South Africans wanting to decide between NZ or Aus

[Ancilla]

Hi if you have recently moved to Australia - can you give some advice as to whether you would choose NZ or Aus? and why? We are struggling to decide and want our parent/s to be able to join. If we move it will only be our family and the other kids won't be there yet.

What is the medical like in Aus/NZ? What sort of pension plans can one join? Is this a state issue or do you have to save for pension? If we move to Aus where would be the best to stay?

We can't afford to fly to check it out, so we will just have to get on a plane and go for good...wow what a huuuuuge move.

Any comments from existing South African's in Aus would be much appreciated.

Thanks :-)

[Ancilla]

Any south africans living in Australia - we need your input please!!

[Madam Mim]

Not a South African but live in Australia (well not at the moment though!). I have a lot of NZ friends who moved to Australia. Wages are higher in Australia and cost of living is lower there than in New Zealand. There are also more job opportunities in Australia. As to where you would move to in Australia you really need to do a bit of research on the net as Australia is such a vast country full of contrasts and would depend on what you are personally looking for. There is a free government health service in Australia and you can also have private health insurance if you wish. Private is preferable as there can be long delays with government hospitals in some cases if not emergency treatment. There is a superannuation scheme in place in Australia where the employer pays a percentage of your wage (currently 9%- can be higher depending on who you work for such as some government departments) into a superannuation fund. Good luck with your research. Hope this has helped a little bit.

By the way don't think most people go for a look first - most of them just go for it!

[kaz101]

Hi Ancilla,

I moved from the UK about 15 months ago and we didn't even think about NZ.
For us NZ would be too cold and too small. Although we did have a good look around certain parts of Australia our feelings were that if we got it wrong Australia is so big and so varied that we just move somewhere else!

I have a few South Africans friends here in South Australia and they tend to complain it's cold and thinking about moving up North somewhere.

If you search for medical - you'll find this has been discussed before

If you mean the health service, that is Medicare and it depends on your type of visa as to whether you get Medicare as a South African since there aren't any reciprocal agreements as there are with European countries. You can get private health care though and this is encouraged since it gives you tax benefits.

For a state pension you'll only get an amount in relation to however long you work in Australia, so if you only have 20 years of work here that's all you'll get as a pension. We had private pensions in the UK and moved then over to Australia. All pensions here (and everywhere else) have decreased with the issues in the global stock markets. BTW pensions are called superannuation or 'super' over here.

You need to give us more of a clue for what you are looking for before we can say which area suits you. It may also depend on the type of visa you go for, or where you and your partner can find work.

Regards,
Karen

[ozone]

Hi Ancilla, I'm not quite there yet but I have been to Aus before and I'd say Aus better than NZ. Not as much industry and the weather you'll find too cold. There are many of my friends in Perth WA, and they are more than happy with the move.