Best Surf/SUP destination for young couple moving abroad!?

[Debs Nona]

hey guys

I'm in love with Surfing/Stand Up paddle Boarding so we want to move somewhere with awesome conditions (currently living in devon)

Sydney has been playing in our minds, but the fact everyone has said its expensive has put me off as well as the idea of maybe moving to Hawaii or more exotic location. any suggestions?

What puts me off Hawaii is the fact we'd be buying into the american system- eg health care with bad economy etc

Jobs are also important of course, the boyfriend works in Marketing and Architecture

Me on the other hand am studying law, hoping to go into the Refugee area

these are obviously important points in making the decision.
We are planning on staying abroad for however long as possible if everything works out

does anyone have any experience or wisdom they could pass on?

[jaffa1949]

Have a look at Western Australia, if you are a young couple then the higher end of incomes is there, +easy access to Indonesia and epic surf in the SW Margaret river area. Perth is an ideal SUP area as it doesn't get as big a surf as often as the SW.

Sydney is expensive as the 3 million surfers there will testify, fortunately they are working so hard to pay the rent only 2 million are surfing on any good day.
Refugee advocacy or work therein may or may not be available depending on current election outcomes!

Luckily English law studies translate well to the Australian system, not sure about bridging requirements or reciprocity between Universities.
Check with Australia House in London for a heads up just don't mention the cricket

[dtc]

Young law student wanting to do refugee law...nice to see idealism still around. In Australia, if you want to do refugee law then you are basically going to be in Sydney or Darwin (no surfing in Darwin - I'm assumming SUPpers get eaten by the crocs (like they deserve...)) or maybe Melbourne; or if you want to act for the evil empire (the govt) then there is a bit of work in Canberra (no surf there either). Perth doesnt have a great deal.

Transferring over once you are admitted in the UK does require a bit of extra study; but remember that is after you are admitted (completed articles/traineeship or whatever). Until then you cant get qualifications here. That said, just like in the UK, there are plenty of grad lawyers around in Australia so its not that easy to get a job. There are jobs associated with law, like community liaison officers helping new arrivals navigate the system and so forth, but a lot of these jobs are not in surf locations and, in any case, apparently Australia will no longer be 'bothered' by refugees under our potential new government overlords.

You may want to get a working holiday maker visa and resign yourself to just backpacking around in temp jobs for 12 months then heading back to the UK. After you have a bit of experience in law, you can see if anyone is hiring in Australia. Remember that being from the UK gives you no immigration advantages in Australia, so its not just a matter of choosing Sydney or Perth and then getting a visa. In particular, if you have no work experience then its hard (impossible?) to get a work related visa; you may want to look at the skilled independent visa (after you graduate and its not easy to get) or potentially look at transferring to an Australian uni for a year or so while you are a student. But working holiday is definitely the easiest (assuming you are under the age limit - I think its 28 but you should look that up).

Now, having been all negative, if your boyfriend is able to get a job here, then I am pretty sure you can tag along as well. So even if legal jobs are not available, he might be able to get something if he is more experienced and you can surf all day.

As to where to go - well, anywhere in Aust between Noosa and, I guess, Cable Beach (going southward) has surf.

[Ged]

The Azores or somewhere in the South Pacific.

[Aqualife]

Moving abroad. Well. First of all you need to sort your immigration status. We can tell you about the weird and wonderful places in the world that have good surf. Whether you can get in is another matter. Hawaii (the US) is incredibly difficult to get into, to get a job and to get settled, unemployment is high and they don't even like mainlanders much, so non-Americans have it even harded there...
Australia's immigration system isn't that easy either. Plus it's expensive and visas take time to come through. So giving you advice on places such as Hawaii and/or Australia is pointless unless you know that you actually have a chance to get a visa and move here. Unless you wanted to come and work illegally or on an extended holiday/working holiday.
According to your post, it sounds like you are in the dreaming, not the actual planning stage.
Once you have set the wheels in motion, it would be a lot easier to help you with suggestions.
No matter where you go, you will need a whole bunch of cash to make it happen. Emigrating ain't cheap unless you have an employer that picks up the bill for you,
Sorry to sound so negative but every single European backpacker I meet wants to stay, live in the sun and surf (nothing wrong with that) and no one seems to have much of a plan to make it happen.