Australia_bound?

Just wondering what is the main reason for people moving back to UK from Aus, is it down to missing family, not earning enough, disliking Australia or what?
We're heading off to Aus sometime in next 2 years and at times I do wonder what we're giving up and the risks involved, but have an itch that I must scratch.
Please give us some pointers to potential pitfalls

KRUSADR

Hello there,

Iam moving back next year not from Australia but Canada. After ten years of being here iam still not settled and iam fairly young still. The reason iam going back is because I miss the way of life in the UK, I miss being with my own people and miss the social aspect of life in the UK.

Everyone is different when they emigrate on how they react to being in a foreign atmosphere. Iam a dual citizen so at least I have choices.

All the best.

LittleMapes

I too am moving back from Canada ... for the similar reasons as Krusadr.

I left England very young, was only 11, so I haven't experience the UK lifestyle. Except from being spoiled by my parents. I'd like to take the journey i've longed for ever since I moved to Canada with my family 15 years ago.

I feel now is a better time than any. I'm still young, have nothing holding me back (Family excluded) so why not give it a shot. My Canadian Boyfriend of 5 years hasn't stepped outside Canada, so he is really looking forward to the experience as well. He is a great sport!!

I almost have my Canadian Citizenship, don't know why it took me 15 years to get, but it is in the works. So like Krusadr, I have a lot of options. If it doesn't work, i'm not afraid of returning if need be.

Don't want to live life going 'what if'

Plus... these winters are getting the better of me. I hybernate in Canada for more than half the year.

TruBrit

lots of threads about this esp folks moving back from aussie....check out the search button at the top of the page.

btw i'm moving back from 6 yrs in the usa simply coz it's home

Dave_Was

The only reason my wife and I will eventually go back to the UK is family. My mother and father are a few years away from retirement and I see how wonderful they are with their other grandkids and I want them to have that relationship with my children.

Also I see how close my nieces and nephews are with their Uncles and Aunts. I want that too.

Also with the extended family there seems to be events every couple of weeks, birthdays, religious events, etc. My wife and I miss that feeling of belonging and not just being stuck in the 9 to 5.

The only reason I'm not on the plane tomorrow, is that I'm trying to fight the homesickness and get my citizenship... but that's a long way aways.

Fleaflyfloflum

My numer one reason is family. I had 2 grandaughters born last year and one has a disability and i want to be there for my daugther and help see the girls grow up.
Second reason is my ever increasing dislike of Australia. I freely admit there are some great things here, but for me the bad far outweighs it. It just depends on your own individual personality.
I hate the sexism, corruption, dullness and lack of diveristy and challenge for my own particular personality. That is not to say for others it would suit them perfectly fine. Just not for me! And that is what i have experienced here.
In our case though, we never had any intention of coming to Aus when i first left UK. We went to live in my husbands home country of NZ but he got a great job offer in Aus so we decided to give it a go. There was never any big plan or dream of coming here.

Please try not to base your decisions on my experience or anyone elses. I know it is great to get feedback and weigh things up from research, but what might be hell for me could be your utopia.

Best wishes

quoll

I am not moving back but I wish I were. I go home every year for a sanity hit.

What is it about Australia that makes one want to leave? (dons Kevlar knickers in case someone from the barbie appears)

Well, living in a hot land with a drought is not all it is cracked up to be for starters - fine for a few years but then the novelty wears off and you realize that you spend your life lurching from one airconditioned environment to another and are royally ticked off when the power goes out or the aircon breaks. Outside you need to be slathered in spf 30 and you get paranoid about letting your kids out in the sun without it, not that they want to go out anyway because it is too hot and they would rather be in the aircon playing x box. When you do go out the flies try and crawl in every orifice you have and you develop a nice line in walking and waving your hands around like a demented mad man.

Aus is very same same - once you have seen one nice beach you have seen them all. There are lots of bling type tourist attractions but it is a bit like Blackpool - all tourist attraction and no substance. There is no history that grabs me or has any relevance to me, the culture is somewhat lacking (now if Rufus Sewell would only condescend to come and play on stage in Sydney I might revise my opinions).

Of course I miss my family - with ageing parents and one son in UK (he found the UK lifestyle and career path far better than Aus and never came back from his gap year - dont know if he will ever come back, he's having a good time!) I would obviously like to spend more time with them.

But it is more than that - I yearn for green grass, a real lawn not some rough fescue masquerading as grass. I ache for the rich patchwork of the countryside, for hedgerows that change with the seasons, for the variety of the country as you drive through it, for glimpses back into my ancestry with buildings built before the turn of the last century. I long for birds that tweet and dont SCREAM! at you (flock of cockies live in my neighbourhood can rival a 747 for decibels) - I have just realized that Aussie birds actually epitomize Australia for me all big and brash and showy not the quiet little restrained brown things that UK has except when you look closely there are some beautiful delicate bright colours in UK bird life. (Philosophical or what???!)

I dont belong here - never have - despite having lived and worked here for half my life. I have acquaintances but no real friends like those I drop into conversation with when I go home as if there had been no years between meetings. In general I find long term Aussies to be very insular and self centred - somewhat arrogant in fact (before everyone leaps down my throat - of course there are some beaut people out there I am just talking about generally what I have encountered in the past 29 years and 5 days!). This country is even more PC than UK because it is ingrained amongst the latte set who set much of the agenda. It will be worse under this govt because it always is under a Labor govt. We too are in the era of no nativity plays and "Happy Holidays" for fear of offending our huge multicultural cohort and dont try and buy a ham sandwich in Lakemba!

I dread getting old and dying here. With no state Old Age Pension and being a self funded retiree I am anxious that at 75 I might have to go back to work in order to survive (I'll send the DH, he is fitter than me). I see a retirement full of ?????? not much really. There is not that sense of community like the WI, village groups, etc that my parents and older UK rellies have access to - not that I envisage days of staring at the wall like my poor MIL (an Aussie in a nursing home) but there is not the variety of things to do. I see my friends of retirement age in UK and without a doubt their retirements are richer (in the general sense) than mine is going to be.

Dont get me started on education standards, law and order or any of those things because they arent as relevant as to why I want to go home but they certainly may feature in why others decide to head back.

Thanks for letting me vent, it helps me, even if it may not help the OP who, I am sure, will have a ball here and wonder why on earth we are all wittering on about how things here arent absolutely perfect.

manc1

Bloody hell quoll, have you ever thought of not getting on the plane back when your over there? How about staying over there for six months when you next go back. I'm sure hubby will understand. I enjoy your posts and your love of England, but I must admit it makes me very sad to think you love it so much and yet still stay here. Get that one way ticket girl and go for it.

quoll

Aw thanks!!!! I cry when I get on the train leaving Cambridge (so if you ever happen to meet a middle aged lady bawling her eyes out on the 8.56 from Cambridge to Liverpool St that will probably be me). Believe me I have thought of a one way ticket but the DH is the love of my life and I cope by controlling my thinking (thank goodness for CBT and ACT!) except for the times on here when I let rip (sorry chaps but you did ask!). Most of the time I am OK and, believe it or not, I feel heaps better now that I have found this board because here I can say what I really feel and dont harbour those thoughts that I must be nuts because I dont like living in "paradise". A periodic vent is good for my soul!

Marmalade

quoll - that husband of yours is so lucky to have you. What a sacrifice, for the love of your life

mattmc

This I feel is the main issue. After 17 months we both still do not feel settled. It is a very hard feeling to describe. It is a bit like being on the last half of the last day on a good holiday when you have you bags packed and you are looking forward to just getting home. I have never once pulled onto my driveway after work and thought it is nice to be home like I did in the UK. I actually don't miss any family and I am disappointed that I don't love being here...more like it's alright. People are very friendly though and the climate in QLD is great.

TraceyW

This is totally me.........well, except the bit about missing family, I do a fair bit.

I have always had that holiday feeling "It's been lovely, but can I go home now please?" kinda thing.

I too am fed up that it hasn't worked for me, only because my OH and kids have settled so well. I feel a right selfish mare taking them away from this but just like quoll, the thought of growing old here fills me with horror.

This place is not my home, never will be. My roots run too deep in the UK and it's where I need to be....warts n all.

manc1

[QUOTE=TraceyW;6156047]but just like quoll, the thought of growing old here fills me with horror.


Ditto

TruBrit

[QUOTE=manc1;6156077] ditto

Fleaflyfloflum

If i thought my old age was going to be spent here i would hang myself come 65!!!
RSL clubs, bingo, pokie machines and bowling clubs