Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Just wondered if anybody else can talk themselves into and out of moving to Oz as much as me and my husband do.

We have lived in Oz before for two years and loved it. We came home to have children near our family and now we've had our children we want to move back to Oz. The problem is we are all set for moving over there then I will get doubts and start talking myself into staying in the UK. We live in a fairly nice area of the UK (Devon) and I know the children will miss their grandparents. I've found that our mood usually follows the seasons! Here comes the winter and surprise surprise we want to move to Australia!

The constant weighing up of which place is better drives me mad! Anybody else suffer with 'should we, should we not' syndrome??

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Welcome to my world :lol:
I have been doing this for years. We had our visa's (bar medicals) 2.5 years ago and were all set to go when several events meant we had to stay.
Now I'm ready to go again and, lo and behold, life has picked up here no end (financially and socially). Factor into that the poor exchange rate and difficult housing markets and I'm back to square one.

I don't have any advice, just wanted you to know that you're not the only one :D

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

That's good to hear!

We also can't decide where to live in Oz. We were all set on moving to Perth and now we're looking at Melbourne. However if money was no object I think I would be in Sydney.

Where are you planning on moving to? That's if you don't change your mind!

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

The difference in cost with those cities is next to nothing. Perth surely is the most expesnive now.

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Rentals in Perth appear to be alot cheaper than in Sydney or Melbourne.

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

We are on the same boat (almost).... validated our visas 2 years back and were waiting it out for the recession to be over. Well, job market has definitely improved in Oz but the exchange rate and house prices have now made it harder for us to decide. So, the options are..... 1. go now and take a hit, 2. delay for 1 more year for exchange rate and house prices to settle (if at all), or 3. just decide to stay back and forget the Oz dream.

At this moment, I am more inclined to go for option 1. But rest assured, this is going to change in next couple of hours.

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

I feel for you! It's a huge decision.

We were just about to book our flights and my mum took seriously ill. She's not long out of hospital but not too sure at the moment about her longer term health. This has really affected me and although we still plan on going, it's extremely difficult at the moment to think about it without feeling concern/sadness for my parents. They're not old, in their early 60's but in their heads they are about 80 odd....

You are not alone!

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

We have been doing it for 4years! Have lived in OZ twice for three years in total, we then come back to England and start thinking about going back to OZ all over again!!??? Who ever said life was easy?? Our PR visa expires Feb 2010 so we are deciding once and for all again!!!!:confused:

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

If it aint broke, dont fix it. Just keep on doing what you are doing and get your adventure from taking those nice long holidays that the Poms get. If you have a good job and a nice house in a nice place with a good support network and the kids love the school they are in then dont chuck it in for a bit of sunshine and melanoma.

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

I'm intrigued by the "nice long holidays that the Poms get"?

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Has it expired or is that date a typo? :)

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Same same. I think everyone has doubts. We too wanted to move back down under when we had kids. We ended up doing a reccie to Brisbane and Melbourne to help make our minds up (and have a good holiday!)

BB

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Just to really shake things up...we attended the open evening tonight for our local high school - it's in the top 25% in the country, has loads of extracurricular activities ...and it's free at point of access. Apparently to get the same in Australia we will have to pay through the nose.

As to where we would live - we were initially set for melbourne and did all our research for there, then I got a good job offer in Perth and so we were headed for there!
This time we are looking at the Gold Coast as we have been there before and liked it. However, I understand work may be an issue for my OH so it's not an easy decision.

My head is wrecked...only one solution :drinkwine:

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Oh yes we've been faff arsin around for years
Actually to the poin we feel like we're imbetween 2 roads, not so much that we don't know what we want but previously the decisions we've made have for whatever reason been the wrong one :confused:

Hubby got offered a job back in 2005 to go work for a company in Melbourne - it no longer exists however we went out in 2006 and had a look - liked what we saw, had a massive slap in realism about how things are done over there.
It took another year to get the visa sorted, by the time we had the visa sitting in our hands the company went :p before we even moved out there - prob a blessing.
Then did a reccie to validate, hubby had a couple of interviews and was given a job a month later - we had 1 month to pack up and get out there !!
To cut a long story short found out I was pregnant and a few weeks later found I have a heart complication, not good news - especially when we knew no one in Sydney and I really wasn't well :(
my dad came out and basically frog marched me and the kids home - even tho by the time the flights were booked I wasn't convinced I wanted to leave !!!
Anyway came back, got sicker, had to have my daughter early and it prob took about a year for me to feel 'well' again, hubby got a job back here easy - we lost any dispoable income tho in faffing back and to Oz and owed my dad a load of money.
Sydney still wanted my husband back and they said they'd negotiate so we got our daughter a visa, however hubby was told what others were earning in his department and so tried to negotiate for more money - especially bearing in mind we had extra mouth to feed and place, no go they did a swift u turn and we never heard anything else from them.
Anyway at that time my husbands brother passed away and in a panic we said it's a sign we should stay, the kids an hubby were in a state and well still not good but things aren't the same here, we had sold our house and are now sitting in a not very nice UK rental and paid a nice big deposit for a new house thats being built....
Trouble is since Sydney fell through we have felt lost here, we've not been happy here, we don't really see any family regularly, things have changed there too.
We nearly booked to validate daughters visa at half term but it's SOOOOO expensive and if we did and then stayed here we'd have no furniture to put in the new house !!!
Then low and behold as we decided not to go - hubby gets an email today from a print company in Brisbane !!!!
Hubby's emailed back so lets see - IF hubby can get a good job over there I now think we'd be stupod not to go - we're no longer leaving anything behind, whats a nice new home thats gonna be so expensive it means we both have to work and limit going out holidays etc when you don't have any family locally that wants to see you!
An friends that well I use the term loosely, we have less than a handful of friends in a 10 mile radius, acquintances that we say hi to, but lost lots of friends in 2008 when we went to Sydney and came back - go figure.

So lets see if hubby gets this job or another job - if not I guess we'll have to lump it and stay !

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

This is the horrible horrible "Limbo" state - I feel for you Jen.

When people decide they want to emigrate and then for whatever reason they do not emigrate, the feelings that led to the original decision are still there, but they are unrequited, which is a nasty situation to be in.

BB

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Choose Melbourne again please. It would be nice to have you as neighbours.

BB

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

You've completely summed up my feelings. When we first applied for our visa things were broke. However now things are different. I live in a nice village near a very supportive family, 10 mins from the beach, my job is fairly well paid and is only a 10 min drive away and the kids go to a great school (I could go on, there's more!). So why move now?? The thing is the thought of staying here for the rest of my life seems boring! I want an adventure, but is that enough to warrant the cost and hassle of moving to Oz? Having lived there before I know the grass is not always greener!

So where to go from here? My present mood thinks I should stay but give it a few days and I'll be back surfing the net for a job in Sydney :)

How great is this forum! It's nice to know I'm not alone.

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Absolutely, and I think that ultimately this is why we'll have to do it.


We met so many great people at meets when we were planning Melbourne - it's definitely a pulling factor :)

You are in exactly the same position as me - I could have written this! We'll have to meet up - which side of Exeter are you? :D

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

I totally agree :thumbup:
I would have only been in OZ for 8 months by the time I return to UK in November. I hear some of you saying already, "but you need to give it 2 years" Eveybody is different and it didnt take me long to realise I had made a mistake. I regret going to OZ and putting my family and myself through the stress and the financial cost. My selfish decision was based purely on the weather and I thought Australia would offer a better future for all of us. I now realise my life was pretty good in the UK and a holiday or 2 to sunny climates woud have helped with the British weather. I go to the beach and do as much as I can on my days off and try and enjoy the good weather here but it just doesnt seem right and no I dont feel like I belong here.
Watching the misery I have put my children through and taking them away from what they considered was a good life was selfish and I wish I could turn back th clock.

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

I live 20 mins south of Exeter. I have family in Dorset which I visit regularly, they live in Blandford is that anywhere near you?

It would be great to meet up, however, I can imagine talking to you would be like talking to my husband - going round in cirlces talking ourselves into and out of going to Oz! I think we would drive each other insane :D

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

However, having been to Oz and had the experience you will appreciate your life a lot more when you get back and you won't spend your life thinking 'if only we'd moved to Australia'!

Don't regret what you have done, believe me when you get back to the UK it will be like you have never been away and you will talk about your time in Oz for years to come.

You were very brave to make the most of life and take a risk and when your children are older they will think the same :)

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

TOTALLY agree Quoll, the weather ain't everything....try living here at Christmas, family weddings, 21st's etc, all that lovely family stuff. I lived back over in the UK for a year and got back here in April 2010 and I miss England every single day....not just my family but the scenery, the history, the SENSE OF HUMOUR, the familiarity......that whole sense of belonging, the accents around me, the SENSE OF HUMOUR did I mention that already? And NO I am not a whingeing Pom, just somebody who regrets ever coming here with my very young children all those years ago, they are now grown up and are Aussies, I have grand-kids and this is where I now have to live........but I so wish I didn't ............please think hard about this momentous decision before you make it........oh and it costs BIG $$$$$$$$ to ping pong.......

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

The SENSE OF HUMOUR!! How I missed that when I was living in Oz. You can't beat the British sense of humour. Everyone thinks we're whinging but we're just trying to be funny. Sky 1 An Idiot Abroad sums it up :D Great show.

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

I (we) felt exactly the same when we moved to the UK for the first time in 1995/96 from South Africa. Absolutely hated the place (England).

Moved back to South Africa within 10 months. Stayed there for a few years until 2001, then moved back to the UK (for 9.5 years), now we're in Oz.

The adjustments can take a lot of time.

Don't give up too easily. As you say it costs a fortune every time you move.

Good luck!


p.s. It sure beats growing up and living in the same little English village all your life and never venturing too far outside you comfort zone. ;)

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

DD you won't even know what Sky 1 is living here, we have 5 TV channels, full of Aussie sport, Aussie "humour", Aussie news, and soooo on......I don't even know when I last turned my telly on, I prefer to watch ITV player and BBC iPlayer on my laptop. As much as I LOVED my gap year/mid life crisis year in the UK from April 2009 to April 2010 it has in many ways made things so much worse for myself. Now understand this, to see me at work and in action with my friends and out and about in life in general you would probably consider me to be a pretty outgoing, happy with life person ya know just doing my thing.......getting on with it.......but INSIDE man oh man that is a whole different story going on......I know everybody is different and some people come over here to Oz and their world is filled with sunshine and skipping through the meadow days of sheer bliss and happiness.........but believe me it is a splintering of the heart for some of us........some people just "get" living here in Australia and loving every minute of it and some of us don't.........

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Barb, poor you. Your situation is my biggest fear - moving my young children to Oz and then wanting to move back to UK when I am older and they want to stay in Australia.

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

All i can say is stay in UK for now as the housing and cost of living is crap,housing has fallen and people want to rent not own, cost of food, elec etc is going sky wards with no control or care from goverment, wages are not going up like the cost of living, we have less money in our pockets each week,WEATHER is not everything.
You have more choice in uk,Australia is on a knife edge, it could go either way ie into big dept and recession or get better, i say the first will happen in a year or two
Im in Brisbane and been here for five years and we are talking and looking at moving back to uk due to the cost of living.
We can rent our two storey home for $560 a week and that works out at $29120 per year which today in UK terms is approx £17650. You can rent a very big house in Uk for £1000 per month which will be £12000 per year, so as you can see what we are thinking is we can rent our home in OZ, return to UK and rent then we will have money left over (£5500)

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Don't think you can. It will be very difficult. Check it out first. £1000 pm won't get you much, depending on where you want to live.

Having just come from the UK, It has not got any cheaper at all. Please go over and check it out properly before you decide.

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

OMG, have you been reading my mind or something?!!!! I havent had the GAP year but I have regular visits so that I can feel alive again for a little while. Every return to the a*se end of the universe breaks my heart just that little bit more each time.

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Hi
I have spoken to some people about rentals in UK and here is one below for a large house 4bed etc which they will take £1000p/m so it can be done, http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-16739130.html
also i was in the UK this year and did research and found that it is a lot cheaper for every day food etc, just a example is that we are paying $2.95 for a iceberg lettuce while in uk you can buy it for £0.78 which is approx $1.25, i think you need to wake up and see how expensive OZ is getting

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

I'm getting deja-vu!!!:eek:

BB

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Up until we got our visas we were full steam ahead to go. Then the visas were issued and the reality of our situation dawned. We were settled, kids in decent schools, house comfortably moving closer to being paid off, secure jobs, etc. Then the exchange rate crashed. So we put it off. But this has been a loooong time dream to move down under. When it sunk in what we'd decided and the implications to the kids who are quickly moving through their teens, we realised that if we don't move now it might never happen. So we changed our minds and are heading out there shortly. But we still have our doubts and fears and are still wondering if we're doing the right thing. But much of our hesitation has been cancelled out by the looming austerity measures and how they could impact on our kids. So, there's no looking back, the die is cast, we are doing it! :eek::fingerscrossed:

I hope those of you who are still struggling with this decision can soon find the peace of making a decision that's right for you, your families and your individual circumstances. Good luck! :fingerscrossed:

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

It is a truly horrible position to be in DD believe me, I have all my family in the UK mother, 2 sisters, 1 brother assorted husbands, wives, nieces, nephews, cousins etc. Say about 30 people over there to call my family.

I came here with my (now ex) husband and our 2 kids in 1981 or 1982, can't remember now, anyway none of the family emigrated over here like I hoped they would in my young, foolish days. So I am here now on my own.....my daughter and son are both grown up, my daughter has 2 kids of her own..... she lives an hour away from me, I couldn't get a job where she lives when I got back so have had to move nearer to the job I did get, my son lives about a 6 hour drive away.......and I get on Facebook or receive emails from my UK family all doing "stuff" and I am not there to share......I so regret taking my kids away from their family, aunties, uncles, cousins, grand-parents, etc. They have missed out on so much of a "normal" childhood and I can't even blame my ex husband because it was me that wanted to come out here for the adventure and the great weather, funny thing is I can't stand the summer, can't bear that unbearable searing heat and I can't go out in it much anyway as I fry up like crispy bacon!!

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

I think you should get your car out or take a train trip or even a coach trip and get out there and see just how goddamn BEAUTIFUL a country you live in like the Lake District, The Cotswolds, Somerset, DEVON, Wales, Scotland.....all that diversity, not hundreds and hundreds of miles of bush........

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

Yes Quoll, I can see into your mind...........:eek: It bears an uncanny resemblance to mine!! :lol:

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

I can't speak for anybody else, but if I was like that it would mean it was the wrong decision...........if it is right it should be right

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

We're doing it come what may (too late to change our minds now :rolleyes:) but everything seems to be conspiring against us.

...Stand by for a white knuckle ride! :eek::eek::eek::eek:


:lol:

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

A relevant thread. Just logged back on here for the first time since April 2009 apparantly.

Lived in Sydney for a few months back in 206. Came home and never felt settled. Always felt we should have stayed. Started looking into going back and were convinced it was the right thing to do. Eventually thoughts of leaving ageing parents behind got the better of us and we dropped it all. Just bought a house one month ago then out of the blue got a call from the wife's former place of work offering her a job.

The salary is a good 35% higher than what she is on now and it's a role she loved with good prospects. She despises the job she's in now and there isn't much more she can do. Risk being how long we'd wait for me to get work but average wage in Sydney in my profession is probably 40% higher than what I'm on now and there's not much room for me to earn a lot more here.

Can't help thinking we'd be better off going for it. If it all goes wrong we tried but it's better than having regrets about not trying isn't it?

No kids yet so the only responsibilities are financial. But at least we'd always have the house to come back to.

Making this decision is making me ill!

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

You'll be fine:thumbup:

Re: Does anyone else keep changing their mind about going to Oz??
 

I have been back in the UK for 4 months and still feel in limbo land. Just can't seem to make the decison even thou it's the first thing on my mind when I wake up, the last thing on my mind when I go to sleep and constantly on my mind all day :blink:.
Need to make decision as the oldest will start senior school in Feb in Oz and Sept in UK and ideally didn't want to move him again...
Any advice welcome :fingerscrossed:.