Guest Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I was talking to a friend in the pub who was thinking of emigrating to Oz, I asked why and he said. 1. more quality time with family 2. better standard of living 3. shorter working hours. Did any of you find any of these things? No absolutely not 3. Is objective so I'll answer that first, we moved from 35 hour weeks with 5 weeks holiday to 37.5 hours and 4 weeks holiday (plus just before we left a Christmas shutdown had been introduced so reducing real holiday to just over 3 weeks). 2.5 hours a week extra might not seem much but getting home half an hour later each day when you have a young child does matter, and our commute was longer too . Which I suppose leads to number 1 - 'quality time' is subjective but I would define it as time together as a family where you are free to choose what you want to do. This was a big driver for us in migrating and I am embarrassed now at how I fell for the hype (or propaganda if you prefer). Our lives in Australia were really no different and I can see now there is no reason why they would be. If anything it was a little worse - without the support of friends with children at the same school my husband and I did an 'early shift' and a 'late shift' so that one of us could take him to school and the other pick him up - so one of us left home at 6am and the other got in at 7pm (we took turns!) - we would finish dinner around 8pm and then there'd be an hour if we were lucky before our son would be asleep. Weekends were similar to the UK, if anything we did less outdoorsy things because Perth didn't support the kind of outdoor things we liked such as mountain biking, hill climbing etc. We went out much less - partly because we just didn't meet people who wanted to go out (entertainment seemed to be mainly at home) and partly because of cost. So 'standard of living' - I'm not really sure what that means and whether it is different from 'quality of life' - it suggests to me a material/financial aspect and in that respect we were worse off. Our wages in the end were similar but housing costs were so much more and where travelled a lot when we lived in the UK, taking two holidays and several breaks a year which we simply couldn't afford. Our much more expensive house in Perth was in an area that was in estate agent speak 'up and coming' and was an old social housing estate whereas we had lived in a 'desirable village' (with the lowest crime rate in central Scotland) before we migrated so in that respect our 'standard of living' was less - not that it bothered me, I liked where we lived in Perth. I went from having a 9 month old BMW M-Sport to an old Holden (until I got a company car) - again not something that bothered me but if high standard of living is a large house in a good area, foreign holidays and a fancy car then our standard of living was definitely higher in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I was talking to a friend in the pub who was thinking of emigrating to Oz, I asked why and he said. 1. more quality time with family 2. better standard of living 3. shorter working hours. Did any of you find any of these things? I'd say 1 and 3 are basically the same thing - if you can achieve shorter working hours (including commuting time) then that results in more time with the family. I'd say anyone moving to Sydney wouldn't achieve that because (a) commute times are long and (b) the corporate culture is that if you don't work more than your contracted hours, you're a slacker (I've known people miss out on bonuses and pay increases because they dared go home at 6pm). I doubt anyone would achieve a better standard of living in Sydney either, given the amount of money swallowed up by housing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I go all over Europe and other parts of the world when I can afford it, the problem I had in Oz is that it is to expensive to travel to other countries whereas I can be in prague or barcelona in a few hours for under £50 return, I lived in Perth and for someone like me who loves travelling it was like a concentration camp.\ Join the club, that's one of the reasons we're moving back too. Don't get me wrong, I love many things about Australia and it was the right place for me to be at ONE stage of my life. Now I've got the leisure to travel it's not the right place to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 \ Join the club, that's one of the reasons we're moving back too. Don't get me wrong, I love many things about Australia and it was the right place for me to be at ONE stage of my life. Now I've got the leisure to travel it's not the right place to be. I liked Oz for a holiday although t would be a bloody expensive holiday but to be stuck in Perth for ever would really have made my head explode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I liked Oz for a holiday although t would be a bloody expensive holiday but to be stuck in Perth for ever would really have made my head explode. I haven't spent a lot of time in Perth but I'm pretty sure I would've felt the same. My niece, who spent a year with me in Sydney and adored it. She subsequently got the chance to work at her company's Perth offices. She spent several months working on a project there, and she hated Perth so much she was glad to get home to England. She still loves Sydney and says Perth is like a different country. Which is why I always get irritated when people talk about "Australia" as if the whole country was the same! I should hasten to add that I don't think Perth is an awful place. Different places suit different people - I know several work colleagues who hated Sydney, moved to Perth and loved it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huggy75 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I was talking to a friend in the pub who was thinking of emigrating to Oz, I asked why and he said. 1. more quality time with family 2. better standard of living 3. shorter working hours. Did any of you find any of these things? 1 - probably true until we had our little one and now we juggle childcare between shifts so only get a family day off together every two weeks! 2 - looking back our standard of living was better in the UK - probably because we tried to "live the dream" and built a big house in the country which no one came to visit and subsequently spent lots of money on petrol to get anywhere. 3 - had to go part time to fit in said childcare with hubby, however, I work three days a week in Aus now but will be doing the same amount of hours but over two days back in the UK. Hence we are moving back to the UK in May/June. I have no regrets and am grateful for the experiences we have had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 That's the thing though PB,just because you like to jet off to where ever on the cheap,other people don't!(I personally like the fact you can travel anywhere cheap here)Some people are quite happy to just enjoy hot summers with the pool or beach nearby.We're all different. Some people enjoy doing lots of different things,other people aren't that interested and live perhaps more stay at home type lives. There must of been some things you liked about Australia surely?:laugh: Maybe the posts got deleted but I didn't see PB saying otherwise. You'll find examples here on these forums of people who are blissfully happy so long as they've got a nice home near the beach, and that's fine for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest55385 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 I was talking to a friend in the pub who was thinking of emigrating to Oz, I asked why and he said. 1. more quality time with family 2. better standard of living 3. shorter working hours. Did any of you find any of these things? 1) Yes. A lot more time with my kids and hubby BUT this is because we don't know anyone else, haven't made friends and have no family support here. We are almost forced to spend more time together lol. 2) Yes & No. Housing is shite. Food is pretty terrible. Spending time outdoors in the sun is great. 4x4ing on beaches is awesome. However everything is VERY expensive and is always a compromise. 3) Yes. There's a a lazier attitude here. Much more so. Australia is just a big compromise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest55385 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Maybe the posts got deleted but I didn't see PB saying otherwise. You'll find examples here on these forums of people who are blissfully happy so long as they've got a nice home near the beach, and that's fine for them. SO few can actually afford a nice home near the beach though. If we could have afforded that, I doubt we'd ever be leaving but the reality is so far removed from that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 1) Yes. A lot more time with my kids and hubby BUT this is because we don't know anyone else, haven't made friends and have no family support here. We are almost forced to spend more time together lol.2) Yes & No. Housing is shite. Food is pretty terrible. Spending time outdoors in the sun is great. 4x4ing on beaches is awesome. However everything is VERY expensive and is always a compromise. 3) Yes. There's a a lazier attitude here. Much more so. Australia is just a big compromise. Agree with that, dont know about aussies more laid back, they seem to work harder and longer than brits who in my opinion are lazy compared to aussies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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