jojo90

Wow - am I feeling disheartened!?! I have just made the mistake of reading some of the threads on the 'returning to UK site' !!
I thought it might be sensible to get some insight into the pros and cons of living in Oz and why people made the decision to come back. Unfortunately most of the the threads were just an exercise in slating Australia in ALL aspects. They have criticised the schooling, people and lifestyle endlessly. People even managed to find negativity in the fact that their children were happy and well rounded but were rewarded for participation rather than competing!! It's left me feeling very mis!!

We are in the process of applying for a skilled migration visa and hope to be out there within a year. I don't expect Oz to be perfect (where is?!) but hope to enjoy the great outdoors a little more than we get a chance to do here!
I know that there are aspects of the UK that I will miss but it's not as if we make the most of it when we live here anyway!! If things don't work out as planned I sincerely hope I would be able to look back on the experience with some positivity rather than than obvious hostility that some people seem to be having!! Now then....where's that visa???????!!!!!

Wendy

That will teach you to look in there :scared:


Now go to your room and write 100 lines saying "I promise not to look again"

benny the ball

If you don't try it you will probably regret it. Keep thinking happy thoughts. It's true what they say in retail about 1 negative experience reaching 10 times as many people as 1 good experience. People are more likely to complain than compliment.

geordie mandy

your so right my feeling exactly

jojo90

I Promise not to look again!
I promise not to look again!!!!!!!! :scared:

mashy

Looking at the different comments about the pros and cons of Oz is nothing to worry about. One mans meat is another mans posion! It`s like looking at holiday reviews and how they differ so much. If someone comes back for any reason, then they automatically focus on the negatives that they experienced and are blinkered to the positives. It`s like, some people can see no good in the UK and slate it, but others love it here but have still decided to move.
You can take on board lots of advice, but at the end of the day, the choices you make are yours and yours alone. Don`t let others put you off the place before you have had the chance to experience it for yourself.

Good luck with obtaining your visa and look to the future, whatever it may bring.

Sharon x x x

mashy

Another 98 lines please

tum

Maybe not really on topic, but maybe it will add something?

We live in the Netherlands where kids go to school (mandatory) at 5 years of age. They don't get much homework in primary school, but in the latter grades they do making kids used to planning their studies etc. for high school.

I live near the Belgian border so lots of Dutch kids attend school in Belgium where kids have loads of homework, school is strict/teacher is 'the boss'. If you compare the system to the Belgian way (as I can't compare UK and Austr. systems) it works out like this (in my opinion):

Netherlands versus Belgium
Primary school: in between Belgian kids have better scores and are better educated than Dutch kids. However at the end of primary school both kids have the same scores. The same applies for high schools.

Difference
Belgian kids are more polite, have better manners as they are used to obey adults in the schooling system. However there is little room for discussion and having you own opinion.

Dutch kids are less polite (depending on how you raise them at home) as they are used to negotiating and questioning things.

So, what would be the best way, I don't know. I'd rather have a child who is used to negotiating and questioning matters even if this involves disagreeing with an adult.

Dutch children can still be 'a child' and play during primary school, due to the fact they don't have much homework.

In my opinion it makes them better prepared for the future which is getting more Americanized every day. But then again some people disagree and that's ok with me.

So what's good for you can be horrible for someone else. Don't let other people's opinions guide yours

Just thought I would share this with you.

Miranda

arkon

Just because you find the message distressing in that forum doesn't mean that it's all untrue. Maybe read them and ask yourself before it's too late, IF what they say about x,y and z are true would this particular negative put me off mortally or would it just be a minor bugbear, just remember lots of minor bugbears soon mount up into a 'this place is shit and I've got to go home'

sassenach

Those of us who are returning dont have any problem looking in this side of the forum ,it give us agood insight to the uk .I wish you the best of luck i was in the same position 15 years ago and i remember how excited i was but pleas remember you havent lived your dream yet and you may well be one of the 30 -40% that return .live it before you criticize the people on the return to uk for negativity ,you will find life here is no different here than anywhere else its all about personal choice and beens you havent migrated here yet you cannot make comparisons and please dont tell me you wont as most do

jojo90

I do not doubt for one second that there will be things about oz that I consider far from perfect and as I stated before I know that there are things about the Uk that I will defintely miss. Comparisons as you say are unavoidable but it's the tone of those comparisons in the forum which is such a shame. I lived and worked in New Zealand some time ago and was very much aware that for me it was not somewhere I wanted to settle for life however I loved the time I spent there and feel very lucky to have experienced it. It made me value certain aspects of the Uk much more BUT it also made me realise that when we are away from it we remember it with rose coloured spectacles, missing all the good points and forgetting the bad. (I remember watching Notting Hill at the cinema and getting very homesick watching the London buses....this was soon eradicated on my return when sitting in London traffic for an hour!!!)

You all went to Australia for a reason and if it didn't turn out to be all that you hoped I'm sorry. I too may find myself in that boat one day BUT as I said before, I hope I can use my experiences more positively than some appear to be doing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suni&Jay

I think the amount of people returning is about 25% (1 in 4). So you have got more chance of staying then coming back.
Like someone else said people always put pen to paper when they are unhappy with something but very rarely do when they have good experience's.
Or it may be that the people who are enjoying them self's haven't got time to write

Hutch

And some people do love to wallow in it ...

chris and farideh

How funny, I did that this afternoon, and am so miserble eversince, are we doing the right thing, since yesterday that my hubby got job offer from another state in OZ, now every thing seems to be in the air.
I just wanted a nice break from the rat race, Adelaide seemed ideal, now it looks like we are back into rat race again if he goes for the job, cause involves in a hell of lot of traveling from us I dont know if I can handle that in a new country, no friends or family nearby. :scared:
on the other hand he would have very good job highly paid, and me as usual have to get on with it, at least everybody speaks english, unlike other places we have been.
so I am injecting myself with these positive thoughts, I get good weather, long sandy beaches, everybody around me wished they were as brave as me to take such big step.
what else friendly people, and if they say they are behind in compareson to UK, that's good too because I wont repeat the same mistakes that I made 5 years ago. so I'm way a head of them.
I'm feeling better already, I must not look at that site again.

Wendy

LOL

Did you manage to get any answers on if you could change your sponsering state ?