cava83

I am considering buying a dog here, if we return, we will bring it back. Wife thinks it's cruel, but they tend to normally suffer less than us on such distances. No costs are mentioned on this thread, wondering if anyone would not mind sharing? Just for a rough estimate Thanks very much

I see some love or it hate it. We've only just moved from the UK (Surrey) to near Melbourne. It has been a shock, not what we were sold by the company that hired the other half, and not what we were told by people who lived here. There are positive and negative elements living in any country. For me, it was easier than the wife moving abroad. I moved from Spain at a young age to the UK, then back and forth, and other places, back to the UK and now here. The biggest element is missing the family or family events, that means a lot for us. However, some of them we didn't see that often so it's not the end of the world. What is upsetting is not being able to see a relative if they are poorly or funeral. Also, unable to catch a flight back to Spain without a moments notice is a bummer or quick holiday. Saying that though, we like it here, it's nice and most surprisingly, the wife does like it. Financially, we are not better off here. A lot more expense. One of the main things on the back of our heads is, if and when we are going to return back to the UK. Because you become "unsettled" as you don't really feel rooted, so that is one of our main concerns. Not sure if we are going to live in other areas of Australia, I hope so, specially if a bit warmer. Overall, people will have different opinions and reasons for staying/or going back. What is important to remember is that everyone is different and GENERALLY we cannot criticise people for their opinions/actions in regards to staying or moving back. This is a forum after all, from my little postings on here, seems like a brilliant community and some really great advice. If you stay or go, make sure it's a joint decision, not rushed and be happy Thanks, C. ps: I hate polished concrete flooring that doesn't have underfloor heating, this house is freezing !!!

Thank you very much

Thanks Tina, appreciated. I will have a look. This is the issue with Australia (please don't think I am being negative) there isn't much competition i.e on this instance coles and woolworths, hence they can charge what they want The pricing fluctuates so much, red peppers the other week where $11.99 kilo at Woolworths, then went down to $4.99, then again down to $3.99, now gone back up I think. Steak and chicken is great here, that isn't too bad. The chicken breasts are massive. No reason for the pricing of food to be too high, specially if locally produced. I do love it though, how the massive business chain's here aren't so prominent (well at least from what I have seen) love independent businesses. Geelong is cool, so many people where the wife works hate it, as they have another office in Melbourne and they think Melbourne is amazing and Geelong is a dive. Sure it's sleepy, but it's not too bad. Wish there where more pubs though and alcohol didn't cost a fortune, even when I was working in central London, the alcohol was cheaper there, crazy Right, time to try out the trains and work out how to get into Melbourne and figure out the trams. Thanks again for responding.

I'm sorry for my naivety, but what tax rebate is this? Thanks in advanced.

We are from Surrey (sort of) And have moved to Geelong just south of Melbourne. We were both working in London, taking home a descent amount of money. Were able to save (well I was normally, wife is not so good. Bless her). I did the typical analysing costs and so on, of what to expect but nothing worked out to plan. We are really enjoying Australia, at the moment we only have one income (wife) which is enough to live on comfortably but not enough to save (unless you stay in all the time) Somethings we have found cheaper such as petrol, but we have a company lease which is a ridiculous amount of money. RAV4 (basic), with petrol card is $940 a month roughly. Rent isn't too bad, but only because we are in Geelong, been looking at Sydney and other places, they are crazy. We are paying $540 a week. Food , interesting one, there is only two of us, and I really don't know how we spend so much (we aren't obese!) Avocado's in Woolworths are normally around $3.00, which is crazy. Small salad bag you are looking at $4. Juices around $4 for cheap ones. Cereal and so on. Some people are recommending Aldi, I will need to consider that. I see some people have mentioned they have more left over at the end of the month, but this is not for us (even on a single salary) Not sure how we would manage if we are lucky enough to have children. Even if we were on say 100k, not sure how it would work.

Been here 5 months. No job as of yet. Been looking, but not killing it. Wife has a job here in Geelong, we manage on one salary. I used to be an IT manager, Have a degree, HND and some other small qualifications. Currently working on vendor qualifications. Seems they tend to prefer Australians for a lot of the jobs or they don't love me

Rippleside is another of the locations we where looking at. It's great as you can literally walk down (depending how far) with your paddle board/canoe Carry on trying in Geelong, I am sure you will find something. Are you commuting via train? The drive is horrendous

I'd agree with this. I think even with this amount, you would struggle to save money. The costs are just rather high. Before coming out here, I was always told how much you earn, how much spare money you have and how much you can save. I'm not finding any of that to be honest. It's very expensive here (apart from petrol) Even though that is the case, I think quality of life is better here and love the outdoors

Agreed within reason They did state the following "That is internal corporate users, not web based users. I personally designed and lead the implementation on one of the largest corporate internet gateways in Europe, providing proxy access and content scanning for 150k users across offices all over the UK, as well as designing several other internal services including Blackberry BES, remote access, and SSL content scanning." You cannot learn how to design and implement a system for multiple locations, with the spec that was stated, simply by looking at youtube videos and therefore, to me, that is some good experience. In regards to your comment regarding experience should be measured in intensity, not duration. This is not always the case

It depends on where you are, how big the family is, expectations and so on. I personally don't think so. But some would disagree

150k users is a huge amount. I'd be a consultant if I had that experience.

I'm in Geelong with the other half. Moved over from Surrey in January 2014. Highton is nice, we where going to move there, but stayed near the town centre. There is quite a bit to do, been doing body boarding and so on on most weekends where possible. Great ocean road as you know is a good drive Excellent pizza place called Town and Country. Not too much happening around here, but we do like it. Did look at williamstown too, but decided to stay down this bit. Weather isn't the warmest right now, thought our house was going to fly off yesterday. Hope you are settling in well, Cava

Certainly is hard to find a job, or a descent paid job (I guess depending on where you live) We moved over on a 457 visa, sponsored through my wife's new job. I used to be an IT manager in central london and want to avoid the commute into Melbourne (based in Geelong) Don't mind starting at the bottom but at 40-45k (AUS) that is not what I had in mind. Everyone states how good the salaries are, and in some respects they are, but not what I thought it would be. Seems like everything that is happening is mainly in the bigger locations.