Bulya

47 minutes ago, rammygirl said:

I don’t really recognise that view of Aus. Not like that where I am in the Adelaide Hills. The only thing I do agree with is that I do find Christmas a bit strange still. 

Agree on Xmas a little but yes the rest doesn’t match life here 

5 hours ago, hop said:

Immediately. Australia is soulless and isolated. I miss good manners (no one says "please" in Australia), I dislike being called "mate" constantly. I miss the mountains, lakes, forests and all the amazing scenery in the UK. There's no scenery in Australia, just sand and bushes. I miss British accents, British TV (Australian TV is unwatchable), British supermarkets which are light years ahead in quality and choice. I miss the UK's temperate maritime climate. It's too hot to do anything outdoors in Australia.

I miss Christmas in the UK. Christmas has no atmosphere in Australia. Although I'm not terribly religious I miss churches and village greens and British pubs and houses with character. In Australia I've been harrassed by people in the streets, many of them I suspect were on drugs and I was attacked once. The police didn't care. They laughed when I reported an item was stolen from the rental. Never had a problem in the UK in over 50 years with regards to crime.

I miss how friendly and reliable people are in the UK. When selling items on Facebook everyone bar one person turned up on time. Wonderful experience. In Australia I had a terrible experience selling items. 

I miss etiquette. People walk around barefoot in shops which is incredibly rude. Do that in a supermarket in the UK and you would be asked to put on shoes and rightly so. I was horrified to find the bathroom had no ventilation, no extractor fan or even a window and to make matters worse there were sockets. So unless you have the door open (so no privacy) the room will fill with condensation so very dangerous.

I miss professionalism we have in the UK. Train drivers blasting out loud music from their cabs is something I never heard on UK trains. Estate agents showing me around a flat that was a complete mess. He blamed the tenant but it should be the responsibility of the estate agent to ensure rentals are tidy before allowing anyone to look around. 

So much nonsense in this it isn’t funny.  Only sand and bushes?  No fans in bathrooms?  

52 minutes ago, jimmyay1 said:

Always seems to be people from suburban Perth who struggle or struggled the most before giving up on their migration.  

There are different lifestyles open to people in Australia than being stuck "bored sitting on a patio in endless suburbia night after night" 

Never understood why poms move to Perth.  

9 hours ago, Home and Happy said:

We couldnt wait to get out of that place and get back to UK and we eventually left.

Once that seed is planted it’s just a matter of time.   We knew very quickly that we’d made a wrong move but we stuck it out. 

As the others said, the culture, convenience, location in the centre of everything, connectivity to the world, job opportunities, seasonal weather,  more vibrant, endless weekend breaks, the countryside round where we live, the food, the pubs, travel to Europe, friends, family etc the list is endless as to why the UK is an amazing place to live despite its problems. 

We were bored stiff living in the “burbs” and sitting on the patio night after night. 

  

Perth?? 

15 hours ago, Monica33 said:

Has anyone had family and friends essentially forget about you after you leave the UK. Most of my family and friends do not want to engage with me much anymore. There’s no excuse these days to not keep in touch. I’ve been in Australia 17 years and it’s exhausting trying to maintain contact with people who don’t want to keep in touch.  I have a trip back soon and trying to lock in a time with my childhood friends and even my sister is becoming impossible. They are all busy. My sister has even booked herself a 2 week Mediterranean holiday the same time I’m there. I’m only there for 4 weeks and her answer was I’ll see you at some point. We haven’t had a fall out or anything, I just think it’s maybe a case of out of sight out of mind. Anyone else with similar experiences. Or is it just me

Jealousy.  

11 hours ago, rockola57 said:

Hi.Just checking in to see if some of my old buddies are still on here. The couple i recall are Toolbox and the legendary pablo.Who else from pre 2014 still here ? Great banter was the norm on  'Chewing the Fat ! '

Me 

10 hours ago, Wa7 said:

What a strange comment….

10 hours ago, Wa7 said:

What a strange comment….

Not when you’ve lived in as many places as I have and the majority of the people I want to school with are deceased…

9 hours ago, TheBs said:

Hey, so we are on the journey AGAIN! Third time lucky, due to personal circumstances each time we’ve had to put our Aussie dream on hold. 
the first time we were 28 and 34 with 2 kids a baby and 3 year old. It seemed the perfect time. 
the second time we were 36 and 42 kids were then 8 and 11

Now we’re 38 and 44 kids are 10 and 13 it really seems if we don’t make it now we never will. 
I need success stories that were not mad at our ages to up root and start again! 
The way I see it is if we lived to 80 we’ve both got almost another 35 yrs plus to make some wonderful memories and give our kids opportunities they wouldn’t have here 

Has anyone brought over a teen, did they adapt ok? My daughter will be almost 14 probably of all goes to plan, I worry I’m taking her away at a pivotal point in her teenage years of making those friendships and connections. 
 

Came here at 14 with younger brother and sister.  Wish we’d come earlier..

2 hours ago, Ben123688 said:

Australia is a great country if we dont have so many stupid uneducated politicians and fairly uneducated yet feeling so self important morons

You haven’t been to Blighty for some time..

1 hour ago, BendigoBoy said:

If you can't decide which team to support, just slag off Collingwood.  You'll be backed up by most of the state... and more than a few Collingwood supporters, too.

I like your thinking..

On 11/04/2024 at 01:44, jessi said:

Hi everyone, 

My husband has gotten a good job offer in Melbourne. 

At least I think its good. It would be 200.000 aud per year.

Would we be living ok as a family of 5 on that starting money? We have 2 teenagers and a 5 year old.

If he did accept we would like to live as rural as possible within an hours drive into Melbourne, as he will have to commute. Geelong distance would be good but geelong is a city so far too big for our liking. 

Also I've heard rumours of a lot of drug users around the area amd now I'm not sure if it's gotten so bad that it wouldn't be wise with teenagers? 

I'd love some local Intel as we know all cities have drugs but from what we hear theres an ice epidemic apparently. 

We would be coming from rural Ireland, however I grew up in Berlin myself. 

Also in regards to schools for teens, do they really teach about 82 genders these days or is that not as bad as it seems from afar. 

Thank you 

Jessi

 

Actually the hardest and most important part will be deciding which AFL team to support.  Life revolves around AFL 365 days of the year…

5 minutes ago, Blue Manna said:

You obviously weren't in WA last summer then. The damned things could have carried us away.

Not my favourite place.   

God’s country or Blighty.  Pretty simple decision…

9 minutes ago, Quoll said:

Weather and lifestyle huh? For me, the weather isnt better - I like to walk and in the summer here I do not like having to get up at 5 to walk otherwise be burnt to a crisp.  In the winter it is OK because I can layer up.  When it rains, IT BLOODY RAINS - none of your nice gentle mizzly stuff and you will be drenched within a few minutes. I am also one of the ones who gets SAD with relentless blue skies, especially when you are in the middle of a drought when you PRAY for rain, the more torrential the better! (Yes, blue sky SAD is a real thing! cured only by skies broken with clouds!).  But Australia is a huge place and the weather is as variable as can be - from almost arctic (that's a joke, Tasmania!) to tropical and all stops in between.  Some places have standard seasons, some dont. 

Flies - I hope you like flies, they attract themselves to every orifice they can see and their intent is to penetrate every one - with buzzy noise accompaniments.  Lifestyle - hmm, is that the old work life balance thing? or is it the inclination to have a barbie every weekend with the flies and their mates, the mozzies?  Of course there will be places you can go which dont have flies but whether that's where you might want to live - in a huge expensive city - is up to you.  As for the work/life balance, that was never better for our family - both of us worked well over the 40 hours a week we were paid for, back in the day, and so, yes, we might have been numpties but we needed the jobs and the jobs needed doing.  You might struggle with just 4 weeks rec leave a year though.

Bottom line though, you have to be old/young enough and skilled enough to get a visa so that might be your first hurdle. 

Just don’t see the fly problem since the dung beetles were introduced.   

18 hours ago, Quoll said:

Be aware that if you go for  a 482 in NSW your kids won't be entitled to a free school education, you will be up for around $12k pa for the pair of them each year.   As to having your kids in the school that you teach in - generally not too desirable and government schools dont like to keep teachers in one school for too long, they are all about mobility.  All schools have a priority enrolment area so the kids will be offered places in the local school based on where you decide to live - if you go private then that is a whole different ball game, fees will be much higher but a a teacher you could well get some discount and they may be accepted together.  I dont know where you got the idea that most are single sex schools - not so, most are co-ed although there are a few single sex, probably more so in the private system.  

As the others have said, I would have listed Sydney as the last place for a horse loving family.  Even Canberra has better options for horse lovers and you will find that many Australian sporting parents travel huge distances to enable their kids to compete.  I had friends whose kids would travel to Sydney and beyond for competitions from Canberra. Being the parent of a sporty child requires very deep pockets and that would be doubly so for horse people @Bulya may be able to help you there..

 To confirm 3 year degree plus University based PGCE is fine for qualifications.  Just aim for a job - put your hat in the ring for whatever you think you could be considered for.  Generally they do like local experience and you will see that selection criteria often include local sensitivities and areas of focus but in general Maths is quite in demand as Maths graduates find they can be more gainfully employed out in the public service or other industries and they dont stay long in teaching

The ACT region has the highest horse ownership per head of population in the country.  We’ve just moved from Manna Park near Bungendore to Bundara Park on Captains Flat Road, Carwoola.  

19 hours ago, Dancha85 said:

Could you define what you mean by expensive? We currently keep them at home in England, which probably (for us) works out cheaper than agistment. But I do need to factor in all of these things.

 

Thanks

Agistment centres aren’t cheap unless you’re going to buy property.  Share properties are popular in the ACT region and most horses are not stabled. 

2 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

Melbourne is a much bigger hotspot for all horse competitions than Sydney.

It isn’t.  The Grand Nationals are held in Sydney and Tamworth, whilst not exactly Sydney, is recognised as the National Equine Capital of Australia.  

21 hours ago, Dancha85 said:

Hello, I’m looking for some advice please. We are in the early stages of considering a move to Aus. 
 

so far we are thinking NSW, north Sydney. This looks to suit our lifestyle outside of work, we have horses.

 

do you have any tips please? I am currently the head of maths at my uk school, should I be considering this for Aus or am I better going as just a teacher and moving up once settled? 
 

I have my own children, so will they be potentially offered places at the same school that I teach in? I notice a lot of schools aren’t co-Ed and I have a boy and girl, what’s the best advice on this please? 
 

Also, time of year, I think it suits us to move just after Xmas, so the start of the new term. Should I wait until sept ish to start looking/applying for jobs?

 

Ive spoke with people who have been offered jobs but don’t know the school until they arrive? Is this normal/advised? Or should I look at schools I want to work in and maybe contact them?

 

what sort of packages have you been offered to move and work? 
 

thank you, it’s such a minefield but we are very excited! 

Horse agistment in Sydney is very expensive.  Hope you have plenty of spare cash!

ps.  Long-time equine family 

On 16/04/2023 at 15:36, Jem said:

Hi wanting some opinions on moving interstate to Perth.

We are currently in Adelaide. We have been here for 7months now.

We like it but not exactly what we moved to the other side of the world for. We had originally wanted to go to Perth but partner got job offer in Adelaide. So we went with that.
The people have been lovely and we have met some nice people.

We have ended up getting the kids in school in a suburb that is very expensive - no chance of buying there. It’s also quite built up - and around 15 mins from the city. The school is great and much better than the uk school they were at.

The weather is already starting to get cold in Adelaide. We arrived in the September and was freezing then and didn’t warm up until around mid November. So we have had around 3.5 months of ‘beach’ weather and I can only see it getting colder from now! 

What I have learnt is that everyone’s ‘wants’ are different and what might suit one may not suit another! For example I feel personally we like hot weather, we don’t feel need for seasons and are quite happy being warm most of the year. 

Also we aren’t big City people so being close to the city is not a priority of ours. But we don’t want to be too rural! We want opportunities for the kids, but that doesn’t have to be close to the city.

Can people share their experiences of moving interstate?

Also affordable suburbs in Perth with good school’s primary and secondary.

Has anyone moved out of Adelaide? What was your experience?

Thanks! 

Please no negativity! I’m sure Adelaide suits many people!

Left in ‘72 or ‘73, not really sure.  Moved to Vic then later to NSW.  Now in the ACT.  Certainly wouldn’t return..

On 22/01/2024 at 06:13, tahm563 said:

Hi,

I am an Australian married to Brit, have been living in the UK last 18 years. Now thinking of moving back. We have three kids who will be 18,16 and 10 when we move back (hopefully all will go well). My family lives there and kids visit frequently. They are happy to move so far. Eldest will start uni and 16 year old will start in year 11. 

I wanted to ask others how hard/easy was it for your older kids to make lifelong friends there? Most of my friends who I kept in touch with back home (in sydney) are from high school. Not really in touch with uni friends. When I look at my siblings, most of their lifelong friends are also from high school. That makes me feel worried about whether the older kids will be able to make good lifelong friends since they are starting their there as almost adults. Just don't want them to be miserable there. Would love to hear your experiences of older kids. 

Lifelong friends?  What a strange concept..

On 22/05/2023 at 20:40, InnerVoice said:

After more than two decades in Australia I had my first trip to the dentist today.

Previously I always visited my dentist in the UK when I went back to see my mum, which was every year or so. On the one occasion I needed treatment my dentist was able to to it while I was over there, so I've been very fortunate. My mum passed away in 2018, and with no future plans to return to the UK I thought I'd better go for a check up - just in case.

Well... it was a very high-tech experience with 3D scanners being inserted in my mouth and x-rays taken from every angle. I'm really not used to that level of attention so I felt like a bit of a celebrity! My previous dentist would fumble for a few minutes, tell a few good jokes, compliment me on how good my brushing was and say come back next year. I was always very happy with that arrangement because when visiting the dentist, no news is good news as far as I'm concerned.

To cut a long story short my new dentist pointed out quite a few of things that she thought needed doing, including a fairly urgent filling and some other less urgent stuff that I didn't quite understand. My old dentist worked on the basis that he didn't drill holes in anyone's mouth unless it was absolutely necessary, which is a dental philosophy I've gladly adopted.

This will probably sound daft to those of you who visit the dentist regularly but I'm used to paying 20 quid for a check-up and a quick polish, so when I was presented with a quotation for a thousand dollars I immediately responded by saying 'I'll get back to you to arrange a convenient time'. Based on what you're used to paying, do any these prices seem reasonable? (I have no health fund cover - clearly)

Many thanks in advance 

M.

I go every 6 months and really look forward to it 

1 hour ago, Toots said:

Yes we could do with a lot more good tradesmen here.  There is a young tradie living opposite us and he is run off his feet - so much work not enough tradies.

Four couples who are good friends we've known for a couple of decades (in Sydney) have moved to Tassie since we moved here 10 years ago.

I also much prefer the climate here.  No weather extremes - never too hot or too cold especially on the coast.

 

 

Tradie shortage is an Australia wide problem.  The Coalition decimated TAFE.  

14 hours ago, FirstWorldProblems said:

Nope.  But it’s not necessarily a Sydney thing.  I think I’d struggle with the same things in London.  I’m not a big city person but I will give it a genuine good effort.

So why move to a big city? 

47 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

Newcastle isn't a bad place but saying people prefer it to Sydney is a bit like the fox who lost his tail.

Those who say it's better are basically trying to convince themselves

I know of no one who (if they could afford the same house in both places) prefers Newcastle to Sydney, what people mean to say when they say they prefer Newcastle is that they can afford Newcastle and in Sydney they can only afford a shoebox 

I’ll take Newcastle over Sydney every time.  One of only two places I’d live in Australia and have done. 

On 17/12/2023 at 17:30, proud preston said:

@ramot- what a gorgeous picture! And yes - I only remember a few times like this but so beautiful. I love the quiet that comes with snow. 

Snow all around us on the Brindabella’s in winter.  Xmas in July is pretty big here