killerhales

As long as your partner has a firm job to go to I would go for it.

There will never be a better time for you to do this, as your kids are the perfect age, as they are not yet at school and they will love anywhere that you love.

I left the UK in '95 with my wife and a one year old and have not been back since (via a few countries we arrived here in Oz in 2005). Whilst we will probably not stay here forever, Sydney is a great place to live.

And we found playgroup the best place to make friends and still have friends in other places that we made in playgroup 15 years ago.

The other thing to think about is the age of your parents, in my experience the distance gets harder as they get older, so if you wait it will get more difficult to go, just like with the kids.

As other posters have said, if it doesn't work out, you can always go back, at least you won't be wondering "what if?"

Posters on this site can be a bit negative about Australians. They love to take the mickey out of us Poms but as long as you can fire back you'll be fine.
There is an overall positiveness here which I don't believe is to the same extent back in the UK.

Good luck whatever your decision.

oz bound

If it were me I would go for it. You have a job to come to, and the kids are young enough to adjust well if you do come. How about coming with the view of being here for 2 years purely for the experience and then going back. If you love it after the 2 years you could stay for longer! Nobody can make the decision for you and you shouldn't let parents, siblings etc affect your decision either, you need to think of your family unit and what is best for them and base your decision on that. If you were told you couldn't come how would you feel? Would you be sad and disappointed? Do you think you would regret it in a few years if you didn't come? It will be difficult there is no denying that and you will feel lonely at times but so long as you stay positive you'll get on fine. Kids are a fantastic tool for making friends!


Good luck

Ellie x

Shellfish

It's so tough, isn't it? If I could see my parents every few months or even twice a year I would probably cope better but I am very close with my family and hubbies family, too. I would say, come over and tick it off as a great life experience but don't be surprised if you end up moving back...or like me, apply for a contributory parent visa so that your parents can move over too

dave7370

I can totally understand how you are feeling because we are in a similar situation tho we have already made the move once!

We made the move to Oz in jan 08 with our then 14 month old son. It was great and we loved it but after a year we were starting to feel lonely and although we had meet lots of people we didnt really have any friends.

Hubby lost his job in feb 09 and with a new baby due in the may we decided to move back.
After deciding this we ended up making a few friends but everything was booked to come back so in july 09 we came back to the UK.

Now 8 months back and hubby still has no work and has now been offered a job in Brisbane just North of where we were by a friend who has moved from Melbourne to Brisbane.
The job offer is very good and the company has guaranteed work for 10 years.
This might sound silly but the decision feels harder this time because we know what to expect and what we like and dislike about both places.
I think we are going to give it another go but this time we will stay for 2 1/2 years so we can get citizenship and then see where we are after that time.

It is hard with young kids and now we will be leaving with a 3 and 1 year old, and it does take time to make friends and they will never replace the friends you leave behind but I dont regret any decision we have made and would hate to look back and think what if.
You could go give yourself a couple of years and see where you are then. You might love it and want to stay or you may decide to come back but least you would have tried it.