Fair dinkum

Before we visited my brother-in-law in Brissie in 2004 we were set to move to Turkey where we had spent 8 wonderful years holidaying and getting to know the people.
We had even got as far as arranging a prospective business and Turkish business partners (which you must have if you want to run a business!)

Then we visited Oz and the rest as they say is history

The downside was that our Turkish friends were heartbroken at our decision and during our last visit would not mention the Oz word
They have now got used to the idea and I recieved a lovely e-mail from them a couple of weeks ago which had me in buckets of tears for the whole day

Hopefully they may be able to visit us in Oz one day and we can repay the kindness they have shown us over the last 8 years.

Loz x

I had thought of Ireland first, but the rainy weather turned my husband off. Then we looked at New Zealand, but found the employment opportunities lacking. So, Australia was it. The more we researched,though, the more we fell in love with the place.

hi there
seroiusly thought about southern france but the language barrier put us off and jobs limited as they only employ non french people as a last resort, looked at spain but no jobs in nursing there at all, then we went to oz on holiday, fab fab fab, the visas should be dropping on the doormat round about xmas time! would maybe try france though if oz doesnt work out, heres hoping it will though

I love Canada, spent 6 months there (holiday) with friends. I met some fantastic people and had some inccredible experiences, its such a beautiful country but like yourself i too could'nt live with the winter i guess i,m just not a winter person

For those of you interested in France, from three and a half years personal experience I would say be very careful. Many English are leaving France now for lots of reasons, schools, attitude, and generally just trying to get things done and the French do not always make life easier for you. Also depending where you live in France the people are very "back water" and do not like letting you in. The housing market in France has taken a big fall and many like us cant sell.
We went there bought a big property with the hope of running a gite (holiday) business but what we did not discover until there was that the market was saturated and people were struggling to let just in the summer months.
I have three children who hated it but it seems best if your children are very young and do not know what they are missing. We also found that talking to other English before we bought were so full of how wonderful life there was. Many of these people have since left or can not leave now because they can not afford to go.
We gave it a good chance there and I can honestly say the only thing I miss is my 12/6 meter swimming pool, it was great and also the beautiful views.
I know that life anywhere is what you make it but the system out there can get to you big time.
So after that , anybody fancy buying a nice big farmhouse in its own little hamlet!

I think people have the wrong idea about Canadian winters. It's not all snow and -35 degrees for 6 months. This past winter in southern Ontario, we had almost no snow at all. My kids were sorely disappointed as it will be their last winter here they wanted to toboggan and ski, but couldn't. There are places on the west coast where it snows maybe once every 2 years and that only lasts for the day. You would find that the winters in Vancouver and on the island are very much like England's winters. Mostly damp with a very occasional snowfall.

That puts me off even more than the -35 degrees England's winters are the worst in the world but that's only my opinion of course - who knows, others may disagree

If i don't stay in australia (which would be m first choice!) then it would be france or canada.

Spent time in france as a child and still have lots of family/friend connections there, ditto canada (richmond hill, ontario)

And some day I'll probably move back to Scotland! cannae beat the highlands!!!

I loved South Africa especially Cape Town and would have seriously thought of living there.

Sharon

I must get myself an Aussie <-> English Dictionary.

When you ask for a pint of bitter, you get a glass of cold, yellow, fizzy beer!
If you ask for capsicum, you get a green pepper.
And be vary careful not to tell people that you're rooting for England in the next World Cup!

These little differences never cease to amuse me.

--paj
P.S: There are other countries to consider? News to me!

I'd love to live in the far east but getting work would be a problem so not .....hold up a minute...oh yeah there isn't any difference

Hi Gop,

Its also not just a English/French thing either. We have very close French friends who actually cant wait to move away from France because the "locals" are unfriendly and are also considering Australia. They compare where they live now in a massive Swiss/French chateau on the border near Geneva with their English house in Swindon and they preferred living in Swindon.

I can relate to that. We lived in a 67 square meter flat in Tokyo for five years (we had three kids for the last year or so of that), and I sometimes think we were happier there than in our 300m place here in Perth. Rose tints playing havoc, no doubt, but life was pretty good. Still good here in many ways, but feel something is missing.

florida but alas i`m not irish