Originally Posted by Geelong Gent

Sounds good, be nice to catch up.

Originally Posted by Brewerboy1

I don't think I ever saw a picture of someones son on this site as an avatar-who didtn have a no.1-2 haircut.

Originally Posted by Hutch

The problem with your question is this - everyone's different and lives under different circumstances. Some people move here and find what they were looking for, others hate it or find it hard to survive and move back. Some prosper work-wise, others eat up their life-savings and return home broke. Some get a great life for their kids, others find them getting into drugs etc. There is no one answer, no simple response - everyone's different and every where is different.

But ... a few thoughts for you to mull over:

1. Immigrants usually want to live in the nice coastal areas where property prices are much higher. Also, living on the coast doesn't work for everyone, particularly in the smaller towns - many miss the 'buzz' and get bored shitless within two months.
2. Work tends to be available in the large conurbations/cities and they suffer from many of the usual urban issues you'll find anywhere on the planet.
3. Depending on where you live, your kids could have just as bleak a future with just as many problems getting on the property ladder and securing meaningful well-paid work.
4. There aren't as many 'illegal' immigrants here, but an immigrant is what you'll be and as a blow-in you'll always be seen/treated differently to those who were born and bred here - water off a duck's back to some, fingernails on a chalkboard to others.
5. Many people make a lot of noise about living a better and more outdoor oriented lifestyle and then sit inside their legoland prefab identi-kit cloned homes pissing and whining about the quality of the television output - others buy a bike or a kayak or a surfboard and throw themselves into the more active parts of the Australian lifestyle.
6. Politicians are politicians are politicians.
7. Australia has its PC moments too ... and it's also a country that suffers badly from red tape.
8. You'll be moving to a country with about a quarter of the population of the UK, yet with about 15 times the land-mass. That brings in a whole raft of issue, including the costs of goods and services due to transportation overheads.
9. Fact-finding only gets you so far - rumours about the volume of work in this country are worthless - in fact all rumours and hearsay and 'I have a friend who told me ...' is worthless - you have to suck it and see.
10. If you want polarised opinion of a place, move to Perth - don't think I've ever heard anyone simple say 'it's okay'.

Ultimately, it's a big and highly personal balance sheet. Some (myself included) find themselves in 'credit' ... others go 'overdrawn'. I've made an effort to get out there and meet people, I haven't turned down any invitations, I spent a long time (nearly two years) looking for a good place to live and a good house to buy, I haven't got an Austar subscription and I'm not about to get one, I've joined all the local 'clubs' (bowling, RSL etc) and have joined several voluntary organisations, we are not anywhere near mortgage free (in fact we have the same sized mortgage here as the UK), we earn about the national average and have lean months when it's noodles for tea, not steak, I mountain-bike, surf, swim, walk and kayak, I made friends by not making an issue out of it but just getting out and meeting lots of people. Is my life substantially better than it was in the UK? Yes. Could that only have happened in Australia? Maybe not - but moving to a new hemisphere was the catalyst that I, and my family needed - and right now I wouldn't move back if you paid me. Others have done everything I've done and still hate it.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Originally Posted by Brewerboy1

I don't think I ever saw a picture of someones son on this site as an avatar-who didtn have a no.1-2 haircut.