Originally Posted by quoll

Sorry it hasnt worked out for you and I hope that the next step in your life adventure is successful. You may well be like the thousands who have gone to UK and realized just what a fantastic place it actually is - sometimes you dont know what you've got til it's gone. Kudos to you for supporting your wife and doing the thing that will make her happy - some of us arent nearly so lucky!

Originally Posted by Officer Dibble

Quoll, the enlightened.





There are plenty of reasons to head back to the homeland but this case sounds like a "keep at it" situation. Once your foot is in the door workwise, things will turn around.

FACT: You, your wife, kids HAVE to have a resume if they want work.

On the other hand, if the womenfolk arent happy, then you should book your tickets. All too common a problem and the main reason our family ping-ponged.

Originally Posted by JoeBloggs80

Sounds like a combination of bad planning, unrealistic expeactations and bad luck.

Your missus should really have spoken up before you left though.

Originally Posted by Pollyana

Sometimes you don't realise how you are going to feel until you get here. I'm a prime example of that.....read my posts from before I landed here and you would think I was one person on here who would never get homesick. Less than three months later I remember thinking "Holy Bat Kr*p, what have I done......"

Originally Posted by JoeBloggs80

Sounds like a combination of bad planning, unrealistic expeactations and bad luck.

Your missus should really have spoken up before you left though.

Originally Posted by Andrews2oz

To all of you thinking of making the move please please please think hard and read on for some hopefully helpful advice.

I’m not going to tell you that Australia is a nasty place or that the Aussie people are horrible both my youngest daughter and I both love it here and would love to stay; unfortunately my eldest daughter and the wife just cannot settle and have longed to return home since our arrival.

We arrived in Secret Harbour, Perth in the middle of January 2010 and initially stayed with friends. (By the way Secret Harbour is a beautiful suburb and from what I hear has big plans for the future. It misses a local Train station (Nearest station Warnbro is approx 10kms away)
We then spent the next 5 weeks finding a good rental.
TIP 1: Make sure you find a good rental, we thought we had, it looked nice enough, freshly painted 4 bedrooms nice family room etc. but with hindsight we should have waited a little longer for somewhere better.
TIP 2: Sign up for 6 months at a time, unless of course you are 100% sure you’ll be staying for at least a year; and when I say 100% better make that 200% - we were also going to give it at least 1 to 2 years here in Oz before returning to the uk… seems like only yesterday that we were saying that!!


I thought that I had a perfect plan; get a home sorted out, then get the girls into schools and then get a job. Big mistake; my plan of 2 weeks to find a home turned into 5 weeks, by week 4 my original plan was to have the girls in schools… this turned out to be nearer 6 weeks and as for the job!!!
I have been an Electrician for 21 years and have experienced most types of electrical work; in recent years I have also gone on to run large jobs (2 years on London Underground in charge of up to 70 men). I have my City & Guilds parts 1 & 2 and only 3 years ago took and passed the City & Guilds 2391 Testing & Inspection course. Also quite recently, I attended and passed a HV Authorised person course. And here’s the bit I don’t get… I had received a Skilled 175 Visa after being assessed. However, once in Australia you then have to apply for an Australian Recognised Trade certificate - I did kind of know about this but for the life of me I didn’t expect as much hassle as I’ve experienced – I sent off all of the information to their office in Melbourne only to receive an email the next day to say that the certificates were not certified copies – huh they were exactly the same ones that I’d sent to their office in Canberra and they were happy with them!! Anyway the guy at Melbourne told me that they would retrieve the info from their Canberra office but that this would take longer so I’d be better off sending new copies again… which I did… only to discover that it still took them 30 days to decide… and what did they decide??? “We are not entirely satisfied with your case, however we are willing to give you the opportunity to convince us via a Technical interview!!!
After more waiting I was contacted by the assessor who told me that I would receive a call in 3 more weeks time to conduct the Technical Interview.. I asked if I could carry out the interview earlier as I was eager to progress to the next stage but was assured that the interview would be conducted in plenty of time before the panel next got together to assess cases.
The Technical Interview day came and I had an interesting Interview… Not quite sure how many electricians can still remember the different components of a fluorescent fitting and just how this is part of being an electrician but hey what do I know! Anyway the assessor said that I’d passed the interview and that it would be his recommendation to award me the Electrical Mechanics certificate when the panel next met… he also said that I would hear the result around the 23rd of April……. You’ve probably already guessed this next bit but….. Wrong; no result, I contacted the TRA who informed me that unfortunately my interview had not been conducted early enough for my case to be heard in time and that they would hope to look at my case again on May the 11th and hope to close out my case by mid May!!!!! Almost 12 weeks after first receiving my documents!!! And this is just the first hurdle, once – sorry IF – I receive the certificate I then have to apply for the License, only then can I go on a 2 week course to actually qualify for the license… doh!!! Don’t forget all of this means more expenses too.

So TIP 3: Find jobs quickly; I applied to about 10 adverts – explaining that I was in the process of applying for the license but would be willing to work as a Trade assistant until such time.
I got a job as a TA but I feel cheated that my boss is getting a fully qualified, well experienced and with an extensive amount of tools for the price of a mate. Life sucks sometimes doesn’t it!!!

TIP 3.1: Make sure the wife gets a job; my wife has now spent so long out of work that she has no interest in getting a job here; she was a carer for 9 years in the UK before coming here and was hoping to do the same but got put off by “Have you got a resume” and the lack of local work that she now has no intention of getting a job…. She just wants to go home.

TIP 4: And this is the most important one – Make sure your partner is fully behind the move and that he/she is sure that they can move so far from mum. This has been the main reason for our return; my wife had never been more than 5 minutes away from her mum; I suppose taking her to the other side of the world was never going to work really. Just wish I’d known that before we moved.

When we left the uk, we were doing really well in the uk; good jobs, kids doing well in school, good friends, great pets and no financial worries etc. (Same as many of you probably!!) “Why gamble” I hear you say; well we were (And still are) saddened/worried by what the UK was - and is - becoming. We decided to emigrate for what we hoped was going to be a better life for our daughters.
Our eldest daughter was approaching 15 years old and did not want to go to Australia so we thought, “Better go now before she’s 16 and refuses”. Unfortunately we have found that the education system is not as good as we were getting in the UK and our eldest just seems to cry a lot and pines for home; she made it in to the schools extension classes after impressing the teachers but still hates it.

I just hope that we can resume where we left off in the UK; our house will still be rented out till mid January 2011 but my old boss has promised me my old job back.
Not so sure how I’m going to feel if we bump into our old Dog either; we had our Cocker Spaniel for 9 years and decided to find a new home for him in the UK rather than bring him out here as he didn’t enjoy the heat.

And please don’t say “you need to give it longer” or “Give it a year at least” or “It will get easier” as I know that it does not make any sense going back so soon.. but unfortunately we have no choice…. Another month or 2 here could split the family up beyond repair. I cannot take any more tears; seeing my wife so low is crushing me.

All the best to all in Oz and for those to arrive,

Originally Posted by Pollyana

Sometimes you don't realise how you are going to feel until you get here. I'm a prime example of that.....read my posts from before I landed here and you would think I was one person on here who would never get homesick. Less than three months later I remember thinking "Holy Bat Kr*p, what have I done......"

Originally Posted by quoll

Yup me too, didnt feel the least need to return to UK for the first 10 years (very slow learner) and no homesickness at all but down the track the thought of ending my days here fills me with absolute horror. I always knew that this was an alien place and if you had told me back then that I wouldnt be able to go home down the track then I would have been out of here so fast you wouldnt have seen me for dust. It's the "forever" that is crippling and once that sinks in, all sorts of weird feelings come up and you can have no concept of that until it happens to you.