Buzzy--Bee

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

BB

devonshiredumpling

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.

Kapri

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?

garyp

I totally agree
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.

devonshiredumpling

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

devonshiredumpling

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

Beedubya

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.......

devonshiredumpling

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 Great show.

Alfresco

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.

Beedubya

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.........

devonshiredumpling

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.

Trevski

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)

Alfresco

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.

quoll

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.

Trevski

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