Emigrate to Australia.

ThundyCat

ThundyCat

ThundyCat

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Down under mate!
Hi chaps.

I'm fortunate enough to be in the lucky position of having duel nationality - UK and Australian citizenship, and am seriously considering moving to Australia within the next 2 - 3 years. Why you ask? I've recently discovered I have a large amount of family who I never knew existed including two sisters!

Has anyone done this and if so are you still there? Any regrets? Or have you realised it was not for you and you've returned to the UK?


:)
 
My auntie, uncle and cousins all live in Brisbane. They love the weather and lifestyle, keep banging on about how rubbish England is every time they come back. My mum has been out to visit a few times and, like the discussions about living in the US, there are pros and cons.

Salaries are higher, but basic goods are more expensive. TV is crap. They also have no other family living out there so no support networks. They do loads more outdoor stuff, have a much bigger house than they did back in England, and have a swimming pool so depends what matters more.

They had to invest loads of money into a business over there to get visas. They're both knocking on a bit now too so I'm not sure how it works over there as they get older regarding pensions and care if they need it.
 
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I know around 30 or so people from my family and social circles who moved to Australia, over 20 of them remained there permanently.
All seem to be considerably more happy than they are in the UK.
 
Hikari Kisugi said:
I know around 30 or so people from my family and social circles who moved to Australia, over 20 of them remained there permanently.
All seem to be considerably more happy than they are in the UK.
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It depends on what you're after though, not everything is better in Australia than here, it must just suit some lifestyles better.

I personally like being able to get to London for a night out and career opportunities, there's nothing remotely similar in Oz including Sydney.
 
How easily do you take offence ?

YOU will be the "bladdy foreigner".

NO special treatments just because your a pom. In fact it's likely someone will say to you what people here joke about Ukippers "Coming over here and taking our jobs - Bladdy Whinging Poms"

And if you're seen waving the flies away (There are eleventy bazillion of the buggers) they say things like " darn't wurry abart them mate, they're just gitting the pommie stink off ya" (Aussies often have 3 showers a day, everyday so pommies are "Stinkers" !!)

Luckily you're not at school as to make friends you have to fight EVERYONE. If you don't you're a weirdo and get picked on mercilessly. Win or lose they are your best friend afterwards though !

Plusses ? HEAPS !

Great weather all summer long, AWESOME, Breath-taking storms when the weather breaks... Cheap meat (You are a carnivore right ?)

And...

You get to own & drive V8's Cheaply !!

Go 4 it mah san !
 
My aunt lived in Oz for 15 years. She quite liked but recently returned to Europe to retire, currently living on a small Greek island.

She really hated the isolation and the living costs to salary ratio is really poor unless you are in mining. Politically the country is moving in a very dark direction so she got too fed up and left.
 
I'd suggest you take an extended holiday there and get a feel for the place first.

I genuinely didn't like Australia as much as people made out I should. The UK for all its faults has a lot going for it. Australia isn't simply the UK in the sun; they are a very different and often unrefined culture, often blunt to the point of rudeness, self-centred and simplistic in the outlook amongst other things.

I found for example, that most Australians simply do not get or understand dead-pan humour; they just think that you're moaning. And whilst moaning is a British tradition, the Australians don't really seem to have time for it.

The sunshine can be a lot of fun, but the weird concrete-cum-wild-west architecture and lack of substantial history is something I found tedious and boring. Everything is a very long way apart and every other animal there can seemingly kill you.

It's a big, big, big place and you end up aware of just how far away from the UK you are. At times, it may as well seem that Blighty is on another planet.

Australia is essentially an unrefined, bland, isolated albeit sunny and expensive imitation of the UK and US. I often felt that Australia was trapped 20 years behind the rest of the Western word.

That said, I met some incredibly friendly, kind, and spirited people and the landscape can be breathtakingly beautiful at times. It does have a lot going for it.

It seems to me that people never really seem to mention the drawbacks. I think it would be very wise for you to try and spend a substantial period of time there and see if it works for you before committing to anything long-term. It's a great place to visit, but I don't think I'd personally want to live there.
 
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You need to spend some time over there in the area you are thinking of moving to.

3 months should be long enough and then a couple of month long trips at different times of the year.

Is there a call for your line of work? Can you afford to live there?

I spent 4 months in Sydney years ago. Would move tomorrow if I could.
 
Never been but a friend emigrated in 2002 to Perth and said he will never come back to England. He is an electrician out there.

I would love to emigrate there, the spiders and snakes put me off though lol. Them Funnel Web spiders are little gits.
 
A few of my family emigrated over there and they haven't looked back. Having visited them a few times, life does seem good over there (but that just could be holiday rose tinted spectacles).

The only downside, it is very isolated / far away. That's the only bad thing for me, but it is a fairly big thing.

It's a massive country (though many of the Ozzies will happily drive 500+ km as that's not considered too bad!), and whilst they speak English and there is a link to the UK, it is vastly different culture, a little rough round the edges, and a few different rules/laws too.

If you've never been I suggest you go for a long break and see how you'd feel. Not staying with family, but trying to work out what it's like to do things over there.

I love Oz but I wouldn't want to live there. The Med is my "slice of heaven".
 
V F said:
O_o

How can you not swim let alone not liking the sun...
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Easy, I just didn't go swimming.

And try living near the equator for a decade in 39c with 100% humidity in the summer puts you off the sun too.

Sure I like it sunny as opposed to pouring down but the whole "I have to go outside and enjoy the sun" mentality is baffling. As a kid we've been taught in school to stay out of the sun between 11am to 3pm, it's just the here when the sun is not as frequent people get obsessed with the sunny days. It gets boring real fast when it's every day.
 
Freefaller said:
Er.. not sure what you mean? :o

Sorry if I missed something obvious.
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Well, from hearing a lot about Australians... their culture seems to be extremely sarcastic and rude compared to ours. Though, that is saying some about ours. Plus apparently it is quite common over there for their radio stations pranking people and companies...

I'm sure though this will be a small number that gets the most coverage.
 
V F said:
Well, from hearing a lot about Australians... their culture seems to be extremely sarcastic and rude compared to ours. Though, that is saying some about ours. Plus apparently it is quite common over there for their radio stations pranking people and companies...

I'm sure though this will be a small number that gets the most coverage.
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Ah gotcha!

I never experienced pranking over there, but did experience "rudeness". But I think it is more the fact they are blunt and don't beat around the bush - so are more direct and less tactful. There is also a bit of a racism issue over there from my experience. That's the problem with a very small insular nation (it's got 1/3rd of the population of the UK and over 30x larger).
 
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