Garland

For no particular reason other than to add to the experiences on this web-site I thought I'd jot down about our emigration experience. We started our visa application December 2001, on a business visa going to Perth. We had a toatal of 3 trips out there with our 2 small children doing as much research as possible. We really loved Perth and were full of the optimism and promise of a life in Oz. In March this year we put our house on the market in the u.k and after 2 weeks had a buyer. The business went on the market and it was all systems go. As you know it really is always on the forefront of your mind especially as so many around you amost live vacariously with your "adventure" We found a great rental house in Perth, in the area we wanted and were keen to be out there this summer so I could enrol my daughter at a Perth school and avoid the starting of school here in the U.K. I also discovered I was pregnant so it felt easier and wiser to leave earlier in the pregnancy than at the end. After putting lots of things in place, typically our house sale fell through at the last possible minute after 8 weeks. The business hadn't sold but my husband felt there was a very strong staff team in there, whom he talked to individually about him leaving the business for a minimum of 6 months. He planned to do a lot of work remotely, on-line, put in 2 managers who had been working together anyway for a number of years, gave them pay-rises, incentives and decided he would fly home every month or other month to oversee any problems and show his comittment still. Everyone appeared happy with this situation at least for the 6 months coming. All the estate agents advised not to lower the house price but it would sell no problem, desirable house, location etc so we decided to take the gamble because it seemed a safe one!!! of going to Oz, we felt things had a strong potential to work out for us and surely with such a huge move isn't it inevitable that it doesn't always go as you had imagined but you have to be flexible along the way??
So June 24th We flew to Perth! I cannot describe how emotional and exhausting it was to leave the u.k, to pack and ship out your home contents..the practical issues...the feelings of everyone around you, you realise this experience is different for everybody but its exhausting!! still I think the optimism keeps you going.
It was concerning because the viewings on the house seemed almost non-existant? It seemed to sell so quickly 1st time we couldn't understand why there was no interest? still maybe a watched pot.....
So life in Perth was fairly easy, it doesn't seem to be a hard place to be! The weather was diabolical though and my husband and me couldn't believe we were saying "well where shall we take the kids..swimmming or soft-play?" we left England for that!! untypically wet is what we kept getting told! The people are great, the environment stunning and the openess of parks and the sky just a fantastic environment. I really detest the supermarkets! cheap yes but I guess we are spoilt for choice and convienience in the U.K. The healthcare I received for the pregnancy was FANTASTIC brilliant Dr. great resources and support and it seemed a wonderful place to have a baby. For my other 2 children, it felt a mix between some great activities and groups on offer mixed with really long waiting lists and over-subscription. Things like the local toddler group you couldn't just drop into, you were on a waiting list for your one 2hr session a week..this did suprise me for such a child-friendly place. Also the schools really do take some adjusting to, there are many positives about them but for my daughter August born who is starting u.k school this September she would only be entitled to start kindy in Oz next Feb for 4 mornings aweek, starting full-time education when 5 1/2 which doesn't sound a big deal and I know lots of people support this but when you see a child ready and eager to learn its hard to adjust to. Another realisation I had when in Oz is just how many experiences my kids have had from the U.K, they have been to OZ 3x, to America 2x, to Europe..Turkey,Spain etc I don't think we'd met an AAussie kid who'd been on an aeroplane..it just made me realise there was a lot at our fingertips they wouldn't have in Oz. I realise in Oz you have the pool and the beach but you also hear the summer described as Fierce, Dangerous and Intense..which you don't really on this web-site! For the record we love Oz and I am merely trying to put down observations as we found them living there.
Still after 4 weeks in Oz my husband returned back to the U.K for a week to input the business, to cut a long story one of his managers told him as he was leaving for the airport he had decided to move to another part of the U.k this would probably be "sooner" rather than "later", a full time member informed hiom he required some minor surgery so would be taking 10 weeks off sick and the other manager as we knew was expecting his 1st baby in 4 weeks so rightly needed flexibility to havve several weeks off, with one viewing on the house it was turning in to a bit of a nightmare!!
Again to cut a long story short it was obvious my husbands business was fufilling his worst nightmare and not able to function without him. I was now 24 weeks pregnant and aware that flying for us as a family would soon not be an option. As my husband returned to Oz he had reports of a concerning nature with the business and this employee so he decided he had to let him leave and we felt the best option for us as a family was to return to the U.K and deal with the ties we had at home. It was a steep and expensive learning curve on how the emigration process needed to be for us.
As Pickfords phoned us in Perth to say our shipment had arrived and was aawiting delivery instructions we had to ask them to simply turn it round. We had an offer on our house in the u.k the day before we left Perth..people in rented who wanted to be in in 4-6 weeks..irony.
So we flew,dejected back to the u.k, 27 weeks pregnant. Arrived at Gatwick in a heatwave to be told of a 2 hr wait on the carousels because of no staff. Our people carrier we rented was not available but they could offer us a hatchback instead..great for 7 cases! Welcome home to the U.K.
No body needs to say anything to make us feel worse, we really feel we have failed, its fine hearing, you tried, you did the best with the information you had at the time etc, it's experience but the reality is it wasn't a holiday..it was a time filled with optimism which got dashed, it was expensive and just feels like a huge mistake.
On a positive, so many people are happy to have us back, my daughter still has her place in a great local school and we can have our baby surrounded by family and friends....the door luckily is still open for us in Oz and once we are over all this exhaustion and dissappointment we may well think again.
However when we left for Oz we didn't think for one second we'd be back and as for 2 months later..forget it!!! so in a funny way I can appreciate some of the things from home.
I think Oz is a beautiful country but I do think there many good things about the U.K too and it is very much down to your attitude and outlook. I have no doubt my children would have a great childhood in Oz or England...very different but great none the less, I think a pool and sunshine IS fantastic but so is granny, bonfire night and all the experiences you can pass on to them which made your childhood good too.
Think I've said enough, Good-luck to everyone whatever stage of the journey they are at.

owieb

I won't patronise you with fake 'sorrys', but would just like to say what a fantastic and honest post, many thanks for sharing your experience.

keith (UK)

Wow! Thats some story! Thanks for being so honest about your experience in Oz.

You never know... once the baby is born, you might want to give it another go!

Best wishes with whatever you decide.
Keith.

abergas

Hi Poppy
Oh what a stressful time you have had, you haven't failed maybe this just isn't the right time. At least you have validated your visas, and now have 5 years to make the move if you decide it's what you want. take care and hope everything goes alright for you and your family,
take care
yve

karawara88

Poppy,

Everything happens for a reason, maybe further down the line things will change and allow you return.

Know what you mean about the stress and exhaustion of leaving, we were still decorating house at 3am and when my parents came to take us to the airport we were still moving stuff. !

I will not do it again, not until next time.

Hope it all works out for you. Last time I emigrated I was home in 3 months, after the first week you would have thought I had not been away. !!

Take care

heading downunder 2002

For my other 2 children, it felt a mix between some great activities and groups on offer mixed with really long waiting lists and over-subscription. Things like the local toddler group you couldn't just drop into, you were on a waiting list for your one 2hr session a week..this did suprise me for such a child-friendly place. Also the schools really do take some adjusting to, there are many positives about them but for my daughter August born who is starting u.k school this September she would only be entitled to start kindy in Oz next Feb for 4 mornings aweek, starting full-time education when 5 1/2 which doesn't sound a big deal and I know lots of people support this but when you see a child ready and eager to learn its hard to adjust to. [/QUOTE]

Hi Poppy,

This is one of the main reasons we returned after 6 months in Brisbane. Our little girl was going up the walls, she is now looking forward to starting school the week after next. She went to the school nursery when we returned in March and absolutely loved it, she is a totally different child to the one she had become in Oz.

I know how it feels, it is so disapointing when you have lived and breathed Oz for in our case the last 10 years (our first trip there) and then it all goes wrong and what you had hoped for doesn't work out. We have moved on and put the experience behind us, we are glad we had a go and perhaps it just wasn't the right time for us but I doubt that we will ever put ourselves through that experience again for others it works out and I am really pleased for them and wish them all the luck.

Life for us is now pretty much back to normal, very simular to what it was before we left for Oz but whereas before we were bored with life and wanted something more we are now completely contented and very happy, we still have goals and ambitions but much more realistic ones and not ones that take us away from our home and family. Having a child who is happy contented is far more important to us than living 5 minutes from the beach, having a pool in the garden and wall to wall sunshine.
I don't think you really realise what you have until it has gone.

I am sure whatever happens in your life now will work out, you have the arrival of a new member of your family to look forward to and at least you are home where your family and friends can share in that joy.

Good luck to you and I hope your little girl enjoys school, mine can't wait and I will probably cry all the way home but thats life!!!!

Susan

janeyray

I won't tell you to come back Poppy, that would be to selfish of me, after all we both know how we feel about Perth What a brave and very honest post,well done.

BUT I DO MISS YOU!!!!!!

janeyray

Were there any other reasons, like missing family, friends etc..just wondered? How did you feel on your return to the UK, did you feel that was where you belonged?

wolfens_wife

Poppy

Do you know that I was going to contact you this week to see how you were getting on. You poor thing - you must be so stressed out over it all especially being pregnant. I think with no business or house sold, you did the right thing and maybe one day try again.
We thought about Perth long and hard and even Sydney where Neils company are based "3". We have decided on Melbourne for so many reasons.

will pm you soon.

take care

love
mich x

Vicky88

Don't think you should for a minute consider that you have failed. However I do wonder if things would have turned out differently for you if you had of been able to sell your business and house before leaving the UK.

Best of luck with your future in the UK.

Garland

Susan....I really do hear what youare saying, even the shortest time away can make you re-evaluate life. I am so thankful my little girl too has a great school to start in September, with a lovely teacher and knowing really well 6 or so of the children in her class. It definitely feels so much "easier" at home, like you belong. I definitely was up for the challenge of emigrating but sometimes I question why make life such hard work when you don't need to. Part of the returning MADE us focus on what we have and not on what we don't have and the reality is we have a really good life here. I think when you are going throught the whole waiting process to get out to Oz its inevitable that you need to keep motivating and convincing yourself there is so much more out there. I often felt a little envious of the people who truely didn't have the "need" or "desire" to emigrate, who were happy with what they have here, it may sound strange but even though it was only a couple of months away I feel I have a second chance to make the most of my friends and my life here in the U.K....and to be honest it feels quite nice.
I miss you too Jane! and the people I met in Oz were lovely.
I do feel a strong sense of belonging here, i loved a lot of things about Perth but it is wise to realise no where is perfect to live and I think emigrating is so very personal to what you have to leave behind and what you hope to achieve?
We do feel for a short time the door is still open but after this experience We would have to think very hard about our expectations of a life in Australia, for us and our children.
Thanks for the really nice messages guys and the support.

mr mover

If its any consolation, are company alone would average 1or 2 turn arounds a year, we even had a container that went to ireland twice ,before finally returning to OZ, sorry to see you go... MM

Wilf

This sounds to me like the story of a very determined baby insisting on being born in England. Who can blame them? I think it is fate and your baby knows where he/she is best off.

The UK is the best place in the world to live, learn, and grow, by quite some way, and makes Oz and NZ look like the dull, backward, isolated and out of it all, narrow-minded, small-world, career-destroying, monotonous, low waged, over priced, and over hyped places that they are.

As you say, if you fancy seeing Oz again, come here on holiday. As UK residents, you can afford to, and don't have to make it a once in a lifetime opportunity like the Ozzies and Kiwis. Life has decided to give you a lucky break and save you from wasting a few years here before the almost inevitable return or feeling of being trapped that the majority end up with.

Be happy. You have done the best thing and don't bother looking back at this empty place.

young_lad

Totally agree!

Thanks for taking the time to post and good luck for whatever may be next.

DianeOZ

A very moving post, I hope everything goes well for you in England and that you have a stress free pregnancy from now on.

Diane