Moving To Melbourne

[donnyleigh]

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Hi All,

I was hoping someone out there can help me?? I have been offered a job in Melbourne and am trying to figure out if my package is better or worse than what I earn here in the UK when you take into account cost of living etc. The package on offer is $100,000 AUD which includes $15,000 car allowance and $9,000 superannuation. Bearing in mind I have 2 kids and will be the sole bread winner for around 12 months or so do you think that amount is enough to get by on. I earn around £42,000 at present. I know $100,000 is a good wage but I need to seriously consider this offer based on my current earnings here in the UK. Also I am looking for advice on best areas to live and bring up a young family again bearing in mind my $100,000 package. By the way is $15,000 per year car allowance a decent amount and what sort of car could you get? Sorry no idea on cost to lease/buy cars in Oz? I don't want to come across materialistic but we have a fairly decent standard of living here and although moving to Oz is an amazing opportunity if it meant we had no money it would be so much harder. Many thanks in advance.

[Diva11]

Hi There,

From what you have said in your post I think you will find you are recieving a similar deal to what you already have. To work out if that is 'value' depends on where you are looking at relocating to. If it is Perth or sydney beware as living costs, housing etc can be higher than say Melbourne or Adelaide. $100,000 a year is a reasonable amount to live quite well on in general, the price of a medium sized new family car is around the $30000-$40000 mark.

Hope this helps!

Cheers

Sarah

[donnyleigh]

Thanks for the info Sarah.

[scottishcelts]

Go for it donnyleigh, you only live once and here you have a once in a lifetime chance to improve your quality of life. So what if financially you'll not be any better off, think of the opportunity your wee ones will have.(and no more scary knife/gun culture to worry about)

Go for it and all the best. We're heading to Brisbane in the summer and can't wait.

[donnyleigh]

Thanks for the vote of confidence scottishcelts.

Your bang on, money isn't everthing and to be honest I would settle for a more humble salary if it meant my kids had a better up bringing and lifestyle. I recenlty met up with a relative who was in the UK on business from Sydney, they moved out there about 10 years ago when his kids were 10 & 12. He said "You will feel like someone has cut off your legs for a few months but trust me once you settle in and look at your kids when they have grown up you KNOW you did the right thing" wise words. I nearly ended up in Brisbane myself just missed out on a job. Are you ready for 12 months of sunshine bit of a difference from Scotland hey? Good luck with everything.

[scottishcelts]

Originally Posted by donnyleigh

Thanks for the vote of confidence scottishcelts.

Your bang on, money isn't everthing and to be honest I would settle for a more humble salary if it meant my kids had a better up bringing and lifestyle. I recenlty met up with a relative who was in the UK on business from Sydney, they moved out there about 10 years ago when his kids were 10 & 12. He said "You will feel like someone has cut off your legs for a few months but trust me once you settle in and look at your kids when they have grown up you KNOW you did the right thing" wise words. I nearly ended up in Brisbane myself just missed out on a job. Are you ready for 12 months of sunshine bit of a difference from Scotland hey? Good luck with everything.

Hey donnieleigh, tell me about it, i've no idea how we're going to cope with the heat in brisbane, apparantely it's horrendous for the first summer. As you say especially coming from Scotland, as you know we are notorious for having 'blue skin' and it takes us a week of spanish sunshine to get white! But i reckon it's worth it, plenty of Scots have emigrated to Brisbane and never returned so it can't be that bad. At least we won't be out of a fortune for winter boots, coats and hats etc. The weather in Scotland has been terrible this year so i'm glad to be seeing the back of it.

My sister in law and hubby have just moved up to Brisbane from Melbourne. They moved because they said Melbourne was too cold................yes i know, that's what i thought! They are total sunworshipers though, but after having been there a coupla years they thought there was more opportunity in Brisbane and a nicer place being sub-tropical i suppose. But i would still go for it if i was you guys, you could always move away from Melbourne after a while if it's not for you. Take care and bestest of wishes to your family.

[donnyleigh]

Yeah maybe have a move around after a few years, heck if we have travelled to the otherside of the world I cant see it being a problem moving around Oz.

I quite like the sound of the Melbourne weather being English! 6 or 7 months of decent sun albeit with the odd iffy day according to other reviews I have read. Even in Melbourne Im sure we will have good summers, in fact it can get very very hot. The way I look at it is it can't be anything like as bad as the UK. Im not into lying for hours in the sun anyway, I did that in Portugal this year and went through about 10 foreheads and 6 noses due to the sun destroying them!

[Hazel]

The thing about cold weather in Australia is this: the houses are just not built for warmth here in the winter. You'll see what I mean when you get here. There is no insulation so expect to wear your coat, scarf and possibly your hat inside in mid-winter!! I love Australia but I don't look forward to the winter. We used our reverse-cycle air con to warm up but as soon as you turn it off, it gets cold again. On a happier note, when it gets reallly hot, the aircon works very well. Sorry to but in....just couldn't NOT warn you : -)

[scottishcelts]

Originally Posted by Hazel

The thing about cold weather in Australia is this: the houses are just not built for warmth here in the winter. You'll see what I mean when you get here. There is no insulation so expect to wear your coat, scarf and possibly your hat inside in mid-winter!! I love Australia but I don't look forward to the winter. We used our reverse-cycle air con to warm up but as soon as you turn it off, it gets cold again. On a happier note, when it gets reallly hot, the aircon works very well. Sorry to but in....just couldn't NOT warn you : -)

Hi Hazel, i knew the houses in Australia weren't the best built houses around, but i wasn't aware that Queensland DID get that cold in winter. What part of Queensland do you live if i'm not being TOO nosy?

[donnyleigh]

Hi Hazel,

We have been looking at new houses in Melbourne, are you saying even new houses aren't built to cope with winter. I would have thought all new houses would be made to suit both warm and cold parts of the year?