Lookin2Oz

We have been in New Zealand for three and a half years, South Africa before NZ and know we will not settle here and really want to move out of here sooner rather than later.

We were in Scotland earlier this year (Perth) and I loved it but worried that it was just the holiday thing. I realised when I was there that there is zero doubt I am still a Scot and have really missed the crack probably more than anything else ( SOH is not a strong point in NZ).

We are considering Brisbane and the attraction is the weather but worried that after three years there we would end up feeling like we do here in NZ and that is best described as sad.

I would love to hear from folk that have returned to Scotland and what their experiences have been.

momaisey

Haven't moved back, back but still live here and my advice is, don't. It has rained here for 2 months solid It still is a beautiful place, dont get me wrong, but only when its dry We are desperate to move out. My advice is move somewhere else and keep returning to Scotland for your hols, it makes the return even better, just like your hol earlier this year. Sorry if I sound so negative. Good luck in what ever decision you make

M

Elaine B.

I have no first hand experience but a friend of mine moved back to Glasgow from Toronto after almost 20 years. She moved back with her 2 daughters (one of them is a teenager) and they all love it. She wishes she'd done it years ago.

Marmalade

What a downer of a first post

Elaine B.

That was my thought too, after I read that I felt I had to say something positive.

Marmalade

I was doubly disappointed with the post, because I come from that beautiful area of the country, and sadly know how negative some people can be that live there. I, however, love the rain, and can't wait to get back to it

Lookin2Oz

Hey, thanks for the reply momaisey.

I hope I didn’t motivate you to join-up BE just to write that post. I would be interested to know a bit more about your situation, like where you were prior to returning, where are you based now and what are you working as in Scotland ? Also, thanks to the other folks that have replied.

I guess everything is relative and is based on what you are comparing something to, that is, in this case we are comparing Scotland to New Zealand.

This past winter in NZ it rained for 4 months. The houses are DAMP so it is as cold indoors and we stay in a 4 year old house and is not cheap.

The opportunities here in NZ are extremely limited and one certainly gets the impression that unless you are a Kiwi you are restricted to the jobs you can apply for. The salaries here are shockingn and the recruitment process in NZ seems to heavily based on cheapest is best.

The crime here is getting out of hand. The driving standards on the roads are crazy and you have 15 year olds running around with turbo cars and no insurance.

From our experience the Kiwi’s are backwards and are extremely resistant to change. After nearly four years here we have one couple that are Kiwi’s as friends and that is not for want of lack of trying.

Really we only get 3 months of summer here and with children, they are cooked up indoors here the rest of the time.

New Zealand is on the back end of the world and is around 20 hours flying time from Europe. New Zealand is not cheap but most things we find are inferior quality.

So, in saying all that , it gives you a pretty good picture that of our experience in NZ and believe me, there are heaps of other folk ( ex-pats) that feel the same way about NZ. The NZ forum on BE don’t seem to able to discus the negative side of NZ so we have covered the angle – is it just us ?

Obviously we are looking at our options right now and having family and friends in Scotland is a pull. I guess the other factor is – we are living in a foreign country ( NZ) and I am Scottish so I relate to Scotland as my home.

With regard to positive and negative when we were in Scotland earlier this year I experienced that there was a greater positive sense overall in Scotland. I guess this comes back to the comparing with what factor. Comparing Scotland with New Zealand the Scots win hands down as the Kiwis tend to dislike people getting ahead. We never heard of tall poppy syndrome until we came here.

So, I guess if somebody is living in the Cayman Islands and charters luxury yachts for a living looking at returning to Glasgow maybe a negative thought.

Decisions pertaining to moving your whole life around the globe are huge and even more so when you have children ( as we do). We are hoping to get over to Brisbane next month a have a look-see as we have only been to Sydney & Melbourne.

I guess the other factor is that we are in our mid forties so there is the thought that if we hang in here in NZ for our citizenship to get into Oz we will be close to fifty and if after a couple of years in Oz we were not happy we could be in the position that we are moving back to the UK at around the 50 mark. I guess this puts more pressure on the decision making factor.

I have been known to say that I sometimes wish I had never left Scotland as we have lived in three continents now I have always missed certain things about Scotland.

If only we could gaze into the crystal ball hey

islandergirl

OK momaisey so you haven't actually lived in Australia or experienced being an expat on the other side of the planet from your family and friends and culture, the loneliness and isolation and all the heart rending that goes with that.

No doubt you have been watching stuff like Wanted Down Under and think Australia is some kind of utopia where we only work 35 hours a week, have a great big house for $300k and spend all our spare time at the beach with our jetski, unlike poor Scottish people who have to work hard in a country where it rains a lot - hardly surprising since it's 55 degrees north.

Perhaps once you have lived here for a while you would have something a bit more meaningful to contribute to this thread. Try living in a place where you are on permanent water restrictions, and can't wash windows, car or water the garden that you have spent thousands of dollars establishing, and driving (and the commute here is often really long) across a parched dying landscape every day and knowing that you are still 2 months away from summer so it will only get worse.

Try listening to the weatherman every night talk about how the dams are only 30% full and that we are going up another notch in the water restrictions if it doesn't rain soon, and hearing some of the farmers talk about depression, suicide and getting evicted from their land broken by the drought.

And try listening to reports on the tv that there is a bushfire heading your way and that you need to decide now if you are going to stay and fight it and try and save your house, or flee.

Now what was that you were saying about it raining too much in Scotland?

quoll

Islandergirl has it just right!

The heat can be just as debilitating as rain - and when you havent really had rain except for an occasional storm cell for 7 years, you do relish the thought of the nice soaking rain, green grass that gives under your feet, the blinding green of foliage well watered. The relentless heat of summer where you lurch from airconditioned car to air conditioned mall and back again to air conditioned home, rarely venturing out into sunshine which can reduce your skin to bootleather within years is wearing in the extreme.

The thing that would be migrants often dont appreciate in their thirst for "better weather" is that the heat is inescapable when you are outside in it but you can rug up or cover up against the cold and the wet. It may be appealing to think of lying on a beach in 40C heat but once you have done it a few times you would be happy never to do it again. Everyone thinks they come to Aus for the "outdoor lifestyle" - most Aussies I know relish their air conditioning and reverse cycle heating and spend more time indoors than their UK counterparts once they have got into the swing of things. Barbies are a mozzie-fest and I notice far fewer of them than at their peak about 10 years ago. Flies are the bane of your life especially if you live anywhere within view of greenery (the middle of Sydney and Melbourne are probably exempt) and you walk around in summer with arms flailing to brush the damned things from your face where they persistently try and crawl into every orifice. One thing you will notice about Australia is how few kids actually play outdoors these days!

After a while there will be nothing so welcome as the sound of rain on your tin roof - and if it goes on for days and lifts your dam rates to 50% you will think you are in 7th heaven!

islandergirl

Hi quoll I was up at the sparrows fart this morning trying to get as much gardening done as I could before the flies started attacking me and getting in my mouth /nose etc.

I had bought one of those army surplus mesh things that you you pull over your head but can't find it - and there are none to be had in Canberra seems like they are sold out already! They are attracted to the smell of the sunscreen, but I can't not wear sunscreen or I just fry.

And thanks for remembering to mention the mozzies and the heat.
Ironic that when the weather is so blisteringly hot that you are stuck in the house with a/c on for months then that is when the tv is at it's crappiest here as well, hour upon hour of Simpsons repeats and American crap and if you are lucky a few Kiwi documentaries about car crashes and the like.

It actually rained on Friday night and we were celebrating, a whole 7mm.

Lookin2Oz

Okay okay – I get it !

The Scottish tourist board and skills shortage areas has missed the boat by miles. Scotland should be using rainy weather as a draw-card for aussie tourists and to attract ex-pats back to the UK

Jokes aside the one area that you have touched on is the flies. We get loads of flies here in Auckland when we have those few weeks of summer and it drives my missus crazy. In fact my wee lad said to me last year that we should get mummy on of these tennis racket fly swat fryer thingamabobs

When I read your reply I had this vision of my missus with a aussie hat on with the corks dangling

mampq

Poor Momaisey,
All they said was that it rained in Scotland. Which is true. It wasn't a rude post and yet everyone has been quite negative towards them. Shame.

Marmalade

That's not all Momaisey said, reread the post:

Momaisey's post sounds like a typical Scottish whinger that doesn't know any better, because as her post clearly states, they have NOT emigrated, so don't know any better

mampq

That's right they say it is a great place when it is dry, sorry does that make them whingers!!!!

Marmalade

You obviously can't read a whole post