Mogsyminx

Hi - I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post, please feel free to move me if I'm wrong

I'm new here, so hi everyone
I am welsh born and bred and currently living in Wales with my 3 kids and my husband. My husband is Australian - we were married in Australia but he has lived here for 18 yrs. We have a business here too.

In the past year we have discussed moving over to Australia. I have only been once (for two months) and loved it, although I never thought for one second of moving there. My whole family is in Wales.

We actually made the firm decision about two weeks ago to make the move. We both felt really good about it but in the past week I have started to have doubts.

I suppose what I want is reassurance? I want to hear people say that you can successfully up sticks?!

We would be moving to Beerwah in QLD to a road where my mother in law, my sister and brother in laws (x2) and my nieces and nephews live. We would be building our own house on land my husband owns.

My kids are 2, 3 and 12.

Please make me feel better.

carolinephillips

It is a big decision to make and you are bound to get the collywobbles.

It is hard to leave family and friends, but how nice for your OH to be near his family, and for your kids to be able to build a relationship with them too. But you also say that you have a sister, nephews and nieces and your husband's parents, so it is not your whole family that you are leaving behind either. It isn't as if you are taking the plunge knowing no-one, like I did nearly 5 years ago when OH, DD (aged 12) and I flew out to Sydney.

Your children are young enough to settle and find new friendships. DD still keeps in touch with one of her 3 best friends in the UK, and when we go back (every 2 years) it is like they have never been apart. The other 2 have moved on, although still FB her sometimes. But she is happy and thriving out here.

OH is Welsh, and is the only support for his aging mum (now 80) so there is that worry to be added to things, but all in all we are happier here than we would have been in the UK, although not so comfortably off, due to having to pay a larger mortgage and school fees - however, DD finished in November, so things will get a bit easier financially. There is a big Welsh society in Sydney, so he can get a tste of home if he needs to.

Mr Grumpy

The question you should be asking is why do you want to move in the first place?

If you have an established business, family and income stream then what is the purpose for you moving?

It will cost you a fortune and you will have difficulties with establishing a stable income stream at first due to difficulty in finding work. If you choose to start your own business then that will cost even more money.

You will be stressed out and will have many different kinds of problems.

verystormy

I think you need to be clear about why you are making the move. What is it that you think Oz will give you that you don't have now?

What work are you both planning to do? Have you researched the economy?

jad n rich

Well I could tell you some wild stories about beerwah

Used go work with a girl from there and it apparently has a very active sex scene going on among neighbours and families

Small country town with the usual supermarket, shops etc. Houses cheap as.. Straight out on the highway to north brisbane, prob 30 mins on weekend. North brisbane has masses going on, Ikea, and Costco going in, high growth areas, massive shopping centres like chermside 20 mins to surf beaches in other direction.

Not a bad spot as oz goes, work opps with north bris, caboolture areas and coast in drive distance.

quoll

I echo the others - why do you want to move?

I would also (and you won't want to hear this) add a serious note of caution - once you are in Aus and, heaven forbid, you decide that it isn't for you (and Beerwah certainly wouldn't be for me!!!) but your husband doesn't want to move back to UK he can stop you taking the kids out of the country (read The Hague Convention, it's scary!). This really could be a life sentence for you (and does your DH have his UK citizenship so that if you don't like it and if he is one of the good guys who will return with you, you don't have o jump through the dreaded spouse visa hoops)

Secondly - it sounds like your DH has managed to live quite happily with you and. Yours all around him but for you to do the same may be different and I always suggest moving away from where he has people and connections - go somewhere away from his folk to a place where you have to work together to set up your lives and not with the power in the relationship skewed to his folk, his mates, his place while you have bugger all of your folk, your friends, your place. Anything over a 5 hour drive should be enough!

I can certainly sympathise with your DH - returning to your roots is a great feeling but I think you need to go into this with eyes wide open and all sorts of (formal?contract?) agreements about what could happen in future. Good luck with your adventure, I hope that none of my warnings is ever required for you!

carolinephillips

Didn't she say her sister was there, and nephews and nieces?

Dorothy

No. She said her entire family is in Wales but her mother in law, sister in law, brother in law, etc are here

NickyC

It's not 100% clear but I think the OP means she has a sister-in-law and a brother-in-law (as well as a mother-in-law) and their children all living in the same street. They are her husband's siblings - not hers.

BASHO

X 2.

+

I wouldn't move to Beerwah unless the pay was beyond astronomical , it was tax free and god promised me absolution for all my sins past present and to come - and on second thoughts not even then .

Or any other country town come to think of it.

I also note (IMO) this would seem to be the chanciest time in 40 years to move to Australia , there are some current unfavourable predictions as to the country's short to mid term economic future .

Horrible decision to have to make all the best whatever you decide.

Mogsyminx

Thanks for the replies guys!

To clarify - I have no family in Australia. The Mother in law, sisters and brothers in laws are DHs family. I would say I am close to them though - we talk frequently.

I guess the main reason for wanting to move is family. I've always lived in Wales (within a few streets actually), my family all live in Wales. It has never been on the cards for me to move abroad anywhere! I was well travelled as a child and I think as a result never had the "travel bug" as an adult. When my husband and I went to Australia last year all that changed! I felt soooo comfortable in Beerwah with his family. My kids spent their days playing in the pool, riding horses, going for walks etc. We also did a bit of the "tourist thing" and visited theme parks, zoos, beaches etc. My kids all got chicken pox when we there too so we spent a lot of time confined to non public places. I feel like we had a true representation of "real life" there. We spent evenings at families houses or at home watching tv. My husband also went off at various points and did some work with his brother (family business).

Here, my kids spend absolutely NO time with my family. Although they all live between 5-15 mins walk away (obviously even less in a car), we don't see each other much at all. We have very little in the way of outdoor space, our kids don't get to play in the garden etc. Because of the small age gap between my two youngest, I am not able to take them swimming here (ratio of adult:child and local rules). My husband works very hard and long hours (for our business) as do I. The quality time we spend with our kids is nowhere near enough, IMHO.

Wrt work - we would continue to manage our business from australia (for a few years at least), so that would provide us with an income. I have decided to take a few years off work to spend time with the littlies (whichever country we end up in) so any work I do would be a bonus financially.

I didn't realise that about DH not being able to return to the uk. I trust him completely not to make me leave the kids there if for some reason I wanted to return and he didn't. I presume if he got a British Passport (which he is entitled to, just has never got) then he could come back in with no problem?

This is all massively helpful, thank you!

Tockalosh

First off beerwah is a fine little country town and on the rail link into brissie should you need civilization. Also a very short drive to caloundra where we lived which has all the shops you will need. Didn't know about the car keys in the fruit bowl evening activities which may be a plus or minus for you.
Having all the family on the same street is a bit "deliverance" but at least you will have friends and family immediately on tap.
I liked beerwah but didn't rate Sydney or Melbourne so perhaps you are a queenslander or not

Graham and Maria

Beerwah's a great place to live, it is small town QLD but we do have a Woolies an Aldi a very good pub with an excellent bistro and an RSL. If you want a mall theres large plaza's at Maroochydore or Caboolture, both under 30mins away.

Brisbane central is an hour and half on the train, I used to commute there for work and it got old really quickly but I just hung in there whilst finding a job on the coast, I wouldnt look back now.

Theres one primary and two secondary schools in Beerwah (one is private) and both have decent reviews and excellent extension programs.

The area has an abundance of outdoor recreation possibilities and the range at the back of Beerwah has some stunning views over the glasshouse mountains one way or all the way to the coast in the other direction.


Since moving here theres not a thing I really dislike.....Good luck to you

chris955

I must admit I couldnt see myself living in Beerwah or ndeed any small Australian town but we are all different. I love the Glasshouse Mountains and the area but not to live.

asher

yes you can do it successfully many have as evidenced here.


BUT
how close are you to your Welsh family? if you are all very close and see each other weekly you will probably miss them a load and find it very hard.

If you are well off financially and happy where you are why move? Aus is a similar place with different weather.

If you were happy with the decision to move, think about why you were happy and try and keep in that mindset. We can't really know how you feel about things, only how we and our friends do.
whatever you decide to do good luck