Age

[Arcadia53]

Thought I’d posted this yesterday but appears for what ever reason it’s not on here .

Hoping to get some reassurance advice from any expats that moved over to oz in their 40’s . I’m currently 42 and my wife is 43 . 

How did people find the move and how are they settling now ? Abu advice we should take ? The clock is ticking on our move but I’m crossing my fingers

[Marisawright]

There's more age discrimination in Australia than in the UK, hands down.  However, I didn't find it was a problem unti I hit my mid-fifties, so in your 40s, I think you'll be fine.

The biggest issue you'll find is in making new friends. If you think about friends, most people's best friends are people they met at school or university, or for women it's mothers they met at mums and bubs groups.  You can make a lot of acquaintances when you're older, at work etc, but they're not "shoulder in a crisis" type friends. 

Well, Australians are just the same.  You're going to migrate and unless you happen to be lucky, it's going to take a very long time to find really close friends because everyone's already got their quota of friends, if you know what I mean.  And in Australia, they all hold BBQs at their own houses rather than going down the pub, so it's harder to break into their circles. 

If you and your partner are each other's best buddies, you'll be fine.  Just don't be surprised if it takes you a few years to form a strong social circle.   If you are into any kind of sport, you can make a lot of acquaintances quickly and get a decent social life going.  In fact it's worth taking up a sport if you don't have one.  

Edited May 6, 2022 by Marisawright

[Arcadia53]

Yep all sounds good to me and exactly what I thought tbf . Re sport we love it , I run my daughters football team , help coach my lads rugby team . Kids play rugby , cricket , football , they swim and do athletics amongst other things . I want to carry on the coaching when I’m out there as well  . Oh and I still play football although I did find out yesterday I’m the oldest in our football group and was called gramps haha . The wife loves watching sport as well as doing the odd run as well 

Edited May 6, 2022 by Arcadia53

[calNgary]

16 minutes ago, Arcadia53 said:

Yep all sounds good to me and exactly what I thought tbf . Re sport we love it , I run my daughters football team , help coach my lads rugby team . Kids play rugby , cricket , football , they swim and do athletics amongst other things . I want to carry on the coaching when I’m out there as well  . Oh and I still play football although I did find out yesterday I’m the oldest in our football group and was called gramps haha . The wife loves watching sport as well as doing the odd run as well 

You will meet loads of people through sport, its pretty big for kids over here so getting a job coaching shouldnt be a problem, i think a lot are voluntary positions though.

Where in Aus are you planning on going?

    Cal x

[Arcadia53]

1 minute ago, calNgary said:

You will meet loads of people through sport, its pretty big for kids over here so getting a job coaching shouldnt be a problem, i think a lot are voluntary positions though.

Where in Aus are you planning on going?

    Cal x

We are looking at Perth but our migration agent has asked if we would consider SA which we would . We are waiting until to July to see what the states are saying 

[Bulya]

On 06/05/2022 at 18:59, Arcadia53 said:

Yep all sounds good to me and exactly what I thought tbf . Re sport we love it , I run my daughters football team , help coach my lads rugby team . Kids play rugby , cricket , football , they swim and do athletics amongst other things . I want to carry on the coaching when I’m out there as well  . Oh and I still play football although I did find out yesterday I’m the oldest in our football group and was called gramps haha . The wife loves watching sport as well as doing the odd run as well 

Saying ‘football’ here is meaningless.  There are four kinds of ‘football’ so you’ll need to be specific.  ‘Football’’ is soccer.  Rugby (Union) is a very minor game, unlike Rugby (League).  And different kinds of ‘football’ dominate in different states/territories.  For instance if you were talking to people in SA/WA/Tasmania and Polly Farmer came up in conversation they’d all know he was the legendary tap ruckman.  If you mentioned his name in say Qld/NSW they’d wonder what’s so special about a farmer nicknamed ‘Polly’.  It’s a different world here…

Edited May 8, 2022 by Bulya
Addition and spelling fix.

[Jon the Hat]

On 08/05/2022 at 18:06, Bulya said:

Saying ‘football’ here is meaningless.  There are four kinds of ‘football’ so you’ll need to be specific.  ‘Football’’ is soccer.  Rugby (Union) is a very minor game, unlike Rugby (League).  And different kinds of ‘football’ dominate in different states/territories.  For instance if you were talking to people in SA/WA/Tasmania and Polly Farmer came up in conversation they’d all know he was the legendary tap ruckman.  If you mentioned his name in say Qld/NSW they’d wonder what’s so special about a farmer nicknamed ‘Polly’.  It’s a different world here…

I thought he was a Freeway!  Polly Tunnel also means something different in Perth.

We moved last September at 44 and 48 and we are settling in well.  It costs more than you think, but we are enjoying it and would say go for it.

Perth is great but a long way / expensive to get anywhere.  I just did a 4 day work trip to Sydney and spent $2650 between flights, taxis, hotel and food.  Just for me.  Adelaide is much closer, but also a smaller economy.  I have got into the mining sector at the first attempt so well sorted in Perth.

[Bulya]

3 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I thought he was a Freeway!  Polly Tunnel also means something different in Perth.

We moved last September at 44 and 48 and we are settling in well.  It costs more than you think, but we are enjoying it and would say go for it.

Perth is great but a long way / expensive to get anywhere.  I just did a 4 day work trip to Sydney and spent $2650 between flights, taxis, hotel and food.  Just for me.  Adelaide is much closer, but also a smaller economy.  I have got into the mining sector at the first attempt so well sorted in Perth.

After a while you might even understand “Jezza took a screamer over Jerker” if it came up in conversation.  It’s football (AFL) related… 

[Arcadia53]

5 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I thought he was a Freeway!  Polly Tunnel also means something different in Perth.

We moved last September at 44 and 48 and we are settling in well.  It costs more than you think, but we are enjoying it and would say go for it.

Perth is great but a long way / expensive to get anywhere.  I just did a 4 day work trip to Sydney and spent $2650 between flights, taxis, hotel and food.  Just for me.  Adelaide is much closer, but also a smaller economy.  I have got into the mining sector at the first attempt so well sorted in Perth.

Brilliant thank you . That’s fantastic to hear that you are both settling in well. How do you find the distance from parents , family etc is ? The clock is ticking for us as my wife who is the main visa applicant is 44 October so we are crossing our fingers 

[Jon the Hat]

2 minutes ago, Arcadia53 said:

Brilliant thank you . That’s fantastic to hear that you are both settling in well. How do you find the distance from parents , family etc is ? The clock is ticking for us as my wife who is the main visa applicant is 44 October so we are crossing our fingers 

My Wife is Australian, although most of her family are not in Perth.  I also have cousins here.  We do miss UK family of course, but this was always the plan.  It is tough when they are unwell - my Mum was in hospital for a couple of weeks early in the year, and it was hard, however now we are out of border restrictions we at least would be able to travel if needed.

[Ausvisitor]

2 hours ago, Arcadia53 said:

Brilliant thank you . That’s fantastic to hear that you are both settling in well. How do you find the distance from parents , family etc is ? The clock is ticking for us as my wife who is the main visa applicant is 44 October so we are crossing our fingers 

I applied after my 44th and still got in before 45 with a 190 visa.

As John mentions don't underestimate how expensive this move will be. I've posted before but by the time I started work we had already spent well over $80k in visas, travel, temp accomodation and a car.

Yes we didn't scrimp but we also didn't go over the top.

Those figures don't even include some of the UK costs involved in selling house and loss of value in car when selling there etc...

[Jon the Hat]

1 hour ago, Ausvisitor said:

I applied after my 44th and still got in before 45 with a 190 visa.

As John mentions don't underestimate how expensive this move will be. I've posted before but by the time I started work we had already spent well over $80k in visas, travel, temp accomodation and a car.

Yes we didn't scrimp but we also didn't go over the top.

Those figures don't even include some of the UK costs involved in selling house and loss of value in car when selling there etc...

Yeah we've easily spent that much.  Probably $100k all in by the time you add in living costs to first paycheck.

[Marisawright]

4 hours ago, Arcadia53 said:

 How do you find the distance from parents , family etc is ?

That's a very individual thing.  If you're already pretty independent from family, e.g. living some distance away, only visiting once a month or even less, then you'll adapt no bother.   Likewise if your visits to parents/relatives are more about duty than something you look forward to.

The people who really struggle are the people who love having parents/relatives around every week.  If you're that close, then it's probably not wise to even consider migrating, to be honest, because missing family is one of THE biggest reasons why people move back. Skype/Zoom/Facetime are better than nothing but they're not the same.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Marisawright

[Arcadia53]

21 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

Yeah we've easily spent that much.  Probably $100k all in by the time you add in living costs to first paycheck.

Out of interest what are those costs ( roughly ) . We have an idea but may be way out . Also if you have posted before re costs apologies 

[Ausvisitor]

So for us

$25k visa, agent, tests, medicals and police

$8k travel

$8k temp accom for 6 weeks

$6k accom deposit and first 4 weeks

$34k car costs

$8k living costs for 2 months

Total until first pay day $89k

 

 

[Bobj]

4 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

So for us

$25k visa, agent, tests, medicals and police

$8k travel

$8k temp accom for 6 weeks

$6k accom deposit and first 4 weeks

$34k car costs

$8k living costs for 2 months

Total until first pay day $89k

 

 

WOW!

Cost my Dad £10 for me to come to Australia...That was in 1963 when a weekly wage was £10

Cheers, Bobj.

[Ausvisitor]

17 minutes ago, Bobj said:

WOW!

Cost my Dad £10 for me to come to Australia...That was in 1963 when a weekly wage was £10

Cheers, Bobj.

Yep it's not a cheap process nowadays. Of course I'm sure you can do it cheaper, DIY visa, get a cheaper car, live in a shared room for the first 6 weeks, but why pit yourself through that it's supposed to be an adventure not just surviving

[DIG85]

8 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

 

$8k temp accom for 6 weeks

 

 

 

Must have been staying in a hotel for that price!

Edited May 13, 2022 by DIG85

[Marisawright]

32 minutes ago, DIG85 said:

Must have been staying in a hotel for that price!

They're in Sydney.  Even AirBnB is $200 a night there.

[Ausvisitor]

3 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

They're in Sydney.  Even AirBnB is $200 a night there.

Airbnb for 5 weeks and a hotel for 8 days to align with moving into the rental.

The Airbnb was a one-bed ok but not stunning and it was more per night than the hotel

[Ausvisitor]

Oh I just noticed I didn't include furniture and white goods in my run down of costs.

$3.5k at IKEA

$2k on fridge, freezer, washer, dryer 

 

[Marisawright]

3 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

Oh I just noticed I didn't include furniture and white goods in my run down of costs.

$3.5k at IKEA

$2k on fridge, freezer, washer, dryer 

 

You also didn't mention shipping.  If you didn't ship anything, what about pots, pans, bedlinen, towels, kitchen utensils, cushions etc etc?  

[Marisawright]

17 hours ago, Arcadia53 said:

Out of interest what are those costs ( roughly ) . We have an idea but may be way out . Also if you have posted before re costs apologies 

The best way to work it out is to do some pretend shopping.  Do not guess or estimate, you will be way out. Also, everyone makes different choices, so your furniture budget may be wildly different to what other people have quoted.  Also of course, if you're shipping you won't need to buy so much (but you'll need to add the cost of shipping).

Do a trial shop online at one of the following furniture stores.  Just " add to basket"  everything you will need, then go and look at the total. You can't accidentally buy anything if you don't enter your payment details:

https://www.harveynorman.com.au/

https://www.ikea.com/au/en/

https://www.amartfurniture.com.au/

Don't forget the whitegoods and TV.  For kitchen stuff, try https://www.petersofkensington.com.au/ for quality stuff or https://www.kmart.com.au/ for cheap and cheerful.

If you're not shipping them, you'll need to buy bedlinen, towels, pots, pans, kitchen appliances, utensils, rugs, etc. I was stunned how much all those little things mounted up to, so it's really important to do a trial shop for all those as well.  

You'll need to book 4 weeks in a holiday let when you first arrive, until you can find a long-term lease.  Get on AirBnB or Stayz to work out the cost. 

Depending where you're headed, you may need to buy a car quickly, because without one, you can't get around to view properties or go for job interviews. You can't get a car lease until you're working so you'll need to budget to buy one, or for car hire or Ubers.  Note though, that unless you're very, very sure you're going to settle, a car lease is a dangerous thing to take on -- if you  go home before the end of the lease term, you're stuck with a car you can't sell and a debt that will follow you to the UK.

The big unknown is how long you'll need to budget for living expenses while you look for a job.  Pre-Covid, the advice was to have enough savings to live for 3 to 6 months while you're job-hunting.   I dont think it would be as bad as that now, but you should still have cash reserves.  A lot of people imagine Australia is crying out for skilled workers and you'll be offered a job right off the plane.  Thirty years ago that was true, but the unemployment rate in Australia now isn't that different to the UK.  So think how long it would take you to find a job in the UK if you were currently unemployed, and use that as your yardstick.

[rammygirl]

Add to that list appliancesonline.co.au. Good prices quick delivery and they take the packaging!

[Marisawright]

7 minutes ago, rammygirl said:

Add to that list appliancesonline.co.au. Good prices quick delivery and they take the packaging!

Gosh, how could I forget them?   I've bought a dryer, two fridges and a washing machine from them at various times, always fabulous service and go the extra mile.

Here's the correct URL though

https://www.appliancesonline.com.au/