The moving to Australia Myth!

mariano rivera

Sick to death of people saying heading to

“I have to go to Australia, Joe”

I lived in Australia for a few years.

If you want to bum around Oz for 12 months in flip flops, good luck to you.

But let’s not be realistic

While it’s a good country, and I had a great time there, but it’s no paradise

1. Weather Myth
Weather is crap for approx. half the year: April to Octoberish in Melbourne & Sydney can be cold and miserable. It might be 8 Degrees and raining in Dublin in the winter. In Melbournein the winter its 12 degrees and raining. Its still miserable

2. The Pubs
are rubbish. They have been destroyed by poker machines. Sucked any type of atmosphere out of them. Watching people pour every penny they have into a flashing machine is not the best way to enjoy a beer

3. Work
Wages are just not that high. How many people do you know have returned from Australia wealthy?
If you are out of work for a few week, you get no dole. ALL your savings will be wiped out.

4. They HUGE expense of Holidays back to Ireland
Every Irish immigrant wants to go home for holidays. Because it’s so far away, most people want to go home for a month. Expensive. If you have 2 kids to throw into the equation, that’s a serious expense. How much savings do you think you can make in a year? 20k? How much would a holiday in Ireland cost for a month ?

5. Australian Government’s attitude to Irish immigrants
The Australian Government LOVE the Irish because they work at all the crap jobs AND they spend every penny they earn in Australia boosting the economy.


6. Mosquitos
Thank God we dont get them bastards here

Mickey Dazzler

You for got to mention that most Aussies are arseholes...

token101

mariano rivera wrote: »

Sick to death of people saying heading to

“I have to go to Australia, Joe”

I lived in Australia for a few years.

If you want to bum around Oz for 12 months in flip flops, good luck to you.

But let’s not be realistic

While it’s a good country, and I had a great time there, but it’s no paradise

1. Weather Myth
Weather is crap for approx. half the year: April to Octoberish in Melbourne & Sydney can be cold and miserable. It might be 8 Degrees and raining in Dublin in the winter. In Melbournein the winter its 12 degrees and raining. Its still miserable

2. The Pubs
are rubbish. They have been destroyed by poker machines. Sucked any type of atmosphere out of them. Watching people pour every penny they have into a flashing machine is not the best way to enjoy a beer

3. Work
Wages are just not that high. How many people do you know have returned from Australia wealthy?
If you are out of work for a few week, you get no dole. ALL your savings will be wiped out.

4. They HUGE expense of Holidays back to Ireland
Every Irish immigrant wants to go home for holidays. Because it’s so far away, most people want to go home for a month. Expensive. If you have 2 kids to throw into the equation, that’s a serious expense. How much savings do you think you can make in a year? 20k? How much would a holiday in Ireland cost for a month ?

5. Australian Government’s attitude to Irish immigrants
The Australian Government LOVE the Irish because they work at all the crap jobs AND they spend every penny they earn in Australia boosting the economy.


6. Mosquitos
Thank God we dont get them bastards here

Cool, I'll hang onto the myth then

BraziliaNZ

Why is boards so thoroughly obsessed with Australia and people emigrating there these days?

smash

But their women are hot and the accent is sexy.

Joey the lips

Look on the sunny side.......

You might see kylie

Pal

Best thing I ever did was leave Australia (and was only there on holiday)

Logical Fallacy

smash wrote: »

But their women are hot and the accent is sexy.

Do you mean all the women are hot, even in the grannies?

Or do you mean they have some hot women there, the same way they have hot women everywhere.

Then there is the logical conclusion that if you are leaving the country to get hot women, you are not getting hot women here...and changing timezone doesn't make anyone look less ugly tbh.

squod

Michael Noonan will be announcing the ''Australia tax'' soon anyways.

Since the government would take the shirt off your back they're going to tax people who wear shirts with backs on them before they board the planes to emigrate.

smash

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

Do you mean all the women are hot, even in the grannies?

Or do you mean they have some hot women there, the same way they have hot women everywhere.

Then there is the logical conclusion that if you are leaving the country to get hot women, you are not getting hot women here...and changing timezone doesn't make anyone look less ugly tbh.

The accent makes them appear better looking!

Lollipops23

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Why is boards so thoroughly obsessed with Australia and people emigrating there these days?

Because most of us have friends/family over there. Ireland's always had strong ties with Oz, and it's been re-affirmed in recent years.

You can't deny a huge amount of our young people are there.

amacachi

Lollipops23 wrote: »

You can't deny a huge amount of our young people are there.

I can and I will.

SharpshooterTom

Plenty of Irish people immigrate to the UK as well these days but you never hear that in conversations or in the media.

muppetkiller

1. Weather Myth
Weather is crap for approx. half the year
Where as here it's crap all year around.

3. Work
Wages are just not that high.
Wages are actually very high by comparison to here for skilled workers, Also the cost of living there is about half what it is here so goes even further.

4. They HUGE expense of Holidays back to Ireland
Every Irish immigrant wants to go home for holidays. Because it’s so far away, most people want to go home for a month
Actually again if you're a skilled worker you can probably claim half of your flight back in tax as part of your Living away from home allowance each year.

5. Australian Government’s attitude to Irish immigrants
The Australian Government LOVE the Irish
Of course they do...they're highly educated and speak English. Exactly the kind of people they want moving there.




But you are right about their pubs and Mossies :P

SharpshooterTom

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Because most of us have friends/family over there. Ireland's always had strong ties with Oz, and it's been re-affirmed in recent years.

You can't deny a huge amount of our young people are there.

There's between 10,000 to 20,000 over there at most. It's a large number but it's a huuuuuuge amount either.

As I say the UK statistics in the Guardian reported nearly 30,000 went the UK from the Republic last year, again no one mentions the UK.

amacachi

muppetkiller wrote: »

Also the cost of living there is about half what it is here so goes even further.

Really?

amacachi

Gnobe wrote: »

There's between 10,000 to 20,000 over there at most. It's a large number but it's a huuuuuuge amount either.

As I say the UK statistics in the Guardian reported nearly 30,000 went the UK from the Republic last year, again no one mentions the UK.

Yeah but it's not a "tragedy" because they can pop home for an afternoon if they fancy it.

Sergeant

muppetkiller wrote: »

Wages are actually very high by comparison to here for skilled workers, Also the cost of living there is about half what it is here so goes even further.

The cost of living in Australia is far higher than here.

munchkin_utd

mariano rivera wrote: »

Sick to death of people saying heading to

“I have to go to Australia, Joe”<snip>

thats a bloody myth too.

For instance, theres 800,000+ positions open at the german jobs office for instance.

A lot nearer to home, 60euro return on a good day with ryanair to get back to the mammy.

like every place theres negatives like the lingo, higher tax than ireland (YES, Ireland IS a low tax country if only ye would see it) and other stuff, but if you must leave, a 24hour flight to the other end of the world is not the only option out there.

Dempsey

muppetkiller wrote: »

3. Work
Wages are just not that high.
Wages are actually very high by comparison to here for skilled workers, Also the cost of living there is about half what it is here so goes even further.

Maybe if you are involved in mining but not if you are living in a city

Yakult

Who actually gives a ****? If somebody wants to go somewhere why should it annoy you or make you... sick?

I'm sick of people who are sick of people going places for reasons.

muppetkiller

amacachi wrote: »

Really?

I lived there for 4 years up until 2005 and couldn't get over how cheap really good food was. The Markets there were like my Religious experience each Sunday lol. Huge amounts of fresh meats , Fruit and Veg and free samples everywhere nom nom.....Pefect cure for the hangover

Rent was really cheap and bills were never too expensive.
Just googled there and In 2004, the World Competitiveness Yearbook remarked that Australia is the third best worldwide country when it comes to low cost of living.

Nothingbetter2d

smash wrote: »

The accent makes them appear better looking!

nah thats the sunstroke doing it

SharpshooterTom

mariano rivera wrote: »

1. Weather Myth
Weather is crap for approx. half the year: April to Octoberish in Melbourne & Sydney can be cold and miserable. It might be 8 Degrees and raining in Dublin in the winter. In Melbournein the winter its 12 degrees and raining. Its still miserable

The weather isn't crap in Australia, Sydney average's between 26-16 all year round. Up here in the north, the daily maximum average is 18 for Belfast in july and august, and just shy of 20 for Dublin. So our summers are only slightly warmer than their winters.

In places like Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, the average summer temps are 30+ and Brisbane averages 20 for the winter (again beating our summers).

Plus whatever rain they do get it lashes down pretty quick and gets it over and done with, not like this drizzly sh*te that last for days over here.

Granted New Zealand starts getting similar to ours, but still its lifestyle choices that attract people. I personally think Irelands fine though.

muppetkiller

Dempsey wrote: »

Maybe if you are involved in mining but not if you are living in a city

i think you're mistaking Sydney with the rest of Australia. Rents in Sydney are extremely high due to every Irish person wanting to live in Bondi or Coogee.

Melbourne is about half the price to rent and even cheaper to eat well and great public transport.

sunflower27

Gnobe wrote: »

There's between 10,000 to 20,000 over there at most. It's a large number but it's a huuuuuuge amount either.

As I say the UK statistics in the Guardian reported nearly 30,000 went the UK from the Republic last year, again no one mentions the UK.

According to this:

http://www.ozeire.com/latest-news/latest/rte-news-report-about-increase-in-irish-emigrating-to-australia-2011.html

there are 30,000 Irish over in Australia on two-year working visas - and that is not including those that have emigrated and are being sponsored.

I think it is a lot for a small country like Ireland - would be interesting to know the number of sponsored workers as well

roonealdo

I lived in oz a few years ago,

went to work everyday in sydney in a pair of shorts and a tshirt

There are plenty more pubs than the ones filled with Irish

I earned a very decent wage about $1400 a week min.

had no interest in going to Ireland, I only came from there!

They oz government also give us back a large amount of tax back.

Was never bitten by a mozzie in oz.

The end

Sergeant

muppetkiller wrote: »

I lived there for 4 years up until 2005 and couldn't get over how cheap really good food was. The Markets there were like my Religious experience each Sunday lol. Huge amounts of fresh meats , Fruit and Veg and free samples everywhere nom nom.....Pefect cure for the hangover

Rent was really cheap and bills were never too expensive.
Just googled there and In 2004, the World Competitiveness Yearbook remarked that Australia is the third best worldwide country when it comes to low cost of living.

And in 2005 Ireland was supposedly one of the richest countries in the world. Things change in 7 years. Look at how their dollar has moved against the Euro.

Australia is ball-achingly expensive at the moment. From transport, through food and rent.

muppetkiller

Sergeant wrote: »

Australia is ball-achingly expensive at the moment. From transport, through food and rent.

Well there's always Canada ;P

amacachi

muppetkiller wrote: »

I lived there for 4 years up until 2005 and couldn't get over how cheap really good food was. The Markets there were like my Religious experience each Sunday lol. Huge amounts of fresh meats , Fruit and Veg and free samples everywhere nom nom.....Pefect cure for the hangover

Rent was really cheap and bills were never too expensive.
Just googled there and In 2004, the World Competitiveness Yearbook remarked that Australia is the third best worldwide country when it comes to low cost of living.

7 and 8 years ago? You're in for a shock when you find out what happens in Ireland after that.

mooonpie

mariano rivera wrote: »

6. Mosquitos
Thank God we dont get them bastards here

muppetkiller wrote: »

But you are right about their pubs and Mossies :P

Sorry lads, we do have mosquitoes in Ireland. St. Patrick didn't kick them out with the snakes

See: http://www.hpsc.ie/hpsc/A-Z/Vectorborne/Mosquitoes/Factsheet/

Specifically:

Have we mosquitoes in Ireland?
We have mosquitoes in Ireland, the commonest being Culex pipiens. They can be seen hovering over water and marshy places in the late summer and early autumn, especially in the south and east of the country.

We don't have huge numbers of 'em, but the few we have are still a fecking pain!

SharpshooterTom

sunflower27 wrote: »

According to this:

http://www.ozeire.com/latest-news/latest/rte-news-report-about-increase-in-irish-emigrating-to-australia-2011.html

there are 30,000 Irish over in Australia on two-year working visas - and that is not including those that have emigrated and are being sponsored.

I think it is a lot for a small country like Ireland - would be interesting to know the number of sponsored workers as well

I could be wrong because I'm not an expert in this, but I think thats absolute bullsh*t.

There was a thread discussing this last year:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056165518&page=2

In theory, it's claimed that there is only around 11,000-12,000 visa holders onshore currently, most of which have to return home unless they get sponsored. I think that report is exaggurating personally from what I read in the actual government statistics.

cherryghost

mariano rivera wrote: »

Sick to death of people saying heading to

“I have to go to Burger King, Joe”

I worked in Burger King for a few years.

If you want to eat in Burger King for 12 months in flip flops, good luck to you.

But let’s not be realistic

While it’s a good food joint, and I had a great time there, but it’s no paradise

1. Burger Myth
The meat is crap for approx. half the burger: The onion and cheese in the double cheeseburger can be cold and miserable. It might be 2.99 and rotten in Dublin in the winter. In Melbourne in the winter its 3.99 and rotten. Its still miserable

2. The Drinks
are rubbish. They have been destroyed by too much ice. Sucked any type of atmosphere out of them. Watching people pour every drink they have into a themselves is not the best way to enjoy a drink

3. Work
Wages are just not that high. How many people do you know have returned from Burger King wealthy?
If you are out of work for a few week, you get no dole. ALL your savings will be wiped out.

4. The HUGE expense of Spoiled food
Every Irish immigrant wants unspoilt food. Because it’s so cheap, most people want to throw away their leftovers. Expensive. If you have 2 kids to throw into the equation, that’s a serious expense. How much savings do you think you can make in a year? 20k? How much would spoiled food in Ireland cost for a month ?

5. Burger Kings’s attitude to Irish immigrants
Burger King LOVE the Irish because they work at all the crap jobs AND they spend every penny they earn in BK boosting the economy.


6. HR Managers
Thank God we dont get them bastards here

fixed

sunflower27

Gnobe wrote: »

I could be wrong because I'm not an expert in this, but I think thats absolute bullsh*t.

There was a thread discussing this last year:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056165518&page=2

In theory, it's claimed that there is only around 11,000-12,000 visa holders onshore currently, most of which have to return home unless they get sponsored. I think that report is exaggurating personally from what I read in the actual government statistics.

I'm obviously no expert either, but I believe 10k sounds very low to me.

2ndcoming

To the 12,000 current 1 year visa holders add at least 5,000 on their second year visa, at least 20,000 sponsored/resident Irish and at least 5,000 illegals.

SharpshooterTom

sunflower27 wrote: »

I'm obviously no expert either, but I believe 10k sounds very low to me.

I don't think it's 30k, I'm sure it isn't unless you including Australians who hold Irish passports through descent or something but I'm sure the whv's holders are between 10,000-20,000 as suggested by those guys in the thread linked. The Australian government website backs this up.

When I was in Australia I didn't find many Irish, I met far more Americans, Canadians, French, Germans, Dutch, Italians, British etc. There is significant amount of irish people there, more than there used to be, but its not as massive as people make out. Plenty go to the UK, but nobody mentions this.

sunflower27

2ndcoming wrote: »

To the 12,000 current 1 year visa holders add at least 5,000 on their second year visa, at least 20,000 sponsored/resident Irish and at least 5,000 illegals.

yes, that sounds a bit more like it, although the illegals sound very high... i think it is around 1.5k from reading an earlier article.

This is the most up-to-date article I could find:

http://www.irishecho.com.au/2012/02/09/sharp-rise-in-number-of-irish-wh-visas/15798

SharpshooterTom

2ndcoming wrote: »

To the 12,000 current 1 year visa holders add at least 5,000 on their second year visa, at least 20,000 sponsored/resident Irish and at least 5,000 illegals.

The thread suggested that potentially there are around 12,000 altogehter including 2nd whv holders. And you're estimate still puts its short of 30k, closer to 20k which I said was more reasonable.

Trankton

I moved back from Oz last year and just came back from a 3 week hol in Brissie last week, so from very up to date info and experience there I can say :

1. Cost of living is incredibly high, from grocery shopping, to transport, beer, restaurants, rent...it's absolutely unreal how expensive it is there now.

2. Weather - ever since the drought broke there has been massive rainfall, I was in Brisbane for the floods last year which was utter mayhem. Seems that there have been big floods again this year and at the moment they are hitting Sydney pretty hard.

3. Women - the women there are a bit mental, seems it's frowned upon for a girl to be single and if you are with one all they want to do is get married and have kids...you might only know them a few weeks before this comes up too...mad. Obviously not all the women but a majority for sure.

4. Humour - they just don't really seem to get our sense of humour at all, and they especially don't get sarcasm.

5. Pay - yes the pay is higher in Oz, depending on what you're doing, but any advantage you gain you lose on cost of living expenses.

6. Sponsorship - if the company decide they no longer require your services they can let you go and you have to be out of the country within 28days unless you find another company to sponsor you. Not very nice having that hanging over you.

7. Living away from home allowance - as far as I'm aware this is being scrapped for foreigners and will now only apply for people who are away from home for the Oz job, as opposed to people who are away from home to get a job in Oz.

8. Queensland - the humidity in Summer is an absolute killer

9 . Skin Cancer - massive problem there, especially for the likes of us who are fairly uneducated with regard to this.

Having said all that :

Australia has some of the most beautiful places you could ever possibly see in your life. Moreton Island, the Whitsundays, white haven beach, fraser island...I could go on and on.

Also, I found the people there to be exceptionally nice and friendly and have some amazing friends there now.

The lifestyle is exceptional there, it's so nice to finish work and be able to go for a swim, hit the beach or just sit out the back in your shorts having a nice cold beer.

Bad Panda

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Why is boards so thoroughly obsessed with Australia and people emigrating there these days?

I guess some people have cornered themselves into never being able to emigrate and have become slightly bitter that others can pretty much do what they want.

Irish Guitarist

I'd love to go to Australia (just for a holiday). I'd love to see the scenery and animals. I couldn't care less about any of the things you mentioned. I don't know why anyone would want to live somewhere purely because of the weather. If I was going to move to another country I wouldn't want it just to be a sunnier version of Ireland.

There are mosquitoes in Ireland by the way. You just haven't seen them because you probably live in the middle of Dublin. Go to a forest and you'll see loads of them in summer.

ejmaztec

And there's a godawful sh1t Australian telecoms shower of bastards called TPG, who refuse to admit that there's anything wrong with their equipment when you can't actually ring one of their customers from Ireland.

sunflower27

Bad Panda wrote: »

I guess some people have cornered themselves into never being able to emigrate and have become slightly bitter that others can pretty much do what they want.

It is true, this topic crops up every few months. I personally don't see the big deal. Move there if you want and don't if you don't want to.

Some like it, some hate it. That is always going to be the case - as with anywhere. :cool:

hooradiation

mariano rivera wrote: »

Every Irish immigrant wants to go home for holidays.

Why in the hell would anyone want to do that?

mike65

Joey the lips wrote: »

Look on the sunny side.......

You might see kylie

Unlikely, she hasn't lived in Oz for 20 years.

I think it's probably important to believe that down under is pretty rubbish even if it's heaven on earth.

Fromthetrees

I don't know about this weather business, I love Irish weather, I'm never particularly too cold or too hot here, this makes me happy . I generally just have to wear a t shirt and jumper most of the year, rarely more, rarely less. We never get crazy rain, it just drizzles for a bit and stops. The air here is refreshing and perfect for hangovers, in hot countries the air seems to starve you.
We also don't get massive floods or any natural disaster of any kind ever, I like this.
Go Irish weather.

Brendog

smash wrote: »

But their women are hot and the accent is sexy.

Thats great but why travel half way across the world to get rejected by some chick with a nice accent?


Not like they are gonna go for the unfit, pasty faced, freckled guy cleaning the nightclub bathrooms....

anto9

Hi ,I am in Perth on Holidays at the moment .Its very expensive because of the high Aussie dollar exchange rate .
I.E, A pint of Guinness in most pubs is $ 10 (E 7.5 ) .The cheapest pint you can get ( an Aussie beer ) is $ 7.5 ( then only at happy hour ) .
The cheapest 3 star hotel i could find is $130 a night .( nearly an hour out of the City centre at Scarborough Beach.
A fish and chips is $15 to $20 . I find the cheapest place to eat here is at one of the Asian food courts .There you can get a decent big meal for $10 ,plus a bottle of water $ 1.5 to $ 2 .
Transport costs for bus and train i find OK ,and the service is very good .Example a 45 min bus journey is $3.80 or even cheaper if you buy a travel card .
Weather here in Perth is beautiful at the moment .Its sunny ,dry and around 38 c every day this week .Perth is a beautiful City and i would love to live here if i had the right visa plus job . ( I live in another Asian Country ) .

PS,I have heard most unskilled manual type jobs pay around $20 an hour and up .Thats nearl double the min wage in Ireland .Cost of living is defenitely a lot higher here than Ireland though .

mariano rivera

Trankton wrote: »

8. Queensland - the humidity in Summer is an absolute killer

UNREAL

3 months of Betty Swollix

Finneen

More culture in a Yop carton.

GamesDontSuck

I never bought into the whole 'immigrate to australia!" thing...

I only got a passing knowledge but say a person can go over and work for a year. thats grand. but they have to come home after the year is up. what savings could they of racked up? (cost of living over there, money for personal life etc)

So you come home to Ireland and you have to sign back on?
If one was doing it for the experience. Hell yeah be great But it doesnt really solve things. getting a job for a year then having to return home.