Re posting:A few reasons NOT to emigrate to Australia:
The most dangerous animal in the world is the human, and there are four times as many of them in England than on the continent of Australia. Also, there is more chance of being hit by a bus than being bitten by one of those snakey things. If it was that bad - there would be no one living in Oz, they would have all emigrated!
Thanks you for your concern anyway. I am however aware of all the pro's and con's of migration, and I still think that on balance, I can give my children a better future and childhood in Australia.
I also think that Australia will be getting quite a good deal with us (both qualified professionals, solvent, friendly, decent family)
me thinks the scaremongery is a conspiracy theory to keep it all for yourself! ha ha
Hi Margo (am gradually getting through all the replies!)
We initially though Adelaide was THE place to go - no rush hours, planned city, cheap properties etc
After digging around a bit, I find out that South Australia's economy is not exactly booming, salination problem etc
I also have a friend who was in Oz for a year. She loved everywhere except Adelaide.
The family I worl with lived in Adelaide for 2 years and said it was the pits (parched earth, too hot or too cold (extremes), FLIES CONSTANTLY, and that you have to travel 45 minutes just for a coffee bar.
I accept that this is just opinion based on their experiences (and they may not have been looking for the same things in life as me), but it has put me off a bit. I was also trying to add Adelaide to my itinery in September, but the cost / hassle because it was 'out of the way' made me wonder whether it would be isolated, difficult getting in /out , expensive to travel etc.
Having said that, a guy oin my course LOVED Adelaide, thought it was stunningly beautiful.
Does anyone on this forum live in Adelaide with their family? I would appreciate your feedback.
Lisa; found the ideal place for you to spend the rest of your life..
This post was very interesting. more info please!
Hi Terri
I would be hugely interested to hear about and learn from your experience. I have heard that Perth is amazing, and Freemantle the best place for families, but I too am worried about the isolation factor (having said that, I live in Eastbourne and my life revolves around approx 25 miles square with the occasional visit to my parents 100 miles away. I would be interested to hear your views when you visit.
My husband says that I haven't yet grasped the size of Australia, compared to our little island. Western Australia is probably the size of Europe, and how isolating is that? I suppose it depends on whether you have family in Oz. You won't necessarily have to travel to any other city if you have no family there.
On a positive. the fact that Perth is stand alone, must mean it is self sufficient - so all jobs, customers etc must be in one place. Still undecided. m doing the whilwind visit in september and the Emigration fair in Oct, and more research until I am happy. Even then I may do a tour before settling when I do go.
Keep in touch
Claire
)
i reilly most speel check my repliies!
he he
As Margo said, please ignore my posts. I never meant to be taken seriously.
Have read the sites, actually quite interesting! Don';t worry, I wasn't taking you too seriously, just playing
(I have a wierd sense of humour I know!) x
Well, "da bunny" lives in Adelaide. Look out for her!
Yeah, I live in Adelaide.
Hard to comment about whether you will like it or not! 'tis one of those things.
Where I live - city fringe - there are streets full of coffee and restaurants and such within easy walking distance. If you lived in the outer suburbs, sophisticated places of this sort would be harder to find.
The flies comment is hilarious - Oz is full of flies.
Adelaide's climate is mediterranean. Cool, wet winters - summers that are hot and dry - with some days that are disgustingly hot. Spring and Autumn are delightful. There are four seasons. Perth can be just as hot - if not hotter - and is drier.
It is a small city - about one and a half million. Surprisingly sophisticated for such a small place (which I only discovered by travelling overseas!) - but, obviously not as advantaged re night life and such as bigger cities, like Sydney and Melbourne.
The economy is not brilliant. The hinterland is largely dry - though lovely hills and such surround the city - it is glorious right now. The collapse of the state bank in the eighties has affected the economy - which is only starting to recover. We are never again going to be really dynamic economically, now that tariffs and such which supported quite a large manufacturing sector are gone. Life is fine if you have a job. The place is just getting over the depression which engulfed it when the bank collapse made everything harder. We were very hangdog and pathetic for a time - remnants of this remain, and we feel peed off that Perth and Brisbane have now got bigger than us! They used to be smaller, and we were smug and superior about our position and greater sophistication. Boohoo. We still have a chip on our shoulder - small city syndrome.
Property is cheaper - historically, the presence of a state bank, which kept interest rates low, and the provision of public housing, kept prices lower. Now, the sluggish economy and consequent slow population growth keep prices lower - though we have our own property booms. As an illustration, a 2 bedroom sandstone villa, a kilometre from the CBD, which I sold for 250,000 in 1999, sold for 100,000 more a year later.
Adelaide's beauty lies in its position between the ocean and a range of hills. It has lovely stone buildings in the older parts of the city, huge parklands and things are very accessible.
Lovely countryside is accessible easily from the city - there are fabulous beaches - the Flinders ranges and such are lovely to visit.
Of course it has rush hours! They go on outside my apartment window with great enthusiasm morning and night - but there is no gridlock, as in Melbourne and Sydney.
We have a very good arts festival biennally - and lots of nice bits and pieces at other times.
There is the same crime and such that any city has - our poorer suburbs are as rough and violent as any - but we lack the ethnic tensions that some suburbs in the bigger cities have.
Quite a multi-cultural population - Greek, Italian, Vietnamese, Chinese would be the biggest influences, but you name it we have it. Great restaurants and fabulous wine.
Three universities.
If you wanna enjoy the place, close to the city is the go - or the hills, or the sea. You can certainly buy a good home near these things more cheaply than in other mainland cities.
Adelaide has always been socially progressive, but has tended to be politically conservative - though this has changed since the seventies. Currently has a Labor government, which is trying hard economically.
It is like any city - you'll love it, or hate it! Prolly depends on how quickly you make friends, as much as anything. I have heard folk comment that, if you can make a couple of friends, you're in - but that it isn't as easy to to make friends as it is in , say, Sydney - which is more open and breezy.
I would find the outer suburbs hell, personally - I work in them. But I would find this in Sinney or Melbs or Perth or Brisbane, too.
If a good education for the children is important, and you can't afford the expensive fees of private schools then Queensland is out. It's got by the far the worst education system in the country.
I'm from Wollongong which is probably the most regional of all the members on the site. Youth unemployment is pretty bad here but with the industrial basis of the area there'd probably be pretty good opportunities for your husband with his trade skills (Australia is suffering a nationwide skills shortage). Weather the same as Sydney but with none of the crowds or horrendous traffic.
I'll try to find some links to the area.
There seem to be a dearth of good links. Plenty of history info, but not much on current lifestyle etc.
Adelaide
Thank you for your great comments re Adelaide. You confirmed all of the things that I originally liked about Adelaide, and I liked your frankness about the other things. The people that tried to sway me with the flies and other negative comments re Adelaide only lasted two years in Oz before coming home, maybe it was just sour grapes? To be honest, my other friend who hated it is a single girl on the social scene, and was probably looking for different things than me anyway.
I have been researching jobs, and I really don't think we will have a problem. If anything there seems to be more work in South Australia for our lines of work anyway (Air-con mechanic and social worker).
Really interesting. Thank you. Definately worth reconsidering.
Re Wilso's comments
You said: If a good education for the children is important, and you can't afford the expensive fees of private schools then Queensland is out. It's got by the far the worst education system in the country.
Thank you very much for this information. Education for my kids is THE main objective. I could probably afford to send them private if I worked full time as well as my husband, but the whole idea of going to Australia is to be able to do the family orientated stuff. I want to take my kids to school, pick them up from school and spend time with them - hence I will only ever work part time / freelance around them.
Much appreciated
Is there much demand for chefs in Oz land?
I always thought there's demand for chef's everywhere!
Wilso wrote:I always thought there's demand for chef's everywhere!
It seems that the Toronto market is currently saturated.
Berkeleymatthew.
Sorry to be so long in replying, don't get a lot of chances to click on.
Firstly I should tell you, i'm 71 have lived in what I call "my heaven" for the past 30 odd years... first time I passed through was when I was 15 years old. At that time it had a population of approx 40 odd thousand, now has over 400 thousand. I have lived in most of the places the others have spoken of, and agree with them somewhat, however the one thing that none of them can offer in contrast to my "heaven" is.... I picked it because I can't stand big tempature changes like the other places, we have a tempature that hovers around the 22 deg in winter, and 28 deg in summer, usually get our wet season in the summer months, when you can still go out in it, We have miles of beautiful beaches, our sea temp in winter is about 22 deg ( warm enough to swim in ) we have umpteen miles of beautiful walks in pristeen rain forest country, with water falls and swimming holes.. all within a short drive of our coast, there are restraunts of every ilk And their prices are cheap in comparison to what I have paid in the UK ( like, a eye fillet steak chips and salad, $18... about Six of your pounds). The schooling here is excellent, and if you are sport minded you name it we play it, overall life style is very free and easy, dress code is very casual, to anyhow, we are not the least bit class conscience, unless you are extremely rich. asyou can see by the rate of population growth, we are booming, the opertunitys here are boundless, we are having young people and married couples move here at the the rate of 2,000 a month,they come from all over Australia and New Zealand, but ou can still buy a home for a decent price... this is in the local paper, 4 brm, ensuite, dble auto garage ith wet bar and close to schools and shops $300.000 ( about 100 thousand pounds ) this has to be the place of unlimited opertunitys, we have everthing your heart could desire.... believe me.
. And where is this place? in Queensland on the Gold Coast.
