mand8002

We love it here and will definitely be staying. We did however struggle to settle in the first place.........long story but the short version is that at first the whole family did not come...so I think I was missing my hubby more than anything. People's expectations are different, but we came for an adventure and decided that the minute we landed on Australian soil we would embrace the Australian way of life, and tried not to compare things, we just accepted that things are done differently here.

Babsw

ditto and we ping pongd!

dave7370

We're on the fence, like both places the same but we're still moving back to England at some point.

emelems

Yeah I love it.. but I still see the negatives a bit too much at the moment.. like the prev poster said, its prob just due to the time of the year

Em x

gillysm

We love it, been in Oz 12 years, Sydney for 3 - now Brissy. There are things we miss about England, it's not perfect here, but on the whole it suits us and we are very happy. Keep an open mind.

Lots of good replies on here for you - I hope it gives you some confidence in your decision. Good luck!

Grayling

It's nothing special but it is where I will be for a while.

G

Kooky.

I love it, but then I'm easily pleased.

Generali

I got into a chat with an Aussie bloke on NYE who'd worked with a Pom who hated Aus. He started asking me about specific complaints his colleague had had.

As he mentioned each thing I said, "Yeah, that's something that's better in the UK" or words to that effect.

When he finished he asked me (rather grumpily) why I'm here if that stuff is all better in the UK. My reply was that most of the things on the list were unimportant to me - that they're better in the UK has little bearing on my happiness. Many of the things in Aus that are better are important to me and so it makes the bad stuff (eg missing family, not being able to follow one of my hobbies) ok.

MichPayne

Thank you everyone Ive put my kleenex away and Im ready to pack my last bits n pieces, I hope we meet lots of people like you lot when we get there

Im moving to South Brisbane not far from South bank for the first few months anyway, if anyones not too far meeting up would be great.

See you there

Hutch

Beats the shit out of the yookay ... that's for sure.

Cheetah7

Im happy, I can at least get my sunshine fix from the real thing rather than a lightbox.

We have a better quality of life - its just the way it worked out.

Emigrating is a total head ****, you wouldnt believe how it plays with your emotions and nothing can prepare you for how you will not only miss your loved ones in the UK, but how little things can make you incredibly patriotic.

I have forgotten what English money looks like, I panic because I cant even imagine it.

I need to keep a part of myself 'anchored' as to where I am from but at the same time I am quite at peace with where I am going as in the future.

Yes I am happy, I like it but it does come with baggage.

Would I move back? No.

louie

Just out of interest, given that you don't seem to be very enamoured with Oz, why are you there? Family?

quoll

I'd add another key ingredient to success here - a high degree of self sufficiency and a large dose of selfishness and I dont mean those in a derogatory sense. If you are enmeshed with people and things back in UK then you will find it so much harder to be on the other side of the world.

Personally I "absolutely loved" it here for the first 10 years, was indifferent for the next 10 years and have come to hate it over the last 10 years. I stay because I have to (DH!) but would be off like a shot tomorrow if he would agree to come too. After a few years the sameness and the blandness can get to you, but the initial sense of adventure is fun.

Hills Boy

Some good advice from many posters. We've only been here for just over a year (and I'll bow to quoll's thirty year stint that things could change) but things are fine for us, for now.

My observation is only you can make it work or not. We have no real idea why people like it or don't like it here. Some people post their reasons on here, some don't.

Missing family and friends seems to be a common theme. My advice is if a potential migrant can't cope with a move within the UK (sell up, and move to an area at least 500 miles away, buy/rent a house, find schools for kids and get jobs, make a new circle of friends, etc.) then moving over here will be difficult.

The cost of living is another common comment. The thing to consider is that we're on big relatively isolated island (yes I know it's a continent) of c.22 million people. The UK is an island of c. 60 million people close to a market of c.300 million people. It's not sensible to compare in too much detail the relative cost of living between here and the UK. The simple fact is that some things are cheaper and some things are more expensive. That's the way it is.

The most important thing is to have (after money, unless you are cashed up) is the right (positive) attitude. Once you have a job and a roof over your head, your attitude will solve most challenges that come your way.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

I have been here three years now and I'm 'used to it'. Which is probably about as good as its going to get for me. I doubt I will be returning to the UK anytime soon but only because of the cost and effort involved in doing so.

One thing you will find is that Oz is becoming very, very expensive in relation to the UK. The exchange rate moves are a killer for people moving out and I believe will start to put the brakes on future migrants. Those of us who have been here a while now obviously don't see any of that, but we have had friends out from the UK over Christmas and the New Year and they were staggered at the cost of some things.

Small example.... friends had just bought a new coffee machine in the UK from Comet, cost 219 pounds. Noticed the same one in the junk mail from Domayne. Cost in the Domayne sale $800. $350 dearer !!

About the only thing that they said was obviously cheaper was petrol and that you still get more bang for your buck when it comes to housing, at least where I am anyway.