Paradise to Hell and back again.
Sep 5th 2008, 9:30 pm
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2008
Location: San Rafael, California
Posts: 8
Paradise to Hell and back again.
Hi everyone.
I just wanted to share with you the last year of our lives.
My wife and I were overjoyed about living and working in Canberra during 2007 and early 2008. Then, my company offered me a position of a lifetime (or so I thought) directing a new computer game called Bioshock 2. We would have to leave Australia to live in Marin County, California.
We thought it was a good career and lifestyle move.
How wrong we were. I cant even begin to list the many things that made Australia so amazing for us. Having lived in the UK for 30 odd years, Australia just knocked our socks off. From the people to the weather and the general culture, that gorgeous land down under was an amazing paradise.
Marin County, however, is not. It stinks (and I apologise to anyone who lives/works/travels to Marin and loves it - it just wasn't for us). I won't go into why here for fear of offending any that have strong feelings for Marin.
Oh.. I have drifted.
Well, long story short, we were going mad, we were homesick for the country that wasn't even our homeland. For several months we deliberated on how to change our life. Should we press on here in California or find a way to get back to Aus. It wasn't simple, I was bound to a stinking contract that meant if I departed the company in less than two years, I would have to repay them all the money they paid to get me to the USA, including the visa charges. Nice.
The draw of Australia was just too much. We bit the bullet, so to speak, and I started to look for a similar position in Australia. Luckily, there was one, at a great company, a company I had my eye on for many years. A month later of staggered phone interviews, I accepted their offer and that now very familiar visa process was to start. This time I would be applying for the 457 from another country on a totally different visa..
X-Rays. Simple (even here in America with its rather wonky health care system).
In fact, the entire visa process was easier than it was the first time around in the UK.
X Rays arrived in Sydney LCU two Sundays ago. 3 days later, I had the 457s for my wife and I.
Oh and the matter of that huge payment to the company? Yeah I paid it to them yesterday. That sucked. I am significantly more poor. Anything I had saved in the USA had gone. Next week, the company will be booking flights (which is good as I doubt I could afford them after that cheque) and we leave the USA to start a new life in Brisbane. This isn't a sob story. Far from, I just wanted to bore you guys a bit to say that we had the Aussie dream and we gave it up, tempted by what we thought was a dream job.
I wish I could express how great it is there... it really is that good.
I will update once we are settled in Brisbane about life there. I hope it is even better than Canberra!
I just wanted to share with you the last year of our lives.
My wife and I were overjoyed about living and working in Canberra during 2007 and early 2008. Then, my company offered me a position of a lifetime (or so I thought) directing a new computer game called Bioshock 2. We would have to leave Australia to live in Marin County, California.
We thought it was a good career and lifestyle move.
How wrong we were. I cant even begin to list the many things that made Australia so amazing for us. Having lived in the UK for 30 odd years, Australia just knocked our socks off. From the people to the weather and the general culture, that gorgeous land down under was an amazing paradise.
Marin County, however, is not. It stinks (and I apologise to anyone who lives/works/travels to Marin and loves it - it just wasn't for us). I won't go into why here for fear of offending any that have strong feelings for Marin.
Oh.. I have drifted.
Well, long story short, we were going mad, we were homesick for the country that wasn't even our homeland. For several months we deliberated on how to change our life. Should we press on here in California or find a way to get back to Aus. It wasn't simple, I was bound to a stinking contract that meant if I departed the company in less than two years, I would have to repay them all the money they paid to get me to the USA, including the visa charges. Nice.
The draw of Australia was just too much. We bit the bullet, so to speak, and I started to look for a similar position in Australia. Luckily, there was one, at a great company, a company I had my eye on for many years. A month later of staggered phone interviews, I accepted their offer and that now very familiar visa process was to start. This time I would be applying for the 457 from another country on a totally different visa..
X-Rays. Simple (even here in America with its rather wonky health care system).
In fact, the entire visa process was easier than it was the first time around in the UK.
X Rays arrived in Sydney LCU two Sundays ago. 3 days later, I had the 457s for my wife and I.
Oh and the matter of that huge payment to the company? Yeah I paid it to them yesterday. That sucked. I am significantly more poor. Anything I had saved in the USA had gone. Next week, the company will be booking flights (which is good as I doubt I could afford them after that cheque) and we leave the USA to start a new life in Brisbane. This isn't a sob story. Far from, I just wanted to bore you guys a bit to say that we had the Aussie dream and we gave it up, tempted by what we thought was a dream job.
I wish I could express how great it is there... it really is that good.
I will update once we are settled in Brisbane about life there. I hope it is even better than Canberra!
Last edited by Rich Albon; Sep 5th 2008 at 9:34 pm.
Sep 5th 2008, 9:38 pm
#2
no stressin no fussin....
Joined: Aug 2007
Location: Fantasy Island....
Posts: 12,616
Re: Paradise to Hell and back again.
Hi everyone.
I just wanted to share with you the last year of our lives.
My wife and I were overjoyed about living and working in Canberra during 2007 and early 2008. Then, my company offered me a position of a lifetime (or so I thought) directing a new computer game called Bioshock 2. We would have to leave Australia to live in Marin County, California.
We thought it was a good career and lifestyle move.
How wrong we were. I cant even begin to list the many things that made Australia so amazing for us. Having lived in the UK for 30 odd years, Australia just knocked our socks off. From the people to the weather and the general culture, that gorgeous land down under was an amazing paradise.
Marin County, however, is not. It stinks (and I apologise to anyone who lives/works/travels to Marin and loves it - it just wasn't for us). I won't go into why here for fear of offending any that have strong feelings for Marin.
Oh.. I have drifted.
Well, long story short, we were going mad, we were homesick for the country that wasn't even our homeland. For several months we deliberated on how to change our life. Should we press on here in California or find a way to get back to Aus. It wasn't simple, I was bound to a stinking contract that meant if I departed the company in less than two years, I would have to repay them all the money they paid to get me to the USA, including the visa charges. Nice.
The draw of Australia was just too much. We bit the bullet, so to speak, and I started to look for a similar position in Australia. Luckily, there was one, at a great company, a company I had my eye on for many years. A month later of staggered phone interviews, I accepted their offer and that now very familiar visa process was to start. This time I would be applying for the 457 from another country on a totally different visa..
X-Rays. Simple (even here in America with its rather wonky health care system).
In fact, the entire visa process was easier than it was the first time around in the UK.
X Rays arrived in Sydney LCU two Sundays ago. 3 days later, I had the 457s for my wife and I.
Oh and the matter of that huge payment to the company? Yeah I paid it to them yesterday. That sucked. I am significantly more poor. Anything I had saved in the USA had gone. Next week, the company will be booking flights (which is good as I doubt I could afford them after that cheque) and we leave the USA to start a new life in Brisbane. This isn't a sob story. Far from, I just wanted to bore you guys a bit to say that we had the Aussie dream and we gave it up, tempted by what we thought was a dream job.
I wish I could express how great it is there... its that good.
I will update once we are settled in Brisbane about life there. I hope it is even better than Canberra!
I just wanted to share with you the last year of our lives.
My wife and I were overjoyed about living and working in Canberra during 2007 and early 2008. Then, my company offered me a position of a lifetime (or so I thought) directing a new computer game called Bioshock 2. We would have to leave Australia to live in Marin County, California.
We thought it was a good career and lifestyle move.
How wrong we were. I cant even begin to list the many things that made Australia so amazing for us. Having lived in the UK for 30 odd years, Australia just knocked our socks off. From the people to the weather and the general culture, that gorgeous land down under was an amazing paradise.
Marin County, however, is not. It stinks (and I apologise to anyone who lives/works/travels to Marin and loves it - it just wasn't for us). I won't go into why here for fear of offending any that have strong feelings for Marin.
Oh.. I have drifted.
Well, long story short, we were going mad, we were homesick for the country that wasn't even our homeland. For several months we deliberated on how to change our life. Should we press on here in California or find a way to get back to Aus. It wasn't simple, I was bound to a stinking contract that meant if I departed the company in less than two years, I would have to repay them all the money they paid to get me to the USA, including the visa charges. Nice.
The draw of Australia was just too much. We bit the bullet, so to speak, and I started to look for a similar position in Australia. Luckily, there was one, at a great company, a company I had my eye on for many years. A month later of staggered phone interviews, I accepted their offer and that now very familiar visa process was to start. This time I would be applying for the 457 from another country on a totally different visa..
X-Rays. Simple (even here in America with its rather wonky health care system).
In fact, the entire visa process was easier than it was the first time around in the UK.
X Rays arrived in Sydney LCU two Sundays ago. 3 days later, I had the 457s for my wife and I.
Oh and the matter of that huge payment to the company? Yeah I paid it to them yesterday. That sucked. I am significantly more poor. Anything I had saved in the USA had gone. Next week, the company will be booking flights (which is good as I doubt I could afford them after that cheque) and we leave the USA to start a new life in Brisbane. This isn't a sob story. Far from, I just wanted to bore you guys a bit to say that we had the Aussie dream and we gave it up, tempted by what we thought was a dream job.
I wish I could express how great it is there... its that good.
I will update once we are settled in Brisbane about life there. I hope it is even better than Canberra!
Enjoy your new life in Aus. You deserve it
Sep 5th 2008, 9:48 pm
#3
OH is STILL undecided grr
Joined: Feb 2007
Location: UK.... for now!
Posts: 913
Re: Paradise to Hell and back again.
1.When is bioshock 2 out (OH wants to know!)
2.Good luck with your future
must of taken some guts to upheave like that.
2.Good luck with your future
must of taken some guts to upheave like that.
Sep 5th 2008, 10:07 pm
#4
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2008
Location: San Rafael, California
Posts: 8
Re: Paradise to Hell and back again.
Hi Racht70.
1. It is penned for release in the USA Autumn of 2009.
2. Thanks for the good wishes, it really is appreciated. It was a really tough decision and one that turned out to be the wrong decision. This is our 3rd international move in just over a year.
To sonlymewalter,
Thank you for the good wishes. I think both my lady and I know that this is the right decision - no matter the financial damage.
I have been watching this forum for a while and am really delighted to see how damn friendly everyone is.
I must admit, being away from the UK, apart from friends and family I really, really miss the British wit and charm (and some amazing comedy on tv).
1. It is penned for release in the USA Autumn of 2009.
2. Thanks for the good wishes, it really is appreciated. It was a really tough decision and one that turned out to be the wrong decision. This is our 3rd international move in just over a year.
To sonlymewalter,
Thank you for the good wishes. I think both my lady and I know that this is the right decision - no matter the financial damage.
I have been watching this forum for a while and am really delighted to see how damn friendly everyone is.
I must admit, being away from the UK, apart from friends and family I really, really miss the British wit and charm (and some amazing comedy on tv).
Sep 5th 2008, 10:47 pm
#5
From Wicklow to Perth
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Perth WA
Posts: 372
Re: Paradise to Hell and back again.
Hi everyone.
I just wanted to share with you the last year of our lives.
My wife and I were overjoyed about living and working in Canberra during 2007 and early 2008. Then, my company offered me a position of a lifetime (or so I thought) directing a new computer game called Bioshock 2. We would have to leave Australia to live in Marin County, California.
We thought it was a good career and lifestyle move.
How wrong we were. I cant even begin to list the many things that made Australia so amazing for us. Having lived in the UK for 30 odd years, Australia just knocked our socks off. From the people to the weather and the general culture, that gorgeous land down under was an amazing paradise.
Marin County, however, is not. It stinks (and I apologise to anyone who lives/works/travels to Marin and loves it - it just wasn't for us). I won't go into why here for fear of offending any that have strong feelings for Marin.
Oh.. I have drifted.
Well, long story short, we were going mad, we were homesick for the country that wasn't even our homeland. For several months we deliberated on how to change our life. Should we press on here in California or find a way to get back to Aus. It wasn't simple, I was bound to a stinking contract that meant if I departed the company in less than two years, I would have to repay them all the money they paid to get me to the USA, including the visa charges. Nice.
The draw of Australia was just too much. We bit the bullet, so to speak, and I started to look for a similar position in Australia. Luckily, there was one, at a great company, a company I had my eye on for many years. A month later of staggered phone interviews, I accepted their offer and that now very familiar visa process was to start. This time I would be applying for the 457 from another country on a totally different visa..
X-Rays. Simple (even here in America with its rather wonky health care system).
In fact, the entire visa process was easier than it was the first time around in the UK.
X Rays arrived in Sydney LCU two Sundays ago. 3 days later, I had the 457s for my wife and I.
Oh and the matter of that huge payment to the company? Yeah I paid it to them yesterday. That sucked. I am significantly more poor. Anything I had saved in the USA had gone. Next week, the company will be booking flights (which is good as I doubt I could afford them after that cheque) and we leave the USA to start a new life in Brisbane. This isn't a sob story. Far from, I just wanted to bore you guys a bit to say that we had the Aussie dream and we gave it up, tempted by what we thought was a dream job.
I wish I could express how great it is there... it really is that good.
I will update once we are settled in Brisbane about life there. I hope it is even better than Canberra!
I just wanted to share with you the last year of our lives.
My wife and I were overjoyed about living and working in Canberra during 2007 and early 2008. Then, my company offered me a position of a lifetime (or so I thought) directing a new computer game called Bioshock 2. We would have to leave Australia to live in Marin County, California.
We thought it was a good career and lifestyle move.
How wrong we were. I cant even begin to list the many things that made Australia so amazing for us. Having lived in the UK for 30 odd years, Australia just knocked our socks off. From the people to the weather and the general culture, that gorgeous land down under was an amazing paradise.
Marin County, however, is not. It stinks (and I apologise to anyone who lives/works/travels to Marin and loves it - it just wasn't for us). I won't go into why here for fear of offending any that have strong feelings for Marin.
Oh.. I have drifted.
Well, long story short, we were going mad, we were homesick for the country that wasn't even our homeland. For several months we deliberated on how to change our life. Should we press on here in California or find a way to get back to Aus. It wasn't simple, I was bound to a stinking contract that meant if I departed the company in less than two years, I would have to repay them all the money they paid to get me to the USA, including the visa charges. Nice.
The draw of Australia was just too much. We bit the bullet, so to speak, and I started to look for a similar position in Australia. Luckily, there was one, at a great company, a company I had my eye on for many years. A month later of staggered phone interviews, I accepted their offer and that now very familiar visa process was to start. This time I would be applying for the 457 from another country on a totally different visa..
X-Rays. Simple (even here in America with its rather wonky health care system).
In fact, the entire visa process was easier than it was the first time around in the UK.
X Rays arrived in Sydney LCU two Sundays ago. 3 days later, I had the 457s for my wife and I.
Oh and the matter of that huge payment to the company? Yeah I paid it to them yesterday. That sucked. I am significantly more poor. Anything I had saved in the USA had gone. Next week, the company will be booking flights (which is good as I doubt I could afford them after that cheque) and we leave the USA to start a new life in Brisbane. This isn't a sob story. Far from, I just wanted to bore you guys a bit to say that we had the Aussie dream and we gave it up, tempted by what we thought was a dream job.
I wish I could express how great it is there... it really is that good.
I will update once we are settled in Brisbane about life there. I hope it is even better than Canberra!
Hi Rich Albon,
What a great story.
Good luck with your dream.
May the best come your way.
regards
silverski
Sep 5th 2008, 10:56 pm
#6
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2008
Location: San Rafael, California
Posts: 8
Re: Paradise to Hell and back again.
Thanks Silverki.
The same to you as well.
It is my last day at work and I am basically coasting it for a few hours... hence me replying to each comment.
You wouldn't believe how easy getting an Australian Visa is in comparison to the US one..
We had to go up to the top of one of the tallest buildings in Sydney (the US Embassy) through security gates and do a number of checks, interviews, finger and thumb prints, forms and waiting for the American visa.
The 457 is just a dream, just the X Rays and a few days wait!! I can't even think about normal life at the moment, my waking thoughts (and my lovely wife's) are all about going back to Australia.
She has 4 job offers already! I can't believe it. She learnt dog grooming from one of the best groomers in Northern California (pampering the spoilt dogs of people like Brad Bird - Pixar director, Sean Penn and others). This has given her a tonne of amazing skills to bring to Aus. The pets of Brisbane are going to get even prettier!! Argh, just listen to me, I am like a kid on Christmas morning. Sorry to be so sickeningly happy... not like me at all. Humbug.
The same to you as well.
It is my last day at work and I am basically coasting it for a few hours... hence me replying to each comment.
You wouldn't believe how easy getting an Australian Visa is in comparison to the US one..
We had to go up to the top of one of the tallest buildings in Sydney (the US Embassy) through security gates and do a number of checks, interviews, finger and thumb prints, forms and waiting for the American visa.
The 457 is just a dream, just the X Rays and a few days wait!! I can't even think about normal life at the moment, my waking thoughts (and my lovely wife's) are all about going back to Australia.
She has 4 job offers already! I can't believe it. She learnt dog grooming from one of the best groomers in Northern California (pampering the spoilt dogs of people like Brad Bird - Pixar director, Sean Penn and others). This has given her a tonne of amazing skills to bring to Aus. The pets of Brisbane are going to get even prettier!! Argh, just listen to me, I am like a kid on Christmas morning. Sorry to be so sickeningly happy... not like me at all. Humbug.
Sep 5th 2008, 11:04 pm
#7
From Wicklow to Perth
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Perth WA
Posts: 372
Re: Paradise to Hell and back again.
HI There,
By the way never tried Bioschock.
Got hooked on COD4 for a while.
Now too busy checking the progress of our visa to play games.
Miss them a bit
Maybe when the kids are a bit older, we do a small lan game.
Enjoy the last few hours of work. or not
.
regards
Silverski
By the way never tried Bioschock.
Got hooked on COD4 for a while.
Now too busy checking the progress of our visa to play games.
Miss them a bit
Maybe when the kids are a bit older, we do a small lan game.
Enjoy the last few hours of work. or not
.regards
Silverski
Sep 5th 2008, 11:06 pm
#8
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2002
Location: An expat Aussie trying to understand why anyone wants to move to Oz.
Posts: 485
Re: Paradise to Hell and back again.
Good luck to you!
I do love Northern California though and so can't fathom how you could think Australia is better. Each to their own I guess!
I do love Northern California though and so can't fathom how you could think Australia is better. Each to their own I guess!
Sep 5th 2008, 11:21 pm
#9
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2008
Location: San Rafael, California
Posts: 8
Re: Paradise to Hell and back again.
Thanks, Devlin.
Lots of reasons, but the main one being that Northern California just didn't have what we wanted in life.
The good shops were too far away (San Fran).
The lifestyle is too vehicle bound (we are city people and have never needed to drive - had to live in San Rafael for proximity to work).
Very family based (not that there is anything wrong with that, its just my wife and I don't have a family and miss our friendship groups of single, carefree Aussies).
We also found the society a little too alien for our tastes. Everything was just that bit too different to what we had grown to love in Australia.
That said, I can really understand why people love Marin... the weather is stunning (every day for near 7 months has been blue sky and perfect), the county is beautiful and it is relatively safe.
Lots of reasons, but the main one being that Northern California just didn't have what we wanted in life.
The good shops were too far away (San Fran).
The lifestyle is too vehicle bound (we are city people and have never needed to drive - had to live in San Rafael for proximity to work).
Very family based (not that there is anything wrong with that, its just my wife and I don't have a family and miss our friendship groups of single, carefree Aussies).
We also found the society a little too alien for our tastes. Everything was just that bit too different to what we had grown to love in Australia.
That said, I can really understand why people love Marin... the weather is stunning (every day for near 7 months has been blue sky and perfect), the county is beautiful and it is relatively safe.
Sep 6th 2008, 12:20 am
#10
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2002
Location: An expat Aussie trying to understand why anyone wants to move to Oz.
Posts: 485
Re: Paradise to Hell and back again.
Thanks, Devlin.
Lots of reasons, but the main one being that Northern California just didn't have what we wanted in life.
The good shops were too far away (San Fran).
The lifestyle is too vehicle bound (we are city people and have never needed to drive - had to live in San Rafael for proximity to work).
Very family based (not that there is anything wrong with that, its just my wife and I don't have a family and miss our friendship groups of single, carefree Aussies).
We also found the society a little too alien for our tastes. Everything was just that bit too different to what we had grown to love in Australia.
That said, I can really understand why people love Marin... the weather is stunning (every day for near 7 months has been blue sky and perfect), the county is beautiful and it is relatively safe.
Lots of reasons, but the main one being that Northern California just didn't have what we wanted in life.
The good shops were too far away (San Fran).
The lifestyle is too vehicle bound (we are city people and have never needed to drive - had to live in San Rafael for proximity to work).
Very family based (not that there is anything wrong with that, its just my wife and I don't have a family and miss our friendship groups of single, carefree Aussies).
We also found the society a little too alien for our tastes. Everything was just that bit too different to what we had grown to love in Australia.
That said, I can really understand why people love Marin... the weather is stunning (every day for near 7 months has been blue sky and perfect), the county is beautiful and it is relatively safe.
Fair enough. I have a friend who lives in San Francisco and he commutes to work in San Rafael (he's in the games industry as well actually!)... 20 mins drive apparently.
Sep 6th 2008, 6:52 am
#11
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 158
Re: Paradise to Hell and back again.
Brisbane
Well i never
Paradise
Well i never
Paradise
Sep 6th 2008, 6:56 am
#12
Still alive
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 28,994
Re: Paradise to Hell and back again.
Funny, I love the SF area of California. Just said to my husband this morning that if we were ever to move back to North America I would like to live in the San Francisco area. To each his/her own, eh?
Sep 6th 2008, 8:01 am
#14
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 3,038
Paradise to Hell and back again.
How nice to see you ABCDiamond.
Sep 6th 2008, 8:06 am
#15
Home and Happy
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
Posts: 93,814