How do I research my move to Australia?

So you are thinking of or are in the process of moving to Australia..

There are many factors that will influence your decisions. Some of these factors that effect your decision will be climate, social aspects, employment, cost of living, schooling and just general background. Obviously the long process it takes to aquire a visa from the Australian immigration board gives you a lot of time to do your homework.

Obviously the first way to do research is to surf the internet via something like google.

There are many online blogs and diaries out there, such as mine that focus on Immigrating to Australia.

Another option is to buy a few books on Australia which can be used as bed side reading. This will often give you a heads up on why things are the way they are in Australia, how to survive, what to expect and also general info on where to holiday and so on.

A do's and dont's book about Australia that I can recommend is
Didgeridoos and Didgeridon'ts: A Brit's Guide to Moving Your Life Down Under

A truthful book about moving to Australia
The Australian Alternative The first candid book about moving to Australia-the good points as well as the bad

Another excellent book on exploring Australia is :
Fodor's Exploring Australia, 7th Edition (Exploring Guides)

This book is a great guide to Australia :
Australia (Country Guide)

Forums
There are many excellent forums that you can use.

The first one I use is Poms in Oz. This is an excellent forum with endless information and communities to talk to and to share their experiences. Although this is mainly a UK to Australia immigration/moving forum, it is populated by people from all over the planet and is an excellent source of information around immigration, visa and Australian experiences

The second major forum I use is sa-australia.org. This is mainly for South Africans moving/immigrating to Australia. This is also an excellent source of immigration material. In both the above forums there are warming and heart rending stories of peoples immigration experiences. Good to read as there is something for everyone.

Lastly, if you can network with people, friends and family who are in Australia you will find that you will gain a lot of insight. Beware though, as peoples opinions about their move to Australia are skewed by their personal experiences and circumstances. I had one old lady tell me that the Northern beaches were full of racist thugs. And this was so untrue and misleading. A viewpoint she has held for 10 years because 10 years previously there had been a drunken racial punchup outside some bar? go figure. Compared to many other places the idea here of thuggery is nothing.

Any way happy researching and remember you will not be able to really feel it out until you live here..

later..
Byron