strewth

Hi All....
I will be 30 next year. My boyfried is Australian and I am Irish. We both live in Ireland at the moment but I would love to go to Australia. I spent 1 year there with my sister in 1998 on a Working Holiday Visa. She met her husband there and is now married with a child and living on the Central Coast.
My problem is this.....my parents have been separated for the past 10 years and basically hate eachother. Neither have remarried and depend alot on me and my 3 brothers for support. I am very close to my sister and miss her like crazy. My boyfriend is so great he says he'll live wherever I want! although he does miss his family, he understands the pressure I am under to stay here for my parents as they get older.
I have a very good job here and really good friends but I am fed up of the rat race and the cost of property here means I will never be able to afford a decent sized house - unless I win the lottery! I am attracted by the lifestyle in Oz and feel that my sis would benefit from my company too! I have a permanent visa and just need to make up my mind but my decision changes from 1 day to the next.
Has anyone been in this situation and maybe has some advice for me...........?
Thanks a milion,
S

Juliecabs

I definitely think you should go for it. It is your life after all.
I'm the eldest of 4 kids and the decision to go and try something different hasn't been an easy one. My parents are still together and live at the other end of the village to me and I see them all the time. I have 3 teenage kids and my parents adore them, and while they have said they will miss us terribly, they fully understand why we want to go. (My In-Laws are another story ) Your parents have 3 other children to help look after them as do my parents, and you are only a day away from them should they need you in an emergency.
If you feel that you really can't settle once you are in Oz, you can always come back, but you will regret not at least trying it out.
Good Luck
Julie

Anne4Terry

When we leave to go to Australia (hopefully) we will be the last children leaving my elderly parents. In fact my dad is ancient (92). But we will be going to live near my sister and her boys who are the same age as our son. It is mainly him that we are thinking of. He is so looking forward to spending time with his cousins, not to mention the advantages that having dual nationality is going to give him.

It is YOUR life, for you to do the living in the way that YOU chose. I can understand that it will be difficult for you to leave your parents but we have left it right to the last minute. Hubby is now 45 and if we don't pass this application then it will be too late for us to apply again. How we wish that we had done something about it sooner. It could be too late for us. Think about that. Do you really want to wait until your parents are no longer around and then find it is too late for you to make choices about where you want to be and how it could affect any children that you have in the future. Speak to your parents about how you feel. If they are nice people then they will cry, say they will miss you, but let you go with their blessing.

Good luck

suzimc

I've said it before and I think I'll say it many more times in my life - you'll always regret the things you don't do more than the things you do. It's a really tough decision to make, and ultimately you are the only one who can make it, but you have to live your life for you. I doubt anybody is 100% sure before they emigrate about what they are doing, but you just have to go with your gut instinct. Maybe it would be an opportunity for your parents to have to get on with their own lives, which could be a great step for each of them in the long run, while they will just carry on depending on you as long as you are there for them to lean on.

Just remember, nothing is forever and you can always come back if you need/want to, but if you don't give it a fair crack you will never know what it could have been like.

Good luck, I hope you manage to find the solution you can be happiest with

strewth

Hi Julie,
thanks a million for your great advice. I have decided to give it a go for a year and see what happens. I hope things go well for you and your family too.
THanks again.
S

strewth

Thanks Anne4Terry! Great advice! Good luck to you too!
S