Originally Posted by Louiseh86

I would've liked to have gone travelling and so would have my husband but things got in the way ... mortgage, marriage, jobs etc.

Louise x

Originally Posted by CDM

- Better [sized] house for the money

compared to an Oz salary Oz houses are not cheap but perhaps you may get more for you buck than your pound...but not in a city. Quality of build leavs a lot to be desired

CDM: I guess that depends on what you mean by 'not in a city'. We're planning on living in a Melbourne suburb. Melbourne is a city but I wouldn't call living in the suburbs living in the city. Size for size, there's a huge disparity between what can be purchased in the South East of the UK compared to Melbourne - no contest here!

- Better weather

can't argue with that but some days its too hot to go out! Melly has shitty greay days too...

CDM: Agreed on both counts but that still leaves a LOT of very nice days to enjoy over the course of a year. Compared to the UK, that's definitely a step in the right direction. Chalk another one up for Oz here.

- More of an outdoor lifestyle

there is a massive lack of culture in oz for anything historical...lots of beaches though

CDM: We spent 7 years in Florida where there's also a distinct lack of anything historical. I'll still miss the castles here in the UK but we have no real beaches here so I think well call that a fairly even swap.

- Better life for the children (currently 2 & 3 - not yet in school). OK, this is more of a wish than an expectation. I'm not terribly impressed with the overall schooling system in the UK. Private schooling in Oz is MUCH cheaper than in the UK.

err.....can't agree here. Private does not equal good and you can't compare private in Oz to private in UK. Standards also incredibly difficult to compare. My opinion is good and bad all over. Don't write off your average UK school....very good IMHO

CDM: You can't agree on Oz being a better life for the children or on the issue of the quality of schooling in general?

- Cheaper overall cost of living

don't agree....food, petrol, clothes, anything for school was all expensive. Can you get a school shirt in Oz for the equivalent of £1...you can at Tesco.

CDM: Are you saying petrol is more expensive in Oz than in the UK? I find that difficult to believe but I stand to be corrected. BE has various threads in which people comment on the good quality fresh fruit/veg to be had - but also that there's less choice in supermarkets. Perhaps we'll call that one a draw.

- Closer to relatives that we like. This is a double-edged sword since we'll be farther away from parents and siblings - the only true downside that I can see so far.

think about this.....major concern when you have been away for any time. I love visiting my dad now he is in the autumn of his life

CDM: I've already spent 18 years living outside of the UK so I'm no stranger to 'being away from family'. Phones and the Internet make the planet smaller anyway.

- Better working conditions

have you experienced Oz trains ?.....Trains in Sydney are FAR worse than the trains I get to London.

CDM: Yes I have. The mainline that runs from Frankston to the CBD in Melbourne is a better quality of train that the Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street - and there's no cramped, hot (or cold) and failing tube network to worry about either. Plus, it's staggeringly cheaper to travel by train in Melbourne than it is in Essex - absolutely no comparison on this one I'm afraid - a clear win for Oz!

I stand to be corrected on any of these issues but these are my own findings based on having spent a few months in Melbourne, discussed with relatives that have lived there for twenty-odd years as well as my own research through sites like this one over the course of the past year or so.

Just for clarity, I've lived in teh UK for 20+ years, Holland for 8 years, Florida for 7 and have also travelled extensively around the world - and then some. I'm quite happy I'm going into this with my eyes wide open.

- CDM

Originally Posted by Twinset

We are moving for our kids, the outdoor life and focus on sports.

I am a mad keen diver, photographer and wine drinker, my wife loves sunshine and our kids love being boys - out and about, free to roam. So we want an environment where the weather and levels of street crime/religious intolerance/bleedin' misery!! are more manageable than where we live at moment.

I have noticed as I grow older that I want more heat (maybe the hours spent in 8 degree C water). My wife was brought up in a hot climate, so Oz here we come. It was 40 degrees plus on Christmas day in Perth last year and we loved it......bring it on!!

Disagree with posts ref weight issues in Oz - every chart that predicts the rise in obesity in the developed world has Oz at the bottom of the pile - least
likely to have problems with this compared to Uk and particularly Scotland!!

It has one of the highest levels of adult participation in organised sports in the world.

And anyway, we fancy a change.......will work hard wherever, just prefer my time off in the sunshine.....

Twinset

Originally Posted by ABCDiamond

I never had doubts before I came out, but I had been here twice on holiday before applying for PR.

However, maybe because I "expected" perfection from my 'holiday experiences', I did have problems settling.

A return to the UK, vowing never to set foot in Australia again, seemed to change things.
I was then able to compare "real life in Australia" to "real life in England" and ....

Well, I am now back and totally settled in Australia, although in QLD, not Sydney were I originally went.

It is good to have doubts, think about things, find out more info, and as Baden Powell said "Be Prepared"


I have some 'what if's' as well.

What if I had never come here in the first place ? Would I still be wondering ?

What if I had never returned to the UK ? Would I be stuck here, hating things ?

What if I had never been divorced.... OK, that's easy.... [deleted!!!]

Originally Posted by arkon

Well I moved to Australia for the following reasons:

- Fed up with having so many long, varied and pleasant walks in the country with my dog.
- Far too much choice in the supermarkets so ended up not being able to choose, on the brink of starvation I moved to Oz.
- Just too depressing having to buy trousers that you then didn't have to have altered to fit your standard leg size.
- The central heating and good insulation was just too much for me, I hated being comfy and cosy all year round and yearned for freezing my wotsits off during winter and getting heat rash and fungus during summer.
- My dog didn't like the fact he didn't get a 1 hour massage after ever walk to look for ticks.
- Hated having to have an MOT every year and paying so much car tax, much better having REGO and CTP.
- So annoying having good customer service, wasn't able to have a good argument with shop staff.
- I like to know what the neighbours are up to but my house in the UK was too well built and insulated so I couldn't hear when the neighbours went to the loo or farted in bed.
- I needed more excersice and thought the endless arm flapping in summer might be good for my waistline.
- Nothing exciting ever happened with respect the local wildlife, so thought it better to share my house and garden with as many species of killer insect or reptile as possible.

Theres a few hundred more reasons I left the UK but I'm so happy here now they are best forgotten.

Originally Posted by the troubadour

I would really like to read your evidence.There is no way that Australia is at the bottom of the pile in the question of over weight people.It is a problem here and the government in recent times has been addressing this major health problem.
Yes both UK and USA are greater in numbers but that makes it no less a big problem.
If you want to look at countries where levels of over weight are far less then loof across the channel in your present home in France.'
Lived there three and a half years prior to coming to OZ.
Countless people coming from abroad often comment on how over weight people are here and i really mean a lot.
In fact Australia is rather a passive country when it comes to exercise.Just take a look at people say over 35 male and female to get an idea what i mean.

Originally Posted by Hutch

I stole a satsuma and a penny whistle and the beak's sentenced me to transportation.

Originally Posted by Twinset

We are moving for our kids, the outdoor life and focus on sports.

I am a mad keen diver, photographer and wine drinker, my wife loves sunshine and our kids love being boys - out and about, free to roam. So we want an environment where the weather and levels of street crime/religious intolerance/bleedin' misery!! are more manageable than where we live at moment.

I have noticed as I grow older that I want more heat (maybe the hours spent in 8 degree C water). My wife was brought up in a hot climate, so Oz here we come. It was 40 degrees plus on Christmas day in Perth last year and we loved it......bring it on!!

Disagree with posts ref weight issues in Oz - every chart that predicts the rise in obesity in the developed world has Oz at the bottom of the pile - least likely to have problems with this compared to Uk and particularly Scotland!!

It has one of the highest levels of adult participation in organised sports in the world.

And anyway, we fancy a change.......will work hard wherever, just prefer my time off in the sunshine.....

Twinset

Originally Posted by aussietobe

Ignore these people, they don't WANT you to enjoy Oz, for their own reasons. Come here, try it, hopefully you'll like it, if not the UK will always be there...