micky

well, do you think you have done the right thing????
do you regret it already. Is it not what you thought it would be like??
is it better than the UK?
Do you miss home - or is home now Oz?
Just wondered, love Shona (who was in Perth validating her visa last April)

rachels

We did it on 29th September and we are very happy. We are totally convinced we did the right thing! Yes, definitely there are people and things we miss but we love it here. It is pretty much excatly what I thought it would be like, although the social life is taking longer to get off the ground than I imagined.

I can't say that one is better than the other because they are so different and the UK will always have my family and best friends living there so it gets alot of points for that. 'Home' in my mind will always be Tyneside, although I haven't lived there for 11 years. It was home when I lived in Amsterdam and London and its still home now. That doesn't mean that I'm not giving my all to Oz, I am, but for me a sense of home is about the family and the memories and until I have my own children, that means parents and siblings.

No regrets is my philosophy, if its not what you hoped, make the best of it and enjoy the experience.

Good luck with your move!

downunderpom

What sort of period are you talking about for 'recently'? A few weeks, a few months, a few years.....?

micky

I was thinking.......probably 6 - 18 months down the line.
Shona x

DianeOZ

No regrets, been here 10 months. Don't really miss anything about the Uk. I don't miss friends & family as much as I thought which is a relief although grandparent thing for the kids is a bit of a heartstring tugger.

Home is here, although I do refer to UK as home in conversation which is habit I think.

I have to admit it's not as I thought 100%, but I'm happy with things and that's enough for me.

Di

downunderpom

Time enough for the rose-tinted glasses to slip, huh?

Well my wife and I've got 17 months under our belts. I was brought up in Oz, was PR for 7 years before my parents decided to leave, against my and my sister's (loud and vehement!) wishes. Not to go back to the UK, I hasten to add. We then did South Africa, Qatar (Arabian Gulf), Swaziland and Rhodesia, before I went back to the UK. While in the UK I also took long contracts in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, and shorter contracts in the USA, so I've got plenty of places to which I can compare Oz.

We are finding it better and better as we go along. We have a broad circle of friends / aquaintances, despite the fact that neither of us drink, so we don't go out much. Also, my wife is a vegetarian, so we don't go out to restaurants. We're both pretty good cooks, so prefer to eat at home.

Our main support / reason to get us over the initial hurdles was our home / lifestyle we're building on a 116 acre block in the western Blue Mountains. When things got a little ropey, we'd always have that to focus on, so that has taught me (as if it needed reinforcing!) that it's a real requirement to have a goal out there in front of you. It's a little hard to put into words, but here goes:

If you have a reason for being here, it will make it a lot easier to stay, rather than heading back to the UK and 'safety' when you hit a bump. If you have no reason other than a vague 'we will have a better life' feeling, then you won't have that support to help you over the humps. You need a very specific goal. To quote Zig Ziglar, you need to be a meaningful specific, rather than a wandering generality!

Would we go back? "No" is the short answer. I've lived in six countries, and visited more than 40. Oz is 'home' to me, and my wife has grown to feel the same. We'll be here for the rest of our lives.

Stayers: 1 Leavers: 0

ssmith

we have been here 19 months and apart from visiting family and friends have no desire to return to UK. I think the idea that you will have a "better" life is often very disappointing in reality ie you still have to go to work (prob for a lot less money than you are used to) still have to run kids here there and everywhere, still do shopiing housework etc and that it isnt one long holiday, however as a previous posting said we just walk down to the beach (5 minute walk for us) see the dolphins, sunset etc and this reminds of us why we came. But, no amount of beach, dolphins and sunset will reassure you if you have no jobs or miss family friends. We have gone through the stage of everything being unfamiliar ( a huge hurdle to get over I feel) and wanting to go back as soon as something happens we dont like. We have also stopped asking ourselves why have we done this and feel we are glad we have done it even if it is to find out you dont like Australia, at least we wont spend the rest of our lives wondering should we have done it. As I say we have no intention of returning to UK at present but if we did I think we would be happier with the UK knowing there isnt really paradise waiting at the other side of the world, and I think you do have high expectations when you emigrate because you are not going to emigrate believing that you are going to be worse off, unhappy etc. Therefore chances of being disappointed are probably very high. My advice would be go for it, then you know but be prepared it is very very hard work even if everything goes as planned.