malpjc

hello all,
i thought the mrs and i had gone through all the pros and cons of leaving what we have here and starting again in oz.i have posted a couple of subjects on here about wether we are doing the right thing or not and the majority of people that replied said we should stay in the uk and carry on with the things we had planned prior to moving to oz came up.
i have asked the opinions of the people that have returned to the uk why they moved back etc,etc but what i would like to know is ,from all of you that are really happy that you made the right decision,are there things that you find yourself regretting or things that you never gave any thought to that are now making life hard.as my title suggests i only want the truth,i've had all the "only you can decide " stuff,which was appreciated but this is to see how many of you ,although are happy ,still have doubts.thanks

owieb

No regrets, no doubts, life is easy.......honest!

soapy©

[QUOTE=owieb]No regrets, no doubts, life is easy.......honest! [/QUOTE

me too !!!!

podgypossum

I love my new country, i love living here, and i dont want to live anywhere else right now...BUT...

My husband has had to fly back to NZ to see his father who is dying. This makes me realise just how far away from loved ones you are. This is my only regret.

Saying that though, if i knew this was going to happen, i still think we would have come. May sound harsh, but we need to live OUR life too. Because of the heartbreak we are going through, you feel very torn apart, but who said life is easy?

I guess its just something you have to weigh up

soapy©

what a great way to put things

Trevglas

I have yet to see my first grandchild (born June this year), but hopefully that will be recitified by a business trip back to the UK later this year

ANA123

I am undecided as to whether we'll stay in Oz forever or just a couple of years, but either way I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever about coming and experiencing it, and you cannot possibly, however much research you do, know if its for you without trying it.

yvsie

I personally have no regrets either. Glad we came to experience it....dont want the 'rocking chair' scenario.
Its kinds weird because i dont know whether I can actually imagine myself growing older here..but then again I cant imagine going back either.
Mind you...| suppose I cant imagine getting 'old' ...period!

The main thing as pp says is the distance when rellies get sick or something happens and you just wish you could give a certain person a cuddle

One thing that we have found is very difficult is dealing with feelings....your own, your childrens and your rellies back in the Uk or where ever you are from................when you're having a bad day..feeling down....cos Im sure other people do....and your daughter is very down too...its difficult to deal with....Ive felt like the worlds worst mum at times for dragging my children here..although I know in time they will thank me for it...I hope!

The other thing thats hard to deal with is...if something goes wrong...you cant help but blame being here....although in your heart you know that's not true.


There.....the truth!


:scared: ...all at the same time!!!!!

Teresa

Personally think you just have to do it to know, otherwise will always be wondering how things could have been......

We are totally happy here right now and, of course, we miss people but funnily enough they are busy getting on with their own lives too, phone calls for hours are reasonable and flights too so we are seeing family very soon and have people booked up for the next year which is great as we spend alot of time doing reccies for places to take them.

Also if you put yourself out to meet people it will happen, I have made some great friends from this site and just being here, it totally makes up for anything I've left behind, prob more as you all understand where you're coming from.

Teresa

Pollyana

Hmm, on the whole, yes, I'm happy. Though until I got my new job I was really really down - the old one just left me depressed and dwelling on how good my job back in England was. Now I'm in a better, friendlier place and enjoy the work more,that has made a major difference to my feelings. I have gone through the depths of misery, I have hated every minute of some days and cried myself to sleep at night, but I never seriously considered going back. I always knew I would take time to adjust cos I hate change and I have a new marriage to deal with as well as a new life - and a marriage where we couldn't live together for ages and "try each other out" first - it was straight in at the deep end.
6 months is a hellish time, you realise you've been here half a year. I expect when I hit the year barrier I shall get another bout of homesickness (or peoplesickness, cos its friends/family I miss, not the place). Silly things spark off twinges of longing - i watched my former local airfield having its airshow this weekend - via webcam, I wanted to be there, like I normally am. I found a bottle shop with UK beer at the weekend, I was delighted, but I thats because I like the stuff, more than because it reminds me of the UK. When it comes down to it, I wouldn't really want to go back and live in the UK, deep down I love it here, I just need to get used to it.

The only thing I don't yet do automatically, is call Australia home - but then I no longer call the UK home either.

My advice to you - read all the views, all the opinions, but remember - each of us has a different life and a different reason for being here. And take some of us long-term posters, go bak a couple of years, and follow our posts, that way you will follow our expectations, our disappointments, and our problems settling in. Then you will realise, No-one can tell you how YOU will react, or how quickly YOU will adjust.........

Good luck

Pants

That was so well put Polly.

I can relate to so much of what you have said...but of course I'm not staying however I cetainly don't regret having come here. Life experienes , good and bad.

chocaholic

I had a little practice at emigrating a short distance away before doing the long haul to Oz I lived in Holland for a long time (having married a Dutchman). I can remember in the beginning that every small thing that was different annoyed me: food shopping, peoples' manners, country being flat - busy etc etc. I also only remembered the good things about the UK and in my mind the UK was becoming a Utopia. Anyway, it was easy to put everything in perspective just by hopping on the boat to Harwich. Now I'm older and a tiny bit wiser, I'd say there are only little things I miss about both countries. When I was last in the Uk, contrary to what some others say, I found people to be very friendly in shops & pubs - and the countryside to be beautiful and green.

However, the only things I really miss - every now and then - are close friends and family - but this is not enough to keep me in Europe. Another weird thing is, if I see something in a shop or supermarket that is quintessentially British or Dutch - I must buy it

Badge

I'm a bloke from a family that is not that close so I never get those 'feelings' of homesickness and family that you hear so much about. I spent all my late teens and 20s 'away' having to look after myself. They interest me as I can't imagine what a downer it must be. My brother is away in the Middle East and my old man is happy in the UK but will visit. He will love the Aussie countryside. My mother lives happily in Wales. All have been invited.

My feelings now are that I am in a place that is perfectly me. I can't explain it any other way. The UK is now a distant memory - (I've only spent 2 years there the last 7). My family is here - my fantastic wife, and we have every prospect now of raising a family in what is for us, an idyllic environment in a way only millionaires could achieve in the UK.

My only regret was that I wasn't born here myself. I am happy and excited of the prospect that I can watch my kids grow up here though. We are on a massive semi-rural block in the hills in NE Melbourne.

BM

mlbonner

I've been through the 6 and 12months homesickness barrier, I then went home for 5 months to sort out my visa. Loved being in the UK, loved my friends, my family, driving my little car around!! I've now been back in OZ five weeks; I have good days and bad hours. I had two interviews on Friday, this was a good day. I got an email from my mum saying how much she misses me on Saturday, and had a bad few hours. Living with the guilt of leaving my family is something I am finding the hardest to deal with, but time will make that better I am sure.

Would I leave OZ again, no. Do I think it'll be easy every single day I'm here, no.... but then it wasn't in the UK either

Phoenixuk2oz

I also agree with what others have said afore me.

It's only natural for Expats, wherever in the world they come from, to miss something about their former country. Everyone likes some form of familiarity about them, whether that's the food they are used to eating, the clothes they are used to buying or friends and family being able to drop by....

I think the mistake sometimes is to think Australia is much more like the UK than it actually is. The main thing we have in common is the language, apart from that it's VERY VERY different in many, many ways. Once you start to accept and appreciate those diferences rather than expect it to be the same then I personally think it gets easier as there's a kind of acceptance that the two don't even compare. Aus and UK or Aus and wherever are different and unique in their own right, with good and bad about each of them.

No two people are the same, we're also unique and yet very similar in lots of ways but nobody else can prepare you for how it's going to be for you. Only YOU can do that through your own experiences. Australia is not everyone's cup of tea, but then neither is the UK or wherever else in the world. YOU have to take the risk, or not as the case may be. It aint plain sailing......one thing I have realised is that there are "waves" of good and bad days....but then we get those kind of days wherever we live dont we? The good thing is there are many communication paths that we can now take in order to alliviate or help with "people sickness" e.g webcams, telephones, internet etc. Thank goodness for these cos it must have been desperatley hard for those before us who literally had no one to ask before coming and had no idea where they were going and no way of talking to relatives in thier home country once they'd got here

In summary Australia is different, it's got good bits and it's got bad bits, you'll have good days and you'll have bad days and you probably will never know if Australis suits your particular lifestyle or you / your family until you try it.

For us, for now, we love it. For all it's idiosyncracies [sp?]....it's better than we expected, and more different to UK than we expected ....

And for those who have tried it and gone back, I admire that they took a calculated risk, they tried it and it wasn't for them. It's a bloody difficult enough and costly enough decision to take in the first place, and to go back makes that twice as hard. It just goes to show though that the worse that can happen...... is you can go back

Good luck in your decison and I wish you and your family the best whichever path you decide to take