” I love the place, its simply perfect if you like being outdoors…..IF you can bear the heat.”

Live in Tasmania, the grampians, the snowies, Blue Mountains… You can be digging yourself out of snow in winter if you want.

PS commuting here monthly sounds like hell

For some balance why would you move to the UK?

I went once petrol was like $2.50/l hell thats nearly double the price and the roads were so clogged we couldn’t actually drive anywhere.
You have to pay way more tax too it’s madness!!
Some bloke in the office went once and they said it rained every day, and nothing worked when it rained or snowed. It got to 30c and they all started falling over due to the heat.
Houses are really expensive anywhere you would want to live, and there is nothing detached in any of the cities, it’s all crammed in there with nowhere for the pool or anywhere to keep my surfboard.

Not saying it’s perfect here, but it’s not bad. Some Kiwi friends who moved over here reckoned it took 2 years to get fully settled in and 17 months in I would have to agree. It’s hard work you need the right attitude to change things round and make a go of it.

The couple who lasted a few days in Zokes link got heaps of support (more than normal) from someone we know, looking back he realises he wasted his time. This is not the UK with better weather, it’s different, that’s one of the things that makes it good to do, it may make you appreciate some of the things that make the UK a good place and give some perspective on others. I think more people should travel and try different things.

Nzcol

Sorry to hear that mate – but as you rightly point out life is full of chapters and this is the next one for you and your family.

Where are you heading to in the UK?

no culture? I live in Melbourne, the Jazz and comedy festivals are world class, we Just had a Monet doo-daa at the gallery and Phillip Glass is doing his opera here soon.

unsurprisingly, the cities and country are different.

I love the city nonsense, and I love being in the middle of nowhere with a huge sky full of stars with no bugger around two hours from my house.

I’m constantly confused as to why anyone would live in London?

I’m constantly confused as to why anyone would live in London?

This is a question that puzzled me for many years before moving to Oz

also, direct flights from Tullamarine to Queenstown. Lovely stuff.

Would do, and have done. Twice. Came on a 457 visa in 2009 and stayed until 2011 then went back to UK. Realised nursing is way better here in Oz and paid accordingly so came back last August (there were other reasons).

LOVE most things about Oz. Little things rile me though – cost of certain things ie bike parts. Attitude of some Aussies to foreigners / immigration / boat people.

Weather is ace (although we have a storm front coming in now with 110km/h winds and rain).

In the process of doing my PR, employer sponsored me. Yay.

Mike makes a good point – come on over if you want to see something different, don’t if you’re expecting the UK but warmer.

Also, as said above, go where you’re going to be better off. IMO wherever you can be free of a mortgage earlier is the place to be, then you get some real flexibility with your lifestyle choices…

TBH, there’s plenty of British enclaves where people live the UK but warmer lifestyle*. I know several people who have nothing to do with Australians.

*greece/italy/spain with better economy
*Sudan/iran/afghanistan with less conflict

yet most people integrate, meaning the cities are a real melting pot. This means the food options are awesome.

and if you want to visit the 1950’s head out to the country.

and if you want to visit the 1950’s head out to the country.

Or Perth 😉

brack – Edinburgh to begin with, that’s where family is and to be fair its no too bad a place to end up !

Moved to Perth just over 2 years ago for work on a 457 visa. Id like to apply for PR but my employer has lost the ability to sponsor further visas dammit. I would agree with the comments about how long it takes to really settle in, i’m only just getting to that stage now. Also ‘its not a sunnier version of the UK’ like a 1000 fold. I came here thinking that and have been proved so wrong.

Cost wise, once you stop thinking it pounds it doesnt seem so bad, my standard of living has increased dramatically from the UK, though as various posters have said bike bits can be extortionate and eating out can be scarily expensive sometimes.

I still do miss home regularly and i’m still not convinced i could spend the rest of my life here, its a very very long way from friends and family which despite skype etc can be hard. Australians do have some funny attitudes, can be very macho and competetive sometimes and racism is if not more prevalent, definatly more outspoken. Iv also seen more fights and random violence in 2 years here than I ever saw back home.

God thats an essay! All in all though if you get the chance come over, if only for a few years its a brilliant place to live and work.

Moved here in 2005. Just killing time until the house sells and we can go home. As said ,its not for everyone.

moved to Melbourne 11months ago – mrs antigee offered a job here and thought would regret if turned opportunity down though think she would prefer Perth where she’d previously lived – not sure if will stay after contract finishes in 4years still feels like early days – youngest daughter loves sport and does loads at school and loves it here – great place to raise kids

Some things seem expensive compared to UK but then again salaries in general are higher tax is lower, healthcare costs – depends on what you spend money on – childrens activities cost a lot more but are better quality – and again depends some pretty exclusive small shops charge like they would anywhere in the world and if you want to buy food that is out of season its going to cost
big city so lots of culture – small town very different so what new
same wouldn’t generalise about Australians – other than being sport mad, competitive, don’t stand for fools (other than politicians), dogs are well behaved, driving is at the speed limit irrespective of what is going on, no more racist than people I’ve worked with in UK, US, Netherlands – I can ride 30/40km on trails and out to the hills, have to remember to check bush fire warnings as well as weather forecast in summer – a bit less variety than the Peak – on the roads uteman drives like whitevan man – will be eating out this evening – nice smart Thai good value – and like eating out in any city prices are high in prime locations and pretty suburbs, less litter, good sport facilities, fantastic and beautiful beaches and all the pies you can eat

Nzcol

Good luck with your move mate…. Nope Edinburgh sounds a lovely relocation,

I love the UK fella… And that’s through the misted goggles of being a Paramedic which I can assure you sees the very worst of these islands.

My father , brother and his family all live in NZ and I’ve toyed with the idea lots over the years, we spend a month over there each year.

But

For me …at the moment, here is home.

haha had to laugh at Nimbin….. like bits of Amsterdam with palm trees.

My sister emigrated to Perth 20 odd years ago, they have a nice life and have now moved from the burbs out to the country where it is uber quiet but if that’s what you want then it’s perfect… they ride Harleys and the beach is not far away and the roads are perfect for motorbikes… My parents miss them , we all do and we went for the big trip out there a couple of Xmas ago my better halves first trip , my 4th…. we are too settled over here now and feel as though we have missed the big move window… Great country , lovely lifestyle and weather but they have some issues over there too it ain’t perfect.

It seems to me that people are prepared to leave family and friends thousands of miles away just because you dont need a coat a lot of the time ?

It seems to me that people are prepared to leave family and friends thousands of miles away just because you dont need a coat a lot of the time ?

It seems you are mistaken

not really I need a coat here in tassie.
Half of the family are here as the missus is from this half of the world.

I speak to my parents more now I am here than I did at home, so thats a difference. Real friends and real family connections work over time and distance, the world is a lot smaller these days – each morning I can see what people have been up to and catch up and they can with me.

I can see it works for you if you have in(out)laws there .I think I would miss Somerset too much to emigrate.

I guess I have moved a lot in the UK too, I know where home is but that is a fixed place where as I live all over. I miss what I used to have but also enjoy what I have, it’s very easy and possible to do both. Just come back up from Friday night beers with the guys in the LBS, good mates after not that long (though the first chat with the lbs guy was explaining at 2am uk time why there needed to be presta valve collars under the bolts on the brake mount of my missus HT he was putting back together) we rip the **** out of each other and enjoy beers now! The missus has a sister near us and the rest are flights + drive away, I avoid the sis as a bit bonkers really so it works. You will always find like minded people to have a beer with.

It’s hard to explain but you have to appreciate what you have in the moment and enjoy it, if you dwell on what you had then you will be stuck.

I would love to (I think). I have worked a few times in Melbourne recently and really enjoyed it – a far, far better quality of life in virtually every respect from what I could see. Would never get a work visa though. 🙁

The biggest downside that I could see in my brief time there was a lack of public transport. Australia is not an easy country in which to get from A to B.

The biggest downside that I could see in my brief time there was a lack of public transport. Australia is not an easy country in which to get from A to B.

I don’t know where you were going from and to but Melbourne and Sydney have good public transport systems. I don’t know the other cities well enough to comment, and I’m sure there are disparate A and B points which aren’t convenient, but I don’t think it’s any worse than London, and it’s better than Edinburgh.

It seems to me that people are prepared to leave family and friends thousands of miles away just because you dont need a coat a lot of the time ?

I can see it works for you if you have in(out)laws there .I think I would miss Somerset too much to emigrate.

I don’t think I’ve ever been to Somerset, and I’m sure it’s a nice place, but I don’t feel any need to criticise it just because other people want to live there.

kona – I was going a little way (about 30 or so miles) out of Melbourne and also out of Hobart in Tasmania and asking about buses, trauins etc met incomprehension. Their concept of public transport is extremely limited out of the main cities (agree with you in them).

About the only downside though.

Yep true we have no public transport in Tassie, about the same as rural UK though 🙂 interstate it’s amazig flights everywhere for not that much.

Just came across this thread!

NZCol, I was in the same boat as you 6 years ago after loving living in Oz for many years, after we had our second daughter the pull of home and grandparents was too strong and we came back to the UK.
Never really settled down and after several years of soul searching we are going back to Oz.
Family are great but as the kids get older they need grandparents less and we see a much better future for our kids and ourselves. Always felt stifled here in the UK, really miss the quality of life we had in Oz
So just saying if your moving back I wouldn’t completely sell up in NZ, rent your house out and come back for a couple of years before deciding on a permanent move. It could save you alot of money!

Been twice,nice to escape winter but something is missing needs about 20m open minded people living there to make it s better country.

Whereas in the UK we need 20m fewer morons and your return isn’t helping.

Spiders.

That is all.

benjbish – Member
Epicyclo – are those top two pictures of Cairns Northern Beaches?

Yes, 2 and 3 are. 1 is close to Innisfail. Still got a house in Cairns.

I visited Melbourne and Taz. Melbourne was “Meh” just another urban/sub-urbun place. But Taz was fantastic, like amore rugged Wales with added Wallabies. And the folks I talked with there seem much more my kind of people. I’d consider living there.

related to everyone and having 2 heads?

related to everyone and having 2 heads?

😆