Aussie2be

moneypenny20

First off welcome to BE, glad you finally joined us!

Secondly I'll move you to the Australia forum, this is just for Immi matters.

Finally in answer to your questions... Where are the jobs you and your wife have the skills for? Townsville/Cairns/Port Douglas are very tourist orientated, not much for IT workers for example. When you say consistent what are you looking for? FNQ is consistent in that it's warm to hot all year round as well as being wet to torrential. Do you want Cyclones passing through? Gold Coast has the perfect climate for us but for others not so much. Summers can go up to mid 30s (rare tbh) and humidity can get higher than many people like (I'm at the border and humidity is fine, whilst the north of the city starts getting towards Brisbane and beyond humidity levels because the suburbs are moving back towards the hinterland and they don't get sea breezes. Winter nighttimes can drop to 7 - not a fan but we have a woodburner that gets fired up when the first 17 degree evenings start. 17 degrees in the UK are shorts and teeshirts weather, here they're jeans and jumpers. SA - winters mild? Depends on what you consider mild. From what I can gather it can be perishing down there in winter and seriously bloody hot (40+) on some summer days.

Back to my first point - where are the jobs?

brits1

I would firstly see where you can gain employment...you might like the sounds of sat Darwin but there maybe no work for you there. We had the same thoughts as you weatherwise and we also not tied to any certain State, we eventually choose WA...and to be honest after the first couple of years we all really started to look forward to the brake in the heat and enjoyed the cooler months more each year. Good luck with everything

rammygirl

Also depends where you are in each state. Here in SA we are in the Adelaide hills and get frost in the winter but down on the plain they don’t.

The heat is drier here too and we get 4 seasons. When it gets colder in the winter we just fly North!

I agree that the cooler months are really nice after a while, the cooler nights and warm days are perfect!

Gaz_F

As it has been previously alluded to, seek employment clarification first. We initially wanted to move to Melbourne as my wife has family roots there, but the job offer I secured was in Brisbane and we are staying here for the foreseeable future.

We moved here from the UK in February 2015, and in the last (Almost) 5 years of living in the South East Queensland area we have noticed that full time contracts over 2 years are getting rarer. My wife works in the pathology department at Mater Hospital and she is only one of three people with full time permanent contracts, all the other workers and scientists there have 2 year negotiable contracts. I cannot reiterate how having some leads into the employment situation in place with either a secured position, or booked interviews, is a must before coming out.

Secondly, whatever field you are in, confirm what skills and qualifications are acceptable for recognition of prior learning, or are directly transferable to Australia. The different States and Territories have some different rules and regulations that can preclude your carrying a qualification interstate without the requirement to pay for additional training. This link is for Queensland; https://www.qld.gov.au/jobs/finding/...migrant/skills .

Of the people who emigrated in the same cohort as us, over 30% have already returned to the UK. The main reason after homesickness, was their inability to gain long term employment, as many thought they could pick up a similar job immediately as they did back home, and adapt to the working environment here. Australians speak English, but their attitudes are definitely not.

As for the weather, you will acclimatise. We think South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales are the best places to live climate wise. A good friend thinks it is freezing and he loves Darwin. One slightly amusing point; I called my father to wish him a happy birthday and asked him what was everyone up to. He said they were all down the beach at Blackpool as the weather was a glorious 18 degrees. I was sat at home in 19 degrees wearing a sweatshirt and jeans.

In my opinion, it is well worth the move. We have, on a number of occasions, lamented not doing it sooner and bringing the children over with us. Australia is a great place to live and work; but ensure you have the work situation, or a workable plan, sorted out before you get on the plane. I'd be more concerned with that than where to live, as once here, you can move anytime.

All the best with the move down-under.

jack the miller

Australia has some pretty serious climate issues in parts (NSW and QLD). Major towns are running out of water. Smaller towns already have (google 'abc murrurundi'). I wouldn't worry about how nice the weather is - I'd worry about if and when it is going to rain in the places that you're looking at (google 'sydney dam levels' or 'brisbane dam levels'). The further south you go, the more water you'll find. And the colder it gets. There's your trade-off. The good news is that you've got 6 weeks before your container arrives so you can hire a campervan and tour around and see what's what. Sydney probably has the most balanced climate (there's really only two seasons - English Summer and Aussie Summer) but you'll need a few million in the bank if you're planning on buying property. Tasmania is looking more attractive with each passing year. But jobs are thin on the ground. Good luck.

carcajou

I would advise you to research areas, make a list of your top 5, and then try to take an extended recce to them - and use that time to have face-to-face exploratory meetings with hiring managers in your field. They are not likely to respond to e-mail queries from overseas but if you say you are in the area can probably make time for a chat, and dropping in (surprisingly) can work good too. They will likely tell you straight if the odds are fairly promising or no chance.

Then you can also get a feel for what life would be like in your chosen area.

Yes recces are expensive, but a fraction of what the move will cost, or what a second move will cost if you get your first guess at a place wrong from poor or incomplete research.

Good luck.

astera

For starters I'd like to reiterate the advice that others above have given about looking at the moolah ($$$) first.

In terms of the weather, I doubt there are many places with a more balanced climate than the Gold Coast. Just a quick look at wikipedia will show you that with a January average high of 28.7 C and a July average high of 21.1 C, you're looking at a difference of just 7.6 C between the hottest and coldest months. Adelaide, on the other hand, will have hotter summers (not good) and colder winters (not good either). Plus it's good if the average high across the entire year never drops below 20 C. In Adelaide you'd be looking at five months of temperatures with a 1 as the first digit (and Sydney isn't much better with four such months).

Here's a link to a short write-up I did in another thread some time ago, you might find it useful:
Moving Adelaide to Gold Coast - Advice?

Good luck with your decision!

Beoz

More likely a few hundred thousand in the bank to get something decent in the most desirable places. The rest is borrowed from the bank.

PittwaterPrincess

Pollyana

Its just a city, has good and bad points, like everywhere.

PittwaterPrincess

Actually if you can afford it, maybe you could take 6 - 12 weeks on arrival to do a scouting trip. Hire or buy a car and drive from Brisbane up to Cooktown, and see what area takes your fancy.

Beoz

It's a beautiful part of the world but totally a place for locking yourself in. I was at a BBQ in Newport recently and the conversation amongst locals quickly drifted into their commutes and how long it took. An hour and a half door to door was the general consensus. 3 hours a day ....... ouch.

Dreamy

That's what Mr Dreamy has - but it's on the train, he gets a seat there and back, and he can deal with work emails both ways. He finds it very manageable (well, I tell him he does, anyway, and the trade off is that we don't have to live anywhere too close to .... urg...hordes of people). I have to say though, he's working in Sydney CBD now - when he was working at Chatswood, it was probably just over the boundary of what was acceptable - I guess Mascot (his most recent location before the CBD) is as far as he'd want to travel again.

Beoz

I guess it depends if you are into commuting or not. I won't do it. I spend enough time in aeroplanes that the day to day stuff must be quick, plus always good to spend a bit of time with the kids, helping the drop off and pick up, or a bit of an evening or morning beach or outdoor activity.

Interestingly I tested the central coast commute last week on the back of a work visit. I went for the train option to do a bit of work on the way. 1 hr 20 on the express train. Then there getting to home or work at the other end. I can see how that constantly would break a lot of people down pretty quickly.

Not for me that's for sure.

Once they get the city infrastructure sorted they will then focus on the outer stuff. A bit of straightening of the track here and there and a quick commute from these locations should be a decade or so away.