Vernons

Hi to everyone in Oz who has replied. Thank you for taking the time to share your stories, it really helps. We too are from Bristol so those of you who moved from Bristol you know where we are coming from when we talk about wanting to get out of this place.

I am a teacher so hopefully I would be able to teach in Australia. I have heard it can be hard getting a job but that is no different to here really. I had a bit of a battle getting my current job so I am okay for a challenge. Husband is a mechanical fitter and I think he would be fine, hard to know really until you get out there I guess.

My family live in the Highlands of Scotland so I would find it easier leaving Bristol than Ian. His family are close and I think it would be tougher on him than me. Don't get me wrong I would miss his family terribly but having visited Australia twice I know what we would be getting in return.

At the moment we have a nice semi in the suburbs of Bristol. We are in the middle of renovating it and I am trying to get enthusiastic about being here but I can't, I can't get Australia out of my head.

I hate the fact that it is so grey and miserable here. I go to work in the dark, come home in the dark and don't want to do much on the weekend as it is usually raining. I am quite outdoorsy and I think I would living in Australia would massively improve our quality of life. We have no children yet but I imagine Australia would be a brilliant place to bring children up.

My husband Ian is a bit older than me (I am 27 he is 33 in a few days). We have had quite different lives and he is worried about what we will lose. He left school and did a trade apprenticeship for four years and has been working and getting a house, nice car and nice things. I was a bit different I went travelling after college and then trained to be a teacher. Everything we have is because of his hard work and I understand why he finds that hard to give up. He will lose out on share save schemes and he is very concerned about his pension (does it follow you over) he also thinks by moving we are "delaying our lives". By this he is thinking our lives are on hold for a year while we apply (I say yes but life just goes on as normal really), then we have a year of renting and getting jobs and setting up life over there (but how exciting!!) and then another year of me working before we can have a family. I think if we stay here he would like children in a year, bit worried about his age!

Well I am going on and on and telling you all my worries, I just have this on my mind.

We spoke about it on New Years Eve, writing down all the pros and cons and he scared me enough that I agreed to leave it but yet again yesterday we spoke about doing it again.

If it keeps coming up I think that is a sign that we should go for it.

Thank you for all your posts. Any other help on how long it took (is a year a reasonable expectation for skilled visa?), taking animals, where to live (Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane), price of houses etc that would be fantastic.

Enjoy the sun,
Michelle

NickyP

Hi there we are in NE Victoria and my hubby (Ian) has family in Nailsea.
What age to you teach? How did you train as this can cause some problems with teaching in Victoria (you should be fine with a 4 year BEd or a 3 year degree and PGCE). Also Victoria are looking for tradies so your husband shouldn't find it too difficult to find work here but should look into exactly what is required in his trade as some people have problems getting skills recognised here. If you are looking at regional Victoria then teachers are in demand and housing with land is plentiful, I can't really comment on cities although I know several people in Melbourne who seem very settled.
We love it here and the climate and scenery are great it really doesn't feel all that far from home (apart form the sun of course).
Good luck.
Nicky

Vernons

Hi Nicky,

Thanks for your post. I did the 4 year Bed so fingers crossed I would be able to get some work. How long did your application take? What was your families reactions when you told them you were moving to Australia? Is the weather good in Victoria, do you get cold winters?

NickyP

we moved to Belgium for 3 years with Ian's work so our families had sort of got used to the idea that we were living away so that helped. It also helped us to get over any homesickness quicker, they were all a bit put out as they probably won't manage to come a visit us for various reasons and we have 4 kids but everyone was supportive.
Ian got a job which brought us over here so we are currently on a 457 visa which is very quick and we are currently applying for our PR while we are here. There are positive and negative points to doing it this way but it has been the best thing for us as we needed the stability with the kids. It really helped Ian as he couldn't deal with the uncertainty of coming here without work as his job is pretty specialised and he didn't want to go from haivng a good career to doing just any crap job (it is a personality thing really as I couldn't care less what work I do). The possible downside to our way of coming here is that you have to like your job enough to stay there as you are tied to your employer for sponsorship and reliant on them doing what you need them to.
We have only been here since September but love it as we aren't really city people and the country side here is wonderful. It is hot at the moment here getting up to the 40s recently but you do not get the really hot weather for too long before it cools and the weather tends to come in cycles of hot then cooler and so on. The mountains here get snow in the winter and we will get proper seasons which I am happy about, the big difference is the sun, hot or cold the blue sky is still far more common.
I am waiting for our youngest to start school in 2007 and then will do my teaching diploma in secondary school English, our town ittself has had 5 jobs advertised since I have been here that I could have done if I was fully qualified due to population growth. Hopefully it will continue so that I can teach locally.
All the best.
Nicky

jimtrish

hello fellow towny!!

we will have to meet up soon for some stubbies!!


Trish