Cheery Thistle

Definitely consult with one of the reputable agents about your best options - either Alan Collett or I have had some dealings with Emergico on parent visas and they seemed very professional and helpful. As for the rest of it, you seem very far from an idiot and have done well for yourself in your 82 years of life, I don’t doubt you will be able to find relevant information and advice and make good decisions for yourself. Good for you for being up for such a big leap at your stage of life and I hope it all works out for you. After caring for your husband you deserve to think about you and what will make you happy.

Let me know what you think! Interested to see if I’m being dramatic or not.

I think the discussion was about value.

Maybe the mugs are the UK taxpayers for allowing medical tourism!! Haha JOKES! Before you go in a big huff. Well, I’ll tell you one thing, the Aussie butchers are not getting my wisdom teeth!!

I think $6k is not a lot, even a $500k mortgage is going to cost between $3-4k a month. So unless mortgage is low it doesn’t leave much for living. If you’ve paid the London mortgage off you should be quids in for buying something in Aus, at least you’ll have a big deposit if not enough to buy outright. From what you’re saying it’s a no-brainer to move.

You have also openly stated on this forum that you access an NHS dentist on trips home in order to avoid paying for treatment in Aus. Come on now IV, behave yourself!!

You’re right, we’d need to know where they’re coming from, but we don’t so you need to base it on average of sorts. That said, I think rents in any Aus state capital are comparable with London/South England. Purchase prices vary but are definitely overall higher in Aus on average.

That’s because you’re tight! It’s actually a bit different when you have kids as well. There’s other things to consider. OP has 3 children so would need to think about things they might need and weigh up potential costs. A lot of the contributors on here have kids who have long flown the nest! We have private healthcare here in UK so will be pricing and considering it in Aus. As usual a lot of splitting hairs on this forum and bickering which is not helpful to the OP. Main point is, regardless of whether you call it ‘extras’ ‘insurance cover’ ‘ambulance cover’ or just ‘invoices for medical care’, there will certainly be more costs involved in health are in Aus than there are in the UK. Charges for dental care, prescriptions, etc and that is what is relevant to the OP regarding general costs of living.

So, we agree, you need some kind of health insurance! Extras cover, is insurance cover that you pay for. It’s not something you have to pay for in the UK.

How much do you need in the UK? Probably take that figure and add about 25%. From my research houses and cars are more expensive. Fuel is cheaper, but you’ll likely cover longer distances in the car. You need some sort of health insurance/ambulance cover and you will likely have to pay for dental treatment. School fees/levies and contributions exist and uniforms/materials are pricey, with 3 kids that’s going to add up. Have a look into schools in the area you are looking to move to. Kids activities look about the same price or a bit cheaper and there are more ‘free’ or cheap things to do when weather is good. Food is about the same as UK, more seasonal and maybe a bit pricier. Utilities are cheaper (for us but we are in Scotland and pay £££ for gas for heating). All told I don’t think there’s going to be that much in it, I am expecting Aus to be about 20-25% more expensive and hoping that the better salary will help absorb some of that.

It’s relatively low cost to get a skills assessment and submit an EOI. Have a look at the AITSL criteria for skills assessment and see if you think you’ll pass. You need 4 years at uni and to prove so many days supervised teaching. I am a French teacher and got my 189 in 2023 on 65 points so it can be done.

Loads of native speakers score less than 90 in sections of the PTE.

I can’t compare it as I didn’t look at the others, but I wouldn’t call the PTE Academic ‘true to life’ unless you regularly sit and spontaneously describe pictures of the solar system or electric substations in your free time! If you do PTE I recommend completing a couple of mock tests and also using the E2 YouTube videos to help prepare for it. Being a linguist and generally quite literate person I thought it would be easy but I did actually have to study for it. Bear in mind it’s marked by an algorithm so pace, fluency and intonation are really important - I think half the time you could almost be saying anything as long as you are fluent and sound natural!

We have a few options for work I think. I’m quite niche in a way - I’d call myself a learning designer/learning technologist I suppose. Day to day I create online and blended learning training solutions for public sector organisations. There is private and public sector work in my field in Aus - preference would be public sector as that’s where all my experience is in the UK. I’m a qualified teacher and was a middle manager in a ‘good’ state school for some years. European languages is my subject so again, a bit niche, but I would say I feel quite comfortable in English, social subjects, humanities. Less so in science or maths. But I always say you teach children not subjects lol. The visa is on my teaching quals so all AITSL approved and I’m well qualified by both UK and Aus standards. I think my absolute dream job would combine digital solutions and education in some way. Hubby is a self employed gas engineer here. He has had his own business in one guise or another for 25 years. He’s an ex-commando, then had a transport business, then helped run his family business, and has had his gas business for about 7 years now. He’s not going to redo his qualifications so looking at facilities management, pest control or water technician roles.

It’s a wee bit sad. It was always gritty but vibrant. Now we just have the gritty lol. They are also knocking down Buchanan Galleries and St Enochs and Fraser’s is clinging on for dear life. Both Fraser’s and Jenners closed in Edinburgh. Let’s hope it’s another evolution for Glasgow and things will get better. https://www.glasgowworld.com/news/people/st-enoch-centre-and-buchanan-galleries-plans-mark-end-of-an-era-for-glasgow-city-centre-3650547

All booked! Just the car hire to sort out….

I agree. My comment was in response to BB.

Not sure at this point, hoping things will become clearer after our visit!

It’s grim. I make it my mission to avoid the central tunnel on the way to/from work.

Thanks for all the info. My instinct is saying private, possibly Catholic. Will keep you all posted on progress.

I probably walk along it on way to work. My office is 5 mins from central. It’s rough around there.

Thanks! We’ve decided to cut Newcastle out to give us more time in Brisbane. We think we have already narrowed down the area we want to live in so that helps quite a lot with schools etc. We plan on using and paying a relocation agent to find us a rental so that should help a bit. And we are trying to go with 6 months living money so that we can settle a bit before starting work etc. We won’t have jobs before we go and will probably leave the actual job hunt until we arrive. We are fairly chilled out in that respect. I don’t know if we should be just a wee bit more frantic by this point but it’s not really my style. When we booked the trip originally we didn’t even know if we would get visas. It happened really quite quickly. I also have had very little time off and have had to keep my holidays for this trip, so I do need a bit of a rest too, since when we get back I know things will get very busy in the run up to actually leaving. Will let you all know how we get on.

Must literally be the only Scottish person I’ve come across that doesn’t ‘feel’ Scottish. It’s what we’re famous for!

Just to add I have had to save my holidays for the trip - have only had 2 weeks off since last January - so I also need some R and R/a bit of rest built in!!

Hi thanks for this. We need to decide if we definitely want to move - this trip is for confirmation. It’s a huge decision especially as it’s so far away. Provisionally we have already decided where we want to live (from research and using online tools), but hope to confirm it when we visit. Hopefully it wont all change when we actually see the place! I have also started making enquiries at schools. I agree with you, I don’t want to move school more than once. It’s one of the reasons private schools appeal as they are not so catchment-based. We were thinking of Airbnb until we secure jobs, then get a rental based around that. Have changed mind and now going to use a relocation agent to find us a place before we arrive and get jobs based round that location. It’s all coming into sharp focus now!