Don't worry, it takes a lot for me to take offence - especially with what somebody writes on a message board.

You are one of a rare breed, tis one of the reasons I didn't post on here for quite a while I just lurked quietly lol.
Mind you I do appreciate it's hard to get across how you mean things to come across isn't it?

We looked into if hubby was able to negotiate more money but they're not gonna go as high as we'd need which would be what he was paid before

Had a chat with a couple of friends this evening and read the posts on here again and I think we're going to focus on getting our daughters visa application sent in etc and prep the house and decide where we want to go after that - we have had a bit of a look at areas and rentals in Brisbane?
Who knows though we could end up in Perth.
Perhaps hubby will see which part of Oz holds the most jobs for him and we'll just up sticks and go -

Thanks for all your help guys and thanks for helping me keep my sanity

I hope you are joking about the digibox!! Theres about 8 channels on there, all rubbish I even have foxtel with all the channels and the only programs I watch are the UK ones, and those are 6 months old. TV is pants in australia..

Have you worked out 82 k after tax, then all the centerlink benefits you would get?

I have no idea what centerlink payments would be, however with 650 rent, that alone would be over half the after tax wage.

As a ping ponger be cautious with those outta burb places, they either appeal or they dont, if sydney sent you back to the UK before, be cautious sticking youself out there with 4 kids in mcmansion hell or heaven as it might be.

Good luck this time anyway

For the OP, please confirm you are coming over PR and have a sponsored job to go to?? If hubby is committed to working in Inner West then I would look out west, south west to live. maybe even the Hills district. You may not get the plush suburbs or the preferred ethnicity you are used to, but, stay well away from Bankstown and immediate areas....bad news! Some good people there, but unfortunately some not so good people either!!
With kids you want to be able to get them into a school and settled asap but that will hinder your home search so you need to do lots and lots of research into the different suburbs before you decide to rent there. Use this site, try Domain, try local newspapers over here online for the lcoal news and get a flavour for what you want. It will not be at all easy with the kids but thats life and so try and ask as many questions as you want, keep asking till you get what you think is the complete answer.

Yes we have PR visa's, no not sponsorship but a job on offer we've just decided with the 4 kids it's really not enough $.
Not really into keeping up with the Jones's the village we live in is very much like that now UGHHH, fine if you like that sort of thing - we don't.

It wasn't so much Sydney I didn't like - I was very ill when we were out last year and it made liking anything in a new place hard we knew no one and I just wasn't well enough to go meet and greet.
Still not 100% (80%) but I was running on 10% then.......

Anyway we're gonna focus now on getting little one's visa sorted and selling up !!!!!

Ah ok - a few Jens on here now and I hadn't clicked that you were the one that had a hard time out here last year.

You should have a better idea than most if thats enough to live on as you've been here before fairly recently. If I remember correctly you were living somewhere pretty affordable before, so if you couldn't afford to be back there with one extra child then that answers your questions. I'm not being funny, but you were so unhappy here pretty much straight away and went back so quickly I am wondering what you think is going to be so different this time that you want to sell up to come back again. Remember, same shit different location.

Point 1) Hubby wa son over 100K then and we never really LIVED there we existed there so no I wasn't aware of many of the cost and implications earning a lower wage than that.

Point 2) God forbid if ever your drs don't take you seriously - I was very ill almost immediately after arriving around the same time I found out I was pregnant (I did have a SH*T this is bad timing moment as my pregnancies have been a bit stressful before), however I was REALLY REALLY ILL (not sickness) and this only got I saw 4 different drs who all just dismissed me as being a neurotic pregnant woman
I KNEW something wasn't right though but wasn't taken seriously, hubby was having to work, I didn't know what was wrong with me and we knew nobody, I was struggling daily to look after our 3 boys it wasn't until I thought nope I've PAID to see 4 different drs and none of them are listening and we thought the best thing would be for me to return to the UK sort myself out - hence hubby staying in Oz.
It wasn't until the week before flying back to the UK and we were in Melbourne with friends and just the short flight to Melbourne had knocked the stuffing out of me we had to see friends drs and he picked up a heart abnormality.
I came back it was then investigated in the UK and confirmed I have a heart condition, the pressure on my heart by being pregnant was making me incredibly ill - By December I couldn't even manage to walk from one room to another without getting out of breath and my heart racing.
I had to have my baby early because altho she was more than happy I was that ill they worried for my health.

So by all means tell me how happy you'd be in a new country, knowing nobody and being very unwell and not having the drs take you seriously???
We'd been there a matter of weeks obviously my hormones were all over the place being pregnant so I was OTT homesick.
Some days when my husband was there I felt very at home - just not in either the areas we stayed (Glenorie, Illawong).

At the time we felt we made the best decision we could, however soon after I came back I knew being back here was a mistake but it made sense to be here and get what LITTLE support we could when we needed it most.

The last year has made us see you only get one life and you need to live it as best you can, it may be a mistake going back - who knows but we feel we've wasted several years of our life here, working an not really living a life.
I think we have a different outlook on life now and we feel Oz offers a better outdoor lifestyle for the kids than the UK - other may not agree - just how we feel.

If people think we're making a mistake by returning to Oz thats your opinion but only you know your life and can only live it by what you think is the right way.

two points

1. Where in the inner west is your hubby going to work? is it near a train line?

2 If not is he going to commute by car?


I use to live in the inner west around Croydon/Burwood and a decent 4 BR Duplex town house is gonna cost $700 pw, you could probably get something a bit older for $580-$620 but thats at the price of good aircon etc.. a basic 5 BR for rent are a bit rare in the inner west because a house of that size will usually have a pool or big garden and push the price way up.

A bit further out west towards Parramatta and rent prices get cheaper but depending on where in the inner west your hubby is working will depend wether an hours commute is reality.

Also it worth mentioning that houses close to train lines are always in demand and that there is currently a rental shortage.