anoh

Welcome to Cairns. I can honestly say driving in my small car I feel like a gibbering wreck because of the bad driving here. You do get used to it but that doesn't make it any better. Be aware you may be turning left for instance on a green light but when turning don't be surprised to see pedestrians ambling across because they have also been given a green light. Accidents waiting to happen.

I hope I sent you one back!!

Hi Debbs, I am 59. You can check me out on Facebook.:smile: sitting with my usual glass of wine! Ann O'Hare

Hi Debbs, Have you gone online to look at Meetups Cairns. There are quite a number of different groups and activities. I live at the beaches and have been here for 4 years and not found it easy to make friends. Would be happy to meet up but looking at your age think I might be a bit in the wrong age group! Ann

We emigrated just over 4 years ago at the age of 55. I was a Health Visitor in Cornwall. We landed in Adelaide but there was nothing in my line. My husband is a teacher and he could find nothing. Anyway we travelled up and down the East coast and eventually stayed in Cairns. He found teaching work but still nothing in my line. Anyway I now work as a support worker with indigenous people. Pay pretty rubbish but love the job!

We came out 4 years ago at the age of 55. Our visa only had 4 months to go and we knew that our eldest son who had just qualified in the UK as a doctor had every intention of emigrating to Australia. So we arrived leaving both sons behind to stay for a year. The eldest needed to complete his first foundation year to enable registration in Australia. The youngest then aged 21 stayed because he loved Cornwall and struggled to come to terms with leaving. They were both on our visa and managed to get a residents return visa for 1 year. My husband and I travelled up and down the East coast trying to find somewhere we wanted to settle and also to get work. We have occupational work pensions which aren't big but we needed to capitalise on some savings as we were unable to buy a house outright here as we brought our money out at the wrong time. I was a Health Visitor and my husband was a teacher in the UK. Work was difficult to come by but that was more to do with us feeling devastated by what we thought was a wrong decision and could not settle. Anyway after 6 months we ended up in Cairns. My husband has plenty of supply work teaching(his choice). I could not find anything in my field and work as a support worker which I am happy with. My eldest did manage to find a hospital position and is now a registrar studying for a consultant's position. He loves Australia and said he can't believe how lucky he is to live here. My youngest could not find any work for 8 months and was completely demoralised. He worked in a bank but just kept getting knocked back. Roll on 3 years and he is now a policeman and enjoys it. He said the pull of Cornwall has never gone away and he could be just as happy there. I think for us we left it too late to come. We loved Cornwall and enjoyed our jobs and could have retired.It is so difficult to start again and you need the right mindset. The youngest son suffered incredibly and he felt he had to come as the visa would have expired and his family would be in Australia. We have settled in a sort of way now. The boys have done well and will become citizens in another year. Would they have done as well in the UK, yes of course they would. We all have to work out what is right for each us. Sorry for the ramble, you can tell I am still homesick!

Lovely pasties in all those places, always doing the rounds when we went out for the weekend. My weekly pleasure!!

I have spent my life in Cornwall and left for Australia in 2012. Agree with previous comments that as you are mortgage free and presume you are not seeking a job then there should be no problem. Yes wages can be low and the cost of buying a house out of reach for so many people but as that does not apply to you, I don't believe it is more expensive to live there. Good luck. You are very lucky to be going back to such a beautiful area. I miss it and the people so much. Ann

My son sent some boxes which included his bike. On a trip to the UK I was delegated with the task of cleaning it and putting it in the bike box. I didn't worry too much about the grease but set to with a toothbrush and hot soapy water on the tyres etc. Have to say it was not entirely perfect but no problems.

I agree with the above comments. Well, if you were that happy and content with life then you would not be posting on this forum! You obviously have a desire to try something new. Go for it. The sunshine coast is a beautiful area with so much to see. Love it.

Thanks for your reply.

Long shot really and not a PIO query but can anyone recommend an agent for my friend who has been in the UK for 10 years and thought she had satisfied the requirements for citizenship but it has been declined because not enough time spent in UK over 10 years (visited family in Kenya regularly) throughout her studies. She was misled over the time required and if knew this would have put other supporting information like family in UK and job offer. Hope this is ok to post here as you lot are so knowledgeable!

Yes, will be closing at the end of March. Heard it will be sold to property developers.

Hi, My son was a newly qualified doctor from the UK and arrived 1 year after us in August 2013. He got a post in Alice Springs hospital almost immediately and stayed for 15 months moving to Darwin for promotion. He absolutely loved his time there and joined in with all the events etc that was on offer and made lots of friends and was always busy. He was proactive in making it a priority to be part of the community. I guess that philosophy is one that helps new migrants settle and become established. Yes Alice Springs does have it's problems as does most places. Now he is in Darwin he is enjoying life immensely and can't understand why more people don't want to go there! Sammy makes a valid point about sharing a house with someone. My son found out which areas were preferable to be in and had the benefit of support and friendship until he found somewhere else he wanted to rent.

We landed in Adelaide 3 years ago but thought we would go touring for 6 months in a caravan before we decided where to settle. On returning to Adelaide it became apparent there was little in the way of teaching jobs for my husband. We knew that there was plenty of work for teachers in Cairns so that was where we ended up. My younger son joined us after a year and became very disheartened at the lack of employment opportunities (worked in a bank) and had nothing for almost a year. Anyway he is now working in Brisbane and seems settled in a different career. The oldest son is a doctor in Darwin and loves the lifestyle and can't believe how fortunate life has turned out for him. For us life is ok and we are settled but I think emigrating in your mid 50's needed a lot more thought than we gave it and we didn't research it enough or indeed where in Australia would have suited us best. In retrospect maybe Adelaide would have been better as we have relatives there and it would have provided an easier transition and of course the support would have been helpful.