WelcomeIf you are new to Poms In Oz and migrating to Australia or currently living in Australia feel free to say hi to all the other either in or moving to Oz.
Hooray… at last I have found a web sight forum where you can share your experience, issues, thoughts and feeling concerning OZ!
As the title says…. just got back from OZ holiday 07
Yes we have been seriously thinking about emigrating to Oz for around ten yrs now, either to buy a business or to carry on working in our chosen careers of Mechanical/Electrical engineer and Occupational Health Nurse/ Advisor
So we decided to take a holiday to OZ, to see if it is for us and do the research
We hired a motor home from backpackers (issues there that require resolving) and just drove...........
We went up the Pacific Highway taking in the coastal towns and up into Queensland to the Gold Coast, swung a left and then onto the New England Highway taking in the sights of Tenderfield, Scone and Tamworth etc, dropped down onto the route 69 to the south of Sydney to hit the coast of Windang, (Shell Harbour), Lake Conjula, Batemans Bay, then over to Canberra n (Gundaroo), back over the great diving range again to hit the coast of Windang, up to Sydney via Scarborough and ho ! not to mention taking in the sights of Bondi! Then fly back to the UK (sinking feeling)
11 nights is just not enough time (Work gets in the way)
However, we are both hooked, and going through the process of visa
We both enjoy the out door lifestyle: fishing, camping, caravanning, boating and travel
Our Experiences:
House price out of Sydney start around £140,000-50 for a detached property, can find cheaper Park Home style depending where you are located, utility bills: depending where you are and what services you have are on par with the UK or can be slightly cheaper, I was told that housing rates can include water rates depending where you are (no community charge, housing rates like our old UK system) (Hooray !!)
Petrol: 65-75 pence per litre, cheaper in Queensland a good 20 pence cheaper in Q,
NSW is an expensive state to live, Queensland is cheaper and others
Furniture is expensive and including clothing, however, like the UK you have to shop about
Electrical goods, double the price of the UK, no Currys/ Comet, small independent traders, however, in the larger towns, Cities you can find larger electrical stores where they can be a little more competitive,
Did not take much notice of car price, I don’t think there is a great deal of difference,
Touring Caravans (close to my heart) god did not I cough !!! talking £20,000 for a half decent one ! nearly new or new, the vans I must admit are a better quality than the UK, I would say on par with European vans and better (business opportunities there !)
Ok ladies (not be sexists, 9/10 we get lumbered with the food shopping),
Add a good ten pounds on top of your average food shop (food is a lot more expensive)
Coles (OZ Store)
Woolworths(food), Asda wallmart, K- Mart and good old Aldi, yes good old Aldi (pleased me and is very popular with the Aussies) lots of shopping malls with private independent traders for veg, fish, meat (sold in the kilo, slightly cheaper than the UK), oh! By the way they love their pies! (expensive)
The people: they speak there minds,(says as is), very warm welcoming people, the preconception is that the Aussies are nations of drunks not true, to many misleading UK adverts xxxx ,and they want the POMS back !!! (hidden issues their)
Distances are longer, 1-2 hour drive to work is socially acceptable
The environment is breath taking, I have travelled al over Europe, USA etc and there is now where really to match it, the coast line just gets better and better
No pubs as such just bars in hotels, bowling, memorial, soldier clubs (like our working mens and Brit legions) clubs close early 9.30pm during the week and later at the weekend, average 1-4 place to drink per small town/ area
Over to you:
Well I can understand why people do not settle and others do!
You certainly have to like the outdoor life style, integrate into the community, for sports, community events, get involved in and out of work and be sociable!
You have to take the time to find your little piece of OZ/ area, we did and found that we liked the Windang (Shell Harbour) Illawarra, NSW south of Sydney 2hrs, as it ticks all the boxes, on the coast, Lake Illawarra, little islands, plenty to do, work in the area and not to far from Sydney airport to pick up the visitors! And above all it reminds both of Wilton/ Redcar by the sea, (Steel works/ mining) just as a gentle reminder to keep our feet on the ground
We talked to a lot of Aussie and Ez pats of all ages, some have regrets around leaving family and friends, however, as they say you have to get over it and move on, it’s your life !
Would I recommended OZ ? yes, but you have to do your research, prepare, get over the first hurdles of missing family and friends (make new ones), integrate, don’t get scared !!! and at the end of the day OZ is no longer a million miles away, and not that expensive to get there !!
Just thought I would say welcome to you and congratulate you on a very informative post.
Very interesting for everyone to read and digest, hope you make the big leap when your ready. Good luck,
Emmy Green
__________________ "It's Easy to be pleasant when life flows bye like a song, but the friend worthwhile is the one that can smile when evrything goes wrong"
Hi
We got back on Tuesday night and it was really intersting to read your views on things. We didn't really find the food prices much different to be honest but maybe we weren't keeping a close eye on them. We shopped mostly at Woolworths in Whitfords and were impressed by the choice and quality of the produce. Cars seemed a little dearer but apparently they keep there value better than over here. Public transport was great. The trains were clean and the free bus around the city centre a big bonus. We also found the taxis cheap and well organised. I'm not sure about the white goods but the prices advertised in the newspaper ads seemed reasonable and not overtly expensive (these were the bigger retailers though). I do think that the opening hours of food ooutlets, some pubs etc.. are generally a lot shorter than in the UK, we went to the large Whitfords retail centre on a Sunday morning to find it closed all day! We were very surprised but then thought actually its not a bad thing really.
Mandy x
Yes it helps. Thanks. But can I ask about the motor home ? Price,long for,and where from ? Thinking of doing the same. Down the east coast then over to Perth.
That was a brill read Mel,
the only suprising thing is my brother in Melbourne tells me that he finds cars cheaper in Aus. (based on me just buying a second hand car against the same second hand car for sale in melbourne)
What a fantastic post & welcome to PIO, you will be addicted to it like us all. I went to Sydney for 10 days in July to sort a sponsorship out and it was amazing, felt like home i loved it and know we will be doing right thing when the time happens, unfortunately it fell through with the company a month after i got back to UK but we wont be giving up as it wasnt anything to do with our application where it went wrong it was the company went bust but our time will come eventually. Good luck with the process
to pio that was a very intresting thread loads off advice thanks .. karen 
