Woofyhugger

Yep, I hate my fortnightly shop which is for me and my partner and it's $450. I know things go up in price over time, but it just seems excessively so, and yet when I was in the UK, I couldn't believe how cheap everything was compared to Oz. My shop was much less factoring exchange rate, not to mention the variety and quality in the UK being so much better. I can't wait to get back (early next year), but saving money is Oz is a nightmare when it goes out your bank account faster than it goes in.

Stormy, I totally agree about the university comment. I did my nursing degree here in Oz about 8 years ago. The whole thing was just a comedy of errors, with our uni struggling to get clinical placements for us, and sadly this was not just specific to our year, or our uni, but many unis with the same organisational issues. Even the things we learnt in lectures we were told to relearn at our clinical placements because it wasn't "real life" on the job, and what we needed to know at work was different to what we were taught. It was a steep learning curve once we graduated from uni! Never again.

Jealous. Have a great trip back to the UK!

Nothing surprises me anymore about the human race, no matter where we are from. I'm bitter and jaded at 40. Every time I start to get some faith in humanity, some single celled organism goes and ruins it.

I had a look on the Lloyds website and they state that for one of their accounts (just basic daily account with a visa debit card or something) you only need your passport and nothing else. I doubted this as surely you would need proof of address etc etc, so contacted them, and they said if you are moving to the UK and want to open an account with them, as stated on the website you only need your passport as it is to assist those new to the UK. Amazeballs! So I will likely be going with them when I get back.

At the end of the day, it's not their life. So no, I wouldn't care what friends or family thought.

I have broken two lease agreements, once because I was quite ill and needed to live with family for a while, and another because I absolutely hated the agency and area. Both times I did things by the book, wrote the agency a letting stating I was breaking my lease and a date I was vacating and would continue to pay rent at the property until new tenants were found as per lease agreement. I gave enough notice that by the time I was ready to leave, they had already found new tenants both times so I no longer had to pay rent after my vacate date and I received my bond back in full both times. If you are going to break lease, do it properly. Places usually rent fast. A good real estate will have your place let out, or at least had a few walk through by the time you need to leave. Just assure them you will pay rent until they (or you) find new tenants as per your obligation. If you find the tenant yourself, all you need do is point them towards the agent and they can apply from there as anyone else would have to apply. Cheers! ​Matt

I lived in Melbourne for 8 years, it's great, very cosmopolitan and European, great food, great shopping. It's a bit more expensive than Adelaide though especially if you want to live in the better suburbs or close to the city. Renting can be fun (read: not really), lots of applicants for the same place, and a lot of times people will offer to pay more than the listed rent to try and get a property over competing tenants. Lots to see and do, and the water is close by. You also have lots to do in rural Victoria if you want a day trip. Plenty of work if you aren't fussy, but if you are determined to work in a particular field and not consider work outside of your field, then you may have a tougher time depending both on what it is you "do" and your experience etc. Obviously some fields of work have more availability than others depending if your field of work is niche or not. There's a lot more people in Melbourne than Adelaide, hence more opportunities, but it also means more people competing for the same job. So if you lads had trouble in Adelaide, depending on what they do, they may have the same issue anywhere, just with more or less people going for the same jobs. Changing states won't magically fix the employment situation, it depends on the person going for the job.

I am not moving back until the end of the year, but I am dreading that I may or may not need to tackle the Habitual Residency Test. And also that it can be a pain in the bum to try and open a bank account, as opposed to just rocking up to the bank in Oz and walking out 20 mins later with your account and plastic card in the mail. But there's really not much I dislike about the UK at all. I even love the cold, and wet. If I have to be picky.. the only thing that truly irritates me is the money.. the different sized paper notes that don't fit in some wallets very well, especially the large 50 quid notes. I love the Australian plastic money.

It's normal to be nervous when you are about to travel across the world to live somewhere you have never been before. I was terrified when I went back to the UK for the first time a few years ago. But really, you're 27, single, and will be in Sydney, that's perfect. You will be fine. Jobs will come once you are here, and if you get strapped for work, you can always apply for work outside of engineering. There are jobs for people who want them and aren't too fussy about what they do. But if you only want to work in Engineering, and understandably so, then you need to expect that a job won't necessarily land at your feet. Listen to your parents, take it easy and see how you go. You have youth on your side and you will be in Australia's most diverse (and expensive) city. Melbournites like myself would argue that in the usual Melbourne vs. Sydney tug of war that has been raging on forever. But seriously, you'll be fine mate. Especially making friends, you're young, and Sydney has a big night life scene if you are into that. But as for work, you'll probably find it easier to get interviews when you are actually in the country. If you are stretched getting engineering work, it might pay to look at other types of work. Try and enjoy it. Your folks are right. ​Matt

Yeah as long as you can prove ties to Oz, you won't have an issue getting a RRV. I left Australia without one, and when I wanted to come back, I just went to Australia House in London, showed them some old tax returns, and old lease agreement, and some other bits and pieces and they had me in and out of Australia House in about 20 minutes with an RRV in my passport. It's valid for 5 years.

I've lived in Sydney, and it's London hands down for me, but each to their own, we all want different things in life.

Been here 40 years and still hate the heat and sunburn. Hot days suck. Air-conditioning is awesome. But, I'd sooner be cold and able to rug up nice and toasty than be sweltering hot and already be down to my undies trying to stay cool and failing when it's 35C at 3am in the morning on some summer nights. Worst nights ever without air-con.

Ask them if they will give you a goodbye present first.. then decide option A or B based on that hehe. Good luck with your move. x

Sadly people only listen to what they want to hear. They want a magic cure to all of life's problems. They end up finding out the hard way, there's not pot of gold at the end of rainbows.

I am taking my dogs over and the cheapest quote I have had was with Dogtainers. Jet Pet was way more expensive. I am also going with Malaysian Airlines, cheap fares and 30kg luggage limit. Sounds like you got a great deal with Sri Lanka though.

I have to laugh when I see the pro-oz people spouting rainbows and sunshine from their arses on the main forums, the poor sods think moving here is going to solve all their problems. No it won't. You'll just be bringing the same problems with you, and picking up a few Aussie ones. No one stops to think that you still need to get up, go to work/school, come home, go to bed and do it all the next day. There's no time for beaches and skin cancer.

You didn't waste 11 months of your life at all. You experienced new things, you challenged yourself, and you grew from that. I am glad you're home and happy. ​Matt

I grew up here, having lived in Oz since I was 3 years old, so I am an Aussie at heart. And if your daughter grows up here, I will assume, like many Aussies, including myself, she won't be able to wait to get off this boring rock and see the world. So many of my mates wish for nothing more than to have a highly coveted EU passport. Many of which would jump ship off Australia if they could, in a flash and these are real Aussies, born here. When you have been here for so long, and for those who move here from the UK without rose coloured glasses, they soon realise Australia has all the problems of every other country. It's not all lazing on the beach, or having BBQs on the back deck. Once the reality of unemployment, cost of living, isolation, crime and more kicks in, they all want to be somewhere else, usually anywhere but Australia. So, even if you never make the move home, maybe oneday, your daughter will want to. Like me, I need to see and live where I was born, where I was supposed to be. I never asked to come to Australia, I was brought here by my parents. I will never know what it would have been like to grow up where I was born. Would I have been a different person? Probably. Would I have been a better person? I reckon I would have had the same opportunities be it growing up in the UK or Australia. I work as an underpaid, over worked nurse. I could have done that in the UK but also had the opportunity for cheap travel and holidays in spain.. but not down here. I can barely afford a holiday to New Zealand, and Perth. Now I am old enough and ugly enough to make my own decisions in life, I can't wait to leave Oz. It's not a bad place, but given the choice, most Aussies would love to live somewhere else in the world. Like anyone else living any where else but Oz.

40 years for me, and I grew up here.

I love how enthusiastic newbies to Oz are.

Oh yes, someone reminded me of the telly over in the UK. Loved it!! I never watch TV in Oz, despite having a massive LCD TV.. it's a dust collector. In the UK I loved watching telly.

Yep, I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels it, especially I ally having both grown up here. I know exactly what you mean though about running out of things good to list after the first few and not knowing exactly why after that.

So there is a thread on the main forums about "What do you love about Australia" and being one of the long term Britstralians, I replied to it. And you know.. I was at a loss as to what to write. Everything everyone else was posting, you know.. the usual, weather, beaches, friendliness, lifestyle, safety, blah blah.. I found negatives in all of it, and how those used to be great when I was a kid, but mostly as an adult, the enjoyment is fleeting or no longer there due to lack of time, or expense etc. For example.. the weather.. you know the land of sunshine! My town has flooded 3 times. It's now a drought, my grass is all dead, my backyard is honestly just dirt and dust. Clothes fade so fast in the sun out here if you don't use a dryer. Not to mention all the things you find living in them if you leave them out at night on the line. I used to love the beaches, but after so many sunburns and now the thought of skin cancer.. no thanks. Not to mention the fact, that when I used to be a kid I would swim fearlessly in rivers and beaches. Nowadays, no way! Stonefish, Blue Ringed Octopus, Sting Rays, Box Jellyfish.. lets see how you enjoy the beaches when you meet one of those. And then people saying the camping lifestyle is great and how safe it is here. My god, I've been bitten by a snake when I was a kid, and a red back as an adult, and had many run ins with white tailed spiders as they LOVE my house. And the spiders were just around home! Sorry, I just couldn't find much I liked about Australia as an adult. People saying it's safe here and there is little crime? Seriously? Have they been living under a rock in Oz? People getting home invaded, shot, stabbed, raped, abducted.. just like in other countries oddly enough. We're not immune to that in Oz. I could only come up with the open spaces (which country UK has also, the landscape just looks different.), the sound of the parrots waking me up in the morning, or dusk time.. and my long term aussie mates who are few and far between. Most of my mates are fair weather friends nowadays. So much for friendly Aussies. Anyway.. I just couldn't find much positive to say in that post I replied to. Not as an adult. Most of the things I wanted to say I liked about Australia, I said about the UK. Go figure.

I also loved the Squirrels!