03-CTR

don't you believe it. if you drive down from perth to margaret river you'll see mashed cars in trees and coffins on the side of the road (in the middle of nowhere). the police use them as anti speeding ads along with massive banner ads warning of the limits and often have mobile cameras as well as fixed ones.

bloody stupid seeing as you can drive for miles down a straight road with nothing but bush on both sides but that's aussies for you

gareth123

Hmm. I left the UK 5 years ago. My standard of living is considerably better now. Why? Partly because the government take less of my money away from me and then when I do spend money it goes much further. The cost most things, from petrol to CDs to groceries to cars to TVs to clothes, are much higher in the UK. It all adds up.

Door to door from California to family in the UK is 13 hours. I can see that Oz would be worse.

Vegescoob

NZ, pick right place you can still have fun in car but, outside Auckland, you can get places easily at limit anyway because there's so little traffic. Been over most of South Island and about third of North.
I always find it a bit amazing that you can be there in 26 hours if you go nonstop.

angrynorth

He he. Worth a try.

OzzyWRX

I'm in Melbourne and I can tell you that Victoria has a really draconian approach to speeding. You're booked if caught going 3kph over the limit...3kph FFS! The freeways/highways have a top speed of 110kph and residential streets are 50kph.
There are speed camera's everywhere and they're not nice and flouro yellow so you have a chance of seeing them and radar detectors are illegal. Most other states are more relaxed than Vic, in the Northern Territory there are unrestircted roads and in W.A. I believe radar detectors are quite legal.

However there are some fantastic country roads and mountains near the city (Melbourne) and they're never policed, so it's easy to go for a fang and blast out the cobwebs.

scooby-si

yes 4 yrs in morocco,2yrs in sri lanka

zilch

Ozzy, very Similar to here in Sydney, they are very hot on speeding, however i have noticed some of the freeways out of town are not so strenously policed and you do see people taking advantage

For those thinking about OZ, i would wholly recommend it, moved here in March, company transfer and enjoying it totally. Thought we might have another few years of Tony B-liar, so decided to move until there is a regime change , or may decide to stay, and before anyone asks, 9 years in the army, so yes i spent alot of time out of the UK on HMG business (its called over stretch and f'all investment)

Quality of life seems far better, and although the tax rate is higher, there is no hidden/stealth taxes like the UK, and it is expected that the allowances will be more generous in the next budget As for petrol, i pay 1.09 Ozzie a litre (98 octane), which is about 40 pence a litre, or should i say 1 of her majesties pounds and eighty pence a gallon, no problem running a scoob on those prices, and did i mention, the insurance is about a third on my last UK scoob as well.

So those wedded to Tony's paradise, fine, but do not knock those who have decided there are better places to "get a life"

Cheers

Jim
p.s. Would the penultimate one leave the lights on for Mr lewis

Iwan

I've been considering emigrating for a while now, mainly because buying a house anywhere nice and quiet in the UK is out of my price range (and I have a reasonably good job).

I'm looking at the Slovak and Czech republics at the moment. Cost of living is tiny compared to the UK. You can buy/build a 4 bedroom detatched house with a huge garden for £20k, and it probably won't be jammed into the middle of a massive estate of 20,000 identical looking houses. The scenery is amazing, the people are friendly (so far), they sell 100 octane V-Power, the beer and slivovica are cheap. The only downsides I've found so far is that wages are tiny compared to the UK, and the language can be a bit of a barrier (i'm trying to learn it).

Going out there again this summer for a holiday, will be making a few enquiries while I'm there though. Lots of big UK companies are moving out there (Tesco's are everywhere) now since Slovakia became part of the EU.

Little Miss WRX

I wouldn't say the people/culture in Oz is backwards at all, one thing that is rife is a very strong national pride and a "pitch in" attitude.

The police are **** with the traffic laws BUT the fixed cameras have about three warning signs in front of it, so getting caught by one will be by someone falling asleep!!!

Racism, unfortunately is more noticeable out here due to the huge integration and variety of nationalities and cultures.
Some seem not to want to integrate with the rest and form little suburban "factions" (very noticeable in the football/soccer teams and matches). Overall though, it's an awsesome place.

The food is varied and rarely poor quality, overall people are friendly and working life is enjoyable. The roads on average are pretty horrendous - anything over 16" wheels and you'll be driving like you are pissed to avoid the pot holes and such.

Both the UK and Australia have their own endearing qualities, I'd happily live in either.

Cyberevo

iTrader: (1)

Anyone on here emigrated to Vancouver?

03-CTR

perth is the only place i know on earth where petrol prices vary progressively through the week. its cheaper (by about 20%-25%) on monday and most expensive on sunday. aussies still moan about petrol prices (like us) and its been like this for years but a lot of aussies still buy petrol at the weekend afaic if "he who drinks australian, thinks australian" then i'm never touching a can of fosters again

i guess it depends on what you can tolerate but being a bit weedy i can't stand all this macho bloke bulls#it. personally i like being able to go to the movies with a mate without people looking at me like i'm gay. or buying the wife some clothes/lingerie without shop assistants thinking i'm from another planet for actually entering a ladies store/department. from my experience the testosterone levels in perth are unbelievable and i couldn't stand it for more than the month i was there. it's the kind of place where women still get clubbed round the head by blokes before being dragged off

seriously though perth (and wa) is a genuinely lovely place but i picked up on loads of little cultural things that put me off completely. if the uk is 5 years behind the us then by the same rationale wa is about 15 years behind the uk.

Flatcapdriver

There is a tendency for people to unconsciously adopt the grass is always greener attitude, mainly because the British are naturally pessimistic in my opinion. I've lived in a number of countries and the UK is not as bad as some people make out so if you move elsewhere you will inevitably face the same or similar issues that you dislike here.

My point is backed up by the ONS figures which suggest that 190,000 people emigrated in 2003 and yet 110,000 of them returned - it ain't always better.

catalunya199again

if i had the money i would leave to probably to canada i went there with the army its an awseome country people are actually friendly, to me this country has gone the toilet its so pc now its unbelievable

OzzyWRX

There's no warning signs for speed camera's in Vic, only in N.S.W. as far as I know and I think Vic is the only state to have a 3kph tolerance...which is just criminal.

I've been out here for 6 years now and been back to Blighty a couple of times and the grass is certainly greener over here (for me). Food's a LOT cheaper, I can afford to eat out in a great restaurant whenever I want. There's a better variety of food and the country hasn't been taken over by shopping malls, so greengrocers and butchers were a bit of a novelty for me when I first arrived.

The Aussies are proud of their country, something I never expereinced in Blighty...Patriotism...never heard of it before!

The only thing that Britain has going for it over Oz is the amount of flies and the lack of nasty critters, other than that it's an expensive, crime ridden, cloudy country that needs a good kick up the jacksy!

Matt ATR3

Off to NZ later this year - as someone else said you only live once!

Buckrogers

Very good site:
http://britishexpats.com/

ScooByer Trade

Properties prices are going up weekly ( that is not bull**** ) my dad bought an 8 bedroom villa ( 3 floors ), big garage ( will be but there is loads of **** in it at mo) spectacular views of korcula ( small city thing very old and beautiful place ) over the adriatic sea ( clearer than brita filtered water and very warm tempreture and tad salty) and loads of diving happening there divers. Two bedrooms in the first floor have ensuite bathrooms and one separate which belongs to the other two bedrooms. An ample kitchen is outside built into the massive balcony and the floor above ( obviously i'm a bit knackered now ). The floor above has two bedrooms a separate bathroom, ensuite and a big lounge etc. Ground floor has another massive lounge with two bedrooms a bathroom and quite a big kitchen. My dad is planning to keep this for some time ( this was an investment and thought f**k it i'm not selling ). Bargains i tell you bargains ( i'm not pissed i'm knackered ) these are websites we know about from freinds of ours www.croatia-holidayandhome.co.uk and www.croatia.hr best of luck chaps har har. You would be suprised at the prices of the property there. Also you are going cry over your next pint as these pints only cost around 50p and Croatian beer and ( Karlovacko to be prescise ) they make their own wine too. The flights would last tops 2 hours and would be sitting in around 70 degree sunshine with an occasional breeze at 12o clock. Go there. I'm not working for any estate agent or the like i'm only telling you that Croatia is a exciting and beautiful place for a holiday or to live there. My family, my friends and me are going there for 3 months or more for a holiday ( that is a ****ing big holiday i know but ha ho who wants to look at grey hair blair ). Forgot to mention we are in a place called Perna not far from Orebic. Please consider this place as we reckon this is the next up and coming country getting back on its feet after that war about 10 years ago. Regards Nathan.

ScooByer Trade

BTTT

ScooByer Trade

If you guys and gals are looking for a place to emigrate to try Croatia. I put two links to our friends websites. Be amazed.

ScooByer Trade

If one was out there this would be a novelty for the police as half of the croatian police force would be out in the streets with road blocks so the only place for the crim to go is the adriatic. None of the imigrants are allowed there. They love the english and only allow if you are born and bred here.

ScooByer Trade

bttt

The_Gza

And that concludes todays advertisment from the Croatian National Tourist Board


Only kidding mate - sounds like you're enjoying yourself out there!

ScooByer Trade

Not quite there yet Mr Gza we are leaving tomorrow and thanks probably speak to you all soon see ya.

ScooByer Trade

No seriously go there Gza it's the Dogs Bollocks.