The land of Aus - potentially emigrating!!

rogue0809

Hi all,

Right first off I’m looking to visit Australia with my girlfriend next summer for as long as possible but it’s looking to be between 2 – 4 weeks. We are actually going there with the thought of moving out there eventually!
So my first question is, does anyone know what the cheapest way to travel to the land of Aus is? I mean is it cheaper to book well in advance or last minute or go on standby, as we are flexible over our dates. Is there a nice cheap airline anyone knows about?
Also does anyone know of links to hotels that are cheap or hostels or even apartments to rent short term? We are looking to go to Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and possibly Adelaide. If anyone knows of any tips regarding any of these places then that would be awesome too.

The second part of my question is regarding the actual emigration. Has anyone gone through this process?
My girlfriend and I are looking to go out there in the next 5 years. By then I will be early 30’s and my gf mid 20’s (we may also be married by then hahahahaha, fingers crossed). We both have degree’s and I’m an ex RAF officer (not sure if that counts for anything lol). Does anyone know what our chances are in general terms? At the moment I’m in the process of going into the police and my gf is about to finish her degree. I’m seriously considering re-trading a skill that is in demand in australia to increase our chances! Anyone have any thoughts about any of this?

Any constructive advice would be most welcome and much appreciated!!!

Thanks again!! :beer:

Rogue

eamon

You should visit the Australian Government website. It gives all the information that you require except accommodation. Migration to Oz is possible but you need to meet the critera. Don't believe the adds that you see in the tabloids re skills shortages in Oz. These are usually very specialised jobs and without checkable references and transferable qualifications difficult to get. Saying all that my neice is currently in Oz and recently had her working visa extended for another 12 months.

Good luck

Eamon

liuhut

We got our Perminant Visa's last month, after a year of waiting!!
One good site to look at is
www.britishexpats.com
There is a forum on there with just so much information on.
We used an agent to help with our application, they assess you first to see what visa you could fit into (if any). The one we used is Gomatilda, I was really impressed with them.
We fly out early next year, bit nervous but cannot wait!!
Have a great time

BYALPHAINDIA

Aus is not the cheapest place to live, And a long way to come back?

Best Of Luck.;)

rogue0809

Hey guys,

Well thanks for the replies so far!! Much appreciated!

The reasons for me wanting to leave the UK seem to be never ending!! Lol. Don’t get me started on the current political climate in the U.K and the cost of living for the lifestyle I lead doesn’t seem quite to match. I have no family living in the UK as my mum lives abroad, my dad is constantly travelling and my bro’s live in America!!! So I’m maybe quite an exception. I’m certainly not expecting to go out there and all my problems go away, but I’m looking for a better quality of life for myself, my girlfriend and hopefully our kids (if we have themJ) I’m very much an outdoor person who loves being active and I am so sick and tired and being stuck indoors at weekends because of the weather. Everything (well almost everything) that you can do in the UK that appeals when the weather is poor (and lets be honest, that’s about 80 – 90% of the time) cost money and lots of it. Whether it is going to the cinema, or going out for a meal or bowling or whatever. Whereas in Aus, there is so much to do outside that doesn’t require lots of money! And I definitely am affected by S.A.D in this country. I’m not expecting glorious sunshine 12 months a year but I know from experience (I lived in Tasmania when I was younger for about 8 months and visited Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane) that the weather and the lifestyle is so much better out there. I’m a Rugby fanatic and very sporty in general, and their culture is much more suited to that also.
I know that Aus isn’t a paradise down under and that wages aren’t nearly as good over there as they are here but it’s also relative to the cost of living.

So in summary, I don’t have family that I would miss by leaving them, I need a more outdoor, better weather environment to live in, I’m very sporty and want to be in that kind of culture and I have been there before and also lived in other countries and I’m not the type of person who desperately misses the U.K when I leave it. It’s also English speaking which is a big plus as I have found even working in France and Italy for 6 months that the language barrier, even when quite proficient with the language causes a certain rift between you and the locals no matter what, where as I’ve only ever found the Aussies to be friendly (bit loud and great with banter but I can be like that too lol) and a good laugh. And I also love there laid back attitude as I’ve never been one for enjoying the rat race of London or anything like that as I lived there for 4 years also.

I hope that makes my reasons a bit more clear! It something I have thought about and still think about a lot and take it very seriously, it’s definitely not just been decided on a whim! If anyone can add any further advice or even pass on their experiences then that would be great also.

Cheers guys and gals

Rogue

baby_bronagh

hi
why don't you go along to EXPO 08 @london olympia 25-26 oct. It's Australia Opportunities expo where you find info on jobs ect. Tickets are £15 !! but have a look on the website and see if you think it will help .

My BIL and wife moved out to Perth earlier this year and LOVE it and I'm out to visit next year.Keep checking flight prices as they seem to change quite a lot .We manage to save £400 on ours.
hope this helps

bb

richardw

I like the sound of Brisbane, great weather and the home of https://www.virgin-blue.com.au for trips away.

than4

First of all I am an Aussie expat living here who is hanging out to go home! (only a year on the contract to go )

As for travelling to Australia, there are apparently some really cheap ways to go if you don't mind having long stopovers and doing some overlanding inbetween. Check out lonely planet forums for some ideas, but they bascially are - taking a cheap/budget airline (Oasis?) flight from London to Asia and then getting a cheap/budget airline (jetstar/Tiger) to Australia.

Otherwise set yourself up an alert for the dates you want on kayak.co.uk. I would think that you would be paying £700 plus each in the current climate.

Good luck!

mrposhman

I'm heading out to Melbourne next year, currently pulling together my visa and waiting for my car to sell as I want to use that money to pay for the Visa. I'm quite lucky in that my partner is australian and we have a daughter together so i can go out on a family visa (much cheaper). It looks like it will cost about $1500 for me but if you are going the skilled migration route it will cost nearer $5000.

Anyway, I see people have said QOL is better in queensland and it really depends what you want in life to be honest. Eaxch city has different qualities and different people will love one city and hate another so its not as easy as saying "we're better than them" though most aussies will say this as they are ultra competitive!!

Anyway, get yourself along to the aussie expo, details above for london but its also in leeds the week before if thats closer to you. I shall be in leeds despite living in london as I've booked a trip to florida whilst the one in londons on!! Bad timing!!

I think its on the aussie website though I may have found it on google based on a migration agents website, where they do a very basic test using the questions that are raised in applying for visas. Its probably best to look there, I can't remember what I googled but google something about aussie visas and hopefully you can find the question based assessment. Answer them and see what point scoring you will get.

You get points for speaking english (good for us), for being young (your gf will get slightly more points than you as under 30), for having certain skilled qualifications (this list changes regularly, though jobs such as accountants / teachers / police officers always seem to appear). Theres also questions about family so your brothers being out their might help if they are on permanent residency visas.

Anyway, hope this is helpful. If you can't find that site I will try and have a look when I get home from work and post it up for you. Its best to do an easy test to check before aproaching migration agents and passing cash over, though I've hard migration agents are really good and helpful as will look for accomodation etc for you.

Just on to flights, I haven't found that many cheap ways. I think I'll have a look at the site mentioned above as flights are from £700 for next summer now. They were at £620 but I decided not to buy. I like Malaysia airlines, very friendly, nice planes etc.

bridiej

Any reason why you missed Perth off your list of places to visit?

As far as cheap accommodation goes, have a look at hostels - most of them offer private rooms as well as dorm-style accommodation and much cheaper than hotels.

http://www.yha.com.au/

Have a good trip

nico26

than4 wrote: »

First of all I am an Aussie expat living here who is hanging out to go home! (only a year on the contract to go )

As for travelling to Australia, there are apparently some really cheap ways to go if you don't mind having long stopovers and doing some overlanding inbetween. Check out lonely planet forums for some ideas, but they bascially are - taking a cheap/budget airline (Oasis?) flight from London to Asia and then getting a cheap/budget airline (jetstar/Tiger) to Australia.

Otherwise set yourself up an alert for the dates you want on kayak.co.uk. I would think that you would be paying £700 plus each in the current climate.

Good luck!

I'm in malaysia living just now and noticed in a newspaper in the gym this morning Air Asia , Malaysia airlines ,Singapore airlines doing specials from here to Australia some were really cheap. So have a look.