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Soon to be family of 3 looking to make the move


tonyboy

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Hello everyone

Looking for some kind advice from people that have been in a similar situation to us.

We are from Scotland and are soon to be a family of 3 with our little one making an arrival end of October :-)

I am 28, i have been a qualified electrician for about 8 years now an have been currently working offshore for the past couple of years. My partner is 26 and a nursery nurse an has been doing this for a few years also.

My partner has travelled Australia for a couple of years previous to us getting together and i have looked at Australia for the last 10 years and we have decided between us that we would love to give it a go down under 

Due to my trade i will be working the first year in oz basically on apprentice wages until i get my A License and my partner will be caring for the baby

We will be looking to come over with between £35k - £40ksavings

With working currently offshore you miss enough going on at home as it is never mind all the precious moments of the baby growing up so i will not be looking to continue this in Australia as we want to spend as much family time together as possible and have weekends etc together

Due to this reason i also don't see the point in me working Monday to Friday and my partner working nights through the week it would completely defeat the purpose of family time, at least for the first year or so anyway 

Has anyone been in a similar position with being a family of 3 and making ends meet on one wage and savings? Is it really achievable?

We would be looking to rent until we found our feet and got stable work etc and would be budgeting around $500 pw rent for somewhere nice with a pool

We realise this isn't going to be a walk in the park and will be alot of hard work but we are really looking forward to the challenges ahead and life is far too short for regrets

 

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post lol

Tony

 

 

 

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Have you already got a visa?  There have been some rule changes (particularly with 457;s)

It's really difficult to say how people will manage - we get some members who have successfully moved with one partner working and others who have had whopping salaries and said they're struggling - so it is about living within your means.

Getting work (again) seems to have been a mixed bag of responses with some finding work relatively easily and others not so I would recommend that your savings cover at least 4 or 5 months living expenses.  I think what most migrants will agree on is that in the early months you seem to haemorrhage money for one thing or another.

 

We did find as a family that we did spend more quality time together.

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Hi Ali

Thank you for your reply

No we don't have visas at the moment however i have been keeping an eye on the changes, still at the early stages so just doing as much groundwork as possible 

Yeah having savings for the first half of the year is the plan anyway so hopefully with a bit of luck i will have some kind of job before then ( heres hoping ) 

That's brilliant you have more time as a family that's the whole idea behind our move and its reassuring to see that this is possible

 

 

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4 hours ago, tonyboy said:

Hi Ali

Thank you for your reply

No we don't have visas at the moment however i have been keeping an eye on the changes, still at the early stages so just doing as much groundwork as possible 

Yeah having savings for the first half of the year is the plan anyway so hopefully with a bit of luck i will have some kind of job before then ( heres hoping ) 

That's brilliant you have more time as a family that's the whole idea behind our move and its reassuring to see that this is possible

 

 

I will point out though that overall, Australians work longer hours and have less annual leave. The average annual leave is only 20 days. 

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What you must also bear in mind is that the employment situation in WA now is not good and the economy generally is still falling.   Not trying to burst your bubble of enthusiasm, but I do really think the timing might not be the best for you.   Perhaps do all your research and wait until the economy is in a healthier position before you make a definitive decision.   Just a suggestion.

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8 hours ago, tonyboy said:

Hi Ali

Thank you for your reply

No we don't have visas at the moment however i have been keeping an eye on the changes, still at the early stages so just doing as much groundwork as possible 

Yeah having savings for the first half of the year is the plan anyway so hopefully with a bit of luck i will have some kind of job before then ( heres hoping ) 

That's brilliant you have more time as a family that's the whole idea behind our move and its reassuring to see that this is possible

 

 

We always say that the biggest bonus has been the time spent together as a family in our time here.  I agree with Stormy regarding the hours and annual leave but despite that, our  time together (the children were 7 and 11 when we moved) possessed a quality that we didn't achieve in the UK, not so much in activities (although we did those), but little things like  being able to sit out every weekend having dinner - which turned into hours chatting, playing games etc. 

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Hi very stormy-  thanks for your comment i will keep this in mind

I think having the weekends together would be nice as i currently work away from home half the year but i appreciate your comment - always good to gather as much info as possible

Hi rossmoyne - yeah I've heard that from a few people.. Hopefully by the time we move things will have improved - failing that we will look elsewhere In Australia but i totally agree now would not be the best time

Hi Ali - that sounds really positive and exactly what we are after, i do not mind putting in longer hours aslong as we have weekends etc together for family time

One thing we don't want is to look back in regret at the chances we didnt take and Australia certainly seems to offer a better future for children etc

Thanks to you all for your kind replies

Tony

 

 

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My daughter (now 22) said that she was happy to have her teenage years here in Aus, she went back to the UK for 4 days on her way home from Europe, loved catching up with primary school friends (she was 11 when we left), but otherwise much prefers here.  My son will be 18 in September - his gift is to a trip to the UK in Jan he wants to go on North End with his dad, see some stadium and watch some games, it'll be interesting to see what he thinks.

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That's good to hear everything has worked out for you guys it certainly seems like you have made the right choice

Aw that's very thoughtful im sure he will love it - possibly not the weather though :-)

Where about it WA are you based if you don't mind me asking

 

 

 

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22 hours ago, tonyboy said:

Hi very stormy-  thanks for your comment i will keep this in mind

I think having the weekends together would be nice as i currently work away from home half the year but i appreciate your comment - always good to gather as much info as possible

Hi rossmoyne - yeah I've heard that from a few people.. Hopefully by the time we move things will have improved - failing that we will look elsewhere In Australia but i totally agree now would not be the best time

Hi Ali - that sounds really positive and exactly what we are after, i do not mind putting in longer hours aslong as we have weekends etc together for family time

One thing we don't want is to look back in regret at the chances we didnt take and Australia certainly seems to offer a better future for children etc

Thanks to you all for your kind replies

Tony

 

 

This is going to sound like I have a down on Australia and I really don't. But, it doesn't offer any "better" future for kids, just a different one. There are pluses and minuses to both and others which are the same. For example, unemployment for young people is about the same, there are still issues with drugs and crime. Both countries offer fantastic opportunities for kids, but personally, I don't think one offers more than the other.

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No its fine very stormy i appreciate and welcome all feedback

Yeah i totally agree with you to a certain extent i do believe however the climate etc would make a huge difference ( with me being from Scotland ) 

Don't get me wrong i do love Scotland but we have looked at emigrating for quite some time now and feel Australia has more to offer us as a family

There must be a reason why oz cities keep ranking so highly too

Can i ask what made you make the move and if you feel it has been the right choice for you and your family

 

 

 

 

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10 hours ago, tonyboy said:

That's good to hear everything has worked out for you guys it certainly seems like you have made the right choice

Aw that's very thoughtful im sure he will love it - possibly not the weather though :-)

Where about it WA are you based if you don't mind me asking

 

 

 

We're in Leeming - older suburb so not everyones cup of tea, but homes on big blocks, great community feel (surrounding suburbs are also good), good schools.  10 mins into the city by train and about 20 min drive to Freo.

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