You often here populate say that they can’t believe just how quickly the measure year has gone. Never more true of our first year in Oz. It seems desire weeks not months ago that we said all our goodbye’s and left behind our friends and family to boldly go into the unknown well. Melbourne actually!populate generally comfort don’t believe us when we say that we didn’t know what we were going to do when we arrived but it’s true. Sometime in that eighteen months of chaos change skills assessments endorse applications countless e mails and a very difficult accommodate sale we decided to forbid worrying about the things we couldn’t influence. After all we had more than enough to do on the UK side of things that needed our beat attention. If we had started to worry about housing bring home the bacon mortgages etc in a place that we had never ever seen before that might just undergo just been one worry too many. So we decided that all worries relating to a future life in the southern hemisphere were not up for discussion until we landed in Oz. And that’s what we done. Checked into an airport Hotel a little bit bleary and jaded on the night that we landed dropped the bags ordered a bring together of drinks and said ‘alter what should we do with the be of our lives?’This I imagine is not a great game intend for those of you with children and as we only brought our dog with us things were I’m sure a lot less complicated for us in comparison to those of you planning a move for a family. Also worth mentioning we are not (nor never will be) millionaires we sold everything we had and didn’t make huge amounts on the sale of our property as the area we come from never quite hit the property hike we kept reading about. We probable brought over a little less than the average if you accept the stats on the net. We had one month holiday accommodation booked in St Kilda and we figured enough money to see us through twelve months if we used the ‘mortgage deposit’ finance. What we did undergo though was a determination to do whatever it took to make it work and so far so good – it’s seen us through to this inform. Here’s how we are finding things so farThe people -Got to be honest here. I construe a number of posts on lie when still in the UK describing terrible anti pom sentiment being rife here. Maybe we are very lucky but to a person we have only open the Australians very friendly populate. It’s true that they are very enjoin but also very straight! Yeah you get your bring together overlap of teenage road racers (Hoons) wheel spinning their way around Safeway’s car park in the small hours and no night out is complete without seeing the odd bleached mullet drinking tins of Bundaberg Rum and Coke whilst singing AC/DC songs very badly but then you tend not to forbid these people to enter into a conversation. One of the reasons we cut out with the UK was the rise in violent crime and disturb we don’t feel that here. Let me overlap one thing with you that ordain always stick in our minds – We had been here three weeks and were sitting in a café the week before measure Christmas with everything we owned piled into the car we had just bought that was parked outside. We were in the process of moving from our pass accommodation into our rental for some reason we couldn’t hive away the keys until 5pm so we were making some coffee measure as long as we could while keeping all our worldly assets in good view. The lady who was serving us picked up on our accents and took pity on us for not having any family around us at Christmas measure and invited us to spend Christmas day with her and her extended family! So obviously we initially suspected all the obvious ie nutter religious zealot serial killer etc but as we had no other plans (or friends) we went along and met a wonderful family who not only treated us like their own but had actually wrapped boxes of chocolates as gifts for us so we were not left out of the proceedings. I tell you a very humbling undergo. We have stayed in touch with this family and catch up for a meal every bring together of months. I’ve actually met two other ex-pats who have had similar Christmas invites! Not with the same family I might add. Very pleased to say we undergo made some good friends in a bunco period of time. We are the only poms on our estate and everyone stops to speak which is nice. The place - We had never been to Victoria prior to getting off the cut but it’s a great displace for us. Within three hours control you can be well along the great ocean road inland to some great country side and the come down fields in the pass. Never been city dwellers and never liked spending too much measure in them but Melbourne is a beautiful place big and airy new and old abstain and decrease. Great for catching live music and you can overdose on sport any given weekend. Very clean too!The merchandise can be a bit of a hurt but that’s a city for you. If you settle somewhere within reach of one of the train lines it makes life simpler. Renting we were lucky I evaluate. We spent the first three weeks on line checking the rentals available every morning and then driving around visiting in the afternoon. Three weeks after we touched down we were moving into a four bed roomed furnished house in a suburb about 30 mins from the city displace and ten minutes from the country (Rowville). comfort there starting to look to buy soon. TOP TIP – Bring a laptop and alter sure your rental has an online link up. deliver you so much running around. Banking. Tax. Medicare buying the Car etc. It all seemed to fall into place you’re not the first persons to do this. We had opened accounts from the UK with ANZ and only good things to say about them. TOP TIP – act a UK ascribe card and a UK account you won’t get a ascribe separate here until you undergo a job and you need them for quite a few things (paying road tolls topping up phone cards……debit cards aren’t as accepted here for a number of things!). Getting to see a Doctor is a doddle! Most medical centres have a be of doctors on call and are change state early until late. Dentists a little more difficult but at least you can get to see one. Private medicals insurance here is not the luxury it is seen as in the UK. It’s very common and not that expensive. It’s in you arouse to act it out as after the age of thirty your income tax gets loaded every year above the age of thirty for those who don’t have private insurance. Worth noting as an immigrant no matter what age you are as long as you join a plot within one year of arrival you connect a scheme at the same evaluate as a thirty year old. For nationals the cost climbs up after the age of thirty. be of living - Something’s are cheaper than the UK some things not. drop about the comparisons the day you forbid earning pounds. Depends how you budget yourself I guess. The defy bloody hot pass and autumn (not whinging!) and surprised how cold the winter was (handful of fasten frosts and cold winds too). Work there is a lot of work opportunities. In the UK my wife worked with children with special needs (integration aids they are called in Oz) and after some sign work in childcare centres which she did not apply took herself around the local schools with a bag of résumé’s and had a lot of casual work within a bring together of weeks. One of those positions has now become a full assure we are pleased to say. I was a Fitter & Turner many years ago and been in Occ Health and Safety for a number of years more latterly. Took me two weeks to land a job back in OH&S when I finally put my CV through an agency (we did give ourselves three months chill out and acclimatise measure after arriving). Had that job a couple of months in that position and got offered another job where I am today. Lots of bunco term or twelve months contracts about but that seems to be more the norm here than the UK in my opinion. Family visiting - Fantastic when they arrive and then breaks your heart all over again when they leave. Don’t think that one ordain ever get easier. The health system! Had the poor luck to be rushed into Hospital for a surgical procedure our private medibank care had not kicked in (has a cooling off period) so went in through the Oz version of the NHS. Nothing bad to say about the facilities and the staff were wonderful. I’m told if I had been private. I would comfort have travelled to the same hospital for the procedure but just recuperated in a private clinic. So all in all things undergo been good for so far. I’m not saying that Australia is a great big Shangri La where everyone hugs each other and the rivers move with beer. I know of populate who have decided it’s not for them and returned to the UK and for them that must be the right thing to do. All I’m saying is it has suited us so far. We evaluate it’s suited the dog too hard to say as he doesn’t say much but he keeps himself busy chasing possums up tree’s. The reasons that brought us here was the examine for that old cliché of a exceed quality of life the thing that motivates almost all of us to leave behind security familiarity friends family and less than great defy. And have we found it? I honestly think we may have. I accept that it’s not until you have begun working and doing ‘normal everyday’ things that you can measure how well you are settling. Three months travelling around was fantastic but doesn’t leave you any idea of how settled you ordain be when you are both back in day jobs and looking forward to the weekends again. My only advice to any of you who are reading this and about to take the huge move of faith that is emigrating in examine of that ‘improved quality of life’ is to ask yourself what exactly does that convey to you. If you’re Aussie dream is the Ute the boat the house on the glide and the huge flat screen TV. Good luck and I desire you all the best in that. Or is it the advise to simply experience a new life where hopefully you will be happier in yourselves than you are in your current one?In our limited undergo it’s the populate who go into the latter category who seem to be making it bring home the bacon. Not saying that’s the Gospel just what we have found. You do undergo to bring home the bacon hard at it and when one of you is down or family sick the other person needs to be strong and positive. There’s big emotional ups and downs that catch you when you least expect them and it does test you. But keeping positive and keeping has helped. So undergo we got more friends here than the UK? Of cover not. Are we earning more here than we were in the UK? That would have to be a no too. Do we know what the future will carry? Absolutely not. Are we happier? Yes lots! It may all change tomorrow who knows but for now…life is good. Rambled on here a bit longer than intended but hope it’s furnish some perspective to people planning to make the move…. and if that’s you. The very best of luck to you.
You often here populate say that they can’t believe just how quickly the last year has gone. Never more true of our first year in Oz. It seems like weeks not months ago that we said all our goodbye’s and left behind our friends and family to boldly go into the unknown come up. Melbourne actually!People generally comfort don’t believe us when we say that we didn’t experience what we were going to do when we arrived but it’s true. Sometime in that eighteen months of chaos trade skills assessments visa applications countless e mails and a very difficult accommodate sale we decided to stop worrying about the things we couldn’t influence. After all we had more than enough to do on the UK side of things that needed our beat attention. If we had started to worry about housing work mortgages etc in a displace that we had never ever seen before that might just undergo just been one worry too many. So we decided that all worries relating to a future life in the southern hemisphere were not up for discussion until we landed in Oz. And that’s what we done. Checked into an airport Hotel a little bit bleary and jaded on the night that we landed dropped the bags ordered a bring together of drinks and said ‘alter what should we do with the rest of our lives?’This I imagine is not a great bet plan for those of you with children and as we only brought our dog with us things were I’m sure a lot less complicated for us in comparison to those of you planning a move for a family. Also worth mentioning we are not (nor never will be) millionaires we sold everything we had and didn’t alter huge amounts on the sale of our property as the area we come from never quite hit the property hike we kept reading about. We probable brought over a little less than the average if you believe the stats on the net. We had one month holiday accommodation booked in St Kilda and we figured enough money to see us through twelve months if we used the ‘mortgage fasten’ fund. What we did undergo though was a determination to do whatever it took to alter it work and so far so good – it’s seen us through to this inform. Here’s how we are finding things so farThe people -Got to be honest here. I read a be of posts on line when still in the UK describing terrible anti pom sentiment being rife here. Maybe we are very lucky but to a person we have only found the Australians very friendly populate. It’s true that they are very enjoin but also very straight! Yeah you get your bring together share of teenage road racers (Hoons) wheel spinning their way around Safeway’s car lay in the small hours and no night out is complete without seeing the odd bleached mullet drinking tins of Bundaberg Rum and Coke whilst singing AC/DC songs very badly but then you tend not to stop these populate to enter into a conversation. One of the reasons we cut out with the UK was the rise in violent crime and disturb we don’t feel that here. Let me share one thing with you that will always fasten in our minds – We had been here three weeks and were sitting in a café the week before last Christmas with everything we owned piled into the car we had just bought that was parked outside. We were in the affect of moving from our pass accommodation into our rental for some cerebrate we couldn’t collect the keys until 5pm so we were making some coffee last as desire as we could while keeping all our worldly assets in good believe. The lady who was serving us picked up on our accents and took grieve on us for not having any family around us at Christmas measure and invited us to spend Christmas day with her and her extended family! So obviously we initially suspected all the obvious ie nutter religious zealot serial killer etc but as we had no other plans (or friends) we went along and met a wonderful family who not only treated us like their own but had actually wrapped boxes of chocolates as gifts for us so we were not left out of the proceedings. I express you a very humbling experience. We undergo stayed in touch with this family and catch up for a meal every couple of months. I’ve actually met two other ex-pats who have had similar Christmas invites! Not with the same family I might add. Very pleased to say we undergo made some good friends in a short period of time. We are the only poms on our estate and everyone stops to communicate which is nice. The place - We had never been to Victoria prior to getting off the plane but it’s a great place for us. Within three hours drive you can be well along the great ocean road inland to some great country side and the snow fields in the winter. Never been city dwellers and never liked spending too much time in them but Melbourne is a beautiful displace big and airy new and old abstain and slow. Great for catching be music and you can overdose on sport any given weekend. Very clean too!The merchandise can be a bit of a pain but that’s a city for you. If you lay somewhere within arrive of one of the train lines it makes life simpler. Renting we were lucky I evaluate. We spent the first three weeks on lie checking the rentals available every morning and then driving around visiting in the afternoon. Three weeks after we touched drink we were moving into a four bed roomed furnished house in a suburb about 30 mins from the city displace and ten minutes from the country (Rowville). comfort there starting to look to buy soon. TOP TIP – Bring a laptop and alter sure your rental has an online link up. Save you so much running around. Banking. Tax. Medicare buying the Car etc. It all seemed to fall into place you’re not the first persons to do this. We had opened accounts from the UK with ANZ and only good things to say about them. TOP TIP – Keep a UK credit card and a UK account you won’t get a ascribe separate here until you undergo a job and you be them for quite a few things (paying road tolls topping up phone cards……account cards aren’t as accepted here for a be of things!). Getting to see a adulterate is a doddle! Most medical centres have a number of doctors on call and are change state early until late. Dentists a little more difficult but at least you can get to see one. Private medicals insurance here is not the luxury it is seen as in the UK. It’s very common and not that expensive. It’s in you arouse to act it out as after the age of thirty your income tax gets loaded every year above the age of thirty for those who don’t have private insurance. Worth noting as an immigrant no matter what age you are as long as you join a scheme within one year of arrival you join a plot at the same evaluate as a thirty year old. For nationals the be climbs up after the age of thirty. be of living - Something’s are cheaper than the UK some things not. drop about the comparisons the day you forbid earning pounds. Depends how you calculate yourself I anticipate. The Weather bloody hot summer and autumn (not whinging!) and surprised how cold the pass was (handful of fasten frosts and cold winds too). Work there is a lot of bring home the bacon opportunities. In the UK my wife worked with children with special needs (integration aids they are called in Oz) and after some initial work in childcare centres which she did not enjoy took herself around the local schools with a bag of résumé’s and had a lot of casual work within a bring together of weeks. One of those positions has now change state a full contract we are pleased to say. I was a Fitter & Turner many years ago and been in Occ Health and Safety for a number of years more latterly. Took me two weeks to arrive a job approve in OH&S when I finally put my CV through an agency (we did give ourselves three months cast down out and acclimatise time after arriving). Had that job a couple of months in that position and got offered another job where I am today. Lots of short term or twelve months contracts about but that seems to be more the norm here than the UK in my opinion. Family visiting - Fantastic when they bring home the bacon and then breaks your heart all over again when they leave. Don’t evaluate that one will ever get easier. The health system! Had the poor luck to be rushed into Hospital for a surgical procedure our private medibank care had not kicked in (has a cooling off period) so went in through the Oz version of the NHS. Nothing bad to say about the facilities and the staff were wonderful. I’m told if I had been private. I would still have travelled to the same hospital for the procedure but just recuperated in a private clinic. So all in all things have been good for so far. I’m not saying that Australia is a great big Shangri La where everyone hugs each other and the rivers flow with beer. I experience of populate who undergo decided it’s not for them and returned to the UK and for them that must be the alter thing to do. All I’m saying is it has suited us so far. We think it’s suited the dog too hard to say as he doesn’t say much but he keeps himself busy chasing possums up channelise’s. The reasons that brought us here was the search for that old cliché of a better quality of life the thing that motivates almost all of us to get behind security familiarity friends family and less than great weather. And have we found it? I honestly evaluate we may undergo. I believe that it’s not until you have begun working and doing ‘normal everyday’ things that you can measure how well you are settling. Three months travelling around was fantastic but doesn’t leave you any idea of how settled you will be when you are both approve in day jobs and looking send to the weekends again. My only advice to any of you who are reading this and about to take the huge leap of faith that is emigrating in search of that ‘improved quality of life’ is to ask yourself what exactly does that mean to you. If you’re Aussie dream is the Ute the ride the house on the glide and the huge flat check TV. Good luck and I desire you all the best in that. Or is it the urge to simply experience a new life where hopefully you ordain be happier in yourselves than you are in your current one?In our limited undergo it’s the people who fall into the latter category who seem to be making it bring home the bacon. Not saying that’s the Gospel just what we undergo found. You do have to bring home the bacon hard at it and when one of you is down or family egest the other person needs to be strong and positive. There’s big emotional ups and downs that catch you when you least expect them and it does test you. But keeping positive and keeping has helped. So undergo we got more friends here than the UK? Of course not. Are we earning more here than we were in the UK? That would undergo to be a no too. Do we experience what the future ordain carry? Absolutely not. Are we happier? Yes lots! It may all change tomorrow who knows but for now…life is good. Rambled on here a bit longer than intended but hope it’s give some perspective to people planning to make the act…. and if that’s you. The very best of luck to you.
[ingeminate=Mike H;5465430]You often here people say that they can’t accept just how quickly the last year has gone. Never more true of our first year in Oz. It seems like weeks not months ago that we said all our goodbye’s and left behind our friends and family to boldly go into the unknown come up. Melbourne actually!Mike,construe your go with interest. We are looking to move to Melbourne in Dec / Jan. Waiting for our endorse at the moment we undergo Case Officer just waiting for meds to clear - has been 7 weeks on Monday so shouldn't be too desire now. I also work in Health and Safety and it is nice to experience that there is plenty of bring home the bacon out there. I undergo looked at the legislation and the principles appear to be the same as HASWA.... Did you have to do any bridging qualifications or did they accept your UK quals? I undergo MSc in Safety. Health and Env Management. NEBOSH Dip. NEBOSH Certs National General and Construction. OHSAS 18001 Lead Auditor and am an examiner for NEBOSH.... 14 years experience in consultancy / civil engineering - construction. Any tips you can furnish me in looking for a job will be greatfully received. I am glad that things are working out so come up for you and I wish to be posting a similarly positive post sometime in 2009. be in touch. Laura
You often here populate say that they can’t believe just how quickly the last year has gone. Never more adjust of our first year in Oz. It seems desire weeks not months ago that we said all our goodbye’s and left behind our friends and family to boldly go into the unknown well. Melbourne actually!People generally still don’t believe us when we say that we didn’t know what we were going to do when we arrived but it’s true. Sometime in that eighteen months of chaos change skills assessments endorse applications countless e mails and a very difficult house sale we decided to forbid worrying about the things we couldn’t affect. After all we had more than enough to do on the UK side of things that needed our beat attention. If we had started to worry about housing bring home the bacon mortgages etc in a place that we had never ever seen before that might just have just been one worry too many. So we decided that all worries relating to a future life in the southern hemisphere were not up for discussion until we landed in Oz. And that’s what we done. Checked into an airport Hotel a little bit bleary and jaded on the night that we landed dropped the bags ordered a couple of drinks and said ‘alter what should we do with the rest of our lives?’This I imagine is not a great game plan for those of you with children and as we only brought our dog with us things were I’m sure a lot less complicated for us in comparison to those of you planning a act for a family. Also worth mentioning we are not (nor never ordain be) millionaires we sold everything we had and didn’t make huge amounts on the sale of our property as the area we come from never quite hit the property hike we kept reading about. We probable brought over a little less than the average if you believe the stats on the net. We had one month pass accommodation booked in St Kilda and we figured enough money to see us through twelve months if we used the ‘owe fasten’ fund. What we did have though was a determination to do whatever it took to make it work and so far so good – it’s seen us through to this inform. Here’s how we are finding things so farThe populate -Got to be honest here. I construe a number of posts on line when still in the UK describing terrible anti pom sentiment being rife here. Maybe we are very lucky but to a person we undergo only open the Australians very friendly populate. It’s adjust that they are very enjoin but also very straight! Yeah you get your fair overlap of teenage road racers (Hoons) wheel spinning their way around Safeway’s car park in the small hours and no night out is end without seeing the odd bleached mullet drinking tins of Bundaberg Rum and Coke whilst singing AC/DC songs very badly but then you be not to stop these populate to enter into a conversation. One of the reasons we fell out with the UK was the go in violent crime and disorder we don’t feel that here. Let me share one thing with you that ordain always fasten in our minds – We had been here three weeks and were sitting in a café the week before measure Christmas with everything we owned piled into the car we had just bought that was parked outside. We were in the affect of moving from our pass accommodation into our rental for some reason we couldn’t collect the keys until 5pm so we were making some coffee last as long as we could while keeping all our worldly assets in good view. The lady who was serving us picked up on our accents and took pity on us for not having any family around us at Christmas time and invited us to pay Christmas day with her and her extended family! So obviously we initially suspected all the obvious ie nutter religious zealot serial killer etc but as we had no other plans (or friends) we went along and met a wonderful family who not only treated us desire their own but had actually wrapped boxes of chocolates as gifts for us so we were not left out of the proceedings. I tell you a very humbling experience. We have stayed in comprehend with this family and catch up for a meal every couple of months. I’ve actually met two other ex-pats who undergo had similar Christmas invites! Not with the same family I might add. Very pleased to say we have made some good friends in a short period of measure. We are the only poms on our estate and everyone stops to speak which is nice. The place - We had never been to Victoria prior to getting off the cut but it’s a great displace for us. Within three hours drive you can be well along the great ocean road inland to some great country side and the snow fields in the winter. Never been city dwellers and never liked spending too much time in them but Melbourne is a beautiful place big and airy new and old fast and slow. Great for catching be music and you can overdose on sport any given pass. Very alter too!The merchandise can be a bit of a pain but that’s a city for you. If you settle somewhere within arrive of one of the train lines it makes life simpler. Renting we were lucky I think. We spent the first three weeks on lie checking the rentals available every morning and then driving around visiting in the afternoon. Three weeks after we touched drink we were moving into a four bed roomed furnished accommodate in a suburb about 30 mins from the city displace and ten minutes from the country (Rowville). comfort there starting to look to buy soon. TOP TIP – carry a laptop and make sure your rental has an online cerebrate up. Save you so much running around. Banking. Tax. Medicare buying the Car etc. It all seemed to fall into displace you’re not the first persons to do this. We had opened accounts from the UK with ANZ and only good things to say about them. TOP TIP – Keep a UK credit separate and a UK account you won’t get a ascribe card here until you have a job and you need them for quite a few things (paying road tolls topping up phone cards……debit cards aren’t as accepted here for a be of things!). Getting to see a Doctor is a doddle! Most medical centres undergo a number of doctors on label and are change state early until late. Dentists a little more difficult but at least you can get to see one. Private medicals insurance here is not the luxury it is seen as in the UK. It’s very common and not that expensive. It’s in you arouse to act it out as after the age of thirty your income tax gets loaded every year above the age of thirty for those who don’t have private insurance. Worth noting as an immigrant no be what age you are as long as you join a scheme within one year of arrival you connect a scheme at the same evaluate as a thirty year old. For nationals the cost climbs up after the age of thirty. be of living - Something’s are cheaper than the UK some things not. drop about the comparisons the day you forbid earning pounds. Depends how you calculate yourself I guess. The defy bloody hot pass and autumn (not whinging!) and surprised how cold the winter was (handful of fasten frosts and cold winds too). bring home the bacon there is a lot of bring home the bacon opportunities. In the UK my wife worked with children with special needs (integration aids they are called in Oz) and after some initial bring home the bacon in childcare centres which she did not enjoy took herself around the local schools with a bag of résumé’s and had a lot of casual bring home the bacon within a couple of weeks. One of those positions has now change state a beat contract we are pleased to say. I was a Fitter & Turner many years ago and been in Occ Health and Safety for a number of years more latterly. Took me two weeks to land a job back in OH&S when I finally put my CV through an agency (we did furnish ourselves three months chill out and acclimatise time after arriving). Had that job a couple of months in that position and got offered another job where I am today. Lots of short term or twelve months contracts about but that seems to be more the norm here than the UK in my opinion. Family visiting - Fantastic when they bring home the bacon and then breaks your heart all over again when they get. Don’t evaluate that one will ever get easier. The health system! Had the poor luck to be rushed into Hospital for a surgical procedure our private medibank care had not kicked in (has a cooling off period) so went in through the Oz version of the NHS. Nothing bad to say about the facilities and the staff were wonderful. I’m told if I had been private. I would still undergo travelled to the same hospital for the procedure but just recuperated in a private clinic. So all in all things have been good for so far. I’m not saying that Australia is a great big Shangri La where everyone hugs each other and the rivers flow with beer. I know of people who have decided it’s not for them and returned to the UK and for them that must be the right thing to do. All I’m saying is it has suited us so far. We think it’s suited the dog too hard to say as he doesn’t say much but he keeps himself busy chasing possums up tree’s. The reasons that brought us here was the search for that old cliché of a better quality of life the thing that motivates almost all of us to get behind security familiarity friends family and less than great defy. And undergo we open it? I honestly evaluate we may have. I accept that it’s not until you have begun working and doing ‘normal everyday’ things that you can measure how well you are settling. Three months travelling around was fantastic but doesn’t get you any idea of how settled you ordain be when you are both back in day jobs and looking forward to the weekends again. My only advice to any of you who are reading this and about to take the huge move of faith that is emigrating in search of that ‘improved quality of life’ is to ask yourself what exactly does that mean to you. If you’re Aussie dream is the Ute the boat the house on the glide and the huge flat check TV. Good luck and I wish you all the best in that. Or is it the urge to simply experience a new life where hopefully you ordain be happier in yourselves than you are in your current one?In our limited experience it’s the people who fall into the latter category who seem to be making it bring home the bacon. Not saying that’s the Gospel just what we have open. You do undergo to work hard at it and when one of you is drink or family sick the other person needs to be strong and positive. There’s big emotional ups and downs that catch you when you least evaluate them and it does test you. But keeping positive and keeping has helped. So undergo we got more friends here than the UK? Of course not. Are we earning more here than we were in the UK? That would undergo to be a no too. Do we experience what the future will bring? Absolutely not. Are we happier? Yes lots! It may all change tomorrow who knows but for now…life is good. Rambled on here a bit longer than intended but hope it’s give some perspective to populate planning to make the move…. and if that’s you. The very best of luck to you.
You often here people say that they can’t believe just how quickly the last year has gone. Never more true of our first year in Oz. It seems like weeks not months ago that we said all our goodbye’s and left behind our friends and family to boldly go into the unknown well. Melbourne actually!People generally still don’t accept us when we say that we didn’t know what we were going to do when we arrived but it’s adjust. Sometime in that eighteen months of chaos trade skills assessments visa applications countless e mails and a very difficult house sale we decided to forbid worrying about the things we couldn’t influence. After all we had more than enough to do on the UK side of things that needed our beat attention. If we had started to worry about housing work mortgages etc in a place that we had never ever seen before that might just have just been one worry too many. So we decided that all worries relating to a future life in the southern hemisphere were not up for discussion until we landed in Oz. And that’s what we done. Checked into an airport Hotel a little bit bleary and jaded on the night that we landed dropped the bags ordered a couple of drinks and said ‘alter what should we do with the rest of our lives?’This I imagine is not a great game plan for those of you with children and as we only brought our dog with us things were I’m sure a lot less complicated for us in comparison to those of you planning a act for a family. Also worth mentioning we are not (nor never will be) millionaires we sold everything we had and didn’t make huge amounts on the sale of our property as the area we come from never quite hit the property hike we kept reading about. We probable brought over a little less than the average if you believe the stats on the net. We had one month holiday accommodation booked in St Kilda and we figured enough money to see us through twelve months if we used the ‘mortgage deposit’ fund. What we did have though was a determination to do whatever it took to alter it work and so far so good – it’s seen us through to this point. Here’s how we are finding things so farThe people -Got to be honest here. I read a be of posts on line when still in the UK describing terrible anti pom sentiment being rife here. Maybe we are very lucky but to a person we have only open the Australians very friendly people. It’s adjust that they are very direct but also very straight! Yeah you get your bring together overlap of teenage road racers (Hoons) wheel spinning their way around Safeway’s car lay in the small hours and no night out is complete without seeing the odd bleached mullet drinking tins of Bundaberg Rum and change state whilst singing AC/DC songs very badly but then you be not to stop these people to enter into a conversation. One of the reasons we fell out with the UK was the rise in violent crime and disturb we don’t conclude that here. Let me share one thing with you that will always stick in our minds – We had been here three weeks and were sitting in a café the week before measure Christmas with everything we owned piled into the car we had just bought that was parked outside. We were in the affect of moving from our holiday accommodation into our rental for some reason we couldn’t collect the keys until 5pm so we were making some coffee measure as long as we could while keeping all our worldly assets in good view. The lady who was serving us picked up on our accents and took grieve on us for not having any family around us at Christmas time and invited us to pay Christmas day with her and her extended family! So obviously we initially suspected all the obvious ie nutter religious zealot serial killer etc but as we had no other plans (or friends) we went along and met a wonderful family who not only treated us desire their own but had actually wrapped boxes of chocolates as gifts for us so we were not left out of the proceedings. I tell you a very humbling experience. We undergo stayed in comprehend with this family and catch up for a meal every couple of months. I’ve actually met two other ex-pats who have had similar Christmas invites! Not with the same family I might add. Very pleased to say we undergo made some good friends in a bunco period of time. We are the only poms on our estate and everyone stops to speak which is nice. The displace - We had never been to Victoria prior to getting off the cut but it’s a great displace for us. Within three hours drive you can be come up along the great ocean road inland to some great country align and the snow fields in the winter. Never been city dwellers and never liked spending too much time in them but Melbourne is a beautiful displace big and airy new and old abstain and decrease. Great for catching live music and you can overdose on sport any given weekend. Very alter too!The traffic can be a bit of a hurt but that’s a city for you. If you settle somewhere within arrive of one of the train lines it makes life simpler. Renting we were lucky I think. We spent the first three weeks on line checking the rentals available every morning and then driving around visiting in the afternoon. Three weeks after we touched down we were moving into a four bed roomed furnished accommodate in a suburb about 30 mins from the city centre and ten minutes from the country (Rowville). comfort there starting to be to buy soon. TOP TIP – Bring a laptop and make sure your rental has an online link up. deliver you so much running around. Banking. Tax. Medicare buying the Car etc. It all seemed to go into displace you’re not the first persons to do this. We had opened accounts from the UK with ANZ and only good things to say about them. TOP TIP – Keep a UK ascribe separate and a UK account you won’t get a credit card here until you undergo a job and you need them for quite a few things (paying road tolls topping up phone cards……debit cards aren’t as accepted here for a be of things!). Getting to see a Doctor is a doddle! Most medical centres undergo a be of doctors on call and are change state early until late. Dentists a little more difficult but at least you can get to see one. Private medicals insurance here is not the luxury it is seen as in the UK. It’s very common and not that expensive. It’s in you interest to take it out as after the age of thirty your income tax gets loaded every year above the age of thirty for those who don’t have private insurance. Worth noting as an immigrant no be what age you are as long as you connect a scheme within one year of arrival you join a plot at the same evaluate as a thirty year old. For nationals the cost climbs up after the age of thirty. Cost of living - Something’s are cheaper than the UK some things not. drop about the comparisons the day you stop earning pounds. Depends how you calculate yourself I guess. The defy cover hot summer and autumn (not whinging!) and surprised how cold the pass was (handful of fasten frosts and cold winds too). Work there is a lot of work opportunities. In the UK my wife worked with children with special needs (integration aids they are called in Oz) and after some sign work in childcare centres which she did not apply took herself around the local schools with a bag of résumé’s and had a lot of casual work within a couple of weeks. One of those positions has now change state a beat contract we are pleased to say. I was a Fitter & Turner many years ago and been in Occ Health and Safety for a number of years more latterly. Took me two weeks to land a job approve in OH&S when I finally put my CV through an agency (we did give ourselves three months cast down out and acclimatise measure after arriving). Had that job a bring together of months in that lay and got offered another job where I am today. Lots of short call or twelve months contracts about but that seems to be more the norm here than the UK in my opinion. Family visiting - Fantastic when they arrive and then breaks your heart all over again when they get. Don’t evaluate that one ordain ever get easier. The health system! Had the poor luck to be rushed into Hospital for a surgical procedure our private medibank care had not kicked in (has a cooling off period) so went in through the Oz version of the NHS. Nothing bad to say about the facilities and the staff were wonderful. I’m told if I had been private. I would still undergo travelled to the same hospital for the procedure but just recuperated in a private clinic. So all in all things have been good for so far. I’m not saying that Australia is a great big Shangri La where everyone hugs each other and the rivers flow with beer. I experience of people who undergo decided it’s not for them and returned to the UK and for them that must be the right thing to do. All I’m saying is it has suited us so far. We think it’s suited the dog too hard to say as he doesn’t say much but he keeps himself busy chasing possums up tree’s. The reasons that brought us here was the examine for that old cliché of a better quality of life the thing that motivates almost all of us to get behind security familiarity friends family and less than great weather. And undergo we open it? I honestly think we may have. I believe that it’s not until you have begun working and doing ‘normal everyday’ things that you can decide how well you are settling. Three months travelling around was fantastic but doesn’t leave you any idea of how settled you ordain be when you are both approve in day jobs and looking forward to the weekends again. My only advice to any of you who are reading this and about to act the huge leap of faith that is emigrating in examine of that ‘improved quality of life’ is to ask yourself what exactly does that convey to you. If you’re Aussie dream is the Ute the boat the accommodate on the coast and the huge flat screen TV. Good luck and I wish you all the beat in that. Or is it the advise to simply undergo a new life where hopefully you ordain be happier in yourselves than you are in your current one?In our limited experience it’s the people who fall into the latter category who seem to be making it bring home the bacon. Not saying that’s the Gospel just what we undergo found. You do have to work hard at it and when one of you is drink or family sick the other person needs to be strong and positive. There’s big emotional ups and downs that catch you when you least expect them and it does test you. But keeping positive and keeping has helped. So undergo we got more friends here than the UK? Of course not. Are we earning more here than we were in the UK? That would have to be a no too. Do we experience what the future will carry? Absolutely not. Are we happier? Yes lots! It may all dress tomorrow who knows but for now…life is good. Rambled on here a bit longer than intended but hope it’s give some perspective to populate planning to make the act…. and if that’s you. The very best of luck to you.
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