I love reading the updates/views of those just back from their trips to OZ and find the info so valuable. I need to apologise now....that I'm jet-lagged and my brain is mush....! :blink:

So this post could be boring...full of typo's and of course totally full of my honest opinions! ;)

Hubby, 2kids (4 and 1) and myself flew over with Qantas via LAX to Sydney for 3days, Mel...10days, Adelaide 3days and finally Brisbane 3days. Qantas were great through out, no probs at all.

The following days/wks when we stayed with family and friends and hotels, proved to be a valuable learning curve as we experienced everyone's "point of views" and the way they lived. We experienced the lush and lavish lifestyle of folks in the one of Sydney's most exlcusive neighbourhoods to the most frugal of living styles in Melbourne.....and a whole host of standards inbetween....which gave us a great insider's view of living in OZ.

This was my 2nd time in OZ ( backpacked 16yrs ago there on a shoestring so a different view back then), this was hubby's 1st trip there. I remember reading on a past post that someone had validated and didn't even get a "welcome to Australia" speech from the immigration dude....well that was us too on our arrival into Sydney......but that wasn't a problem.....the lady who was our chauffeur to take us to our hotel...more than made up for that...sweet sweet lady.

Sydney, for us was just a stop and time to catch up on sleep and friends who lived there. Reminded us of the busy streets and vibes of London, great when you are younger and no kids. The restaurants were not particularly child-friendly, and when our 2 little ones happen to be the only one's talking loud we got the stares! We did get to meet our friends who have an amazing home, location, views of the opera house/harbour bridge...maybe a lotto win might secure a wee villa for the holidays! Anyway, it was good to see them and hear about their view's on the whole migration process, even though they have money they still had the same up's and down's as us all with the whole process.

Melbourne, on paper looked like the place for us (work for hubby etc) so that's why we spent most of the time there, plus we had friends who were initially letting us have their home for 1wk whilst they were on vacation and then we would all spend the last few days together before we went on with our travels. These friends arrived in Melbourne 3yrs ago and just could not stop raving about the place and how we should settle here, and how much they loved it. Well the day we left they had the packers in to move them to Perth! 2wks before the start of our trip we got an email from our friends saying the hubby was now working in Perth and he would fly back to Mel 3days before we were due to leave to help pack up as they have movers coming in.

In a nutshell, they hated the weather....had not made the friends they wanted too and generally not happy...but from being there it was more a case of the hubby having these problems. Everyone we spoke too said the weather had been great and of course not much rain ....why else would they have a drought! Heck we nearly died without the fans and A/C that we are normally used too. We have temps of 41+ degrees in the summer back home...but have a/c! They lived a very penny-wise lifestyle......now don't get me wrong we are not wealthy but we do make choices when needed. But it was interesting to see how they lived and what choices they made too and how we differed. What was important to them, didn't matter to us or vice versa.

I can honestly say Melbourne would not be our 1st choice, but we cannot rule it out as that might be where hubby get's a job he wants. The suburbs, looked like they had been thrown together......not neat looking...graffiti....trash..etc.. and Melbourne was busy and pretty dirty. I know I'm feeling old but the kids wandering around in their school uniforms had foul mouths....at least 5 bolts in their faces, tatoos and more than 3 colours in their hair! Maybe this is the norm...but I didn't see this in other places (maybe hair colour at a push). Nobody really seemed interested or chatty and looked shocked when I started a conversation with them! Not a lot of respect all round from anyone living there.

Melbourne does have a lot to offer culturally, socially etc and there is a lot to do there. Traffic sucks and public transport could be a tad better.
However, we did find a nice place NW of Melbourne so should we head out that way we have a place to settle in with a more country feel to bring the kids up in.

Adelaide, ....sleepy, laid back, too quiet .....not enough going on.........so we have been told. Love this place.....ok we had 3 short days here...but felt this could be our home. Weather fab, beaches awesome (AND WE ARE NOT BEACHY PEOPLE), people friendly and I mean this. More of a family laid back lifestyle, good outdoor living. No problems with traffic, a little graffiti like anywhere.......my god even the kids are friendly and when we had problems trying to figure out our train tickets..we had a teenager lad come ask if we needed help! Bless him. I must say I got delayed a few times for talking too long with people and we nearly missed out on what we should have been doing.

This seems to be a well planned city, houses look neat and tidy on their blocks as do the city buildings, easy to navigate around the place.....though I did drive on the wrong side of the carpark a few times!

Nice to catch up with my relatives and see how life is treating them, all of them at very different stages in their lives and doing what they are comfortable and happy with in Adelaide.

Brisbane, well this was our finaly stop and basically had to leave from here to fly back to LAX as it was the only flight available on our Qantas pass. We stayed with friends, and prior to this point really knew nothing about the place. From what we saw we like it here too, has the same nice family burb feeling for living and outdoor activities. Nice weather, more humid than Adelaide but not a problem if you have a/c ...fans etc. Plenty of shopping and things to do .....clean....and just loved the man made beach/pool area in the southbank area of the city!

Ok - so all in all.......OZ for us ....the overall standard of the grocery stores is good, no problems with what is on offer...even if it is seasonal. Plenty of malls in most cities, love the parent rooms for baby changing/feeding...so much easier and Dad can help out too! More casual and more of an outdoor lifstyle......didn't feel like I was out of place.

For us the big differences/challenges moving from the US to OZ is the cost $$$ of everything......basically much more expensive all round and a lot less house for the money. But this is nothing new to us, we were aware of this and really we should compare this all to what we could afford in the UK ...had we had to move back there. I can tell you now, there would be no way we would get a house the size of what's on offer in OZ back in the UK for the same dosh. Plus at the end of the day it's all relative to salary. Unfortunately didn't get to check out any schools, but we did get our TFN's and medicare cards and bring back a ton of happy experiences as well a few not so nice one's.....which is life.

So it's a tough one for us as we like Adelaide & Brisbane equally and runner up is Melbourne. No matter where we settle, we will be happy as a family and make a good go of it.....we like Australia and can't wait to get over and settle. It will be a challenge and I'm sure there are going to be good days and bad days, but we will be calling Australia our home.......just need to figure out which city!! :P

Cheers

RR
:D

Hi RedRock

Sounds like you had an amazing time with 2 young children to, very brave.

We went to Brisbane last year & loved it, other than the humidity which can get quite difficult.............since then have opted for Adelaide for all the reasons you have already written, just need a visa then we can move onto selling the house :sign03:

We are on the SIR495 so Adelaide is the best option for us, good luck with your decision

Angela