How is life in australia ?

Travel Info
hi...i am an egyptian pharmacist.....

a friend of mine brought up the idea of migrating to australia !!!
so i was wondering how is life there.......stuff like...

is it easy to find work -i know ofcourse i've got to pass a few exams -
do imigrants get treated good there ?
where should i settle sydney or melbourne ?

i know these questions are so complex ...all i need is some simple answers to help me decide if i am gonna proceed or not ?

Travel Tips

Hi Leo, we migrated to australia from Lebanon around 20 years ago. your questions are hard to answer because it's all relative to your own expectations.

My husband and I both work, the kids went to school and now to uni. it's a comfortable life and I know that racism is mentioned above, we didn't experience anything beyond people asking you where do you come from.

I think it's a very friendly country - we live in Sydney- and although we still miss home sometimes, we don't regret the move at all.

Others
I have a cousin who lives in sydney, he migrated there and he loves the place, he tells me that people treat him really nice.

Good luck
Australia now has a multi-cultural outlook and encourages people to retain their cultural richness whilst being absorbed into the general community. Each year in Melbourne there is a local celebration where you will see national costumes from many parts of the world.
Syndey and Melbourne are the two largest cities, the downside of that of course is that property is more expensive than in other cities. Sydney grew in the early days with roads running around geographical contours so it is not such an easy city to get around if you travel much. The infrastructure of Melbourne is much better as the city layout was planned from the start so you can expect to find wide streets and good public transport using trains, bus service and trams. Because Melbourne is to the South of Sydney it is cooler.
The lack of rain is a problem here at the moment and both cities have low water reserves so there are water restriction uses in both cities.
Both places are friendly. I live in Melbourne from choice.
There are a few good web-sites you can visit, simply do a search on the internet, but be aware that there is more than 1 Melbourne in the world so make sure that you are looking at the right one.
i have lived in sydney for 7 years, auckland, newzealand for 9 years, and have found new zealand much better! this is because, australia gets much too hot in the summer, doesnt have many parks, not as friendly ( a lot of racism). though it isnt that hard to find work.
Leo, contact the Pharmacy Guild of Australia who may be able to assist you with pharmacy questions. Private pharmacies in Australia sell a lot of other health related materials and cosmetics. Hospital pharmacies of course are different, and deal only in drugs. While you would have to pass satisfy Australian pharmacist requirements you may be able to work as an assistant while you do so.

I used to know a man from Alexandria. Here is an example of his work in Australia.

http://www.bowen.qld.gov.au/tourism/mura...

Australia welcomes immigrants, specially with skills and even more so if they have some command of English. I would recommend that you look at places other than Melbourne or Sydney. Personally I would make it a condition of immigration that people not stay in these cities for their first few years.

Public Safety
Crime rates are low. The murder rate is a fraction of that in the USA since Australians are rarely armed fatal injuries are rare. It used to be considered dishonourable to carry any kind of weapon. Most crime seems to be petty theft and housebreaking by the drug addicts. Prostitution is now legal in controlled houses and some forms of gambling have always been legal so there has been little chance for organised crime to get big.

Road death rates are lower than they are in some western European countries. The last heavy aircraft crash was in 1960 and there have been three rail accidents with loss of life among railway passengers since 1970. All were near Sydney.

AIDS has a low incidence and there have been few deaths in the past seveal years. As soon as it emerged in the 1980s the Gov鈥檛 of the day started a major public awareness campaign. Sufferers are usually male homosexuals and intravenous drug users. A few non-fatal diseases are slightly more common than average in some areas, but there are no endemic diseases. There is no malaria except among people who have brought it into the country and tuberculosis is all but unheard of. Some of the more stupid people refuse to immunise their infants and there have been a few local cases of whooping cough. The last diphtheria case was in 1992. The larger cities and towns are well supplied with doctors who are trained to international standards, or better. Hospitals range from slightly sub-optimal to good. There are government and private health insurance schemes which have varying amounts of cover depending on how much you pay.

Housing
Most Australian housing is in separate suburban bungalows or the cottages. There is usually only one floor and no basement. Typically houses built before about 1970 have 3 bedrooms, one bathroom. After that many houses were built with an "ensuite" which is a shower booth and water closet attached to the master bedroom with a full bathroom elsewhere. Kitchens generally are small but well appointed. Most houses do not have pantries or "dens". Recently though land prices have risen while the cost of building has fallen so newer houses are larger and better appointed. I have just paid yearly land tax of $758 on an 鈥渦nimproved land value鈥?of $269,666. This tax would be the same whether the house was big, small or non-existent. This tax does not include water supply or sewerage charges.

Major cites and most medium to small towns have sewer systems and safe water supplies. Cable TV and mobile (cellular) phones in larger towns. There are up to 5 free-to air TV networks available, multiple AM and FM radio stations. The landline phones work.

Land and house prices and rents vary with locality. I've seen houses sell here recently for a million but they are at the top end of the local market. I live 20 minutes walk from a major employment centre and a large shopping mall. There is an elementary school five minutes walk away (set to close unfortunately) with a convenience store, small children's play area, sports ground, park, restaurant, local general practice medico nearby. There are Catholic and government high schools within twenty or thirty minutes walk.

A natural gas pipeline and a coaxial cable for phone, I'net and cable TV run past the door. Power supply is 240V 50Hz and reliable. It went off the other day as some work was being done - must have been off 8 minutes. That's the only power cut for months and the previous one lasted about as long. For more details on Australian power see the following site and follow the link for type 鈥淚鈥? from the 鈥淐omment鈥?column.

http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm...

This city's population is about 310,000. The house is an older one with three bedrooms and one bathroom, separate garage, brick construction, tile roof, central heating on a gas furnace.

There are several real estate dealers (realtors) who operate nearly Australia-wide, look for websites for "The Professionals" and "LJ Hooker" among other reputable companies. In country towns you can get good houses for around AU$120,000 or less. It all depends on whether the population is growing and how much work there is. I've heard of one whole village being sold for a few thousand, which was a local joke here a few months ago.

Income tax is levied by the Federal Government. On a salary of $65,000 you can expect to pay about $17,000 tax. Another federal tax is the Goods and Services Tax. This is levied at 10% on all goods except fresh uncooked food. A third federal tax which many people never have to pay is capital gains tax. This is levied on investments once disposed of, if the value has risen. If the investment is held for more than about five years (don鈥檛 quote me) then the tax is not payable.

You will not pay any direct taxes to the State governments unless you buy and sell land, apartments or a car. State governments also tax cars every year with registration fees, these are a few hundred dollars. I have a V8 coupe and recently paid $740. This included third party injury insurance.

Citizenship has required at least 4 years residence though there has been a move recently to tighten things up a bit, maybe put in a minimum competence in English.

Look on the net for Australian embassies and consulates. There will be a consulate in Cairo and probably Alexandria too. They will supply you with details of visas etc.
http://www.guild.org.au/
To the point, no sugar-coated answer:

Generally Australians are tolerant people when it comes to dealing people from various background and ethnicity. But to be on the safe side, stick to the big cities. Not sure about outbacks. Never been to the outbacks, rumors had it that people are not that tolerant on that part of Australia. But, I can't make judgment not having lived in the Outback.

However, Australians expect migrants to integrate, or at least make the effort to integrate to the mainstream society, i.e. speak English, respect and practice Australian democratic principles.
Occasionally, racist attitude might be felt. Cronulla racial riots in Sydney not too long ago just proved that. But it is an exception, not the norm.

SYdney or Melbourne? Melbourne by far. Sydney is too crowded, people are rather rude, indifferent, and cold, not to mention expensive to live there, and property price has skyrocketed to the north pole.

Melbourne, while a big city, has a much livelier atmosphere, people are more friendly, and the weather is cooler (Except summer when Melbourne can get 40+ degree Celcius from time to time).