busbybecci18 Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Hi everyone, We are very new to this forum and hopefully it will help us with our many and increasing questions about moving our life to Australia or New Zealand. To give you a bit of background we holidayed in Australia a few years back and we visited Sydney and Perth, we fell in love with the country and until now my guilts about family etc have always held me back but now we have a two and a half year old and are considering the moved to pave a better future for her and our family. I am a midwife and my husband is a site supervisor/plasterer, we are considering Adelaide as I am under the impression from research that it is a very family orientated place. So... Our biggest questions are housing( we currently live in a four bed end terraced) what would we get for our money or how much is rent for a family home. What is the education system like and are the schools good in this area, and if there are any midwives out there reading this what is the average salary for a midwife (I am currently band six with 5 years post grad experience also with a post grad sonography qualification). Finally cost of living? Is it as expensive as I am reading or the the wages match the higher costs. Thanks so much for your help Becci Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkin Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 There is nothing wrong with wanting a new life in Australia, we have all done it. But try to be realistic with your expectations, it does not provide a better life, it is just another first world country. Some people like it and some do not. You have to weigh up things like a warmer climate against proximity to extended family, which too many under rate in my opinion. As for Adelaide being "family orientated", I have never heard that before. Personally I think there are families living very happily in all the state capitals. Don't fall for clichés. :wink: If somebody asked you how much a house cost in UK or <any city in UK>, you would probably find it hard to answer. Same here, there is a wide range of prices, but take a look at www.domain.com.au and you can get a rough feel for what you can get in each price bracket. If you do go to Adelaide, well it is one of the cheaper state capitals for housing and hopefully you can find something you like. Other than housing, which can be more expensive than the UK (although Adelaide might not be too bad), I think general day to day living costs are much the same. Swings and roundabouts, some things more expensive, some things cheaper. I don't overall notice anything really different, other than housing of course. If you secure salaries that are in $ about 2 to 2.5 times your UK salaries in GBP, then you will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyv Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Hi busbybecci18! If u are planning to work as a midwife/be the primary visa applicant or earner I would make a starting point by checking you will be able to get registration with Ahpra the equivalent of NMC. Lots of UK nurses having major issues with that at the moment. For more info check out the 'whats happening at ahpra thread'. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 You should check out our sister site http://www.pomsinadelaide.com I wouldn't say Adelaide was more family friendly than anywhere else really. There were certainly more family activities in the uk than here. It doesn't have so much night life... Maybe that is what people have meant? I would do as kellyv suggests though and check if you can get registered first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 I agree with the above. Don't do the move because of some notion of a better life for children. It's not. Just a different life. Look at real-estate.com.au for a guide to housing costs and seek.com.au for a guide to salaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busbybecci18 Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 Thanks everyone. I think looking back at my original thread I worded this wrong. What we are looking for is a more laid back lifestyle whereby we work to live and not live to work!!! I have two friends that have made the leap and have.told me that midwifery in General is less chaotic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjg Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Thanks everyone. I think looking back at my original thread I worded this wrong. What we are looking for is a more laid back lifestyle whereby we work to live and not live to work!!! I have two friends that have made the leap and have.told me that midwifery in General is less chaotic. My wife is a division 1 nurse and her work life is far less chaotic in Frankston compared to Dewsbury. Neither are the shining example of perfect hospitals. Both are classed as dodgy areas. Yet from ICU to respiratory to general medical the wards here are much calmer. Much lower patient ratios are 95% of the reason. A general ward will have 1 nurse to 4-6 patients in Frankston, where as Dewsbury was averaging 1:13, with 1:26 as her worst ratio one night. I've heard emergency is nuts wherever you go..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busbybecci18 Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 Would you mind me asking, I have googled until I'm blue in the face and there is no fixed answer! I have five years experience and am a band six in UK, what is the average wage in New Zealand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkin Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Thanks everyone. I think looking back at my original thread I worded this wrong. What we are looking for is a more laid back lifestyle whereby we work to live and not live to work!!! I have two friends that have made the leap and have.told me that midwifery in General is less chaotic. Mmm same thing. You are not handed a laid back lifestyle when you get off the plane. It is another cliche, how you live your life is down to you. Some people might let the move be a catalyst for changes they make whilst others comment that they work much harder in Australia. Me, I have not noticed that any of the Australians I have worked with are any more laid back than anyone I have ever worked with previously. It is often commented that Australia is not great on the work life balance thing, with poor annual leave, parental leave, even sick leave needs to be built up. So again, keep it real is best advice I can give.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busbybecci18 Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 Thanks pumpkin, are you still living in aus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkin Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Thanks pumpkin, are you still living in aus? yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Yer, I had far more time off in the uk than here. But then, there was more to do in that time off. My partner and I are taking a four day break soon and just can't work out where to go as everywhere we haven't been is either mega expensive or a days drive each way. :-/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIRK AND CO Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Mmm same thing. You are not handed a laid back lifestyle when you get off the plane. It is another cliche, how you live your life is down to you. Some people might let the move be a catalyst for changes they make whilst others comment that they work much harder in Australia. Me, I have not noticed that any of the Australians I have worked with are any more laid back than anyone I have ever worked with previously. It is often commented that Australia is not great on the work life balance thing, with poor annual leave, parental leave, even sick leave needs to be built up. So again, keep it real is best advice I can give..Great answers I hope people take in your advise and not disregard it as it is not what they want to hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucharmily Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Mmm same thing. You are not handed a laid back lifestyle when you get off the plane. It is another cliche, how you live your life is down to you. Some people might let the move be a catalyst for changes they make whilst others comment that they work much harder in Australia. Me, I have not noticed that any of the Australians I have worked with are any more laid back than anyone I have ever worked with previously. It is often commented that Australia is not great on the work life balance thing, with poor annual leave, parental leave, even sick leave needs to be built up. So again, keep it real is best advice I can give.. Agree with the work/life balance here; that aspect was much better in UK for us anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I have the sense that people work harder here and put in longer hours than in the UK. That is in the fields I know about which are education and the welfare sector. I could be totally wrong but my children who are in their 30s tend to agree with me. Compared with places like Singapore, though, we work less hard so I guess it is all relative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I live in Adelaide now and like it. It is a bit as Blossom said though, if you want a break away it can be a bit of a drive to get to places once away from the greater Adelaide area and sprawl. Or a hop on a plane. However, we've had day trips, weekends away and so on since we've been here and its all been within driving distance. For more of a holiday we are looking to camping much further afield or a trip to NZ is on the cards. I like the life we have here but then I liked our life in England also. Is our lifestyle more laid back here? Not really, but perhaps in some ways yes. We are both self employed here and hubby works from home now which is nice for him with no commute or office to have to head in to. We have a lot more people over to our house than we ever did in England. That is more because people tend to socialise more this way than meeting at the pub or some such on a Saturday night, at least that is my take on it. However I like this sort of thing as was not really wanting a mad social life in bars and pubs as I got older. Sure, we go out for a meal or drinks from time to time but most of our socialising is done at home or out someplace like a park with a BBQ, that sort of thing. Its not better here, its different. It is harder in some ways, easier in others, but that is for us. It might be different again for anothe couple. I've found making friends has been pretty good. I got lucky and met a few other mums at school who I hit it off with and we've become firm friends. Also a couple of people via work and other means. Plus hubby has his friends already here and then there is all the family. School wise so far here I've been happy with things. Our current school is, IMO great and better than the school in England in many ways. It is also better than the first school here. Not that it was bad or anything, but the new one is just better all round. Of course, the schooling is different and it took me a while to get used to it but am happy with it so far. We bought in an area with a good choice of primary schools and in the zone for a decent high school with options for private in the area and beyond. Work wise, midwifery, I can't comment. Try our sister site, Poms in Adelaide and see if there is anything on there re midwives. Drop me a PM if you want to chat more about Adelaide itself and stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fidget Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Hi hope this isn't cheeky but on the off chance you decide to move to Sydney... I just posted a plastering job in the vacancy section. Me English nurse and Husband an Aussie plasterer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skipjack Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Would you mind me asking, I have googled until I'm blue in the face and there is no fixed answer! I have five years experience and am a band six in UK, what is the average wage in New Zealand? NZ has noticeably lower salaries than Aus and less tax benefits. We moved from NZ to Aus and found higher wages, more job ops and a lot more tax back and tax benefits, even on a fairly high wage. Which all makes life a bit easier particularly with young kids. Superannuation contribution in govt jobs is a a lot more in aus and it's good to see the super growing well when in NZ it just wasn't going anywhere. On the plus side for NZ, we found it had a better way of life with smaller cities. We found it difficult to live away from the big city sprawling suburbia in Aus. We managed it, but in NZ everywhere is smaller and it's so much easier to get a great place to live in a good suburb. Not so easy in Aus. Melbourne area anyway. There's not a great deal in it but if I won the lotto and my kids were younger I'd definitely be tempted back to NZ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest quickly Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 You're right, the implementation of true Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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