KJCherokee

It depends on why you came in the first place, I think. In 1982 I was in a 'going nowhere' job on the Slough Industrial Estate, living in a new housing estate just outside Reading, and wondering just what the future held - all the jobs I applied for were basically just more of the same. So we made the decision and emigrated to Australia (it was a lot easier back then). The first 6 months were hard - I only had 6 weeks work in the whole period - but then I landed a temporary job as a project engineer with the Marine Navigational Aids (lighthouses!) followed by a permanent job with the high pressure gas pipeline feeding Adelaide, and careerwise I haven't looked back since.

My first trip back to the UK was in 1996 and I went back to the firm I'd left 13 years earlier to discover the same people doing the same jobs and thought "Thank God I got out when I did". My wife, ex-wife, children, step-children and grandchildren are all here in Australia, all that's left in the UK is a brother who I rarely saw when I lived there. I'm now Australian - I just happen to have a UK passport as well. OK, I've been lucky, I know that, but just think what I'd have missed if I'd let the first 6 months put me off and gone back to the UK then.