Australia - Try before you buy.......
Apr 28th 2009 | 11:45 am
#16
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 156
From: cornwall uk
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
agree with everything you have said,wish I had done a reccie but oh had be en here before,been here since oct 05,feel i have wasted precious time,and I am going home,left my job,last week so over everything,good on you for seeing the light so quick,regards z
Apr 28th 2009 | 12:04 pm
#17
Proudly Deplorable
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 24,249
From: Alloha snack bar
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
....your visas!
Having never been to oz before..
Appox 2 years ago we came up with idea of emigrating to Australia, we researched loads of areas, from both the internet and friends who are/have been there. We had our rose tinted glasses firmly attached. Thinking it was the best thing for our family, moving to the sunshine, beach lifestyle with friendly auzzies, better education, etc.
We went to court to get permission to remove our kids, promising the judge that Australia was the promised land, where we would all benefit from moving to, going to the beach at weekends, and doing more family stuff.
We got our visas after 12 months of waiting and decided we would validate by taking a 2 week holiday.
We had already spent approx £10,000 on getting up to the stage of visa grant, we then paid an additional £3500 for our validation trip.
We were so excited on the plane wondering if our expectations would be reached.
How wrong we were.
Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told. The aussies we came accross were racist, as soon as they heard a non aussie accent they didnt want to know, taking all their effort just to crack a smile. Hubby went on a building site where there were 8 brickies building a garage, and out of the 8, the only one to acknowledge him was a brit. The guy had heen there for 5 years and had been in melbourne. He moved to Birsbane for work, but there is nothing about. He told us that he was earning $15 and hour, $20 if he did alot of work. They are awkward, en example we went to a zoo, my kids had waited 20 mins to hold a rabbit, which they did, they went back 5 minutes later,the woman was still in the pen, and no other kids in sight, my kids asked if they could hold a different rabbit and were told 1 hold per child, how petty.
EVERYTHING is expensive, meals, drinks at bars, general shopping at woolworths, a pack of mushrooms was $6! clothes are expensive.
We were told that if we got PR we would get free medical care, wrongo! i got ill and had to get some antibiotics, it cost me $65 just to see the doctor, and then $15 for tablets, even with medicare. you can claim back half apparently.
Schools - you have to pay for books approx $200
Hubby got arrested for breaking up a fight, the police told him to go, and because the argument had been settled and they were going for a drink, he got arrested for not following a direction. he was the only one of 4 to get arrestedm even though 2 of the others started the fight and hit hubby. the officer took great delight in abusing him, calling him a pommie prick, and making sure the handcuffs were extra tight.
Yes it is sunny, but it is also very humid, it was uncomfortable to walk around in, never mind working outside in it, and it wasnt even summer.
houses are expensive, gone are the days where you can get a massive bungalow with a pool, and loads of land for peanuts, all you can get now is a static caravan coated with wood on stilts for £150k in a decent area.
We hated the place, and people so much that we begged our airline to get us out, even though we had paid for our hotel in brisbane, we booked a hotel in dubai and spent the last 4 days there in instead.
I cant believe it had cost us so much and the country/people left us so disappointed. We hurt family and friends with our decision to emigrate. Spent £14k, and almost gave up our home and everything.
I am soooo glad we only went one way, the moment those plane wheels left australian runway was the best part of the trip.
ADVICE - It is not the promise land where you can stroll along the beach all day, if you have never been go for a holiday first, we found out the hard way.
Everone has their opinion, some love it, others such as ourselves hated it. This is our opinion based on our personal experience.
Having never been to oz before..
Appox 2 years ago we came up with idea of emigrating to Australia, we researched loads of areas, from both the internet and friends who are/have been there. We had our rose tinted glasses firmly attached. Thinking it was the best thing for our family, moving to the sunshine, beach lifestyle with friendly auzzies, better education, etc.
We went to court to get permission to remove our kids, promising the judge that Australia was the promised land, where we would all benefit from moving to, going to the beach at weekends, and doing more family stuff.
We got our visas after 12 months of waiting and decided we would validate by taking a 2 week holiday.
We had already spent approx £10,000 on getting up to the stage of visa grant, we then paid an additional £3500 for our validation trip.
We were so excited on the plane wondering if our expectations would be reached.
How wrong we were.
Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told. The aussies we came accross were racist, as soon as they heard a non aussie accent they didnt want to know, taking all their effort just to crack a smile. Hubby went on a building site where there were 8 brickies building a garage, and out of the 8, the only one to acknowledge him was a brit. The guy had heen there for 5 years and had been in melbourne. He moved to Birsbane for work, but there is nothing about. He told us that he was earning $15 and hour, $20 if he did alot of work. They are awkward, en example we went to a zoo, my kids had waited 20 mins to hold a rabbit, which they did, they went back 5 minutes later,the woman was still in the pen, and no other kids in sight, my kids asked if they could hold a different rabbit and were told 1 hold per child, how petty.
EVERYTHING is expensive, meals, drinks at bars, general shopping at woolworths, a pack of mushrooms was $6! clothes are expensive.
We were told that if we got PR we would get free medical care, wrongo! i got ill and had to get some antibiotics, it cost me $65 just to see the doctor, and then $15 for tablets, even with medicare. you can claim back half apparently.
Schools - you have to pay for books approx $200
Hubby got arrested for breaking up a fight, the police told him to go, and because the argument had been settled and they were going for a drink, he got arrested for not following a direction. he was the only one of 4 to get arrestedm even though 2 of the others started the fight and hit hubby. the officer took great delight in abusing him, calling him a pommie prick, and making sure the handcuffs were extra tight.
Yes it is sunny, but it is also very humid, it was uncomfortable to walk around in, never mind working outside in it, and it wasnt even summer.
houses are expensive, gone are the days where you can get a massive bungalow with a pool, and loads of land for peanuts, all you can get now is a static caravan coated with wood on stilts for £150k in a decent area.
We hated the place, and people so much that we begged our airline to get us out, even though we had paid for our hotel in brisbane, we booked a hotel in dubai and spent the last 4 days there in instead.
I cant believe it had cost us so much and the country/people left us so disappointed. We hurt family and friends with our decision to emigrate. Spent £14k, and almost gave up our home and everything.
I am soooo glad we only went one way, the moment those plane wheels left australian runway was the best part of the trip.
ADVICE - It is not the promise land where you can stroll along the beach all day, if you have never been go for a holiday first, we found out the hard way.
Everone has their opinion, some love it, others such as ourselves hated it. This is our opinion based on our personal experience.
Apr 28th 2009 | 12:18 pm
#18
Australia's Doorman
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 11,057
From: The Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
You know, the bottom line is that this country really isn't for everybody - indeed emigration isn't for everybody. In fact, in the OP's case - and having read a few of her previous posts - I'd say that moving counties wasn't for everybody.
The OP seems to have set the bar of expectations so high that if she'd moved to Shangri La, she'd have found it wanting. She even refers to the place as, "the promised land". Yea, gold lined streets, money trees in every back garden, no crime, perfect education system, no drugs, no graffiti, cheery blue eyed loveable aussies as far as the eye can see.
I think the telling phrase in the post above is, "Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told." Who told you? Nadia off of Wanted Down Under? Your hairdresser? Bloke who you met in the pub? Your post is riddled with "We were told"s - did you consider finding out if any of the fairytales you were spun might have some basis in fact?
Regarding the work situation - your old man walks onto a random building site in the middle of the biggest global recession since the 1930s - and expects to be handed a golden lunch box and thermos flask? Did you actually research anything about Australia on these forums - above and beyond the sort of petting zoo you could take your kids to? Because god only knows there have been masses of threads from tradies of all descriptions explaining just how tough it is for them at the moment. Talk about myopic.
The weather. Humid you say? In Brisbane?!!?! I don't believe it.
Houses haven't been 'cheap' for at least a decade. Honestly, where in the name of all that's holy were you getting your information from? Did you expect to get some 'Absolute Seafront' mortgage-free for $200k? I live in a fairly cheap bit of NSW and £150k (even at current shitty exchange rates) would get you two-thirds of a very nice house here and a modest $600 a month repayment. But I would imagine that in the nice bits of Brisbane (a state capital) you'd probably have to spend a wee bit more dosh.
Anyway - congratulations to the OP - who seems to have been wearing dustbin-lid sized rose-tinted specs. You have made the right decision and you can now get on with your life. Mandy Skeggs move over.
P.S. Getting arrested in a bar fight on your reccie is total quality!
The OP seems to have set the bar of expectations so high that if she'd moved to Shangri La, she'd have found it wanting. She even refers to the place as, "the promised land". Yea, gold lined streets, money trees in every back garden, no crime, perfect education system, no drugs, no graffiti, cheery blue eyed loveable aussies as far as the eye can see.
I think the telling phrase in the post above is, "Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told." Who told you? Nadia off of Wanted Down Under? Your hairdresser? Bloke who you met in the pub? Your post is riddled with "We were told"s - did you consider finding out if any of the fairytales you were spun might have some basis in fact?
Regarding the work situation - your old man walks onto a random building site in the middle of the biggest global recession since the 1930s - and expects to be handed a golden lunch box and thermos flask? Did you actually research anything about Australia on these forums - above and beyond the sort of petting zoo you could take your kids to? Because god only knows there have been masses of threads from tradies of all descriptions explaining just how tough it is for them at the moment. Talk about myopic.
The weather. Humid you say? In Brisbane?!!?! I don't believe it.
Houses haven't been 'cheap' for at least a decade. Honestly, where in the name of all that's holy were you getting your information from? Did you expect to get some 'Absolute Seafront' mortgage-free for $200k? I live in a fairly cheap bit of NSW and £150k (even at current shitty exchange rates) would get you two-thirds of a very nice house here and a modest $600 a month repayment. But I would imagine that in the nice bits of Brisbane (a state capital) you'd probably have to spend a wee bit more dosh.
Anyway - congratulations to the OP - who seems to have been wearing dustbin-lid sized rose-tinted specs. You have made the right decision and you can now get on with your life. Mandy Skeggs move over.
P.S. Getting arrested in a bar fight on your reccie is total quality!
Apr 28th 2009 | 12:34 pm
#19
~~~
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,849
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
I wouldnt be complaining about 14K if I were you .... be grateful that is ALL it cost to find out that you hated it. Like you said it "nearly" cost you your home but it didnt so you can go back to life as usual ... Id say that was a good thing considering 
Apr 28th 2009 | 1:08 pm
#20
Banned
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 22,348
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
....your visas!
Having never been to oz before..
Appox 2 years ago we came up with idea of emigrating to Australia, we researched loads of areas, from both the internet and friends who are/have been there. We had our rose tinted glasses firmly attached. Thinking it was the best thing for our family, moving to the sunshine, beach lifestyle with friendly auzzies, better education, etc.
We went to court to get permission to remove our kids, promising the judge that Australia was the promised land, where we would all benefit from moving to, going to the beach at weekends, and doing more family stuff.
We got our visas after 12 months of waiting and decided we would validate by taking a 2 week holiday.
We had already spent approx £10,000 on getting up to the stage of visa grant, we then paid an additional £3500 for our validation trip.
We were so excited on the plane wondering if our expectations would be reached.
How wrong we were.
Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told. The aussies we came accross were racist, as soon as they heard a non aussie accent they didnt want to know, taking all their effort just to crack a smile. Hubby went on a building site where there were 8 brickies building a garage, and out of the 8, the only one to acknowledge him was a brit. The guy had heen there for 5 years and had been in melbourne. He moved to Birsbane for work, but there is nothing about. He told us that he was earning $15 and hour, $20 if he did alot of work. They are awkward, en example we went to a zoo, my kids had waited 20 mins to hold a rabbit, which they did, they went back 5 minutes later,the woman was still in the pen, and no other kids in sight, my kids asked if they could hold a different rabbit and were told 1 hold per child, how petty.
EVERYTHING is expensive, meals, drinks at bars, general shopping at woolworths, a pack of mushrooms was $6! clothes are expensive.
We were told that if we got PR we would get free medical care, wrongo! i got ill and had to get some antibiotics, it cost me $65 just to see the doctor, and then $15 for tablets, even with medicare. you can claim back half apparently.
Schools - you have to pay for books approx $200
Hubby got arrested for breaking up a fight, the police told him to go, and because the argument had been settled and they were going for a drink, he got arrested for not following a direction. he was the only one of 4 to get arrestedm even though 2 of the others started the fight and hit hubby. the officer took great delight in abusing him, calling him a pommie prick, and making sure the handcuffs were extra tight.
Yes it is sunny, but it is also very humid, it was uncomfortable to walk around in, never mind working outside in it, and it wasnt even summer.
houses are expensive, gone are the days where you can get a massive bungalow with a pool, and loads of land for peanuts, all you can get now is a static caravan coated with wood on stilts for £150k in a decent area.
We hated the place, and people so much that we begged our airline to get us out, even though we had paid for our hotel in brisbane, we booked a hotel in dubai and spent the last 4 days there in instead.
I cant believe it had cost us so much and the country/people left us so disappointed. We hurt family and friends with our decision to emigrate. Spent £14k, and almost gave up our home and everything.
I am soooo glad we only went one way, the moment those plane wheels left australian runway was the best part of the trip.
ADVICE - It is not the promise land where you can stroll along the beach all day, if you have never been go for a holiday first, we found out the hard way.
Everone has their opinion, some love it, others such as ourselves hated it. This is our opinion based on our personal experience.
Having never been to oz before..
Appox 2 years ago we came up with idea of emigrating to Australia, we researched loads of areas, from both the internet and friends who are/have been there. We had our rose tinted glasses firmly attached. Thinking it was the best thing for our family, moving to the sunshine, beach lifestyle with friendly auzzies, better education, etc.
We went to court to get permission to remove our kids, promising the judge that Australia was the promised land, where we would all benefit from moving to, going to the beach at weekends, and doing more family stuff.
We got our visas after 12 months of waiting and decided we would validate by taking a 2 week holiday.
We had already spent approx £10,000 on getting up to the stage of visa grant, we then paid an additional £3500 for our validation trip.
We were so excited on the plane wondering if our expectations would be reached.
How wrong we were.
Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told. The aussies we came accross were racist, as soon as they heard a non aussie accent they didnt want to know, taking all their effort just to crack a smile. Hubby went on a building site where there were 8 brickies building a garage, and out of the 8, the only one to acknowledge him was a brit. The guy had heen there for 5 years and had been in melbourne. He moved to Birsbane for work, but there is nothing about. He told us that he was earning $15 and hour, $20 if he did alot of work. They are awkward, en example we went to a zoo, my kids had waited 20 mins to hold a rabbit, which they did, they went back 5 minutes later,the woman was still in the pen, and no other kids in sight, my kids asked if they could hold a different rabbit and were told 1 hold per child, how petty.
EVERYTHING is expensive, meals, drinks at bars, general shopping at woolworths, a pack of mushrooms was $6! clothes are expensive.
We were told that if we got PR we would get free medical care, wrongo! i got ill and had to get some antibiotics, it cost me $65 just to see the doctor, and then $15 for tablets, even with medicare. you can claim back half apparently.
Schools - you have to pay for books approx $200
Hubby got arrested for breaking up a fight, the police told him to go, and because the argument had been settled and they were going for a drink, he got arrested for not following a direction. he was the only one of 4 to get arrestedm even though 2 of the others started the fight and hit hubby. the officer took great delight in abusing him, calling him a pommie prick, and making sure the handcuffs were extra tight.
Yes it is sunny, but it is also very humid, it was uncomfortable to walk around in, never mind working outside in it, and it wasnt even summer.
houses are expensive, gone are the days where you can get a massive bungalow with a pool, and loads of land for peanuts, all you can get now is a static caravan coated with wood on stilts for £150k in a decent area.
We hated the place, and people so much that we begged our airline to get us out, even though we had paid for our hotel in brisbane, we booked a hotel in dubai and spent the last 4 days there in instead.
I cant believe it had cost us so much and the country/people left us so disappointed. We hurt family and friends with our decision to emigrate. Spent £14k, and almost gave up our home and everything.
I am soooo glad we only went one way, the moment those plane wheels left australian runway was the best part of the trip.
ADVICE - It is not the promise land where you can stroll along the beach all day, if you have never been go for a holiday first, we found out the hard way.
Everone has their opinion, some love it, others such as ourselves hated it. This is our opinion based on our personal experience.
Apr 28th 2009 | 1:54 pm
#21
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 421
From: Home!!!
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
....your visas!
Having never been to oz before..
Appox 2 years ago we came up with idea of emigrating to Australia, we researched loads of areas, from both the internet and friends who are/have been there. We had our rose tinted glasses firmly attached. Thinking it was the best thing for our family, moving to the sunshine, beach lifestyle with friendly auzzies, better education, etc.
We went to court to get permission to remove our kids, promising the judge that Australia was the promised land, where we would all benefit from moving to, going to the beach at weekends, and doing more family stuff.
We got our visas after 12 months of waiting and decided we would validate by taking a 2 week holiday.
We had already spent approx £10,000 on getting up to the stage of visa grant, we then paid an additional £3500 for our validation trip.
We were so excited on the plane wondering if our expectations would be reached.
How wrong we were.
Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told. The aussies we came accross were racist, as soon as they heard a non aussie accent they didnt want to know, taking all their effort just to crack a smile. Hubby went on a building site where there were 8 brickies building a garage, and out of the 8, the only one to acknowledge him was a brit. The guy had heen there for 5 years and had been in melbourne. He moved to Birsbane for work, but there is nothing about. He told us that he was earning $15 and hour, $20 if he did alot of work. They are awkward, en example we went to a zoo, my kids had waited 20 mins to hold a rabbit, which they did, they went back 5 minutes later,the woman was still in the pen, and no other kids in sight, my kids asked if they could hold a different rabbit and were told 1 hold per child, how petty.
EVERYTHING is expensive, meals, drinks at bars, general shopping at woolworths, a pack of mushrooms was $6! clothes are expensive.
We were told that if we got PR we would get free medical care, wrongo! i got ill and had to get some antibiotics, it cost me $65 just to see the doctor, and then $15 for tablets, even with medicare. you can claim back half apparently.
Schools - you have to pay for books approx $200
Hubby got arrested for breaking up a fight, the police told him to go, and because the argument had been settled and they were going for a drink, he got arrested for not following a direction. he was the only one of 4 to get arrestedm even though 2 of the others started the fight and hit hubby. the officer took great delight in abusing him, calling him a pommie prick, and making sure the handcuffs were extra tight.
Yes it is sunny, but it is also very humid, it was uncomfortable to walk around in, never mind working outside in it, and it wasnt even summer.
houses are expensive, gone are the days where you can get a massive bungalow with a pool, and loads of land for peanuts, all you can get now is a static caravan coated with wood on stilts for £150k in a decent area.
We hated the place, and people so much that we begged our airline to get us out, even though we had paid for our hotel in brisbane, we booked a hotel in dubai and spent the last 4 days there in instead.
I cant believe it had cost us so much and the country/people left us so disappointed. We hurt family and friends with our decision to emigrate. Spent £14k, and almost gave up our home and everything.
I am soooo glad we only went one way, the moment those plane wheels left australian runway was the best part of the trip.
ADVICE - It is not the promise land where you can stroll along the beach all day, if you have never been go for a holiday first, we found out the hard way.
Everone has their opinion, some love it, others such as ourselves hated it. This is our opinion based on our personal experience.
Having never been to oz before..
Appox 2 years ago we came up with idea of emigrating to Australia, we researched loads of areas, from both the internet and friends who are/have been there. We had our rose tinted glasses firmly attached. Thinking it was the best thing for our family, moving to the sunshine, beach lifestyle with friendly auzzies, better education, etc.
We went to court to get permission to remove our kids, promising the judge that Australia was the promised land, where we would all benefit from moving to, going to the beach at weekends, and doing more family stuff.
We got our visas after 12 months of waiting and decided we would validate by taking a 2 week holiday.
We had already spent approx £10,000 on getting up to the stage of visa grant, we then paid an additional £3500 for our validation trip.
We were so excited on the plane wondering if our expectations would be reached.
How wrong we were.
Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told. The aussies we came accross were racist, as soon as they heard a non aussie accent they didnt want to know, taking all their effort just to crack a smile. Hubby went on a building site where there were 8 brickies building a garage, and out of the 8, the only one to acknowledge him was a brit. The guy had heen there for 5 years and had been in melbourne. He moved to Birsbane for work, but there is nothing about. He told us that he was earning $15 and hour, $20 if he did alot of work. They are awkward, en example we went to a zoo, my kids had waited 20 mins to hold a rabbit, which they did, they went back 5 minutes later,the woman was still in the pen, and no other kids in sight, my kids asked if they could hold a different rabbit and were told 1 hold per child, how petty.
EVERYTHING is expensive, meals, drinks at bars, general shopping at woolworths, a pack of mushrooms was $6! clothes are expensive.
We were told that if we got PR we would get free medical care, wrongo! i got ill and had to get some antibiotics, it cost me $65 just to see the doctor, and then $15 for tablets, even with medicare. you can claim back half apparently.
Schools - you have to pay for books approx $200
Hubby got arrested for breaking up a fight, the police told him to go, and because the argument had been settled and they were going for a drink, he got arrested for not following a direction. he was the only one of 4 to get arrestedm even though 2 of the others started the fight and hit hubby. the officer took great delight in abusing him, calling him a pommie prick, and making sure the handcuffs were extra tight.
Yes it is sunny, but it is also very humid, it was uncomfortable to walk around in, never mind working outside in it, and it wasnt even summer.
houses are expensive, gone are the days where you can get a massive bungalow with a pool, and loads of land for peanuts, all you can get now is a static caravan coated with wood on stilts for £150k in a decent area.
We hated the place, and people so much that we begged our airline to get us out, even though we had paid for our hotel in brisbane, we booked a hotel in dubai and spent the last 4 days there in instead.
I cant believe it had cost us so much and the country/people left us so disappointed. We hurt family and friends with our decision to emigrate. Spent £14k, and almost gave up our home and everything.
I am soooo glad we only went one way, the moment those plane wheels left australian runway was the best part of the trip.
ADVICE - It is not the promise land where you can stroll along the beach all day, if you have never been go for a holiday first, we found out the hard way.
Everone has their opinion, some love it, others such as ourselves hated it. This is our opinion based on our personal experience.
What an interesting reccie. At least you have only lost 14K. You could have come over and wasted a couple of hundred thousand pounds and 3 or 4 years of your life.
Ignore some of the other posters. Of course you had high expectations, what's the the point of emigrating if you don't. You don't uproot your family to the other side of the world to be worse off than you were in the UK. The sun is not everything and as you rightly said, it is not all strolling along the beach everyday. I agree also that it does get humid in Brisbane, I visited in Oct/Nov and it was humid then, anyone who says otherwise obviously hasn't been.
You were lucky to realise during your reccie what it takes some of us months and years to.
Apr 28th 2009 | 2:15 pm
#22
Australia's Doorman
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 11,057
From: The Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
So, because we're happy here, our viewpoints aren't valid?
Yea mate, there's expectations and there's expectations. If Russell Crowe had picked them up from the airport and driven 'em to Kirribilli House in a power launch to stay with the PM I think they'd have still found something to complain about.
Ermmm - nobody said otherwise. But it's hardly a state ****ing secret, is it?
We were all lucky.
We were all lucky.
Apr 28th 2009 | 2:19 pm
#23
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 10,375
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
Sounds like apart from the bar fight and arrest they did a pretty sensible reccy. Jobs, wages, houses, traffic, doctors better than a 3 week fling round dreamworld/dolphin spotting.
Think as someone else said, 14K is cheap compared to what an actual move/dont like it would cost
they did a pretty sensible reccy. Jobs, wages, houses, traffic, doctors better than a 3 week fling round dreamworld/dolphin spotting.Think as someone else said, 14K is cheap compared to what an actual move/dont like it would cost
Apr 28th 2009 | 2:20 pm
#24
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 211
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
There are more than a fair few poms in Brisbane, christ we even had a football team that had to have the solitary token Aussie in it.
Where were you looking for a house in Brisbane??? I stay approx 8kms from the CBD and a decent house here would set you back about 500k.
I would agree that somethings in Brisbane are more expensive but certainly not everything.
Actually you would get free medical care if you had a doctor that bulk billed. The cost for the drugs as far as i'm aware everyone pays for. I could be wrong though.
Again not sure where you were with the hubby but i've only seen one fight in 18 months and it was between a bouncer and some woman, btw she gave him a sore face lol. Never had any dealings with the police so can't comment on that.
Racism exists wherever you go regardless of what culture your from. Personally i've never experienced any towards me. The only thing that grates me is the constant 'pardon' due to the Scots accent.
I think you'll find that the work situation is drying up for everyone including those back in the UK.
Anyway good luck back home at least you've been.
Where were you looking for a house in Brisbane??? I stay approx 8kms from the CBD and a decent house here would set you back about 500k.
I would agree that somethings in Brisbane are more expensive but certainly not everything.
Actually you would get free medical care if you had a doctor that bulk billed. The cost for the drugs as far as i'm aware everyone pays for. I could be wrong though.
Again not sure where you were with the hubby but i've only seen one fight in 18 months and it was between a bouncer and some woman, btw she gave him a sore face lol. Never had any dealings with the police so can't comment on that.
Racism exists wherever you go regardless of what culture your from. Personally i've never experienced any towards me. The only thing that grates me is the constant 'pardon' due to the Scots accent.
I think you'll find that the work situation is drying up for everyone including those back in the UK.
Anyway good luck back home at least you've been.
Apr 28th 2009 | 2:26 pm
#25
No Clean Feed
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,381
From: Hampton, Victoria
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
Australia is not the UK and you know what they say about assumptions...
If you plan on spending £10,000 (still baffled how it cost you that much), to get a visa to move somewhere I suggest you take a small trip out to see if you like it first... before you spend all that money.
You would test drive a car before you spent £10,000 on it wouldn't you ? I also assume you would take a trip to Mongolia or Malaysia prior to moving there to live ? I don't see why moving to Australia is any different. I think the problem is we have this idea of what Australia is like based on watching too much Neighbours and Crocodile Dundee films.
If you plan on spending £10,000 (still baffled how it cost you that much), to get a visa to move somewhere I suggest you take a small trip out to see if you like it first... before you spend all that money.
You would test drive a car before you spent £10,000 on it wouldn't you ? I also assume you would take a trip to Mongolia or Malaysia prior to moving there to live ? I don't see why moving to Australia is any different. I think the problem is we have this idea of what Australia is like based on watching too much Neighbours and Crocodile Dundee films.
Apr 28th 2009 | 2:49 pm
#26
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,566
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
If someone has a bad time in Australia and finds that they detest it for one reason or another, why do they have to be slated for it? I dont understand it. If people dont like the place, how is it gonna affect your quality of life? How many people are there in the UK that continually bag the shit out of the place but most nobody gets in their face about it.
If someone tells me they hate the UK (which plenty do on this forum) or Australia - it doesnt faze me at all after all its not personal.
Apr 28th 2009 | 3:09 pm
#27
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,922
From: Asia Pacific
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
....your visas!
Having never been to oz before..
Appox 2 years ago we came up with idea of emigrating to Australia, we researched loads of areas, from both the internet and friends who are/have been there. We had our rose tinted glasses firmly attached. Thinking it was the best thing for our family, moving to the sunshine, beach lifestyle with friendly auzzies, better education, etc.
We went to court to get permission to remove our kids, promising the judge that Australia was the promised land, where we would all benefit from moving to, going to the beach at weekends, and doing more family stuff.
We got our visas after 12 months of waiting and decided we would validate by taking a 2 week holiday.
We had already spent approx £10,000 on getting up to the stage of visa grant, we then paid an additional £3500 for our validation trip.
We were so excited on the plane wondering if our expectations would be reached.
How wrong we were.
Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told. The aussies we came accross were racist, as soon as they heard a non aussie accent they didnt want to know, taking all their effort just to crack a smile. Hubby went on a building site where there were 8 brickies building a garage, and out of the 8, the only one to acknowledge him was a brit. The guy had heen there for 5 years and had been in melbourne. He moved to Birsbane for work, but there is nothing about. He told us that he was earning $15 and hour, $20 if he did alot of work. They are awkward, en example we went to a zoo, my kids had waited 20 mins to hold a rabbit, which they did, they went back 5 minutes later,the woman was still in the pen, and no other kids in sight, my kids asked if they could hold a different rabbit and were told 1 hold per child, how petty.
EVERYTHING is expensive, meals, drinks at bars, general shopping at woolworths, a pack of mushrooms was $6! clothes are expensive.
We were told that if we got PR we would get free medical care, wrongo! i got ill and had to get some antibiotics, it cost me $65 just to see the doctor, and then $15 for tablets, even with medicare. you can claim back half apparently.
Schools - you have to pay for books approx $200
Hubby got arrested for breaking up a fight, the police told him to go, and because the argument had been settled and they were going for a drink, he got arrested for not following a direction. he was the only one of 4 to get arrestedm even though 2 of the others started the fight and hit hubby. the officer took great delight in abusing him, calling him a pommie prick, and making sure the handcuffs were extra tight.
Yes it is sunny, but it is also very humid, it was uncomfortable to walk around in, never mind working outside in it, and it wasnt even summer.
houses are expensive, gone are the days where you can get a massive bungalow with a pool, and loads of land for peanuts, all you can get now is a static caravan coated with wood on stilts for £150k in a decent area.
We hated the place, and people so much that we begged our airline to get us out, even though we had paid for our hotel in brisbane, we booked a hotel in dubai and spent the last 4 days there in instead.
I cant believe it had cost us so much and the country/people left us so disappointed. We hurt family and friends with our decision to emigrate. Spent £14k, and almost gave up our home and everything.
I am soooo glad we only went one way, the moment those plane wheels left australian runway was the best part of the trip.
ADVICE - It is not the promise land where you can stroll along the beach all day, if you have never been go for a holiday first, we found out the hard way.
Everone has their opinion, some love it, others such as ourselves hated it. This is our opinion based on our personal experience.
Having never been to oz before..
Appox 2 years ago we came up with idea of emigrating to Australia, we researched loads of areas, from both the internet and friends who are/have been there. We had our rose tinted glasses firmly attached. Thinking it was the best thing for our family, moving to the sunshine, beach lifestyle with friendly auzzies, better education, etc.
We went to court to get permission to remove our kids, promising the judge that Australia was the promised land, where we would all benefit from moving to, going to the beach at weekends, and doing more family stuff.
We got our visas after 12 months of waiting and decided we would validate by taking a 2 week holiday.
We had already spent approx £10,000 on getting up to the stage of visa grant, we then paid an additional £3500 for our validation trip.
We were so excited on the plane wondering if our expectations would be reached.
How wrong we were.
Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told. The aussies we came accross were racist, as soon as they heard a non aussie accent they didnt want to know, taking all their effort just to crack a smile. Hubby went on a building site where there were 8 brickies building a garage, and out of the 8, the only one to acknowledge him was a brit. The guy had heen there for 5 years and had been in melbourne. He moved to Birsbane for work, but there is nothing about. He told us that he was earning $15 and hour, $20 if he did alot of work. They are awkward, en example we went to a zoo, my kids had waited 20 mins to hold a rabbit, which they did, they went back 5 minutes later,the woman was still in the pen, and no other kids in sight, my kids asked if they could hold a different rabbit and were told 1 hold per child, how petty.
EVERYTHING is expensive, meals, drinks at bars, general shopping at woolworths, a pack of mushrooms was $6! clothes are expensive.
We were told that if we got PR we would get free medical care, wrongo! i got ill and had to get some antibiotics, it cost me $65 just to see the doctor, and then $15 for tablets, even with medicare. you can claim back half apparently.
Schools - you have to pay for books approx $200
Hubby got arrested for breaking up a fight, the police told him to go, and because the argument had been settled and they were going for a drink, he got arrested for not following a direction. he was the only one of 4 to get arrestedm even though 2 of the others started the fight and hit hubby. the officer took great delight in abusing him, calling him a pommie prick, and making sure the handcuffs were extra tight.
Yes it is sunny, but it is also very humid, it was uncomfortable to walk around in, never mind working outside in it, and it wasnt even summer.
houses are expensive, gone are the days where you can get a massive bungalow with a pool, and loads of land for peanuts, all you can get now is a static caravan coated with wood on stilts for £150k in a decent area.
We hated the place, and people so much that we begged our airline to get us out, even though we had paid for our hotel in brisbane, we booked a hotel in dubai and spent the last 4 days there in instead.
I cant believe it had cost us so much and the country/people left us so disappointed. We hurt family and friends with our decision to emigrate. Spent £14k, and almost gave up our home and everything.
I am soooo glad we only went one way, the moment those plane wheels left australian runway was the best part of the trip.
ADVICE - It is not the promise land where you can stroll along the beach all day, if you have never been go for a holiday first, we found out the hard way.
Everone has their opinion, some love it, others such as ourselves hated it. This is our opinion based on our personal experience.
Apr 28th 2009 | 3:11 pm
#28
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 310
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
If someone has a bad time in Australia and finds that they detest it for one reason or another, why do they have to be slated for it? I dont understand it. If people dont like the place, how is it gonna affect your quality of life? How many people are there in the UK that continually bag the shit out of the place but most nobody gets in their face about it.
If someone tells me they hate the UK (which plenty do on this forum) or Australia - it doesnt faze me at all after all its not personal.
If someone tells me they hate the UK (which plenty do on this forum) or Australia - it doesnt faze me at all after all its not personal.
Personally I think had I come all the way to Australia for a reccie having spent so much money and found I hated QLD that much I would possibly have got an internal flight to another state and see what they were like instead. It is rather like planning to emigrate to the UK and visiting Coventry (no offence - just the first place that popped into my mind) hating it and deciding that the whole of the UK must be like that.
Good luck to you as you have obviously come to the right decision for you and your family as you would clearly not be happy in Oz but making massive sweeping statements about somewhere you spent a week in all is not going to win you many friends.
Apr 28th 2009 | 3:18 pm
#29
---
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,994
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
Perhaps you were still jetlagged in Oz. I've had awesome holidays here and there's much to love about living here too, if it suits, but honestly how can you have done two years research and planning only to find*nothing* was as expected in ten days? 
Apr 28th 2009 | 3:46 pm
#30
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 397
Re: Australia - Try before you buy.......
You know, the bottom line is that this country really isn't for everybody - indeed emigration isn't for everybody. In fact, in the OP's case - and having read a few of her previous posts - I'd say that moving counties wasn't for everybody.
The OP seems to have set the bar of expectations so high that if she'd moved to Shangri La, she'd have found it wanting. She even refers to the place as, "the promised land". Yea, gold lined streets, money trees in every back garden, no crime, perfect education system, no drugs, no graffiti, cheery blue eyed loveable aussies as far as the eye can see.
I think the telling phrase in the post above is, "Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told." Who told you? Nadia off of Wanted Down Under? Your hairdresser? Bloke who you met in the pub? Your post is riddled with "We were told"s - did you consider finding out if any of the fairytales you were spun might have some basis in fact?
Regarding the work situation - your old man walks onto a random building site in the middle of the biggest global recession since the 1930s - and expects to be handed a golden lunch box and thermos flask? Did you actually research anything about Australia on these forums - above and beyond the sort of petting zoo you could take your kids to? Because god only knows there have been masses of threads from tradies of all descriptions explaining just how tough it is for them at the moment. Talk about myopic.
The weather. Humid you say? In Brisbane?!!?! I don't believe it.
Houses haven't been 'cheap' for at least a decade. Honestly, where in the name of all that's holy were you getting your information from? Did you expect to get some 'Absolute Seafront' mortgage-free for $200k? I live in a fairly cheap bit of NSW and £150k (even at current shitty exchange rates) would get you two-thirds of a very nice house here and a modest $600 a month repayment. But I would imagine that in the nice bits of Brisbane (a state capital) you'd probably have to spend a wee bit more dosh.
Anyway - congratulations to the OP - who seems to have been wearing dustbin-lid sized rose-tinted specs. You have made the right decision and you can now get on with your life. Mandy Skeggs move over.
P.S. Getting arrested in a bar fight on your reccie is total quality!
The OP seems to have set the bar of expectations so high that if she'd moved to Shangri La, she'd have found it wanting. She even refers to the place as, "the promised land". Yea, gold lined streets, money trees in every back garden, no crime, perfect education system, no drugs, no graffiti, cheery blue eyed loveable aussies as far as the eye can see.
I think the telling phrase in the post above is, "Everything about the place is the opposite to what we had been told." Who told you? Nadia off of Wanted Down Under? Your hairdresser? Bloke who you met in the pub? Your post is riddled with "We were told"s - did you consider finding out if any of the fairytales you were spun might have some basis in fact?
Regarding the work situation - your old man walks onto a random building site in the middle of the biggest global recession since the 1930s - and expects to be handed a golden lunch box and thermos flask? Did you actually research anything about Australia on these forums - above and beyond the sort of petting zoo you could take your kids to? Because god only knows there have been masses of threads from tradies of all descriptions explaining just how tough it is for them at the moment. Talk about myopic.
The weather. Humid you say? In Brisbane?!!?! I don't believe it.
Houses haven't been 'cheap' for at least a decade. Honestly, where in the name of all that's holy were you getting your information from? Did you expect to get some 'Absolute Seafront' mortgage-free for $200k? I live in a fairly cheap bit of NSW and £150k (even at current shitty exchange rates) would get you two-thirds of a very nice house here and a modest $600 a month repayment. But I would imagine that in the nice bits of Brisbane (a state capital) you'd probably have to spend a wee bit more dosh.
Anyway - congratulations to the OP - who seems to have been wearing dustbin-lid sized rose-tinted specs. You have made the right decision and you can now get on with your life. Mandy Skeggs move over.
P.S. Getting arrested in a bar fight on your reccie is total quality!
I wish people on this board would, instead of retorting with 'who can be the most smart arse or intelligent" or just plain venomous would let people vent, let people say what they want to say without throwing back a load of self righteous crap because your ok and life is wonderful. There is nothing wrong with debate, but this isnt a debate, it is a post from someone who didnt have a good time, regardless of expectations and said it wasnt for them. Ok the last comment that it aint the promised land is worthless but otherwise, just unfortunate.
For someone to spend so much money and energy coming here and being dissapointed must be heart braking. I am just so pleased for many of you, it was a total love at first site experience and settled right in. I did too but thats cool many didnt.
I think try before you buy is a brilliant idea if you can, not everyone can.
But for all you punters on here who have thousands of posts and seem compelled to offer your point of view or input every single time someone makes a comment or a blog, take a break, go and speak to someone in real life and stop patrolling these boards just looking to offload your daily dose of shite....
