Australia

[The Stars]

I know I havent even gone to Madrid yet,but Australia is my dream place to visit and maybe live.

Could people please put up their storys of this country,places they have been,things they have done etc...and also storys of friends and family how have gone there.

[RonnieB]

Goto New Zealand!

[strangeirish]

All of my family moved to Oz in '88, Brisbane to be exact and love it there. All working and doing very well for themselves. One of my best friends moved there also a couple of years ago with his wife and three kids. They had a bit of a tough time of it at first, trying to settle down in a new country, dealing with home sickness and the kids missing their friends. My family tried to convince them to give it two or three years before it all got to them. They stuck it out and at this point in their lives, they claim they will never live anywhere else. One of the biggest things the whole family enjoys the most, both his and mine, is the lifestyle change. Nice weather, good schools, decent people and plenty of other Irish families about the place. Helps keep them all grounded with the Irish about you know . Personally, I've been living in the US for the past twenty one years, but having visited Australia a number of times, I think I would have went there instead, if I had to do it all again.

Hope this helps a wee bit.

[Ash]

I was in Australia for about 9 months on working/holiday visa.
Loved it and would have moved there properly only for the job I was getting
to sponsor me in Sydney fell through just before my visa ran out. Funding for
the project was cut and so the project was shelved.

That and it would have been a biotch of a commute to Town games

Hard to know what it would have been live to live there properly, but I had
a great time while I was there.

All IMHO
- I didnt like Cairns much, I thought it was all a bit tacky.
- Brisbane was really nice chilled out place.
- Loved Sydney, but thats probably cos I spent most time
there and I had a lot of friends there too
- Melbourne was a nice city too. I still know some people
living there and they love it.

I based myself in Sydney as I knew people over there already who had accomodation sorted and got work there.

While "on tour", we drove Sydney-Adelaide-Melbourne the time of
the Rugby World Cup/GP/Int Rules/Melb Cup.

Flew Syd-Alice Springs-Cairns and done hop on/hop off bus from there
back down the coast to Sydney.

Didnt get to see the West coast at all unfortunately but I intend to go back
to see it all.

All in all, I could have seen myself settling in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

Actually, recently got word of possible permanent work over there but alas
its come 2 years too late for me cos I'm fairly settled here now.
(or should that be "for now" )

As for stories ... I dont think theres enough room on the internet for them all

[sligoman]

I know I havent even gone to Madrid yet,but Australia is my dream place to visit and maybe live.

Could people please put up their storys of this country,places they have been,things they have done etc...and also storys of friends and family how have gone there.

Canada's better

[Pauro 76]

Hoping to go there for a month later this year to catch up with my housemate and a few mates over there. If all goes well, ya never know... About working visas, what's the cut off age for applying for one from Ireland, in case I like it too much? Im 30.

[Dodge]

Its 30 Pauro (you have to apply before your 30th brthday)

Few friends of mine have been over in recent years on working holiday visas and found it pretty tough to get work. Most lasted about 6 months

[Ash]

Regarding work, it's 3 years since I was there but I found if your willing to
do any work you wouldn't find it hard to get work.

I met people over there who just couldn’t find any work at all. I asked them
if they rang the agencies that cater for temp warehouse work etc and their
answer was ... "No, I’m an accountant"

When I went over I had a degree in Computing, plus 4 years work experience.
I eventually managed to get a few months of an IT contract but other than
that my work included:

- Picking and packing orders for a book club
- Picking and packing orders for dentists
- Cleaning dead cockroaches out of a warehouse
- Cleaning warehouses in general
- Working on a production line to put junk mail into envelopes
- Putting white stickers over the "Made In Taiwan" stamp on cutlery boxes
- Picking and packing orders for music shops
- Stocking shelves in a department store
- loading and unloading 40foot contaniers
- Working in the Oz version of Woodies
- IT contract

Good times

[MariborKev]

I'm over in Melbourne at the minute on a WHV.

Nice spot; plenty of sport, weather is cracking.

I just spent the last few months travelling round Africa so it is fierce expensive compared to there and as some mentioned it is hard enough to find work!

[NY Hoop]

Regarding work, it's 3 years since I was there but I found if your willing to
do any work you wouldn't find it hard to get work.

I met people over there who just couldn’t find any work at all. I asked them
if they rang the agencies that cater for temp warehouse work etc and their
answer was ... "No, I’m an accountant"

Spot on Ash. We went to about 70 recruitment agencies handing out CVs in ****ney but my first couple of jobs were moving furniture for cash and working in a frozen food warehouse before settling into a temp job in an office. Same anywhere if you want to work you will.

To be honest I found the whole Oz experience underwhelming. Thought the locals were remarkably ignorant, unfriendly and downright stupid. Which was a surprise because as we all know any aussie you meet here is sound.

Got on best with the english over there and found all my jobs through them. Too many Irish go to ****ney and stay just like Woodlawn and Woodside in NY.

After 2 months of working with ignorant natives in the office saved enough to see the whole country and then split. Cairns was good if you're into the outdoor life. Dirt cheap too. Brisbane and Adelaide were harmless. Perth was cool. Canberra was weird but loved the Institute of Sport there.

Without doubt the 2 biggest ****holes I was ever in (and that includes dundalk, rathbane and longford) were Darwin and Alice Springs. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Melbourne was my favourite city. A real European feel to it and near to Tasmania where a great weekend was had.

To sum up beautiful country but shame about the locals. Go on a holiday but living there?

KOH

[endabob1]

Spent 3 months travelling around Oz did Cairns down to Sydney, then Melbourne and then Perth. Came back to London for a couple of years and applied for residency.
Moved to Melbourne for a year initially, with an obvious view to staying there, from what I found it has many plus points and a few negatives;
The weather & lifestyle are fantastic, even though Melbournes weather is not as good as Sydney or the west Coast it's still a whole lot better than London or Dublin. During the summer I used to finish work and the other half & I would go to the beach for a swim or a stroll, cap it off with a cold beer wtching the waves roll up on St Kilda beach, very nice.
Melbourne is great for places to eat and drink, of all the cities in the world I've lived in or just visited I think it's the best for food.
Melbourne's transport is great, the trams are easy to use and get around on, it's (as they constantly tell you) a very easy city to live in.

Now the down sides;
It may seem obvious but it's the other side of the world, if you're close to family you can forget seeing them for a long time.
As allluded to further up, the locals can fall into the trap of the American's without passports. There's a huge difference between the Australians that travel to Europe and broaden their horizons and those who think Sydney is the other side of the world from Melbourne, I had a couple of run ins with Bogums, to be avoided.
Final one is work, as we were looking to live there beyond the initial year I was only looking for full-time work and to be fair I found it relatively quickly (about 6 weeks of solid looking) but my Mrs really struggled, she was in and out of temp work and was only ever working at a level below where she was, I heard the same story from a lot of people who had to take one or two backward steps (careerwise) to get going.

I've lived in London/UK for 10 years and spent a year in South Africa and a year in Oz as well as a fair bit of travelling in Asia and Africa I would recomend Melbourne as a place to live, it has a better quality of life on offer than virtually anywhere else I've been to.

[Peadar]

I worked with some Aussies in London and they'd offer you a hand to shake and stab you in the back with other. Luckily, the London lads were well wide because everyone of them had been in a situation where the Aussies tried to hang them. It was a real eye opener. They were so aggressive in meetings and always tried to dominate proceedings, in order to tell everyone how great they were.

This happened too often with too many Aussies for it to be isolated.
Made the 2005 Ashes so much more enjoyable though.

[Tazskool]

australia is a nice place.. lived there for 13 years and have been back many times.. ive drive from brisbane to sydney at adelaide.. many times...

yes the weather is nice... and you get more sun..but you also get the worst rain and storms as well..

as for work..its everywhere...

you work hard and you get respect ....not like over here where they expect work to be your life in the UK...

its a more laid back atmosphere over there.. the UK could do with learning that.. also the fact that the passion for the country to succeed in anything is paramount and its not a case of what teh UK press do to every team that does something great and then has a blip where they set out to crush our own team/players and so forth...

Yeah the downsides are the time it takes to get to Oz.. and the fact you really need to apply months in advance..

[Dodge]

You do know Ireland isn't part of the UK, don't you?