choccybicciebribe

Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to reply to my message! It has given me a lot to think about. I have wanted to post this message for a couple of years but I have waited and waited.
I think that I will look at my husband in a new light and I realise what a 'gem' he is for agreeing to spend 6 months there travelling around.
I did type a long winded message but deleted it by accident!! It doesn't matter though as the end conclusion is the same.

I know Australia is not all perfect weather and bbq's and I admire anyone for making it work there. This winter I will make sure that we do go away somewhere sunny just to get the vitamin D, not to bake in the sun. I have seen the people in Aus with bandages and scars from melanoma removal, scary indeed!

Thanks again for reading and for all of the advice!

choccybicciebribe

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply! It has helped me a lot and has given me a lot to think about.

I have read posts on these boards for a few years now and I can really see how people's lives have changed from possibly having a better life in Australia. I mean from the point of view when the exchange rate was better and it did seem possible to go there and have a slightly better life. There used to be lots of positive posts about people doing that, but obviously with the world shift in economy that has changed. I have looked at that and admire people for starting a new life in Australia now a lot more.

This winter was the first one where we didn't go away somewhere sunny for 3 weeks to escape some of the grey days. My son started school and it was the first year that we were tied to the school holidays. I think this year I know that I have to get away to somewhere more light for a while.
When I say that I love the feeling of warmth on my face, I mean from a healthy point of view. In the way that you need sunlight to make vitamin D. I don't mean that I want to bake in it and get a good tan. I have seen people in Australia with plasters on their noses and big scars etc, so I know the damage it can do too.

I realise that I AM lucky to have a husband that agree's to us spending 6 months there instead of saying a flat no! I need to think about this a bit more and if it could be a possibility.
I remember reading Jazzy's first post and his subsequent ones and thinking 'wow he really wants that' and thinking he was brave to do it. I hope it does have a happy ending for him.
I do know that Australia would not be all aussie friendly banter and bbq's! It would be great to have that sometimes but at the end of the day most people have to work hard there and that would just be a small slice of it, a nice one to imagine though.
We do have a nice life here and it has made me think about that more. I am thinking more about how oppressive the heat can be in Australia and I am quite surprised by how many people have mentioned that. We visit Thailand a lot to see family and in the hottest months it is quite unbearable sometimes, I can see that you can't really go out and do much in that heat. We would base ourselves in Sydney if we came over so not so hot all year round like it was in Brisbane when I visited. I have friend's in Perth and in Melbourne and I like all four of those places.

Above all I want to say thank you to everyone that has replied. I sit here today with a slightly different view and maybe it has made me realise just what a 'gem' my husband is by agreeing to go at all.

Just found that it was not deleted after all! more or less says the same thing so THANK YOU everyone!

Shellfish

Nope, I agree. I know the weather varies in Aus but in Melbourne, the ridiculously hot days are few and far between in fact this has been a brilliant summer - 105 odd days over 20 and maybe two or three over 40

NickyC

I agree too..

And I'm not even in Melbourne - I live in sunny Sydney. In over 30 years, I can remember one day when it was just too hot to venture out.

Let's face it - if it's a working day, you go to work. You don't think - "ooh it's going to be too hot to go to work today, I'll just stay home". You just get on with it. After all everywhere indoors is air-conditioned anyway and if you're out you walk down the shady side of the street.

And all these people who don't leave the house without slathering themselves with sunblock . I only ever put sunblock on if I know I'm going to the beach, on a boat, out in the open etc. I certainly don't put it on every day (and I've never been burnt - nor do I have a face like a prune).

It might be different in Queensland, but I think some people just like to scare others......

quoll

I dunno, there have been quite a few days this year when I havent ventured outside if I havent had to. Work of course is airconditioned so that is OK but there have been plenty of days over 30 when outside is oppressive and you do learn to lurch from airconditioned car to airconditioned mall to airconditioned car to airconditioned office and back home again in airconditioned car. My DH goes out in all heats but I cannot stand constantly sweating and breathing in a furnace. Probably something to do with metabolism.

Kapri

I think that those who are already in Australia and say "don't come - it's not worth it" are missing the point.

If you have wanderlust or a need for adventure it doesn't go away.

A few years ago there were a lot of potential migrants who had rose tinted specs on: "There's no crime in Aus" "The houses are huge and dirt cheap" "The education is far superior".
Those days have gone - you rarely see people posting this kind of thing any more. Most potential migrants now are just looking for something different, a taste of adventure. Those who have already done it are forgetting how they felt.

We all need to find out for ourselves. For some it will work out, for others it won't. We won't know until we try.

I still don't think it's worth breaking up a marriage for the chance to emigrate, but I do think it's worth having a serious heart to heart, with some compromise on both sides.

tiredwithtwins

as someone who also deeply wants to 'go' i can understnd where you are coming from.
however, after many setbacks and moving of goalposts since we first started looking at emigrating some 8 years ago i have learned to look at things a little differently.
you can compromise your dream - and you have a bloke who is willing to do so. go with it, and take anohters posters suggestion of going away in winter too and you may just find that itch is scratched. if you look at all the good things in your life now and start looking at them whenever you feel that you may get to 70 and regret not going, you will start to see that aus isnt the be all and end all.
we are facing the reality that money/age will stop us from going - theres no point dwelling on it, we missed our boat - but you have to look at it as the opportunity to live other dreams ... there are loads of places ive wanted to travel and see, and now my kids are getting older i can see myself doing it; we have family in adelaide whom we intend to visit every 4 or 5 years should we not get the opportunity to move to aus, but in the mean time i get to do my own bit of wanderlust-fulfilment!!! peru, cuba, killimanjaro are now do-able dreams ...