I remember when I first came out of the airport, I was conquered by the blue sky and comfortable environment here.
On April 28th, 2006, I landed in Australia with my family, and settled down with the help of an intermediary. Then, according to the guidance and the introduction of my friends, I chose a shop in Hurstville, where there are many Chinese, and did a small business for two years. In early 2009, I successfully moved to permanent residence, which can be regarded as a smooth settlement in Australia.
Later, I lived a relatively leisurely life and learned a slow-paced life from Australians. Open the store every morning 10, close it at 2 pm, and spend the rest of the time with my wife and children. There are many holidays here, and the time for serious work is only eight or nine months every year. The rest of the time is basically either on vacation or on the way to vacation.
The Christmas holidays here are longer. Our family usually goes back to Shanghai to see their parents during this period, and then their parents will come to Australia to see their grandchildren and experience the local life during the Chinese New Year. Festivals between China and Australia will not be delayed by either side.
My old father is old. Every time he comes to Australia, he has to walk a long way. It's actually very hard for him, but every time he comes, he is full of praise for the environment and life here.
After coming to Australia, it may be the reason for being happy. Old people talk more than at home. I probably summed up his feelings, and combined with my life experience in Australia for so many years, I think the following points can be shared with you.
Australian impression
With the development of the city and the improvement of population quality, uncivilized phenomena such as spitting, smoking in public places (especially this is the most intolerable), making a loud noise, jaywalking, car lane-changing, and messy streets in some areas can be seen everywhere in China.
The quality of Australians is not everything, but in the field of public morality, it is much better than that of China. Most Australians perform relatively well in public. There are few people spitting on the street. People who get up in the morning to walk their dogs will also bring shovels and take away their dog's excrement. People who litter can't say no, but there are very few, and everyone is more self-disciplined. So the streets in Australia are generally cleaner.
Tobacco control in Australia is strict, cigarettes are expensive, and few people smoke in public places. If you are a non-smoker, or have children around you, if you are affected, let the other person know that they will cooperate to quit smoking, or go to a distant place to smoke. In this respect, foreigners are more polite.
Unlike smokers in China, reminding him to pay attention is not only ignoring him, but also arrogant, and will be enthusiastic with you and deliberately spray you, which is very unprofessional.
natural environment
There is naturally nothing to say about the environment, and I don't need to say more. You must have heard a lot from the news or friends who have been to Sydney.
Sydney's harbor, blue sky, white clouds, fresh air, large areas of forests, parks and lawns are all worth having for you and your family.
Especially the parks and grasslands here are really a paradise for children. Every weekend, the children can't wait to hold me and his mother's hand and want to go to the park to play.
When I was in China, my wife and I were usually busy with work and business. My children spend the rest of their time in various cram schools except at home. Now that I think about it, I really owe him a lot.
Every time he comes to Australia, his favorite place is also the park near his home. He gets up every morning, goes for a walk in the park, and tells all kinds of experiences about foreigners when he gets home. He is very happy all day.
▎ Work and income
Sydney is the leader of the Australian economy. After living here for more than ten years, it seems that I rarely hear about the unemployment of Chinese. Unless you are particularly lazy and don't want to go to work, there are still many job opportunities as long as you are willing to do something.
Sydney's per capita annual salary is relatively high in Australia. Generally, blue-collar workers can get about 65,000 Australian dollars a year, nearly 400,000 RMB. But the prices here are more expensive, and the daily consumption and expenditure are higher than those in Melbourne, Victoria, Brisbane and Gold Coast, which is one of the reasons why many of my friends in China prefer to stay in Melbourne instead of Sydney.
At this income level, if both husband and wife have jobs, buying a house is hardly a problem. There are many China couples around me, who struggled in Sydney for several years and then started buying houses. Many people have bought more than one set.
The down payment of Australian real estate is relatively low, generally only 10% down payment is required, and the rental return rate is relatively high. If you have sufficient funds at hand, you can buy a small apartment with a down payment of 20% to realize monthly supply, which greatly reduces the pressure on housing supply.
Many friends around me especially like to invest in small apartments near those schools and rent them to China students studying in Sydney. On the one hand, students are easy to manage and feel at ease when renting out, on the other hand, the rental income is relatively stable. Ordinary apartments, two-bedroom units, the rent is about 350-600 Australian dollars per week, while houses are generally 500-700 Australian dollars per week.
But now many Chinese in Sydney are beginning to like buying that kind of single-family house. Although the price is higher, the pressure of housing supply is greater than buying an apartment. But if there are children at home, a spacious house and an independent garden can give children more room for activities and the atmosphere of family life will be much better.
In terms of price, fruits, vegetables, fresh food and other foods in Sydney are still relatively expensive. The price of vegetables is 7.99 Australian dollars per kilogram. However, in general, it will not exceed 10 Australian dollars per kilogram, and some low-priced vegetables can be bought at 0.99-2.99 per kilogram.
Immigrants like me have a high income in China, but when they first landed in Australia, they still carried forward the spirit of hard work, thrift and a little restraint because their business did not start and there was no new source of income.
After that, my career was on track, my life was more stable and I had a source of income. I quickly got used to these prices and didn't think they were expensive.
Children read books
When I first arrived in Australia in 2006, my child was only 5 years old. I have grown up from kindergarten to high school students now. Looking at this little adult, I am both happy and worried.
Fortunately, Australia's educational methods in the past ten years have made him more rational about himself, and now he has his own plans for his future career development.
Compared with many of his peers in China, this is still a little ahead of the times, which is where I agree with Australian education.
Schools here have emphasized taking children to experience social life and natural environment since kindergarten, and cultivating children's practical ability and practical skills. From a very young age, children begin to realize which field they have advantages in and what kind of career they are suitable for in the future, which is undoubtedly very helpful for him to embark on the society in the future and can reduce a lot of time for social practice and exploration.
The friends he played with in China as a child now spend most of their time studying and practicing in training classes, and most of them are very ignorant of society and life.
Psychologically, I think he is a little influenced by the Australian concept now, and he doesn't have to go to college. In the future, he will learn his favorite technology and take a professional route, so he can live well.
This is also my concern. Perhaps all Chinese immigrants of our generation can't get rid of the old educational concept. Although they have lived in Australia for more than ten years, they still believe that their children should take the elite route, and they can be admitted to better universities and make academic achievements in the future.
Because of this, when I chose to attend public and private schools, I resolutely decided to send him to private schools, hoping that he could get a better education.
Having said that, I have to mention the private education in Australia. In fact, judging from my children's learning experience, the competition among students in private high schools in Australia is not worse than that in China, and it is not as easy as expected. Many students will be eliminated in the second year of high school, and the academic pressure is still quite great.
In fact, no matter where you are, a child must make extraordinary efforts to live a better life in the future. As a father, I still hope he can stick to it.
A journey of transportation
Public transportation in Sydney is very developed, and most areas have subway connections. Going to work on weekends and shopping are convenient and punctual, which is no different from Shanghai and other first-tier cities in China.
If you do business here, or have children at home, you'd better buy a car, otherwise it will be very inconvenient to go out to talk about things or go shopping in the supermarket. Although it is a developed country, it is still vast and sparsely populated. It is normal to go out to buy a dish and drive for more than ten minutes.
Fortunately, the traffic management level in Sydney is relatively high and the roads are relatively dense. It won't be like Shanghai 10, driving for 9 minutes and being stuck in traffic, so Sydney is not limited. Large trucks can drive to the city center, and there is no limit on the number, let alone buying.
Sydney's car culture is also very good. Generally speaking, drivers and pedestrians are polite and obey the traffic rules. For example, if you enter the roundabout and give way to the right, as long as there is a car on the right, you must stop to give way and don't look at the left-because the car on the left will definitely let you. So there are thousands of roundabout in Sydney, not traffic lights, but orderly.
When the two teams of cars merge on the second line, they must automatically merge alternately, and one car on each side takes turns, which is fair and reasonable. If a car is stuck in a traffic jam, it will generally give way, and the car with a jam will generally raise its hand to express its gratitude. When the vehicle meets a pedestrian crossing the road, it stops to make way.
In a word, I like the traffic management there very much, but I'm not used to visiting relatives in Shanghai. I also hope that domestic traffic management departments can learn some advanced experience in this field.
▎ Medical care, social security and taxation
It is no exaggeration to say that everyone in Australia has a tax number. The phrase "consciously paying taxes" is not as simple as lip service in Australia. Whether you pay taxes truthfully or not is related to all aspects of your future life, such as applying for loans, receiving benefits, paying employees, receiving wages and so on. These will all involve tax issues.
Therefore, the first two major events for new immigrants to land in Australia are to open a bank account first, and then apply for a tax number in official website, the Australian Taxation Bureau.
A brief talk about welfare
Australia is a vast country with a small population, so the government will encourage women of childbearing age to have more children and give them considerable maternity subsidies.
After the baby is born, there will be milk money, which will be paid once every two weeks. Each child has about 50-300 Australian dollars. The exact amount depends on parents' income. The lower the income, the higher the subsidy.
There are many single mothers in Sydney, who can support a family by having more children without relying on work income.
▎ In medical care.
Australia is a country with universal health insurance, so going to public hospitals is limited and free. If you want to see a doctor for free, you must apply for a medical insurance card first. After getting the medical insurance card, you can reimburse the outpatient expenses treated in GP (which can be understood as family doctor, community doctor or general practitioner) and 85% of the expenses in the specialty. If your specialist charges Medicare directly, you don't have to pay the treatment fee (also called bulk billing).
If you want to go to a private hospital with better medical conditions, you can buy private medical insurance, so the scope of reimbursement is also larger.
Australia implements the family/general practitioner's first consultation system, that is, if you have any outpatient needs, you must go to the family doctor/general practitioner first. Every community medical center has a general practitioner, and patients can freely choose to make an appointment with any general practitioner and show their medical insurance cards when they see a doctor. Some general practitioners charge in batches, some general practitioners will charge you consulting fees and then give you invoices and bills, and you will go to the branches of medical insurance to reimburse the expenses yourself. The difference you pay is called the difference for short. Therefore, it is also possible to charge GP. Remember, not all general practitioners charge in batches.
Before seeing a doctor, be sure to ask clearly in person the expenses that need to be paid and the expenses that can be exempted, otherwise the illness will get worse after seeing the doctor and getting the bill.
▎ Daily consumption
The price in Sydney is relatively expensive in Australia, but the income is also high, so the quality of life is generally acceptable.
Usually my wife buys clothes, which is not my strong point and I am not sensitive to price, so I don't have much say. But according to my wife's description, it seems that the price is much cheaper than that in China.
In terms of food, China people can't get rid of their inherent eating habits wherever they go. Unfortunately, there are not many good Chinese restaurants in Sydney, which may be the reason why there are so many people in Hong Kong. The restaurants here cook more Cantonese dishes and the prices are more expensive. It is normal for a family to eat or entertain friends and customers, and an ordinary table costs several hundred Australian dollars.
Don't expect too much from the dishes and tastes, which can't be compared with domestic ones. Therefore, we usually eat at home.
It is worth mentioning that the seafood here is not only rich in variety, but also cheap. Especially lobster, you can eat about 1 kg of big lobster in the restaurant for 30 Australian dollars. Don't be surprised if you see abalone, oysters and salmon in Australian families. It's so ordinary!
Sydney fish market, and Chinatown fish market, all kinds of chilled marine fish, a 2 kg basic 20 Australian dollars 1 kg, and some stores only sell more than 20 Australian dollars. The fresh fish of salmon, cod meat and other large fish are generally 1 kg, that is, 10 to 20 Australian dollars, and the price of fresh shrimp and shellfish is mostly 16 to 22 Australian dollars per kg.
Now some fish markets can buy it, directly process it on the spot and match it with beer. Only those who have been there know how cool it is.
Once I took the old man to the emotional place to eat and drink. He is going to take off his coat and go into battle with his bare hands. He tried to eat seafood like a food stall in China, but I stopped him. I have repeatedly reminded him that this is not China. I can't do it. Although I am happy to eat and drink, I can't be too rude.
I don't know much about other aspects of consumption, such as entertainment and amateur culture, so it depends on my personal situation. Many Australian natives like to go to bars, surf and exercise, but China people don't like it very much. China friends around us usually get together for barbecue, hot pot and fish.
Mahjong and poker, the quintessence of our country, can't be counted in our daily expenses, because the rules are different everywhere, and there are very few friends in China around us who are very busy. It's hard to get a table together.
▎ renting and buying a house
Finally, talk about the house problem.
Whether in Sydney or other Australian cities, new immigrants or international students who have just arrived must sign a contract in the process of renting or buying a house to ensure that their rights and interests will not be harmed.
Before signing the contract, we must first confirm the ownership of the house and find out whether the owner or the second landlord is the owner. When signing a contract, you should pay attention to the terms of the contract, and don't sign it blindly before everything is clear.
Every state in Australia has a formal tenant contract, which covers the interests of both the landlord and the tenant. Take Sydney where I live as an example. Tenant contracts can be downloaded from the official website of NSW government. After concluding the contract and confirming the establishment of the factual lease relationship, the lease relationship between the two parties can be bound and protected by the official lease contract of NSW government.
In Sydney, the process of buying and selling houses is very simple. I don't usually have to go, but I must remember to find a lawyer to deal with related matters.
The buyer and the seller usually finalize the details of the contract by email, and then they just need to sign the contract, scan it and send it to each other. The remaining lawyers will help, and the relevant taxes and fees and the purchase price will also be paid through lawyers. Like buying a house in China, it is safe and worry-free to go to the tax bureau to handle the transfer.