worzel

Here is a question I have pondered on for a while. There seems to have been a few more people struggling to settle recently. So let's see whether arriving to cold nights / rain affects makes it harder to settle than if you arrive for summer.

We arrived in October and spending most weekends at the beach / having a BBQ definitely helped us.

Wendy

Well we arrived just six weeks ago, so mid winter for us. I haven't had any homesickness at all and feel quite settled already.

I think it's mainly because we found our rental quite quickly, which is near my relatives. It certainly helps just knowing that there is someone there for you if you need something or need any info. We have our house all furnished now, kids in school and normal everyday life has started.

Another factor for me is that apart from my son (who I miss terribly) I didn't have much family in the UK and since my Mum died in 2005 I haven't had a best friend either.

I didn't have many expectations when we arrived, so no disappointments. Also we have taken time out to get over the jetlag, which has helped I think. Try to do too much all at once and you just burn yourself out and end up tired, which will probably make things seem 100 times worse than they are.

For me life is pretty good at the minute.

Bix

Arrived in the tropics 31 Oct and the build up had already started.

None of us had ever been to a hot country before and here we were smack in the middle of 30 degrees and what was to hit 94% humidity.

We came expecting little but ready to tackle anything.

Looking back it was a tiring but exciting time. Very rewarding.

manxfamily

we arrive in June and it was like a summers day for us. Settled very well, but have been warned and warned again about how horrible summer is. :scared: Glad we didn't arrive in the middle of January/February

Perthforme

Arrived jan and we have settled well

binbird

We arrived mid September which for us was good. (OMG - this time next month we will have been here exactly a year!) We'd enjoyed a good summer in the UK and hit similar temperatures to what we had left behind so got broken into an Aussie summer gently!

I would say I didn't have rose tints but was naive about winter temperatures and having spent my first winter here now I think it would have been a bit depressing to arrive and feel cold!

So, if my experience is anything to go by I would imagine that anyone due to arrive in the next month or so should have a pretty easy time of it. Good luck!

B


Have voted "arrived summer" although it wasn't but it was more summer than winter!

sunbather

We arrived in March and have sort of settled but would not say we love it. I for one am very very ready for summer, having just come out of English winter before leaving, then going into Australian winter means that we will be over a year until we get summer.

worzel

We need some more people who did not settle immediately to make this (un)scientific survey any use. Maybe I should post a link on the going back to the UK forum

DunRoaminTheUK

Personally, if I had known that this is as cold as it gets in Brisbane then I would have just brought a suitcase full of underpants (long and short ones so I could pull the longer ones up to my nipples on colder nights).

I've only felt the cold on one night and to wake up to clear blue skies day after day is still a novelty.

I think that if we'd arrived in mid-summer all the running around that we've had to do would have been much, much harder.

I think it's definitely worked out for the best arriving in early July.

I love it here already and I haven't felt homesick once since arriving. It's odd as it just seems like a continuation of my past life without any disturbance to my equilibrium to speak of.

Bix

[QUOTE=DunRoaminTheUK] I've only felt the cold on one night QUOTE]

You won't be saying that in about 1 years time though.
You'll be wearing an overcoat.

DunRoaminTheUK

[QUOTE=Bix] Do you mean a straight-jacket? That's quite possible....

Teliko21

I didn't settle immediately but I'm fairly certain it had nothing to do with the season

Hutch

Loving the stats on this poll - 11 winter and 11 summer arrivals all of whom settled in easily and 1 on each side that didn't. Probably not the conclusive evidence you were searching for - unless of course you were wondering if the season of arrival was irrelevant. I reckon it's like most things, people will pitch for the camp they're in - arrived in summer/summer is best ... arrived in winter/winter is best. We made a concious decision to arrive in winter because we didn't want to get into holiday mode and I have to say it's worked out great for us.

Bix

Bet you're freezin yer nuts off though

jensteve

We arrived Aug 2004, and it felt really cold, infact we found it was decidedly chilly until september was out the way.
We figured we would have a chance to aclimatise through spring before the heat hit, by which time we loved it hot and sunny. Looking forward now to summer again and a bit of heat.

Jenny