Graham and Maria

If you dont try it how do you know, if those people that return to the UK had never gone in the first place they would have regretted it forever, now they know it wasnt for them, its just a shame it cost so much financially and emotionally to find out.

Im one of those people who hasnt experienced Australia, I have a decent job but live in a dump of a city and only see my side of the family periodically so I dont rely on them so much, my social life hasnt been that great since having children so personally I dont think I've got a great deal to miss. The wife is a different story, shes quite close to her mother, which is my main concern.

Sure Australia may not be for me, sure my wife is going to crazy miss her mum, sure my 8 year old is still saying "shes not going, I'm going to live with grandma" but I'll be damned if we're not going to give it our best shot.

jonjelly

i think thats a bit unfair, it just depends on whats at the top of your priority list. to some people its sunshine and outdoor living to other people its family and friends. everyone is a bit negative from time to time, but doesnt mean that because you have a bit of a winge that you will be unhappy wherever you are.....

russell

personally we have a good life in glasgow but want a change if we dont try it will we always regret not trying .also im near the cut off age to emigrate so we will give it our best shot.
one of the main reasons for us emigrating was the amount of immigrants coming to glasgow no health checks no police checks nobody knows anything about there backgrounds and they have more rights than us .
drink driving thats ok were from poland thats what we always do every time theres a sexual assualt or rape you can almost guarantee they are always of eastern european origin and usually at least two of them involved
also fed up with pissing rain if you like playing golf, football or any other outdoor pusuit in the rain i take my hat off to you but i preffer the sun with factor 50 or is that white emulsion

asher

We have always travelled and lived all over Europe.
we have a good lifestyle and friends but have itchy feet and wan to try something different

I would rather regret doing it than not doing it

themerlin

A winge from time to time is fine, I was talking bout people who are negative most of the time, bloody weather , bloody migrants bloody this bloody that you know the ones I mean

allison

Yes it is true I was paid better in UK and had great family and friends but every weekend was depressing. Coming from cheshire (cclose to manchester) the weather more often than not was dull and wet. It was depressing and I lived for my holidays abroad 4* per year or so.

Now in Australia I don't care about going on holidays as much as every weekend (well almost) at home on the sunshine coast is a holiday.

On a serious note I had seasonal affective disorder and now I seem to suffer form this much less

Vim Fuego

In my barely relevant view and in rough order of importance:

- If you have believed more than 50% of any travel programme you are stuffed
- If you have been to one of those travel expos ... I dunno, might help, Christ knows how ...
- If you have been 'for a recce' then you have a gnats tweeter of a better understanding ... relatively ... still better than nowt though
- If your reasons are (primarily) financial then you are stuffed
- If you are trying to escape human nature (crime, predjudice, etc) then you are stuffed
- If you are moving to save an already doomed realtionship - you're stuffed
- If you are trying to escape yourself - you really ARE stuffed
- If your reasons are (primarily) personal/lifestyle and you know yourself and anyone you are moving with then you have a fair chance.

But ultimately you can make the right move for the wrong reasons ... people should be thankful first that they have the freedom (financial as well) to do such things ... life is great isn't it?

DebiE

We are moving back to the UK not because we had a better life but because we are finding it impossible to make a life here.

We have lots of reasons to return to the UK but the main reason is we have had enough of the TRA and immigration and it's now time to think of settling down for the sake of our kids.

Immigration are certainly making it hard for people like us, even to get PR. OH needs an electrical license before we can apply (even though he is doing the job without one). TRA have now said after 12 months of twoing and froing, he needs to take yet another exam, which takes 6 months. There's lots of people who are in the same boat as us and are forced to go back to the UK.

Yes, we could wait, but we don't want to live in a country where we feel we are not welcome and not have to fight our way through loads of redtape...IMO.

If it was just OH and myself to think of, we'd probably stay, but we have children to think of and this is not the life we want for them.

sammyg

wise words!!







We are happy in the UK but...

amongst other (mainly lifestyle) factors... we are sick of saving each year to spend thousands of pounds to go to somewhere with decent sunshine for 2 weeks

to us the weather has a large part to play in emmigrating to aus!

Kalenge

Your estimate isn't far off. According to Aus government stats for the financial year 2005/06 23,290 UK born people moved to Australia permanently, and 5,353 UK born people permanently left Australia.

So assuming that's representative of other years it gives an indication that 77% of UK migrants remain in Australia.

In response to the original poster, I think you can have a great life in the UK, but still appreciate a different kind of great life in a country that is blessed with a nicer climate and a year long outdoor lifestyle. Having lived in that kind of environment before we're very aware of the differences and are eager to experience it again now with our young kids.

Wendy

That's 23% not 77%

Also that's yearly arrivals v yearly departures by country of birth. If you look at how many go home after a certain period of time then the figure drops to 2%.

(eg: 2% go home within the first 2 years, 2% go home within 2 - 3 years, 2% go home within 3 - 4 years etc etc)

Brian Clough down under

Everybody is different and has different priorities. I came to Australia not because I hated England (unlike some people on here), but because I simply fancied a change and my wife hails from Sydney. As simple as that really. There are pluses and minuses with both places, but the main advantages of Australia are the better weather and better beaches. Aside from that I tend to prefer most things from home as I do love my home country. Some people on here have whinged about chavs and social breakdown at home but it's exactly the same in Australia - the problems are caused by different people, that's all.

Kalenge

Not sure what you mean by it's 23% ... it is actually 77% that remain in Oz.

The figures are certainly higher than the 2% increments that you're suggesting.

With regards to people leaving Oz, the yearly figures that I quoted are inclusive of all years that a person may have arrived in the country. So this gives a fairly accurate figure that at any one point in time there are 77% of Brits who have not returned back to the UK.

Wendy

It's me - reading it the wrong way round. I thought it said 77% go back

Forgive me, I'm not well

Wendy

Yep it does. Wasn't disagreeing with you there. All I said is that of all the people who arrive say this year, 2% will go back within the first 2 years, 2% will go back after 3 etc etc.