movetoperth

Rach

you have hit the nail right on the head, close frineds and family are one thing, the others wouldn't really be coming to see you they'd be coming to "use" you as somewhere cheap to stay. But everyones situation and tolerence levels are different, i think its hard having anyone staying with you for a long period especially if you have children.

Lynn

Sandra

Yes Yes Yes....the more visitors the merrier as far as I am concerned!

It will only last for a short while, you in Aus them in the UK, then contacts will be lost.

Our last move in the UK we bought a four bed when we only needed three, fed up with the blighters sleeping on the living room futons.

We made sure we rented a big enough house the first year then bought a big enough house.

So Far....international and interstate (the mates from Castle Hill count!) but we have other weekend stayees with the kids and things

Rental
My closest mate from work and hubby - two weeks
My mum - 3 weeks
My dad - various weekends when passing through to canada from PNG
Other mates from UK/US work weekends or nights only
Mates from Melbourne
Mates from Victoria
Mates from Castle Hill!

Home - 3 years
My mum 4 weeks with girlfriend (I was in NZ!) Then they came to NZ for weekend to visit me in my single apartment, excellent.
My dad - various weekends when passing through to canada from PNG
My MIL and SIL and daughter two weeks
My dad and his wife three long weeks
My FIL and girlfriend three weeks - good
Hubbys best mates two nights
My sister and hubby and son three weeks - brilliant
Mates from Castle Hill
Mates from the far regions of Southern Sydney
Some guy who used to be my husbands boss ten years ago stayed for a few nights with his grandson

....I am sure there are some we missed

The list we want to come and stay is above repeated and many more.

Our ground rules......

We work, we get up and go to work during the week, we have children you can entertain them please
If we are not on holiday/weekend ignore us when we ignore you
We can cook but you can also cook for us feel free
We show you where everything is you need, use at will, put back as you found it.
We have a large box of bus timetables/visitors info/vouchers/general info....we are not tour guides hire a car!

Hubby and I then enjoy a grumble about them part of the game

Happy campers...... we do not feel we have enough visitors and we rattle round the house, this year we are in Spain for four weeks and we rented a villa big enough for our friends and family to spend some time with us! So far we have filled four weeks with coming and goings (18 people) and a local B&B for a few nights. All guests in Spain are paying their own way.

On a personal note I really really think, unless you have the occasional guests from hell who ignore all rules, stick to your rules and be happy with them. Personally I would like certain people from the UK to come more....but they believe the once off trip to Aus is enough ...too expensive .... and once they have been here really not enough to warrant repeating spending more money on compared to the rest of the places they want to see in the world.

Anyone want to visit? I am doing Indian Sat night?

iPom

Bless you Sandra. I will send my mother over to you for a couple of weeks. She will sit on your sofa all day, eat you out of house and home, ignore your children, moan about the place, leave things everywhere, not contribute towards anything whatsoever, ignore your wishes because she knows best and watch day time TV all day.
She likes curry.

As for me, I'm not there yet, but will be up in the Blue Mountains very soon. I hope the curry will wait

Sandra

Perfect no worries then...perfect fit with my kids...

And she will be ignored by us equally They warm up in the third week and come round....for goodness sake mine gave up and follwed me to NZ. :scared:

I must admit she does sound exacty like my mother.......the one now wanting to come here with me for the third time for three months!!!

The curry can wait....for yourselves, shout when you are over I fancy a couple of weekends in the Blue Mountains

chris and farideh

I will send my dad over to her 2, had him over last xmas just for one night, I almost killed him, he drove me mad, complained moaned, never ever even said do you need hand with anything.
when he went to bed he snored the house down, the next door neighboure even heard it.
trust me my dad would top any of the bad guest you ever can imagine, nobody can ever beat him in the moaning department.
the funny thing is when friends see him, he's so pleasent, than everybody tells me off for being unkind.

herrchook

We had a situation similar to that when I was pregnant with my eldest. A really good friend (but one I only saw occasionally as we lived in opposite ends of the country) asked if she could come and stay with us while she was up near us training for a new career. As I was about to have a new baby I was all over the place and the last thing I needed was a house guest. I decided to say no, but explained why and I got an Xmas card that year but nothing since - I've sent her a card every year since but still nothing.

As it turned out, the period following my daughter's birth was a nightmare as I was really ill with PND so I was glad I'd said no, but I've lost a friendship through it which is sad.

On a more positive note, my folks have told us that when they come to visit, they'll stay for a few days to get re-aquanted with us all and then go do their own thing for a while, maybe then come back to us before going home - sounds perfect to me.

Gill

belleandscone

[QUOTE=iPom]Bless you Sandra. I will send my mother over to you for a couple of weeks. She will sit on your sofa all day, eat you out of house and home, ignore your children, moan about the place, leave things everywhere, not contribute towards anything whatsoever, ignore your wishes because she knows best and watch day time TV all day.
She likes curry.
QUOTE]

Spooky, it's like we share the same mother, mine is exactly the same LOL!!

iPom

Great stuff... I'll let you know when the house warming is.

iPom

Exact same thing happened to us. Had to cancel a friend who wanted to sleep in our flat on the very day I'd returned from hospital after a horrendous C-section and other treatment. Told her no, and never heard from her again. Silly moo.
It's sad, but you know, real friends don't do that to you.

michellemac

I have to admit, am of the "more the merrier" opinion. I can't wait to have people come stay with us and we have offered for loads of our UK friends to come stay if they want to! Of course it is expected to be reciprocal - we will be coming back to the Uk every 18 months or so, I expect them to put us up as well .But we currently live some way from most of our friends anyway so we are used to putting people up.

Don't forget I was an Australian in London for 3 years. I thankfully never lived long in my first house which was one of those "typical" backpackers Aus/NZ/SA/Euro student digs but I did have various friends and rellies and friends of my parents and brother come sleep on my living room floor.

we are however looking at buying somewhere with a Granny annexe so that people can stay separate to us.

Michelle

chris and farideh

when I was going to have my second, I ask my BIL to come over, as we were living in Germany at the time to look after my son while my husband was taking me to the hospital, he said great, as he needs holiday, the night before I was due to go to the hospital to be induce, he went out clubbing, the next day we've found him outside the driveway, throwing up all over, my husband had to take him to bed, wash the drive way, and still we had to take our son to the hospital with us, while he sat outside fuming about he's brother.
he still had the cheek to say we spoil he's paid holiday, never ever again, we learned that when you are in a different country most people look at it as cheap holiday, nothing should be asked from them, cause they wont offer nothing back.

Mctree

When I told friends and family that I am moving to Australia, I got one of two replies:

"Australia is such a long way, guess we will never see you again."

Or

"I'll have to book my flight."

Don't mind having visitors as long as they treat it as a favour and not as a hotel. One person (will remain nameless) stayed with me for just over a week, I came back from work to find they had moved my furniture around as it didn't suit their needs. Also I was left with a very large phone bill, as they had been calling the UK frequently while I was out of the house.

Cheetah7

I think we should have a 'guest from hell' competition.

orange&

Hi PP,

We spent 14 months out in Oz a couple of years ago and had lots of visitors, from 3 week visits from family members to one day visits from acquaintances. We enjoyed them all and didn't for one minute feel that people were taking the piss. In fact we welcomed visits since we didn't know a huge number of people the year we were there and we treated it as a way of spending quality time with people. If we didn't like someone at all, they wouldn't get an invite in the first place. I guess this would automatically include people who we were suspicious would take the piss and treat our place as a let.

iPom

That is very poor manners...

All of my friends would never behave like that, but my immediate family probably would, hence separate living quarters being the ideal .. .