tonyandwendy

my partner and i with our 2 girls 6 +8 are in perth-(ellenbrook) on a 4 year 457 visa and have been here for 5 months. our best mates moved here 4 years ago(henley brook) and we live about 4 k's away from them-see them about once a week. i am a spray painter and not really enjoying my job, my partner is having difficulty finding a job so on my $720 a week, $360 a week goes on rent and the remainder is well short on living costs even though we try to economise. we are feeling very isolated and now not sure if we made the right choice-god we miss our family and friends
we do love it here & we know its been the right thing to move here for a better life but at a considerbly heavy cost, again family. we are fully aware the uk has become a s..t hole and is sinking fast but we are considering moving back

does anyone else feel like this??

any positive feedback will be welcomed
thanks for taking the time to read this

Kingseat

Hi

Yes, I am finding it hard and have found it particularly hard to get anything work related other than casual hours. Plus we're hear on Student Visas so hubby is working every hour god sends whilst he's on holiday.

Don' throw the towel in yet. Ellenbrook is a fair bit out. You almost at the Swan Valley. Have you considered moving closer to the Norther Suburbs? You might pick up more work/better job and your partner might get something too.

At least if you were closer to the city you have more suburbs within reach for socialising?

Sally Simpson

Any chance of finding a different sponsor/job?
It can be very difficult to get that first job in Aus, what does your wife do?

Nobody can tell you if you have made the right decision but from reading your post, I would say that your financial situation is what is causing a lot of the doubt. It is very difficult to enjoy life when you are having to watch every penny. That will improve in time,when your wife gets work, so try & stick it out. Bear in mind that moving back will be costly too.
I don't think it is too unusual to feel homesick and/or have doubts at any stage before and after the move.
Best wishes & hope that things pick up for you soon

hanjack

I sorta know where u are at.We are Aussie's living in the Uk-been here 10 years now and hopefully will travel back to OZ(home next year) if the pound rebounds.At times over here it has been a real wrench.No matter where u are you are going to miss family and friends.I dont think the UK is a shithole at all.However,we live in Rural Devon and my wife has a great job but I have never been more homesick than the last 12 months.Our last trip to OZ - Xmas last year really hit it home for my wife and I . And although we have made a lot of friends here and its going to be really hard to say goodbye- we are going-its just a matter of when.
Australia can be a shithole as well-Poms think that its going to be like neighbours on tv and it never rains.OZ can be just as bad and sometimes worse because u are often more isolated there(this is coming from an Ausie!)We dont have the problems that u have now but when we go back we will start all over again and its daunting but believe me when i say it-Australia will always be home(even after 10 years) to us and like it or not the UK will probably be for u as well.

JenJen

Everyone finds it hard, god knows I did. But only you know wether moving back is going to be the right thing for your family, taking into account costs etc would you be better off.
You say you love your life there too though despite shortage of money, are the kids happy?

At the end of the day you need to look at the IMPORTANT things like work and family life, forget that your friend is there and you only see them once a week and don't focus on missign family and friends back home as any of those relationships can change with those people or not be what you were missing should you return (speaking from experience)
Are you likely to have a better home and work life balance in the UK or OZ,
if you look at all the factors in just those two things then you need to do whats best if it's UK you need to return if it's Oz then you need to stick it out. Everyone will tell you really 5 months isn't very long, however it is long to feel how you do now, there may be something round the corner it may be about giving it time.
Or maybe looking at those two factors maybe Oz just isn't the place you should be.

Ask away for opinions by all means but everyone can only say what THEY think you should do. Sit and do the math with your other half and decide where YOU should be for the best life - you only have 1

edie209

Hi everyone, its eve209 using the hubby's login again!

Stick it out would be my advice, allthough we didnt but no job and four kids to support we felt we had no choice but to return to the uk.

However, allthough at the time we absolutely made the right decision, we know feel we have cheeted ourselves by not giving it enough time, so the plan is for the hubby to find work and get out to OZ asap and me and the kids will follow.

good luck what ever you choose

eve x

edie209

Oh and Hi Sally and family

cant wait to get back out there and come for that visit!

V x

JenJen

YAYYYY another ping pom pommie

We're coming back - be afraid be very afraid

eve209

ha ha jen jen

maybe we should start a new community in oz a bit like little britain in brisbane! maybe call it ping pong city!

So did you go out last year with the intention t stay or was it a validation trip?

bluekipper

No one can tell you the right thing to do, its your decision, we went to Adelaide 2006, with a few set backs we decided to stay at least a year and get an experience, but as we neared the end of the year, we realised we were settling in, then hubbys mum died and made me very unsettled again, so we all headed back to the UK, intending to stay for good, even on the plane coming home it felt wrong, but I pushed them feelings aside, bought a house, got jobs, & now were trying to get back to Adelaide, cant sell house now but theres always a solution so we may rent it out, what I am saying is, it may be the answer coming home, but ask yourself why you went in the 1 st place, you knew you would miss family, its hard but think all the good things that are there for you in OZ.

Bluekipper

JenJen

LOL we should we really really should that would be cool.

We went out twice last year we went to stay with friends in Mellie for our validation trip.
Then 2 months later we emigrated, trouble was I found out I was pregnant 2 weeks after arriving which was a huge shock tbh, but I felt really unwell, the drs wouldn't listen - mad British pregnant woman - the pregnancy and illness made me really homesick - I could hardly walk, often couldn't drive was sleeping way too much out of breath etc etc and we didn't know anyone had a few early pregnancy problems but they said I wouldn't see a midwife until at least 20 weeks I panicked and said I wanted to return to the UK and despite paying to see 3 different drs it was the 4th that diagnosed my heart condition, so have been seeing a cardiologist in the UK but now i've had my daughter - as gorgeous as she is at now 10 months old and my health has leveled off we're raring to return, coming back here we were shocked to be quite honest at how many friends - good friends we thought - turned their backs on us, how several family members haven't been bothered with us.
So instead of looking whats right for the extended family we're looking at whats right for our immediate family and those few good friends we have and reliable family will come out to stay - especially when I need my heart op in a few years.

Sorry thread hijack

Trevski

Hi
My own experience of moving over to oz to do car paint spraying is very close to your life, i was working in a mazda garage for a shit wage compared to what i was told i could get ie i was working for $18 per hour and two kids and wife that did not work it was very hard, i left the painting six months later and talked my way into a better job but two years later i have left that because of the aussies moaning and ripping people off at work and i a true brit can not do what my manager was doing to his own and britts.
I do sometimes feel like going back, but take it as it comes and do whats right for all of you even your kids, i blame myself for the probs my 9 year old is having today at school, as we took him out of school at the age of 4 of which he was doing really well but for the first two years at this school they put him back because the crap schooling system here is behind uk and he now has fallen behind because of going back a year when we came over, i feel crap inside am i fight that feeling every day.
do whats best for all of you and if you do go back then you can say you GAVE IT A GO

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hereandthere

Tony

I don't think five months is really long enough to know, to be honest. If the money is a problem then I would try and thnk of ways to make more money in Australia rather than going back to the UK. At least then you can say you gave it a realistic chance of working and go back with the knowledge you gave it every chance. Going back so soon is the first sign of the dreaded ping-ponger who is destined to spend the rest of his life on a 747.

You could try a cheaper part of Australia, or a cheaper place to rent in Perth to start with. A new job if this is possible, and so on. Just my view anyway.

JenJen

You could ping pong but you'd just have much less money come second time round like we have lol

mohogony

If you move to a different part of Perth and your partner is able to get a job as you have more money then you might feel differntly about moving back. Try those things before moving back, becasue if you move back and regret it, ping ponging is very expensive.