Positive Emigrating To Australia True Life Stories

[Toots]

37 minutes ago, Kenfrapin said:

Wow, my last post was in May 2017 but somehow I have a feeling I posted more recently than that

All settled in our new home and, as we love to do crazy things, also got our 2 boxer boys the weekend we moved in. 3 months in and the 4 of us are well settled and enjoying true Aussie life. I've never done so much gardening in 4 years in the UK as compared to 3 months here. Bunnings is my new church and I an improving DIYer, actually managed to get grass cover over our huge backyard all alone (pat my back)

Still waiting for summer to start in Melbourne and getting ready for the XMas break. We continue to enjoy UK tele thanks to ingenious methods and Netflix continues to eat more into our nightly TV routine. After a year and a half of saving up for home with no travelling, we make our first getaway to Bali for Easter 2019 followed by a trip somewhere in Queensland in July/Aug but just havent decided where. Both of us have changed jobs a few times but the market is fantastic and we havent yet had any difficulties in getting decent wages. Overpaying our mortgages the most and also managed to buy another small piece of land up north as an investment. Again, never ever possible in the UK

Our only gripe at the moment is crossing the West Gate Bridge into Melbourne CBD. An additional 2 hours in traffic now everyday, with 5:45am wake ups instead of 7am when we used to live in the city. But hey ho, we knew what we were getting into and those extra 2 hours is totally worth the location and money spent on getting the home we wanted

Finally, as a treat, here are our 2 boys that only Australia could gift us. Say hi to Marco (brindle) and Polo (white), our baby boys

 

Lovely post  ....................... great that you are enjoying life in Melbourne.  Such happy dogs!  

[Jon the Hat]

Aargh I went in the moving back to the UK thread, and I had to come in here to lift myself up again!

I have to remind myself that my family is half Australian, and have family in Perth already, and so does my wife. I'm sure it will still have it's tough moments, but we can do this!!

Edited January 9, 2019 by Jon the Hat

[Quoll]

34 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Aargh I went in the moving back to the UK thread, and I had to come in here to lift myself up again!

I have to remind myself that my family is half Australian, and have family in Perth already, and so does my wife. I'm sure it will still have it's tough moments, but we can do this!!

View it as an adventure. If it works you win but if it doesn’t then you move on. Simples. Don’t set yourself up with the expectation that it has to work, that’s too stressful.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Quoll

[Amber Snowball]

5 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

Aargh I went in the moving back to the UK thread, and I had to come in here to lift myself up again!

I have to remind myself that my family is half Australian, and have family in Perth already, and so does my wife. I'm sure it will still have it's tough moments, but we can do this!!

Don’t be “aargh”!!

The UK part is where we go for our support and debrief the same way those of you moving to Australia look at the visa posts and compare timelines and visa grants etc. 

As most of us don’t need a visa for the UK and worked hard to get our visa for Australia we need somewhere to question our feelings and get support. It’s a reality that not everyone wants to be/stay in Australia.

You are moving to a nice place with family. Positive outlook and a bit of “head down, bum up” and you stand a good a chance as anyone of making a go of it. 

Now, focus on your goal and avoid that part of the forum if it drags you down! I was very happy for 10 years in Australia, no reason you won’t be as well. 

Wishing you happy days ahead. Go get ‘em!

[ali]

5 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

Aargh I went in the moving back to the UK thread, and I had to come in here to lift myself up again!

I have to remind myself that my family is half Australian, and have family in Perth already, and so does my wife. I'm sure it will still have it's tough moments, but we can do this!!

We've just celebrated our 12th year in Aus - we still enjoy it, find plenty to do (as do our young adults) .. there'll be ups and downs because that's life, nothing and nowhere is perfect.  We remain happy here, aren't bored, don't feel isolated and have more savings than we've ever had before which allows us to travel to see other parts of Aus and overseas.  People on the forum often say to ask yourself if you can see yourself retiring here … my answer is yes I can and can't wait lol. I have lovely memories of growing up in the UK, but   I don't have any anchor to it and miss very little

[benj1980]

On 30/11/2018 at 11:58, Kenfrapin said:

Wow, my last post was in May 2017 but somehow I have a feeling I posted more recently than that

All settled in our new home and, as we love to do crazy things, also got our 2 boxer boys the weekend we moved in. 3 months in and the 4 of us are well settled and enjoying true Aussie life. I've never done so much gardening in 4 years in the UK as compared to 3 months here. Bunnings is my new church and I an improving DIYer, actually managed to get grass cover over our huge backyard all alone (pat my back)

Still waiting for summer to start in Melbourne and getting ready for the XMas break. We continue to enjoy UK tele thanks to ingenious methods and Netflix continues to eat more into our nightly TV routine. After a year and a half of saving up for home with no travelling, we make our first getaway to Bali for Easter 2019 followed by a trip somewhere in Queensland in July/Aug but just havent decided where. Both of us have changed jobs a few times but the market is fantastic and we havent yet had any difficulties in getting decent wages. Overpaying our mortgages the most and also managed to buy another small piece of land up north as an investment. Again, never ever possible in the UK

Our only gripe at the moment is crossing the West Gate Bridge into Melbourne CBD. An additional 2 hours in traffic now everyday, with 5:45am wake ups instead of 7am when we used to live in the city. But hey ho, we knew what we were getting into and those extra 2 hours is totally worth the location and money spent on getting the home we wanted

Finally, as a treat, here are our 2 boys that only Australia could gift us. Say hi to Marco (brindle) and Polo (white), our baby boys

As a big dog lover I love this pic! Grass looks great, but for how long? 

[milliem]

We have now been here six years last November when I arrived just myself (teacher) and my son (then 15) 

To say the first couple of years were a little rocky would be an understatement.  I had a regional visa so could not live or work near my sister and family so I found myself a little isolated in a regional town near the Sunshine Coast.  We said despite how miserable we felt, we would give Australia 5 years, then go home if we still didn’t like it. 

The private school I worked there in was mostly made up of farming kids so not many were heading to university. However, it was a nice friendly and safe environment for my son (Aspergers) to complete  his last two years of high school.  There was nothing to do there so I spent my spare time as a rural firefighter, playing bridge and doing as much professional development as I could fit in. I also saved like crazy as we had arrived in Australia with very little money.  I budgeted just 60 dollars a week for our food. Rent was cheap and the rest went in the bank. These were quite dark times. I didn’t see much of my sister, the whole point of coming to Australia and we didn’t make many friends locally.  As a single mum who worked there were not many avenues for meeting people and making friends.  Thankfully fellow firies were very friendly so I enjoyed getting out there.

 After two years there I had had enough of being stuck there and having gained 5 more visa points I decided to spend another 10k and applied for PR. I started frantically applying for metropolitan jobs.   I was a little over zealous and was quickly offered a role in a beautiful school on the Gold Coast.  Things were finally looking up.  The bad news was that my current visa would not let me work on the Gold Coast.  They held the job until December but still no visa. So they readvertised.   I was beginning to think I was stuck forever.  Then I did the crazy thing of just resigning anyway. I figured I now had some savings to keep us going.  I moved out of my house and put everything in storage. In early December I got a call from an agency asking if I was free for a semester contract in Brisbane. I said no and told them about the visa problem.

They said let’s not tell them about that for now but go along and chat with them.  It turned out to be a top school and the interview went so well, they said they would wait until the week before term 1 for my visa.  At this point I didn’t even tell my family as they already thought I was crazy throwing a perfectly good job away.  I headed off to the states on holiday with my sister.  15th January I returned and no visa.  I found several voice messages from the school saying contact us urgently.  I couldn’t bear to turn another good job away just yet.  On the 19th I finally emailed them, 2 days before school start and said, no visa but I expect to have it in two days. The latter statement was a lie but hey.  They said okay.   That night I drowned and lamented in red wine about what might have been.  Next morning I woke up and there it was. The golden email!  I could not believe it.  The gamble had paid off and I now had a job at a top school. My family were in shock and so was I. That resulted in much more red wine. 

A week later, I found myself working in a place alongside people who really were at the top of their profession and teaching highly dedicated and ambitious students. I learned a lot and enjoyed every minute. My son went to college and made a few friends. This was the turnaround for us. My next move, we built our own house on the Gold Coast. In the Uk all I could have bought was a 2 bed apartment in a crappy part of town.  This was a big stretch financially so I started a side business from home which added a good boost to my income. I also did lots of other jobs around the coast.  I commuted to Brisbane for a while for my main job but then I took a chance on another temporary contract in a great private school on the Gold Coast.  Two years later I still work there and am now a head of dept so my main income has also had a boost.

so things are much better now.  We are just looking at building a pool in the next few months.  I have not relaxed quite yet, I still have the side business which my son helps out with but this is home for us now. As a young country Australia is very much a land of opportunity if you are prepared to work hard. It made a difference for us.  We also got a fresh start in a new place.  We joined a tennis club and a gym and occasionally get to the beach. We love the variety of the all parts of the Gold Coast and Brisbane is just up the road. 

As soon as we got our new house we also adopted a rescue cat and she had a hard time before she came to us.  She is all good now and we love her dearly. 3 years later, she is still the cutest

Millie 

Edited January 10, 2019 by milliem

[calNgary]

Good on you Milliem for keeping going when things were not falling into place for you. Like you, we said we would hold out for a few years even if we hated it here but alas this year will see us celebrate 13 years of living here and we certainly have no regrets or plans to return to the UK. Wishing you lots of luck with your future

 Cal x

[Jon the Hat]

I must say I am watching Wanted down under in awe at people who no no-one at all in Australia yet throw themselves into it with such enthusiasm!  Some people are adventurers I guess.  I suppose I must have been at one point to take off around the world for 18 months when I met my wife.  We have all the foundations to make it work except the right job for me, and that will hopefully be a matter of time.  14 years working for an Aussie company probably helps with the fitting in bit as well

[ali]

5 hours ago, milliem said:

We have now been here six years last November when I arrived just myself (teacher) and my son (then 15) 

To say the first couple of years were a little rocky would be an understatement.  I had a regional visa so could not live or work near my sister and family so I found myself a little isolated in a regional town near the Sunshine Coast.  We said despite how miserable we felt, we would give Australia 5 years, then go home if we still didn’t like it. 

The private school I worked there in was mostly made up of farming kids so not many were heading to university. However, it was a nice friendly and safe environment for my son (Aspergers) to complete  his last two years of high school.  There was nothing to do there so I spent my spare time as a rural firefighter, playing bridge and doing as much professional development as I could fit in. I also saved like crazy as we had arrived in Australia with very little money.  I budgeted just 60 dollars a week for our food. Rent was cheap and the rest went in the bank. These were quite dark times. I didn’t see much of my sister, the whole point of coming to Australia and we didn’t make many friends locally.  As a single mum who worked there were not many avenues for meeting people and making friends.  Thankfully fellow firies were very friendly so I enjoyed getting out there.

 After two years there I had had enough of being stuck there and having gained 5 more visa points I decided to spend another 10k and applied for PR. I started frantically applying for metropolitan jobs.   I was a little over zealous and was quickly offered a role in a beautiful school on the Gold Coast.  Things were finally looking up.  The bad news was that my current visa would not let me work on the Gold Coast.  They held the job until December but still no visa. So they readvertised.   I was beginning to think I was stuck forever.  Then I did the crazy thing of just resigning anyway. I figured I now had some savings to keep us going.  I moved out of my house and put everything in storage. In early December I got a call from an agency asking if I was free for a semester contract in Brisbane. I said no and told them about the visa problem.

They said let’s not tell them about that for now but go along and chat with them.  It turned out to be a top school and the interview went so well, they said they would wait until the week before term 1 for my visa.  At this point I didn’t even tell my family as they already thought I was crazy throwing a perfectly good job away.  I headed off to the states on holiday with my sister.  15th January I returned and no visa.  I found several voice messages from the school saying contact us urgently.  I couldn’t bear to turn another good job away just yet.  On the 19th I finally emailed them, 2 days before school start and said, no visa but I expect to have it in two days. The latter statement was a lie but hey.  They said okay.   That night I drowned and lamented in red wine about what might have been.  Next morning I woke up and there it was. The golden email!  I could not believe it.  The gamble had paid off and I now had a job at a top school. My family were in shock and so was I. That resulted in much more red wine. 

A week later, I found myself working in a place alongside people who really were at the top of their profession and teaching highly dedicated and ambitious students. I learned a lot and enjoyed every minute. My son went to college and made a few friends. This was the turnaround for us. My next move, we built our own house on the Gold Coast. In the Uk all I could have bought was a 2 bed apartment in a crappy part of town.  This was a big stretch financially so I started a side business from home which added a good boost to my income. I also did lots of other jobs around the coast.  I commuted to Brisbane for a while for my main job but then I took a chance on another temporary contract in a great private school on the Gold Coast.  Two years later I still work there and am now a head of dept so my main income has also had a boost.

so things are much better now.  We are just looking at building a pool in the next few months.  I have not relaxed quite yet, I still have the side business which my son helps out with but this is home for us now. As a young country Australia is very much a land of opportunity if you are prepared to work hard. It made a difference for us.  We also got a fresh start in a new place.  We joined a tennis club and a gym and occasionally get to the beach. We love the variety of the all parts of the Gold Coast and Brisbane is just up the road. 

As soon as we got our new house we also adopted a rescue cat and she had a hard time before she came to us.  She is all good now and we love her dearly. 3 years later, she is still the cutest

Millie 

What a fantastic post - it's made me really smile - Well done you x

[Bobj]

10 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I must say I am watching Wanted down under in awe at people who no no-one at all in Australia yet throw themselves into it with such enthusiasm! 

Virtually all the people during the Assisted Passage Scheme had that attitude and very few returned to their country of origin, or departure, partly because there were opportunities in a new land. I was one of those and, after 55 years, I am still in awe at the magnificence of this country and what it has to offer.

Cheers, Bobj.

 

And the fishing is infinitely better.

[Toots]

16 hours ago, milliem said:

We have now been here six years last November when I arrived just myself (teacher) and my son (then 15) 

To say the first couple of years were a little rocky would be an understatement.  I had a regional visa so could not live or work near my sister and family so I found myself a little isolated in a regional town near the Sunshine Coast.  We said despite how miserable we felt, we would give Australia 5 years, then go home if we still didn’t like it. 

The private school I worked there in was mostly made up of farming kids so not many were heading to university. However, it was a nice friendly and safe environment for my son (Aspergers) to complete  his last two years of high school.  There was nothing to do there so I spent my spare time as a rural firefighter, playing bridge and doing as much professional development as I could fit in. I also saved like crazy as we had arrived in Australia with very little money.  I budgeted just 60 dollars a week for our food. Rent was cheap and the rest went in the bank. These were quite dark times. I didn’t see much of my sister, the whole point of coming to Australia and we didn’t make many friends locally.  As a single mum who worked there were not many avenues for meeting people and making friends.  Thankfully fellow firies were very friendly so I enjoyed getting out there.

 After two years there I had had enough of being stuck there and having gained 5 more visa points I decided to spend another 10k and applied for PR. I started frantically applying for metropolitan jobs.   I was a little over zealous and was quickly offered a role in a beautiful school on the Gold Coast.  Things were finally looking up.  The bad news was that my current visa would not let me work on the Gold Coast.  They held the job until December but still no visa. So they readvertised.   I was beginning to think I was stuck forever.  Then I did the crazy thing of just resigning anyway. I figured I now had some savings to keep us going.  I moved out of my house and put everything in storage. In early December I got a call from an agency asking if I was free for a semester contract in Brisbane. I said no and told them about the visa problem.

They said let’s not tell them about that for now but go along and chat with them.  It turned out to be a top school and the interview went so well, they said they would wait until the week before term 1 for my visa.  At this point I didn’t even tell my family as they already thought I was crazy throwing a perfectly good job away.  I headed off to the states on holiday with my sister.  15th January I returned and no visa.  I found several voice messages from the school saying contact us urgently.  I couldn’t bear to turn another good job away just yet.  On the 19th I finally emailed them, 2 days before school start and said, no visa but I expect to have it in two days. The latter statement was a lie but hey.  They said okay.   That night I drowned and lamented in red wine about what might have been.  Next morning I woke up and there it was. The golden email!  I could not believe it.  The gamble had paid off and I now had a job at a top school. My family were in shock and so was I. That resulted in much more red wine. 

A week later, I found myself working in a place alongside people who really were at the top of their profession and teaching highly dedicated and ambitious students. I learned a lot and enjoyed every minute. My son went to college and made a few friends. This was the turnaround for us. My next move, we built our own house on the Gold Coast. In the Uk all I could have bought was a 2 bed apartment in a crappy part of town.  This was a big stretch financially so I started a side business from home which added a good boost to my income. I also did lots of other jobs around the coast.  I commuted to Brisbane for a while for my main job but then I took a chance on another temporary contract in a great private school on the Gold Coast.  Two years later I still work there and am now a head of dept so my main income has also had a boost.

so things are much better now.  We are just looking at building a pool in the next few months.  I have not relaxed quite yet, I still have the side business which my son helps out with but this is home for us now. As a young country Australia is very much a land of opportunity if you are prepared to work hard. It made a difference for us.  We also got a fresh start in a new place.  We joined a tennis club and a gym and occasionally get to the beach. We love the variety of the all parts of the Gold Coast and Brisbane is just up the road. 

As soon as we got our new house we also adopted a rescue cat and she had a hard time before she came to us.  She is all good now and we love her dearly. 3 years later, she is still the cutest

Millie 

 

What a great post.  So glad everything has worked out for you Millie after all your hard work.      Gorgeous cat!

[benj1980]

16 hours ago, milliem said:

We have now been here six years last November when I arrived just myself (teacher) and my son (then 15) 

To say the first couple of years were a little rocky would be an understatement.  I had a regional visa so could not live or work near my sister and family so I found myself a little isolated in a regional town near the Sunshine Coast.  We said despite how miserable we felt, we would give Australia 5 years, then go home if we still didn’t like it. 

The private school I worked there in was mostly made up of farming kids so not many were heading to university. However, it was a nice friendly and safe environment for my son (Aspergers) to complete  his last two years of high school.  There was nothing to do there so I spent my spare time as a rural firefighter, playing bridge and doing as much professional development as I could fit in. I also saved like crazy as we had arrived in Australia with very little money.  I budgeted just 60 dollars a week for our food. Rent was cheap and the rest went in the bank. These were quite dark times. I didn’t see much of my sister, the whole point of coming to Australia and we didn’t make many friends locally.  As a single mum who worked there were not many avenues for meeting people and making friends.  Thankfully fellow firies were very friendly so I enjoyed getting out there.

 After two years there I had had enough of being stuck there and having gained 5 more visa points I decided to spend another 10k and applied for PR. I started frantically applying for metropolitan jobs.   I was a little over zealous and was quickly offered a role in a beautiful school on the Gold Coast.  Things were finally looking up.  The bad news was that my current visa would not let me work on the Gold Coast.  They held the job until December but still no visa. So they readvertised.   I was beginning to think I was stuck forever.  Then I did the crazy thing of just resigning anyway. I figured I now had some savings to keep us going.  I moved out of my house and put everything in storage. In early December I got a call from an agency asking if I was free for a semester contract in Brisbane. I said no and told them about the visa problem.

They said let’s not tell them about that for now but go along and chat with them.  It turned out to be a top school and the interview went so well, they said they would wait until the week before term 1 for my visa.  At this point I didn’t even tell my family as they already thought I was crazy throwing a perfectly good job away.  I headed off to the states on holiday with my sister.  15th January I returned and no visa.  I found several voice messages from the school saying contact us urgently.  I couldn’t bear to turn another good job away just yet.  On the 19th I finally emailed them, 2 days before school start and said, no visa but I expect to have it in two days. The latter statement was a lie but hey.  They said okay.   That night I drowned and lamented in red wine about what might have been.  Next morning I woke up and there it was. The golden email!  I could not believe it.  The gamble had paid off and I now had a job at a top school. My family were in shock and so was I. That resulted in much more red wine. 

A week later, I found myself working in a place alongside people who really were at the top of their profession and teaching highly dedicated and ambitious students. I learned a lot and enjoyed every minute. My son went to college and made a few friends. This was the turnaround for us. My next move, we built our own house on the Gold Coast. In the Uk all I could have bought was a 2 bed apartment in a crappy part of town.  This was a big stretch financially so I started a side business from home which added a good boost to my income. I also did lots of other jobs around the coast.  I commuted to Brisbane for a while for my main job but then I took a chance on another temporary contract in a great private school on the Gold Coast.  Two years later I still work there and am now a head of dept so my main income has also had a boost.

so things are much better now.  We are just looking at building a pool in the next few months.  I have not relaxed quite yet, I still have the side business which my son helps out with but this is home for us now. As a young country Australia is very much a land of opportunity if you are prepared to work hard. It made a difference for us.  We also got a fresh start in a new place.  We joined a tennis club and a gym and occasionally get to the beach. We love the variety of the all parts of the Gold Coast and Brisbane is just up the road. 

As soon as we got our new house we also adopted a rescue cat and she had a hard time before she came to us.  She is all good now and we love her dearly. 3 years later, she is still the cutest

Millie 

Good on you Millie. Our paths have crossed a few times on here and you were good enough to send me an IELTS book quite a few years ago now! Interesting how you joined the Firies as I have done the same. A good way to meet local people from all walks of life. Glad it's all worked out in the end, you were due some luck but I think sometimes you make your own luck. Best wishes and what is the business? Anything interesting?!

[Shiba28]

On 10/01/2019 at 08:26, milliem said:

We have now been here six years last November when I arrived just myself (teacher) and my son (then 15) 

To say the first couple of years were a little rocky would be an understatement.  I had a regional visa so could not live or work near my sister and family so I found myself a little isolated in a regional town near the Sunshine Coast.  We said despite how miserable we felt, we would give Australia 5 years, then go home if we still didn’t like it. 

The private school I worked there in was mostly made up of farming kids so not many were heading to university. However, it was a nice friendly and safe environment for my son (Aspergers) to complete  his last two years of high school.  There was nothing to do there so I spent my spare time as a rural firefighter, playing bridge and doing as much professional development as I could fit in. I also saved like crazy as we had arrived in Australia with very little money.  I budgeted just 60 dollars a week for our food. Rent was cheap and the rest went in the bank. These were quite dark times. I didn’t see much of my sister, the whole point of coming to Australia and we didn’t make many friends locally.  As a single mum who worked there were not many avenues for meeting people and making friends.  Thankfully fellow firies were very friendly so I enjoyed getting out there.

 After two years there I had had enough of being stuck there and having gained 5 more visa points I decided to spend another 10k and applied for PR. I started frantically applying for metropolitan jobs.   I was a little over zealous and was quickly offered a role in a beautiful school on the Gold Coast.  Things were finally looking up.  The bad news was that my current visa would not let me work on the Gold Coast.  They held the job until December but still no visa. So they readvertised.   I was beginning to think I was stuck forever.  Then I did the crazy thing of just resigning anyway. I figured I now had some savings to keep us going.  I moved out of my house and put everything in storage. In early December I got a call from an agency asking if I was free for a semester contract in Brisbane. I said no and told them about the visa problem.

They said let’s not tell them about that for now but go along and chat with them.  It turned out to be a top school and the interview went so well, they said they would wait until the week before term 1 for my visa.  At this point I didn’t even tell my family as they already thought I was crazy throwing a perfectly good job away.  I headed off to the states on holiday with my sister.  15th January I returned and no visa.  I found several voice messages from the school saying contact us urgently.  I couldn’t bear to turn another good job away just yet.  On the 19th I finally emailed them, 2 days before school start and said, no visa but I expect to have it in two days. The latter statement was a lie but hey.  They said okay.   That night I drowned and lamented in red wine about what might have been.  Next morning I woke up and there it was. The golden email!  I could not believe it.  The gamble had paid off and I now had a job at a top school. My family were in shock and so was I. That resulted in much more red wine. 

A week later, I found myself working in a place alongside people who really were at the top of their profession and teaching highly dedicated and ambitious students. I learned a lot and enjoyed every minute. My son went to college and made a few friends. This was the turnaround for us. My next move, we built our own house on the Gold Coast. In the Uk all I could have bought was a 2 bed apartment in a crappy part of town.  This was a big stretch financially so I started a side business from home which added a good boost to my income. I also did lots of other jobs around the coast.  I commuted to Brisbane for a while for my main job but then I took a chance on another temporary contract in a great private school on the Gold Coast.  Two years later I still work there and am now a head of dept so my main income has also had a boost.

so things are much better now.  We are just looking at building a pool in the next few months.  I have not relaxed quite yet, I still have the side business which my son helps out with but this is home for us now. As a young country Australia is very much a land of opportunity if you are prepared to work hard. It made a difference for us.  We also got a fresh start in a new place.  We joined a tennis club and a gym and occasionally get to the beach. We love the variety of the all parts of the Gold Coast and Brisbane is just up the road. 

As soon as we got our new house we also adopted a rescue cat and she had a hard time before she came to us.  She is all good now and we love her dearly. 3 years later, she is still the cutest

Millie 

wow! what a great story!

[Shiba28]

On 15/04/2019 at 18:02, Shiba28 said:

wow! what a great story!

One of the most inspirational stories I have ever heard! 

 

 

DigitalOcean SiteGround iPage

 

[libbye]

My goodness you really have what it takes to survive in Australia and deserve all the rewards.  It may be a land of opportunity but it's a rough and tough 

country in many ways and making good friends can be difficult.  You certainly are not a whinging Pom, quite the opposite. and admiration for your tenacity

and courage are second to none.  It certainly wasn't easy for you but you've won through.  Fantastic.

[Bazooka Boy]

Amazing stories all!

Im looking to move to Adelaide with my wife and baby early next year and preparing myself for the journey  

Happy to know that many have made Australia their home eventually!

[mallard76]

OK, here comes our story.

It was exactly a year since we landed when we moved into our newly built house north of Brisbane towards the end of April 2019.

It was not all plain sailing, though.

We started thinking about Australia probably around 5 years ago. By the way, big kudos to all helpful people on this forum - it is a real treasure trove of knowledge about this country on the other side of the world and the complicated process to get there. I can honestly say: we could not do it without you ! Please keep this forum going.

Anyway, we had a few hiccups along the way. Back in 2014, I got my qualifications confirmed by CPA as an accountant, however, CPA did not like my work experience for some unknown reason. This first setback was very unexpected and meant that I needed 8.0 in each part of IELTS to keep our dream alive. Unfortunately, I got 7.5 in writing, which was a big let down. I downloaded a lot of material about writing test, spent many late nights learning and tried again at the start of 2015. This time, I got 8.0 or over in each part of IELTS. We were over the moon. In April 2015, we applied for 189 visa with, guess what, 60 points. Our visas were granted in July, yay ! I believe I was quite lucky, probably one of the last accountants admitted on 60 points only. We did our visa activation trip soon after, in August 2015. We landed in Melbourne, rented a car. Stayed 1 week in Melbourne, then drove to Sydney (visited Wagga Wagga with nice zoo and also Canberra on the way). Stayed one week in Sydney, then drove to Brisbane (via Coffs Harbour and Big Banana) and stayed our third week there. This is when we had our hearts set on Brisbane and Queensland in general - what a fantastic place to live !

When we returned to the UK (and the parking company at Heathrow dinged my Mercedes, then parked it in the corner so that I could not see it before I left the airport. You can imagine how annoying that was...), we started our preparations for the move.  First of all, we put almost all of our furniture and other goodies on ebay. 90% of these sold over time (2 years), the rest was given away. Then, in 2016, we sold our car and leased another one for two years. The next step was to put our house on the market. At the same time, I was looking for an opportunity to leave my job. In 2017, my position was made redundant, meaning I then had redundancy money to help start new life in Oz. Shortly after, I was offered an opportunity to work as a home-based contractor in a different part of the same business and we found buyers for our house.

With the house sold and redundancy money in the bank, we booked our tickets, returned leased car with no charges, and arrived in Queensland in April 2018 with just around 150 kg luggage, nothing else. You can imagine how exciting and nerve-wracking this was. I was incredibly lucky that I was able to continue working from home over the internet as a contractor. Once we landed, we spent 4 weeks in an apartment rented via Airbnb with a 4g dongle for fast internet connection. The apartment was fantastic and very comfortable, including a private pool. During this time, we registered for Medicare, TFN, Centrelink, got Queensland driving licence, advised the bank that we moved permanently etc. We also bought a cheap, but brand new car (a separate lucky story) and basic household items, like kitchen and bedroom stuff. After three weeks, I found a longer term rental, a unit in a complex with pool and gym. Again - I could not dream of anything better. At that point, we were able to buy basic furniture (beds, washing machine, fridge freezer, tv, sofa etc.) with delivery on/after our move-in date. This was my redundancy money completely gone, but I had steady inflow of money from my job. Note: for cheap furniture, go to Fantastic Furniture. The rest you can get from Kmart / BigW. We also like OfficeWorks :)

Once our longer term rental was sorted, we started looking into building credit history and managed to get two credit cards quite easily. Point to note - go into the branch, do not try to do it over the phone or the internet, you will have a much higher chance. Branch advisers are hungry for commissions :) Just 6 months after our arrival, we were given mortgage agreement in principle and started looking for a suitable property. We had money for 20% deposit from our sale in the UK. It dawned on us that new house and land packages slightly further to the north of Brisbane were the same price as used, run-down houses near our rental address, so we went for house and land. The location did not matter, as long as NBN was available. We completed on the land in December 2018 and started build in January 2019. Our brand new house was ready in April 2019 and we moved in. It is a very nice area with playground just a stone throw away and all shops within 10 minutes' drive. In March this year, my job also changed from contracting to permanent.

I believe this is quite a positive outcome in such a short time. We are now well settled in our new place. Kids had to move schools, but are happy now as well. We are looking forward to getting new family members (dog & cat).

Overall, Australia is all it was expected to be and more, and more, and more. We just love it here. We survived through Queensland summer. There were some steamy days, but nothing we could not handle with car and house air-con ;) Now, we are going through our second autumn and the weather is great. Public swimming pool or ocean are easily accessible.

To us, it is not "just another developed country", it is a fantastic place to live. Some say "it is all about money here" - perhaps, but that's capitalism for you. If you care only about material things, then you might struggle to be happy anywhere in the world. I feel like our life is a dream come true and long may this last !

[ali]

@mallard76  Congratulations on your first Aussiversary.

[Bulya]

Excellent.  Very early days, but a great start 

[Toots]

You have done very well in such a short time!    Glad you are settling in and enjoying life in Australia.

[libbye]

Well done.  You certainly have the right attitude to start life again in a foreign country.  Hope it continues to fulfill your dreams and aspirations.

[benj1980]

Four years today! My Mum still says it's the day we abandoned her (but it is in jest, as she has a new favourite holiday location!)

We still love it here and have no plans to move back, I just don't know why we would. Interestingly I'm taking the family back just after Christmas to sample a UK winter. I think if anything my children are starting to take for granted what they have here. We built our house close to the sea a couple of years ago, they love the outside lifestyle and most definitely have a better life than the ones they left behind. I struggle with their Aussie accents as they are getting so thick and other parents are surprised to here my wife and I's accent when we are introduced! My boys talk about cray fishing, AFL and buying a big boat, I was happy with my kayaks... I'm hoping seeing their cousins and a few old friends will give them a better perspective of what they have here in Oz.

So as a recap, we moved to WA, got jobs, got promotions, built a house, rescued a couple of ACD crosses, fallen in love with Freo Dockers (well sort of, my youngest definitely has!) and built up a network of friends. We are definitely better off and although some things are expensive, wages far exceed what we earned in the UK. We really can't complain about the life that Australia has now presented us. However, it isn't always easy. I felt the need to fly back to Ireland and the UK to visit my gravely ill Grandfather knowing it was a trip to say goodbye. Despite being upgraded to Business Class it was little consolation for seeing your Grandfather a shadow of the man he used to be. This hit me harder than I realised it would and it took me a while to adjust when I came back to Oz. So when people say it's only 20 hours away I don't completely agree. There's a lot more to it than simply travel time, there's the guilt of living far away, getting information second hand and not being there to support other members of your family during a stressful time.

I think the most negative thing is now looking at the citizenship form, lots of repetition, a sweet reminder of the visa application! Hopefully one day our children appreciate the opportunity and reflect on the lifestyle that we have provided for them, perhaps with blue passports!...

[benj1980]

Looks like I have done an update every year I've been here! I think it's the least I could do when this forum and the members saved me from going mad whilst waiting for our visas. The kindness of MillieM to send over an IELTS book, the updates and tracker, advice on every silly part of a move and general encouragement. Long may it continue!

[ali]

6 hours ago, benj1980 said:

Four years today! My Mum still says it's the day we abandoned her (but it is in jest, as she has a new favourite holiday location!)

We still love it here and have no plans to move back, I just don't know why we would. Interestingly I'm taking the family back just after Christmas to sample a UK winter. I think if anything my children are starting to take for granted what they have here. We built our house close to the sea a couple of years ago, they love the outside lifestyle and most definitely have a better life than the ones they left behind. I struggle with their Aussie accents as they are getting so thick and other parents are surprised to here my wife and I's accent when we are introduced! My boys talk about cray fishing, AFL and buying a big boat, I was happy with my kayaks... I'm hoping seeing their cousins and a few old friends will give them a better perspective of what they have here in Oz.

So as a recap, we moved to WA, got jobs, got promotions, built a house, rescued a couple of ACD crosses, fallen in love with Freo Dockers (well sort of, my youngest definitely has!) and built up a network of friends. We are definitely better off and although some things are expensive, wages far exceed what we earned in the UK. We really can't complain about the life that Australia has now presented us. However, it isn't always easy. I felt the need to fly back to Ireland and the UK to visit my gravely ill Grandfather knowing it was a trip to say goodbye. Despite being upgraded to Business Class it was little consolation for seeing your Grandfather a shadow of the man he used to be. This hit me harder than I realised it would and it took me a while to adjust when I came back to Oz. So when people say it's only 20 hours away I don't completely agree. There's a lot more to it than simply travel time, there's the guilt of living far away, getting information second hand and not being there to support other members of your family during a stressful time.

I think the most negative thing is now looking at the citizenship form, lots of repetition, a sweet reminder of the visa application! Hopefully one day our children appreciate the opportunity and reflect on the lifestyle that we have provided for them, perhaps with blue passports!...

It's funny that out of all our family, my son who remembers very little of living in the UK is the one who retains his Englishness (although I suspect that it's a talking point when meeting girls and backpackers who talk football lol).  My hubby took him back last year.  We'd asked him what he wanted for his 18th birthday and he'd said his dream was to have a pint on North End with his dad.  The holiday was a more of a football tour and when he came back he said he'd had the best time "but I couldn't live there".  After enjoying the space of WA he found it a little closed in and too cold (although it was January).