So you can buy a non running shed for about £500...

A better example is a 320d BMW, available new in the UK for £28k and in Australia for $67k (currently £43k)

Nope .. 24 month contract. Weird huh? And I'd only been renting my place 2/3 months.

I'm working an extra 2.5 hours a week (minimum), an extra 6/7 days a year.
But my pay is closer to 3x or 4x my UK earnings.

But then a beer is $10.

Maybe they are more laid back about it in WA, in NSW trying to get a phone for staff who have just moved out there was a nightmare. As is trying to run a business, ASIC are in a league of their own, I spent a happy morning there once. And banks...
Yes you earn a lot more but pay a lot more as well, it'll be interesting how things develop because of course there is a growing divide between mining/minerals and the rest of the economy. We've cut our Australian office back to being a sales only operation, it's very profitable to sell into Australia but not to do anything there that you can do anywhere else.

You've had 15/20 years to get some new skills. Have you just been sitting there unhappy but doing nothing about it?

Jesus, just get on with it before its too late.

Bibbs Likes this.

Don't move to India. Been here a year and it's f**king awful. Currently creeping into the 40*C+ region, flies everywhere, the place stinks of sh*t and curry and sh*tty curries and curry sh*ts and the people are f**king arrogant and clueless.

Yes, yes there are lots of nice bits to India but we've had enough of it now. Luckily we move back in 4 weeks.

After being back in the UK for a couple of weeks recently, you don't know you're f**king born. It's like a sodding paradise compared to some places in the world.

ive lived in Aus for the best part of 13 years now and quite frankly its crap. I've lived in Melbourne for the last 10 years but before that Sydney and Canberra. For me its the absolute tw@ttishness of the average aussie, who in the main are a bunch of racist cromagnon oiks with about as much culture as a 5 week old yoghurt. And that's just the women! Yeah the sunshine's nice, and the beaches are ok, but there is more to life than skippy can-eater barbeques. Don't be fooled either, the place is a graveyard of ambition unless you love working in a pit for weeks at an end so you can afford to pay your 2000 bucks a week rent. Personally I can't wait to sell my house and move back to civilisation!

I've lived in a variety of different countries over the years, visited many as a military tourist / backpacker / normal tourist. I've also lived in quite a few different areas of the UK.

Looked at emigrating to Canada / NZ a few years ago. Discussed living in France. I've always had a soft spot for Germany, especially the southern parts. Ended up living in Scotland, on the beautiful west coast. Nice village, nice town, lots of friends, the locals and glaswegians are very good humoured on the whole, sailing on the doorstep throughout the summer, skiing in the winter when the snow is there (Glencoe is an hour up the road), climbing throughout the year as the arrochar alps and trossachs are all very very close, as is Glencoe.

Missus has a good job and a cheap train commute in to work. Glasgow is about 45 minutes away by train, 30 mins to an hour away by car depending on where you need / want to go.

In other words, my lifestyle here is pretty decent and I'm sure I could have moved to somewhere in Wales or the South West or the Lake District and found the same. Don't need to emigrate to improve your quality of life, just make it easier for yourself to do the things you enjoy. Neither me or the wife would tolerate living in the south east / south; both of us lived in portsmouth for a while and hated the density of the population, the traffic, the locals' accent etc etc. The only real downside here is the weather, as it seems to rain about 300 days of the year.

Emigrating is ok, but it was frustrating enough being stuck in the southwest and facing long journeys to get to family gatherings / Christmas etc without basing ourselves in another country. Plus, we know the infrastructure of the UK and how it all works and how to get things done, which would be a PITA somewhere new, especially in a different language. Took me long enough to get to grips with the States when I lived there for a while.

Our country is what you make of it. Yes, there are many negative aspects to how it is governed and how the media and populace have changed over the years.

However you need to focus on the positives and, for example, I refer you to this thread

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Couldn't agree more despite not living there! I've travelled all over the uk and the west coast of Scotland is IMO the most beautiful part of the uk by far. Shame there's no jobs for me there, otherwise I'd be there in a heartbeat....