strewth

Hi there,
I'm trying to make my mind up about moving to Oz with my Australian husband. But I'm worried about the financial implications. We want to live on the Central Coast of NSW. We plan to start a family and are hoping that I won't have to work if we do (at least while the kids are very young). At the moment we live and work in Dublin, Ireland. Hubby is a nurse and I earn slightly more than him working in IT. We have property here which we hope to rent out to cover the mortgage while we are in Australia. We also have saving of about €50K to get us set up.
Am I fooling myself that we will be able to cope financially or will I be kicking myself for giving up a comfortable lifestyle (at least financially!)here?
Thanks

why

i had a baby in australia and ended up going home to uk as i missed having all my family round me. it's not so bad for men but women with babies and small children it can be hard, australia is such a long way. maternity services are better where you are now. i don't want to be negative i just speak from my own experiences... have you little ones with your family around you.. when they are a bit older see how you feel then....

strewth

Thanks for your reply. the thing is, I don't see my family that much here anyway. They live 4 hours away. My sister however lives on the central coast of NSW which is where we plan to re-locate. She has 2 young kids and she and I are very close. I would of course miss my parents but I think that having my sister nearby in Australia would be a huge help when we do have kids.

AndyR1976

hiya strewth not your real name is it.....??)

I am an Australian from the central coast (Terrigal) so can try to give you some info!

I moved to the UK 3 years ago and have an english girlfriend - we are moving back to the central coast in august! (back to Terrigal). From our experience (2 professionals with no kids, I am a town planner and my girlfriend is a primary school teacher) we have a much better lifestyle etc in australia than in the UK. Watch the debate happen now (re cost of living)......

Living in any of the cities in Australia is expensive (like anywhere) but the central coast is still that little bit out of Sydney where you can easily mix the lifestyle with the nice house and career etc.

As an IT worker you'll probably have to commute to Sydney for work - although there is a small amount of IT on the coast (less money obviously) I have 2 friends in IT (one manages big databases or something and the other is a programmer) and they have each commuted to sydney for a number of years but have both recently landed jobs on the coast!

There have been some recent discussion abou the coast on this forum so I'll find them and post them here in a minute.....

Nu-Shooz

It's the million dollar question we all want the right answer for, but it's not that simple.
You have to choose, or live with never knowing. Good luck.

AndyR1976

Some info about Terrigal and the central coast:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=454101

Another person who was’t sure:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=463499




I know that the decision is ultimately up to you guys!!

Here is why I moved to the UK! At the time many people said I was mad – but I am glad that I did.

I was similar to you – I had a house opposite the beach in Terrigal, nice furniture, a good job with company car and a 25 minute drive each way to work! I had a great lifestyle and could afford to do whatever I wanted etc etc.

When I told people I was moving to England they said I was mad (chasing some girl to the UK!!!! …silly me). And when I had to make the final decision I looked at my friends (who were all in their early 30’s and all living in similar circumstances to me – nice houses, good jobs etc and I jus thought that – as nice as my place was and as happy as I was living there, I really wanted to look back on my life when I was 50 and see more than the some old job and same old house for 30 years with the same old annual holidays to QLD or Fiji.

So I packed up and moved to the UK!

I have to say that setting up in the UK was difficult in some ways and did eat through a lot of my savings (more than I had anticipated). It was difficult to make friends and it was hard to get used to the way of life in the UK!! I was worried that my career would suffer and that I would return to Australia with no money, be left behind in my industry etc But, three years on I am so glad that I did it all – I have had invaluable and amazing experiences in the UK. Not only that, but the overseas experience has been great for my job.

I am now moving back to Australia with a decent payrise, got my company car waiting for me at the airport and think I’ll be able to pretty much pick up where I left off (but have had 3 great years in the UK).

The one thing that always amazes me is that NOTHING at home changes – you go away for years and when you return it’s the same faces serving yo I the same shops, all your friends have the same jobs and nothing much is new!

So my advice would be go for it! England (Ireland) isn’t going anywhere so if you decide its not working out for you in 3 years then come back!!

Also, moving countries is a lot easier than you think!! Honestly!!

@boy

Hi (St)Ruth ! Came across your recent posting. I traded some mails with you back in early '03 shortly after we had emigrated and while you were applying for your PR Visa. How time flies !!

Just go for it kiddo. No point in wondering about what your life 'might' have been like. If it doesn't work out for you, you can always move back to Ireland after a few years.

I will give you the same advice as I have to others though. Make the move for at least 3 years before deciding about moving back. It truly takes that long to settle fully, build up your personal and professional circle again, settle into a new home, let go of the "back home in Ireland" attitude etc etc.

5 years on we are very happy here.
Became citizens 2 years ago around the same time we bought our house. Various rellies come out to visit us now and again and are always welcome. We have only opted to make the trip back to Ireland once in 5 years (and that was for a family wedding). Much prefer to spend our holidays paragliding and exploring Oz - there is simply a lifetimes worth of marvels to see here.

We moved here to get away from the craziness of Dublin and from what I read and hear, it has only got worse since we left.
My mum sent me a copy of David McWilliams "In search of the Popes children" DVD last year. A fascinating watch !
http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/in-sea...-children-dvd/

It also never ceases to amaze me how some people here (mainly those who have never travelled overseas) talk about the Australian unaffordable housing, the poor public transport, the traffic jams and endless other issues. They have absolutely no idea as to how bad all those issues were in Dublin (or any other Euro city), and that was in 2002 ! Compared to that, I honestly can say that Australia is our home now. We have a much better lifestyle here and wouldn't think for a second of moving back to Ireland.

Make the move - but give it 100%. If you have a soulmate with you to share in lifes ups and downs then you simply can't go wrong. Together, you can get through absolutely anything and what doesn't kill you will onlly make you stronger.

Remember, it's the journey that's important, NOT the destination

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Regards

Barney.
www.barneyhenry.com

p.s. We had never been here before we moved here. Had no contacts at all in Australia and no jobs lined up. We had no property in Ireland and moved out here with our rucksacks and four x 17" computer monitor boxes of possessions, 2 of which contained just photographs and books. We had about 20k Euro savings to our name. So with what you have and your Ozzie hubbie and having previously been here AND no kids to limit your movements, you are already streets ahead of most people who make this move.....