People & Places
Looking back with few regrets
Mike Hagan emigrated to Melbourne from Cumbria in December 2006, with his wife Jayne and their pet dog, Hoople. Mike gives us the low-down on his observations of life Down Under one year on.
You often hear people say that they cannot believe how quickly the last year has gone. This is never more true than of our first year in Oz. It seems like just weeks, not months, have passed since we said our goodbyes and left our friends and family to boldly go into the unknown... well, Melbourne actually.
People generally don't believe us when we say that we didn't know what we were going to do when we arrived, but it's true. Some time in that 18 months of chaos prior to emigrating – trade skills assessment, visa application, countless emails to our migration agent and a very difficult house sale – we decided to stop worrying about the things we couldn't influence. If we had started to worry about housing, work and a mortgage in a place that we had never ever seen before that would have been one worry too many. We decided that all our concerns relating to a future life in the southern hemisphere were not up for discussion until we landed in Oz. We checked into an airport hotel a tad jaded on the night that we landed, dropped our bags, ordered a couple of drinks and said 'Right, what should we do with the rest of our lives?' This, I imagine, is not a great game plan for those of you with children and as we had only brought our dog Hoople with us, things were, I'm sure, a lot less complicated for us in comparison to those of you planning a move for a family.
It's also worth mentioning that we are not (never will be) millionaires, – we sold everything we had and didn't make huge amounts on the sale of our property as the area we came from never quite hit the property highs we kept reading about. We probably bought over a little less than the average. We had holiday accommodation booked in St Kilda for one month and we figured we had enough money to see us through for 12 if we used the 'mortgage deposit' fund. No matter what, though, we had a determination to do whatever it took to make things work. Here's how we are finding things so far:
The people
While I was still in the UK I read a number of posts online describing anti-Pom sentiment being rife here. Maybe we are very lucky but to a person, we have found Aussies to be very friendly people. Let me share one thing with you that will always stick in our minds. We had been here three weeks and were sitting in a café the week before last Christmas with everything we owned piled into the car we had just bought that was parked outside.
We were in the process of moving from our holiday accommodation into our rental, but for some reason we couldn't collect the keys until 5pm so we were making our coffee last as long as we could while keeping all our worldly assets in view. The lady who was serving us picked up on our accents and took pity on us for not having any family around at Christmas time and invited us to spend Christmas day with her and her extended family. Initially we were suspicious – was this person a nutter, religious zealot, serial killer, etcetera – but as we had no other plans (or friends) we went along and met a wonderful family who not only treated us like their own but had actually wrapped boxes of chocolates as gifts for us so we were not left out of the proceedings. A very humbling experience. We have stayed in touch with this family and catch up for a meal every couple of months. I've actually met two other expats who have had similar Christmas invites – not with the same family I might add.
I'm very pleased to say we have gone on to make some good friends in a short period of time. We are the only Poms on our estate and everyone stops to speak to us.
The place
We had never been to Victoria prior to getting off the plane but it's a great place for us. Within a three-hour drive you can either be well along the Great Ocean Road, inland to some great countryside and at the snow fields in the winter. We've never been city dwellers but Melbourne is a beautiful place – big and airy, new and old, fast and slow. It's great for catching live music and you can overdose on sport on any given weekend. The traffic can be a bit of a pain, but that's a city for you. If you settle somewhere within reach of one of the train lines it makes life simpler.
Setting up
We were fairly lucky with our rental property. We spent the first three weeks online checking the rental properties available every morning and then driving around visiting them in the afternoon. Three weeks after we touched down we were moving into a four-bedroom furnished house in Rowville, a suburb about 30 minutes from the city centre and ten minutes from the country. We're still there now, although we will look to buy soon.
With regards to banking, tax, medicare, buying the car etcetera, it all seemed to fall into place. We had opened accounts from the UK with the ANZ Bank and have only good things to say about them. Getting to see a doctor is a doddle. Most medical centres have a number of doctors on call and are open early until late. Dentists are a little more difficult, but at least you can get to see one. Private medical insurance here is not the luxury it is seen to be in the UK. It's very common and not that expensive. In fact, it's in your interest to take it out as your income tax gets loaded every year above the age of 30 for those who don't have private insurance. It's worth noting that, as an immigrant, no matter what age you are, as long as you join a scheme within one year of arrival you join a scheme at the same rate as a 30 year old. For nationals the cost climbs up after the age of 30.
The cost of living and the weather
Some things are cheaper than the UK, others are not. Forget about the comparisons the day you stop earning pounds. As for the weather, it's very hot in the summer and autumn (I'm not whingeing!) and surprised how cold the winter was (handful of ground frosts and cold winds, too).
Work
There are a lot of work opportunities here. In the UK, Jayne worked with special needs children ('integration aids' they are called in Oz) and after some initial work in childcare centres which she did not enjoy, she decided to take herself around the local schools with a bag of résumés and picked up a lot of casual work within a couple of weeks. One of those positions has now become a full contract. I have been in occupational health and safety for a number of years. It took me two weeks to land a job back in this field once I put my CV through an agency. After a couple of months I was offered, and took, another job, where I still am today.
The health system
I had the poor luck to be rushed into hospital for a surgical procedure fairly early on in our new life. Our private Medibank care had not kicked in (it has a cooling off period) so we went in through the Oz version of the NHS. I've nothing bad to say about the facilities and the staff were wonderful. I'm told that if I had been a private patient, I would still have travelled to the same hospital for the procedure but just recuperated in a private clinic.
Weighing up
So all in all, then, things have been good so far. I'm not saying that Australia is a great big Shangri La where everyone hugs each other and the rivers flow with beer. I know of people who have decided it's not for them and returned to the UK and for them that must be the right thing to do. But it has suited us so far. We think it's suited Hoople, too. Although it's hard to say as he doesn't say much, he keeps himself busy by chasing possums up trees.
The reason that brought us here was a bit of a cliché – we wanted a better quality of life. Have we found it? I honestly think we may have. I believe that it's not until you start working and doing the 'everyday' chores that you can measure how well you are settling. Three months travelling around was fantastic but it doesn't leave you any idea of how settled you will be when you are both back in day jobs and looking forward to the weekends again.
My advice before you take the huge leap of faith that is emigrating in search of that improved quality of life is to ask yourself what exactly does that mean to you. Is your Aussie dream the boat, the house on the coast and the huge flat screen, or is it the urge to simply experience a new life where, hopefully, you will be happier in yourselves? In our limited experience it's the people who fall into the latter category who seem to be making it work. Not saying that's the Gospel, just what we have found.
You do have to work hard at settling and when one of you is down the other person needs to be strong and positive. There are big emotional ups and downs that catch you when you least expect them – it tests you. Keeping positive helps. Have we got more friends here than in the UK? Of course not. Are we earning more here than we were in the UK? For us, that would have to be a no, too. Do we know what the future will bring? Absolutely not. Are we happier? Yes, lots! Of course, it may all change tomorrow, who knows? But for now… life is good.