Why exactly do people migrate.
 

Simple question, but very difficult to answer, with a multitude of different answers coming from different people. It takes a hell of a lot of courage to uproot oneself and their lives, plus the dislocation from family and friends, When you look at the whole Migration issue, what is it that people are seeking. ?

After 2-1/2 years on this forum, and into my 27th year in this country, it seems to me that in reality it's just that most people need a new challenge. Fair enough, but what are they really doing, seeking a dream to realise or a reality to live.

Most people are adaptable, and will make a success of their move, wherever they go. Having said that, how many considered totally changing their lives within the UK first. IE: Moving from London, to say somewhere like the Isle of Man or the Highlands of Scotland, which in my mind, would be much like moving from London to Tasmania, only at a fraction of the cost. If you take that on board, you can see where I'm coming from, with a Move from Say Bradford to Perth, being on a similar plain to moving from Bradford to Bournemouth.

When you bear in mind the magnitude of a move like this, how many people take into consideration, what is the single biggest factor of the move, which isn't open spaces, big houses, new experiences, empty beaches... It's the Aussies themselves.... thank god they are great people.

So why are you moving and why did you move.

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

I married an Aussie - instead of selling me the dream of the Aussie lifestyle, he sold me the dream of married life......

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

He got you there...!

:D :lol:

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

I moved because I felt that the UK had changed and was changing in a direction which ultimately I didnt want to be a part of anymore. A twisted politically correct madness coupled with a multicultural policy which is now too late to change. No longer proud to be British I voted with my feet on the issue and left to a country whose values I prefer to support.

I wanted to find a place where I could be proud to be a part of the country and proud of my country. A place where I felt safer and our children (if we have any in the future) would have a better quality of childhood and life. A place where I felt connected to and welcomed by people and the culture.

I dont expect people to agree with my reasons, they are personal to me before we get the the UK is great brigade coming down on me. Everyone to themselves. But thats why we moved and I'll be darn proud of becoming an Australian Citizen in a couple of months.

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

More or less the same for me if I'm totally honest. It wasn't all of the UK I didn't like, more specifically it was where I lived and what it had become.

I could have moved from Bradford to Bournmouth, except that it was actually cheaper to move from Bradford to Australia :confused: We looked into moving to another part of the UK for about 4 years initally, but either there wasn't any work there or it was too expensive to buy houses etc.

Plus here there are far more opportunities for my kids.

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

Is the political climate that different here ? I say that living in the Northern Suburbs of multi cultural Melbourne, where Ham is banned at council functions and Christmas decorations are now a no no on the streets of Moreland and Hume. I can imagine that it does feel safer here, it really does, however stats seemingly dont back up that feeling (apparently).

I too came for the same reasons as Polly. I came here very young at age 24, I've been here for 55 pct of my life now, I'm possibly more Aussie than Pom now, However Im very happy that I have dual nationality, thats a real bonus.


You've hit on the biggest plus of all in your post though Centurion, the ease of which the Aussies as a whole are to live with, the fact that they (almost) have the exact same way of looking at life, sense of humour, they are indeed the biggest factor in this move, I hope people reading this, really take that on board.

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

Simply because we had the opportunity to... I sold my business at the end of 2004 and spent 2005 and early 2006 looking after some personal stuff. When it was time to look at getting into another business we found a couple which didn't work out for various reasons and then my wife said what about Australia...? I had never been but she had loved it when here some years earlier on a WHV. We sold various things, put enough stuff to fill a 40' container into storage and the staffies into kennels and jumped on a plane...!

That was the end of June last year and since then we've applied for and got NSW state sponsorship and a business visa, shipped the dogs and the household stuff out and I'm hoping to hear tomorrow whether the offer I've made on a business up here on the Northern Beaches has been accepted... Can't wait...! :)

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

You've suprised me there Wendy, I didn't think it would have been dearer to move, but I stand corrected by your post. I truly would be amazed though if it was harder to get a job in Bornemouth (or somewhere similar) than Adelaide though ????


I can understand you thinking that there are more opportunties for kids here, however why are there plenty of educated young Aussies, such as my 22 year old Daughter, stretching their work boundaries and horizons not to mention enjoying much higher incomes, over in the UK ?

Dont get me wrong, I like the Aussie empthasis on social education, rather than putting Academic achievment first, I think it produces a more rounded Individual.

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

Married an aussie and came here for 12 months to see how we went. After 12 months though we couldnt possibly have afforded to go back and to be honest I doubt she would have wanted to. Most aussies in my experience are happy to live in UK for 3 or 4 years, but seem to want to return here eventually.

Luckily, my current partner has english parents who came here as kids with their parents and she is keen to return to those, erm, roots.

2 more weeks and we are off home after finally finding affordable flights.:D

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

I'm talking overall costs, not just immediate ones. By that I mean, the diffence in the cost of a mortgage for instance.

For a decent house in a decent area in the UK, it would have cost us 3 times as much as what we were paying where we were. So to be able to afford to buy a house we would have had to earn a considerable amount more than what we did. In 4 years of searching I never did find that magic job. :D

Here, for the job my hubby does, the pay isn't that much less plus we get to be able to afford our own house on twice as much land as we had in the UK. The price of the house we are buying here is $237k. If we'd moved within the same area of the UK a house would have cost us £100k+, to move somewhere better we'd have been looking at £237k+.


As for the kids/work thing, where I lived in the UK unless you were extremely clever (and got the hell out of there) you were destined to a life working in Morissons or Bingo ;) :D

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

England didn't feel like home for me and I went on a search for a place to call home. For example, when I went to pubs in England other than my local, I'd try to strike up conversations with people and most of the Brits would be polite for a minute or 2 and then move back to their groups. However, any Aussies, Kiwi's or Americans would happily chat for ages. Now I know they were probably on holiday and looking for someone to talk to, but I still got the feeling that I'd be better off somewhere that people give others the time of day. I didn't know if this was going to be Melbourne before I came here, but it turned out to be the place I was looking for.

So to sum it up....I was pushed from England, tried Aus, found out I liked it, and mainly because I've found the people really friendly.:)

Of course, this is all just my own experience.

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

Long term relationship and children with an aussie. He tried my country then we tried his, our conclusion after that little experiement is much is the same, think we could live in either country and both certainly of the opinion neither place is perfect and no other place would be perfect either, real world/real life.

One thing I would not agree on is this wholesale idea that all aussies are wonderful/happy/easygoing etc, they have the same quota of nasty/sneaky violent/addicitive or any other trait you care to mention as people from anywhere. What is an australian anyway? an aboriginal, a migrant from one of the 250 countries migrants come from, a blue eyed blonde surfer? the reality is aussie could also be a third generation chinese/lebanese/italian,indian/pom.... so how can we generalise like this anyway? Aussies are just like anyone else good and bad.

I think a lot of people now migrate because of the negative UK media, I dont think thats a good reason but its probably one of the main reasons along with mixed marriages.

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

I personally think the filmakers of Kenny, really got Todays Aussie Persona almost 100 pct correct in that movie. Blue Collar Aussies/Melbournians really do carry on and chat like that, plus in general they are big hearted.

However the more people post from Q'land, the more I suspect there is a marked difference, I could be wrong though.

I've not found to many closed minded Aussies. That could well be something to do with the City I live in though.

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

Do you? I wonder. I think some people might use that as an excuse but I think it might be a case of having an itch and finding it easier to explain by blaming it on the media. I don't think most people who live there believe the media crap or perhaps I have too much faith in people's ability to know rubbish when they see it ;)

We came because we felt like it. We had nothing much to lose and to be honest, not a huge amount to gain but it's the best thing we have done. We haven't lost anything and have actually gained stacks in the ways of health and family dynamics but we weren't expecting it.

Re: Why exactly do people migrate.
 

We came because we were in a rut. We had two small babies at the time of the 'big idea' and needed a challenge to change our way of life. I'll be honest and admit it was my hubbies dream to live here, but I was the one who instigated it all. It was like an itch that just wouldn't go. Once we'd started the rollercoaster of a process we had to see it through to its conclusion.

Living in Perth isn't working out for us. Nothing wrong with the place really, it just doesn't suit us, or we don't suit it, one or the other. Consequently we will be changing our lives again at the end of next year. I'm voting to go back to Blighty to try a completely different area, hubby is up for another Oz challenge over on the Gold Coast. :confused: