ok - thought i would start my own thread for a change

..............a question i am asked by my mrs atleast once a month

.............looking back knowing what you know now......would you make the same decision and emigrate

An easy one for a change

YES YES YES

Deb

hi
And I will add to that YES YES YES and YES

Nick & Liz

So far, definitely yes even if just to say we gave it a go. Though we love it so far, but it's early days....

Louise

Uh and Artful Dodger .... YES YES YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HERE TOO !!!!

Yup.

Yes, but I wish we'd of done it 17 yrs ago when we first applied :doh:

ohhh yes


again, wish we'd done it years ago

DEFINITELY NOT!!!

Worst decision we ever made.

Sorry.

M.

Hi Geordie Lad,

I was just wondering why you regret emigrating ? Me and hubby + 3 kids are seriously considering it. Hubby all for it , im a little bit more cautious, i want to hear both sides the good and the bad and up to yet ive only read about people who love it out there, so it would be helpful if you could let me know your thoughts on it. Also i dont think you should apoligise for how you feel, at the end of the day its not going to be for everybody and your just being honest.

Lisa

yes but differently, as we had more than a few problems.
and probably perth rather than adelaide.

If i knew then what i know now,i would certainly not have emigrated.

Job situation for us here is appalling and the consequences to family life have been most detrimental.

Back home both in established jobs ,which gave us flexibility,hubby could take daughter to school in mornings,i picked her upin the evenings.Hubby had 10 min commute,now has a two hr commute everyday and is on at least a third less of a wage than back home.Holidays and benefits are not as good and hols seem to be have to be taken when it suits your employer not you.A lot of tradesmen are in the same boat.

My job doesnt really exist here so whilst i had a very well paid respected career back home,here i need to retrain ,but sadly hubbys wages dont afford me that luxury.Adelaide is a very difficult job market.

In addition dont underestimate the effects of family being so far away.My mum has been seriously ill this yr and sadly due to lack of funds and needing to look after daughter whilst hubby works i havent been able to go back home to visit ,that has been very hard on me.

Think very very carefully before you give up an established life in the UK.People say you can always go back,but that isnt always the case.With the money we have spent on coming here and whilst here and the significant increase in house prices in the area where we lived,since we left you are talking about a difference of about 100,000.pounds.We in no way could afford that.

In addition having been out of the legal profession for so long i would find it difficult to get ajob at a similar level.

Adelaide is in many ways a lovely place to live ,but i think it probably works best for those who are mortgage free or a very small mortgage and both have comparable jobs to the uk.

Think very carefully whether it will suit your individual needs.For us it is the worst decision we have ever made.

Sue

Lisa you just have to know where to look :D
Have a read through these, its not everyones cup of tea.
http://z2.invisionfree.com/Adelaidebrits/i...p?showforum=256

Its a yes from me ;)

Thanks everyone,

what sue has said about not being able to come back is the thing that worries me most, because i know that with what it would cost for us to relocate there and house prices in uk we would not be able to come back. Dont get me wrong its not like life is a bed of roses in uk, we just get by, but we manage to pay the bills and although the village we live in has gone downhill in the last 10yrs [ a lot of yobs about and increasing drink and drugs problems ] we have got a house in the nicer part of it and theres no way we could afford to buy where we live now if we came back. I wouldnt be coming to Oz expecting to get rich but i would want to be able to have enough to pay the bills and feed the kids.
I suppose its one of those decisions that could be the best thing you ever did or the biggest mistake of your life, you wont know unless you take the plunge and im just stood dithering on the diving board!

Lisa x

Yes, it has definitely been the right decision for us as a family.

:D

We have been here for 9 months now and I think the final point Sue makes is the key. Whilst many will say money is not or should not be the issue, it always will be.

When you cannot afford to travel back to the UK in times of trouble the pressure must be immense.

The best advice I have is to stop thinking is £s as early as you can because when you are earning and living in $s life is not that easy.

I absolutely love Adelaide and feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to live here. I would have to be dragged back kicking and screeming to the UK but we are financially secure. Bringing me back to one of the points Sue made.

I'd still say give it a go but if you can do that without selling in the UK and say rent for a year I think you can make a better decision as to what is right for you as a family.

Good luck

Joanne :D

Went off track a bit there ! YES would definitly do it again if you hadn't guessed.

No, definately not.

Jo

Coming here, to Adelaide was the best decision we've ever made. I wish I came sooner. I wish I grew up here!

I get so saddened by people suggesting that you need to be Mortgage free (or almost) to be happy here. We came here with almost nothing and have never built our "dream home" (there's plenty already built) and spent a long time travelling on busses because we just couldn't afford a new car. it was even months before I could get a job even close to my career choice. Even then it was short term contract work.

I get very depressed reading about people's expectations of a "perfect" life here in Australia. If you are not prepared to give up everything and start again, at the bottom, you will only be disappointed if you don't achieve all of your dreams as soon as possible.

If the UK is/was so much better than Adelaide (or Australia) then I'd suggest you either don't come, or go back again. I know that this is just a debate and that an open exchange of feelings and thoughts are welcomed, but I just find it so sad to see so many people coming across here, and if they don't have their house built, and their new car within a couple of months they proceed to complain about the place and people.

We roughed it and I'm so happy we did.

I am a very happy Australian now and am completely realistic in my expectations of what it's like here. People are essentially the same wherever you are. Some are nice, some are not. It's the same with places. Adelaide is no different.

Ah, I'm too fed up to post anything else on this site.

:unsure: wish I had read this before I posted my topic - Adbrits for therapy. Are we the real migrants???

Thanks for that I needed it. So glad that you have worked through it all. Best things come to those who wait and you appreciate things mor the harder you have had to work for it. :lol:

I think the question was "with hindsight".

Just because some say they were better off in the Uk doesn't mean they are not making the best of it now they are here.

Money is not necessarily the route to happiness but it certainly makes a difference and not everyone posts their whole life story for everyone to read.

You can't judge a book by its cover and as a previous post says, not everyone can afford to go back to the Uk and start again.

Jo

Jo,couldnt agree with you more.

Money is not everything,but if it means you cant afford to pay for dental and medical bills,or sporting activities for your kids when that has never been a problem before then it is an issue .

A lot of people have studied and worked hard to get decent jobs,surely they deserve a bit of respect in the jobs market.

I have worked beepin hard over the years studying and working trying to make ends meet,why should people be happy stepping back yrs in terms of pay and work conditions.

Particularly when those archiac practices might even compromise peoples health in some industries.

Everyones circumstances are different,why cant people see that.

Sue

NO REGRETS.
wish we'd done it years ago. yeah its been hard but well worth all the hard work.
and to be frank does it matter what anyone on hear actually thinks? If you are seriously thinking of migrating then only your opinion counts..nobody elses...
tracy

You took the words right out of my mouth (apart from the being fed up of posting on here!!!!!!)
LIVIN' IT AND LOVIN' IT :D
jacqui

No regrets from us at all. We did it at the right time for us too.

BUT.....financially worse off definately (even with only a small mortgage). Also, given all this talk about jobs...I studied at uni for 9 years and worked as a business psychologist on a good salary. No jobs as an internal consultant here so, after a rethink, I am working as a rehabilitation consultant. I love it! But salary can only be desribed as 'good for Adelaide' :lol:

Expectations is the thing....we were open to both changing careers if need be (I was planning on retraining to be a teacher intially) and we knew from resaerch that we would ot match our UK salaries.

Nope, If I could turn the clock back I wouldnt have come,or I would have rented our house out back home not sold it and just said we would come for 2 years to try it.
Dont get me wrong, i love being here with my sister whos been here for 11 years now,but its still my biggest regret comming here.

Jo :sign61:

The posts that follow ours are the reason you generally only hear from those who are happy. When those who aren't post, you get the "if you don't like it go home" brigade springing into action. This site is well known for it. Not entirely sure why they're so defensive. Quite annoying really but more importantly, a little unfair on those who really do want to know both sides. (Now you know why I said 'sorry')!

The reason I wouldn't make the decision again are similar to those already mentioned in this topic and in another recent one relating to work. The job opportunities just aren't there for many people and pay and conditions aren't as good. Obviously some are lucky and to be honest both my husband and I have good jobs, but they're going nowhere. If we want to step up again, we'd need to leave Adelaide. I believe this to be the case for quite a few people, and the reason why a lot (not just migrants) go interstate and why very few come here from interstate.

Apart from that I find Adelaide boring. It's OK if you have small kids to occupy your time or like walking in parks and on beaches. I can't really explain it, but there's something missing. It's a very insular place.

I don't think its any cheaper here, and in some cases definitely more expensive. You also pay for things you don't have to in the UK like school fees, medical bills (God help you if you need any major dental work), your drivers licence, dog licence etc.

And lastly, the effects on family just aren't worth it. I entirely underestimated just how much I would miss family and friends. And how much I relied on them. I live in fear of something happening to one of them.

And before you tell me to go home, I'd love to, but once you get here, spend the Pounds and start earning dollars, it's not that easy. We do intend to go home, but it's going to take a couple of years of hard saving to make it possible and even then, we'll probably arrive back with little to our names.

The UK isn't perfect and we came here with the best of intentions, but it has been a big disappointment.

M.

"In hindsight", No we would not have emmigrated here but we have no regrets whatsoever in doing so as we didn't want to be sat there in a couple of years tme saying "What if".
We would have liked to have rented our house in the UK while we are have been here, now for one year, but we needed the equity to get here.
We will probably be going back within the next six months but it is going to be financially crippling for us but we beleive it will be better for us as a family in the long run.
We will probably return with only about 10,000GBP if we are very lucky, hardly enough for a deposit on a house and to buy a car each which we will have to do.
We will be looking to have a mortgage of around 190,000GBP :sign68: and we don't even know if anyone will lend us that amount of money!
Looks like renting may be the only answer in the short term which will be hard as we have always owned our own home, even here.
Financially we are better off here considering my wife does'nt work and we have a better house than we had in the UK but as has been said before money is'nt everything.
Our circumstances have changed since we arrived here and we are not impressed with our childs schooling as they seem unable to cope with a minor learning disorder and their "budget" does not allow for any one to one teaching, which will not be the case once we return to the UK.
As for my job, it's different here. I don't get the buzz I used to get in the UK and it has an effect on family life no matter what you do to try and ensure it doesn't.

Having said all that, Adelaide in my opinion is a great place to live and to bring up your kids but it's just not for everyone.

Before I get berated for my opinion, everyone is entitled to thier own opinion and this thread is not in the debate section!!! I won't apologise if I've upset anyone as all the people who love it here don't upset me when they post their opinion.

Coombsie

Re. jobs and the difficulty in getting one here..whilst I am OK and had one lined up before coming, what I would say, unless its different from the UK where only short term work was available or you were in the right place at the right time ie companies were desperate :P, it often took up to 6 months from companies advertising a post, going through the applicants list, drawing up shortlists, 2 or 3 interviews, etc..to actually appointing someone.

Not saying that this is the case everytime but it may be that only short term/contract work is available until the 'right' one comes along.

I think what I'm trying to say is that if I saw an advertised job tomorrow, even if everything went well, I wouldn't be looking to start in it until 4, 5, 6 months down the line! :D

Best thing we EVER did! Things have been hard, but when we compare it to what we had in UK our lives are soooo much better in every way possible. Even tho we have a bigger mortgage, and we struggle financially and work hard.. its still so much better and our boys are all so happy, life is amazing in Adelaide and we wouldn't change it for the world. Go on, take a chance! :lol:
sylv

Hi

I think Sharpsas post highlights a good point. If you come here with nothing then you have no choice but to graft and work your way up. Anything better than nothing will feel good. If you had good jobs/income/lifestyle in the UK then it is difficult to retain the same standard of living because wages are generally lower making it more costly to live here.

I have paid $115 and $225 over the last month in dental fees. The first amount was for a check up for myself and the children the second for a small filling and a scale and polish. This would have cost no more that £60 in the UK. Its things like this that increase the costs and even though you reseach it all before you leave you do have to live it to see how these extra costs impact on your life.

I've said before, you have to be realistic in your expectations and what you desire because living happily with little spare cash doesn't work for everyone. If it does for you then thats great but for some it is harder and they should not be critised for having those views.

Adelaide is a fantastic place to live and all those I know who have days of worry usually have those concerns when they have an unexpected bill to pay. None of my expat friends have any worries about the country just the wages and cost of living.

Jo :D

Good point Jo, i dont mind just getting by, thats what we are doing here in uk but with no real quality of life. The thing that worries me is if we couldnt afford to pay the everyday bills. We are far from well off living here but we can pay the mortgage & bills [ just]. But then again we got 3 kids, 2 teens and a baby[ he was a nice suprise] and we are squashed into a 2 bed house and cant afford to move up the ladder. So if we could come to Oz and have a little bit bigger house and afford to feed the kids, i would be happy. Trouble is im wondering if thats possible now.
Any feedback much appreciated
Lisa

ps. Would be coming over on skilled visa, but hubby would do any job if he couldnt get a job in his trade.

Jury is still out!!!!!!!!! Only been here nearly a year though.

2 more things which I wonder how much they affect people's differing experiences:

Whether you arrive in summer or winter - either way, you get 2 summers or 2 winters in a row and I wonder if winter arrivals find this depressing and harder to get started here?

Where you come from in the uk - whether city or country, decent standard of living or just getting by, north or south?

Funny you should say that Elaine :P

:what?: We arrived in June and it was cold. Yes the sun was shining but you could hardly go for a swim in the sea without getting a chill. It was just the start of the glorious British Summer when we left with the light nights. We got here and the sun went down early and it was on with the coats and scarf!!! Yes I feel that the time of yer did have an impact on to how we felt at first. We thought - well at least its not roasting hot whilst we are having all the settling in stuff to do. But it was not an instant like to the place and it has only been during the Summer months here we have been able to get out and about and start to enjoy the lifestyle more. We had no choice in the time of year to arrive - it was all down to a house sale.

the funny thing is, is that when we arrived it was green eveywhere, which was a surprise being the driest state and all that, and now with the dry summer we have just had its brown. So seeing the browness may be a down side to some. Sorry feel like I have gone off the topic there a little bit, but in hindsight, the time of year could make an impact to how you first settle. :unsure:

Can't help myself. I said I wouldn't be back and here I am.

Just wanted to say that the comments about arriving in Summer or Winter may be pretty good. We arrived in Feb in the middle of a heatwave that lasted until April. Was heavenly (even in our non air-conditioned Housing Trust property in Blair Athol).

But I really wanted to reply to lisa b. Don't let anything stop you striving for your dreams if you really want them. Something always comes up and if you are willing to work and not to worry too much about all the nice things in life then you'll get by and soon be marching back up that corporate ladder (only starting from a lower step).

I would hate to think that I discouraged anyone from following their dreams.

Right, that really is it from me. I feel that this is no longer a place where I can offer anything constructive to any potential migrants from the UK and if I'm being very honest I love my adopted country so much, I can't bear to read daft remarks about how expensive this place is. That is a complete joke.

Thank you and goodnight.

i would go with this, we arrived in april (in sydney) just as thier winter was kicking in and after our spring was looking to be great, we lasted till september when the summer wasacomming and went back to uk as the winter was coming again. 3 winters on the trott :doh:


good job i don't have sads, i would have been in real trouble :D

Definately, Definately, Definately.................NOT

The wages here are almost pre historic. The cost of living is for the most part higher than the UK (compared with earnings)
The standard of ALL houses is low (timber sheds, with 10mm gyproc and a brick dress around the outside !!! all built to crack and move because correct foundations aren't poured)
You are a long way from the rest of the world, and flights from Australia are higher than from the UK even though wages here are less.
Nice scenery, sun shines quite often, temperature is Ok most of the time, doesnt rain much...............so what!! :unsure:

We will be here for a while longer (get passport soon(ish) then we will see.

that makes me sound very down....I'm not, its ok here it was ok in the uk. If i got down in the Uk i could afford to fly anywhere in the world for a few weeks, here I can go to victor harbour..or mount lofty...FAB :D

Steve

We have regretted our move here to Adelaide, for same reasons as Sue and a few others, and In my opinion it is expensive here, but that has to compare with where you lived in the UK obviously, I dont think its a better life here at all, but you will never know if it is a better life for you or not until you do the move yourself, I to would not put anyone off going for it, but each to their own and its not for us ,so were also heading back this year, with less money but appreciative of the UK and all it has to offer us.

Debbie

We're pleased with our move, just over 5 months here.

I've not had many surprises as I'd researched sooooo much. We'd a job before we came, we'd accommodation before we came, kids schools sorted and now I'm beginning to look for work with success so far.

I wonder whether those that struggle with jobs didn't know till they came what would be available? If you're un-able to find out that sort of information it must be difficult but I also wonder too why people always feel they have to be IN Adelaide. We're not and houses are cheaper, schools seem as good, there's work available etc etc. Not everyone who moves to England goes to London???

Anyway good luck to everyone, those that stay and those that work towards to going back. All the decisions are hard to make, especially when you're thinking of your family too.

Yes, but this thread isnt about asking are you happy or not?.This one is asking whether you feel that having experienced , would you have done it,knowing what you know now. Similar, but different enough to get a different ressponse. Maybe a poll?