UK or Australia? Please help!

[MotherofMatilda]

On 12/08/2018 at 09:14, Samba said:

How weird about the IP! Lol...

regarding the public health - in the uk all prescriptions for children are free until they are 16 yrs old. Here you pay... and sometimes prices are high! Also for tests like ultrasounds or general x rays etc you’d have to pay for some part until you get a rebate from Medicare. Unless that’s different when you’re a citizen?

groceries prices I’m ok it’s just the house prices I feel are extremely expensive. It’s crazy!

my husband feels the same although he’s more distracted with his work but he’s worried about the financial side too and whether we would realistically be able to afford life here with two kids. 

Sydney is nuts! I have rellies that bought a doer upper in the inner west at an eyewatering price. 

But we live in Bristol and are will be relocating to the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane - For what we paid for our 3bed semi here, we can get 4-5 bed place with pool 5km from the beach up there and still only be an hour from a capital city. Sydney house prices are totally ridiculous so I can see why that would feel daunting x

 

[ramot]

21 minutes ago, MotherofMatilda said:

Sydney is nuts! I have rellies that bought a doer upper in the inner west at an eyewatering price. 

But we live in Bristol and are will be relocating to the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane - For what we paid for our 3bed semi here, we can get 4-5 bed place with pool 5km from the beach up there and still only be an hour from a capital city. Sydney house prices are totally ridiculous so I can see why that would feel daunting x

 

Interesting your comment about Bristol house prices, my son lives there, his not very special small back garden, 1930’s semi detached  3 bed extended house with a loft convertion is worth ridiculous money. Just sold for 635,000pds. We live on the Sunshine Coast and you can buy a pretty special house Here for the equivalent of over 1.1 million Oz dollars as you mention It Would almost buy a small terraced house in Sydney, but If selling something similar in London then it would be worth a lot more. So When I hear people say that Australian property is expensive, then it all depends where you are moving to in Oz as against where you are moving from and comparing like with like, and what your expectations are.

Realistically Sydney is expensive but so is London, and I wonder how many immigrants could actually afford to live in London.

[LKC]

Where in Sutherland Shire are you?  We lived in Sutherland Shire for almost nine years, so I might be able to give some advice on saving money, groups you could join to meet people etc.  We loved Sutherland Shire whilst we lived there, it wasn't Sutherland Shire that pushed us away, but other things that pulled us back to the UK.  

Happy for you to PM me, if you'd rather not say exactly where you are on the forum.

[MotherofMatilda]

On 14/08/2018 at 13:49, ramot said:

Interesting your comment about Bristol house prices, my son lives there, his not very special small back garden, 1930’s semi detached  3 bed extended house with a loft convertion is worth ridiculous money. Just sold for 635,000pds. We live on the Sunshine Coast and you can buy a pretty special house Here for the equivalent of over 1.1 million Oz dollars as you mention It Would almost buy a small terraced house in Sydney, but If selling something similar in London then it would be worth a lot more. So When I hear people say that Australian property is expensive, then it all depends where you are moving to in Oz as against where you are moving from and comparing like with like, and what your expectations are.

Realistically Sydney is expensive but so is London, and I wonder how many immigrants could actually afford to live in London.

2

I bet I know which area his place in Bristol is!! Ours isn't as flash but will still probably sell for around £420k. 

How do you like living on the Sunshine Coast? I have family based there and a couple of friends, but my husband has some concerns about making friends and building up a social network. I think he'll be fine but it would be great to hear other's experiences. 

 

 

[Supercad]

We moved back here to do a Engineering contract 4 years ago and will be returning to Brisbane in the new year. I am also living in Bristol and can only back up what MotherofMatilda has said. i am more negative than she is on the UK and i spent most of my time working in Spain if it was me i would stay put maybe try another state?

 

 

 

 

[Bulya]

Strange how poms don’t move to another state/territory if they don’t like their initial choice. 

[ramot]

7 hours ago, MotherofMatilda said:

I bet I know which area his place in Bristol is!! Ours isn't as flash but will still probably sell for around £420k. 

How do you like living on the Sunshine Coast? I have family based there and a couple of friends, but my husband has some concerns about making friends and building up a social network. I think he'll be fine but it would be great to hear other's experiences. 

 

 

The truth! We love living here, what’s not to love, great climate, friendly natives. Something someone said sort of sums it up, most of us have chosen to live here.

Like moving anywhere it takes time to settle, depending on your interests there seem to be clubs or groups for most things. A good U3A.

Among other things we joined a local Probus group, although I thought I was much too young to begin with, I have sadly caught up. So many interesting members who have lived a totally different life to me. I was a bit worried my husband would find it hard, but 15 years later he does more than me!! Quite involved in Probus with all its activities, plays golf, we play a fair bit of bridge both club and social, and he plays in a men’s group once a week, they have such a laugh together. There is a men’s shed locally, if you make the effort it’s all here.

We have 1 son in Brisbane, and a daughter in Sydney, we go to Sydney 3/4 times a year, buy cheap tickets from Jetstar and fly from Maroochydore. $29 each way recently, and only takes just over an hour.

[Samba]

On 14/08/2018 at 22:04, MotherofMatilda said:

Sydney is nuts! I have rellies that bought a doer upper in the inner west at an eyewatering price. 

But we live in Bristol and are will be relocating to the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane - For what we paid for our 3bed semi here, we can get 4-5 bed place with pool 5km from the beach up there and still only be an hour from a capital city. Sydney house prices are totally ridiculous so I can see why that would feel daunting x

 

I get that! I find that even if you lived in Cambridge you could still have an OK commute to London and afford life much better. 

[Samba]

3 hours ago, Bulya said:

Strange how poms don’t move to another state/territory if they don’t like their initial choice. 

Some people are tied in with jobs in Sydney and moving away is not an option

[Samba]

On 14/08/2018 at 19:06, themaccas said:

Hi we lived in the Sutherland Shire too when we moved over here 6years ago with 3 kids. We rented in Illawong we had moved in the middle of the GFC had sold our house for less than we paid for it and found to our dispair we couldn’t afford to buy anything anywhere in Sydney as the prices went crazy as soon as we got here. We came on PR. Eventually we bought a cheap piece of land in south west Sydney in a new suburb and have just moved into our new home we built there. We never imagined it would take so long to get our own place though.
We absolutely love Australia and became citizens last year. Keep going I really promise you it’s worth it, both my husband and I work in the CBD and have quite a commute each day but it’s worth it for great jobs and our lovely home. Our kids most importantly are settled and happy. We go back to the U.K. at the end of the year for a holiday to catch up with family it will be interesting how the kids find it!

Thanks for your input that's so helpful. I know it's amazing here despite the prices hehe Thanks x