WHy did you choose Australia..

Seriously, it seems a high proportion have never visited, or because of budget constraints and financial obligations, cannot do a reccie trip...

So , WHY Oz?

What really made you plump for Australia?

The seed must have been planted before joining expats

WHy not USA or CANADA or Spain ?

WHat was your influence, ...

To move to the otherside of the world on a whim, seems ludicrous to me, so did the media play a HUGE role? What media ( ie. Neighbours (pmsl)) was your starting point...

It cannot just be about the weather.. cos as unpredictable as the weather is in the Uk, its in esseence predictable.. whereas here its predictably unpredictable..

SO ok you chose Oz, so why pick... Brizzy, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns etc etc etc ( oops and Tazzvegas )

Ste

I have always wanted to live and work abroad......didn't when i was single due to ' couldn't leave my Mom syndrome'

3 years ago .. ( age then was 36 ( i thought its now or never )

USA ....Just never has appealed to me
Canada ....Bad bad winters ...BRRRRRRRRR
Spain ...couldn't be arsed learning the language
Oz......ok that will do lets go for it


We had a bit of money ( left in a will ) and started the process and we were fortunate to do a reccie.....went to Sydney and Perth and fell in love with Perth.

So there you have it......

US: too many guns and didn't like the way people think. It's bad enough with the poms thinking they're the greatest people on earth but with the yanks it's even worse (and they've got guns).

Canada: too cold in winter. Even the bits that get hot in summer.

Continental Europe: too corrupt for day to day living.

Scandinavia: too expensive and possibly too cold in winter.

Asia: too hot in the bits I would want to live.

South Africa: too dangerous.

North Africa: corruption again.

NZ: too isolated.

Aus (Victoria): Just Right!

As a born and bred Aussie, I'm just going home.

The thought of spending the rest of my life in the UK was simply intolerable.

Wonder how many would qualify to get into the USA?

Canada has a 5 year wait time

Spain - the lingo? perhaps most people have been there, seen its realities which makes it a bit less appealing.

Plus Australia's so heavily promoted in the UK, reading a book at the moment on pommy immigrants from the 1940's to 1970's its hilarious some of the stuff they were told, - like many arrived in perth and didnt realise it would be cold and wet, or arrived in sydney/qld and couldnt believe how they struggled with the heat, many found so many things quite backward compared to the life they had left for a better? one. Sounds familiar

As for us, mixed relationship, moved not for a dream but a practical solution to whos country will we live in? mine- yours, no half and half, then once kids have finished education, neutral ground

Have wanted to go since a young child, hard to explain really

Never had any desire to come to Australia either to live or holiday.

OH got headhunted and having previously lived in Perth he left the decision up to me. As if! I agreed, thinking that if I didn't like it I could always go home. Decided not to come on a reccie for a few reasons. 1. You can never get a true feeling for the place on a weeks holiday and; 2. Time restraints.

Now we love it here. However, our ideal for the future would be to split our time between here and Europe but only time will tell if that is feasible.

By accident really. I came to Aus when I was a student, figuring I would do the long distance trips while I was still at uni then when I settled down and married my accountant in Surbiton I would do the Europe trips. So, went to the US twice and then one summer when I was in Aus I met and fell in love with my now DH. We lived in PNG for 3 years and then in Bristol for 3 years and DH got offered a scholarship for a PhD in Canberra before any of the UK universities made an offer so we came here and we just sort of stayed. We didnt think, when we came here, that this would be "it". At one stage we thought we were going back to PNG but that fell through as did a posting in India (fortunately!).

I dont think it is a choice we would have made had there not been better opportunities to move to here.

Hi Vash

What are your reasons for not wanting to spend the rest of your life in the UK? Can understand but just interested from an Aussie point of view.

Debbie

He lives in west Brom - say no more

I've always wanted to live abroad. I don't want to live a boring life.
I spent a month in Australia and liked it and it should be easy to get a visa because I'm a nurse.

No one lives in west brom,they exist til the giro runs out then pray for death

All my life I've wanted to live in either canada or Australia. Nearly impossible to get to canada and as I now have family in Aus thought what better time to give it a go

Your right, all the best.

Debbie

Family - my Mum's side come from Glebe in Sydney (however the last time I actually saw them was in 2000 but hey ho). Media? possibly, sitting on the couch while its peeing it down, watching programmes like No Going Back, dreaming of a warmer climate? The reason we chose Queensland? In 2000 we travelled up the east coast from Jervis Bay, all the way up to Cairns - to be honest we loved all of it, but there was something about Eumundi/Noosa area hence choosing here. We had been to Australia twice before finally making the move - definately no rose tinted specs! We decided we couldn't afford another holiday, so made the decision to migrate permanently.