Important Announcement!

Well here goes,
Firstly we must say thanks to Jo who very kindly met us at the airport, took us to pick up the campervan, cooked us a lovely roast and insisted that we stay the first night with them.
We managed to stay awake till 9.30 pm, not bad going, we were told.
The following day she took us round some of the Northern suburbs.
Elizabeth, Andrews’s farm, Golden Grove, Salisbury, Modbury and Wynne vale.

Steve n Jo also organized a very boozy bbq later on in the first week that went on till 3 am, where we met with some other adbritters.
Geary 11, Sarah smarty pants, bushy eye brows, dvkb, and Russ n Wendy (hope the new jobs going o.k. by the way Russ, and that your all settling in to your new lives over there!)
Ralph got to speak to fellow trades people and realized that it was going to be impossible to run his own residential building company, like he has here. Even after getting every license going, as there isn’t such a thing any more, everything is done through the large building companies. So that was a bit of a bummer.
He also found out that he would be only able to earn $30 $35 an hour, a bit more if he was to become a supervisor for a large house build company, but after recent threads on here he thought better of that one! Not his cup of tea, at all.

So once again thanks Jo n Steve for all your help and advice over the last 6 months or so, and enjoy your trip back to England next month.

Back to the reccie then .
Off we went on our way to stay at Adelaide Shores, West Beach. Caravan and camp site.
May I say it’s a fabulous place, knocks the spots off any other site we have ever stayed at before, anywhere?
We have a caravan and tour with it at least 1 weekend every month in England, so weve been to a fair few !
We set about touring around Adelaide the next morning, in our newly swapped campervan, the first one was a bit too minging for my liking!! .

Below is a list of suburbs that we went to (not in one day of course)

By the way thanks wonderwoman for the loan of the Tom Tom sat nav , we would have been lost without it. Literally.

Pasedina , Panorama , Belair .Hallet Cove, Happy Valley, Aberfoyle Park , Reynella , Blackwood , Christies Beach , O’halleran hill , Clarendon , Flagstaff, Corramandel Valley , Crafers , Stirling ,Aldgate , Glenelg , Henley, Upper Sturt , Hawthorndean , Unley , Michham , Hackham , Bridgewater , Handorf , Nairne and Mount Barker and probably a few more that we forgot to list.

Thing is in Adelaide (unless up in the hills) you just go from one suburb to another without realizing half the time , its weird theres no long windey roads from one village to another its very straight and grid like with tiny very tight roundabouts every couple of hundered yards or so ! Probably to stop the hoons , certainly slowed us down in the big campervan!
We drove up and down round and round all the mentioned areas , everyday we shopped in a local mall, talked to the local people , and ate out for either lunch or dinner , cooked at a communal camp bbq for the other.
Now , we liked some suburbs , didn’t others , and out of all of them , for us , and only in our opinion think on , we liked Stirling , followed closely by Aldgate .
We wanted something that was better than what we had in the uk and Stirling village certainly was.
It just had a nice feel about it.

We didn’t see 1 ferral house, and boy there every where, even on the nicest of streets, where you wouldn’t expect them. What’s the fascination with cars up on bricks, mangy sofas, and faded mucky curtains half hanging off the curtain poles??

All the locals were friendly (as we’ve found everywhere) and they had a monthly market in the centre of the village, which we managed to be there on the day and visit. There were lots of different stalls, food, crafts, jewelry, and plants allsorts.
The houses were more expensive than we had expected to pay, and a lot smaller in our budget, when we’d looked elsewhere on realestatecom too, typically, but we could still afford to buy one.
We visited a couple of schools there, all well and good. When we spoke to the estate agents we were disappointed to hear that they didn’t get many properties for sale in the area . They had several people on mailing lists waiting to be informed if one came up for sale. Typical .
We went to an open on a property, a small 3 bed, very small kitchen /diner only 1 bathroom and a living room, needing updating too but on ½ acre. Priced at $500 to $550 only 10 mins walk to Stirling centre. Mmmm it got us thinking.

That night at Belair National Park, where we’d decided to stay for a couple of nights, over a lovely meal and a bottle of fizz, in the golf club restaurant we decided, Adelaide wasn’t going to be for us.

Yes that’s right someone’s actually done a reccie and decided not to go ahead with the move.
Is it a first??

We had wanted to buy a house and a rental property, start another residential building company (which we wouldn’t be able to do due to licensing regs)
We were in a very good financial position to do all this due to what we had built up in the 15 years wed been together, and we were going out on a 136 visa.
Now the reason why, it’s not for us, sorry if this offends anyone struggling here or there but it’s based on our personal circumstances.
This is not meant to come across as bragging and I know it’s very naff to divulge personal circumstances but everyone will just think we are mad for just passing up the opportunity, if we don’t give you a bit of our personal circumstances.
Our life here is good, I don’t have to think about what I buy, at all, weather it be food, clothes what ever, our kids are not spoilt by any means, but we are able to eat out as a family regularly and visit various places when we want. And we have the quality time to do it.

We already have a 30 year old 4 bed 3 bathroom 2 reception rooms, dining room, and a large kitchen diner detached house, which we have totally refurbished since buying it 2 years ago. It’s on a nice cul-de-sac, over looking farm land in a village. Our eldest goes to an excellent state secondary school the best in recent ofsted reports in the area, the twins will go up there next September.
We have a small building company , go off with the kids every other weekend with the caravan , tent in the summer , if we get one! We even take it to Pickering over the New Year, yep in the snow, its great, like a little oven on wheels.
Holiday abroad twice a year , have a very small mortgage , which is our only debt, we don’t do credit cards.
Weve never bought into the flash car on finance , wide screen T.V. on the chucky thing
I don’t have to work. I do the books for the business, and volunteer for the local youth offending team.
We already have lots of quality family time.

Woopdeedoo for us, im sure some of the more argumentative members are now shouting at the screen!!

Why did we even want to do this then, if life was so good for us here??

Well.
I suppose we wanted even more, because we could!!
How greedy is that?
We thought being totally mortgage free that Ralph would be able to take a step back a bit, not be as hands on , but he only does a 4 or 5 day week now.

We got carried away with the whole hype, the programs on t.v straight after Xmas, wanted down under etc.
When it was cold grey and miserable here.
Ralph had always fancied the idea of emigrating, so when I agreed, he got straight on the phone and started the ball rolling, joined adbrits, met loads of people going through the motions.etc
Before we knew it wed passed the tra and thought hang on we better do a reccie. What if we don’t like the place?

Surely we would, it’s sunny, not teaming with immigrants, well not the sort we have here anyway, less crime, less drugs, a more relaxed life style. Hasn’t it?

BUT
Adelaide just didn’t tick the right boxes for US.

We are glad we did the reccie, it was money well spent, though we wish wed done it before starting the visa process! We are not going to bother with the police checks and medicals now. It’s been a good experience for us , it’s made us realize how fortunate we already are.

We may not like the way we let all and sundry into our country without so much as a cough and drop , or the way we cant plan a bbq 3 weeks on Wednesday like you can in Adelaide but lets face it sunshine doesn’t pay the bills .
We found the only things cheaper in Adelaide were lamb, sea food and petrol !!
Everything else we bought was the same price or dearer, so much for it being cheaper out there!!
I shop at Asda and Tescos by the way.
If you’re an M &S gal it might be different.

One day we called into a bakery shop in Aldgate village (which was second on our favorite list by the way) and bought a chocolate éclair and an apple turnover and it cost $5.90, it wasn’t even real cream.
Work that out and compare it to Greggs!!

We found it a lot cheaper to eat out in restaurants though , and never had a bad meal and the variety of food is excellent , loads of lovely Asian (Chinese) Greek ,Italian , infact every type of food you can think of , plenty of mc Donald’s , kentucky and hungry jacks for the less adventuress .

So to all those living it and loving it im glad for you. Really . I honestly do not mean to offend anyone; it’s been difficult putting our reasons across for not doing the big move.

To those still here in Britain, unless you’ve got nothing to loose over here,
I think a reccie would be a good thing.
Even if just one of you go .
It’s worth it.
For those who say you won’t know if it’s for you in just a 17 day reccie, well we knew after just the first week.
We both wanted this and were positive about everything. We really thought that it would be for us. Better for all the family , but in our case it wouldn’t be , our family would have been worse off as we wouldn’t have had the income that we have now. Or the time to do what we wanted to do, as we’d both have to work and do longer hours.
Some say money isn’t everything , well there right it isn’t , but when you have had to struggle like we did when we first started out you don’t want to go back to it.
Even if when you open the curtains and its sunny every day .

For those who say it will be a waste of money cos we are going anyway , we thought that too !
Our parents offered to have the kids for us and we were able to afford the cost for the reccie and thought , hey 2 weeks no kids , we’ll be able to find the area we want to live in and a school , and it will save us time for when we do eventually move over next year.
So there you go .
We had a great experience in Adelaide but we can honestly we wouldn’t choose it as a holiday destination, so it will be the first and last time we visit the place.
We are more of a Greek Island and French village type of family.

Oh Singapore airlines are fabulous by the way, beautiful slinky ladies in long fitted dresses who cant do enough for you and the food was superb , best aeroplane food ive had . As much food drinks and snacks as you want plenty of leg room, enough for even me to stretch right out, and im 5 foot 11, though not very wide, we were lucky we sat on a 2 seater bit, on the way over, and on the way back home, from Singapore, we had a row to our self’s as the plane was only ¾ full. We managed to get a good sleep , after eating a fillet steak and roast veg 5 course meal , though that might have been something to do with the 3 sleeping tablets and a diazepam each !! Loads of new release films to watch, and plenty of playstation games for the kids.


Oh last but not least we can’t sign off without saying thanks to the lovely Tyke family who welcomed us into there beautiful home . We had an excellent evening which went on into the early hours, and enjoyed some lovely food, wine and good company.
Tyke you don’t look a day over 40!
We were chauffeured around the Mclarren Vale vineyards the next day by a still jovial but bleary eyed Russ.
We sampled lots of lovely red wine and juicy olives and got to see a very large group of wild Kangaroos too.
It’s a shame the Tykes don’t still live in Pudsey, its only a few miles away from us here, we would have loved to return their hospitality.
So if ever you’re over this neck of the woods Tyke, make sure you give us a call. Can’t promise wild Kangaroos though!!
By the way weve seen the Rentals that they have and they are spotless. If wed have been doing the move, we’d have booked one, for certain , and no we are not related !!!


Once again (though I doubt it will make any difference to some) this is only our opinion due to our own personal circumstances.
I am sure if I still lived in my first house that I bought 22 years ago, a back to back in sunny Beeston in Leeds, id jump at the chance. Especially as it’s surrounded by suicide bombers and the like now!!
Infact I think I’d be fighting tooth n nail to get my kids out of there , and on the first plane , I wouldn’t bother with a reccie either.
But we don’t, fortunately, so we are happy to say , we are staying put.
Im sure ive managed to upset someone, ive tried not to.
I shall watch with interest as you all get your visas and hope that it works out for each and everyone of you. Good luck with the visa process at what ever stage you’re at, and I hope I haven’t sounded too negative; Adelaide is a nice City it’s just not for us.
We are away for the weekend Friday evening to Sunday with the kids and dog in the caravan, to York.
So I shall not be taking the laptop


Best wishes everyone, sorry it wasn’t more positive.

Bev and Ralph

Great honest post Bev! Even though i'm having the wobbles now as we are not doing a reccie - but Martin has been before so i'm trusting him!
I'm glad it was worth it for you, and you got to have a break away without the kids! We will never have that

Dear Ralph & Bev

B R I L L I A N T B R I L L I A N T B R I L L I A N T B R I L L I A N T

A superb, thought provoking, honest and wonderfully brilliant post. For our family Adelaide is absolutely the right place to be, but how honest to hear from someone who has a totally different perspective of Adelaide & Australia.
Well done and thanks for a wonderfully brilliant post

Best Regards to you and your family

Hi,

Excellent honest post guys, refreshing read, Adelaide/Australia/Emmigrating is not for everyone, if it was it would make for a boring world.
All the very best

Guzzler

A brave decision. It's hard to admit you've made a mistake. Good job you did do a reccie as it means you haven't lost anything but the visa fees.

Maybe you will decide to retire to Adelaide when income isn't an issue?

Good luck in whatever path you take in life.

i agree.

and a good post from ralph and bev.

wow what a great post......and a brave decision.
It was great to meet you that night,shame we wont get the chance agian, but if you ever come back you..... never know!
You did an excellent recci, you planned it well and packed lots in, so I think you got good views to base you decision on.
Dont apologise for being not positive enough, it is positive for you and you family and that is the whole point.
Good luck Bev, againit was nice to meet you both
sarah and ian

At the end of the day, migration is all about pushes and pulls....

pushes - (what makes you want to leave)
unhappy in the area you live, unhappy in your job, worried about the future, unhappy in your relationship, curiosity, adventure, etc etc

Pulls - (of where you want to go - often just notion than cold hard fact)
nicer weather, better lifestyle, bigger house/material things, etc

For all of us, it's about reviewing up these factors in our own personal situations and weighing up what's best. Often though, we get "swept along" with the thrill of it all, without really looking at our own circumstances closely.

I don't see any negatives at all about your post....if it can make some think more deeply about their own circumstances, that has to be a good thing - perhaps save some a bit of money in the process.

I agree it's not a holiday destination, more a place to live.

However, I will say that for many, Adelaide is a place that grows on you....even when you are not here. Many dislike it when they arrive/visit, but it kind of sneaks up on you....I suspect the McLaren Vale/red wine/olives/peace and quiet will sit in a little cupboard of memory somewhere, regularly taken out and dusted - and perhaps one day, you might think, "I'd like another of these".
So don't completely discount another visit.....you never know



I'm happy you've discovered where "home" is, and it sounds like it was a pleasant experience finding out.

Hi Ralph & Bev

I thought your post was excellent. We have some friends who are considering moving to Australia and I keep telling them they must visit somewhere in Australia first to get an idea whether they will like it or not.

Your reccie was a factfinding mission and you found that it wasn't for you. That's what it was all about and now you can forget about it and move on with your life.

Good Luck and enjoy.

Martha

Great post and very honest,good to hear you had a good time,but brave enough to say it's not for us.

Brilliant post Bev.

Well thought out and put together.

So much for the short post!!!! Say not more.

We respect your views and hope plan B whatever that maybe works out well for your guys.

xxxxx

Excellent post!. Goes to show that that everyone is different,has different wants, come from different circumstances.

I think they make stronger chairs in UK as well

hi ralph and bev

that was a great post,and from the sounds of it u have a great life already,as the saying goes if it ain't broke don't fix it!! It was a pleasure to meet you both and i wish you and ure family the best in the future!!

What a flipping great post !!
Well balanced ,thoughtful and truthful.

You certainly did the right thing by having a reccie trip.

It certainly is not for everyone here and you have no negatives about the place.


It was a great pleasure to meet you both and as I said,we are "gutted" that you are not making the move. Only being selfish though as we hit it off so well and a great friendship would have blossomed. Not to say that we ain't friends but it will never be a "real life" friendship


Saying that we might have to pop up for a short while as a deal looks like coming through.I'll let you know if we do!!

Hope you have a great weekend.I'll catch up next week.

Mods......... any chance of the original post going into the FAQ???

PS.......... Thanks so much for bringing some Poor Bens,yup I do miss those.How thoughtful of you - I'm not sharing!!!!

This post has been edited by Tyke on Oct 6 2007, 08:46 AM

LOL

Hi Bev & Ralph,

Thanks for a great post. Great to hear alternative opinions of Adelaide.

Are you considering anywhere else in Australia?

Jo xx

Hi Ralph & Bev,

Wow....what a fab post written straight from the heart. I'm sorry to hear that Adelaide isn't the place for you but by the sound of your post you have a fab life in the Uk & why give it up.?

I just like to wish you all the very best

Great post

I don't think anyone should be upset by your honesty and the truth is it is not always greener on the other side.

I think the big lesson anyone who is not already in oz should learn is that it is not all a bowl of roses and the first 6 months even if you have visited before is tough but without a doubt I believe anyone that does make the move without seeing it first is very brave (if not mad). We made three trips without the kids over a space of 3 years before we moved and have still found our first 5 months hard (almost 6).

The same as you when we visited we found that all of the locals to be extremely friendly and laid back but in reality they have been quite hard work since being here permanently. I have not had too many problems but my husband and brother in law have found it hard at work and they are by no means as easy going as we first thought.

Has anyone else found they have a chip? - some of the comments that have been made under breath or in supposed jest to both my husband and some of our friends are bang out of order!!

Thanks again Ralph & Bev - the very best for the future i'm sure your decision is the very best one for you.

Well i agree with everyone else. Your post is great it's all your opinion on adelaide and it's not for you.

You got the chance to come over and see for yourself. But never say never you might just get the bug to come and visit again like Andy has said.

good luck

Debs xxx

It was a real pleasure to meet you both..
Ralph not coming is a big loss to the South Australian Construction Industry but it will probably be better for my liver in the long run !!!
As you know were back in the UK next week...for a reccie in reverse and will give you a ring.

Enjoy the rest of your lives, wherever you may be. And we will stay in touch.

Steve

Now i can add my bit.

I'm so glad I made the effort to come and meet you at the airport. you never know where putting yourself out for a few hours will get you. It was nice to get a view of Adelaide from someone who has never been here before. I looked at Adelaide with fresh eyes and realised after 2 1/2 years you take the wide roads, less traffic and skies that go on forever for granted. Andy is quite right when he said Adelaide creeps up on you. Good for you for saying what you think. Why give up what you've got for less???? Discovering that is certainly no mistake and well worth the few thousand it costs for a reckie, coming here blind and finding out its not for you will cost you far more and not just monetary terms. It was a pleasure to have you both to stay, couldn't believe it was 3am when we went to bed. The time just flew by. Will talk to you when we are in the UK and it won't cost me anything as I'll be on my mums phone hee hee.

Ian, there is a bill in the post for the chair I'll have to destroy something of yours when we come over next.

Jo

This post has been edited by steve-n-jo on Oct 6 2007, 11:29 AM

As said before, good honest post.

Its true Adeliade isn`t for everyone. We were only there just over a year when we up and left for sunny Hervey Bay in Queensland. Australia is a huge place, so if one area isnt right for you then move somewhere else. After all you`ve come this far!!!!

Angela

a very good honest post.

unfortunatley we cant really afford to come over to adelaide first to find out if we want to live there or not . however we have family there and my parents stayed there for a while years ago. so with all the stories i feel as if i have been.

anyway im a bit worried now. but hey you only live once. if we dont like it we can always come home.

thanks for the insight

tess

I agree...a very honest post..

but Tess, do not be worried...there are loads of us on here that weren't (like you) in a position to afford a reci....we took the chance....and went for it....its not been easy at all....in actual fact very hard at times.....but all you can do is your best..

lorraine
x

very moving post, Ralph and Bev, it does sound you have a great life in the UK, so why change it. As Andy said Adelaide isn't a very exciting holiday destination but as a place to live, it's great. Very laid back and things in Adelaide do move slowly.... For those that can't afford a reccie, consider your life in the uk, what is it that you don't like, what will you miss? Dean was in the navy, so we never lived near either of our families, so I always had to pay for babysitters or not go out, which was usually the favourite when the kids were young. So missing the family was for us not so bad, we only saw them a couple of times a year. But if you live close to your family and see them on a daily or weekly basis, consider not seeing them again for years. If you have a great pub life, then Adelaide is defintley not the place to be, you can sober up between pubs!!!

Stirling is very nice and expensive, you did pick a good area. Ha ha

Well good luck with whatever you do and don't forget to pop on here now and again to let us know how you are going

I enjoyed reading that, great stuff

I think you have made the right decision....I didn't have a life half as good as yours but I pined for it dreadfully for well over a year.

Best Wishes for the future.

Jan