Positive Emigrating To Australia True Life Stories

[Guest]

1 hour ago, libbye said:

these threads are so old.  Are there any up to date posts?

I think there are plenty of us on the forum who are happy and content with our lives in Aus but who don't post and shout about it from the rooftops. 

I just tend to reply to posts that are asking for help or info rather than post to this sort of thread but I can assure you I am very happy coming up 4 years here now. So is my family  

[Toots]

Been in Australia 35.5 years.  On the whole we've been very happy here.  Lived in Perth, Sydney and now retired in Tasmania and loving it.  

Edited April 10, 2017 by Toots

[Guest The Pom Queen]

We are still here and loving it. We didn't like Townsville but knew that there are plenty of other beautiful places in Australia and are now in the Lockyer Valley.

[TartanGary]

Arrived in Melbourne on the 31st December 2016 with my wife and two kids aged 6 and 9.We settled in the south east suburb of Berwick which is just perfect,good little village vibe but also a short commute to the CBD so best of both worlds really.

My wife and I both had jobs lined up when we arrived so got off to a good start but iv since moved jobs as has my wife as the jobs we had weren't quite what they were made out to be but we both managed to secure full time jobs within a week of leaving our other jobs and are both really settled now.

Kids have settled in well in there new school and are making new friends daily.

On conclusion,we as a family are loving our new life in Australia,it is a million miles away from what we were used to in Scotland.The lifestyle here is fantastic as long as you come here in the knowing that you have to work hard to achieve a good life in this country.

[Guest The Pom Queen]

Thank you for the update @TartanGary I like Berwick.

[gtaylor30]

I moved in September 2014, to be with my favourite Australian who was then my girlfriend and naturally already living here. We deliberately did a 189 visa, as I didn't want to be tied to any person (in case that didn't work), any job (in case that didn't work) or any place (in case I didn't like it). That was preagmatic and sensible for me. I joined the local hockey team, being a hockey player, and have picked up a good social circle through there and work. It took a while to get working, but I got there in the end. At the hockey club, I went through a full pre-season, and was asked to captain the 3rd team which I did. At the end of the season, I was awarded best and fairest for both the 3rd team, and the vets team I played for. I was also asked to coach the 3rd and 4ths from the second season on.

I've worked hard, and  been recognised as one of the top 20 perfoming staff in the whole company of 400-450 people, but by career growth hasn't happened yet. Consequently looking around for alternative employers.

On a personal level, the relationship stood up and we are now married. We have a daughter together who has just turned 1, and once my career (and salary) progresses, we have plans do invest in property and extend our house.

The only thing I miss is closer contact with friends, but I knew this was going to be the case so it isn't an issue. We went back for a couple of weeks last year to show bubs off to my family etc., and caught up with friends, but never felt like I wanted to go back there permanently.

[Guest The Pom Queen]

A wonderful update thank you for sharing.  Which state are you in?

[libbye]

lovely story.  Everyone moves on but it's good to meet up with old friends again.  

[MARYROSE02]

On 31/12/2014 at 4:50 AM, Bobj said:

 

Still a newchum, then???:tongue:

 

Cheers, Bobj.

Still a new chum, yes! I was just thinking about the different trajectories our family has taken. I left first in 1978, then my two brothers came at six monthly intervals in 1979. I'm an Aussie citizen but I've been back to England frequently, including a 12 year "holiday." My youngest brother is a triple citizen having US citizenship as well as UK and OZ, after moving there for a few years, and the middle brother is the most Aussie of the lot but he's refused to take out Aussie citizenship. He's barely left Australia apart from two short holidays in England.

I've probably said it before somewhere but I stopped caring about making comparisons between "here and there" because I just "live" here. I'm not "living the dream" whatever that is. Whenever I meet English people I always ask them why they like it here and they invariably talk about a better lifestyle, climate, and sometimes I'm prepared to argue with them about it, as I did with a young guy from Kent the other night in the pub. "I'm two hours away from the countryside living in Sydney. In England the countryside is outside my door, five minutes on my pushbike. I'm too scared to ride a bike here." The close proximity of the beaches and being able to swim all year round is the compensation for being far from the bush.

I can't remember why I came here now. Why did you come Bob?

[Bobj]

@MARYROSE02

I can still remember a few of my father's reports of his time in POW Camps in japan and his utmost regard for the attitude the Australians took while incarcerated. It was my resolve to come to Australia, ever since he regaled me with their irrepressible manner. And that, Dave, was better than 70 years ago!

Have not regretted one moment of my life out here and that is now 54 years.And, as I keep on saying, it is a fabulous life.

Cheers, Bobj.

[Bobj]

On 22/04/2017 at 2:23 PM, Bobj said:

@MARYROSE02

I can still remember a few of my father's reports of his time in POW Camps in japan and his utmost regard for the attitude the Australians took while incarcerated. It was my resolve to come to Australia, ever since he regaled me with their irrepressible manner. And that, Dave, was better than 70 years ago!

Have not regretted one moment of my life out here and that is now 54 years.And, as I keep on saying, it is a fabulous life.

Cheers, Bobj.

Watched an old tv film last night, 'Paradise Road', about western ladies interred in a jap camp during WWII. Jo was horrified to see the atrocities these people suffered at the hands of their captors. This reminded me of one of those stories

My Dear Old Dad told me that one 'digger' was singled out for having a moustache. He went to the officer, whereupon said officer cut off half the digger's 'tache; so the digger asked for the other half to be cut off...to stop him walking around in circles. Result 24 hours knelt in a cage in the parade ground. D.O.D had a moustache, too, and suffered the indignity of having half cut off, but he refrained from commenting.

Cheers, Bobj.

[Evandale]

I would imagine that the Japanese youth would be mortified seeing what went on today!  The "comfort women" being one instance. We have a family friend who was a small child in a camp in Singapore with her Mother, she has some excruciating stories to tell. But the world hasnt got much better in many instances..

We have wonderful Japanese friends as we do Germans, history can be very embarrassing!

[ytboy]

Moved over to Adelaide from the UK in Jan 2015. Spent 2 very happy years in Glenelg with my family.My wife plus 2 boys, one 23 the other 14 (now). Fortunately my wife was sponsored by a company, that's why we came, and we have just recently received our PR. Currently we live on the Northern Beaches in Sydney having moved late Jan 2017 and we can all honestly say the move from the UK some 28 months ago was the best decision we have ever made. Australia is a fantastic place to live. Adelaide was superb, the people so friendly and the wine superb! Sydney is incredible, love the hustle and bustle and there is always something to do which we love. Big thumbs up from us!!! Now to purchase a property..........?? !! 

[themaccas]

Moved over nearly 5years ago on a bit of a whim, saw an advert for nurses and midwives needed in NSW and booked an appointment in London with the recruitment team. Was offered a job and permanent residency sponsorship on the spot so decided to go through the process to see where it took us. 9 months later we were in Sydney and haven't looked back since. We love our life here and jobs and careers have worked out bette than we could have hoped for. We have just been approved for citizenship and we are in the middle of building a house, buying a home has taken far longer than we had hoped due to the crazy Sydney housing costs but we will be in our own place by Xmas. To all those considering it...take the chance you never know where it will lead, we have been back to the UK for visits a few times and each time we have looked forward to coming back home to Aus! We are here for good!!


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[Beaty]

8 hours ago, themaccas said:

Moved over nearly 5years ago on a bit of a whim, saw an advert for nurses and midwives needed in NSW and booked an appointment in London with the recruitment team. Was offered a job and permanent residency sponsorship on the spot so decided to go through the process to see where it took us. 9 months later we were in Sydney and haven't looked back since. We love our life here and jobs and careers have worked out bette than we could have hoped for. We have just been approved for citizenship and we are in the middle of building a house, buying a home has taken far longer than we had hoped due to the crazy Sydney housing costs but we will be in our own place by Xmas. To all those considering it...take the chance you never know where it will lead, we have been back to the UK for visits a few times and each time we have looked forward to coming back home to Aus! We are here for good!!


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Good for you, it's all about taking the chance and getting out of a comfort zone. 

Most people's decisions are based around habits, fears and the opinions of others. In our move we're having to break habits, overcome fears and p*ss off a lot of people but I know it'll be worth it! 

Best of luck with that house build.

B

[Guest]

On 03/05/2017 at 0:08 AM, themaccas said:

Moved over nearly 5years ago on a bit of a whim, saw an advert for nurses and midwives needed in NSW and booked an appointment in London with the recruitment team. Was offered a job and permanent residency sponsorship on the spot so decided to go through the process to see where it took us. 9 months later we were in Sydney and haven't looked back since. We love our life here and jobs and careers have worked out bette than we could have hoped for. We have just been approved for citizenship and we are in the middle of building a house, buying a home has taken far longer than we had hoped due to the crazy Sydney housing costs but we will be in our own place by Xmas. To all those considering it...take the chance you never know where it will lead, we have been back to the UK for visits a few times and each time we have looked forward to coming back home to Aus! We are here for good!!


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Lovely! It's great to hear stories of people who love it there and it's worked out better than you hoped.

All the very best with the build, it will be fab to be in by Christmas this year in your new home.

[MARYROSE02]

On 12/04/2017 at 19:37, TartanGary said:

Arrived in Melbourne on the 31st December 2016 with my wife and two kids aged 6 and 9.We settled in the south east suburb of Berwick which is just perfect,good little village vibe but also a short commute to the CBD so best of both worlds really.

My wife and I both had jobs lined up when we arrived so got off to a good start but iv since moved jobs as has my wife as the jobs we had weren't quite what they were made out to be but we both managed to secure full time jobs within a week of leaving our other jobs and are both really settled now.

Kids have settled in well in there new school and are making new friends daily.

On conclusion,we as a family are loving our new life in Australia,it is a million miles away from what we were used to in Scotland.The lifestyle here is fantastic as long as you come here in the knowing that you have to work hard to achieve a good life in this country.

Have you found yourself an AFL team yet? If not, I suggest the Sydney Swans, though they were originally South Melbourne. Your entire family will follow a team and it will become a family heirloom!

I'm serious. I don't usually ask girls if they follow a footie team but if I know they are from Melbourne I do because they always do have a team. I've never been disappointed. One of my lady friends here, who follows the Giants, told me that she couldn't visit her parents on the weekend because they spent the days watching the footie, her mum being a fanatical Carlton fan.

[Kenfrapin]

A lot of your success and ease of settling down goes to how much time and effort was spent in the research you had the chance to do. There are cases where things just go upside down but thats an exception which we just have to deal with

We did a lot of research for a year as we waited for our PRs, where to live, rent, how employable we were, what we would miss out on, what we would enjoy, so on and so forth. We came with an open mind, knew what challenges we would face and prepared for a level of home sickness we'd experience. Everything has gone well since we arrived, pretty settled in Melbourne, in decent jobs, enjoying the food and nightlife this city has to offer along with the stress and joy of sorting our interiors as we begin the next long journey of our home construction

Oh, we still havent chosen our AFL teams (and unlikely we ever will), I do miss Match of the Day and the evening TV on BBC and ITV (making do with VPN), crazy prices for energy/medical insurance, the lack of choices for weekend couch junk food (like from Tesco, Sainsburys, M&S etc).

But we are happy to live without these given how much more time we spend outside (even though we live in a flat in the city), the relaxed attitude and banter at our work place, how much more amazing the street/deli/restaurant food choices are, or the brilliant cafes/bars/clubs to spend an hour or two at, how much more sun and blue skies we get see (even in Autumn, if this is what Autumn is), how easy it is to make friends (whether its at 2pm or 2am), the very admirable and amenable services industry (not sure why people say its worse than the UK), the distinct lack of snobbish people and slackers around us and just the general laid back happy nature of people we come across every day (try spotting a smile at London rush hour)

Life is good here, if you know what you are getting into and come at it with the right expectation and right attitude

KnK

Edited May 19, 2017 by Kenfrapin

[kevsan]

32 minutes ago, Kenfrapin said:

A lot of your success and ease of settling down goes to how much time and effort was spent in the research you had the chance to do. There are cases where things just go upside down but thats an exception which we just have to deal with

Life is good here, if you know what you are getting into and come at it with the right expectation and right attitude

Agree with this.

It was on the cards for us for a long time, having first visited in 2007 and having friends here that came over for 4 years. When we started getting serious we went to a migration roadshow ran by one of the agents and had speakers from Immigration, removals, NAB etc to give people an idea of what to expect. It was a joint NZ/AUS roadshow and probably close to 150 people there. A rep from tourism NZ asked the room how many people had been to NZ or OZ before? Me and the wife and another couple were the only 4 hands that went up. that was the scary part, that all these people were seemingly desperate to leave the UK for a better life without really knowing anything about it. I asked one guy why he was looking into it, the response - "it must be better than here"....

[themaccas]

We only emigrated with me having been over, the rest of the family trusted me and followed! It definitely helps having visited and I personally would never emigrate without visiting first so good job it was me that did that!


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[MARYROSE02]

On 19/05/2017 at 13:35, Kenfrapin said:

A lot of your success and ease of settling down goes to how much time and effort was spent in the research you had the chance to do. There are cases where things just go upside down but thats an exception which we just have to deal with

We did a lot of research for a year as we waited for our PRs, where to live, rent, how employable we were, what we would miss out on, what we would enjoy, so on and so forth. We came with an open mind, knew what challenges we would face and prepared for a level of home sickness we'd experience. Everything has gone well since we arrived, pretty settled in Melbourne, in decent jobs, enjoying the food and nightlife this city has to offer along with the stress and joy of sorting our interiors as we begin the next long journey of our home construction

Oh, we still havent chosen our AFL teams (and unlikely we ever will), I do miss Match of the Day and the evening TV on BBC and ITV (making do with VPN), crazy prices for energy/medical insurance, the lack of choices for weekend couch junk food (like from Tesco, Sainsburys, M&S etc).

But we are happy to live without these given how much more time we spend outside (even though we live in a flat in the city), the relaxed attitude and banter at our work place, how much more amazing the street/deli/restaurant food choices are, or the brilliant cafes/bars/clubs to spend an hour or two at, how much more sun and blue skies we get see (even in Autumn, if this is what Autumn is), how easy it is to make friends (whether its at 2pm or 2am), the very admirable and amenable services industry (not sure why people say its worse than the UK), the distinct lack of snobbish people and slackers around us and just the general laid back happy nature of people we come across every day (try spotting a smile at London rush hour)

Life is good here, if you know what you are getting into and come at it with the right expectation and right attitude

KnK

You MUST choose an AFL team if you are going to live in Melboune!* Take the whole family to a game and ask people around you to explain the (very simple) rules. And don't be surprised to see the two sets of fans mingling together either. Much as I love my EPL and Spurs, I don't miss the segregation of fans.

*I recommend the Sydney Swans!

[Keith and Linda]

7 minutes ago, MARYROSE02 said:

You MUST choose an AFL team if you are going to live in Melboune!* Take the whole family to a game and ask people around you to explain the (very simple) rules. And don't be surprised to see the two sets of fans mingling together either. Much as I love my EPL and Spurs, I don't miss the segregation of fans.

*I recommend the Sydney Swans!

Melbourne Storm, a lot more enjoyable than the aerial ping pong thingy game! 

[Kirstyj]

Well said Maryrose, and we miss soccer to so we follow Perth Glory, you sit where you want all soccer fans together, have a few beers or wines while watching the match (no having to wait till half time), and as for footie Fremantle Dockers for us xx

[MARYROSE02]

Melbourne Storm, a lot more enjoyable than the aerial ping pong thingy game! 

It's not a case of either or. I like the Storm AND the Swans!

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[TartanGary]

On 18/05/2017 at 06:45, MARYROSE02 said:

Have you found yourself an AFL team yet? If not, I suggest the Sydney Swans, though they were originally South Melbourne. Your entire family will follow a team and it will become a family heirloom!

I'm serious. I don't usually ask girls if they follow a footie team but if I know they are from Melbourne I do because they always do have a team. I've never been disappointed. One of my lady friends here, who follows the Giants, told me that she couldn't visit her parents on the weekend because they spent the days watching the footie, her mum being a fanatical Carlton fan.

We have opted for Collingwood after my daughter won a Collingwood hat at school for being the best kicker and also my team from back in the UK was Newcastle Utd,the Magpies!Also went for Melbourne City in the soccer!