Guest nastasia Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 So you have recently moved to Australia, please share your experiences until now, is it how you dreamt of? How is the job market? Is it expensive to live in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sturry Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Please comment on the above post. I really love to hear about my nation. Is feels great. Thank You Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeBoDee Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Hello, Myself and my husband moved to South Australia at the end of February and so far we have loved it. I'm a registered general nurse and my husband's a mental health nurse. Neither of us had work before we arrived but had no problem finding nursing jobs. I'm from the UK and have found some things are more expensive in Australia and vice versa. We generally spend about the same / slightly more on food per month. At present we don't rent, having managed to stay in caravan parks and housesit which has saved us a lot of money. For anyone interested in housesitting there are plenty of websites where people advertise. We both earn more than we did in the UK now (even though I work 30 hours a week instead of full time) and despite the cost of living being higher we are better off and would most likely be even if we were paying full priced rent. I recommend salary sacrificing if you're able to as it saves a lot of money. There is also the Entertainment Book which you pay around $65 per year for. This is full of discount vouchers for days out, meals, holidays, haircuts etc. For general nurses, it seems that agency work is easy to pick up if you have some experience and there also seems to be more work in the private sector. I work at a private hospital which is very busy but people I work with tell me that the staffing ratio is better in the public sector. I applied to work in 2 of the public hospitals over 3 months ago and have been offered casual positions, however the whole process is very slow and I'm still waiting for my police checks to come back before I start. When I registered with the agency and started at the private hospital I only needed to show them a basic police check which I got myself through one of the local police stations. I had to pay around $65 for it, but it got me employed a bit faster as I was able to show it when I had the job offers instead of waiting for it to come through. We're in winter at the moment and although the weather's better than UK winters, houses are generally not very well insulated or heated. If anyone's thinking of coming to South Australia don't throw your jumpers / coats etc. away before you come! So far, I have loved being here. Adelaide is a great city and there is plenty to do. There are some beautiful places here and overall I have found most people to be friendly. I liked living in the UK before we moved here but so far I don't miss it. My mobile phone provider does a great international rate I can talk for up to 2 hours for only $1 which makes keeping in contact with family much easier. If anyone has any questions please ask - I don't claim to be an expert on emigrating to Adelaide but I can do my best to help xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nastasia Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Thanks BeeBoDee for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathy99 Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 We moved to Sydney 6 months ago and so far it is ticking all the boxes I hoped it would. We live about 40min drive from the cbd and we rent a 3 bed in a lovely suburb for £530 a week. We have two children who are doing really well in school and also love playing outside with the other kids, which to me is great as this is something they didn't really do back home. So far we just have the one wage coming in and we're surving ok, but like everything you cut your cloth accordingly, we don't eat out much (but never did in the UK), my shopping is averaging about $220 per week, we run a car and motorbike, the kids go to ballet and Jazz and swimming and I also manage to save $100 a week (most weeks!!), so like the other op said we're better off here than we were in the uk with two of us working. I'm just about to start a college course to do Cert III in education support which will hopefully lead to a job and then we'll be a lot more better off than we are now. I think it all depends on your reasons for moving here and what you're hoping to change or get out of it that you couldn't in the uk. For us it was a complete fresh start, we had hit rock bottom in the uk both emotionally and financially and this was our last shot (make or break), we had nothing to lose (obviously family), but this journey is about us as a couple and family and reconnecting without any other outside influences. I already know we've done the right thing, 6 months down the line we're happier than we've ever been and kids are too - life is good and simple, which is just the way I like it! :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeBoDee Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Thanks BeeBoDee for sharing! You're welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Please feel free to add your posts to this thread guys @BeeBoDee and @cathy99 http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/news-chat-dilemmas/193833-positive-emigrating-australia-true-life-stories.html Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn2002 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Hello We moved over around 9 months ago to the Gold Coast. Our main reason for coming here was my OH, grew up here and his family are here and in Brisbane. He lived with me in the UK for 10 years and he wanted to come home, I enjoyed living in Australia previously so was happy to come back too. We met here and lived in Sydney about 12 years ago, then back to the UK for what was supposed to be a few years. We put it off and off, then the kids arrived, my mum got diagnosed with Leukemia and we put it off again. At the same time my OH dad had was and still is having chemo for cancer here. We were always planning on coming back, but we realised that there was never going to be a perfect time and as one child starts school next year we wanted to be settled. My OH originally worked for his UK firm when we first arrived so money was fine. When the contract ended it took him a while to get another job, which isn't as well paid so money is a bit tight for us at the moment, he is a qualified accountant. But this is more due to us making a poor decision on a .rental property and a few large car bills at the same time. We spend around. $200 a week in food. Which is probably around the same as the UK. Hubby probably works the same hours (10 a day), but he only works 20 mins drive away now. I would think jobs wise it depends what industry you work in. I have a friend who is a midwife and she took a while to get a job, and another who is an engineer and he took, 4 months to get a job. I like it here, it's not perfect, but I wasn't expecting it to be. but as I no longer work, I feel our kids are better off, whatever we did we would be separating one set of grandparents from them, Skype is ok, but I know my mum misses there hugs. I grew up on a council estate in Essex, It was by no means the worse, but it wasn't great. I wasn't allowed to play outside, and I only remember a couple of holidays with my parents, I mostly went away with my grandparents. So for me comparing my childhood to my OH it sounded to me a lot nicer. I don't necessarily think the education system is better here. Again it depends on your local schools in the UK. In short it's early days for us, my OH commented the other day that he knew he was home as when he was paying for petrol he realised he wasn't wearing shoes, but looked at everyone else in the queue and realised they weren't either !! I'm enjoying being able to do Lots of free things, like play areas and beach trips with the kids. It's not easy right now but, we're here for the long run. I hope this post doesn't sound negative, it's just meant to be honest. I do like it here and I think we've done the right thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perthbound2013 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Hi.. We moved to Melbourne in March 2014 from London. So far, so good. Loving it in fact. We moved over on my wife's 457 and she started work two weeks after arriving which went by very quick. We were in a holiday apartment for the first two weeks provided by her company and the first few days were a mix of finding a rental, cars, kindy and exploring as much as we could in Melbourne. We managed to find a 3bed rental in Mont Albert and the our container arrived a couple of weeks after we moved in. Luckily, the wife's company provided rental furniture as we moved out of the holiday apartment sooner, so we didn't have to camp out in the new house.. Was great when the container arrived though! We're paying $550 per week but it also has a shared pool and gym for the 10 properties which is great. We were in there most days not as expected not so much now! I was meant to take three months out of work to settle out little one but that didn't work out. Our little one started kindy after a month just opposite our house and I was then restless. I applied for a job which was very similar to the one in the UK and worked out well. I started at the end of April and enjoying it so far, although have to drive across the city into the west which is a challenge sometimes. Easier than driving across London during rush hour though! Loving the Aussie work pros, including RDO's (can't say no to three day weekends), Holiday Pay Loading (get extra money whilst on holiday!) and long service leave after 10 years.. Can't wait! So things are going really well - both at work, little one in kindy full time and just registered him for school at one of the best primary schools (public) in Melbourne. Didn't realise that when we moved, so it was a nice bonus. As we live nearby, he has a guaranteed place which is wonderful. We applied for the best and closest 5 schools before we moved here in the UK. He was not accepted for any so if we had stayed in the UK, we would have most likely have to put him in private (at crazy costs) or he would have to travel quite a distance out. Standard of living - we are better off here. Rent is about the same as our mortgage back in the UK. we spend under $200 per week on food which is a little more but not much difference. We are out much more than in London, even in the winter. We have a great park with a children's area right next door. Our little one goes to Swimming, footie, and tennis classes and he's coming along so well. He loves the outside and has even mastered his scooter which is something he couldn't do in the UK due to lack of safe space in London or lack of good weather to go outside! Wife has just started a bsbysiiting club with 6 other mothers from kindy which is great as the little one gets to play with his buddies from kindy during the weekend, and we get to know the grownups. Looking forward to spring and summer and trying out some of the beaches! Will be applying for PR after 2 years and at this point, we can't see us going back. Andre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest km75 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Hi, we moved to Sydney on 1 Jan 2014. We lived here before (2003-2008) so knew what to expect. Things are move expensive here than they were 10 years ago, and housing is very expensive, we rent a small, quite dated, three bed house for $850pw in Frenchs Forest (Northern Beaches). It's a great location, we love it - and we have all settled very well. The boys love school and love being close to the beach and the city. We are looking to buy in the area, but we won't get anything for under $1m which is crazy (for us as we were from South of Scotland / North of England and sold our lovely house for £230k). Overall we are the same financially as we were in the UK - in the UK we lived of my husband's salary and didn't save anything, savings came from my work (I am still working for the same UK company so that hasn't changed), so we're on par financially where we were in the UK. My husband had a job to come to here and we stayed with his parents until we got our rental house, so our moving costs were not excessive - just standard shipping and then usual deposit, buying a car etc. I didn't go mad on the car, got a two year old ford fiesta for $13,000 - my husband got a company car. My husband's AUD salary is 2.66 more than his GBP salary, plus has super on top (and no NI obviously). So, apart from the fact I miss my mum and sister, we are all happier here. I just love the weather and the fact we can spend so much time outdoors. I do miss things about home, but for me, right now, this is the place we want to be. If my husband wasn't Australian I would probably be a bit scared to make the move, but we actually have more family here than we do back home, so don't feel the boys are missing out on family relationships too much, and the fact my husband had a job meant we knew we'd be ok, plus having lived here before we knew what to expect. Slotted in well and feel more settled and happy here than I did in the five years we were back home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conor222 Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 18 months in and loving every second Not cheap to live but all the fun is free Never going back .... We both work have a live in nanny and a beautiful house right by the beach every weekend is a holiday ..... Even in winter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlew Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Some great posts on this thread - thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nastasia Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Just wanted to revive this post for more comments, so those who just moved please share your experience :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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