Moving to adelaide

[Deleted User] · 03/07/13 - 00:31

My best friend and young children are thinking of moving. She wants some advice on the good and bad of moving to australia(she doesnt have ds account which is why i am posting).

Scuby · 03/07/13 - 00:35

My son and dil were seriously thinking of going to Australia then they chatted to people that had come back, apparently it is very very expensive out there.

TelevisionUser · 03/07/13 - 00:44

I'd suggest that your friend takes some time to look through these links here to weigh up the pros and cons.

Cloudbusting · 03/07/13 - 00:47

Scuby wrote: »

apparently it is very very expensive out there.

I've heard the same thing from a lady who lived there for years. You get no "freebies" whatsoever and she moved back to England because she just couldn't afford to live there in her old age.

I don't think it's somewhere you could/should attempt to settle in unless you have a really well paying job from what I know.

TelevisionUser · 03/07/13 - 01:04

It might be worth your friend keeping a watch out for episodes of Wanted Down Under and Wanted Down Under Revisited when they're next shown on the BBC to see if any are set in Adelaide:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s5v8/clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B9FYbUmuvg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL2vOde8dr0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCdG-932uSc

dearmrman · 03/07/13 - 01:08

This will give you an idea on general cost of living:-

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country=Australia&city=Adelaide&displayCurrency=GBP

Slightly higher than London.

tangsman · 03/07/13 - 01:47

Visited Adelaide in 2003.
Couldn't live there.
Simply too hot in the Summer.
Unbearable at times.

Melting pavements, hot winds etc..

[Deleted User] · 03/07/13 - 03:01

Glowormfairy wrote: »

My best friend and young children are thinking of moving. She wants some advice on the good and bad of moving to australia(she doesnt have ds account which is why i am posting).

a friend has lived in Adelaide for decades. She says they have two seasons a year - the horrendously, unbearably hot season, and the rainy season which is often about the same temp as our summer. They wait for the rain to come, for it to be cooler. The summer heat there is nearly beyond belief - very uncomfortable. Many people would probably die without an air conditioner at home. She has to take cold showers all the time at home in the summer, and sits indoors in wet clothes to feel cool, even with the air conditioner on. She does not go outside the house in the summer, (in her spare time), and says many people don't, as it's just too uncomfortable and she gets quickly sunburnt. If she puts washing on the line outside it's bone dry in ten minutes. Dogs can get burnt feet walking along the footpaths in summer.

They have what she calls tropical storms sometimes, which are very showy, involve beautiful sky colours, and which she loves.

You can get to see a GP for free but they're badly trained and only really write prescriptions. There is some free health care but the waiting lists for all of that are extremely long. Everyone who can afford to goes private for health and dental.

Irrelevant but I would not like it there due to the summer heat, the fear of bush fires, and the lack of four seasons, especially snow and autumn. I like Australian people though.

AmberPanda · 03/07/13 - 03:19

Saw this thread and thought thats funny, was shopping this morning, had a coffee and the woman at the table started chatting, Australia came up and she said her friend and parents had gone to Aus years ago and friends father when he retired came back here to live.
She said her friend was going to come back soon so maybe the grass is not so green over there anymore, sad.

[Deleted User] · 03/07/13 - 03:34

forgot to put - she told me most older people she knows have had skin cancer and it's commonplace to see older people with scars on their faces where pieces of skin cancer have been cut off. It's not good for the fair skinned and light eyed.

TelevisionUser · 03/07/13 - 03:54

Dolls wrote: »

a friend has lived in Adelaide for decades. She says they have two seasons a year - the horrendously, unbearably hot season, and the rainy season which is often about the same temp as our summer. They wait for the rain to come, for it to be cooler. The summer heat there is nearly beyond belief - very uncomfortable. Many people would probably die without an air conditioner at home. She has to take cold showers all the time at home in the summer, and sits indoors in wet clothes to feel cool, even with the air conditioner on. She does not go outside the house in the summer, (in her spare time), and says many people don't, as it's just too uncomfortable and she gets quickly sunburnt. If she puts washing on the line outside it's bone dry in ten minutes. Dogs can get burnt feet walking along the footpaths in summer.

They have what she calls tropical storms sometimes, which are very showy, involve beautiful sky colours, and which she loves.

You can get to see a GP for free but they're badly trained and only really write prescriptions. There is some free health care but the waiting lists for all of that are extremely long. Everyone who can afford to goes private for health and dental.

Irrelevant but I would not like it there due to the summer heat, the fear of bush fires, and the lack of four seasons, especially snow and autumn. I like Australian people though.

It sounds like you could easily cook eggs on car bonnets then. :eek:

Presumably from a temperature point of view, Tasmania, southern Victoria and south east New South Wales would be noticeably cooler in comparison and would come as less of a shock to migrating Brits:http://www.livingfundraisers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Growing-regions-Australia2.jpg

[Deleted User] · 03/07/13 - 04:07

It's incredibly expensive to live anywhere near the decent cities. Before accepting a job in KSA, Mr OB was offered a job in Perth. Whilst the salary offered was a basic of £10k more than his job in the UK, we'd have been financially worse off. Hence the tax free move to KSA instead.

ff999 · 03/07/13 - 06:22

Friends who had a very decent pension moved out there about 7 years ago. Loved it and took citizenship.
Well, they said they loved it. Two years ago they came back for a year to sell their house in the UK. Then when that was done, they went back, but only lasted a week. They've now sold everything in Oz and are permanently back in the UK.

It turns out the real reason they came back for a year was because the rise in the cost of living there reduced the value of the pension by 50% once it was converted to dollars. Back in the UK, they could afford to live off the pension again.
Friends who travel there on holiday every year say the rate of exchange is shocking, and as well as that, prices have also rocketed. A double whammy.

gregrichards · 03/07/13 - 07:21

I think she should go on holiday there for two or three weeks first and see if it's something she really wants to do and what the best decision is for her family. To sell up and move to oz without visiting it first and doing research whilst there would be a potential costly disaster. It may be different if she was on her own with no kids to consider then she may be able to go and chance her luck without visiting first but it's not fair to uproot her children if it is a big mistake.

Hope your friend makes the right decision. I would love to move somewhere abroad but I'd miss home too much.

ff999 · 03/07/13 - 12:48

Google
'Emigrating to Australia cost of living'.
Loads of useful links came up, including some blogs, and one link suggested Canada as an alternative.

[Deleted User] · 03/07/13 - 12:56

I think a move is what you make it. Too many people go over to aus etc expecting a home and away life, it's not like that, but equally they don't give it the chance either. When homesickness kicks in at about 3 months many Brits put it down to the country not being what they expected, whereas in fact it's just homesickness. Too many Brits also think that life will be better there, life is life wherever you are, if u are a miserable git here, you'll be one there.

Personally I'd not move to a city, as others have said prices are steely high, I'd be moving to the outskirts of Sydney or Perth, or my ideal would be tazzie.

jazzyjazzy · 03/07/13 - 13:30

We love Australia and go there for a couple of months every year but having stayed in Adelaide for a week recently I would say it was 3 days too long.
We have family who live there, have a very very good standard of living due to the amount of money they make by their own hard work and love their way of life but would not advise others to move there now.
It really was quite a boring place compared to Melbourne (but with the best market we have seen in Australia) but probably fine for a young family.
As others have said it is now very expensive for tourist due to the exchange rate but Australians who work hourly rate jobs told us they find it difficult to enjoy their lives as they once did due to the expense. It was the only country we saw half a cauliflower or half a celery for sale in the market (before they started selling ready cleaned veg in UK) due to the cost of them and once bananas were £1 each :eek:

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Moving to adelaide

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