Tasmania or the UK??

As you may know, we're Dutch and after reading a lot of stories about people missing their loved ones back home, we started having doubts about moving.

We have our visa, almost sold our house and ready to go, but we can't decide if we're going to move to Tasmania or the UK.

So maybe you can help us?

Pro's en con's Tas and the UK: :chatterbox::arghh::twitcy::nah::yes:

It might help if we knew why you want to leave the Netherlands. What type of work you are looking for and ideas of lifestyle.

Also what made you choose Tasmania in the first place over other Australian destinations.

After it really depends on what you are looking for, what is good for one doesn't suit another..........

The more we have to go on the more useful our answers can be.

Good point!

We're leaving the Netherlands because homeschooling is illegal, but they don't provide education for all kids.

Because the Netherlands are to crowed and the government is to controlling.

The Netherlands is going to fast for us.

We constantly have the feeling we were born 100 years to late.

We decided to move to Tasmania because they could sponsor our visa.

Homeschooling is legal and children are accepted in schools when you enrol them.

And the kindness, the space and the friendly people.

Edit: My husband is a plasterer and I was a welfare worker once.

We just want to slow life down and get a good school for our kids.

I'd be booking the flights to Tasmania you won't find the lifestyle you want in the UK, if the Netherlands is going fast the UK is in hyper speed.............reading what you want I think Tasmania would be ideal for you!

I agree with what Baz said. If you're after a relaxed lifestyle and think you were born 100 years too late, Tassie will he heaven on earth!

Yup I agree with Baz and Runs. Tas it is!!

But - do consider the economy. Tas is actually worse than the UK with around 8% unemployment

The unemployment in the Netherlands is 8,7% and rising...

But construction jobs aren't the biggest problem in the Netherlands, education jobs are.

What about Tas?

Tasmania still sounds great and we're really looking for that lifestyle.

But what about family in Europe and the education system in Tas??

And how do you get by the first months.

(Sounds like cold feet, doesn't it.... :laugh:)

(It's great to finally be talking about these things, because friends and relatives just want you close by. :cute:)

Have you been to Tasmania? Rather less in the way of social security there than Netherlands. The big one being lack of pension.

Yes we've been there and loved it. :rolleyes:

That's one of our big concerns about moving!

How do you deal with things like that??

As you may know, we're Dutch and after reading a lot of stories about people missing their loved ones back home, we started having doubts about moving.

We have our visa, almost sold our house and ready to go, but we can't decide if we're going to move to Tasmania or the UK.

So maybe you can help us?

Pro's en con's Tas and the UK: :chatterbox::arghh::twitcy::nah::yes:

Well I love both but they are world's apart! Tasmania is a very, very mini UK! Just as Australia and the UK are so different to actually live in - culturally I mean. I'm back in UK after 31 years in Oz and I left UK when I was 31. I am finding the UK far superior in so many ways and there is so much more to do here, places to see, cost of food etc is so much cheaper, cars are cheaper, housing is cheaper - I'm awed! I've been all around Oz, staying for some quite long periods in some States (including Tasmania) over a period of 4 years but there is no way I would ever be able to explore the whole of Britain as it is so very diverse every few miles you travel unlike Australia which looks much the same for hundreds and hundreds or kilometres when travelling. We have been here 4 months now and are still trying to get our head around our local towns, cities and villages and moors/lakes/woodland/beaches etc. Many people have travelled around Oz in less time than that! We thought we'd be travelling to Europe and popping over to Paris from here but there is so much to see and so much to do here that I have no idea when that will happen. Good luck with your choices but it seems like a choice between a bicycle and a Maserati!

Great to hear the other side of the story too!

How is life in the UK for you, because it sounds to me like your life became very busy.

We've been to the UK and to Tas, but we've only seen city's in the UK.

What I don't like about the Netherlands is; they want everything and they want it yesterday.

If someone sends you an email they get mad if you wait until the weekend to answer it.

At the supermarket everybody is in a hurry...

Yes we've been there and loved it. :rolleyes:

 

That's one of our big concerns about moving!

How do you deal with things like that??

With difficulty. I lived in Germany but mostly France prior to returning to Australia after a number of decades. A mistake in the sense of a very comfortable retirement. I cannot comment on Tasmania but WA has changed considerably since being here. The costs are rather prohibitive.

I would possibly without knowing your circumstances be inclined more towards UK. Reasons easy access home and plenty of smaller places to choose from. That is not to say Tasmania is not without advantages. But the cost, economy, distance from everywhere not to say perhaps an insular nature in certain respects would incline me towards UK. If in my case at present in OZ, Tasmania would be well worth a look.

I like The Netherlands. But prefer Amsterdam. Not sure I could do a small town there. Utrecht rather liked.

I think Tasmania will suit you- very beautiful,slow pace of life and quite conservative in values ( on the whole).I would check out Launceston and surrounds, it is slower than Hobart and I am sure you won't be alone in homeschooling there. The church I go to in Melbourne has several families who home school including a few families that have never used any other form of education for their children. Some of the other families send their children to small Christian schools. There is a lot of choice around here.

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If someone sends you an email they get mad if you wait until the weekend to answer it.

At the supermarket everybody is in a hurry...

Just have to go out so will answer you in more detail later on.

But the above is one problem you won't have in Tasmania. The common complaint here is that it takes soooooo long to get anything done! :wink:

The lifestyle can be very relaxed here in Tas, but no more so, than a Rural village in the UK.

There are still problems here, Crime, High unemployment, lack of jobs, as with the UK.

The Unemployment is very high at present, Julys figures were 8.7% and that is just the tip of the iceberg, as so many are not included in those figures as they are not able to claim unemployment benefit.

The Economy is very bad at present, but whether it will get any better after the Election, no-one knows

If I had a choice between a Rural village in the UK, and living here, personally I would choose the UK.But thats just my opinion and others will feel differently.

All you can do, is go online and read local Tassie newspapers , and see what is going on here, and deceide whether its for you or not.

You will hear good and bad about every state, and every country, and you have to work out what is best for you and your family

Good Luck with it All.

The unemployment in the Netherlands is 8,7% and rising...

But construction jobs aren't the biggest problem in the Netherlands, education jobs are.

What about Tas?

Tasmania still sounds great and we're really looking for that lifestyle.

But what about family in Europe and the education system in Tas??

And how do you get by the first months.

(Sounds like cold feet, doesn't it.... :laugh:)

(It's great to finally be talking about these things, because friends and relatives just want you close by. :cute:)

Firstly....getting cold feet and the "wobbles" as the time to migrate approaches is quite normal. It is, after all, an enormous step to take.

How you will cope with distance from family and friends is something no one else can answer. Individiduals vary so much. Some really miss it and struggle...some cope quite easily. Some really miss the activity of being close to 300+ million other people in Europe. Others are quite happy to go back for a holiday whenever they can afford...but return saying, "love visiting, but thank goodness I don't have to live there anymore."

As others have said, if you feel that you were born 100 years too late and you want a more relaxed lifestyle, Tasmania would suit that perfectly.

Homeschooling is not a problem...quite a few families home school.

Crowding is certainly not an issue. You can live on acreage, if you choose, yet still be only 20 minutes away from city facilities.

Employment is an issue. The building industry is in a slump at the moment. But the building industry head honchos were on local TV the other evening saying they anticipate a shortage of building tradesmen next year when several large building projects begin in the Hobart area. But that seems to be the way of the building industry here - either boom or bust.

I'm not sure about pension transfer from the Netherlands...but will give a link which may help.

If you earn here you will, of course, have money compulsorily placed in a superannuation scheme for your retirement. And you may, if you become eligible through citizenship etc., eventually receive a full or part age Australian pension after retirement.

You may find some interesting/useful information in the website of the Tasmanian Dutch Australian Society. There was very heavy migration from the Netherlands to Tasmania in the post war years...in fact an area near Kingston, south of Hobart, used to be known as "Little Groningen" and, when I was at high school at Taroona in the 1960s, it seemed that half the students were Dutch (including the patron of the following society...and all his siblings :biggrin:)

Their newsletter "Tasman Telegraph" gives some interesting historical perspectives and current happenings which show the Society is very active in Tasmania.

http://www.dutchaustraliansociety.org.au/index.html

The Unemployment is very high at present, Julys figures were 8.7% and that is just the tip of the iceberg, as so many are not included in those figures as they are not able to claim unemployment benefit.

.

Just noticed this and wanted to point out that unemployment figures are not calculated on the number of people claiming unemployment benefits - for the very reason that not everyone is eligible to claim - but on surveys conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics of a statistically significant percentage of the population.

Well I love both but they are world's apart! Tasmania is a very, very mini UK! Just as Australia and the UK are so different to actually live in - culturally I mean. I'm back in UK after 31 years in Oz and I left UK when I was 31. I am finding the UK far superior in so many ways and there is so much more to do here, places to see, cost of food etc is so much cheaper, cars are cheaper, housing is cheaper - I'm awed! I've been all around Oz, staying for some quite long periods in some States (including Tasmania) over a period of 4 years but there is no way I would ever be able to explore the whole of Britain as it is so very diverse every few miles you travel unlike Australia which looks much the same for hundreds and hundreds or kilometres when travelling. We have been here 4 months now and are still trying to get our head around our local towns, cities and villages and moors/lakes/woodland/beaches etc. Many people have travelled around Oz in less time than that! We thought we'd be travelling to Europe and popping over to Paris from here but there is so much to see and so much to do here that I have no idea when that will happen. Good luck with your choices but it seems like a choice between a bicycle and a Maserati!

I think you were just lucky to move to the UK when you did.

Most Aussies i've met who did the whole UK thing in their early 20's in early to mid 2000's thought the UK was horribly expensive and the wages not that great either.

In the UK to rent a room in London cost about 33% of my net salary to live in a very average suburb when I was making 25k which is around the average wage I believe in UK

I do miss easy access to europe however.

Tasmania, like Australia in general I suppose is full of contrasts, particularly when it comes to employment. In a population of around 500,000 around 200,000 live in "Greater Hobart" and Launceston has a population of around 100,000.

There are other population centres (Burnie, Devonport etc) but these two are the main ones. I'm reasonably happy that I could find employment in Hobart if I needed to in my industry (IT). If I was living in Orford for example I wouldn't be so sure. I just picked Orford off the top of my head - there are plenty of smaller places!

The point I'm making is that % unemployment rate is likely not spread evenly throughout Tasmania. You are more likely to find work in the larger population centres, Hobart and Launceston.

Thanks for all the help with this roller-coaster!

The point I'm making is that % unemployment rate is likely not spread evenly throughout Tasmania. You are more likely to find work in the larger population centres, Hobart and Launceston.

Yes, this is an important point. Unemployment rates are calculated for each area and, at the last quarterly count in June, the rate varied from 3.8% in Kingborough (the area south of Hobart around Kingston) to 12.6% in George Town, north of Launceston.

We were planning on moving to Kingborough.

The biggest fear is not finding a job and scared of being homesick...

Because of my friends and family, not the Netherlands.

How did you all make the dissension and left??

The cold feet are killing us! :eek:

Kingborough is a great place, you'll love it there. Blackmans Bay in particular is one of my favourite places that we'd want to live in. We've made loads of great friends here which has really helped with the homesickness.

I think you can second-guess yourself for ever on whether you should move or not. Ultimately you won't ever be 100% sure, we certainly weren't. One thing that was very clear to us though was that if we got as far as we had and didn't do it we'd regret it for ever.

I'd say go for it. If it goes wrong then you can deal with it a number of ways - including ultimately move back if it comes to it - but if you don't try you'll never know.

One other thing, keep reminding yourself of all the things you'll do when you're here. Do you have the Tasmania DVD from the government people? I forget where it was from now but if you don't have it I'll look it up and post a link. It's great and we watched it about 100 times before we moved!

Good luck.

Great to hear the other side of the story too!

How is life in the UK for you, because it sounds to me like your life became very busy.

We've been to the UK and to Tas, but we've only seen city's in the UK.

What I don't like about the Netherlands is; they want everything and they want it yesterday.

If someone sends you an email they get mad if you wait until the weekend to answer it.

At the supermarket everybody is in a hurry...

We've slowed down now - we were only busy by choice as we were like kids in a sweet shop! We go somewhere new about once a week and spend a 'tourist day'. We want to see so many places in the UK but there's no hurry. It all depends on what your personal needs and wants are. If you want to still see your friends from time to time then the UK is a lot nearer to the Netherlands of course which you must have taken into account. Just remember that although Australian's have English as their national language it is still a very different country to anywhere in the UK. Like any country, it depends where you live and we are extremely lucky to live in S.E Devon. We still can't decide where to buy a house though - too much choice!