I think the Australian system puts the onus on the individual to make choices about their lives: for example private or public healthcare or even schooling. Furthermore it actively encourages and makes it attainable for the working man to afford private care/school by the use of tax breaks and heavy subsidy. Thats the kind of society I would like to live in. Moonraker, from my perspective I just want my kids to be able to grow up playing outside as kids should and to be encouraged to grow as responsible citizens. We managed to get to the beach twice this year in the UK hopefully in Oz we'll be there near enough every day/week!! I think the Oz school system is more geared to producing a well rounded young adult than concentrating on test results/league tables etc as in the UK. That'll do for me.
For me the choice is simple:
-Do I want to live by a beautiful beach?
-Do I want more outdoor fun with my family
-Are my nearest and dearest (husband and kids) coming with me to share this adventure
-Do I embrace the opportunity to try out life in another country (one that consistently tops quality of life [polls/rankings)
-Will I be able to return to the UK should it not be all I hope for?
The answer to the above is yes, for me it really is a no-brainer
Stay positive fellow emigrators!
Love your Post Fiona1975. I totally agree with everything you have said - that's my philosophy too.
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Visted Migration Agent - 05/09/2008!
Thames Consular Appointed - October 2008!
Herbster:back then I was just a radical hippy Mum lol Still am but I've toned it down abit lol Those were the days when I would meet up with my friends (like minded people).During the school holidays us mums would band together (yes we wore tie dye long dresses too lol)organise a joint painting session with all the kids outside,or a big kids bbq (no alcohol for us just the odd cuppa herbal tea lol).I also taught my kids to grown their own food ect.Would I do it all again?You bet I would lol Those were the happiest times of my life lolx(Your Mum sounds the spit of me lol)xxxxx
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You are the creator of your own reality
If you want your kids to be able to play outside you don't want to come here.... literally 2 days ago some friends of ours had some bloke jump into their garden from the field at the back. He tried to run off with one of the kids. Luckily the mum saw him in time and he fled empty handed. They live up the road from us in Sandringham which is supposedly one of the better areas of Melbourne.
You ain't going to have a better or safer life over here.... just a warmer one for a small part of the year!!
Buckbuchanan:Thats quite a shocking story.It does'nt surprise me though.Please people out there emigrating with younger children:Do not get into a false sense of security,I know its tempting to think your kids can play outside and what not,and they can of course,but please be sensible,its a sad sad world out there now.I've written about this before.I recall a story in Adelaide in the early 1970's (I was living in Adelaide at that time).2 families went to a major footy game.Both families had daughters one aged around 4yrs and other aged 9.The 9 yr old took the youngest girl to the toilet.Seems harmless enough right?Those parents never saw those kids again.No one knows anything about their whereabouts,no one saw anything suspicious.You'd think someone at a major football game would of right?Please please be careful.Buckbuchanan I think maybe it might be a good idea to write a new thread on this because its so important.Not sure if you have kids yourself,but I know I would be very worried x
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You are the creator of your own reality
If you want your kids to be able to play outside you don't want to come here.... literally 2 days ago some friends of ours had some bloke jump into their garden from the field at the back. He tried to run off with one of the kids. Luckily the mum saw him in time and he fled empty handed. They live up the road from us in Sandringham which is supposedly one of the better areas of Melbourne.
You ain't going to have a better or safer life over here.... just a warmer one for a small part of the year!!
Whoa, that is indeed mega scary! I hope the police are on to that very smartly. Hope the local school has been warned as well.
Hi all,its me again Gwen LOL . There has been some great posts on my thread and thankyou to all of you. I would also like to add ,people that have read my thread will know my son and sister went out last sept.My son is coming home in 2 weeks he is 20 and said its nothing what he thought it would be.He is used to going out with all his friend (girls and boys) to the pub or something to eat,he said in oz they do not seem to do that much over there (he is in perth) he also said you have to work long hours and by the time you get in from work you are to tired to do anything else.Yes he did say the beaches are great and they have stuff going on in the parks.But like he said if you go to london,torquey,or many places down south they have lots going on in the parks there.When he was in the uk he also went camping alot with his mates which they really enjoyed.He said they tryed it in oz and they did not really enjoy it,he said it was to hot loads of bugs lol.When I visited my nieces school I could not get over how behind they are with reading and maths.They just seem to be playing most of the time.My sister is also on about coming home,her children are 6 and 3 and she feels her 6 year old has fallen behind in her reading and many other things.She doesnt allow them to play out to much due to the sun.If fact she said "she used to moan about having to put there coats and wellies on in the uk,but it takes alot longer to cream them up and having to keep checking them. Anyway as per usual I have gone on again and like I said before I have not started this thread to upset anyone just to tell you of my experiences. I don't know, I was talking to my oh the other day and said there is so much of the uk we havnt seen and would love to start traveling round a bit more. Love to all x x x x x x x x Gwen
Hi all,its me again Gwen LOL . There has been some great posts on my thread and thankyou to all of you. I would also like to add ,people that have read my thread will know my son and sister went out last sept.My son is coming home in 2 weeks he is 20 and said its nothing what he thought it would be.He is used to going out with all his friend (girls and boys) to the pub or something to eat,he said in oz they do not seem to do that much over there (he is in perth) he also said you have to work long hours and by the time you get in from work you are to tired to do anything else.Yes he did say the beaches are great and they have stuff going on in the parks.But like he said if you go to london,torquey,or many places down south they have lots going on in the parks there.When he was in the uk he also went camping alot with his mates which they really enjoyed.He said they tryed it in oz and they did not really enjoy it,he said it was to hot loads of bugs lol.When I visited my nieces school I could not get over how behind they are with reading and maths.They just seem to be playing most of the time.My sister is also on about coming home,her children are 6 and 3 and she feels her 6 year old has fallen behind in her reading and many other things.She doesnt allow them to play out to much due to the sun.If fact she said "she used to moan about having to put there coats and wellies on in the uk,but it takes alot longer to cream them up and having to keep checking them. Anyway as per usual I have gone on again and like I said before I have not started this thread to upset anyone just to tell you of my experiences. I don't know, I was talking to my oh the other day and said there is so much of the uk we havnt seen and would love to start traveling round a bit more. Love to all x x x x x x x x Gwen
Good post, I know what your son is on about in boring Perth,and I agree kids these days do not play out.....bloody computers
I dont think Australia is inherently better at all and when I compare my kids with my friends' kids there isnt much to choose between them, especially now that one DS has emigrated back to UK for the better career opportunities, lifestyle choices and general vibrancy and variety! Maybe, though, if my kids had grown up in UK, the other one wouldnt have become a self sufficient, kangaroo shooting hippy and would be gainfully employed and doing the right thing by his family!
As a mother of young kids I agonized over the occasional suburn - cant let them out without hat, spf30, rash vests etc etc and if you sometimes miss a bit and they get burnt and get moles, you panic mightily. As tiny babies when you see the flies crawling over them if they happen to be out playing in the garden you begin to panic as well. Education - we forked out for private education because I wasnt happy with what I saw in the public system and I must say that I am glad we did - the boys are glad we did too! Travel - definitely not as wide and varied as it would have been had we lived in UK and, as you know, travel broadens the mind!
Having worked in schools for 25 years, it never ceased to amaze me how little Aussie kids actually spend outside. Most of them are wedded to their Wii or PS and I have lost track of the number of parents I have encouraged to actually go out and play with their kids - it doesnt enter their minds. This has been a phenomenon of the past 10 - 15 years particularly - most of the garage mounted basketball hoops have disappeared, you rarely see kids cycling around the neighbourhood or playing ball in the road, we have lovely parks which are usually child free. Aussie parents seem to think that taking the kids to organized sport or training a couple of times a week counts as playing outside. In the winter they say it is too cold and in the summer it is too hot so they sit in front of the aircon.
My kids were fortunate because my parents came and stayed for 6 months of the year every year for 15 yrs while they were growing up so there was the family contact but otherwise they would have grown up barely knowing their grandparents and not having the very solid and positive relationship that they have with them now (DS1 uses the aged rellies place as a base when he is itinerant).
Would I do it again for the kids - nope, not a chance.
I do not doubt what you have to say, but when I ask my 10 year old Daughter(already an international kid) where she wants to live it is always Australia, she cannot stop taking about OZ since we visited 2 years ago. She had a very hard time moving from South Africa to the UK, she was made to feel an outcast by her peer group, and even now she struggles a bit. I believe that she is Gifted, her reading age is above 12.5 years (they tell me at her school that they cannot measure any higher then that) but when I ask that she be accelerated the teachers ignore me point blank. The schooling system only caters for little Johnny that is struggling not for the bright kids. it makes me feel really frustrated to the point where I have given up on going to parents evenings.
I still feel that I have made the right decision for her by moving to the UK as here she has a far better chance in life than in South Africa, I'm just hoping that in OZ she will find that greater acceptance!
Location: Molesworth TAS, 1/2hr west of Hobart in the bush surrounded by gum & wattles!
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Travel is a Fabulous Educator
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwen
Hi all,its me again Gwen LOL . There has been some great posts on my thread and thankyou to all of you...I would also like to add ,people that have read my thread will know my son and sister went out last sept.My son is coming home in 2 weeks he is 20 and said its nothing what he thought it would be.He is used to going out with all his friend (girls and boys) to the pub or something to eat,he said in oz they do not seem to do that much over there (he is in perth) he also said you have to work long hours and by the time you get in from work you are to tired to do anything else.Yes he did say the beaches are great and they have stuff going on in the parks.But like he said if you go to london,torquey,or many places down south they have lots going on in the parks there.When he was in the uk he also went camping alot with his mates which they really enjoyed.He said they tryed it in oz and they did not really enjoy it,he said it was to hot loads of bugs lol.When I visited my nieces school I could not get over how behind they are with reading and maths.They just seem to be playing most of the time.My sister is also on about coming home,her children are 6 and 3 and she feels her 6 year old has fallen behind in her reading and many other things.She doesnt allow them to play out to much due to the sun.If fact she said "she used to moan about having to put there coats and wellies on in the uk,but it takes alot longer to cream them up and having to keep checking them. ..like I said before I have not started this thread to upset anyone just to tell you of my experiences...I don't know, I was talking to my oh the other day and said there is so much of the uk we havnt seen and would love to start traveling round a bit more...Love to all x x x x x x x x Gwen
Well put Gwen & THANKS for starting this Thread: Everyone has different Life experiences and varying reactions to the situations they find themselves in. This is why PIO is so great, we can share our personal experiences here, people can read them & take from it what they will... My little experience of Tassie weather, thank goodness, is different from yours in Perth... But I've met peeps that have lived in Perth who confirm your experiences, so I know I would NOT want to live there, although plenty do!
But look at what this experience has given you,your son & your sister? They wouldn't know all they do if they hadn't made the effort and moved over... And look at what it's taught you, sometimes it does take moving half way round the world to appreciate what Life is all about and just what YOU want from your Life.
When I was a kid, from about 9-yrs on, rather than celebrate my Birthday with a party, which I always reckoned were highly over-rated, stressful, hard work, expensive & who the heck did I have to invite anyway... So, instead, would always want to go SOMEWHERE, usually where I hadn't been before, usually involving a long car journey for my poor father with the 6/7 of us kids & mother jammed in like sardines, a hefty picnic in the trunk, while I directed them on a Magical Mystery tour of sorts! Living in Somerset at the time, I took them to Dorset, Devon - north & south, Wiltshire, several places in S & Mid Wales; every year somewhere different, but always somewhere interesting that we would all enjoy - a castle, a wonderful beach, the Moors, old mine workings, forts, battlefields - if it were a random drive, Father would arrive at a junction, mother & I studying the map & he'd say, which way now? I'd look at the road, check out the map & hope I choose the most exciting option! It was always an Adventure!
To this day, I think Mother's a bit weary of going out with me, on one of My Drives, she's never quite sure where we may end up, but it will have been interesting, fun and certainly worth the effort! As much as there are many things that drive me crazy about the UK, hence being here in Tassie, I would urge peeps, even with the price of fuel, to try & get out there & explore your Homeland before making the move; it has such a diversity of terrain, depth of history, so many stories to tell, for those willing to take the time to listen, because, knowing where you come from can only enhance your onward journey to Oz..& through Life.
The Bear X
__________________ HERBSTER X in Tasmania where the Wild Things are..
Hi Gwen again
. There has been some great posts on my thread and thankyou to all of you.
and like I said before I have not started this thread to upset anyone just to tell you of my experiences.
to the point where I have given up on going to parents evenings. 
Travel is a Fabulous Educator
