Advice Needed About Moving to Australia

Updated on June 15, 2010
T.M. asks from Houston, TX
7 answers

Hi moms! My husband and I are considering a move to Australia and have lots of questions we need answers to before we can make the commitment. I have read lots of comments about the cost of living in Australia and that it is extremely high. We have one daughter now who is 17 months and would like to start trying for our second child very soon. What kind of salary would a family of 4 need in order to live comfortably over there? We don't want to make this move unless we can live comfortably AND be able to experience all the country has to offer. If we are just going to live paycheck to paycheck we could stay home and do that! We think that my husband will be making about $100,000 starting salary, will this be enough? It's a very big decision to make and I think the unbiassed advise all of you could offer will really help our decision.

Some of the cities we are looking into are Bundaberg, Townsville, Innesfail and Charters Towers (not sure if I spelled all of these correctly). Any additional thoughts about these specific regions would be appreciated!

I love what I've heard about lifestyles and the involvement of the Aussie dads. We are generally very excited about taking on an adventure like this and are doing all of the research we can to decide if this will be the right move for our family.

Thank you all for your help!

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Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.G.

answers from Austin on

As much as I enjoyed visiting Australia, the cost to travel there was huge. Make sure you consider the travel costs for you and/or your family to be able to stay in touch.

Affordability is always a personal thing. Just as there are happy people here in the U.S. living on less than $40,000 a year, there will be happy people there living on much less than $100,000. Can you AND your husband regularly say "no" to yourselves in order to maintain financial security and still be content? That is the real question.

If you are the adventurer type, this could be awesome!

1 mom found this helpful
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L.N.

answers from New York on

go to http://www.city-data.com/forum/
register (for free) then click on australia and ask the question there. native posters will be able to provide you with the information you need.
i'd move to australia in a heartbeat if it weren't for snakes (brrr)

1 mom found this helpful
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M.G.

answers from San Antonio on

I don't know about the cost of living, but by watching Animal Planet, there are quite a lot of poisonous animals there. Watch out!!!!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.B.

answers from Minneapolis on

My daughter has been thinking about moving to Australia for several years now. Even with having friends there to help and providing her a place to stay, it still isn't feasible.

You do not say if the $100,000 is USD or AUD, but either way, I don't think it would be enough for a family of 3, possibly 4, but I don't know your specific lifestyle :)

Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.S.

answers from Dallas on

I don't have any advice to offer, but my dad was offered a job in Australia when I was about 13. He turned it down, because they would have paid to move the family there, but not paid to move us back later. I've always wished he had taken the job and given the family that adventure!

However, we would have missed seeing our extended family, and probably would have missed other things about the USA.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.S.

answers from Denver on

Remember a couple of things:
1. Some things in life you cannot put a pricetag on. Living paycheck to paycheck while learning about another culture is different than staying home.
2. The first 75K of salary earned as an ex-pat is tax-free.
GL!!!

A.R.

answers from St. Louis on

The only thing I can tell you that I love Australia.I had a nice experience and I would come back there happily! I lived over there for a couple of years. People is pretty friendly. I liked the climate, but depend on where you would live. I am not familiar with the cities you mentioned, but Sidney, Brisbane, Queensland are beautiful cities. For you to have an idea, 100,000 American dollars are equivalent to about 84,000 Australian dollars.
I just liked to live there. Google also into "Australia" and you will see lots of information about the country.
Good luck !

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