that's good to hear -I did post tongue in cheek just doesn't read as well as it sounded my appologies if you are offended it wasn't my intention

Hi just read your post congratulations on your move to dubia I am just reading a few posts on here and my wanting to move to aus is reducing quickly what made you go to live in dubia and what is the cost of living like house prices etc

You need to look at what your objectives are for a move to Oz, what you will achieve and how you will achieve it. You also need to take a long, hard, look at what you stand to lose. There will be things to lose - you might not be able to see them too clearly now, but they exist. Then weigh up what you can gain versus what you will lose and decide whether you want to take the risk. For some people it is a risk and needs to be calculated. For others it's a case of going ahead regardless and accepting the changes, the crap (and of course the good) that comes your way.

You're doing the right thing by reading these experiences, but also balance it out with stuff from the Oz forum from those who have moved and never want to go back to UK. Just remember the experience is different for everyone...one man's meat is another man's poison, etc. Good luck.

good post..........

$450k is the average loan amount these days in Sydney, apparently.

You don't get much for your money.

We're looking at borrowing about $450k, I'm a bit worried about how we'll cope with the $3k a month repayments if at any point we need to survive on the one salary. But hey-ho, sure we'll cope somehow. Now we just need to find a house

That's because a lot of people have bought their 3rd house first instead of their first, with minimal deposit. That's why we're waiting, I reckon the market we're in has about another 3-4% to drop. Your market is probably different. We won't buy in Sydney (and I doubt Australia), but over borrowing and under depositing seems to be a problem in most western countries, so I'm pretty sure wherever we end up, we can clean up. I have a friend using the same strategy, I said to him,

'are we vultures or sharks'?

he said, 'we're vultures that can swim with undertaker suits on'

I've just sat and read all this - and yes I am in Aus and I am loving it, but I also have a stinking head cold and don't have the energy to do anything other than sit at the computer

One thing jumps out at me, most of it I scanned past because the arguments were slightly boring. Anyway, I did stacks of research before we came out - I don't work, so have had plenty of time and at no time have I read that Aus is the greatest place on earth and that there are no problems, I haven't read that everything was cheaper and better.

I read good and bad. We discussed for ages about selling the house or renting it out, but decided that a) we needed the equity to do the move, and b) the hassle of renting it out and having a reliable management company and the aggro of selling it from 12,000 miles away solved the dilemma for us. Had we had stacks of money, we would have kept it as a pension but didn't have that privilege so it had to be sold.

We arrived and we bought, we love it here and are very happy. In five years time, who knows, and to be honest who cares - I prefer to live for today. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow doesn't exist.

It's not utopia and no one ever told me it was. I spent hours and hours on here, and still do because I am not working, and have always read the good and the bad.

If people are told it's godzone and utopia, don't read the bad stuff or blank it out, then they possibly deserve to have problems. I would never accept the total opinion of someone who doesn't know me. I object to being told "don't go to Aus, it's all crap, I have to make my own mind up, and make my own mistakes. Human nature being what it is, no one learns from other peoples mistakes so please don't try and make people do differently from what you did. You wouldn't have accepted such advice and most sensible people won't either but that doesn't mean they are wearing rose tinteds. They want to give something new a go and it's their decision.

Very well put.


Louise

Well put moneypen 20,i am in agreement with what you have said and i am pleased for you that you like australia .To be honest those that dont seem to have settled in australia such as my self,will tend to over analyze every detail of australian life that we dont like [ie perceived lack of culture,the flys ,the cost of fruit etc etc etc ].
I personally could think of a 100 reasons why its not a good place to live and by and large they are almost identical as the reasons not to live in the uk .
Unfortunately this feeling of belonging is something none of us seem to be able to identify as its just a feeling ,just like love i suppose .

Surely we can credit people with enough intelligence on this site to make informed decisions? This means sifting through the good, the bad and the extreme, taking on board that which matters to them, and discarding what's irrelevant. Why is that so difficult to do?

p.s. John Howard said that Australia is the greatest country on earth in a speech earlier this year. So did Peter Costelloe.

If little johnny says its the greatest it must be

Yeah, I'm surprised he doesn't think the US is the GCITW!

I got some Comm Games merchandise earlier this year. The tag said "By purchasing this item you are helping to make the best Commonwealth Games ever". I'm still trying to work out how.

We did not have that much of a choice It was either getting divorced (because no way I would have stayed much longer in Australia and no way, my husband would have gotten work in my home country - Germany). So we decided to live in between. For US it was the best decision. Because EVERYTHING here has been easier so far: visa was not a problem at all, took 2 weeks only and a blood test, flights were paid for, holidays back home are paid for, flights to Germany 7 hours (great with a baby compared to 18 hours or more...), flights to Australia (Perth) 10 hours, work (hubby has MUCH better job here than he would have ever gotten in Australia OR Germany in the next few years), work (I don't have to work and can stay home with our baby - LOVING it), we have the sun here, the beach, it is english speaking, great international schools (which we did not have where we were in Australia). Yes, it is hot, there is construction everywhere, traffic is not much fun and rents are extremely high (though employer pays most of it, employer also pays insurance, schooling fees etc.), but I don't feel nearly as bored as I did in Australia. Don't feel like I am at the end of the world anymore, can travel easily again, have made heaps of friends (made next to none in Australia in FOUR years), etc. As you can see: for us it was perfect. The downside: this is not forever... People come here for a few years and leave again. You don't retire here.... But really: after having met so many expats around the world: the older people get, the more they want to get back to where their roots are anyway... Not all, but most of the them (my theory).

Hi Hiddenpaw. I think that gullible is the word I'd use. For us, we were looking to escape the UK because we'd sort of got sucked into the Daily Mail syndrome - didn't read it at all but so many people bombard you with how crap the UK has become that you tend to start thinking the same way - my parents still bombard me with it all - crap NHS, crime everywhere, crap weather, crap everything.

We had family who had visited Australia (also moving here but different State), and reported back on how wonderful it was, better standard of living, nicer people, beautiful scenery, idyllic lifestyle etc. etc. So we investigated and liked what we heard, applied for visa, came to visit. Alarm bells rang. We noticed on our visit that things weren't cheper at all, house prices had gone up while we had waited for grant of visa. Looking back we should have pulled out then, but house was almost sold, daughter enrolled at university here, so we thought we'd give it a go. After all, we didn't want to spend our lives thinking what if.

For some, it is a paradise and I can see why, but for us, I think we didn't truly appreciate what we had in the UK until we gave it up.