gemstone Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Hello, I am having a bit of a panic. The more i read on poms in oz the more i worry i cant afford australia. I came to australia on a WHV in 2005 and loved it so much that i made it my personal mission to get a visa...it has taken a while. However can i now afford it, the exchange rate is horrendous in comparison to 5 years ago. I keep hearing that prices have gone through the roof over there, and have flicked through the recent posts. We are not very well off as it is and i was never coming to australia because i thought i would be better off, but now its making me wonder whether life will be not so great there, because we wont be able to afford to go out for dinner, buy a car or a house. We both own old vehicles and only rent our house. We are saving so that we will have a bit of a house deposit when we get there. Could anyone tell me what they do and whether it is looking likely to get any better. I am scared to think of the question...'but is it really worth it anymore?' My flights are booked and I have dreamed of it for 6 years. Any advice or help would be much appreciated. Thanks G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Hi G firstly please do not panic, prices in Oz are swings and roundabouts some may be expensive but other items will be a lot cheaper. Overall we are a lot better off than we were in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 It really depends on what your expected wages are. We should be heading over in March and the first couple of years may not be easy but DH has better prospects for promotion and I should be working in 2-3 years too so hoping it will work out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fabricator Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Hard one to call this , budget and you'll be fine . I earnt very good money 3 years ago and now im on less than a third , but still have the same house and i believe my actual life hasnt changed other than i drink once a fortnight and not 3 nights a week . its amazing how far money goes when u spend it on essentials and not the stuff that u think u want / need . thats true no mater where u are in the world . even if technically oz is more expensive day to day living the wages are comparativly higher and thus it'll balance out . lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PositivePixie Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 The exchange rate may well be pants, but you won't care a jot after you start earning and spending dollars - in fact you'll be pleased as it will increase your spending power for things from back in the UK (eg - amazon). Prices have gone up in Oz, but then that's called inflation, and its gone up everywhere. Wages have also increased in Oz, and the minimum wage is (imho) a liveable wage, unlike the UK. We (me and hubby) also earn very little, rent our house and have very very old cars, and having done the sums, even on min. wage jobs we will be better off in Oz than here. The UK is dying (again, imho) and we are bailing out - we are of the opinion Oz can't be any worse, and I'd rather be in this state without having to worry about freezing completely to death because we can't afford to put the heating on (although in SA we will probably still need heating in Winter, but not to the extent of minus degrees in the UK) etc. Life has a way of working things out, you just need to be realistic in life and cut your cloth accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fabricator Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 I'd rather be in this state without having to worry about freezing completely to death because we can't afford to put the heating on good points pixie especially the heating , if your skint in the uk you can freeze to death in the winter , if skint in oz you go for a walk on the beach and play in the surf . dont take much thinking about realy . lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicolaj Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Some good points being made here. You have to have a weekly budget and stick to it generally you'll be okay. I have found some things to be way more expensive so have ordered back from the UK for half the price including delivery! OH was talking to a person who had moved with their job from London in September. Prior to leaving she sold most of her stuff thinking she could replace it out here, but was horrified at the cost of some basic items. She mentioned a clothes airer, which back in the UK cost about £10 or approx $16, the exact same item in the shops out here is about $40! The item isn't made in Aus, but China, you can't blame Govt tax as VAT in the UK is 20%, but GST is about 9%, so somebody is making a very fat profit from selling this item. If when you are thinking of moving out, think about how much your house contents cost you to buy over the years and how much shipping can cost. Ours cost about £4k for a three bed house contents. Don't be tempted to ditch all your stuff and buy it out here thinking it'll be cheaper. Do a bit of research first. The internet is great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozenger1967 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 those who risk nothing do nothing achieve nothing A quote from david jefferiers yorkshire bike road racer go 4 it u can always come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SupportPants Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Hello, I am having a bit of a panic. The more i read on poms in oz the more i worry i cant afford australia. I came to australia on a WHV in 2005 and loved it so much that i made it my personal mission to get a visa...it has taken a while. However can i now afford it, the exchange rate is horrendous in comparison to 5 years ago. I keep hearing that prices have gone through the roof over there, and have flicked through the recent posts. We are not very well off as it is and i was never coming to australia because i thought i would be better off, but now its making me wonder whether life will be not so great there, because we wont be able to afford to go out for dinner, buy a car or a house. We both own old vehicles and only rent our house. We are saving so that we will have a bit of a house deposit when we get there. Could anyone tell me what they do and whether it is looking likely to get any better. I am scared to think of the question...'but is it really worth it anymore?' My flights are booked and I have dreamed of it for 6 years. Any advice or help would be much appreciated. Thanks G It depends on what you will be earning. Spending pounds here is excruciatingly painful. I've had to do that for a while as we couldn't find work - 6 quid for a tiny triangle of blue cheese, 3 quid for a cauliflower etc.... you'll need work straight away to avoid the sterling savings just zooming away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SupportPants Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 those who risk nothing do nothing achieve nothing A quote from david jefferiers yorkshire bike road racer go 4 it u can always come back. You can always go back of course, but you'll probably be wiped out financially. Our regional Queensland visa has so far cost over 70k of my savings as we couldn't get work. We're now massively under employed in very low level jobs but have some AUD coming in and can get PR. I don't see the point painting an unrealistic picture. It can be very hard to find work here and it is very expensive until you do have work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pez2008 Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Hi. We live in Geelong Victoria (1 hour from Melbourne) and i earn $50,000 as a Glasscutter and my wife earns about $32,000 as a care worker (about 30 hours a week). We pay $350 a week in rent and i reckon about $250 on food +$40 a slab of beer :wink: in the winter we had heating on nearly every day, it was a lot colder than i expected and that was quite exspensive. We have broadband and Foxtel (sky) and thats $120 a month. We dont have any kids at home only a dog to feed and we proberly eat out 2-3 times a month. My stepdaughter and husband have 3 kids and in there opinion the schooling is a bit exspensive (books etc) and thats state schools. We will be looking at buying a 3 bed small house or unit and would be looking at about $300k-$350k, we could get a cheaper house but not in the suburbs we would like. Hope that helps a bit. Pez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legoman Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 dont panic about it, bring as much as you can to start with, and dont be too picky when first looking for a job, get work history behind you here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 It depends a lot on where you intend settling and, of course, your type of employment. Rentals and house prices vary across the country. Generally the larger cities are most expensive, but if you are heading for a regional area you could be paying considerably less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tanjev Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Austrlia isnt cheap check this which i found it very helpful http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenpasha Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Hello, I am having a bit of a panic. The more i read on poms in oz the more i worry i cant afford australia. I came to australia on a WHV in 2005 and loved it so much that i made it my personal mission to get a visa...it has taken a while. However can i now afford it, the exchange rate is horrendous in comparison to 5 years ago. I keep hearing that prices have gone through the roof over there, and have flicked through the recent posts. We are not very well off as it is and i was never coming to australia because i thought i would be better off, but now its making me wonder whether life will be not so great there, because we wont be able to afford to go out for dinner, buy a car or a house. We both own old vehicles and only rent our house. We are saving so that we will have a bit of a house deposit when we get there. Could anyone tell me what they do and whether it is looking likely to get any better. I am scared to think of the question...'but is it really worth it anymore?' My flights are booked and I have dreamed of it for 6 years. Any advice or help would be much appreciated. Thanks G if you are bringing a lot of money over then its expensive if you are working over here its not so expensive as wages are relevant ive found shopping dearer than the uk and im from london clothes dearer petrol cheaper but you drive further so use just as much house prices are coming down {dependong where you live} but remember thats compared to the exchange rate now,like i said if you are not bringing a lot of money over and are working you will be fine good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fabricator Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 You can always go back of course, but you'll probably be wiped out financially. Our regional Queensland visa has so far cost over 70k of my savings as we couldn't get work. We're now massively under employed in very low level jobs but have some AUD coming in and can get PR. I don't see the point painting an unrealistic picture. It can be very hard to find work here and it is very expensive until you do have work. Out of interest what do you guys do for a living ?? Obviously some jobs are more in demand than others , sorry to hear that your struggling to find decent employment . Others have said and i have come to the conclusion that if your spending you UK money in oz then it will be considerably more expensive , if your earning the dollar then your spending dollar and its not realy any different to uk . IE , when i get to oz im traveling for a bit , My camper will be roughly $40.000 - $60.000 thats £25.000 £40.000 GBP over a years wages even at the lower figure , However if i secure my job in oz and receive my estimated wages it would be equivilant to 6-8 months wages in oz If your earning dollar think dollar , spend dollar ............ dont compare cos it'll do your nut in !! haha lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Ropey HOFF Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 You have fallen into the trap of reading negative costs posts on other threads that are predominantly posted by those who have a downer on Australia, not all of them, but if you stay on the site long enough you will see the same posters posting the same rubbish over and over and eventually you come to realise they are negatively exaggerating and trying to cause trouble. Its been said already, when you are earning and spending Australian dollars, its almost identical to the uk as long as you get jobs that are at least $2.2 to £1, preferably nearer 2.5. Ignore the moaners, not everyone loves Australia, but ............... most do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Oz is very expensive compared to the UK but if you are earning a higher wage it does not matter, comparing prises to the UK is sometimes scary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gemstone Posted December 23, 2011 Author Share Posted December 23, 2011 Thank you to everyone who has posted. It has been really useful reading your posts. Yes I agree I think I may have been easily influenced by negative comments on here. We want to live somewhere around Melbourne. My OH needs to work in the city as he is an audio visual technician so most of his work will be in hotels, MCG, conference centres, etc. We have no idea what he will be earning yet. I am a primary teacher and I have started to contact agencies but they havnt been overly helpful just yet....i think its because its too far away at the moment. Does anyone have any experience in these areas? Interesting to hear about bringing things, our clothes airers for example have seen better days, but I may well buy some new ones now. I have been looking at the IKEA near Melbourne as we were going to get a new bed, however it seems that its only £60 more expensice than here so will probably get that there as the shipping will probably cost the same. We are coming to validate visas in April as we had to finish our lease on the house so could not come until October. Does anyone have any recommendations for suburbs with reasonable pricing of houses and good communting distance to the city for hubby. I keep hearing good things about the mornington peninsula but I am worried it might be too far out. Sorry i realise im getting off the point now of the original post so will stop rambling. But thank you so much for all your help so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 The FX rate is irrelevant unless you are bringing loads of capital over, as you say you don't own a house then perhaps you are not? In which case it deosn't matter, in fact it is quite good as it means you can buy things online from overseas and will find it cheap. I also have heard that prices have increased a lot in the last few years, but I was not here a few years ago so it doesn't hurt me and I don't waste my time rueing that prices were cheaper a few years ago. Housing is expensive in Sydney and Melbourne, especially Sydney, but it doesn't seem too bad anywhere else in the country. Everything else is swings and roundabouts; I notice that books are expensive but I don't notice any difference in the supermarket. The key is not to convert the cost of every single item. If you divide your earnings in AUD by your UK earnings in GBP and get anything above 2.2 you will find you have about the same purchasing power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SupportPants Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 Out of interest what do you guys do for a living ?? Obviously some jobs are more in demand than others , sorry to hear that your struggling to find decent employment . Others have said and i have come to the conclusion that if your spending you UK money in oz then it will be considerably more expensive , if your earning the dollar then your spending dollar and its not realy any different to uk . IE , when i get to oz im traveling for a bit , My camper will be roughly $40.000 - $60.000 thats £25.000 £40.000 GBP over a years wages even at the lower figure , However if i secure my job in oz and receive my estimated wages it would be equivilant to 6-8 months wages in oz If your earning dollar think dollar , spend dollar ............ dont compare cos it'll do your nut in !! haha lee What do we do? I'm a teacher and also have had a career as a journalist and a stock broker. My other half is a marketing manager. Our main problem may well be that we are on regionally sponsored visas so can't seek employment in cities. It's made Australia a very frustrating place to be - everything seems to be who you know not what you know.... If you can find work easily then it's a completely different kettle of fish of course - but for us it's been an expensive and upsetting experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PositivePixie Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 I am a primary teacher and I have started to contact agencies but they havnt been overly helpful just yet....i think its because its too far away at the moment. Does anyone have any experience in these areas? They won't be overly interested until you are there and registered - a lot of people say they are going but don't, and primary school teachers in Metro areas (ala Melbourne) are not in particularly short supply so they can be a bit picky. Like I say, you will need to register with Victoria State teaching board (sorry, don't know its actual name, each state has a different set up and name for their teaching authority), which will probably require some kind of Australian First Aid and/or Child Protection type course/s. If you look into registration with Vic you will also find out the way they work - not sure if Vic have a points system or not where by teachers have to do a few years in rural postings before earning enough 'points' as it were to get placed in a city/suburbs school, so that's something to check up on. Be aware that the Australian teaching jobs system is very different from here in the UK - perm. contract jobs give teachers way more rights and therefore are far less commonplace (here obviously its unusual to notbe on a perm. contract, or at least it was until a year or so ago), rolling contracts are generally more common, so is another thing to get used to. Supply might be your best way forward, at any rate its a good way to get a foot in the door with regards to more long term jobs, it depends how long you've been teaching as to what rate you get, it varies quite a bit I believe. If you google you should be able to find the pay scale rates for teachers in Vic, the daily supply rates may be on it too. At least there is supply over there though, as you can't put a non-qualified warm body instead of a teacher in front of a class like here in the UK. When you do get a long term/perm job the pay is way more than here in the UK imho (depending on what pay scale/extra responsibilities you are on over here). Sorry if any of that comes across as negative, its not meant to be just forewarned is forearmed - things are just different over there (personally I think things are far better from what I've heard from actual teachers in actual jobs, or actually looking for jobs themselves over there). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pez2008 Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 I thought on the regional Visas you HAD to live in Regional Australia but could work anywhere? i.e Live in Geelong work in nMelbourne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 I thought on the regional Visas you HAD to live in Regional Australia but could work anywhere? i.e Live in Geelong work in nMelbourne. Which subclass? For 475 it says: [h=3]Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 475)[/h] A three year provisional visa. Applicants must be either sponsored by an eligible relative living in a designated area of Australia or nominated by a participating state/territory government. After living for two years and working for at least one year in a Specified Regional Area, applicants can apply for a permanent visa. Applicants must pass a points test. For RSMS it says: The Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) allows employers in regional or low population growth areas of Australia, to sponsor employees who are foreign nationals for a permanent visa to work in Australia. Both seem to imply you are expected to work in the regional area too.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pez2008 Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 I stand corrected lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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