nbn8

Hi

All of you who have made the move is it too high a price to pay to leave friends and family and how do you manage? OH is ok as he has no family ties other than mine and we are a close family however, I can see the benefit to my immediate family ie my young children and OH but can I really do it? Much soul searching is needed I think. But it can be done as you all have.

Any experiences?

Australia_bound?

No one can tell you how you will feel if you move to Aus.
Some never settle and return, some sail into it. Very personal experience, you either do it (if you're 100% sure it's what you want) or decide you're happy where you are so why bother moving 1000's of miles away.

steve_uk

Have to agree with that!

medwaymark

Didn't think I would miss anyone other than my two daughters, but I was wrong....I miss people more than I thought I would (although not enough to make me want to return). My wife had closer family & lots of close friends & really misses them, but she's not even interested on going back for a holiday for a few years (We've been here 9 months tomorrow).

Guess I'm trying to say that you won't know until you're here....

moneypenny20

I haven't missed family at all. We're close but don't need to see each other to keep that closeness. We all lived in the same town or very close to and could go months without seeing each other. However, I have absolutely no idea if I will always feel like this or if in five years time I will be desperate to live near my brother and sister again.

Shiels is constantly people sick. She's been here 18 months and nothing's changed in that respect. She loves the country and her life though. For her and others it's a constant battle. I think that's the hardest one to deal with.

If you miss people so much and don't necessarily love the life and the country you (generally) can pack up and go back with nothing lost other than money but an awful lot learnt. You could also miss people desperately and not love your life but not be able for various reasons to move back. That is also a shit scenario. You won't know which camp you fall into until you've done it unfortunately.

s1mon321

I thought I'd miss my family loads, but with Skype and the odd visit its fine. I do however miss my best mate, it takes a long time to make the sort of friends that you've had for years and can sit opposite in a pub and have everything in common with. My wife's father has just become quite ill in the past few months (we have been here a year) and we may have to go back to live. Family ties are strong and you have to be a certain type of person to be able to put that to the back of your mind...

emelems

i keep in touch via telephone and msn (video calling) and I even now write letters !

I miss the odd things.. I miss my nightmare sis in law who used to drive me potty, but I would love to see her barge in and start causing an uproar again..

I miss my friends and I miss my mum and dad.. and even my pain of a brother and his family! Would I go back to the UK because of it? no.. I don't think so.. ask me in another 12 months.. I would imagine it will be a def no.

I think it all depends on how you are at coping without them... I cope OK.. not brilliantly (family etc I relied upon) but day to day I can run without them.. I wouldnt like to see how people who need parents as childcare and friends for emotional support would do things.. I suppose the inner spirit kicks in, but long term, if you are reliant on this sort of support (and there is NOTHING wrong with that either) then I would seriously seriously reconsider..

Em x

Dorothy

I didn't miss my family at all until last October. My father was very ill with cancer and went to live in a wonderful hospice. October was his favourite time of year with the changing leaves and beauty that is autumn in Ontario and I couldn't stop thinking that this was going to be the last time he was ever going to see the leaves - and that I was not going to be there to see them with him.

I did get to go to visit for 12 days in December. He died less than an hour after I left for the airport to come back to Perth. I now find that I miss my mother tremendously. I also found out recently that my oldest child (who was raised by his father in the US) is expecting their first child. It's very unlikely any of my family will ever visit and it's 100% that my husband's family will not.

I'm not sure if it's enough to move back eventually, but for now my children are in high school here and their education has been disrupted enough due to our moving around. It would be in their best interests to finish school here and perhaps go to Uni in Canada, but then we have the problem of at least one of them being in a different country to us for 2 years while we wait for the other to finish school.

Overall our lives here are pretty good. We both have jobs we like, although my contract is up in 2.5 weeks and I don't know if I'll be offered another one. As others have said, if you have a good life where you are and are not 110% certain this is what you want then it's probably best to put off moving until you are sure.

shiels

Yep I sure am, but love it here. Makes you feel a bit like being stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea!!

Dont want to go back to UK, but would love to be able to visit family at least once a year, think I could cope then with the peoplesickness, maybe.

But I would certainly say you'll never know how you will be until you try it X

Gibbo

Don't dispair, in time you will be able to do that!