Sunshine23,

Just enjoy it here. I know I am.

Mike.

I remember all too well the reasons we came to Australia. Having our daughter, however, changed everything so those reasons now mean nothing at all.

Also, like Pollyanna, we've received some pretty hard knocks here. I've absolutely embraced Australia but come to the conclusion that we're just not meant to be here.

Perhaps you have to experience homesickness to understand how utterly debilitating it can be, and it appears that OP hasn't. Long may that last

Thanks Mike

Am certainly not having a go at you & as I said previously, it is great that you are feeling so settled & happy

However, if you post on an open forum, you have to expect that people will discuss your comments & I do feel that you somewhat trivialised what to quite a few people on here, is a very serious & complex problem.

How can you even consider going back to that rubbish shrewn, over populated, over taxed and cramped island? Madness.

Mike.

Well, not sure which bit of the UK you were in, but where I am is quite nice & there are some lovely parts of the UK. That is all irrelevant though because at the end of the day, people need to be where they feel they belong. There are many forms of homesickness, some transient, some is more missing people but the long term, won't go away no matter what you do type is very serious & affects people's mental health quite seriously & this is why people consider going back!

I've lived in Sydney's outer west and believe me, it was more unpleasant than anywhere I've lived in the UK - litter was the least of my worries there! As for the over populated bit - not sure that bothers me. Major towns and cities may be crowded, but the UK has some beautiful countryside with views that could make a person weep. As for tax...I've spent over four years here paying the same tax as a citizen/permanent resident and getting bugger all back for it. At least in the UK I'll get something if I need it because by golly I've needed it here and couldn't get a bean as a temporary resident.

I've travelled extensively and lived in a lot of different countries. The more I travel the more I realise that every country has its problems. I love Australia, despite my unfortunate experiences, but I'm under no illusion that it's paradise. It has many of the same problems that the UK has. It's just easier to turn a blind eye because the sun shines and the sea is warm.

I was just about to write exactly the same thing!

You have to hear opinions from all different people in different situations....obviously not everyone is going to agree with each other

I do hope that when we make the move we settle in as quickly as poss, but who knows????.....it's all part of it

lovely post May you continue to enjoy

I am so glad that you are finding things great here. However, you missed one fundamental point about homesickness - you were brought up in Aus so you are home and I would be very surprised if you felt the same way about UK. The bonds and belongingness that one develops through ones early life is what really fuels the fire of homesickness and for those of us who have embraced, participated and served our time here, nothing still really improves the sense of not belongingness. When your DH has been here 20 years he too may realize that he doesnt want to grow old and die here. I cant remember that far back but probably a year or two in from when I arrived (29 years next week!) I may have felt just the way you do. We had a great opportunity and we took it and for a while it seemed like a good thing to do. However, after a while you can get fed up with the sunshine, the shallowness, the lack of community etc. For someone who was raised here however (like my DH) this is all he ever wants.

For me the telling point in your story is "I have realised what I have missed out on" and for those of us with relatives back in UK, that is just what we are missing out on!

Most of us who have it sure wish there was a pill for "homesickness"

I didn't get home sick at all until the last few weeks, the feelings I am getting are nothing to do with not embracing anything, they are to do with being tired, feeling unwell and vulnerable because I don't have my comforting/ support network close to hand..

Our daughter has been pretty sick over the last month or so, she had a chest infection which the GP denied was a chest infection (pretty much because my husband took her to the GP and said my wife thinks she has a chest infection) and by the time we eventually decided to bypass the GP and take her to the hospital she had full blown pneumonia.

She has had 3 weeks off school, with both of us working (me all the hours God sends) and HIM part time at 38 hours per week, we SO struggled with looking after her/ running house/being up at the hospital/sitting with a sick child... and looking after the 3 well ones too...

I really missed and wanted my mum and friends

been feeling pretty low ever since...

But I'm sure I'll get over it, after all Home sickness is not usually a terminal disease is it?

I think some of you are being a little bit hard on Sunshine23. I don't think she is trying to trivialise homesickness. She just seems to be putting her point of view over. It was a nice upbeat post with no malice intended

I don't think anyone is being particularly hard on her. They are just putting their point of view across and it happens to differ with hers.

Thanks,

I was not trying to trivalise homesickness. I can un understand anyone being homesick and how hard it can be. I have left a family in the UK and a godson who I miss like crazy. What I was trying to say was when you feel like this remember why you moved over here in the first place.

Yes I have a family over here so it was a lot easier for us to settle.

I would never trivalise anyones feelings.

Sunshine23

So sorry to read of the stressful time you've been going thru-I hope your daughter is on the mend-and that you start to feel less homesick soon

I am the returned Aussie (admittedly I was only 4 when I went to live in UK) but I am the one who is really homesick for UK even though I had no family left there (they are mostly here but in different cities from me). I have had some very black moments whereas OH who left his entire family seems fine...