fific

This is how I view it - from this visit - and the feeling of joy when sharing special moments is more intense because you now value it more, having been away. I dont think I am looking at UK through rose coloured glasses moreover I am seeing it fully for the first time. I know the crappy bits will still be there - but there are plenty of crappy bits everywhere. I guess I realise now that Australia is just another place to live and if it were a two hour flight away then i am sure I would be feeling different - but the UK is home.

jad n rich

Is there somewhere in australia that would offer you so much diversity, interest, stimulation that it would outweigh your realisation that family and the UK in general can offer you more.

I had to weigh up that situation, we have lived brisbane, GC, SC, small amount of time rural, and melbourne. Apart from SC and GC being similar, the others offered a fair bit of variety of the aussie lifestlye. I honestly came to the conclusion that it was still australia, still the distance, still had the australian quirks I didnt like, still bloody miles from anywhere, still not within reasonable distance to my family......

For others a move may fix it, if other areas dont cut it either, then I would go now, because as your kids get older you find you have dug a hole ( education etc ) that is very hard to climb out of.

Brisben

Its tough, been here two years and miss home, but look at my kids thriving, its hard to go back, just to make other happy, grandparents , parents etc.

I remember when I left I was bored as hell. Coming here was exciting but has warn off.

Australia can be a little boring for a go getting brit, I feel it, I get bored often, however I find myself enjoying the sedate things I never had time for in the UK.

Playing with kids in the garden,.

Doing the gardening.

Playing golf.

Tinkering with the car or house.

Australia is deffo more relaxed, it can be boring if you let it slide in, however you can grab the bull by the horns and make a good life of it, full of activities etc.

I miss the UK, but love it here also.

Its tough !

slipshot

well said - a lot of sense has been spoken in this thread, since we talk about the rose tinted specs moving to oz but the same can be said of those of us who have and then return to see people etc - it makes it hard.

I'm just glad that whatever we have done or will do, we have kids that will be dual nationality and will have the freedom to work and travel in the whole of Europe and Australia without any hassle. That makes it very much worthwhile...

slipshot

Oh, and thank heavens for skype (although we now use oovoo, for those who have hassle with skype and too many people, try this...) - makes it great to have the kids in front of the compuater in the early evening chatting to Grandad and Grandma and then being able to see them grow....

it's not like being there I know but it makes a lot easier and virtually free....

pompeyblonde

It certainly is! I moved from Adealide to Sydney in search of..... well just more happening I guess. Sometimes I think I should have just gone back. I hate suburbia, but I fear this whole country is really one big suburb! On the other hand I know I'd miss things if i did go back...

Anyway I need to give Sydney longer, Im lucky as its just me, so atleast I'm the one making the decision. I have been back to the UK twice in 3.5 years and had a great time both times. Once was winter, I went back for christmas, I really miss christmas!

One good thing is if I do go back Ill always appreciate everything I took for granted! Good luck!

Twinset

Exactly - life does not have to be about permanently being in one place or another....it should be about where it feels right at the time.....there are some fantastic perks to living the australian way of life for our kids at 6 and 4 and us after 40ish years in the UK - first aim is giving the kids a choice of what they do and where they live. Where will I live in 20 years time? Who knows? And if I did, I wouldn't be too happy knowing my destiny.....enjoy life as it comes, for we all travel the road but once....who said you have to go away to come home???

I think it is possible love 2 places dearly.....unfortunately not got the lifestyle yet where I could split my time.......

Know what posters mean about suburbs though - visited Melbourne this week and it just goes on and on....but the food was fab and the centre buzzing...

Whatever we all decide, may the best result happen for all concerned.

Slainthe!

rinkerdink

I am with you 100% just not down under yet, bah humbug.

BadgeIsBack

I think people have to remember that there are places in Australia where people live as they might do in the UK - and nonone makes you befriend people you have nothing in common with or do things that don't interest you. A lot of is demographic, too.

We enjoyed our UK visit. It was nice, cute even, wandering through my old London haunts with the eye of a tourist and visitor with old friends, but we also saw things that would be a bore on a day to day basis. It was school holidays so the roads were quiet in rush hour, but people did seem very rushed and with an certain intensity that we had long forgotten, even coming from Melbourne. We saw a lot of money, alot of intelligent and clever people, but also drudgery and deprivation once we crossed ill-defined boundaries.

We loved the Welsh borders, as I knew we would, but you had to pay a premium for the best homes with any land. Most were semis, or worker's cottages. We were not impressed with South London, or the Midlands.

There is no doubt in our minds that Melbourne gives us a mix of city and country. In fact we live in the equivalent of the West Country (say) in terms of pace of life, but are less than an hour from the CBD. We found beautiful parts of the UK but still very much commuterland, suddenly spoilt with Australian style suburban developments around the corner - we yearned for the rolling hills, vineyards, glens, corners, wooded ferns, bizarrely remote feel, of the Melbourne SE where we can drive around our very comfortable village and immediate surrounds for hundreds of square kilometers, and that's before you get to the Dandenongs themselves - without seeing the urban expanse which is still many years away and in places not possible (due to the topography). So country, yet not isolated. (It's hard to convey it in words, and I know that many an unhappy Brit expat stuck in a Perth or Brisbane suburb would never believe me that such a place existed).

Having said that, we also liked the smart houses of London's SW and I could live there, and said so. What got us was the price of the houses and the fact that you did not get much for your money - even worse - the fact that a considerable sum was needed to get a good area; and heavy, ridiculous, even, premiums for a 4th bedroom, or study, or gimmick like a conservatory, detached build, nice road, or even character were order of the day (and quite right too). Of course, people will tell you London is not the UK, and it is not, but we were not sure if we could ever find a 'sweet' spot where income (job) vs lifestyle (unfortunately housing cost) could be met, plus get all the ticks we have come to expect in the box. It would be a lot easier for most - so I don't knock it, but not for us.

SamSi

I mean this in the nicest possible way but my advice would be if you're seriously worried about it - don't leave it too long to move back. Stay long enough for your kids to get citizenship which will help them in later life and then go. The reason I say this is that my parents were unhappy ex-pats. Over time their whinging grew worse and worse, nearly all of my memories of them revolve around their bitterness and loathing of all things NZ. They sure had their rose tinted glasses on when it came to remembering the UK. It was really awful, and over time my brother and I completely distanced ourselves from them. I appreciate the chance they gave my brother and I i.e. to grow up as Kiwi kids and to get dual citizenship - but I honestly would rather that we had all gone back to the UK. I find it very sad that they were so busy moaning that they never got round to doing something pro-active about it. The irony is that they still live in NZ - although they visit the UK most summers. When pushed, they will begrudgingly admit that the weather is too shite in the UK for them. It's only taken them 35 years to admit this....

Best of luck with it all anyway,

Evelin

yes, that's what we thought. The coffee is shocking.
But otherwise you are right, it's GREEN over there, London is stunning (stayed with my daughter in a great location), it's vibrant. My husband who came from the UK to OZ 45 years ago would move back straight away if he could.

Evelin

sounds like my MOL. She hates Australia from the moment her husband dragged her over here (1967). She had nobody here, and never got over living without her siblings but her husband didn't want to go back.

pompeyblonde

A very good point, there are a lot of unhappy and isolated immigrants about, and sometimes they never went back for silly reasons such us not wanting people to think they had 'failed', you have to be where you want to be...go for it!

Kalenge

As others have said, going back to the UK for a holiday is definitely not a fair comparison.

It's one thing to be there in the long summer days, having a carefree time socialising and enjoying the sights, than to be living and working there all year round when the all-too-short summer ends and the bleakness of long winters set in.

The UK can be great for a holiday ... but start living there again and it won't be long before your reasons for leaving in the first place resurface again.

Twinset

LOL!!! If I hadn't come out to Australia on holiday, I would never have emigrated.........

To be fair, all the times we came out bar one, it was winter over here, so we know what it is like in the shortest months and 42 degrees.......where's my fleece.....??