Positive Emigrating To Australia True Life Stories

[Sir Les Patterson]

its around 29 degrees, blue sky and no humidity

 

magic isn't it

[jac2011]

That's the only problem, mind you some people seem to walk in to jobs no problem at all so it really does depend what you did. Its a great idea though live in Brisbane and holiday in Cairns, best of both worlds. If you do come on holiday though come at this time of year, its around 29 degrees, blue sky and no humidity

 

I will be a MH Nurse however, I will be fairly newly qualified and with the nursing situation I think I just have to grab what I can get and be thankful for the opportunity. Who knows, that may fall in Cairns, Brisbane or even in between. At this rate it may even be anywhere in Australia. Its taken my husband and I since 2008 to get this far so any opportunity is good! We are still young enough to move around later in life if we don't land where we first want.

[welshpen321]

Hi Pom Queen, your story was lovely to read - I truly hope you are better and on the mend!!!!

[runslikeafish]

The idea to move to Aus crept up on us really. We were looking semi-seriously at Canada and New Zealand but neither really ticked all the boxes. We started looked at Aus more in earnest and knew that we didn't want to move to one of the hotter places - so we were somewhat unusual in that we were looking for colder places in Australia. We narrowed our search down to Victoria and Tasmania and came on a recce trip in late 2009.

 

My wife had never been to Australia before and from the first morning, wandering jetlagged down to the sunny St Kilda waterfront to have breakfast, she loved it. In the time we spent in Melbourne though, she didn't really feel like she wanted to move there, despite really loving the city. We took a couple of trains out to the eastern suburbs and traveled to Geelong and whilst I was already sold, my wife wasn't.

 

That changed about 2 minutes after flying into Tasmania.

 

Whilst we we still walking off the runway I had the clear thought "this feels like home" but I didn't say anything. On the way from the airport to the city, we were just going over the Tasman Bridge and my wife lent across to me and said "this feels like home". So we stayed in Tassie for a while, fell in love with it and decided to actually make the move.

 

The visa process was lengthy and frustrating. Or rather I should say that the skills recognition process was lengthy and frustrating. It felt like we weren't making progress for ages but when the skills recognition came through the actual visa progressed quickly. My wife was also able to secure a job before moving via a telephone interview which was fantastic.

 

The last few weeks before moving were very strange. We made a few shipping mistakes, essentially caused by not being careful with our

in-flight luggage weights, which meant that we threw away or gave away quite a few things at the last minute. It was a very busy and emotional time and saying goodbye to friends and family was hard.

 

When we arrived in Hobart, after a 40 hour trip door to door we were both utterly done in. On day one we sat in Nandos in North Hobart staring into space and feeling very alone and cut off from everything we knew. I know I was having serious doubts about whether we'd done the right thing at that particular moment. We were so tired that day we went back to our rented apartment and went to bed at 6:00 PM and woke up around 8:00 the next morning.

 

That next day after a good sleep was totally different and as we walked around Hobart we were very quickly reminded of why we had come here. We had lunch down at Salamanca and walked along the waterfront and I can truthfully say that neither of us have looked back since.

 

My wife's work went well and she was quickly offered a promotion. I got a job after around a month and a half and I also quickly moved into a different role. We also started to do a lot of the things that we'd looked forward to doing when we were planning the move. Things like watching the end of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, going to The Taste Festival and, crucially, joining CrossFit. This gave us an instant circle of friends and this probably more than anything else has helped make the move the success it has been. Pretty much every week we do something social with some friends, whether that's go for a beer, have people over for dinner, go camping or as is more frequent now, sit around eating and talking about babies!

 

We've done so much since we arrived here it's impossible to recount it all. We've seen all manner of wildlife, including more than once seeing dolphins from our balcony. We've visited Sydney, Brisbane, The Sunshine Coast and lots of Tassie. We've made genuinely fantastic friends and have a completely different lifestyle from that which we had back in Cornwall.

 

Of course living in Australia still has a lot of the same issues as living anywhere else, you still have to go to work, pay bills, repair your car etc. Having said that, I was having a really bad day at work last week and I said to myself, "I may be having a bad day but on the bright side, I'm having a bad day in Australia!".

 

I don't think our move could have gone much better for us to be honest and we have topped it off recently by having our first child in Australia, now 9 weeks old. If you're thinking of moving here I'd thoroughly recommend giving it a try.

 

I write a blog about our move, Australia in general and advice for people thinking about moving. The first post was in 2011 before we moved so you can see the change since then. The link to the blog is in my signature below.

 

...and very lastly, here's the view from our balcony where we live in Tassie.

 

[Maruska]

That sound wonderful Runslikeafish :yes:

[jac2011]

Loving the view, your making me want to move to Tassie lol

 

Enjoy every day!

 

x

[Candygirl]

Love this thread - some really good uplifting stories - Thanks Mods:wink:

Kate - I could not read fast enough when you were describing when Yasi hit the North Coast. I hope you are on the mend:hug:

[ramot]

I have been a bit of a nomad all my life. I was an army brat and lived in Germany from age 4 till 8 and carried on moving. I joined an airline, British Eagle which folded in 1968. They had leased 2 BAC 1-11's from Zambia Airways which had to be returned, and I was the stewardess that went to train the local stewardesses. I had some great times, flying to other African countries, with stop overs. Also occasionally flew locally on the old DC 3's, landing on grass strips often in the middle of nowhere it felt, and some scary times limping back to Lusaka after the DC 3 had engine problems while en route, balanced against flying over herds of elephants and other wild life, and meeting up with other expats and locals and having a lazy lunch listening to all their incredible life stories living in the bush, including one memorable occasion sitting with David Shepard ( wild life artist) before flying back.

I met my husband there on a blind date, and 43 years later think it should last!!! He was seconded to the Zambian Airforce from the RAF, so I continued moving house over and over again after we returned to UK.

He left the air force to fly commercially, and we ended up in Brunei for 10 years. On the whole we had a great time but it wasn't without some difficult times, including missing all 3 of our children who were in UK, but was lucky enough to see lots of Asia. Loved going into jungle, seeng orang u tangs in the wild was amazing and almost got used to the 100% humidity, but suffered badly from the smoke haze from Indonesia.

So retirement loomed and we weren't ready to retire to the cottage with roses round the door in UK.

I had loved Australia from my first visit in 1990. I had flown out to meet my husband in Cairns. Whoops he wasn't at the airport to meet me!!!! Less said the better about that, so the airline said they would arrange transport for me and daughter. A stretch white limo with sheepskin seats turned up, and I thought this is the life, ok it's been downhill ever since but what an intro to Oz.

So we decided to retire to Oz, we had no children here just a couple of cousins. We chose the Sunshine Coast and absolutely love our life here. We were made so welcome, live a very full and active life. Every club or activity that you could want is up and running here, and it's so lovely to walk by the beach in mid winter in glorious sunshine, we know retiring here was the the right thing for us, and now tat 2 of our children have joined us here life is even better.

[moirclan]

well thirty years ago today i landed in perth with a two year old and started a new life , how time moves quick !!

[Bobj]

Oh well...I first met my Dear Old Dad when I was aged 5. He had been captured when Singapore fell and incarcerated in japanese POW camps during WWII. His few tales of the Australian diggers made me want to see this place for myself, even at that young age. D.O.D wanted to come here after the war, but Mum wanted to go back to the UK where here large family was (10 siblings), so we went to the UK...

 

After I finished my woolclassing apprenticeship, I signed on the dotted line, got D.O.D. to pay the £10 and in 1963, arrived here, I was 22 and ready to adventure!

 

And still having an adventure at age 72. September will hopefully see us digging garnets in the NT desert and thence barra fishing with a really beaut family we met, who happen to be members on this fine forum.

 

Have mentioned a few adventures along the way, elsewhere.

 

Cheers, Bobj.

[samdom1]

Wowsers these stories are certainly inspiration especially yours Kate, Thank you for sharing it! I hope your feeling better and on the mend

 

Your all helping me everyday getting a step nearer to our dream....lifes for living eh!! xx

Edited August 26, 2013 by samdom1

[Johndoe]

I'm not posting mine 'cause of my rose tinted specs............................it's all lies I tell you!

[Guest The Pom Queen]

with a really beaut family we met, who happen to be members on this fine forum.

 

Have mentioned a few adventures along the way, elsewhere.

 

Cheers, Bobj.

Urm you haven't met Rob yet :wink: :tongue:

[Guest The Pom Queen]

I'm not posting mine 'cause of my rose tinted specs............................it's all lies I tell you!

 

Come on Kev we don't mind rose tinted specs on this thread :wink:

[Bobj]

Urm you haven't met Rob yet :wink: :tongue:

 

Have, through these pages.

 

Cheers, Bobj.

[Bobj]

I'm not posting mine 'cause of my rose tinted specs............................it's all lies I tell you!

 

'Ave a go, ya mug!

 

Cheers, Bobj.

[Johndoe]

'Ave a go, ya mug!

 

Cheers, Bobj.

 

Will try later...................still very busy. The grand-daughter's got 80 hrs in so another 20 hrs and she'll take het test and hopefully get a permanent job at Australia Zoo. Unfortunately, I think the Jehova's or "Born Again's" have got to her :biglaugh:

 

[Guest The Pom Queen]

Will try later...................still very busy. The grand-daughter's got 80 hrs in so another 20 hrs and she'll take het test and hopefully get a permanent job at Australia Zoo. Unfortunately, I think the Jehova's or "Born Again's" have got to her :biglaugh:

 

 

 

As she done the 12 months or does she not need this? I thought it was 100 hours but they needed their license for a 12 month period before moving up to the P's, if not I better take my middle son out more.

[Guest The Pom Queen]

As she done the 12 months or does she not need this? I thought it was 100 hours but they needed their license for a 12 month period before moving up to the P's, if not I better take my middle son out more.

 

Here it is phew as I can't cope with much more of his driving so it's easy to spread it out.

To upgrade your learner licence to a P1 or P2 type of licence you must be at least 17. If you are under 25, your first provisional licence will be issued as a P1 licence.

Before you can apply, you must

 

 

• have held your class C learner licence for at least one year within the previous three years (not including licence suspensions or cancellations)

• lodge your completed and certified logbook via Australia Post at least 14 days before your driving test (if you are under 25 years of age)

• book and pass a practical driving test.

 

Edited August 27, 2013 by The Pom Queen
Sorry mods for going off topic, it was Kev's fault :tongue:

[Johndoe]

As she done the 12 months or does she not need this? I thought it was 100 hours but they needed their license for a 12 month period before moving up to the P's, if not I better take my middle son out more.

 

Luckily, we applied for her licence when she was here last year.

[Wendy Robinson]

*WARNING LONG AND DEPRESSINGLY BORING*

 

 

We (being myself, hubby and 3 kids) sold everything we had in the UK. Arrived in Oz on 9th June 2009 with 5 suitcases and 14k GBP

 

We stayed in a motel for the first few nights, and then told we had to leave by the following Monday as the room had been double booked and the other people needed the room more than us:err:.

 

Anyway it gave us a kick up the bum to find a rental. We wanted to be NOR so started at REAs in Joondalup. Everywhere we went was the same story "sorry you'll have to wait until open house, submit application and wait'. By this stage I was ready to go back to airport and get the next available flight home, but as luck would have it, Hubby insisted we try one more REA, So off we go, we get there ask the usual questions, basically said we need somewhere ASAP, didn't care where it was as long as it is liveable. Poor woman must have felt so sorry for us, she said she had a place available in Quinns Rocks, not even advertised yet, and it was ours if we wanted it. So on the Friday after we landed we signed a 12 month lease on our first Aussie home. Moved in the following Monday. So basically we managed to open bank accounts, medicare, enrol kids into school and refurnish a whole house in less than a week of arriving.

Then it seems our luck ran out. Hubby was a maintenance electrician in England, and obviously no electrical licence meant no electrical job in Oz. He applied for literally 100s of jobs, from Trade assistant to Hungry Jacks and everything in between, never heard back from ANY of them. I was also applying for jobs, as in England I was an elderly care assistant, fortunately I was offered a job, which came at the right time as we were running out of money fast.

 

3 months later out of the blue an ex work mate of hubbys contacted him on F/B and said he'd heard we were in Perth and was he interested in job at his place. Hell Yeah he was. The job was perfect for him, and best of all no licence needed as it was a electrical design programming job (I think). Any how things started looking up both had jobs we enjoyed, although I had to give mine up as DH job involved a lot of FIFO at a moments notice. Everything was plodding along nicely, kids were settled, PIL had been out to visit, we had really started to settle. Then in August 2010 we found out I was pregnant, yay life was great.

 

Then BAM things went to ****.... scans showed possible problems with the baby, first they though DS, then perhaps CF, as it turns out baby was perfectly healthy, I just had a **** sonographer. So back to happy,happy,happy. Or so I thought.....

 

Dh went into go into a major depressive episode, it started of with a day off work here a day off there nothing to concerning, then days turned into weeks. He said it was the stress of his job and he can't do it anymore, he was sometimes spending 3 weeks at a time away from home, coming home for a few days then being sent away again. So unbeknown to him I started applying for jobs for him, (by this point he had his fitters licence). He recieved a call a week or so later from a company, offering him a job interview, and a few weeks later started a new job. Problem was because he was so down and depressed he wouldn't/couldn himself to drag, and point blank refused to see a gp. Fortunately his new boss was very understanding and allowed him to work from home . Anyway around jan/feb 2011 I finally lost my **** with him and told him straight. I was 2 months away from having baby #4 tired, fed up emotional, hormonal and needed some support and told if he didn't sort his crap out I'm packing up mine and the kids stuff and going back to England, withOUT him. (Admittedly not my finest moment). Anyhow obviously something clicked and he finally got some help, got him self back to work and motivated again. By the time the baby was born things were all good again.

 

NOW....... Things are great, Hubby is still in his job that he loves, we've moved SOR now and things are actually really great at the moment. We have had some really crap times but we have also had some amazing times and for now I love living here. We are about to start looking to buy our own home, planning some amazing adventures and have no desire to go back to the UK not even for holiday as yet.

 

Sorry for all the depressing bits but I think it has made me more determined to make it work here, becasue if we can handle all that crap on our own in a foreign country, come out the other side and still love it here then Australia is doing something right for us.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Wendy Robinson

[jac2011]

Wendy,

 

Your post was not boring at all, its the reality of turning lives upside down and how common depression can be. Most people believe they will never suffer, or they can overcome it personally and as my lovely grandma in law says 'no such thing, its attention seeking (I kid you not, don't worry we aren't speaking anymore)'.

 

Depression sneaks up on people so slowly and manages to take hold, emigrating is a shock to us no matter how exciting life is. My DH and I only moved to the other side of the country for 3 years (In the UK) and he is suffering from anxiety and possibly depression and despite me training in Mental Health there is no way I can get him to see a GP.

 

Its a lovely and honest post by you that will hopefully make people realise that life wont always be perfect but there is help out there and as long as each and every one of us realised that depression can hit us all at any point in our lives then it becomes far easier to deal with. I know it probably wasn't nice giving your hubby an ultimatum but I am sure he thanks you for that now.

 

Thankyou for your post x

[samdom1]

*WARNING LONG AND DEPRESSINGLY BORING*

 

 

We (being myself, hubby and 3 kids) sold everything we had in the UK. Arrived in Oz on 9th June 2009 with 5 suitcases and 14k GBP

 

We stayed in a motel for the first few nights, and then told we had to leave by the following Monday as the room had been double booked and the other people needed the room more than us:err:.

 

Anyway it gave us a kick up the bum to find a rental. We wanted to be NOR so started at REAs in Joondalup. Everywhere we went was the same story "sorry you'll have to wait until open house, submit application and wait'. By this stage I was ready to go back to airport and get the next available flight home, but as luck would have it, Hubby insisted we try one more REA, So off we go, we get there ask the usual questions, basically said we need somewhere ASAP, didn't care where it was as long as it is liveable. Poor woman must have felt so sorry for us, she said she had a place available in Quinns Rocks, not even advertised yet, and it was ours if we wanted it. So on the Friday after we landed we signed a 12 month lease on our first Aussie home. Moved in the following Monday. So basically we managed to open bank accounts, medicare, enrol kids into school and refurnish a whole house in less than a week of arriving.

Then it seems our luck ran out. Hubby was a maintenance electrician in England, and obviously no electrical licence meant no electrical job in Oz. He applied for literally 100s of jobs, from Trade assistant to Hungry Jacks and everything in between, never heard back from ANY of them. I was also applying for jobs, as in England I was an elderly care assistant, fortunately I was offered a job, which came at the right time as we were running out of money fast.

 

3 months later out of the blue an ex work mate of hubbys contacted him on F/B and said he'd heard we were in Perth and was he interested in job at his place. Hell Yeah he was. The job was perfect for him, and best of all no licence needed as it was a electrical design programming job (I think). Any how things started looking up both had jobs we enjoyed, although I had to give mine up as DH job involved a lot of FIFO at a moments notice. Everything was plodding along nicely, kids were settled, PIL had been out to visit, we had really started to settle. Then in August 2010 we found out I was pregnant, yay life was great.

 

Then BAM things went to ****.... scans showed possible problems with the baby, first they though DS, then perhaps CF, as it turns out baby was perfectly healthy, I just had a **** sonographer. So back to happy,happy,happy. Or so I thought.....

 

Dh went into go into a major depressive episode, it started of with a day off work here a day off there nothing to concerning, then days turned into weeks. He said it was the stress of his job and he can't do it anymore, he was sometimes spending 3 weeks at a time away from home, coming home for a few days then being sent away again. So unbeknown to him I started applying for jobs for him, (by this point he had his fitters licence). He recieved a call a week or so later from a company, offering him a job interview, and a few weeks later started a new job. Problem was because he was so down and depressed he wouldn't/couldn himself to drag, and point blank refused to see a gp. Fortunately his new boss was very understanding and allowed him to work from home . Anyway around jan/feb 2011 I finally lost my **** with him and told him straight. I was 2 months away from having baby #4 tired, fed up emotional, hormonal and needed some support and told if he didn't sort his crap out I'm packing up mine and the kids stuff and going back to England, withOUT him. (Admittedly not my finest moment). Anyhow obviously something clicked and he finally got some help, got him self back to work and motivated again. By the time the baby was born things were all good again.

 

NOW....... Things are great, Hubby is still in his job that he loves, we've moved SOR now and things are actually really great at the moment. We have had some really crap times but we have also had some amazing times and for now I love living here. We are about to start looking to buy our own home, planning some amazing adventures and have no desire to go back to the UK not even for holiday as yet.

 

Sorry for all the depressing bits but I think it has made me more determined to make it work here, becasue if we can handle all that crap on our own in a foreign country, come out the other side and still love it here then Australia is doing something right for us.

 

Wendy your story was far from boring or depressing... honest, and realistic and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say Thank you for sharing it with us all xxx I love your determination I'm made like that...strong women eh we might get knocked down from time to time (and boy have I too at times!) but we just brush our selves off and crack on! Always something good round the corner I think so and your story shows that too x

[Cadas]

I was working in the middle east in 2010 with no intention of coming to Oz. I knew things would eventually end and was making plans for the family and me to go to Canada rather than back to the uk. ( we had all lived in France and were French speaking) when I was abruptly laid off in late 2010, and Canadian immigration was going through a restructure, we decided to put an application in for PR in Australia as a just in case scenario.

 

We'd assumed it took years, but were totally shocked to get called for medicals 8 weeks later. I'd planned to take a year off ,!!!! We stretched out the medical to buy some time, but ended up with visas by April. Again the plan was to wait, but after a couple of weeks my wife and I were sat in a pub, and just said "sod it" let's get on with it. I flew down in late June with the grand plan of giving it three months to find a job, else go home. Wife and kids to follow when I found a job.

 

My job finding strategy involved ringing the major property firms HR managers and saying " I'm here, can I see you". Ended up with an interview 24hrs later, and an offer an hour after the interview.

 

The family was stuck in the UK dealing with our old house, so I had to do the house finding, car buying, furniture buying, etc....hoping I'd picked the right house! Family arrived four months later.

 

Two years down the line, two promotions later I'm the new SA/NT region manager living in Adelaide. We've no plans to leave anytime soon. The first two years were very tough work and money wise but it's getting a whole heap easier...

 

We did eventually offered PR to Canada......last Christmas.

[walkerfamily123]

Today marks our 1 year anniversary leaving the UK for Sydney.

 

Myself (28, with a petrochemical background) and my wife (27, with and environmental management background) sold our house in the UK for a loss, paid off our student loan debts, etc and applied for a 157 skilled migration visa with the plan of moving to Sydney and starting fresh. So we packed up a container of all our belongings and left the UK with our A$37k savings and no jobs to come too.

We arrived in Sydney airport 06.00 on the 1st of September 2012 to warm 22 degree sunshine. The first few days where hard, coupled with jet lag and doubt that we might have made a mistake leaving our stable jobs in the UK for nothing in Australia. After the first 3 days we found that the weather, the people and the standard of living was fabulous and the homesickness had passed, we believed that we had made the right choice. The next few weeks consisted of setting up the rental property and buying a car, applying for jobs, etc.

When we finally got settled we found that we could apply for 10-15 jobs a day and not receive much response.....anyway eventually i received a call on the 6th of October from QBE insurance company looking for a contract warehouse worker (great timing because our saving were starting to run out!), the money was enough to cover the rent, food and bills (Great! a start). Christmas came buy and my wife got a call from Weir Minerals looking for a Environmental manager on a 6 month contract (decent enough money....great! now we are not on a tight budget for everything).

 

Now after coasting in daft jobs to see us through the first few months me and my wife have both gained permanent jobs working for Caltex and between us earn possibly 4 times what we earned in the UK, we have managed to save up and buy a 1964 1/2 for mustang convertible (car of our dreams) and we have made some amazing friends. Although we do miss our family back in the UK we have frequent contact with them through Skype and whatsapp, we are happier than ever and saving up to buy our own house and start a family here in Sydney.

 

We would also recommend South Sydney as a place to live. We moved to Sans Souci, it’s a beautiful place to live, and it is a nice 40 minute walk to Brighton Le Sands which has nice restaurants

 

Phil / Charlie