Can we have a chat about Australia...

S

shootingstar

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Ive never been there, yet I love what I know so far about the place. My partner is onto me about applying for Visas. we contacted Visafirst and it seems we may well be eligible for visas.

We have family & friends living out there in different parts. I chat with them weekly via Skype. They tell me no way would they ever return to Ireland. Its a better quality of life out there. Its like a different world, so Im told. We have somewhere to live until we find our feet. Of course selling our houses here is probably the biggest obstacle

Would ye care to share experiences....

Plus i love BBQ food
 
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There was an article on newstalk or one of the radio stations about many irish people really struggling over there because of lack of jobs.

I went to Australia last year on an eight week holiday feb 2008 and absolutely loved it - but then I was only seeing the good part - it was an eight week pure luxury holiday, money no object.

My old next door neighbours from Lucan emigrated there in July 2006 and I still keep in touch with them.

He was a painter and decorator with a contractor here at the time taking out about €1,200 per week. Now he clears less than half of that ...however, I reckon if he was still here he would probably be out of a job.

They really miss Dublin and I was surprised because at the time it was all, Ireland is crap, Aus is going to be great but they did say to me since, the grass is not always greener.

Another surprising thing is that people always say property is cheap. I stayed with a couple in a nice suburb of Brisbane (probably similar to somewhere like Malahide) and they had just bought their house for something like 1.2m or 1.4m dollars. Working back the exchange rate, it would have been similar to what like for like was here at the time.

I have to say, I did not find the cost of living much cheaper than Ireland, I found it to be on a par. Some things were way cheaper, like cars, but groceries etc I found to be on a par with here, and I would think wages a lot less.

When I came back I looked into going to live, because it looks like I might qualify, but then I just let it go.

If I was going to go, I would only go for a trial and would not sell my house before I go....could you rent it for a year perhaps? Then if you did not like it, you could always come back and also the property market here may have settled somewhat.
 
MandaC said:
If I was going to go, I would only go for a trial and would not sell my house before I go....could you rent it for a year perhaps? Then if you did not like it, you could always come back and also the property market here may have settled somewhat.
Click to expand...

we are lucky enough to have 2 houses I suppose (2 mortgages though so not so lucky in that respect). We have both houses on the market so we'll see which 1 sells. Im up for hanging onto 1 of the houses, just in case we need to come back, good idea i think....

My friend was saying that theres plenty of work still in Waitara, Hornsby, NWS, which is where we are hoping to go.....
 
Australia is a vast country. If you, as many Irish do, concnetrate job seeeking in the usual haunts, Sydney, Melbourne etc you will find the going tough as it is competitive getting good jobs. However there are many other centres of population where jobs are available. You may have to accept that you don't have the circle of contacts that you would have in the main cities. However it will get you established and a work history. There is always the option of moving to the big cities down the line. The lifestyle s fantastic especially after coming through our dull winters and unpredictable summers
 
All I know is that very recently there was a letter in one of the national papers from an Irishwoman living in Australia who said that a number of Irish are homeless there. They arrived with high hopes and work is not as plentiful and accommodation is hard to secure without a big deposit. I suppose that scenario can happen anywhere.
A friend of mine another woman lived there for several years. She is a doctor and is single. She thought that it was quite a macho culture; loved the climate and the work but eventually moved back here , happily.
 
Heard a lot of Irish Mammies on the Joe Duffy show a few weeks back going on about how their kids are struggling out there, how the jobs have all dried up.

Bear in mind that you are a long way from home if anything ever happens here (eg death/illness in the family).
 
I've been to Australia lots of times (20+) but never considered living there - just a few reasons here

- you can get sick of a blue sky, honestly you can
- you are moving from a temperate climate to one where there are extremes...things live there that can and will kill you - spiders in mail box etc.
- I find it quite backward towards women
- mall culture very like america
- little appreciation for anything outside australia - I was there when the berlin wall fell and it didn't make page 1!


On the plus side

- sun
- friendly people
- very cheap (VERY - I went for Christmas and spent 500 euro - would spend that in a week here)

I'd say it's great for families, but for me (no kids, single prof) - a nice sun holiday. I much prefer Ireland.
 
I lived in NZ for a year on a working holiday visa and then travelled the east coast of OZ for about 6 weeks melbourne to cairns. now i know that living in NZ is not what you are looking for but i loved it out there. but the question that would then come up is 'then why did you come home?'. 2 reasons, it was part of a bigger round the world experience and i wanted to get travelling again for a few months on the way back and 2, it is very very far far away. like some people have mentioned if something ahppened back home its 24 hours on a plane back and also expensive. after travelling to Oz for the few weeks i would recommend not going to live in one of the big centres like sydney and melbourne, living near them could result in a better job propsects as in rural OZ there are still positions to be had. i have to day that in all the places i visited in OZ i thought Cairns up north was the best. nice little town (compared to melbourne and sydney) nice weather in the winter (when i was there it was ranging from 25-30 in winter!!!!, rains mostly in the summer i believe), right on the coast, got one of the best natural wonders of the world on your door step the barrier reef, relaxed life style, international airport so getting there and out is no problem.

if i had to choose between living in NZ or Oz i would choose NZ but thats just cos i am biased . what i would say though is that people go over there to live for the life style, dont go over there to make money as i found that living costs relative to wages are about the same as here.
 
We went to Australia on the year working holiday visa 2002-2003. Both of us absolutely loved it. We stayed in Sydney for 9 months then went travelling for 2. We lived in Coogee first (had friends there) but later moved to Paddington which is a lovely place to live. We liked Coogee but you do get very blase about having the beach down the road and we preferred being nearer the town.

Working and living in Sydney was the same (to us) as working and living here in that it was 9-5.30pm Monday to Friday and you went out at the weekend. Still the lifestyle is so much more outdoors given the weather, we loved being able to go to the beach, go to the outdoor concerts and films, the BBQs, the walks, just everything is so much more geared towards being outside, as opposed to being in the pub Which actually we found to be pretty useless (well, not a patch on the pubs here, that was one thing we missed!). Also found the transport system so much more reliable than here.

We went back for 3 weeks last year and fell in love with Sydney all over again. The ONLY reason we wouldn't live there is that it's too far away from our friends and family. It would take at least a day and a half to get home if anything happened and we wouldn't risk that.

I have a lot of ex-colleagues who've gone travelling since last year, some of whom are now in Sydney and having a very hard time finding work - one of them mentioned that the companies over there are prioritising giving Australians jobs first so it's proving pretty difficult to get a job.

Anyway, good luck with your decision.

M
 
Hiya, loving reading this thread. I just wanted to hear about everyones experiences and get the feel of what people think.

We def wont be looking to move into the bigger cities, maybe about half hour to 1 hour outside same. Our good friends have told us work isn't a problem (yet). I browsed the recruitment sites and there seems to be plenty of book keeping - admin vacancies. That may well change by next year...

We'll keep one of the houses here in Ireland and try renting it out and take the sale of our other house with us to OZ. Hopefully something will work out for us, if not we can come home again and start fresh.

Im looking forward to starting fresh and hopefully we'll get our visas and be out there for july 2010. Have spend days on google earth hoping in and out of various places. It looks fantastic. Admittedily I wouldnt want to be anywhere too near Sydney, again about an hour or so would be good.

I dont want hussle & bussle, a nice quiet enough area will do lovely.

Does anyone know or could anyone recommend www.visafirst.com or should we go directly to the Oz government? Does it make a difference?

All advise VERY gratefully received...

SS
 
I dont think it would make a difference going directly to the government. I think you can do the application over the net and therefore save you money, which could contribute to your first BBQ when you get over there. wish you luck on it i hope it turns out well. I am very jealous.
 
Or have you tried a letter to Sir Lesley Patterson? His secretary Ms E Everidge may be able to fill you in.
 
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