jimmyay1

You can think of yourselves how you like. Fact is when you open your mouth most Aussies you don't know, will think you're British and see you as a foreigner. I am a citizen now and have been for several years. Can't believe i've lived her now nearly 10 years. I definitely "think" more Australian about certain things and when i go back to the uk , certain things jar a bit and i roll my eyes. Kind of a hybrid now. !!

A lot of the attraction for fairly everyday working and middle class British migrants 20-30 years ago was that they could buy into the classic "aussie lifestyle" suburbs - reasonably well off areas in the main metropolitan centres or other places with a really good quality of life and plenty of well paid jobs. It was definitely a big draw, many bought in without mortgages, and could genuinely transition to a better lifestyle than they had in the uk. Many coming now feel superficially better off ( bigger houses, better weather) but very long commutes, congestion, long working days, being based in outer suburbs miles from anything much other than a characterless strip mall - and certainly not the "dream", pool, trendy area etc achievable by the average person in times past. You only need to look at the type of suburb and home featured on WDU for the average migrant , and then match it with your experience of the lifestyle and locations the better off people in Syd and Melbourne live, to see there is a big and growing disconnect between expectations of Brits who wish to emigrate and the reality of where they will end up being based and what they can afford. People want the pool, garden, short commute, nice high street etc. The reality is that so many people in these cities now live in apartments or townhouses with no back yard of much size and very few will be able to afford the space etc to have pools unless they live far out or in a cheap, less desirable area. Whilst the outer suburbia in the UK and close to the countryside areas are expensive, in Australia, outer suburbs are generally seen as poor suburbs with low amenity and full of relatively less well off first generation Indian, Chinese and, inceasingly, British migrants. The desirable inner areas have become hard to afford unless you are very well off. Perhaps in years to come the exchange rates, house prices in uk compared to oz, etc will make it more worth it again.

I know what you’re trying to say but the reality is not really comparable. - everyone knows and accepts when moving across the world there will be extended periods apart from family. however what makes this very different is that no one would have moved envisaging they’d be forcibly locked away from family for potentially years with no possibility of return even under urgent circumstances- which has been the case for many thousands rejected from leaving. in addition, what makes so terrible for people is there’s no roadmap or any kind of plan or statement about how or when the situation might change - just threats of punishment and ever more frankly abusive rhetoric from some state premiers about those with families overseas. it’s completely different and a million miles away from the situation anyone signed up for. And it’s unique to Oz, not being able to legally leave without explicit permission and paperwork, even if you want to.

There's been quite a lot of talk about a universal Covid vaccine recently, in development. A lot of promising work and studies. Its been suggested it may be available as soon as the end of 2021. Finding the Universal Coronavirus Vaccine - The Atlantic

I feel for may British people who were thinking of emigrating to Australia and for whom even the cheaper states and areas are probably now forever out of reach in terms of buying a house. For anyone wanting to move to Aus the high cost of housing is going to become a real disincentive to bothering if they already live in a reasonable but better value area overseas.

I'm under 50 and have had the vaccine already as family work in healtcare sector so i qualify. Had no hesitation whatsoever to be given Astra Zeneca. Its a great, safe, very effective and low risk vaccine. People are useless at assesing risk. Some of the same people saying "relax, i'm waiting for pfizer". Yet they will take risks which present more than 1 in 250,000 risk of a clot or 1 in 1 million threat of death which is what Astra is, every day of their week just by jumping in their car or taking part in a whole host of everyday activities ( go climb a ladder for instance?). Seriously, anyone over 50 - who now qualify for a jab, should be absolutely beating down the door of the vaccination centres to get jabbed. I did it as soon as i could in April. Australia needs to be vaccinated as a national priority so we can re--open. Everyone should be doing their bit - it's your civic duty to help others - and it is crazy that vaccine centres are empty here in Oz. Just hopeless. There are loads of OAPs who are the most at risk saying theyll wait til later to get a vaccine?? Madness. There'll be an outbreak and everyone will panic. My second jab is in July. Once i'm fully immunised, no one will stop me leaving the country to see relatives in the UK - i will just go via NZ if need be. The outward travel ban is probably illegal in any case. I have plenty of leave, having been locked up for over a year and it's worth the risk (threats of prison for leaving the country - just read that back and tell me this is on any planet normal - yet its what the health minister in Aus has put in place for Australians who dare to try and leave the country without permission - East Germany and North Korea come to mind as pretty much the only countries that have done this) . Europe and the rest of the world are going to be pretty open in the next 3 months and most of the Western World will have completed their vaccination programmes or at least be very well advanced. Little old Aussie will hide under the blanket forever refusing vaccines ? And with a populace cheering on politicians who are putting laws on the statute books which allow for the imprisonment of people who try and leave the country??? Saying people shouldn't be going to see families overseas for funerals and elderly parents requiring help are no exception? Really? I know many in Aus would close the borders forever but no thanks. We should all be very angry about the incompetence and cruelty of some of the current rules and make our views known to authorities whenever we can.

I’ve seen people say it takes 50 minutes or an hour from Mt Eliza to the CBD but if you are travelling at anything like rush hour it’s much much longer than this and daily would be a massive pain. If you can find a well paid job locally, would be much better.

Climate - Adelaide and its surrounds have a genuine Mediterranean type climate. Rainfall is generally seasonal and almost completely absent in the summer season - which is a long one. It is also more “stable” in summer. Melbourne has a more oceanic climate. Although it can get hot in the summer, there are frequent changes in temperature and wind direction and it’s position between the bay, ocean and Alpine areas influences its climate and causes cloud and strong cold fronts to sometimes form. It can also be quite windy. The weather is very mobile and changes fast, though not necessarily to “bad” weather. It rains less in summer than winter, but the pattern is less pronounced than in Adelaide. To compare with Europe, Adelaide’s climate is fairly similar to Crete, Melbourne’s is more like that on the Atlantic coast of Spain (broadly speaking).

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00644/SN00644.pdf Read the above- you have to have lived in the district where you give notice of marriage for at least 7 days before giving notice. There’s then a 28 day minimum notice period after notice is given. This makes it impractical just to turn up and get married there, you do need to show you live there. It was something I hadn’t appreciated or considered before I planned to get married .

How will you get married in the uk if you don’t live there? there are residency requirements to get married there. If you are not ordinarily resident in the uk then you cannot get married there unless you literally go and live there for a period of time. i had this a couple of years ago. ended up having to get legally married here and a celebration in the uk after but the legal marriage took place here. If you’re getting married to an EU national as a Brit you’ll need to meet income financial /support requirements if you both want to move back.

You’ve been here quite a number of years now. Pull of family and having kids can draw folk back to where they have more of a support network. you say your feeling settles with a visit home or family visiting you. That’s because you dearly miss them, it’s quite natural. Its a hard decision with kids, both partners need to be on the same page or agree a way forward completely and commit to it otherwise it will not work out. Plenty of folk do work it out though. I’ve been here 7 years with partner. We don’t have kids. Currently I’m going through a patch where I’m missing people, relatives and friends who live in uk (rather than missing the UK itself). a move back there would be problematic for my partner as their career is v specific and pays a third of what it does here so would probably need to retrain or do something new. Although we’ve had good material success here in Melb, and love the country, the whole thing has been a bit of a disaster in terms of making social connections of any sort. I have no social life other than with my partner, who also works away from home several days each week. We are together at weekends. It’s an odd existence and I long for proper connection with a community or old friends (of which I had many in uk) and regular contact with family now. Watching parents grow older also means there’s more of a pull, as you realise life is short. Other bereavements can also bring this into some focus or change the situation somewhat. Ive often thought a move and finding new challenges in another EU country might suit rather than a direct move to the uk. at least then would be roughly on the same Timezone and only couple hours on an aircraft to see family, rather than 20. Perhaps a compromise. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

I'm going back in November for a couple of big family occasions , wedding and a milestone birthday. Otherwise, I wouldn't be bothering. First trip back since we moved here 3 years ago. Would rather not waste annual leave on UK trips lots of the world still to see. will be good to see family though.

Maybe Melb has more friendly people than Sydney but I really don't know. I've been here the best part of 3 years and haven't yet got any friends or social circle. I've stopped putting pressure on myself about it but kind of accepted this is the way it is. It does make me rather sad though as I had loads of lifelong mates in the UK. But I sometimes wish I had at least some social life here . I've just worked and not made time to build a social network, and I really regret it.

We have not encountered any homophobia, one or two people who have led fairy sheltered lives and been surprised to meet a real live gay person and not met one before... but that's about it. As long as you approach people with a straightforward open friendly attitude you will be fine. Blokes are quite blokey in Oz but that doesn't mean they are prejudiced at all....most people nowadays are pretty supportive and chilled about equal rights and gay people in general. Came from London, supposed to be a beacon of tolerance and diversity but managed to get shouted at one time from a passing car by some homophobe and certain would have thought twice about how I conducted myself in certain areas. You can get idiots anywhere.

melbourne is fab, great fun and the people are not uptight like they can be in sydney . It's a great place to live . And weatherwise....sydney just had more rain in 2 days than Melbourne has had since June last year.

there is no product I can't find here or that I miss from uk. Everything is here, or there are alternative which are as good or better. Possible exception of ready meals which there's not a great range of here but let's face it they are all processes salty crap anyway- make your own food it's nicer. We don't find prices of every day items any more expensive in Melb than in uk certainly if you're sensible and shop around.

mebourne is fine to live in and more probably going on in terms of diversity of social activities if you want them. That said, I have no social life as such, haven't made any friends at all (not one) since we arrived nor socialised with anyone other than my partner, or with colleagues at a company organised social function, since we arrived here over 2 years ago . I guess it's what you make of it.

About 40 percent of Aussies own their homes outright and 30 percent rent. What about interest rates for renters who are saving a deposit or the many who have paid off their homes. To listen to the media you'd think everyone had a huge mortgage. Many have none or would benefit from higher interest rates to be able to save. As usual the indebted benefit!

another milestone in the long slow decline of the UK

I had a quiet Christmas. No family visiting, haven't made any friends here yet so no entertaining. I even spent Christmas day and boxing day alone as my other half was working away. Rather different. pretty much a non event. Did go away post Christmas on a road trip which was fab though.

I had beef pie and peas!

We live in Cheltenham, although we don't have kids, i think it's family friendly. Bought a place here a year ago, nice environment, decent neighbours, 5 mins drive to the bay. space. and only 30-45 mins up to the CBD (if you'll work there). i work suburban and have a 15-20 min commute. I sometimes have to remind myself how lucky i am although i drive a fair bit with work, its good not to have a long commute. I lived in Elsternwick previously, and know the st kilda/elwood area well. Elwood is family friendly, lots of apartments though. St Kilda's fun but more urban and lively. If you want a house and some space you could do a lot worse than look at the bayside suburbs as mentioned above. Also depends on budget of course!

The $150k a year figure is nonsense. There is no clear answer . It totally depends on where you live, and how much your outgoings are. Will you have a mortgage or are you you planning to be mortgage free? Will you need to rent in an expensive area for work, or can you live further out ? If you plan to buy a large family property with a minimal deposit in an expensive inner capital city suburb and a large mortgage, yes you will "need" a high income to service your large outgoings. Of course. If not, you won't. We find the weekly shop for fresh food is no more dear than the UK , actually often cheaper than where we lived in London, for better quality .You just need to know where to go, avoid Coles gouging etc. Ditto fuel costs for cars, petrol's about half the price it is in the UK . Some stuff is dearer, but if your overheads are low then you can make do with far, far less. It's impossible to say what income you will need. You will need to do your own research.

I've been here 2 years and not made any friends yet, and no social life here other than with partner. I get on with folk at work but we don't socialise outside. I find Aussies friendly on the whole. I guess I just haven't really made the effort properly. Other things have taken priority over the last couple of years, buying house, moving , getting established and secure in job. Perhaps a New Years resolution for 2015, get a proper work life balance and some friends. i have/ had a close and long established friendship group built over a lifetime in the uk. it's lonely sometimes without that support here, though I've learnt to manage. But I also need to make an effort .

Just that really! Chatting with a couple of poms recently, they've both been back to uk within a year of emigrating, for a holiday, all good. I guess whatever suits. I have no particular desire to visit. I may do at end of next year which will be 3 years since I left. It's for a family milestone birthday otherwise frankly I wouldn't bother at all. How often do you visit The uk, or do some people never bother at all? My holidays this year I went to Europe but we didn't bother to go to the uk. Why waste the holiday when there's so many other places to see in the world. Or is this selfish?