Homesick ???
Mar 16th 2005, 6:28 pm
#16
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Re: Homesick ???
Many thanks to all of you for your replies. Yes, I am trying to prepare myself as best possible. At the moment I can't wait to go.
PS - Watched A New Life Down Under last night with Zena and Steve, they came home after only 4 months! But she did say at the end that they really didn't give it long enough.
PS - Watched A New Life Down Under last night with Zena and Steve, they came home after only 4 months! But she did say at the end that they really didn't give it long enough.
Mar 16th 2005, 6:50 pm
#17
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Re: Homesick ???
I think it's always difficult to move to a new area - even in the UK. I've moved 4 times around the country and it usually takes me a year to get to know my way around and find one or two pals, a couple of years to settle in and around 5 years to feel I belong with a gang of friends, best mates and people you can call in on at any time.
So I know it will be hard initially but at least we live in an age where we can get visits from home, many can make long haul holidays back here regularly to get the feel of home; and we have the internet & cheap phone calls - how long till we get video phones?
Much better than when my two brothers in-law and their families went 25 years ago and had a 6 week trip by ship and could only communicate by expensive and slow mail.
This site also seems fantastic for making friends before you even get there.
My Australian neices have all said the best thing their parents did was to take them to Melbourne and though they come here for working holidays they can't wait to get back. When UK kids go there I get the impression they'd like to stay.
There are so many things to help us settle in but even then I guess there are still going to be floods of tears. I stupidly asked my mum if she'd cried yet yesterday - cue wet eyes, gulps, change of subject from both of us.
We only found out last Tuesday that we're going in just 3 months so I'm concentrating most on selling up and seeing everyone we know on this continent (having moved so many times there are lots of friends to catch up with) rather than getting emotional.
Anyway hope we all cope, make lots of pals, have a great time and know it's the best thing we've ever done.
Good luck
Carolyn
So I know it will be hard initially but at least we live in an age where we can get visits from home, many can make long haul holidays back here regularly to get the feel of home; and we have the internet & cheap phone calls - how long till we get video phones?
Much better than when my two brothers in-law and their families went 25 years ago and had a 6 week trip by ship and could only communicate by expensive and slow mail.
This site also seems fantastic for making friends before you even get there.
My Australian neices have all said the best thing their parents did was to take them to Melbourne and though they come here for working holidays they can't wait to get back. When UK kids go there I get the impression they'd like to stay.
There are so many things to help us settle in but even then I guess there are still going to be floods of tears. I stupidly asked my mum if she'd cried yet yesterday - cue wet eyes, gulps, change of subject from both of us.
We only found out last Tuesday that we're going in just 3 months so I'm concentrating most on selling up and seeing everyone we know on this continent (having moved so many times there are lots of friends to catch up with) rather than getting emotional.
Anyway hope we all cope, make lots of pals, have a great time and know it's the best thing we've ever done.
Good luck
Carolyn
Mar 16th 2005, 10:57 pm
#18
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Re: Homesick ???
Originally Posted by flip
I think it's always difficult to move to a new area - even in the UK. I've moved 4 times around the country and it usually takes me a year to get to know my way around and find one or two pals, a couple of years to settle in and around 5 years to feel I belong with a gang of friends, best mates and people you can call in on at any time.
So I know it will be hard initially but at least we live in an age where we can get visits from home, many can make long haul holidays back here regularly to get the feel of home; and we have the internet & cheap phone calls - how long till we get video phones?
Much better than when my two brothers in-law and their families went 25 years ago and had a 6 week trip by ship and could only communicate by expensive and slow mail.
This site also seems fantastic for making friends before you even get there.
My Australian neices have all said the best thing their parents did was to take them to Melbourne and though they come here for working holidays they can't wait to get back. When UK kids go there I get the impression they'd like to stay.
There are so many things to help us settle in but even then I guess there are still going to be floods of tears. I stupidly asked my mum if she'd cried yet yesterday - cue wet eyes, gulps, change of subject from both of us.
We only found out last Tuesday that we're going in just 3 months so I'm concentrating most on selling up and seeing everyone we know on this continent (having moved so many times there are lots of friends to catch up with) rather than getting emotional.
Anyway hope we all cope, make lots of pals, have a great time and know it's the best thing we've ever done.
Good luck
Carolyn
So I know it will be hard initially but at least we live in an age where we can get visits from home, many can make long haul holidays back here regularly to get the feel of home; and we have the internet & cheap phone calls - how long till we get video phones?
Much better than when my two brothers in-law and their families went 25 years ago and had a 6 week trip by ship and could only communicate by expensive and slow mail.
This site also seems fantastic for making friends before you even get there.
My Australian neices have all said the best thing their parents did was to take them to Melbourne and though they come here for working holidays they can't wait to get back. When UK kids go there I get the impression they'd like to stay.
There are so many things to help us settle in but even then I guess there are still going to be floods of tears. I stupidly asked my mum if she'd cried yet yesterday - cue wet eyes, gulps, change of subject from both of us.
We only found out last Tuesday that we're going in just 3 months so I'm concentrating most on selling up and seeing everyone we know on this continent (having moved so many times there are lots of friends to catch up with) rather than getting emotional.
Anyway hope we all cope, make lots of pals, have a great time and know it's the best thing we've ever done.
Good luck
Carolyn
Mar 16th 2005, 11:43 pm
#19
da Bonehead
Joined: Jan 2004
Location: Lion in da jungle
Posts: 22,767
Re: Homesick ???
Theresa,
I think your hubby is right.
From what I have witnessed, seen, heard and read it is nearly always that the ladies have more of a challenge with this.
Is it hormonal ? Maybe. I don't mean that in a derogatory fashion. Our make-up is different.
Is it loneliness ? Maybe. A higher percentage of ladies are in the home with time to "ponder".
Read the Banana Diaries or some posts from Pollyana. Like lots and lots of people they have had their off days.....and posted about them.
They come through the other end because they accept them for what they are - off days. Having a miserable day or two is no big deal unless you let them foster and breed out of proportion.
Hey, and make sure you go with open minds and low expectations....or at least controlled expectations. It can be the difference between being pleasantly surprised and miserably dissappointed.
Good luck.
I think your hubby is right.
From what I have witnessed, seen, heard and read it is nearly always that the ladies have more of a challenge with this.
Is it hormonal ? Maybe. I don't mean that in a derogatory fashion. Our make-up is different.
Is it loneliness ? Maybe. A higher percentage of ladies are in the home with time to "ponder".
Read the Banana Diaries or some posts from Pollyana. Like lots and lots of people they have had their off days.....and posted about them.
They come through the other end because they accept them for what they are - off days. Having a miserable day or two is no big deal unless you let them foster and breed out of proportion.
Hey, and make sure you go with open minds and low expectations....or at least controlled expectations. It can be the difference between being pleasantly surprised and miserably dissappointed.
Good luck.
Mar 17th 2005, 12:09 am
#20
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Re: Homesick ???
Originally Posted by Bix
Theresa,
I think your hubby is right.
From what I have witnessed, seen, heard and read it is nearly always that the ladies have more of a challenge with this.
Is it hormonal ? Maybe. I don't mean that in a derogatory fashion. Our make-up is different.
Is it loneliness ? Maybe. A higher percentage of ladies are in the home with time to "ponder".
Read the Banana Diaries or some posts from Pollyana. Like lots and lots of people they have had their off days.....and posted about them.
They come through the other end because they accept them for what they are - off days. Having a miserable day or two is no big deal unless you let them foster and breed out of proportion.
Hey, and make sure you go with open minds and low expectations....or at least controlled expectations. It can be the difference between being pleasantly surprised and miserably dissappointed.
Good luck.
I think your hubby is right.
From what I have witnessed, seen, heard and read it is nearly always that the ladies have more of a challenge with this.
Is it hormonal ? Maybe. I don't mean that in a derogatory fashion. Our make-up is different.
Is it loneliness ? Maybe. A higher percentage of ladies are in the home with time to "ponder".
Read the Banana Diaries or some posts from Pollyana. Like lots and lots of people they have had their off days.....and posted about them.
They come through the other end because they accept them for what they are - off days. Having a miserable day or two is no big deal unless you let them foster and breed out of proportion.
Hey, and make sure you go with open minds and low expectations....or at least controlled expectations. It can be the difference between being pleasantly surprised and miserably dissappointed.
Good luck.
It's weird because we have spent months telling the children that we are making life changing move and have convinced them it will be much better for them.
Completely forgot about us, the grown-ups! Although you know, or think, deep down that you have made the right decision... it is not till you get there that you can really see if you have!
Mar 17th 2005, 1:43 am
#21
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Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
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Re: Homesick ???
Originally Posted by hooperhome
Thanks, I will do a search for the Banana Diaries and Pollyana posts. Any experiences, good and bad are what I would like to read about.
It's weird because we have spent months telling the children that we are making life changing move and have convinced them it will be much better for them.
Completely forgot about us, the grown-ups! Although you know, or think, deep down that you have made the right decision... it is not till you get there that you can really see if you have!
It's weird because we have spent months telling the children that we are making life changing move and have convinced them it will be much better for them.
Completely forgot about us, the grown-ups! Although you know, or think, deep down that you have made the right decision... it is not till you get there that you can really see if you have!
Hope you enjoy (??) reading some of my posts! You need to read quite a few, but hopefully then you'll see that it really is a case (for a lot of us) of up one minute, down the next. Homesickness is a strange thing - I never ever expected to suffer from it, and I don't consider it homesickness as much as "peoplesickness" as its the people I miss, not the place.
One way I have of dealing with it is this - since the day I left the UK, Hallowe'en 2003, I have promised myself that I will go back and visit peple when I have done 2 years here. I've now done 17 months, I've had ups and downs, I've loved things, I've hated things, I've wanted to leave, and I've wanted to stay. But when I booked a ticket this week to visit the UK in October, I knew I was booking it as a visit, with no desire to make it a one-way trip. So I guess I am slowly settling here.
As you say, you don't know till you get here whether you have made the right decision. Something you need to remember though is that you may not realise its the right decision until you have been here for a while. Don't rush back "home" after 3 months, don't give up after 6 months, give yourselves time to adjust, time to go through the highs and lows, and time to build a life and make friends here. THEN and only then, will you know if its right for you forever.
At least if you move as a family you all experience it together - I came out here to marry an Aussie; lived in Queensland all his life, not moved house for 11 years. We are now looking to move to a better house, and he is so apprehensive about moving - within the same area of Brissie! Only now is he starting to realise how traumatic it must have been for me to move 12,000 miles, leaving everyone behind.
If you read enough of my witterings you will read good, bad and indifferent. But deep down I love it here, and I hope you will too.
Mar 17th 2005, 1:51 am
#22
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Re: Homesick ???
Originally Posted by Pollyana
Hi,
Hope you enjoy (??) reading some of my posts! You need to read quite a few, but hopefully then you'll see that it really is a case (for a lot of us) of up one minute, down the next. Homesickness is a strange thing - I never ever expected to suffer from it, and I don't consider it homesickness as much as "peoplesickness" as its the people I miss, not the place.
One way I have of dealing with it is this - since the day I left the UK, Hallowe'en 2003, I have promised myself that I will go back and visit peple when I have done 2 years here. I've now done 17 months, I've had ups and downs, I've loved things, I've hated things, I've wanted to leave, and I've wanted to stay. But when I booked a ticket this week to visit the UK in October, I knew I was booking it as a visit, with no desire to make it a one-way trip. So I guess I am slowly settling here.
As you say, you don't know till you get here whether you have made the right decision. Something you need to remember though is that you may not realise its the right decision until you have been here for a while. Don't rush back "home" after 3 months, don't give up after 6 months, give yourselves time to adjust, time to go through the highs and lows, and time to build a life and make friends here. THEN and only then, will you know if its right for you forever.
At least if you move as a family you all experience it together - I came out here to marry an Aussie; lived in Queensland all his life, not moved house for 11 years. We are now looking to move to a better house, and he is so apprehensive about moving - within the same area of Brissie! Only now is he starting to realise how traumatic it must have been for me to move 12,000 miles, leaving everyone behind.
If you read enough of my witterings you will read good, bad and indifferent. But deep down I love it here, and I hope you will too.
Hope you enjoy (??) reading some of my posts! You need to read quite a few, but hopefully then you'll see that it really is a case (for a lot of us) of up one minute, down the next. Homesickness is a strange thing - I never ever expected to suffer from it, and I don't consider it homesickness as much as "peoplesickness" as its the people I miss, not the place.
One way I have of dealing with it is this - since the day I left the UK, Hallowe'en 2003, I have promised myself that I will go back and visit peple when I have done 2 years here. I've now done 17 months, I've had ups and downs, I've loved things, I've hated things, I've wanted to leave, and I've wanted to stay. But when I booked a ticket this week to visit the UK in October, I knew I was booking it as a visit, with no desire to make it a one-way trip. So I guess I am slowly settling here.
As you say, you don't know till you get here whether you have made the right decision. Something you need to remember though is that you may not realise its the right decision until you have been here for a while. Don't rush back "home" after 3 months, don't give up after 6 months, give yourselves time to adjust, time to go through the highs and lows, and time to build a life and make friends here. THEN and only then, will you know if its right for you forever.
At least if you move as a family you all experience it together - I came out here to marry an Aussie; lived in Queensland all his life, not moved house for 11 years. We are now looking to move to a better house, and he is so apprehensive about moving - within the same area of Brissie! Only now is he starting to realise how traumatic it must have been for me to move 12,000 miles, leaving everyone behind.
If you read enough of my witterings you will read good, bad and indifferent. But deep down I love it here, and I hope you will too.
Thanks for that Pollyanna.
I now have a mission for the weekend, to catch up on your posts, am looking forward to it!
Mar 17th 2005, 2:05 am
#23
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Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
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Re: Homesick ???
Originally Posted by hooperhome
Thanks for that Pollyanna.
I now have a mission for the weekend, to catch up on your posts, am looking forward to it!
I now have a mission for the weekend, to catch up on your posts, am looking forward to it!
Mar 17th 2005, 2:08 am
#24
Gone Senile Member
Joined: Sep 2001
Location: Sydney
Posts: 3,014
Re: Homesick ???
I just love the way you write......I read your posts before you got here.....promising you would be the one who loved it and stayed come what may! And as I went through my hate the bloody place phase....you kept me sane cause if you above all had difficulty so could I!!!
Now three years in........I am making myself again, new job and a nice one despite the lack of internet access and the fact I fall asleep when I get in cause I have been so busy in the 10 hrs at work per day....shit and I was persuaded to come here for a relaxed lifestyle.....bollocks!
Anyway...thanks for keeping it real for me pollyana
Now three years in........I am making myself again, new job and a nice one despite the lack of internet access and the fact I fall asleep when I get in cause I have been so busy in the 10 hrs at work per day....shit and I was persuaded to come here for a relaxed lifestyle.....bollocks!
Anyway...thanks for keeping it real for me pollyana
Originally Posted by Pollyana
Hi,
Hope you enjoy (??) reading some of my posts! You need to read quite a few, but hopefully then you'll see that it really is a case (for a lot of us) of up one minute, down the next. Homesickness is a strange thing - I never ever expected to suffer from it, and I don't consider it homesickness as much as "peoplesickness" as its the people I miss, not the place.
One way I have of dealing with it is this - since the day I left the UK, Hallowe'en 2003, I have promised myself that I will go back and visit peple when I have done 2 years here. I've now done 17 months, I've had ups and downs, I've loved things, I've hated things, I've wanted to leave, and I've wanted to stay. But when I booked a ticket this week to visit the UK in October, I knew I was booking it as a visit, with no desire to make it a one-way trip. So I guess I am slowly settling here.
As you say, you don't know till you get here whether you have made the right decision. Something you need to remember though is that you may not realise its the right decision until you have been here for a while. Don't rush back "home" after 3 months, don't give up after 6 months, give yourselves time to adjust, time to go through the highs and lows, and time to build a life and make friends here. THEN and only then, will you know if its right for you forever.
At least if you move as a family you all experience it together - I came out here to marry an Aussie; lived in Queensland all his life, not moved house for 11 years. We are now looking to move to a better house, and he is so apprehensive about moving - within the same area of Brissie! Only now is he starting to realise how traumatic it must have been for me to move 12,000 miles, leaving everyone behind.
If you read enough of my witterings you will read good, bad and indifferent. But deep down I love it here, and I hope you will too.
Hope you enjoy (??) reading some of my posts! You need to read quite a few, but hopefully then you'll see that it really is a case (for a lot of us) of up one minute, down the next. Homesickness is a strange thing - I never ever expected to suffer from it, and I don't consider it homesickness as much as "peoplesickness" as its the people I miss, not the place.
One way I have of dealing with it is this - since the day I left the UK, Hallowe'en 2003, I have promised myself that I will go back and visit peple when I have done 2 years here. I've now done 17 months, I've had ups and downs, I've loved things, I've hated things, I've wanted to leave, and I've wanted to stay. But when I booked a ticket this week to visit the UK in October, I knew I was booking it as a visit, with no desire to make it a one-way trip. So I guess I am slowly settling here.
As you say, you don't know till you get here whether you have made the right decision. Something you need to remember though is that you may not realise its the right decision until you have been here for a while. Don't rush back "home" after 3 months, don't give up after 6 months, give yourselves time to adjust, time to go through the highs and lows, and time to build a life and make friends here. THEN and only then, will you know if its right for you forever.
At least if you move as a family you all experience it together - I came out here to marry an Aussie; lived in Queensland all his life, not moved house for 11 years. We are now looking to move to a better house, and he is so apprehensive about moving - within the same area of Brissie! Only now is he starting to realise how traumatic it must have been for me to move 12,000 miles, leaving everyone behind.
If you read enough of my witterings you will read good, bad and indifferent. But deep down I love it here, and I hope you will too.
Mar 17th 2005, 9:00 am
#25
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2004
Location: Wakefield.......now Wellington Point
Posts: 1,284
Re: Homesick ???
Hi
I too am a very realistic person and the eternal optimist...........and was so shocked by the feelings og homesickness. I agree with the others though ti is people sickness, I do not miss England as a place at all.
After being here 4 weeks I could have packed up and gone home but we have settled and relly like it now...........
You have to give it time and you also have to make the effort to meet people, as it is the staying in the house that is the orst when you don't know anybody.
I am sure you will ok and you can always post on the forum if you need some support.........people are really good on here
Amanda
I too am a very realistic person and the eternal optimist...........and was so shocked by the feelings og homesickness. I agree with the others though ti is people sickness, I do not miss England as a place at all.
After being here 4 weeks I could have packed up and gone home but we have settled and relly like it now...........
You have to give it time and you also have to make the effort to meet people, as it is the staying in the house that is the orst when you don't know anybody.
I am sure you will ok and you can always post on the forum if you need some support.........people are really good on here
Amanda
Mar 17th 2005, 9:06 am
#26
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Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
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Re: Homesick ???
Originally Posted by Sandra
I just love the way you write......I read your posts before you got here.....promising you would be the one who loved it and stayed come what may! And as I went through my hate the bloody place phase....you kept me sane cause if you above all had difficulty so could I!!!
Now three years in........I am making myself again, new job and a nice one despite the lack of internet access and the fact I fall asleep when I get in cause I have been so busy in the 10 hrs at work per day....shit and I was persuaded to come here for a relaxed lifestyle.....bollocks!
Anyway...thanks for keeping it real for me pollyana
Now three years in........I am making myself again, new job and a nice one despite the lack of internet access and the fact I fall asleep when I get in cause I have been so busy in the 10 hrs at work per day....shit and I was persuaded to come here for a relaxed lifestyle.....bollocks!
Anyway...thanks for keeping it real for me pollyana
Mar 17th 2005, 11:26 am
#27
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Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Listening to Puffing Billy
Posts: 9,183
Re: Homesick ???
Polly and Sand, stop the love in otherwise i'm gonna puke 
Yep as most have said its people sickness, i don't miss the place at all.
I got very down after the honeymoon period wore off (around month 6 to 8 ish) and i was pretty kind of bitter at Aus for making me feel like this. Normally i'm very easy going and Aus was p*ssing me off! I now know it wasn't Aus, it was me kicking back at the strangeness of the place and the lack of familiarity that made day to day stuff an up hill struggle.
One day I violently chucked the yellow pages across the room screaming something along the lines of "they don't even know how to write a f*^k*%g phone book properly in this shit hole of a country" I couldn't find the number for directory enquiries, it sure as hell aint 192
I found things better once i got a job and back into the real world. We've also had an influx of pommy rellies visiting and frankly i'm a bit over it now and glad of some peace
I have no desire to visit England whatsoever. When i'm feeling a bit down i go to somewhere here that i love, somewhere that takes my breath away, and its like a slap and i always walk away smiling at my self for being stupid. I may look a bit of a loon, but hey, it works for me
Yep as most have said its people sickness, i don't miss the place at all.
I got very down after the honeymoon period wore off (around month 6 to 8 ish) and i was pretty kind of bitter at Aus for making me feel like this. Normally i'm very easy going and Aus was p*ssing me off! I now know it wasn't Aus, it was me kicking back at the strangeness of the place and the lack of familiarity that made day to day stuff an up hill struggle.
One day I violently chucked the yellow pages across the room screaming something along the lines of "they don't even know how to write a f*^k*%g phone book properly in this shit hole of a country" I couldn't find the number for directory enquiries, it sure as hell aint 192
I found things better once i got a job and back into the real world. We've also had an influx of pommy rellies visiting and frankly i'm a bit over it now and glad of some peace
I have no desire to visit England whatsoever. When i'm feeling a bit down i go to somewhere here that i love, somewhere that takes my breath away, and its like a slap and i always walk away smiling at my self for being stupid. I may look a bit of a loon, but hey, it works for me
Mar 17th 2005, 12:28 pm
#28
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Re: Homesick ???
Originally Posted by hevs
One day I violently chucked the yellow pages across the room screaming something along the lines of "they don't even know how to write a f*^k*%g phone book properly in this shit hole of a country" I couldn't find the number for directory enquiries, it sure as hell aint 192
Mar 17th 2005, 6:31 pm
#29
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Re: Homesick ???
[QUOTE=hooperhome]We are about to have medicals so nearing the end of the visa application. We (myself and hubby) have been so concerned about the children's happiness with moving to Oz that we have not even contemplated ourselves. He came home from work yesterday and said he has no doubts about each of the children settling in, and definitely none for him (bad family relations). However he has started to worry about me.
I do have a very close family and I know that I will miss them terribly.
I did want to ask if anybody has gone out there and really found that they have been surprisingly more homesick than they could have imagined and how they dealt with it.
Personally I think hubby is worrying about nothing. I am quite a realistic character but just thought I could gather a few experiences if poss.
Hi...I arrived about 8 weeks ago and back in the UK I actually knew that I would be homesick and told myself that I would have to give it about 6 months to a year to settle in. However, when you are actually here it feels different and I have been more homesick than expected.
When I told a friend about this just a week or so ago she gave me some really good advice, and that is not to look at this as a permanent move or a jail sentence and to think of staying here just for the foreseeable future.
This has meant the world of difference to me...instead of feeling like I have no one I now think that "its not for life, and that if I really need to I can go home".
I think we all grieve for home....and when we move away we are mourning our past way of life, and too...most humans don't like change and we fear it...so that when it happens instead of embracing it we struggle with it and want our old life back. I now that if I went back to the UK to my old life, it would not be the same...we have sold our house and possessions and I have given up my job so I would have to resettle somewhere else....(at least here it is in the sun!)...
This weekend we are away to Jervis Bay, last weekend we went scuba diving, subathing, sea kayaking...all for less than £50.00...you could not do this in the uk,...at all
I do have a very close family and I know that I will miss them terribly.
I did want to ask if anybody has gone out there and really found that they have been surprisingly more homesick than they could have imagined and how they dealt with it.
Personally I think hubby is worrying about nothing. I am quite a realistic character but just thought I could gather a few experiences if poss.
Hi...I arrived about 8 weeks ago and back in the UK I actually knew that I would be homesick and told myself that I would have to give it about 6 months to a year to settle in. However, when you are actually here it feels different and I have been more homesick than expected.
When I told a friend about this just a week or so ago she gave me some really good advice, and that is not to look at this as a permanent move or a jail sentence and to think of staying here just for the foreseeable future.
This has meant the world of difference to me...instead of feeling like I have no one I now think that "its not for life, and that if I really need to I can go home".
I think we all grieve for home....and when we move away we are mourning our past way of life, and too...most humans don't like change and we fear it...so that when it happens instead of embracing it we struggle with it and want our old life back. I now that if I went back to the UK to my old life, it would not be the same...we have sold our house and possessions and I have given up my job so I would have to resettle somewhere else....(at least here it is in the sun!)...
This weekend we are away to Jervis Bay, last weekend we went scuba diving, subathing, sea kayaking...all for less than £50.00...you could not do this in the uk,...at all
