• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Emigrating to Australia.......... does anyone have any experience on this

philspursuk

philspursuk

Sean Davis
Just going through the research for emigrating to Australia. We are a family of 5 so Im naturally daunted by taking what seems to be a gamble for us all.

Does anyone have any experience of this ?

Any advice much appreciated.
 
Mate , we moved here (Gold Coast ) from elstree over 10 years ago. Daughter was 5 at the time so it was the perfect time. Basically just fed up with life in London and then got caught up in London bombings so decided to make the move . (We had travelled here years ago so had some knowledge of the place , have you ?)

Australia is a fantastic place to bring up kids , great education system (in major cities ) , great climate and generally the Aussies love the way of life .

Down sides : like everywhere there are a number of rednecks who will rip you to bits for being a "pommie" and will abuse you relentlessly .

They have a massive chip on their shoulders for being in commonwealth so get used to being abused when anything goes against the Brits .

It is not cheap to live here ! House prices are good but day to day stuff isn't

They hate football (soccer !!!!) so get your arguments ready

You are a long way from family

Good things : strong economy .
If you want to work, there is work here
Lifestyle is second to none
You will enjoy the social life, they love just meeting up for beers and sport

Kids will thrive if they have already started the UK education system as it is a year or two ahead of here (but funnily enough it catches up around 12 years old)

My advice : do it if you are serious , it isn't a "suck it and see " move

Any more advice/opinion then PM me and I'm happy to talk direct about my experience
 
Nice one thanks.

I havent visited before, but my wife has. She is half Australian (father no longer around) and has family over there and visited once. Ideally I'd take a trip or 2 to research but I am definitely the "fly by the seat of ya pants" part of our relationship.
Started charting up what type of research we need to do this morning and then felt the need to tell our 2 oldest kids (16 and 13) that we are looking at it.
 
it depends on what you do, a relative moved his family out there about 6 years ago, they were eligible as he is an electrician which at the time was a required skill, they moved to the east coast (for qol and education reasons for his kids) but he's struggled for work as he needed to be an apprentice to complete his local qualifications (slightly different from the uk) but nobody was taking apprentices

it wasn't anyone's fault, just a small gap in understanding between private firms and the immigration authorities and bad timing

he has found work out there and even came back to the uk for sixth months to work so it's not been a disaster but it's not been the dream either

the kids have taken to it though, proper little Aussies now

if you wife can live there anyway and can work it's less of a risk for you and integration should be easier with some family there (even if they are distant)

on the flip side I have a couple of friends who went on an around the world trip around 9 years ago, they got as far as Melbourne and are still there

good luck
 
Last edited:
We are just looking at the minefield surrounding visas. Not sure if I need to get a visa first before a job (IT Release Manager) or whether we can get visa through my wifes family connection or whether we will need 5 seperate visas for each member of the family.
 
Would love to do this, maybe not Australia but living somewhere else for a few years (maybe permanently) is massively appealing. I quite fancy a few years in the Middle East catching some sun and playing golf. GF isn't too keen on moving though so probably won't happen.
 
philspursuk said:
We are just looking at the minefield surrounding visas.
Click to expand...
That's a really unfair place to put the visas. Even if you get one there's a good chance you'll be crippled and a burden on their state.

Or is it some kind of ingenuity test? Like on those tacoty team building days when you have to try and not break the egg, but you learn the real challenge is to not smash the egg in Dave from sales's face because he a prick that speaks almost entirely in buzzwords.
 
Got a bit of a full-on day @philspursuk but will reply in full this evening. Lived in NZ for two years and Oz for one, same principle for both with regards to visas etc. We went through hell having built a life there, but ultimately couldn't get working or residency visas as we are/were both contractors in an area of future growth, rather than skills shortage industries or on the current list of automatic acceptance. IT features strongly on the latter list, but will look into it for you.
 
scaramanga said:
That's a really unfair place to put the visas. Even if you get one there's a good chance you'll be crippled and a burden on their state.

Or is it some kind of ingenuity test? Like on those tacoty team building days when you have to try and not break the egg, but you learn the real challenge is to not smash the egg in Dave from sales's face because he a prick that speaks almost entirely in buzzwords.
Click to expand...
That's Teresa Mays plan to cut immigration and disability payments all in one!

Entry to Oz is only if you have a certain skills right?
 
Thebarbarian said:
Mate , we moved here (Gold Coast ) from elstree over 10 years ago. Daughter was 5 at the time so it was the perfect time. Basically just fed up with life in London and then got caught up in London bombings so decided to make the move . (We had travelled here years ago so had some knowledge of the place , have you ?)

Australia is a fantastic place to bring up kids , great education system (in major cities ) , great climate and generally the Aussies love the way of life .

Down sides : like everywhere there are a number of rednecks who will rip you to bits for being a "pommie" and will abuse you relentlessly .

They have a massive chip on their shoulders for being in commonwealth so get used to being abused when anything goes against the Brits .

It is not cheap to live here ! House prices are good but day to day stuff isn't

They hate football (soccer !!!!) so get your arguments ready

You are a long way from family

Good things : strong economy .
If you want to work, there is work here
Lifestyle is second to none
You will enjoy the social life, they love just meeting up for beers and sport

Kids will thrive if they have already started the UK education system as it is a year or two ahead of here (but funnily enough it catches up around 12 years old)

My advice : do it if you are serious , it isn't a "suck it and see " move

Any more advice/opinion then PM me and I'm happy to talk direct about my experience
Click to expand...

Is that really that bad? Is it good hearted tinkle taking or do some of them really not like us?

Hard to put a number on it, but what percentage would you say don't like us?
 
Last edited:
I've always been very interested in moving there but the key thing that will prevent me from ever moving there is the spiders... I'm a massive arachnohpobe. I don't mind seeing pictures of tarantulas, huntsmen etc.. but coming face to face with one in my own home that's not in a glass box would probably take me decades of therapy to recover from.

I'm also aware that many people say that your not likely to see them in built up city areas but it's the fact that your in Australia and there's always that chance that means I will never be able to move to, or probably even visit, that particular country...
 
Craig_J said:
I've always been very interested in moving there but the key thing that will prevent me from ever moving there is the spiders... I'm a massive arachnohpobe. I don't mind seeing pictures of tarantulas, huntsmen etc.. but coming face to face with one in my own home that's not in a glass box would probably take me decades of therapy to recover from.

I'm also aware that many people say that your not likely to see them in built up city areas but it's the fact that your in Australia and there's always that chance that means I will never be able to move to, or probably even visit, that particular country...
Click to expand...

it's not just the spiders, I can't remember who originally said it, but, Australia is like super Mario land, it's bright, green and lush, but anything you touch will kill you

the snakes and spiders might stay out of the city but that is where all the drop bears live, and they will fudge you up
 
Jurgen the German said:
Is that really that bad? Is it good hearted tinkle taking or do some of them really not like us?

Hard to put a number on it, but what percentage would you say don't like us?
Click to expand...
Mate, most of it is light hearted banter, but unfortunately there is a massive drinking culture over here where spirits seem to be the order of the day rather than beer. Because of this you get a lot of tinkled up young men and women who think they are being funny but when you say something funny back to them (and I appreciate the British sense of humour is a bit more subtle and sarcastic) they can't take it.

I would say 5% of all the Aussies I know generally don't like "poms" and have massive chips on their shoulders. About 50% are happy to take part in light hearted banter which is pretty easy to deal with and can be quite entertaining. The problem is the drink affected idiots probably account for 20% of the population on the Gold Coast (or any major urban area) and these can all be quite bitter, ignorant and rude.

Small example, played golf with a stranger (joined two 2-balls together) and did the right thing by having a few (lots) beers afterwards. After a while he's talking to his mate and says "this pommie clam is Paul", I politely took him to one side and said you can call me a pommie all day as it doesn't bother me, but call me a clam again and it'll kick off. Doesn't sound like much but the use of the "c" word is rife here and almost as acceptable as calling someone a clown shoe, however that was not how he said it, it was aimed at me for being from England.

Me and my mates have encountered trouble a few times when out and about (even at bloody Gold Coast v Sydney A-league match) and it is 100% down to us being British/irish.
 
I moved to Sydney in 2006 - wanted a break from London. Have never left. Find it to be a much simpler/easier/higher quality of life. They don't seem to place the same importance on working yourself to death (have more public holidays and flexible working arrangements than I ever experienced in England). Sydney was beautiful but the people in Melbourne are better IMO. Most of my mates in Sydney were English whereas in Melbourne (lived here since 2009) a majority are Aussies.

They love sport. Food is good. Beer choice is becoming better by the week. Wine is amazing. Weather, beaches, bbq opportunities etc. Pub culture in Melbourne is actually really good, much more aligned to the pubs in England, beer gardens, locals/landlord, pints, live music etc.

The visa situation is daunting but the way to look at it is its basically a series of hurdles designed to stop unwanted people from coming here. If you've got a profession (you or your wife), no criminal record (ironic I know) and enough cash in the bank to get yourselves set up, you should be fine.

Happy to assist further if you need. Good luck, don't let it overwhelm you is my best tip. Its not as big a deal as people make out. Get a flight booked, they speak the same language and live the same way essentially here so there isn't a huge culture shock.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back