Expat message from down under

Canada or Australia? If you were going to immigrate to one, which would be the best choice?

A blogger friend of mine recently decided to ask the universe for advice on this question. She did so by posting a long list of the pros and cons of both countries as she perceives them to be from her vantage point, a small English village.

At this time a little over three years ago, my partner and I were living in the United States and we had our own long list of questions about Australia. We’d traveled in Canada, but like Cath Lawson (http://cathlawson.com), neither of us had been down under. The few notions we had of what it would be like to live here were vague and not always accurate.

Now – after three years and lots of experiences on this island continent that looks so small on maps but is roughly the size of the continental United States — I found Cath’s Aussie pro-and-con list intriguing.

Some of the responses to Cath’s blog on this topic were insightful, I thought, and experienced based, especially those from a guy named Nick who has evidently lived in England and now lives where we do, in Brisbane.

Cath began her “pros” list with geography, noting Australia’s abundance of open spaces but said she worried about feeling isolated here. Several readers responded by urging her to consider carefully the long distances between Australian cities as well as the flight times and air fares that can separate people here from loved ones back in England, the US, or elsewhere.

Indicating she believes people living here can spend most of their time outdoors, perhaps even swimming, if they wish, she spoke of “hot temperatures year round” in Perth. Try Darwin if you want that, readers cautioned, noting that winter in parts of Australia brings frost, snow, and freezing weather.

Even Perth gets cold. Today’s temperature there is supposed to range from five to 15 Celcius or roughly 40 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Not bad for winter, right? But not hot either.

Nick, the reader who’s lived in England, said something I agree with: “Queensland is the best place for weather.” If you can stand some heat and humidity in December, January, and February, you get rewarded with nine pretty nice months, including wonderfully mild winters.  Brisbane’s airport, for as long as records have been kept there, has recorded only one brief occasion of freezing weather.

“Amazing beaches” is one of Cath’s expectations which could hardly be challenged by anyone. The beaches here are just that, amazing, and there are many hundreds of them.

One of Cath’s concerns, naturally, is the cost of housing. Arriving from Oklahoma, we found housing prices extremely high three years ago and they’ve gone up since, but Cath wrote that she believes it is still possible, here, “to get a much better house for your money than in the UK.”

Nick agrees, saying: “True,” and he adds that “you can rent at pretty good rates here.” Wow. What that exchange says to me is that we probably couldn’t afford to live in England (as we probably couldn’t in Norway or Holland or lots of other places).

Both Nick and Cath deem Aussie mortgage rates to be high, as do Aussies.  Two banks just raised theirs to above 9.5 per cent.  High enough for you?

Prices here for the ordinary things one needs to live are also high, she believes, and both Nick and I agree with her.  It’s difficult to pay the Aussie price for cars, electronics, or household goods – even a toaster – if you know what comparable goods cost in the US.  Our toaster is from a garage sale, and so is our TV.

Cath’s view that Australia has a good educational system, private and public, is one that draws concurrence from her readers, but when she notes that there is “no language barrier,” one reader replies, “except in Queensland.” Our adopted home state occupies the place in Aussie humor that Aggies have in Texas humor.  Maybe this was a hick state once, but it’s not anymore.  We speak English good now.

One concern Cath has can probably be put to rest. She’s worried about critters. “I’m not keen on snakes, spiders and other critters,” she writes. And then she adds, “Okay, I’m terrified of them. And there are many poisonous species in Australia. Some people say they rarely see them, whilst others say they encounter them all the time.” She wonders whether the windows of homes here have screens to keep creepy crawlies out.

Again, Nick to the rescue. Although he bought a “spider control kit” when he first arrived, he’s seen only “two big spiders in nine months – not bad!” And I’d add that size isn’t the problem. We have lots of big spiders in our yard and they’re harmless, useful, even.

Although we hike in National Forests and other places whenever we can, in three years, we’ve seen only two or three snakes and they were getting out of our way as fast as they could.

I think it’s unlikely that a city dweller in Australia has any more need to worry about snakes and spiders than the average Dallas, Los Angeles, or Detroit resident. Fiddle back spiders, after all, are a worry in lots of places in the US and rattlesnakes can be stumbled upon as far north as Massachusetts.

Knowing that many personal factors are involved in such assessments, we couldn’t presume to judge for Cath whether she should choose Canada or Australia or neither one.  We can’t use one of our favorite Aussie phrase and say to her, “No worries.”

But we can say that we experience the pros and cons of living in Australia to be heavily weighted toward the positive side. Since we had never even visited here, we took a big risk when we sold our house and appliances, stored some things, and moved to Brisbane.

It felt a little like jumping off the high board at a pool; you can tell yourself that others do this all the time, but it’s still scary. Nevertheless, as Aussies would say, we “gave it a go.”

For anyone in Cath’s position, we’d advise both caution and courage. She’s asking for advice about the water’s depth and how cold it will be, literally and metaphorically, so she’s being smart about the possibilities, and that’s wise.

It’s always good to be cautious and to investigate. But, if and when you feel ready, Cath, we’d say: come on in.  Our experience leads us to expect you”ll soon be judging that the water’s fine.