Moving to Australia. Good for horselovers?

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JinglebellJessi & MistletoeMagic

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Evening ladies and gents.

My partner has alot of family in Australia, his cousin is a sucessfull jockey and racehorse trainer. I've never considered moving until i found out that before he met me he was going to move over there for a better quality of life.
He had it all planned, all visa's and requirements and literally dropped it when i met him.
I've since brought him up on it and he said that's what he really wanted to do but if im happy here then he'll stay.

Now i've been looking at the gorgeous cheap houses, sandy beachs and wealth of equine related jobs but i want to know...

Whats it like? Is it horsey? What areas are most horsey? Have you made the move, with or without shipping a horse? And is it really a better quality of life?
Any information welcome
Thanks! (:
 
I've just returned from a work trip out there and would happily move out there- what a wonderful country!!

As you know, it's huge and very spread out so I guess it depends where his family are? I was west of Melbourne and there were loads of horses around
 
Have you asked this in the Overseas section?

I think there are several people from Australia on here, you just have to be up at weird hours to catch them awake ;)

I imagine that management would differ because of the climate, it was a massive horse culture shock to me when I moved to Canada.
 
I worked in a racing yard in Melbourne and a polo yard in Sydney there, it was ok not great.
Money is decent enough but im telling you the heat and flies are a killer during the summer. And dont expect a whole load of time off either and VERY early starts. 3.30 or 4 am is the norm in racing and during the summer about 6 ould be normal in other places because of the heat

I was talking to someone who used to event but she gave up as she said the distance between events was massive!

Biggest horsey areas are around Melbourne, around Sydney and around Adelaide.
As far as im aware there is not much going on in northern Terrority, a bit in queensland but not much and there are quite a few horses in Tassie but its an island with only half a million people so I wouldnt bother. Dont know anything about WA, prob a bit going on in perth

Check out yard and groom for jobs and racingjobs.com.au for racing jobs

What area of horses are you looking of going into


Also I hate to admit it but the sterotypes of aussies being racist isnt wrong, id say about half the population of the major cities were born in Asia and its kinda pissing off the aussies.

Quality of life is good, no better than back home really obviously the major plus is the weather but when they get bad weather its really bad!

and one word of warning it is probably the most expensive country in the world for example one of the shopping centres was once doing an offer for those normal 500ml small bottles of coke and it was 2 for $5!! Like that is not an offer ha


Probably sounds like I hate Oz ha but I dont it was nice and Im definately going back on hols as soon as Iv more money! I just did not like working with horses over there
 
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Depends what bit. WA there is a bit of stuff going on, but get used to travelling long distances to get anywhere. Only problem in WA is it can be horrendously hot, and the flies (certainly when I lived there) were unimaginable. You also have lots more ticks etc to live with.

That said, in WA at least you have endless amounts of beach riding, I would assume anyway, if cars are allowed on there, can't see why horses wouldn't be :)
 
Thanks! Didnt think id even get this many replies as they'd all be asleep! No idea what area. I'll ask him, im just bored at work and mulling it over.
I have college qualifications in animal studies as veterinary practice. But would love to work with either animals or horses. Currently a carer so turn my hand to anything really.
Moneys got to be better than the pitiful £3.01 an hour im on here.

I never paid attention in geography so know nothing about the country except its on the otherside of the world!
 
Minimum wage is 15 dollars an hour,
Expect a bit more than that with the horses but less than 20, if you do go make sure they put you down as resident for tax purposes as youl be taxed at like 40% otherwise

That might seem like loads but its not really when you put it into perspective,

I was living in a house 20 min by train outside melbourne city, no internet, no furniture in my room besides my bed, no air con (and it hit 40 a couple of times) and I was paying $178 a week just for my room! :(

I prob could have got something a bit better (not much though) but couldnt afford the massive deposits they ask for so this house was one the racing yard owned
 
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Ah, you see everyone wants to move to a hot country but no one wants to live there with no air con, wusses :p

I paid $165 a week for an unfurnished 2 bed unit (lots of fun at garage sales!) 100m from the beach, and a 10 mins walk to my office and the small town centre. I wasn't quite out in woop woop, but it was proper small town aus. I have a friend in Brisbane paying $800 a week for a family house :eek:

To give you a small intro to geography the distance from Sydney to Perth is about the same as London to Moscow, you will think nothing of driving 6 hours for a weekend away :)
 
Jessi&Magic said:
Thanks! Didnt think id even get this many replies as they'd all be asleep! No idea what area. I'll ask him, im just bored at work and mulling it over.
I have college qualifications in animal studies as veterinary practice. But would love to work with either animals or horses. Currently a carer so turn my hand to anything really.
Moneys got to be better than the pitiful £3.01 an hour im on here.

I never paid attention in geography so know nothing about the country except its on the otherside of the world!
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How can you be paid £3.01 an hour?? Minimum wage is about £7 squid?

I couldn't cope with horses in that heat - Taz might be less blazing sunshine but would be more comfy for horses I'd think....also I would miss the culture and history here.
 
Because the care industry is a sneaky one.
I'm a live in carer. I get paid £500 a week for 168 hours. All week, 0 breaks. an hour a day here or there occasionally but according to management not obligatory. Monday to monday.
D:

I don't know how id deal in the heat, obviously will have a holiday or two there to check out the scenery. He's been hundreds of times but ive never been
 
Years ago I had a job in Perth handling yearlings for the sales, no idea what I earned, I just drank it all! I was 18 and loved it.
Then we moved up to Newman, a mining town, and I exercised peoples horses. It was so hot - 38 degrees in summer - and flies like you wouldn't believe. You get used to it though, and the horses coped OK.
I loved Oz, but Australian men are one step behind Neanderthal - I was married to one so am qualified to comment!! Sexist, racist and generally ignorant. How is that for a stereotype!!
 
I spent just under 10 months there last year. The majority of it was spent in WA, with some spent in Sydney, and some 5 hours north of Sydney, which was apparently just outside the city!
I worked with racehorses, and earned roughly $21 an hour, double time on sundays, and the work was ok. That said, I found the way they dealt with the horses wasn't quite what I liked to see. Cost of living in Sydney, (I was in Rosehill so not central) was over $200 a week for a room in a house, but was much cheaper in WA.
As to the weather, well we had a cyclone while I was in WA, and we had no power for over a week, and I was not in the sticks, only 15 minutes out of the city.
Yes I loved it, no I wouldn't be likely to ship my horses over and stay there.
I also did loads of driving, and saw loads of the country. One of my friends has moved over there and is working in racing in Melbourne and loves it.
 
Clodagh said:
I loved Oz, but Australian men are one step behind Neanderthal - I was married to one so am qualified to comment!! Sexist, racist and generally ignorant. How is that for a stereotype!!
Click to expand...

Lol at this, and in agreement, especially the WA men IMHO, all that heat and flies is what does it I reckon. I spent a week doing botany surveys in the middle of nowhere on a mine near Port Hedland, hot hot hot, and flies everywhere. Our Christmas in the south (esperance) it was 45 degrees for 5 days straight, and we were camping :o
 
Hi,
I got back into horses once I moved over here, so don't have any experience of transporting a horse to here.
Good for horse lovers? yes, I think so. Yes, you'll see different ways of dealing with horses, some of which I dont' like, some are fine, they just aren't the BHS way, but you find people who aren't good horse handlers any where.
Feeds are different, tack and equipment can be different, but you soon learn where to look for supplies.
Weather will depend on the area you are looking at moving to, the northern states ( north WA, Nt and Qld ) are tropical, will get cyclones and very humid weather, everything from feeding to paddock management will be different to the UK.
Southern states ( Tas', NSW, Vic, SA, south WA, ACT ) generally have colder winters and hotter summers ( up to 45degrees ), are more bush fire prone. Flies can be a pest. You change your habits to cope, I ride at 6am in the summer, more for my sake than my horse.
I feel I have a much better standard of living out here, yes, accommodation can be expensive, depending on the area you want to live. ( I'm origonally from the south of England, and lived in London for years, so maybe I have a scewed idea of how expensive the uk is to live in? )
Interesting comment about Australia being rascist... I've just got back from a trip to London, and was surprised how intolerant people seem to be there now.... just a matter of opinion I guess.
Australians are proud of their country and I have found them friendly and welcoming, as long as you don't say anything negative about the place.
Lonely planet and Rough Guide books are a good starting point for ideas on where to visit, some of the australian horse forums might be worth a look as well. ( cyberhorse forum, horseYard.com.au or Horsezone )
Feel free to pm me for more specific info
kx
 
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If you happen to be an Arabian anorak, Australia has some of the best Crabbet Arabian studs in the world, having the good sense to value the "old" lines and not be swayed by the fashion for 'extreme' types which became fashionable in the 1990's in the rest of the world.
 
I haven't long got back from a 2 week holiday out there & I loved it. If it wasn't so far away I wouldn't think twice about moving. My OH has spent a year working out there & loves the lifestyle, says its much more laid back than the UK.

Horse wise, obviously I wasn't there for long & we were based in Melbourne & didn't leave Victoria but there were a lot of horses about, my OH surprised me by booking beach ride for us which was amazing. They have a lot of horse & carriages about in Melbourne & one day we were walking down the road & I told my OH I could smell horses & how nice it was, he said I was weird as we couldn't see any, the tram near us moved & there was one behind it. It's obviously like a second sense.

As for racist, again I wasn't there long but I don't think my OH has had any issues with this, I did ask a man on our campsite for a bottle opener & he got very excited because I was a "pom" but I didn't really think it was anything to be offended by, it cheered him up anyway.
 
I went out on a working holiday many years back and ended up staying for 8yrs! However I did not like big city life and spent most of my time on the border of SA and Vic living in a farming area. I started as a polo groom (low goal) for some 'hobby' players - what a great time exercising 6 polo ponies (aka ex-racers) who also doubled up as stock horses. I helped with cattle mustering too which was awesome fun. Once I decided to stay, i got an office job in a nearby town but owned a number of horses. You learn to adapt your horse care to the conditions. As horses were still used a lot on farms, there were plenty of decent farriers around and plenty of feed stores and a couple of good tack shops. We were 4-5hrs from either Melbourne or Adelaide which both have active showing communities. Polocrosse is a very popular sport out there as is campdrafting and we thought nothing of driving 6-8hrs for a weekend event!
I loved the lifestyle but once I had my son I found the isolation very hard to deal with without my family around me and eventually came home. i still miss some aspects of the lifestyle - the laid back life, mustering cattle, packing up a truck of horses and camping out somewhere, proper BBQ's and the whole social scene around campdrafting but I did find the quality of fruit and veg was poor, costs of living generally higher, the weather was 40'c one hour then a cold front would whip through and plunge the temperature down to 20'C - still hot by our standards but it felt cold after the 40'C!! Flies and dust were a nuisance but nothing beats a proper ice-cold beer at the end of a hot day :)
 
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LOL I don't know anything about Australia - but New Zealand is Paradise on Earth!! At least the North Island, where I live is!! Nothing too extreme in temperatures or rainfall, not too many people (yet!) land/house prices aren't too bad, but wages aren't too high to balance things up. I know a number of 'Poms' who have emigrated here (including hubby and myself) and we love it!! No snakes or nasties either!! There are white tailed spiders, but they are nasty rather than life threatening!! No Adders or grass snakes.....
 
I am wondering if anyone could help with my current situation. My partner has moved to Brisbane for work and I am still in the UK with my beloved horse.

I have advised him I will only move out if I can take my horse - I have a trip planned for September to check it out but I am hoping someone here can advise me.

I have an ex racer (very pampered hoss indeed) - what is the weather like year round in this region? Are there many liveries around Brisbane with stabling and a school? Is there an active dressage community around this area? I have tried the usual online searches but it''s always good to hear people's experiences :-)
 
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