JockinTas

My son's girlfriend is 1st generation Chinese Australian and has never had any racist remarks aimed at her. She is living in Ireland with him now and has never experienced any racism there either.

SoSends like you've made a happy landing!

 

I got my first mozzie bite within 12 hours of landing in Australia yesterday - 3 of them actually! I was only outside for a few minutes waving the granddaughters off!

 

And I am sunburned despite sunscreen on my walk early in the day

Bloody mozzies!

I've been here over 3 decades and never been sunburnt.

Watch out for tailgaters. Lots of that all over Australia.

Be interesting to see how many REAL australians (not plastic) have ventured outside of Australia.

All the (real) Australians I know have travelled extensively outside Australia. Many go overseas every year. Two of my friends in NSW go to Germany every December to the Christmas markets to finish off a European trip. The young ones are also great at getting out and about and seeing the world - my sons and most of their friends have been to Canada, UK/Europe, USA and at the moment my elder son is in South America. There are other Australians who aren't as adventurous or as good at saving money and never leave the country - just the same as people in many other countries.

It's a bit cloudy today and 21C.

There is a music festival happening up by the lighthouse so I hope it doesn't rain as it's all outdoors.

So you are in Tassie now?

Yes I wondered when I saw Pingpoma's post. Living there or on holiday?

Bear in mind that Australians have extremely high household debt - the highest ratio to GDP of any country - and many are suffering under mortgage stress, so many don't have the capacity to save anything.

 

And many of the "toys" - such as boats which you saw - are bought with borrowed money. Which is OK until interest rates rise or someone loses their job.

A good shot of realism there Skani!

I swear some people think the UK is stuck in the 60s where everyone lived out their lives in one Street or village, just like the rest of the world things have moved on and amazingly millions of people travel extensively, even old people lol

Indeed. My Mum had a very full social life in Scotland. She was still playing tennis in her 70's and golf until her death in her 80's. After Dad died she did a lot of travelling on her own to stay with my brother, sister and I who were living on different parts of the planet and also with groups of friends all around the UK. The weather never bothered her either.

My wife's great aunt is retired here - well semi, she still teaches part time in her late 70's, her choice as she certainly doesn't need to financially and has just up skilled to teach IT - has an incredibly active life. She will be on the moors tomorrow hiking across some of the best bust remotest parts of Yorkshire. She travels to Peru every year and Spain a few times a year.

My elder son is in Peru at the moment and loves it there also Chile. He didn't much like Argentina but liked Brazil - he has Aussie friends who are from Brazil. Said he hadn't eaten so much meat in his life as Brazilians love their meat.

*edit*

@jockin Tas , im coming on a flying visit in a 4 weeks,sadly only there a couple of nights but wondered if knew what i can expect weather wise? (bear in mind i am used to Brissy heat and a complete wuss in winter)

 

Hubby needs to do a few hours work in ' Rokeby' (?) so we're probably going to stay in Hobart as there should be something for us to do when hubby at work (our 13yr old daughter is coming with us), have you any advice for me ?

 

Cal x

Skani will hopefully come along with advice on the Hobart area Cal. In the 3 years we've been here I've not ventured to Hobart yet. :shocked: Been previously when on holiday in Tassie and always found plenty to do. Weatherwise Hmmmmmm - well, we've been in April a couple of times and the weather was really nice but bring a jumper and brolly just in case. I know when we came one Easter, the place was packed and accommodation was at a premium so best to book if you are here at that time. You will have a lovely couple of days!

to be honest, quite a few 'strayans hide behind the "straight talking" curtain, when in reality the have bias, either unconscious or otherwise.

 

Our next door neighbour in adelaide commented to us "oh, you're not going to sell the house to the chinese" ?

 

 

Result ?

 

We sold the house to a lovely young Chinese family and their parents.

 

and there are (were) at least one or two other asian families on that street, so hopefully there will be some nice community for them.

They were probably referring to wealthy Chinese investors who don't live in Australia. There's too much of that going on.

Grey and wet in Sydney again. Must be 2 weeks since we had a sunny day.

Friends in Sydney have told me about the heat you've suffered this past summer and now the rain.

The warmest it reached in Devonport during the summer was 27C. Summer is also the driest time of the year. We had a fairly wet and stormy winter last year so we deserved a lovely summer.

Hi all,

 

I'm new to the forum and can see that a lot of these things may have been asked and discussed already so apologies in advance to those having to repeat themselves.

 

I moved to Australia 12 years ago (Jan 2005) with PR and took Citizenship 2 or so years later, fast forward to 2017 and I now have an Australian Fiancée and 2 Australian born kids (a 6yo & 2yo).

 

Whilst my experience of Oz hasn't been negative I feel that from the offset I have predominantly focused on work as such I found myself in a regional area (QLD.) and what with house reno's, distances from the places we enjoy and a lack of cultural diversity mean that we feel like we have only existed, not lived and certainly not "lived the dream" !

 

Events over the last few weeks have lead us to a point where we are considering a move to the UK, we aren't sure (or simply can't predict) if this would be for a couple of years or longer.

I have all the same fears, doubts and ever changing mindset that everyone else mentions in fact my mind is so busy I struggle to sleep, I don't think I/we will ever know for sure that it is the right decision so it almost feels like making a huge decision on the flip of a coin; I think I can honestly liken the feelings to how you feel leading up to a relationship breakup!

 

That being said my Fiancée is open to give it a go and I have been talking to an employer and have a potential job offer i.e. subject to me saying I want to ago for it, agreeing $'s and start date which if agreed and signed would obviously take one of the biggest worries out of a move.

 

OK lets get to the nitty gritty ... I have been on the Gov.UK website, google search, blogs and this forum and even though I class myself as reasonably intelligent I am struggling to understand the process for visa's etc. I emailed Gov.UK to be told they can't offer advice ? (grrrr... sort your website out then!).

I'm dual citizen so I'm pretty sure I can just get on the plane and go but it isn't clear if I need to contact, inform or fill in any forms in either country (tax, NI, whatever)?

 

Do me and my fiancée get married in advance so that she can go on spouse visa without having to prove the fact that we have lived together for years? then the confusion starts do you need several applications ? ... family of a settled person visa + spouse / defacto ? (why do they even call it family of a settled visa when I'm not even there?)

 

I guess I can apply for my kids British passports in advance but then do they need other visa applications? again I have read and read and gone round and round and got more and more frustrated and confused!

 

Finally if we make the decision, take the job and know exactly what forms and process to follow ... what kind of charges are we looking at and how long to process?

 

Thanks in advance,

I'm sure there will be someone here soon to answer most of your queries. There are lots of people who have successfully moved back to the UK in the same position as yourself and your family.

Into the second week of autumn. Sunny, slight breeze and 21C.

As long as people are happy where they are living, it doesn't matter if they are living in Stratford Upon Avon, the back of Burke or Timbuctoo.

I've reached a stage in my life where I think I've become more and more like my Dad. He was perfectly happy in his own surrounding area in Scotland and never regretted not travelling - unlike Mum who visited her three offspring when they were living in various parts of the world. I dislike airports and not fussed on flying so I'd be content if I just stayed here where I am in Tassie and never set foot on a plane again. Having said that I'm off to Queenstown NZ next week only because of family stuff. I've travelled a lot throughout my life and seen a helluva lot too. Now I'm a real stay at home type of person but I do like to hear of other folks travels. :cute:

Agree with your opinion about Switzerland.....like Austria ,stunning scenery ,in the main ,safe and clean ,but so bloody expensive , and mind numbingly boring .

Great for a visit though ....so close to the Italian lakes as well .....maggiore,como,garda ....iam there in the summer ...love it

The Italian lakes are just gorgeous. :smile:

UK outranks Aus as best place to live. it's in the DM so it must be right :wink:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4290384/Switzerland-replaces-Germany-best-country-world.html

I see that Australia is ranked 4th for quality of life and NZ and Australia 1st and 2nd for retirement .......................... that is if you believe those ratings. I lived in Switzerland for a year and apart from it's beauty I definitely wouldn't want to live there.

The whole saga is beyond belief. As northshorepom said, despite all the bureaucracy and hoops most of us have to jump through he seems to have slipped through the cracks.

GM food is a whole different ballgame to selective crop management. GM is about manipulating food crops at a molecular level producing something that cannot be replicated naturally.

I will google GM for info.

Hasn't genetically modified foodstuff including farm animals been going on for centuries? Tomatoes used to be tiny little berries until modified to the much bigger things we see today. Grapefruit is some sort of fairly recent hybrid as are a few other fruits. Chickens used to be half the size they are now.

6-8 months average in adelaide, and that's for someone who is skilled, experienced and capable.

 

Pity those who are betting on slender chances...

My husband was in the construction industry and that was a bit boom and bust. We moved from one side of Australia to the other because of the bust times. Once we were in Sydney it was years of steady work and I was lucky enough to have a good job for more than two decades in the same company. Not so easy to move around once children are in school though.

My two walked to primary school with a group of friends. The school was at the top of the street with no roads to cross. They caught a bus to high school from the age of 11.

I often saw very young children (approx 7 or 8 years old) travelling by train into the city on their own to attend private school - some them in the city and others would have to change train to go to the other side of the harbour.

3 weeks is not a long time.

I've read on other threads that some new migrants haven't found work for months. :dull: That would really be a huge worry. On top of arriving in a new, strange country to not have a job (for me) would be top of the list for stress. No wonder some of them feel like packing it all in and go back home.