Scrutineer

I sometimes think about Tasmania for retirement purposes, but life in the Adelaide Hills is pretty good too. As for the original question, you move to somewhere as much as you move away from somewhere else. We talk about returning sometimes to be with family but when I look at the papers or watch the news - just "tune in" to the UK in any way it just looks so depressing plus less and less familiar every time.

We sold our house in England a few months before we moved - it was on the market for 18 months and looking like we might have to let it out. Luckily we got rid of it, because the neighbours were absolute scumbags on both sides and opposite and we also made a good profit thanks to Gordon Brown's house price inflation policy. If we hadn't sold it we would still be in a crappy rental here and probably considering coming home, so for us selling it turned out to be crucial. It's hard to believe that crappy little mid-terrace with no garden, scummy neighbours and no nearby amenities at all cost almost as much as our place here in the hills. Staggering.

Yes, good luck everyone, indeed. When we got to Australia we had some luck - lots of friendly people helping us out, giving us furniture, driving us around - all just neighbours and friends, some Aussies, some immigrants. You're all doing the right thing.

There are many other reasons as well. There's a lot of stuff about Britain's improving economy in the news right now but it's just for the election. Strictly speaking the British economy is in a terrible state and it's only going to get worse. Australia's secret weapon is its tiny population.

Depends where in Australia. Here in Adelaide houses are still (just) affordable, as they are in Hobart as well. Retail is very expensive in Australia as well, but you'll soon get very efficient at buying everything from overseas on the internet. Quality of life generally much higher in Australia however, so don't be deterred.

The trips to European cities are something we miss a lot. We often went to Paris in particular, but other cities like Amsterdam, Rome, etc. When you're in Australia, you're really in Australia.

All worth it in the end, so chin up.

We feel like this overall, but we've been here a few years now so a little shop worn but in general I am very grateful to Australia for the opportunities it gave me and especially my family. I'm proud my kids were born in Australia - it's an amazing country and has so much potential.

You can create a British bubble here easily I think. British TV via the internet, British music via the internet, Skype with family via the internet, British food from most supermarkets. I haven't found it expensive to do any of that, but without the internet it would be impossibly expensive - as you discover when you try to buy a book or DVD from an Australian retailer. If you were trying to build your British Bubble without the internet it would be prohibitively expensive, I think.

I never understood why so many Australians waste money on private health insurance either. Many of my wife's friends paid hundreds of dollars a month on it and had the babies in the same hospital with the same doctors and nurses and care as my wife got who never paid a penny for private. Never did understand that. I'm strongly opposed to a system of purely private medicine though as it doesn't work, costs more in the long run and is unethical, simply because that is the nature of insurance based systems.

And these issues are only going to get worse, which is why I expressed concern about the healthcare and schools in the UK a few post ago.

I'm aware of the pension, but that's an end-of-the-rainbow thing now with an ever-increasing age limit until you can claim it, yet the contributions you are expected to make aren't getting any lower. My opinion is that there will be no state pension at all in the UK in a generation's time, or if there is the minimum age to claim it could easily be 80 - but I bet NI is still 12%.

Yes, just more feminism here - notice the way it is purely about mother's rights, and men are described only in negative terms when there are plenty of examples of this happening with the roles reversed. I could have been more sympathetic if it had been less sexist.

Most doctors bulk-bill, and everyone is used to that so not sure it confuses anyone. My concern is with access to GPs and waiting lists for hospitals, both of which are worse in the UK because of how politicized the NHS has become, and also how large it has become - the fourth largest employer in the world. The Australian system is very flexible and fast, and cheaper of course, because the Medicare levy is around 1% - what is the NHS - something like 10% or 12% - I can't remember now.

The "postcode lottery" element to the UK healthcare system is half the problem, of course. My parents live in a very rural part of the country and have no problems seeing the doctor, but my wife's parents live in a large, busy town, and no longer get to see the doctor. The procedure is to telephone the surgery, whereupon you describe the symptoms to a receptionist, and that person then passes your case to the doctor who calls you back after assessing the seriousness of it. In one case they phone about a 90 year-old relative who had had a fall and cut himself and no one phoned them back - they had forgotten. I'm not sure what makes you say we may only compare private hospitals in the UK to public hospitals in Australia if we are trying to be fair. I am comparing public hospitals with public hospitals, the only difference being the way the system is funded and managed - perhaps I have misunderstood you though?

Like Britain, Australia has chosen an economic model which is hollowing out the nation. Its manufacturing has all but collapsed and it relies solely on exporting minerals and metals, which is now a totally irresponsible 50% of its entire economy. Much of this goes to China, which is now deliberately slowing its economy so it doesn't overheat. The result will be a major shock in Australia, but it was all totally predictable, if that is any consolation. On the upside, the Australians are much better at running an immigration than anyone else so there should be a response to this in good time,

If we accept English summer temperatures as a definition of summer then summer in Adelaide is about nine months long.

The flight thing is a real consideration because Australians are forced to pay much more for flights than anyone else. A family of five, for example, could easily be looking at $10,000 - $12,000 before touching down at Heathrow. We came as a couple and started our family here, and to be honest while I could stand going back and would like the family to be together, I'm not sure I like the look of UK schools and what I hear about GPs and waiting times concerns me a bit.

It was a joke, yes. Someone here called me Scrooge so I changed it to this for Christmas. Almost time to change it again, so enjoy it while you can!

I wouldn't want to put you off by the way - I love Australia and I'm proud to be a citizen actually. You can find a great life here for sure and there are some amazing advantages to the place, but just make sure you listen to all sides and get a balanced view. I know it's hard - we all had our rose-tints on when were counting down the days to taking off from LHR - even I did and I'd lived in Aus before.

I was looking for the figures you provided concerning the extra cost to care that reducing copayments had - so thanks for this.

We probably agree on this ultimately - I agree about the budget holes left by Labor, and of course the need to fix them, or at least reduce them, but my concern is introducing the concept of higher fees per GP visit will work a black magic on people who will eventually come to accept private medicine. I don't oppose private medicine per se, but I do oppose it as the only source of healthcare, as in the US. At the moment we see massive pressure on all the economies using our economic model, and that means constant calls for cuts. Our healthcare systems work well, keep the population healthy and able to work. Gap fee of $45 mentioned in the press somewhere - I'll have a look, it was before Christmas.

Melza is right to flag property prices. First, rentals are cheaper in Australia than in the UK, so looking at these only might give a false impression. Second, in many surveys Australia now easily comes out as the most unaffordable place in the world to buy property, and certainly far worse than the rest of the English-speaking world, with Sydney and Melbourne being particularly bad. It also has smaller houses being built than in the US as well, even though they are massively more expensive. While I am sympathetic to the argument that Australians "caught back up" with Americans by having a proper healthcare system, I have problems with this now - one - this has been the case the decades and only recently have Australian houses been inflated to severely unaffordable in this way, by the new economics, and two - Abbott et al are working around the clock to strip Australians of their healthcare, the most recent salvo being an attempt by these scumbags to make people pay $45 every time they want to see a GP. I'm not being funny, but there are many disadvantages to living in Australia, including the massive distance from family and civilization centres, the extremely expensive retail, the lack of choice, the unbearable heat the flies, the mosquitos, the barking dogs, and so on. But what Australia offered was a solid, stable democracy, very peaceful, a fair system - much fairer than the UK - better schools, healthcare pretty much free at the point of delivery and very affordable land and housing. If you take these things away and leave only the disadvantages then quality immigrants will simply go to the US instead, especially as it is going to offer a points system from 2018.

That is correct, yes.

Not sure if the dunes thing is purely coincidental or responding to my comment but we have great boardwalk going through ours so don't need to enter them, which would be stupid as I have seen brown snakes in them. Official advice is to remove redbacks from your property, usually by killing them, and this is because while some people do not react to their bites, others react very badly, especially young children, and redbacks are responsible for more antivenom being given than any other creature in Australia, biting 10,000 people per year. Its envenomation is neurotoxic and potentially fatal for children. Also sometimes there can be severe allergic reaction, including anaphylactic shock to the antivenom. That is why advice is to kill them.