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[Ned Flanders]

I'm currently looking to get far away from some of the people in my life, and I've long been considering a move, particularly somewhere overseas. Given that I have lived my entire life in south Texas, Australia seems like an approximate move from a climate standpoint, and the fact that ya'll speak some form of English is also a plus. Beyond that I know little to nothing about the country. Exchange rates, laws, jobs, cost of living, schools/universities etc are all big question marks for me. Anything anyone could contribute regarding living in Australia, New Zealand and the like would be of great help to me.

 

[Optimistic]

I'd help you but I don't know much about the US so i can't really provide much of a comparison...

 

[Tonche]

As someone who has travelled a bit and yet lived here my whole life, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Standard of living is great, people are generally very down to earth, jobs are in abundance if you make the effort and there are some great universities and such.

I'm in Melbourne, cost of living isn't too high, just average I'd say. Aussie dollar is very strong right now against the US dollar right now.

Laws are pretty standard. Learners Driving Permit @ 16 (Need licenced driver in the car with you), Probationary Leaners permit @ 18, Full licence @ 21, Drinks, Clubs & Porn @ 18, Marijuana and other drugs are illegal. Legal alcohol limit when driving is .05 when you have your full licence, .00 when on L's or P's.

That sums up most of your questions, hope it was somewhat helpful. If you can't tell, I love the country and most who live down here will agree.

 

[Optimistic]

Marijuana and other drugs are illegal

Marijuana is not illegal everywhere. Actually let me rephrase, in some states (South Australia for example) it is not a criminal offense to be in possession of marijuana or have 1 plant for personal use. Further, it's a much more relaxed country when it comes to drugs, generally, than the US.

 

[Red Dolphin]

As someone who has travelled a bit and yet lived here my whole life, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Standard of living is great, people are generally very down to earth, jobs are in abundance if you make the effort and there are some great universities and such.

I'm in Melbourne, cost of living isn't too high, just average I'd say. Aussie dollar is very strong right now against the US dollar right now.

Laws are pretty standard. Learners Driving Permit @ 16 (Need licenced driver in the car with you), Probationary Leaners permit @ 18, Full licence @ 21, Drinks, Clubs & Porn @ 18, Marijuana and other drugs are illegal. Legal alcohol limit when driving is .05 when you have your full licence, .00 when on L's or P's.

That sums up most of your questions, hope it was somewhat helpful. If you can't tell, I love the country and most who live down here will agree.

Pretty much sums up what I would of said. Have to emphasise the great lifestyle. Also Australia isn't as likely to be affected by terrorism as "no-one" cares enough to target us as we just aren' that big of a deal in the big picture. Don't think theres any chance of being hit by an earthquake either! Another plus!

I live in Perth which is in Western Australia. Perth is great, but it's rather isolated from the rest of Australia. In other states you can drive to other cities or capital cities in hours or a few days.

 

[Guzim]

If Crocodile Dundee is right, then Aussies don't know what cars are.

 

[Red Dolphin]

If Crocodile Dundee is right, then Aussies don't know what cars are.

If you judge Australia by the movies we produce you'd think we were about 25 years behind in technology, wrestle crocodiles, and ride kangaroos to work with everyone having a Steve Irwin accent. Which reminds me, why do Australia's sound like Poms in all American movies? We sound nothing like that :lol

 

[seanoff]

Ned,

guns in general are verboten, handguns will need u to jump thru hoops with both feet tied behind your back whilst singing well enough to win American Idol.

We use metric.

U will need to bone up on the AFL, NRL and cricket. The AFL is a religion in Melb and not much short of that in Adelaide and Perth.

KEEP LEFT

try living north coast of new south wales.

The outback is fucking vast, about the size of all the non-coastal states of the US.

The climate varies from tropical hot and humid where i live to very temperate in the south.

The beer here is stronger than the cats piss served in the US

U'll be a long way from anywhere else in the world

costs are pretty reasonable except if buying housing in Sydney at which point it isn't even sane.

 

[APerfectCircle]

i live out country, vic. If you think its gunna be like outback as you see in movies n stuff, youre wrong It's a nice country, melb is pretty cool, but is expensive if you don't have a good job. the countries areas are way cheaper and more peaceful. Can pretty much do everything at 18 (i turned 18 today ) night clubs etc.

 

[stonedwal]

We have no Bill of Rights, so you don't really have Freedom of Speech, etc.

The main things have been covered by the other posters but here's a few other things to keep in mind - cost of living can vary depending on the city, and our broadband internet services are horrendous. If you can get it (coverage is improving, but my parents seem to be unable to get it no matter what they do), ADSL is pretty much maxed out at 1.5mbps (thought ADSL 2.0 and 2+ trials are in progress), Cable is uncapped but you're limited to 12(?) gb per month before being throttled to 28-64k, depending on your provider.

Cable TV services are a bit shitty too - 50 odd channels of old repeats, American news and direct to video movies. Foxtel Digital isn't really digital, either

No TiVo or similar services.

Videogame prices are horrendous at $78US for the average game - PAL versions come between 2 weeks to 6 months later. Import.

 

[Optimistic]

We have no Bill of Rights, so you don't really have Freedom of Speech, etc.

Ahahaha! Ned, don't take this at face value. We may not have a bill of rights, but we certainly have freedom of speech.

Videogame prices are horrendous at $78US for the average game - PAL versions come between 2 weeks to 6 months later. Import.

Untrue. New release games cost between AU$80 - AU$100 (US$78 is roughly equivalent to AU$100), with budget releases (ie: Sega Sports range, platinum) being around AU$50. But yes, videogame prices are still generally more expensive, but you can always import (can't remember the name but there's a Canadian online dvd/games store that provides free postage around the world).

 

[jobbidiar]

Ned, honestly Australia is a fantastic place to live, very relaxed enviroment to live in, and no we don't have Kangaroos hopping around in the street in front of us like Americans seem to think all the time. Overall though, Canadian and people from Texas seem to relate to Australian's from my experience for some reason don't ask me why, we must have some sort of similar beliefs i suppose.....

 

[Hitokage]

Australia does sound like a great place, but the local fauna is just something I can't get over.

 

[Rlan]

As mentioned, some laws differ between states. For instance, in Adelaide you can get your full drivers license by 19, unlike 21 in Melbourne. That's if you get no points on your license though.

As for games, some games have been coming out at $70 lately, such as Crash Twinsanity. Plus, we seem to be getting some fantastic deals lately [I picker up SNK Vs. Capcom 2 EO and Quantum Redshift for $10AU during the Boxing Day sales].

Some places like Adelaide don't have 24 hour shopping. Some places MIGHT, like the occasional Coles Supermarket, but other than that places close at 5:30, or 7:00.

Also, Nutri Grain isn't this:

it's this:

 

[Do The Mario]

Ned I live in Perth, only major city on the west coast it’s a very nice place to live. It probably has the best climate of anywhere in Australia. There are a lot of wide open spaces there might be two large playing felids within 500 meters of each other. One of my best friends when I was younger moved to Japan, his parents were Japanese but he grew up in Perth. He very sadly had a breakdown because of lack of space (being around 9 years old at the time.)

If you enjoy Sport, going to the beach, bars with relaxed dress codes, bars with strict dress codes, wide open spaces, large national parks in the middle of the city etc.. Then you will have a great time.

Yeah and some dude found an nurtri grain that looks like ET then made a few thusdand dollars selling it on Ebay.

 

[Ned Flanders]

Wow excellent stuff so far guys. Sounds about like I expected from the impressions. It's funny to hear you guys guard against the stereotypes considering I live in Texas where you get stereotyped every day (capital punishment, big trucks, "steers and queers" etc). Cheap cost of living is definitely a plus, and I'd be lying if I said the laid-back lifestyle didn't sound appealing. I'm kind of used to the boonie life, considering I live a fair distance out in the hill-country outside of San Antonio (5 miles to the nearest convenience store, slower than 56k dial-up etc), so being somewhat distanced from things is not an issue.


I have some reservations relative to my customs here in the US. Missing out on the NFL/MLB/NBA would definitely be depressing, as would being forced to watch cricket *ugh*. Metric will be a bitch (ok maybe only the first few months or so), and I'd be lying if I said one of my primary concerns isn't winding up "out of the loop" so to speak relative to news/culture. One of the benefits of living in the US is that you're usually on the cutting edge of things outside of stem-cell research and Japanese videogames.

I also know very little about moving internationally. I'd more than likely want to keep my Jeep (Australia seems like a good place to go beat up the trails), and I sure as hell wouldn't want to have to sell a bunch of my stuff just because I couldn't transport it. I'm also clueless as to how I'd handle citizenship...I'm assuming I'd need a visa and become naturalized over time or through some kind of application process. If anyone has moved internationally and knows more about these issues I'd love your input.

You guys definitely have me intrigued though. I think I'm going to start looking into things further and maybe try and make a move before spring is up. I'm fucking tired of my life here and the people I'm around. The American lifestyle is particularly grating as of late and I just want a fresh start, preferably one that involves staminating high quantities of nubile Aussie babes.

 

[seanoff]

U'll get most US sports on cable anyway.

+ once u see the AFL or NRL close up u'll be amazed. no padding for these guys.

Go to lonely planet and have a peek at the Australian branch of the forums. Lots of info there.

Our news services are very international in there flavour - much more so than the US so u may actually be more in the loop

 

[jobbidiar]

Ned I live in Perth, only major city on the west coast it’s a very nice place to live. It probably has the best climate of anywhere in Australia.

Ned move to melbourne you won't regret it! and you can always get cable to get your NFL/MLB/NBA fix by watching our digital pay tv service here and yes, there is a very HIGH quality of Aussie babes here that you will be quite impressed by i've got to say myself

 

[Scrow]

for weather approximate to texas climate you'll have to go to places like Perth, Darwin or Townsville, but they're pretty crappy cities/towns (Perth isn't so bad from what i've seen/heard though). The best cities in Australia are Melbourne and Sydney, Melbourne being #1. Problem is the weather in those places can be terrible at times (cold and rainy). A good medium is probably Brisbane which has great weather most of the time, but the actual city itself is kinda boring. hope that helps somewhat...

 

[iapetus]

Australia does sound like a great place, but the local fauna is just something I can't get over.

Death strode into his library.
"BRING ME A LIST OF ALL THE DANGEROUS ANIMALS OF XXXX." he said. Almost immediately he was buried under a blizzard of tomes.
"MAYBE I SHOULD RESTATE THAT. BRING ME A LIST OF ALL THE NON DANGEROUS ANIMALS."
A single sheet of paper wafted downwards. Death took up the paper and read aloud what was written on it.
"SOME OF THE SHEEP?"

Or something like that.

 

[Ned Flanders]

My work situation has me looking into Penrith, which from my understanding is a suburb of Sydney. Campbelltown, Wentworthville, Shell Harbor, and Wollongong are also options. Or I could just ditch the company altogether and go wherever the hell I want, but that would make things a tad more dicey. DTM had me interested in Perth, as it sounds very much to my liking, but sadly the job situation rules out anywhere outside of NSW as an option.

 

[cubanb]

After 3-5 years, once I become a manager, my future employer will let me do a work abroad type thing for 2 years and i have been keeping my eye on Australia..

do they have direct tv there(ie anything close to nfl ticket where I could watch my hometown every week)

 

[Scrow]

oh and don't bother coming to australia expecting to find better national leadership. our prime minister is your president's bitch.

 

[cubanb]

whats the tax rate like comparable to the us

 

[Ned Flanders]

oh and don't bother coming to australia expecting to find better national leadership. our prime minister is your president's bitch.

Well I may just have to come down there and set his ass straight then!

 

[Rlan]

FOXTEL has 4 sports channels, Fox Sports, Fox Sports 2, The Footy Channel [AFL round the clock], and ESPN.

They do show a fair bit of Football, just not every day. I don't know if there are specific days they play over there [AFL is just Friday, Saturday, Sunday].

For example. Tuesday, 28th of December had:

10:30am: American Football: NFL's greatest moments

11:30: American Football Monday Night Countdown [LIVE]

1:00: NFL: Philadelphia Eagles v St Louis Rams [LIVE]

4:30pm: NFL films present

5:00 **other stuff*

9:30pm: Repeat of the LIVE game.


Monday 27th had the same deal, but for the Cleaveland Browns Vs. Miami Dolphins. On the same day, Fox Sports has TBA vs TBA at 11:00pm. So it probably depends on which game is better, and what time the game is played.

Sunday 26th ESPN had Denver Broncos Vs Tennessee and FS2 had another TBA vs TBA, live.

So you'd get a fair bit of Football, but there'd be a whole lot of games you woudln't see.

Then of course, you coudl always get torrents when avaliable

 

[Ned Flanders]

Do the cable providers offer stuff like the NBA League Pass etc? If that were the case then I wouldn't be worried at all. So long as I had the option to buy what I wanted (I couldn't miss the Spurs or, hell all of MLB) and some sort of Sportcenter/ESPNews wrap up to give me highlights and scores, then I'd be fine. But I could not stand for channel upon channel of cricket and soccer.

 

[Rlan]

Doesn't look like it. I don't know if Austar or Optusvision have anything like that [Optus vision is only avaliable in the Eastern states I think].

 

[seanoff]

Soccer would be english premier league mostly. AFL/NRL from feb to oct

cricket on 9 the summer but u could watch the NFL/NBA on cable.

Wollongong maybe perfect, pretty around there and quicker into Sydney than Penrith. Nice beaches, pretty laid back, not far to some very pretty places. If u lived north of the actual city then stunning beaches, 45 mins to Sydney CBD, very pretty. lots of National Parks, etc through there. lovely

 

[Azih]

Sorry to the Aussies on the board, but your current prime minister (John Howard?) is a dick.

 

[Rlan]

Oh, we're quite aware.

 

[cubanb]

serious, what is the income tax structure there

 

[Scrow]

Sorry to the Aussies on the board, but your current prime minister (John Howard?) is a dick.

really? you don't say... who would've thunk it? ;P

 

[Nerevar]

Australia is like a weird cross between a European country (lots of social liberties and a fair amount of social programs to help equality) and America (love their sports, like things big, HUGE country). I'd say, if you're a liberal American, it's one of the more attractive places on Earth. I know I felt that way when I lived there for 6 months.

 

[cubanb]

Australia is like a weird cross between a European country (lots of social liberties and a fair amount of social programs to help equality) and America (love their sports, like things big, HUGE country). I'd say, if you're a liberal American, it's one of the more attractive places on Earth. I know I felt that way when I lived there for 6 months.

hmm I am a liberal American, but I do value my salary..... Is it a high tax country?

 

[Ned Flanders]

There seems to be some conspiracy going on to avoid informing cubanb about the tax situation down under.

 

[Azih]

It's certainly amusing me.

 

[cubanb]

There seems to be some conspiracy going on to avoid informing cubanb about the tax situation down under.

hahaha , didnt mean to steal the thunder out of your thread, but I certaintly thought it was relevant

 

[speedpop]

Tax in Australia is the fucking pits.

 

[Cutley]

Australia has some of the highest tax rates on he planet if that helps. It's great

 

[Azih]

Now I'm interesed. When does the highest tax bracket start and what percentage do they get stiffed?

 

[cubanb]

if this page is correct, the income taxes are steeply aggressive over 50k, id hope the standard of living is lower there

 

[speedpop]

Don't know, other than food prices is a rort. Of course beef and lamb and all that are quite cheap, but you have to try and grab the export stuff, since we ship the best food overseas whereas the general public has to buy the crappy animals that went through a prisoner camp.

Electricity can be a bitch, and as stated before, most "technological" stuff is over-blown. $60 for unlimited 256kb dsl per month, which is roughly $40 US or so. Man I remember pushing 3-4gb on 56k modem half a decade back and being banned from the ISP. That is how backwards Australia is at times.

 

[Azih]

rort

....
?


hrm, Canada and Korea seem to be the best places by far for cheap broadband. 40 bucks Canadian for me which is what... 35 American per month?

 

[jedimike]

Ned... If you are serious about moving, the best way to go about it is to work for an American company in Australia. A lot of companies look for people to work in foreign countries and often offer incentives to do it. They'll pay for you to move. Then, if you decide you want to stay, it would be easier to apply for citizenship, etc.

 

[cubanb]

Ned... If you are serious about moving, the best way to go about it is to work for an American company in Australia. A lot of companies look for people to work in foreign countries and often offer incentives to do it. They'll pay for you to move. Then, if you decide you want to stay, it would be easier to apply for citizenship, etc.

thats what i like to hear.... especially from a jedi

 

[sonicfan]

Its not easy to just "move" to another country from the US. Its not like going to live in California after living in Texas. I'm not real sure about Australia, but I know New Zeeland does not make it easy to move there. The best way for NZ is to work in a field that is in short supply. But just some Joe Blow American is not going to get in.

The guy I used to work with was going on vacation to NZ every year or so, and wanted to retire and move there (he was in his 50s). But after checking it out, they decieded to not even bother to try. Somebody from a former British colony or the UK has a much better chance.

The Aussies may be a little more accomedating tho, I'm not sure.

 

[Azih]

Australia is one of the more immigrant friendly nations on the planet.

 

[Scrow]

Australia is one of the more immigrant friendly nations on the planet.

heh... but we're assholes when it comes to refugees.

 

[AssMan]

If Crocodile Dundee is right, then Aussies don't know what cars are.

:lol :lol :lol