague the reasons you have, the more careful you should be about burning your bridges, eg, rent out your house for a few years and rent in Australia, rather than selling up.

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

I'm here already, but this is why I came here...

Love the weather, the people, the laid-back lifestyle. Love the space, the safety, the security. Love the fact that there are lots of future opportunities for myself and my children. Love the fact that I can now afford a house that's big enough to comfortably house my big family, love the different cultures and things happening here - simply love Aus.

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

It was the wifes idea and couldnt think of a good reason why not...

But now I'm here - bigger house, great lifestyle, fantastic mates, no crime worries, great community, better job, excellent beer, brilliant weather and year round barbeques.

Still cant think of a reason why not.

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Some great replies, its as if ive wrote some of them......i will add a bit of my own.
I got a apprenticeship, played sport for my country, got married, bought a house, had kids, behaved myself, set up two buisnesses from scratch, sold them to do a job i fancied doing but had no experience, got my arse kicked all the way down the line, felt like i was just keeping my chin above water all the time, brought my kids up with manners now that doesent do them any good in fact i scraped some money together to send one of them off on a adventure holiday only to find out social services were paying for all the young offenders she was with.
Kids cant afford a house some of our friends are borrowing £40,000 to get theirs on the ladder.
The "can do" attitude has turned into a "cant do" one.
All my mates are becoming seriously unable to see the bright side in any thing.
My wife and I need to feel like our kids have a positive outlook to look forward to.
I truly believe that this country has let slip the very things that were fought for in the war.......it is now starting to indoctrinate young and not so young people in a terrible manner through negative media reporting.
Australia might or might not be the land of milk and honey but it will be a good adventure for us all and iff the sun shines then everything feels better anyway.
They are some of my reasons to shift my family round the world.......and if i dont work out i will walk in the pub in 2 years and my mates will say " have you been away, bitter?, anyway what do you think about mortgatge rate going down/up"
p.s......love Britain, sad to feel the way i do about it......anyone else feel the same
Sudd :beer:

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Hi sudds
All the above rings true this country i feel also is going down the pan it seems to be all out to help people that cant or dont want to be helped and sod the rest of us who work hard for a living.

Cheers everyone for your replies

Kris

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Well our agent now has all the paper work for main app, lets hope they approve and all is well. Just have to sit back now and wait............

Oh did i forget to say I HATE WAITING!

We are in a wonderful place called Dagenham Kris (why do we want to leave em have you all day).

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Sudds, I have to say that I agree totally with your post and felt exactly the same before we came over here. I now realise that much of the same could be written for Australia.
I too love Britain and am very sad to see all the bad that is happening over there, even sadder to now realise that it is a worldwide epidemic.
Starting to think about what to order when I walk back into that pub.......

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Good for you - huge mortgages are a stress - make no mistake. Australia can be very expensive in other ways - had to say that to keep all the usual bods off my back - but I couldn't face a huge mortgage in the SE. I don't know how people sleep.

badge

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

The push factor of leaving the UK for less crime is interesting.

Check out http://www.nationmaster.com/ Quite interesting

On crime and Aus vs UK see:
http://www.nationmaster.com/country/as/Crime
http://www.nationmaster.com/country/uk/Crime

Apparently, according to this, Australia is the world number 1 on 'Crime victims per capita', and UK is number 3. This category covers robbery, burglary, attempted burglary, car theft, car vandalism, bicycle theft, sexual assault, theft from car, theft of personal property, assault and threats.

If these stats are reliable, then Australia fares worse than the UK per capita on:
Burglaries, car thefts, manslaughter, murders with firearms, property crime victims, rapes, suicide rates (all ages), total crime victims.

But the UK fares worse than Australia on:
Assaults, robberies.

When checking the details you have to click on each crime to get the context and countries listed, and you have to look at the stats as 'List Per Capita' (there is a link to click on each crime).

Of course, it depends how a society measures and reports crime and so on, but a list featured in the Economist was very similar (though probably used the same data sources). Nonetheless, this is some of the only data available and does dispell myths about Australia being some kind of crime-free utopia. Anyone thinking that obviously has not been here.

For individuals, it really depends on exactly where you live now and exactly where you plan to live in Australia. Here in Sydney's affluent Eastern Suburbs we feel very safe nearly all of the time. In Newcastle city (NSW) a year or so ago it felt like the Bronx and we made a very quick exit. I felt safer when I lived in Manchester and Liverpool. Well, nearly.

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

l have lived in OZ for 32 years and the only one of those crimes that have happened to me was having my bicycle stolen. Crimes such as theft, vandalism and burglary are fairly high in OZ but violent crime and the chances of being a victim of violent crime is low compared to many other countries.
There are'nt any cities or places in OZ like L.A or Johanesburg where violent crime is out of control. MAny parts of OZ have very little crime such as some country areas or small towns while some parts like poor suburbs in Sydney or Melbourne with drug problems have high crime levels. The level of crime you experience depends on where you live , overall l don't believe crime in OZ would be anyworse then the UK, few people in OZ own guns like the USA.

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

I would just like to say that this thread was about "why we are going" :rolleyes:

I did expect people to start comparing the two regarding crime, etc and I have to say again, "Aus, is no where near as bad as living in Inner London" - now this is just my personal experience.

Having lived in Aus - Kings Cross in Sydney, and Adelaide, it just don't compare from a crime perspective or lifestyle. You get "scum" wherever you live in the world, it just depends on "how much of it" you have to put up with, and here it is far too much !!

Anyway, I think this should just go beck to us peeps that just want to say "why we want to leave". ;)

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

I did wonder how long it would take before someone started the OZ is no better than uk crimewise etc, but i have been checking out oz news daily and compared to the constant murders etc we have here on a daily news basis seems far less frequent in oz. Of course crime happens everywhere in the world,so lets get back on track and WHY ARE YOU GOING?

Cheers Kris

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

me too....... :D
sue :D

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

Im going 'cos I want hubby to drive around in a ute...like Joe Mangle :D ...

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

I want a better life for my kids, or at least a better one that can be provided for them in Manchester, it would also be nice to be able to afford to buy a house. Personaly I like the outdoor life that Australia can provide and of course there is the weather, the countryside the beaches the people. Oh yes, and I want a big Holden V8.

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

I'll resist the temptation to get involved in the crime-comparison stuff, and just say that I think Wongstonn summed it up perfectly in another thread...

To 'scratch that itch!' :D

Re: Why Are You Going?
 

We're going because we've always wanted to, we got working visa's when we were 18 but then decided to be sensible and stay here and buy a house, have kids and do what was expected of us. But the feeling that we wanted to live in Australia never went away.

Then my sister in law moved to Perth and almost 20 years after we'd got those working visas that we never used, we went to visit her and came back convinced that we should live there and that if we didn't do it now we'd always regret it.

I love my life here, I live in a lovely town, the friends I've made since we moved here are the best and I'm going to miss my old life so much but even that won't keep me here, I need to fulfil my dream otherwise I'll always be wondering "what if"!!

The kids say they don't want to go and it's going to break my heart dragging them away from everyone but it has to be done for us and for them !!

Mandy