Question for all the prospective 'New Chums***', Why do you want to come to Australia?

[MARYROSE02]

I don't think I have ever asked this question before, perhaps because I have been so here so long I cannot remember when I came here in the first place. I think I came for some sort of adventure, which I guess I got, but now, thirty seven years on, I just 'live' here. I can't remember the last time I compared Australia with England. I'm not interested in whether one country is, allegedly, better or worse than the other. I imagine this is somehing that people who are homesick or unsettled worry about?

 

Before I came to Australia, I lived in England and I never thought about whether one country was better than another. I guess, just like I do in Australia, I 'lived' there. End of. Except something drove me to leave, to uproot myself from home and family.

 

So, tell me, us, why you want to come to OZ? I'm not interested in why people came here and then went home, although I guess I wonder if their negative comments affect you?

 

I live in Sydney. I don't want to live anywhere else. This is home.

 

PS ***

[h=3]Etymology[/h] From new + chum.

[h=3]Noun[/h] new chum ‎(plural new chums)

 

 

1. (Australia, archaic) A newly arrived convict.
   
2. (Australia) A beginner, a novice.
   
3. (Australia, chiefly dated, mildly derogatory) A newly arrived and inexperienced immigrant; a newcomer.
   

 

[amibovered]

Because my wife is Australian, she wanted to go home and I wanted her to be happy.

[MARYROSE02]

Because my wife is Australian, she wanted to go home and I wanted her to be happy.

Did you meet in the UK? I remember flying to Menorca in 97 and there were about coulee next to me and the guy was Aussie, hat been in UK for decades.

 

How did you adjust to life here?

[Teejams]

Just to have an adventure!

 

We have an amazing life.

 

If we stayed in the UK, we'd be doing similar things in years to come, the sky would be the same, the plants and animals in the wild would be the same, as would most things in our day to day life, which is predictable and after a while we don't even see what's in front of our eyes.

 

On moving to Australia. We don't know exactly where we'll be living, what the children's school will be like, what our new home will be like, if we'll like the weather or hate the heat!

 

We don't know if we will cry with joy at the bright photos we'll take and refresh our eyes with new senses. Or cry with sadness for the things we don't even know right now?

 

But for us, I think our memories will be more varied because of the risk we're taking. How exciting is predictable, anyway?

[MARYROSE02]

Just to have an adventure!

 

We have an amazing life.

 

If we stayed in the UK, we'd be doing similar things in years to come, the sky would be the same, the plants and animals in the wild would be the same, as would most things in our day to day life, which is predictable and after a while we don't even see what's in front of our eyes.

 

On moving to Australia. We don't know exactly where we'll be living, what the children's school will be like, what our new home will be like, if we'll like the weather or hate the heat!

 

We don't know if we will cry with joy at the bright photos we'll take and refresh our eyes with new senses. Or cry with sadness for the things we don't even know right now?

 

But for us, I think our memories will be more varied because of the risk we're taking. How exciting is predictable, anyway?

That is a great attitude! Which part of OZ are you moving to?

[Peachy]

Really like Teejams post- mine is going to be rather less articulate ;-)

 

We visted my sister last year. Was supposed to be a 'once in a lifetime' trip. Had no clue that we would all fall in love with the place and the opportunities for our family. Started our visa application the day of our return! Slightly awkward conversation with in laws when we got back...

 

I worked for the same employer for 17 years and it just felt right making a change. In reality we probably fit the "mid life crisis " mould as my husband and I are turning 40!!

[MARYROSE02]

Really like Teejams post- mine is going to be rather less articulate ;-)

 

We visted my sister last year. Was supposed to be a 'once in a lifetime' trip. Had no clue that we would all fall in love with the place and the opportunities for our family. Started our visa application the day of our return! Slightly awkward conversation with in laws when we got back...

 

I worked for the same employer for 17 years and it just felt right making a change. In reality we probably fit the "mid life crisis " mould as my husband and I are turning 40!!

Mid life crisis happen at 60 now! I'm just getting over mine!

[amibovered]

Did you meet in the UK? I remember flying to Menorca in 97 and there were about coulee next to me and the guy was Aussie, hat been in UK for decades.

 

How did you adjust to life here?

 

Yes we met in the U.K, she was on a working holiday, had no problem settling in, but as I had no particular desire to go to Australia, I had no expectations, we're on our third return to the U.K now.

[Teejams]

Thank you MARYROSE02 and Peachy.

 

Having looked at Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth we finally chose the Gold Coast.

 

Like finally finding the right house to buy, the Gold Coast felt right for us!

[MARYROSE02]

Yes we met in the U.K, she was on a working holiday, had no problem settling in, but as I had no particular desire to go to Australia, I had no expectations, we're on our third return to the U.K now.

3rd,return? What, going back and forth to live, or for holidays?

 

I went back for lots of holidays, Then the final holiday lasted for twelve years.

[mallard76]

I guess it's yearning for adventure for us. We visited various countries in the past and moved around, too. Thing is, when you move every now and then, you don't notice people ageing around you, so you don't worry about it, but carry on living your life (sounds like mid-life crisis ?). I've been with one company for the past 10 years and feel it is time to move on to another challenge. Australia feels like the ultimate end-of-the-world destination sometimes (I was thinking about Mars One, but wife was not impressed...). If it does not work for us, we always have places to go back to.

[amibovered]

3rd,return? What, going back and forth to live, or for holidays?

 

I went back for lots of holidays, Then the final holiday lasted for twelve years.

To live.

[Bound4Tassie]

Because my wife is Australian, she wanted to go home and I wanted her to be happy.

 

Ditto! Except husband not wife!

[adam0bmx0]

Just to have an adventure!

 

We have an amazing life.

 

If we stayed in the UK, we'd be doing similar things in years to come, the sky would be the same, the plants and animals in the wild would be the same, as would most things in our day to day life, which is predictable and after a while we don't even see what's in front of our eyes.

 

On moving to Australia. We don't know exactly where we'll be living, what the children's school will be like, what our new home will be like, if we'll like the weather or hate the heat!

 

We don't know if we will cry with joy at the bright photos we'll take and refresh our eyes with new senses. Or cry with sadness for the things we don't even know right now?

 

But for us, I think our memories will be more varied because of the risk we're taking. How exciting is predictable, anyway?

 

Thank you MARYROSE02 and Peachy.

 

Having looked at Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth we finally chose the Gold Coast.

 

Like finally finding the right house to buy, the Gold Coast felt right for us!

 

Snap, exactly the same reason and locaiotn me and my fiance are doing/moving to! Got no ties in the UK in terms of kids/mortgage, so does simplify things a great deal!

[MARYROSE02]

Thank you MARYROSE02 and Peachy.

 

Having looked at Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth we finally chose the Gold Coast.

 

Like finally finding the right house to buy, the Gold Coast felt right for us!

I like it but more on the border with NSW - "Twin Towns?" I've not been there for a while. I stayed at the Kirra? hotel.

[jumpingjellybean]

I can't remember the last time I compared Australia with England.

 

I did this with money for the first six months. You know comparing how much things cost in each place. Never crosses my mind now.

 

Also this is home for me. I never refer to the UK as "home". It stopped being home the day I got my residency visa. I always refer to it as England in conversations or in my mind.

 

I visited OZ on a WHV when I was 21 and totally fell in love with the country. Emigrated when I was 25. The rest as they say is history.

[MARYROSE02]

I did this with money for the first six months. You know comparing how much things cost in each place. Never crosses my mind now.

 

Also this is home for me. I never refer to the UK as "home". It stopped being home the day I got my residency visa. I always refer to it as England in conversations or in my mind.

 

I visited OZ on a WHV when I was 21 and totally fell in love with the country. Emigrated when I was 25. The rest as they say is history.

Odd how I never stop converting km to miles!?

[benj1980]

I am looking for a more outside lifestyle for my family. I always fancied moving and after a trip to see friends and relatives this just confirmed what I was hoping. I also look at it as a life experience for all of us, I guess we could have gone to Spain or France but Oz was always the only choice really.

 

We we are looking long term as well, not viewing moving as a two year experiment like some do. Lock, stock and barrel!

[starlight7]

Good to hear these positive posts. I always think if you don't have a positive attitude at the start you probably never will. I can still remember arriving here a lifetime ago and feeling so excited and so happy and eager to make a go of things. The place was just so exotic after a cold wet Britain ( we arrived in January so that had a lot to do with it!). Loved all the brightly coloured birds which people took for granted ( still do). Today I saw lorikeets, white cockies, eastern rosellas, galahs, wattle birds, ibis, a white egret,long beaked corellas,freckle ducks all during an hour's walk in a Melbourne suburb - nothing changes, I still get a frisson of excitement every time.

[MARYROSE02]

Good to hear these positive posts. I always think if you don't have a positive attitude at the start you probably never will. I can still remember arriving here a lifetime ago and feeling so excited and so happy and eager to make a go of things. The place was just so exotic after a cold wet Britain ( we arrived in January so that had a lot to do with it!). Loved all the brightly coloured birds which people took for granted ( still do). Today I saw lorikeets, white cockies, eastern rosellas, galahs, wattle birds, ibis, a white egret,long beaked corellas,freckle ducks all during an hour's walk in a Melbourne suburb - nothing changes, I still get a frisson of excitement every time.

I can remember arriving at Heathrow at the end of November, shivering in the dark, dank, grey morning, waiting fir my parents to pick me up.

 

Now, in August, I was at Bronte beach yesterday arvo, chill getting intimate the water, but worth it, and wonderful in the sun, and even after the sun went down. I deliberately took my time walking back to my car because I wanted to look at the views down over the ocean and towards Bondi. There are flowers out too all thru the winter.

[MARYROSE02]

Into not intimate!

[ScotsQuine]

I don't think I have ever asked this question before, perhaps because I have been so here so long I cannot remember when I came here in the first place. I think I came for some sort of adventure, which I guess I got, but now, thirty seven years on, I just 'live' here. I can't remember the last time I compared Australia with England. I'm not interested in whether one country is, allegedly, better or worse than the other. I imagine this is somehing that people who are homesick or unsettled worry about?

 

Before I came to Australia, I lived in England and I never thought about whether one country was better than another. I guess, just like I do in Australia, I 'lived' there. End of. Except something drove me to leave, to uproot myself from home and family.

 

So, tell me, us, why you want to come to OZ? I'm not interested in why people came here and then went home, although I guess I wonder if their negative comments affect you?

 

I live in Sydney. I don't want to live anywhere else. This is home.

 

PS ***

Etymology

 

From new + chum.

Noun

 

new chum ‎(plural new chums)

 

 

1. (Australia, archaic) A newly arrived convict.

2. (Australia) A beginner, a novice.

3. (Australia, chiefly dated, mildly derogatory) A newly arrived and inexperienced immigrant; a newcomer.

 

 

 

 

Had never considered visiting nor ever living in Australia to be honest. We were living in Singapore and oh was given the option of transferring back to Houston or move to Perth. We chose Perth as between the two it was the better option for our teenage kids. Will we live here forever? Who knows...

[Zack]

Everyone to their own i suppose.We wake up every morning at daybreak with the Screeching Corellas, White and Black Cockies, Galahs, You name it.Noisy screeching menaces.Never Buy a house in Australia backing onto a nature reserve. I used to walk My Dogs In the Uk Everyday across the beautiful open English Countryside,the Skylarks,Yellow Hammers,Chaffinches Ect singing their heads off,The Rabbits Dashing About everywhere.Whatever Ausrtralia has.It dosen't come close to the beauty and the feeling of belonging and Walking Through the English Countryside.The Changing Seasons.Love it. Hopefully we will end our days there.After 35 years we have always said we would go Home. As long as the Australian Dollar doesn't completely Crash to what it once did. to .34cents to the Pound.And the way things are going it Looks very likely.There is even talk they maybe cutting aged Pensions.

[Peachy]

Getting back on topic slightly, Zack why did you come to live in Australia? Apologies if I missed your answer to MaryRose's post - I haven't read the whole thread.

[MARYROSE02]

Everyone to their own i suppose.We wake up every morning at daybreak with the Screeching Corellas, White and Black Cockies, Galahs, You name it.Noisy screeching menaces.Never Buy a house in Australia backing onto a nature reserve. I used to walk My Dogs In the Uk Everyday across the beautiful open English Countryside,the Skylarks,Yellow Hammers,Chaffinches Ect singing their heads off,The Rabbits Dashing About everywhere.Whatever Ausrtralia has.It dosen't come close to the beauty and the feeling of belonging and Walking Through the English Countryside.The Changing Seasons.Love it. Hopefully we will end our days there.After 35 years we have always said we would go Home. As long as the Australian Dollar doesn't completely Crash to what it once did. to .34cents to the Pound.And the way things are going it Looks very likely.There is even talk they maybe cutting aged Pensions.

Not enough rabbits in OZ for you Zack!?