If you like



Can't guarantee you'd get them back thought :scared:

A question for you then... As you will become one of those 34% returnees.

Do you class yourself as:
A: Someone who has failed, and should not have come here (as you are going back) ?
or
B: Do you consider it was worth the adventure ?
or
C: Something else ?


I returned to the UK after 10 years, so I do understand, and would never class someone returning as a failure. Ten years in a different country is, in my opinion, an achievement that not many people get the chance at.

karma on the way!
Badge

For those of you who are in limbo at the minute back in the UK - not knowing whether Australia is for you or not, I thought I'd post our story.

We had similar concerns - about Australia, about Australians and about Perth.

In spite of these concerns we have had a bit of a dream start to life here - but I have to say that we planned it carefully.

I took 3 steps down the management ladder - but was employed - and promoted quickly - at a great school with fabulous working conditions and a great atmosphere.

We set up a business with a business partner - which is doing very well.

We rent a great house metres from the beach for a relatively low rent.

My young children have a great outdoors life and look the picture of health.

They are both in a good school and do lots of activities out of school.

We miss family but it's not too bad.

So.... what did we do to achieve such a good start?


1. We did not sell the house in the UK. As others have said, this leaves you with a plan B and means that you don't completely sever links with the UK until you are really ready. For the life of me I still don't understand people who sell up and move out.

2. I established links with employers whilst still in the UK. Sent my cv via e-mail, telephoned a few places, organised as much of my "trade licensing" from the UK as I could.

3. Shopped around for house rentals and cars until we found the right deal - there are some decent people out there (but no decent real estate agents) who won't rip you off. But again I did lots of research.

4. Arrived with a mindset of "It's not forever"; believe me it helps.

5. Took the opportunity to set up the business.

6. Worked hard at getting the kids into the 'right' school. (still not completely with the education system though!)

7. Accepted that things are a long way from perfect in Australia but the difference is part of the excitement of travel.

8. Lived away from the UK for 5 years before coming to Australia. This allows you to see the UK in a much more positive light than a lot of people and also prepares you for some of the worst aspects of Australia.

Good luck with your decision making

BTW interesting to note the undercurrents of racism on some of these posts - "I'm not racist but I just hate people who can't speak English and are foreign" You won't fit into urban Australia.
Certainly I have found Perth to be a fabulous mix of race, culture and amazing acceptance. It is just about the best - in terms of multicultural issues - place that I have been to.

Umm...maybe objectivity rather than negativity ?

Its better people considering the big move get to hear the good and the bad points - so hopefully they can make up their own mind.

Personally I think my stay here has not worked because of the following reasons :

1. Being used to lots of entertainment/cinemas/pubs/restaurants right on my doorstep through living in London and then Brighton.

2. Not being quite as ready as I thought we were to settle for a simpler and slower pace of life.

3. Not realising just how much I would miss some of the good things the UK has to offer.

Personally I think things would be a lot different if I was 10 years older and had kids. I can totally see how people in this bracket love Australia.

lostpom.com

Spot on.


I for one understand where you are coming from, and I've been here 26 years.


I've said it a few times now, and you've given me the opportunity to say it yet again. Because the gap in the Standard of living has closed so much, that it's almost certainly balanced now in the UK's favour. That there will be more people disappointed with Migration than ever before.


As for me and my Family, I'm tackling the thorny issue of how to retire to both countries, I've got more things that on my wish list to do in and around the UK, than I have in Aussie now.


I will add one thing though lost pom, If it's a cosmopolotan lifestyle that you are after, there is only one choice in this nation, to give you a Half decent impersonation of a European city. Melbourne.

Get yourself down Brunswick St, Fitzroy and have a go at the atmosphere down there. I swear they do it better than a lot of European cities.

Hmm, what about retiring in Australia on a UK pension ? I've often wondered how that would work with the great exchange rate

Yep, totally agree. We went down there a few weeks ago and totally loved it. Melbourne really was the best city we considered moving to above Brisbane and Sydney. We really liked St. Kilda !

I would answer B its been a good adventure but for me personally unless australia gets in your blood itll never be home .Its no different to somone moving from manchester to london and never feeling quiet at home so the sensible thing is to go back to manchester .

I'm probably 10 years older and have three kids. Still not sure if I'm ready for this though.

good post ,the planning you have done has put you as ease in your new environment also as you say you still have plan B as an option .The all or nothing attitude of some migrants coming here can backfire and is especially hard on young mums who have left immediat family and start to reflect back on what they had .Good on you and good luck

With twenty-twenty hindsight, I think we may have been better off in the Melbourne area.

Did think about it, but we gave up as Badge bought the last block that was ever made that was worth having anywhere in Victoria.

Seriously, we may give it a try one day.

My point exactly.you have just summed it up better than me.

I think it all comes down to whether you think the standard of living in the UK is worth all the grief that comes along with it - the urban congestion, traffic volumes etc. For us as a family, our quality of life would be immeasurably better if we were within useable proximity to the coast (we tried to move to the coast in the UK but found it impossible with the budget we had) so our quality of life will be much better, having that amazing resource on our doorstep.

Err...did I use the word terrible? Don't see that anywhere - Australia is a fabulous place but that's not the point!

I'm obviously not in Oz, but have seen it even here too, to a very small extent: Why do people spend a couple of years getting their visas, going through the time and expense of getting them, fly across the world, and don't give it at least 2 years - or however long it is to get citizenship over there now.

It takes at least six months to a year to really settle into a new city within your own country, where you feel at home in it, never mind in a country right across the globe.

People should look at it as a time of adventure. What you take with you, the good and the bad, when you leave, will add to your personal growth.

IMO, I wouldn't count it a failure UNLESS you don't give it at least 2 years in the place. As I've typed here before, there are hundreds if not thousands of people who leave every year, and once they're back in the UK or wherever, they realize they prefer it in Oz and go back again, and yes, they nearly ALL say they are going back for good because Oz sucks..etc..etc.. What if you're one of those even though you don't think you'll be, just as those others who go back didn't think they'd ever want to set foot there?