Hello People!

2 yr for us in Melbourne - so heres our little story:

Background
Youngish couple, no kids, im in IT, wife in Retail. I'm British, wife is Canadian, family mostly settled in UK, Canada, India and Australia.

Reasons for coming:
1. Been to Oz a few times before to see family and really liked it.
2. Thought we would try it for 2 yrs now before more commitments come along, kids, mortgages, season tickets to UTD.
3. Strained family relations - perhaps a break will also be good
4. Tired of the weather, constant pub life, nusiance chavs, medival muslim chavs.
5. My PR visa gained back in 2003 was running out

So of we trotted to Oz on our 2yrs(no visits home) experiment.

Good things in OZ(in my experience)
1. Jobs have been easy to come by, wages have been better than I thought, though still much less than
I was getting paid in the UK, but i was expecting this.
2. Less rain more days to go out and about
3. I feel overall safer in Melbourne going out, when I compare it to Brum, i dont have any stats to point too, its just how i feel.
4. Its good not to have to relocate constantly for work as I had to do in UK
5. Getting to know my Oz family more has been great
6. Making friends slowly has helped us to feel more settled
7. Point Cook though at times souless is becoming more pleasant as is grows
8. Theres great spots to visit on the weekend all with an hour or two.
9. Lots of great different cuisines and pretty cheap
10. All the usual things i require are here, Foxtel, Broadband, Temples, pubs, casino, beach, golf.


Bad things in OZ(in my experience)
1. Driving efficiency, quality and standards are terrible
2. Houses though nice layout i've been hugely disappointed in the quality of the build, woodsticks
with a lick of paint.
3. Having worked for several Banks and other major firms - I've found the work here of a very low standard, some people
just are simply not good enough, non-existence/poor working practices, which has caused several project failures, delayed projects,
expensive projects.
4. The isolation of being here hits home when I want to go on Holiday and so be far from everything
5. It does get freezing here too and so windy though i guess bay living as something to do with that )
6. Pokie machines

Conclusion:
All in all its better in some ways to our life in the UK, worser in others. Neither places are a rosy paradise - but in there own individual ways they are great places to live - I've found the experience a great one though,
i'm now in the process of applying for citizenship. i know I could appreciate Oz more, and living back in the UK for a few more years hopefully will make it more clearer to us, which place we will be content with the most.

I think you could attribute alot of the good and bad things to both places, but in the short time i've been here im just listing down my own perceptions based on my experience, and I hope i havent offended any of you good folk.

I was asked once whether Oz is worth immigrating too, and I gave him the same answer I would give to anyone.
" I dont have a clue, we are all different, we all have different expectations, different levels of contentment, we come from different walks of life"

Anyway I have to get some rest as im working this weekend, so thankyou for reading my ramblings, I've have enjoyed read all your experiences, I hope all of you are enjoying life be it here or over there.

All the best
G

Brilliantly put. Is the experiement deemed a success? Will it continue being an experiment or has it become life for the foreseeable future?

Very balanced and interesting - thanks for sharing it with us.

A good read.All conclusions very elegently put.

Let the truth be told!

Excellent, balanced update.

great update ! really enjoyed it. All the best !

I believe it has been a success, we've had a great time enjoying a different lifestyle, meeting completely new people from all corners of the world and spending time with different family members.

For the foreseeable future though it will be back to the UK next year, and we will decided in another few years whether living in Australia will truly be better for us than the UK or whether maybe making a few adjustments to our lives back there can make us content.

Time will tell i guess, in the meantime we're going carry on enjoying our life here

Great post, really like your attitude.

Almost envious of the freedom you have to choose and compare.

Do you think you could get the same feeling anywhere else in Aus ?

Short and simple. But very valuable. Its very useful.

Really good update

I had very high hopes of Australia before I got here but have to say I'm very unimpressed. The scenery and wildlife are unquestionably incredible and beautiful but the amount of racism and abuse we've witnessed and recieved is disgusting. We've travelled all the way up the East coast and its been pretty much the same everywhere, if you're not a white Australian prepare to receive some abuse. Looking forward to moving on to NZ now, hope its better there!

Thanks mate - its hard to say about other places, as i've only ever lived in Melbourne since coming here, though I have travelled to quite alot of cities around Oz, i just dont feel drawn to them like I have with Melbourne.

With the bulk of IT jobs being in Sydney and Melbourne and my family being mostly in the these places, it was always going to be one of these cities. I would never want to live somewhere permanently where I had no family - and Melbourne is where i had the most - thats probably why I feel right at home here.

Hi - I'm sorry to hear of your experiences with racism in Australia. I'm of indian descent and in the 2 years i've been here i've only encountered it once, and that was from a Chinese person. Non-white people can be racist too.

Best of luck with your move to NZ.

One mans Banter is another mans Racism


Hope all goes well back in the UK.

Banter is all well and good but aggressive racist assaults are not. Unfortunately i've witnessed far to much of the later especially up here in Cairns. Here it seems to be if you're a tourist from outside of Australia you're fair game, I'm hearing almost daily reports of people being physically attacked for being British, French, German its doesnt seem to matter where from as long as its not Australia. Such a shame for such a beautiful country.