Originally Posted by chris955

We moved back last year, no regrets at all. People are friendly and helpful, groceries are cheap and much more variety. Ignore most of the doom and gloom nonsense. You often find people need to leave the UK to realise it isnt that bad afterall.

Originally Posted by blackcab

Anyone, i guess many have. Been in Oz over a year, just had enough, the heat, humidity, keep getting bit, insects in the unit, just cannot settle. Noisy neighbours, our new neighbour plays his music so we can hear it clearly, asked him to turn it down, he is 20, lives there with two mates. Just takes no notice.

Its all getting to us i think, we know we left the UK because we were sick of the UK, but now we are here, wrongly or righly we think maybe its not that bad. I am in no way slagging off Australia, just not sure its for us, in our later forties, well heading there me.
Its just if we leave, we can never come back, our visa PR has expired, we have not completed two years yet, so its all over when we leave. But its starting to have an affect on my partners health. Sleeping just feeling terrible, mainly the heat, bites, noise, i guess its easier to cope when you have to keep warm and are not covered in bites that itch. Build into that a lack of sleep, having to drive ebverywhere, know very few people, and paying out 50% of our income in rent. We feel like we are no happier, just warmer. We live in a lovely area, Ascot, just north of Brisbane. But me especially, i could baord a flight tonight, i know when i get home, i will regret it. Well thats my moan, just wanted to tell someone.

Originally Posted by joe38

i have thought to go somewhere else ,was on the gold coast ,we came back to the uk i regret it so much life is so much better in oz

Originally Posted by blackcab

I think the thing is with me, when things are good, they are good, admittedly, better when here in Oz. So today things are good, and good is better here by far, as so much more is free. But when i hit a bump in he road, is when things are bad. They are so much more bad here as i feel i am out of my comfort zone. It is not my home country, i was not born here. I will never be an Australian, so always feel outside looking in. I guess you just have to accept that as immigrants, but its hard not to always compare to home, as home as in the UK. That feeling of being English, born and bred, its a massive safety net no matter how bad things get when you are home.

Originally Posted by quoll

Nothing beats belonging IMHO. So go where you feel you belong! It's been 18 fabulous months for me here back in UK and though I know I shall be dragged back kicking and screaming to the boredom of Australia at some point (the wanderlust may well return, of course given enough time and I may just be screaming and not kicking when the time comes) I am having a wonderful time belonging at the moment. Life in Australia was certainly far worse for me - but, horses for courses I guess!

Originally Posted by arkon

Just what I was thinking. Missed off the 17,202 boat people Australia took in last year.

Originally Posted by paulry

And the others?

Originally Posted by Budawang

I was just highlighting the imbalance in migration to Australian from the UK compared to other large western countries. It seems odd to me that so many Britons are migrating to Australia. Why aren't more Americans or Germans moving here?

Originally Posted by blackcab

I i feel i am out of my comfort zone. It is not my home country, i was not born here. I will never be an Australian, so always feel outside looking in. That feeling of being English, born and bred, its a massive safety net no matter how bad things get when you are home.

Originally Posted by salmonking

not in all cases,we went and came back 5 years ago,and its the worst thing we did! give it 3-4 years,you may feel different!

Originally Posted by Budawang

I was just highlighting the imbalance in migration to Australian from the UK compared to other large western countries. It seems odd to me that so many Britons are migrating to Australia. Why aren't more Americans or Germans moving here?

Originally Posted by OzTennis

It's partly a colonial thing as well as an economic thing. Brits emigrate to former colonies like Oz and Canada and you also have people wishing to join up with family and friends who have emigrated in the past. I guess the flipside of that coin is why do you find so many Aussies in Earls Court and not more Germans?

If you ask most Americans they live in the greatest country in the world so most of them probably don't want to emigrate. Germans? Maybe language and also they are better off than the Brits on average so less economic necessity to look for a perceived better life.

Originally Posted by chris955

Of course not in all cases, no more than going to Australia is the best for everyone. Noone would say a situation applies to everyone.

Originally Posted by dave99

I am glad to hear someone else saying this, I have been feeling exactly like this for sometime now. I am in perth and need to decide in the next week whether I should return home to the uk or risk heading to melbourne and seeing if its any better for me.
I am worried I will still feel the same way about australia when I give melbourne a try. I am really torn over what to do

Quoll its great to hear you are happy being back in the uk, it lifts my heart that its possible to go back, and accept the uk both good and bad things and be happy there