pintpot

How could you possibly rate that house higher than this one, a snip at somewhere north of a million bucks?? Look! 373 sq.m of land as well! Honestly guys, get things in perspective

I reckon there's quite a lot in that, fish I couldn't comment on any city other than Sydney as I've only been to one of the other capitals and that for a very short time. Never been to Perth so have no opinion on what it may or may not offer. But I think your take on people being out of their comfort zone is quite accurate for a fair few people

You don't really have 58,000 members though, do you? You'll have a few duplicates in there, lots of people who signed up but never bothered coming back regularly or indeed more than once, loads more who used to be on the board but haven't logged in for years, a few aliases probably.........

My son and my brother (who's visiting us for the weekend as he's in Brisvegas for 3 weeks on business, but lives in Europe), earlier today.... [ATTACH=CONFIG]14305[/ATTACH] Aren't kids great at closing their eyes at the crucial moment? :biglaugh:

Sorry to hear of that....we were up at Pam Beach today, lovely walk up to Barrenjoey Lighthouse and lunch in the cafe before heading off. I love it up there I've almost been caught out by that rule before - you get used to it quickly though

You get disagreement/arguments on all forums The things that spark it off are usually generalisations about one place or the other, stridently expressed opinions (someone will always have a different one), and people posting stuff that's plain wrong from a position of ignorance. But most are willing to help and there's loads of good info available from the community. If disagreement gets to you, just ignore it I think this forum is pretty tame tbh compared to many. And people here are a bit too keen to "run and tell teacher" IMO. I've been on some of those forums where it's all "hugz" and find them nausea inducing.....but hey, each to their own

It's the irrelevant comparator you used that was the problem. By saying "10 out of 55,000" it suggests that only 10 out of those 55,000 are people who might be interested in coming home. Which is patently nonsense. Of course the thread was full of people who were talking about not making Oz their permanent home - that is, after all, the entire point of the thread......

The same. Very irritating as replacing all the spices, baking ingredients, and other "occasional" use items we had in our store cupboard probably cost upwards of $1000. I didn't work it all out, didn't want to

Orienteering, I used to love that.....had we stayed in the UK it was something we were planning to do lots of, because my son's school was massive on it (for the usual reason that there was a sports master who did it for fun, so encouraged all the kids too...) Maps and running combined, what's not to like? Thanks for that, you've just sparked me into looking in to yet another sport to find a club somewhere near us for the future. Let's hope they have access to better maps than the rubbish that's sold in the shops here, mind.....

In this respect it's the variety I miss without having to drive for hours. There are tons of walks near us (it helps being on the edge of a national park I guess) and we make a fair amount of use of them. I find the Sydney bush a bit monotonous though tbh, but there's plenty of opportunity. It's not NZ, which is a walkers' paradise, but it's pretty good. Now, OS maps, those I do miss In response to the OP, the "outdoor lifestyle" is a phrase that I sometimes find grates a bit cos it's such a cliche, and I totally agree with PB that how much you want to be outside is a personal thing rather than a country thing, the way some people assume that they are going to be transformed from couch potatos into bronzed surfie gods just by moving countries is odd. But there IS lots of opportunity here and we certainly try and make the most of it Sports facilities here are much more widespread given the size of population IMO - swimming pools especially, but sports fields as well - and there are loads more sports clubs as well, all of which seem to be very easy to get involved with and very open and friendly. My son does soccer, gymnastics, swimming and golf, I cycle or run to work, play golf a bit and am toying with playing cricket again next summer, we all enjoy the beach, swimming and mucking about in the surf as well as walking. Plan to get the boy into nippers when he's old enough (18 months time), I'm sort of toying of having a bash at surfing next year as well. There might be some tennis involved too soon if we can fit it in. As for skiing, my wife and I used to be pretty avid skiiers so are planning a long weekend on our own this winter to give the NSW slopes a try, with a view to going as a family for a week next winter (either here in NSW or in NZ, I'm leaning towards the latter as I'm not expecting much of the low mountains here but you never know, we could be really surprised) It's worth adding that for us we have quite a bit more time to do this stuff too, because I do a lot less commuting, so that helps both mine and my boy's activity levels. But we always did a lot of outdoor things at home too. I have a half marathon to do on Sunday, did I mention that? :wink: Looking forward to it, well mostly. Flattish course in the centre of Sydney = good, dawn start on a Sunday = not so good. Hope it's not too chilly :-)

Trudging slowly over wet sand Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen This is the coastal town That they forgot to shut down Armageddon - come Armageddon! Come, Armageddon! Come! Originally inspired by the pure boredom of Melbourne whilst waiting to die, of course. As envisaged by Nevil Shute :wink:

Thanks for your valuable contribution :animal-beaver:

That's even worse than Maryrose's dodgy arithmetic!

I agree with you, if that (getting dual citizenship) is the primary or only driver for moving to or staying in Oz. But since they (the commonwealth) make it pretty easy to achieve, if you're here anyway for other reasons, you may as well, it keeps a big future option open for the whole family If we didn't like it here, staying for 4 years wouldn't be something we'd be planning on doing. But since we like it for now, and my job is here for now and will be for at least 3 years, it would be odd not to bother I think

Well, the entire point of the thread is about people who don't think their move to Aus is permanent What did you expect? And it hardly makes them negative posts, either

Nice idea for a thread......I like it here, and my wife probably likes it more than the UK tbh. Not sure about our son, he's too young to give a reliable opinion. He's perfectly happy here, so that'll do me We came for purely economic reasons - I got headhunted out of the UK at a reasonable premium on what I was on at home and with obvious prospects for rapid progression. We're probably a bit better off here but most of the increase goes on vastly more expensive housing. Good points of living here are numerous (weather, lifestyle, massively less commuting, city life, beach/coast proximity, more sports activities, made some good friends, economic prospects are bright). The negative side is more about feel than tangible things. I've lived and worked abroad a lot before but when I did that I was single or in a previous life with a foreign OH. I've never taken my British family out of Britain before so I fretted massively about doing that - thankfully they are probably more settled than I. In doing that though, we've learned a few things about us as a family. At home we lived in an idyllic Suffolk village which I loved hugely. I thought my wife did, and so did she at the time, but moving away has made her realise not. And I've realised that I am much more emotionally rooted in the English countryside - it's the thing I miss the most - than I thought I was, and much more than she is. In coming to Sydney she's realised she's a city girl really, or at least suburban. In some respects it was easy for me at home - I got to go into London and get my slice of city buzz every day which she didn't. But it's made us realise that when we go back we'll be living in a very different place and have a different life to the one we left behind. The city buzz of London is the other thing I miss, on a personal, cultural and business level. I know lots hate the bustle of big cities but I love it, always have. And whilst Sydney is fun, it ain't the half of London in any respect, it's hugely smaller in opportunity and outlook. Right here, right now, there's loads of business opportunity here, but the work's a bit, well, dull at times. Lots of medium sized stuff rather than exciting big things. The numbers all stack up better than they currently do in the UK but it lack a bit of edge, a bit of challenge, a bit of competition, a bit of sexiness if I'm quite honest. It's all very friendly and cosy and easy, but it's a bit "too easy"TM IYSWIM. There's loads of opportunity to progress my career here, but I reckon there's a limit to it and I am still very ambitious. So can't see me staying forever for that reason, and because at heart I am proudly British and always will be, and will always want to settle at home at some point. So at the moment the current plan is to do 4 years to get the passports and then review it again. At that point I think we will probably put a likely timescale on it but don't know what that timescale will be. Probably less than 8 years in total as by then our son will be 12 and we'll have to make serious decisions about high school/exam systems, and therefore university etc etc etc - and I can't see me wanting to commit to the extra 10 years or so that will entail. All that's pure speculation based on how I feel right now and could easily change. And it's also a very personal view, I've deliberately used "I" throughout this post even though the decision will be, of course, a family one. We'll see how we feel at the 4 year mark. At the moment we're really enjoying life in general here and the improved work/life balance in particular. And there's a huge country out there, of which we've seen virtually nothing, so I'm really looking forward to exploring as much as we can - and also going back to NZ, which we both love (for holidays!). I doubt very much if those other places will change our minds about staying though, as my reasons for this probably not being a permanent move are about not being in England, and not being in the London business market and that would still apply wherever in Oz we went. Good luck - I like your posts, no need to justify how you feel to people as I know sometimes you have felt driven to......and you always seem to have a positive outlook to me

I'm prepared to take one for the team and offer my services to 7 or 8 27-yr old Aussie women. Maybe 10 at a push. Just doing my bit, like.....

Lovely post Ghost....we're happy here but that still brought a small tear to my eye. SO pleased to hear about your kids' happiness, that alone makes it all worth it Good luck :-)

Signed up a deal with some consultants first thing and got some good market intel from them over coffee. Then headed into town for an industry long lunch at an excellent little Italian place just off College St - superb food, good networking, enjoyable and lively conversation. There is a lot of "conversation" at the moment regarding various transport and associated regeneration/urban design projects for the centre of Sydney. This was a bit of a sharpener for a bigger industry forum on Monday, I love this sort of shaping, it's fun. Anyway, it reminded me of some of the things I like about it here*: Sydney is very small/compact....we were just off Hyde Park, almost a literal stone's throw from the city centre and on a quiet backstreet that felt like it could have been in Balmain or somewhere It's so friendly - in business people take you at face value and there's much less "reserve judgement until I've worked out who he knows and how important he is" which you get in London The business community is so small too - it's so quick to make connections and start being a known face in industry circles here, also helped by the above. I've only been here 5 minutes and feel well embedded. London is so much bigger and massively more competitive There is loads of great food and restaurants here, so long as you avoid the tourist traps The weather today was fab and has been for ages. Lovely sunny, warmish autumn days. Put a real spring in my step on the way back to the office So got back to the office about 3:30, couldn't go in as I'd had a glass of wine and we have uber-strict rules. So got my boss out of the office for a coffee and filled him in on events, then went to the gym as I had spare time. No one cares if you do that here either, another good thing. Easy light session on account of the wine and not wanting to knacker myself as I have a half-marathon on Sunday, another good thing Then home early and played with my son, another good thing. Now I'm watching the England test live, another good thing It's (almost)* all good tbh, I basically got paid today to eat, drink, hobnob, work out and go home early. All in really nice weather and I got home at 5:15 instead of the minimum 7:30pm I used to at home. What's not to like? *In the interests of balance, there are a couple of things that I could see as less good here - whilst the industry is cosy here, it's kind of too cosy. I can't help thinking in the interests of making money, it could do with a bit of a kick up the a4se, be a bit more competitive, a bit more rapacious. I'm probably too used to London, but I like a challenge.....there's a bit too much win-win here, what's wrong with grinding the competition into the dirt? :wink: Also - fark me, the "conversation" is all well and good, but they don't half like to talk** here. Actually getting something done would be nice every once in a while. Which was one of my main arguments today....too much debating the finer points, make a call (the funding is there) and make it happen would be nice, the "issues" get over-engineered to the point where inertia and apathy takes over. Local government here needs to heed the words of Abe Lincoln about trying to please all the people all the time **Yes, I know. Guilty as charged

http://www.smh.com.au/business/singing-from-same-song-book-20120516-1yrd3.html Not a lot of room for complacency in there - but I'd like to see how this colours announcements from other miners over the nest few months; and government response Look away now if you have no interest in economics :wink:

Is a car an absolute must? If I were single, living and working centrally, I'd be tempted not to bother, inthe same way as I didn't bother in London - it's useful for shopping but a PITA for everything else. Anywhere reasonable inner city will probably fit your bill. It's hard to pick out any particular area as all have quiet pockets and most have plenty of not quiet pockets. Possibly slightly cheaper to the west of Moore Park (so not Darlo or Moore Pk from your list)?

Still too personal for me tbh - but good luck with it Hopefully you'll just get actual spends/budgets in dollars rather than loads of noise about what that "equates" to - which is meaningless. Earnings in $, Spending in $, it's the only way you can work it out

Try not to make too big a deal of it - like saying "this is your last birthday in England", "this will be your last month in England", "next time you see this person it will be on Skype", stuff like that. With adults it helps some to understand exactly what's involved and potential implications - not with a 4 year old Most little kids dislike the prospect of change so his reactions are quite normal. But they tend to deal with it quite well when it happens

Since I can't vote in Aus, I'd be quite happy if they'd remove my tax bill Good idea :-)

Sounds like you've landed on your feet, well done