Originally Posted by Amazulu

This is your experience & that's all that matters really. Doesn't mean you are right. Lot's of other people, including me, would disagree with you, but that doesn't matter. It's what you want to believe that counts.

Originally Posted by glittababe

TY for that, will check it out as its fairly close to my nanna! Will request not to have room 4 cos of the boiler (that'll freak them out). Or I could request the room, complain and have a price reduction!

Originally Posted by Amazulu

There are basically only 2 reasons why we moved here:
1. The vast majority of kids in the UK are wankers & I don't want my son to grow up like them. There are wankers here, but the majority of kids seem 'normal' to me.
2. The 'rat race' that is life in the SE of England. The M25, crap trains, overcrowded etc.

Apart from that UK is a great place, fantastic opportunities, great wages, stable, strong housing market, good travel options. Australia & UK share all the same social problems. I'm not trying to escape the alleged social problems of the UK. Australia has a great lifestyle, more space, friendly etc but the ability to make money here is not as good as the UK.

Weather is not a big factor for me:
UK is in Western Europe, sticking out into the Atlantic = cold, damp weather,
Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere = warm, dry weather,
Facts of nature really = not important.

That's it really. Simple as. It's all good.

Originally Posted by glittababe

Do you believe in Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)? I think it effects most of us at one point or another and it can lead to feelings of negativity. Just looking out of the window up at grey skies can make you feel a bit down, then that affects the rest of the day.

Originally Posted by Hutch

I strongly suspect that *is* the partially the problem.

Originally Posted by sean trethewey

If i can have 1 day a week in oz like this the move will be worth it to me

Get up

Have breakfast
(Don't do this often in the UK as it's just to cold so i stay warm in bed until i have to go to work).

Take the wife and kids down to Burliegh beach for a walk and a surf
(Can't do this in the UK as we cant afford to live near a beach and the weathers always s**t).

Go to work

Go home and sit in the garden with a cold beer and maybe a BBQ.
(can't do this in the UK as the weather is shit and we can't afford a house with a proper garden were we live, and the local yob's would lower the tone by shouting obscene language).

Go to sleep.

That's it, and the rest will be a huge bonus.

Originally Posted by Hutch

lol - aye - perhaps I should also have mentioned that I love surfing too - I'll even boot and suit for the Cornish surf in mid-winter. Being able to get out the back in a rashie and shorts after a 5 minute drive from the house is going to be bloody great.

Originally Posted by glittababe

scary isn't it? we check the kids skin almost on a daily basis. on the skin cancer website is a 'bodymap' you can download, print off and mark down the details of every mole so you can see if they change. We even found some new ones on the boys scalps - very difficult to see as they have long hair. Its important not to become complacent. I did and then found a mole on the sole of my foot. Saw GP in UK, he faxed over referral and had an appointment for me at medical photography and dermatology with 20 mins!!!! Not bad for the NHS!

Originally Posted by Hutch

I probably should have explained the original post better - the photos were designed to highlight the way my son Josh felt when in Oz and when here - look at his face in those photos, compare and contrast - he's four and a half, there's nothing 'staged' about them. Yes, it's partially about the weather, but more than that, it's about the way the place makes us feel.

There's something about this country (England) that saps my will to live - sorry if that bothers you and makes you all defensive towards the old country, but that's honestly the way it makes me feel. I'm no expat rooky, I've lived abroad before (US and Oz for a year or two, as well as a year doing the student backpack thing travelling all over Europe) and I knew I had to get out of the UK when I returned from my first trip to my dad's home country of Australia. The stench of malcontent hits you like a wall of shit as soon as you stroll down that tunnel off the aeroplane at Heathrow. Everything around you is grey, run-down, miserable and depressing - as a nation we're supposed to get by on two weeks of 'summer' when every Briton with a car and some holiday time tries to cram into the few beaches in the country not awash with effluent and we're charged obscene sums of money to stay in pokey apartments and hotel suites.

After I got back from Oz the first time I wondered whether I'd actually been awake for the previous decade - we just seem to 'put up' with things in this country, which is all well and good when there's a war on, but not much cop during peacetime. I thought it was just me, but the first time we travelled to Oz as a family I knew it wasn't - my wife Catherine and son Josh clearly felt the same way. I refuse to live in a country that only truly seems alive for a very short period in the middle of the year and which accepts and glorifies mediocrity in all walks of life. If you're happy in the UK, or you moved to Oz, regretted and are moving back - great, enjoy, you're welcome to it. My days of sitting on the fence are over.

Originally Posted by glittababe

Beautiful frosty sunny mornings! Have lots of them.

Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede

As an Aussie I will gladly go on record as someone who enjoys the UK winter.
I have an advantage over most Aussies (having spent 15 years in Tassie getting acclimatised to the cold) and I've really enjoyed the UK's white winters.

Originally Posted by OzSheila

Something we agree on! I used to love it when the snow fell.

Atleast when the weather is cold you can put on more clothes, consume warm drinks and still get out and about. On days of extreme heat, you can only remove so many clothes, I find myself totally sapped of any energy and have difficulty sleeping.