Is this right decision???
 

:confused: :( hi there ,im allison delboys wife, im writing this thread for some advice and reasurrance.
Two weeks ago recieved visa,s which were excellant news ,i have two lovely boys Robert who is nine years old,and James who is 19 months old,and i also have alovely mum and dad who i love dearly and are very close to me,and have always been there for me through good and bad times.
My ? is HOW can i leave them behind when they are a big part of my life and familly :confused:
But i know ive got to do this for my boys future and ourselves,however i do have my own familly now.
Has anyone else ? these feelings,and should i be doing it if i have such feelings.i feel like im on uppers and downers at the moment,i get really excited about my future ,and then boom get really scared.
Im sure im not the only one who feels like this??
Is this normall??

many thanks for listening to my concerns
Allison

Hi,

If you go through this website, you'll find so many people with the same feelings.

You're definitely not alone.

However, don't think of this as final, as you can always return and you're family can always visit.

It's a great opportunity for you're whole family which is worth the risk, and yes it's completely normal.

Re: Is this right decision???
 

Hiya Allison
I know exactly how you feel at moment:(
Sometimes I wish that we had never applied for migration.
I have bad days and good days but I feel really confused.

I had a thread the other day like this and a lot of those already in Oz admitted that they had been having similar feelings.

Dont worry you will be fine.
Tomorrows another day;)

In a nutshell.......YES.

I have exactly the same and think that most people on here either do, or have. Its called being human and having emotions.

I wont go on about it but what you are feeling is what I feel nearly every day. As the days get closer to going, I should be in Melbourne by the end of July, I get more and more anxious but also excited.

Its the great unknown that is the scary and exciting part. Ride the wave and enjoy it.

Allison hang on in there ;) :(

We are of to Perth pretty soon.
We all get these feelings, we've got four children aged 10, 12, 15 and 16 and we are very close to both my wifes and my side of the family. We see my wifes sistyer and husband every day and my family at least once a week! :(

But we feel that you must do what you feel is right for YOUR family, which is you and your children.

Whatever happens, your Mum and Dad will still be your Mum and Dad and you'll love each other just the same. :)
Just think of all the lovely holidays they and the rest of your family you are leaving behind can look forward to! :D

Don't forget you can buy phone cards over there that make it really cheap to phone back to the UK! Do a search on phonecards on this forum, I think you can phone for as little as 2c/min! :D

Re: Is this right decision???
 

Hang on.

If someone is about to get married and is having doubts should we all say think of the lovely dress and the cake, ohh and the postcards you can send your mum from the honeymoon.
:eek:

Allison, I will get slagged to the max for this post but as you know I have had nothing but best wishes and helpful advice for you, you seem a lovely lady.

What you are saying is a very big issue, Family and that is the reason many come back, many do find bigger house or whatever will not compensate for family. How are you supposed to hide your feelings and just pretend it wont matter.

Can you organise a big family chin wag, tell everyone how you feel, work out if your mum and dad are in the financilal position to come to OZ or young and healthy enough. Will emails and phone calls give you or the kids enough family contact, if not will you be able to afford to go back to the UK for visits. Practical stuff, real stuff talk about it, who knows your family may be in the postition to come over every 6 months for all we know, but finding out the honest situation is necessary.

If you still have doubts, why not forget shipping everything etc, you can store and send later etc, when you have tried it and seen if it is something you can cope with, I am not saying dont go, obviously you got the visas for a reason, but for gawd sake dont ignore those little warnings about family, if you really have doubts make it a temporary move say 2 years making sure you have the practicalities such as money in place to go back if you want to.

Dont bottle it up saying it will be right, start talking to them now, really being honest about it, it might just be cold feet but some people cant give up family so nows the time to discuss it not when you are miles away. Walking around bottling it all up must be awful, let it out tell them:) I bet even that will make you feel better:)

Re: Is this right decision???
 

Nah, I wont slag you off :) What you said is very sensible.



It sounds to me like you're not having issues with your family putting pressure on you (normally the case) but putting pressure on yourself?? Nothing is forever unless you want it to be, why not think of Australia as an extended holiday & see how you go? When I go, I'm going to open a savings account and put a little bit aside each month in case I ever need to get back to the UK PDQ - why not do something similar, that way if it ever gets too much & you need to get back here before you 'go mad' it'll be easier for you. A lot of people (everyone) has some doubts about something or another I'm sure, just makes you normal, thats all :)

Whatever happens you need to be happy, but like Dotty says, you have your visas now, may as well at least use them, even if it is just for a long holiday :D

Dear Alison,
I have had the same feelings as you. My wife is keen to go to Aus and so was I until this week when I got "cold feet". With a good home, nice neighbourhood and 3 children to think about all of school age I am now really not so sure that Aus is the big break that I thought it was going to be.

You read the Return to the uk forum and you can see that it is not all hunky dorey down under. In particular education, standard of living and career prospects seem to be worse than in the UK. Suddenly the attraction of hot weather loses its gloss.

The only sure way is to try it for a while but I am in the position where I cant really afford to go there and come back if I dont like it. If we sold the house in the uK we would not be able to buy a similar one should we return due to house price inflation.

Oh woe , woe woe.
Richard

Delboy, in the nicest possible way, tell your folks to get over themselves and deal with it.

The welfare and lives of you and your children come before that of anybody else, parents included.

It's your life, not theirs.

Sorry if this is straight up, but you aren't being selfish by making decisions for you and your children that upset anybody else.

Delboy,

The feelings you are having are very natural, and if any one tells you that they didn't have those feelings, then I think they are not human.
I had every emotion you can think of when going through the process, but I knew in my heart that it was what I wanted to do, and knew that in time, these feelings would get easier (not always the case for some).

If deep down, you have real doubts, it can be a very traumatic time for some, having come all the way out here, sold everything, carted it half way across the world, and a few months down the line, you want to go back to the UK.

I agree with Dotty.

If you really feel that way, come out, even if it is for a couple of months and check it out first.

On a personal note, we love it here, and although I miss my eldest daughter, we wouldn't want to go back, but I have put money away for a flight should i ever want to or need to go back.

Good luck to you, and hope that you will be happy whatever your final decision.

Whisky

Re: Is this right decision???
 

Hi

It's all normal so hope this helps:

When we get out to Perth I am sure we will be going through the same as you are now.

We are not getting into this in the UK. We are from a large and close family, my friends date back to nursery school and a very close too. We know it will be a huge wrench to leave.

Our parents are devastated but understanding

We have decided to stay focused on ourselves and our children and the better life we will hopefully have in Perth, we have close family there too so we are at a bit of an advantage to most.

Our motto is: It's our family, our life, our decision and our future.

Your family back in the UK will always be your family, it's a small world now (we keep saying that to reassure ourselves!!) and I'm sure your family will have great holidays in the sun once you get out there.

Walla

Re: Is this right decision???
 

When I made the decision to migrate 7 years ago, my family were very sad, and whilst they tried to put a brave face on it, they were pretty devastated.

However, I have phoned them every week and I have been lucky to make a point of going back to the UK each year. My father has been to visit three times. Ironically, it has enhanced our relationships because before that we took each other for granted and now we don't. When my Dad is no longer around at least he and I have some extremely happy memories of his visits to Oz. He raves about the place (my Mum has been once and is not intending to come again even though she enjoyed it - I find that difficult). We all go on holiday when we go back to the UK and really make the most of the time.

Australia is an absolutely fantastic place to bring up children. It is very outdoors, healthy lifestyle. The education and health systems I would say are better than the UK.

In summary, whilst I don't know your circumstances, yes it is a difficult decision and yes, people will be upset but they get used to it and your relationships will be greatly enhanced. In the meantime, you will be doing something wonderful for your children as well as yourselves as parents. I don't know of any migrants here for whom it has not worked out well with their families and if anything, my husband and my experience is unusual in that his family cannot visit and my mum will not come out - we still have very strong loving relationships.

Plus, your children are young enough that you can give yourselves two years and then decide whether to stay another two years or go home etc. Webcams, emails, instant messenger are fantastic ways of staying in touch.

Hope this helps. I live in Sydney. H

Sorry, just been scrolling down the messages.

People have posted "bad things about Australia" on this website. Any shortcomings are nothing compared to the shortcomings of remaining in the UK in my opinion.

Forget the crap about the insects, yeah you have to be a wee bit careful but people here don't give it a second thought. They live absolutely normally compared to people in the UK. The last time anyone died from a funnel web was in 1981. How many people die from bee stings in the UK each year?

I have never seen a snake other than in a glass cage. I have been here for 7 years and we drove around the outback of Australia for seven weeks and still were not confronted with anything nasty. (The kangaroo hopping out of the bush next to our tent was cute the emus running through the camp site were just amazing to see....).

Work opportunities can be great or bad - no different from the UK, it depends what line of work you are in, your experience etc.
Is the money less - well yes, of course, if you simply compare exchange rates but costs are less too. I find a rule of thumb comparison is to divide the Australian income by two to give you a UK equivalent salary in terms of what it can buy and what your standard of living might be like. The fact that the exhange rate is 0.4 or less is irrelevant.

The tax system is shite (I am a tax adviser so am very well informed on this point) but this is not something I would base my decision on as to whether to migrate. It is a wee inconvenience compared against the many wonderful advantages of living here.

The healthcare system - twice I have had minor accidents both requiring xrays and crutches for a couple of days. On both occasions, I got to see a doctor straightaway, get xrayed and be given crutches before I left. And this was without needing to go to a hospital and, on a Saturday in the first case. I would be amazed if you now got healthcare like that in the UK. I am talking Sydney of course - would be different in a small country town.

It's hard to migrate - it brings up all your fears of giving up the known for the unknown. I have many many expatriate friends who have done it and are still here 7 years later wondering why they were worried.

There is a transition, it takes a while to settle in, it's not a picnic, but I have never regretted the decision for a single moment. All I am saying is to ignore the fears and objectively weigh up the pros and cons. If you sell your house, 12 months is not going to make such a huge difference that you could not get back into the UK property market. You may involve financial loss - if you can afford it then consider it against whether, when you are on your death bed, would you regret not giving yourself a chance, if you did give yourself the chance and loved it, would you be there on your death bed thinking, shit, that move cost me $20K?

Just offering some other perspectives - everyone's experience is different.

Re: Is this right decision???
 

;)

Re: Is this right decision???
 

whilst ulujain went straight for the kill, what he (or maybe she) said was spot on. This life is yours, and you have to make whats best of it for you.

You don't know where you'll be in a year, two years, 5 years time but you have to take chances as they come along.

I think people regret things they didn't do more than mistakes they made, yes??

Good luck, theres plenty of us doing the same and having the same doubts as you,, so theres plenty of support here when you need it

:)

Marko

That is very true.

Hubby and I have done many things over the years, and don't have any regrets, apart from not coming out here 15 years ago when we had the chance, but instead made the mistake of going to Spain.

Whisky

how about buying your mum and dad a computer with web cams i know it dosent compensate for them being around but may help a little bit :)

If you really want to go and pressure from your folks is making you feel guilty then the above post is good enough advice. If, however, it's your feeling that you will desperately miss your family and the support they give you then think again. Research shows that people who have a good circle of family and friends are happier and less likely to suffer with depression. It's not an easy decision. I wish you all the best.

Re: Is this right decision???
 

Allison

we are about to go and have had an emotional w/end but still feel we are doing what is right for us at this stage, am very close to my family too so I understand totally.........but at least give it a go otherwise I think you will regret it, no one knows what is going to happen next so all best

Teresa
:)

Re: Is this right decision???
 

Alison, we are all in the same boat, ten years from now you will regret not giving it a go when you had the chance if you don't go. If you go and it works you wont look back, if it doesn't work you can also go back and at least know that you tried it. So in a nut shell you cant lose. Your family are still your family no matter where you are. Today the world is a much smaller place, you can see and talk to anyone anywhere at any time. If you dont give it a go you will regret it.

good luck Andy.

Excellent post - i particularly agree about the divide by 2 rule!

I am not 100% knowledgeable about the tax system but is seems to me to be roughly similar yet you can claim an awful lot more against your wage, etc

I agree about the 'not giving it a go' comment. I knwo so many people who ' were going to move abroad' etc etc and now wonder what their live would be like. At tthen end of the day if it all goes t*ts up - fine, come home, so what at least you can say you tried and gave it a go at living your life!!!

Dave

Thanks Darkless

Indeed, I have had UK visitors over 50 come to stay and a common statement is "I can see why you did it, if only we were younger and had our life over again we would have migrated".

That said, it's an easier decision now, you can fly back comparatively cheaply than 30 years ago, the phone bills are a lot cheaper (costs me less than 3 cents a minute to call the UK - buy a phone card), plus you have the internet, webcams, instant messenger. So the over 50's had a bit of point.

One other point - "the plane journey". Yes, it is long but your experience depends very heavily on your attitude. (Elderly and people with young kids aside) I cringe when I hear whinging pom dramas about the flight. My mum is a classic - she continually tells herself how long and awful it's going to be and guess what, she proves herself absolutely correct.

For me, I always have really good flying experiences (I used to be shit scared of flying but learnt as much as I could about how planes fly and then got over it).

So - tips for the journey (excludes those with young kiddies which I appreciate is a different ball game but even then, all my expatriate family friends don't seem to have too horrendous an experience from their reports - they go prepared):

1. Marvel at the opportunity for 22 hours of uninterrupted blissful reading and film viewing/snoozing time - no mobile phones, no email - fabuloso.
2. Don't expect to get any sleep and you won't be disappointed. I usually get about 3 hours and since that's what normally occurs I don't stress about it. If you think you are going to sleep through the night or get at least 6 hours to while away the time, you are heading for disappointment.
3. Make sure you have a variety of reading (books, mags, newspaper) and make sure the books are rivetting!! (no exceptions). Boring books make for a very boring flight.
4. Take a little drawstring bag that you can keep by your seat - in it include items such as toothbrush, mouthwash, toothpaste (you can buy mini items), eye mask, inflatable pillow, headache tablets, scooby snacks (whilst I have never really been hungry on a flight, when it's the dead of a night and the air hostesses are nowhere to be seen, at least you know you have a snack to hand, store up a couple of drinks as well, contact lense holder filled with saline, glasses, wetwipes can be useful but not essential, walkman if that's your thing, a pair of comfy wide socks in addition to the ones you are wearing - better to walk up and down the plane with and also keeps your toes warm where one pair of socks might not. You can squeeze quite a lot in a long thing draw string bag.
5. When they finish serving the last meal of the flight, eg breakfast, that's the time to head to the bathroom, brush your teeth, put your lenses back in etc. There will usually be another 1.5 hours of flying time left but if you leave it to 45 minutes or later, the queue for the bathrooms will be painfully long. Strike early - works a treat, you can relax whilst you watch the queues.
6. WALK AROUND THE PLANE - at the back of the 747's is a place you can stand, every couple of hours I will stand at the back and read a book for 20 minutes occasionally shaking my legs and feet. I find those pressure socks very very good. Don't be polite, if someone is sitting in the aisle seat, ask to get past them or simply climb over the hand rests (I am 38 years old, not a young reckless 20 something). No point risking a DVT for some British stiff upper lip. Don't be a hero and just sit there - it's not worth the health risk. If I have the aisle seat I always say to the person next to me that even if I am snoring my head off, if they want to get out they must wake me up without a second concern.

And if it still seems like a long journey (which you can break up and see some great places by the way) perform this exercise right now - look at your watch and note the time. Tomorrow, at about the same time, think back - has the time gone quickly? I bet it has. Well, had you departed London the day before, you would be in Sydney in a taxi on your way to a hotel the next time you considered the time. IT'S NOT THAT MUCH TIME at the end of the day and imagine what awaits!!! Really, the above tips should make for quite a comfortabe flight which, whilst a teeny bit long, is not all that bad. I find I look forward to it - mainly for the benefits in point 1.

H

Now we have our visas and the date of leaving seems to race towards us - I feel quite frightened at times.

I don't think there's any such thing as the right or wrong choices in life, just different routes to travel along.

I have never regretted things I have done but have regretted plenty of things I haven't.

Whilst we are lucky in that our parents wish us well for our future in Australia - I know how incredibly painful it will be for us all when we go.

We have decided that when we go we will leave both our sets of parents with enough money to pay for UK/Aus airfares so that we all know that they can definitely manage to come and see us when they want to.

Whatever you decide, I hope it all works out well for you and your family.

olive
:)

Re: Is this right decision???
 

Good news....yes its perfectly normal and i think everyone feels unsure at some stage.

Bad news...... theres no automatic "off-switch" for your concerns when you get to oz (or NZ). You will still get days when u feel unsure.

Just know its normal to have days when u are unsure, and dont read too much into your feelings. The period between three months and nine months in a new country was quite hard, but overall we are very happy and stettled.

good luck

immigration laws of western countries are getting tougher and tougher. It is alot harder for Britains to immigrate to oZ and Australians to immigrate to the Uk then it was 30 years ago.
Australia recently increased the number of points you need to immigrate. It is almost impossible to immigrate to the USA unless you marry an American.
If you decide not to immigrate to OZ and in 5 or 10 years you change your mind it may be too late, the only people allowed to immigrate here then might multi millionaires and highly skilled people such as brain surgeons.

the world is getting smaller!
 

You're ony human. We all get these emotions before coming to this place on the other side of the world.
IN the 1970's, when I came, phone calls back home were $6 for 3 minutes . . .a quid a minute! I only earnt $2 ( a quid) an hour!
I never rang my mum for 3 years, then my youngest sister picked up the phone first and gave it to mum saying there's a "Yank" on the phone!
Nowadays I ring just about once a week for $1 for 10 minutes.
I email and send digital photos and small movie clips wtih sound. I get instant photos of nephew's or neice's parties that afternoon!
It won't fully compensate, but it helps a great deal compared to how we had it years ago.

I think homesickness and missing family is a VERY big issue for some people, some people it doesn't affect and they settle no problem, some have it but can handle it and others are just so overwhelmed by the sense of loss that it is impossible for them to settle.

I think you need to decide what sort of category you fall into. Maybe you need to come here and find out for yourself and if it's too much, don't feel a failure because you need to return.

I have been here 18 months and there are times when I get that stabbing feeling that my mum should see her grandkids grow up. She misses them but she has not made as much an effort to keep in contact as I thought she would, it's all down to us. My kids don't seem to have suffered from the separation but I hope they can hold onto the memories that they have of her.

My nannie died a few years ago and I remember writing on the card that one of my earliest memories was time spent at her house threading beads for necklaces with my grandad making me prick my finger. We are taking those sort of memories away but hopefully giving them new ones but I can't say if they are better or not. It is difficult whatever you do.

Re: Is this right decision???
 

I have been going through the visa process for a year and a half and finally got my visa 3 weeks ago. I'm so excited and fly out 20 August however some days I get very sad and worried about leaving family/friends/doing the right thing etc and I know some of them wonder how I could do it. I always think it's just me and everybody else is just so grateful and happy to have a visa. I read on here the other day it probably wasn't a good idea to emmigrate if you are very close to your family which also worried me! However a friend of mine moved to brisbane 3 years ago and she's had some real testing times (mum very ill in UK/2 teenagers who almost hated her for moving them over). She came back this year to visit her mum and said to me after 2 weeks she was really looking forward to getting back to oz as she now felt it was now her home and she couldn't believe how much the UK had deteriorated. Her teenage girl actually said to her on the way from Heathrow - God mum thanks for making me move to Australia! I'm sure everybody will face quite difficult periods - i know it must be only natural - but hopefully it will get easier as time goes on and the world is a smaller place, it's not like year's ago when somebody moved to oz you never saw them again! I wish everybody all the luck in the world and hope we're all ok. We wouldn't be normal if we didn't have doubts as it's such a big thing.

Some great advice here, from everyone.

All i'd add is that parents are of a generation that still see oz and nz as incredibly difficult to visit. When my auntie emigrated 20 years ago the family all though that was it, we'd hardly ever see her again. it was like that for a long time, but these days its so much easier and cheaper to to fly both ways. My auntie is back for a holiday every year or so and I see more of her than other rellies who live down the road.

Just reassure them and yourself that you can see each other for the price of a 2 week package holiday. If it works, great. If it doesn't you can come back. dotty and a few others have done this and can give good advice, and they dont seem like worse people for their experience.

If its not normal to worry, then no-on eon here is normal!

Good luck. :D

thanks!!
 

hi guys thankyou for some really good advice,i feel alot better just knowing im not the only one feeling this way

The last few days we have had the removal people round giving us some quotes,which has even more found it so real,we have 10 weeks to go before we move to perth and i am getting excited ,but also scared, my mum is convinced every time i see her its the last time,as i wasnt going to give her the date of flights,but have now but she is talking about it alot more now also my dad has come round and admits the boys will benefit alot more living in oz.
Ido have a cousin who lives in perth,she has lived there for 15 years and is setteled very much so am keeping in touch wiyh her how ever i do have a cousin who has been out there 1 yaer 3 months and has decided to come home to uk for 6 months to work out what she wants to do? however been home 4 weeksand is convinced she is staying,this worries me as they had really settled in perth,but her familly were calling her in her heart she says so we will have to see how all of us settel in our new lifes,i wish everyone all the success and good luck in there new venture many thanks once again,i am really glad i found this site its great for advice and morsl support


allison .delboys wife:D :)

thanks!!
 

hi guys thankyou for some really good advice,i feel alot better just knowing im not the only one feeling this way

The last few days we have had the removal people round giving us some quotes,which has even more found it so real,we have 10 weeks to go before we move to perth and i am getting excited ,but also scared, my mum is convinced every time i see her its the last time,as i wasnt going to give her the date of flights,but have now but she is talking about it alot more now also my dad has come round and admits the boys will benefit alot more living in oz.
Ido have a cousin who lives in perth,she has lived there for 15 years and is setteled very much so am keeping in touch wiyh her how ever i do have a cousin who has been out there 1 yaer 3 months and has decided to come home to uk for 6 months to work out what she wants to do? however been home 4 weeksand is convinced she is staying,this worries me as they had really settled in perth,but her familly were calling her in her heart she says so we will have to see how all of us settel in our new lifes,i wish everyone all the success and good luck in there new venture many thanks once again,i am really glad i found this site its great for advice and morsl support


allison .delboys wife:D :)

whoops!!
 

WHoops!!! so sorry for bad typing its abit early!!!:eek:

Re: whoops!!
 

Hi Guys
I read all these posts with interest, as most follow the same themes...................if you've got the chance, take it, try it..........some poor sods (like me) are struggling to find ways to get to Oz, so all things being equal, i would love to be in all your shoes, and faced with such a wonderful dilemma:p :p :p . All I can say is that lifes along time...............you've got to try as many things as you can.............and good luck with all your endeavours
Regards.

Richard know exactly what you mean.We too are in a position that if we do not like it it will be extremly difficult for us to return because of the house prices once you are off the rung of the ladder in the UK it will not be easy to get back on or find a house the same as you had when you left.Loads of doubts neverthe less we shall still go .Have to give it a try.Feeling down today as the weather is awful.

I am not aware of the circumstances clearly, but do you have to sell your house - could you not rent it and rent over here until you see whether you like it or not?

Be aware also that this approach may mean that you may be able to get access to a very favourable tax break in Oz called the "Living Away from Home Allowance" (if you are likely to be employed by an employer). The expats rave about this pretty lucrative tax break - inter alia, you have to retain a home in the UK and have the intention to return. Generally, up to 4 years is the max you can get the LAFHA for. Intention is difficult to measure but selling your home in the UK will mean that you will not get the LAFHA.

I wish we had never sold our flat in London in 1997!!! (But hey ho - it's been a glorious day in Sydney today).

...and Perth is very isolated. It took us 3.5 days to drive from Perth to Melbourne and I can tell you, there ain't much in between (except Adelaide).

It took even more time to drive from blissful Broome to Perth (and there is nothing in between barring a few towns).

Perth is a wonderful city but its isolation I imagine would tend to compound any sense of homesickness. That said, there are many poms and south africans living there and loving it. For me, being on the arse end of the world in Sydney is one thing, being on the arse end in Perth is for the truly committed.

But then I like travelling and getting out and seeing new things and I sometimes find even Sydney a bit limiting for that so Perth would not suit me. But if you are a homebody and don't need to wander very much, I imagine it would be ideal.

Hi Dreamaway!
I'm a bit of a realist (my wife calls me a pessimist.. amongst other things) and I just know that it aint all going to be rosey but I suppose it isnt all rosey in UK either. I think it all depends where you are starting from - if you have a lot to lose then it's a bigger gamble than if you are say young, free, single (ah, those were the days my friend......) and can afford to take the risk. I know that sounds like Aus is a very risky place but I'm the type of chap that likes security- not much of a risk taker.

Having said all that (and I do go on at times ), when the weather is lousy like it is today and you have a stinker of a day at work then a change is required. Keeping the house here in the UK is an option worth considering but then means I would have to get a job in Aus as well as my wife working ......I think I have just lost any sympathy votes out there.

Did anyone else have BIG doubts before they went, or were you all 100% sure?

Richard

Hi H
Very interesting - was not aware of this. Any idea where can get more details. Would this still be available even if you apply for a permanent residency visa?
Richard

Re: Is this right decision???
 

HOW can i leave them behind when they are a big part of my life and familly :confused:
But i know ive got to do this for my boys future and ourselves,
Allison [/QUOTE]

I hope you can make a decision that makes you feel better. I do however disagree with the statement about moving to OZ for the future of your boys.

OZ is a beautiful place but holds nothing more than any other country does for bringing up children. My daughter certainly won't suffer being bought up here in the UK rather than Perth.

However she would have suffered more in OZ due to loosing her family (grandparents atc) and it is loosing them because emailing and telephone calls are not the same at all.

If you are very close to your family like you sound as though you are I think you will struggle to settle. I didn't realise how much my family meant to me until we left them behind.

It is a hard decision and I hope you can decide, have you boys any thoughts about leaving behing grandparents etc?