Thing is though.... he IS big enough to look after himself. He could turn round tomorrow and tell you he's off to live...... somewhere else?!

I agree with every word of that.

I am a stupid idiot that thought we'd be going back for yearly visits!! Yes, your right, it's at least $15,000 - that isn't even our disposable income! what was I thinking of!!!

The worst thing about visits home is having to be shunted round other people's houses - everyone was so kind, but MIL cooking for 2 weeks :scared: ???

I just had my first trip back after one year! For me, being out of the UK gave me the chance to stand back and realise that it offers much more of what I want for my kids, and that actually it's not that bad a place to be!

The opposite to you....I enjoyed every single minute of it and I didn't want to come back to Australia at all. It's all been a positive experience, my first year here (last year) has had to rank as the second worst in my life, and I was dreading having to come back, but now I'm here, it doesn't feel quite so bad having to spend another year or so here.

How is your daughter doing anyway? MK is on our list of places we would consider living close to because of employment opportunities for the other half, and getting into London is not too horrendous.

If I had to wait 16 years to go back I think I'd go insane (I'm half way there already!!!).

It just goes to show how different we all are!!

The thing is somehow its OK if they say they are ready to go off and leave you thats how its supposed to be (although I guess you never want them to go too far away) it seems like you are abandoning them if you decide to go.

My Daughter is doing OK, she hasn't as yet established herself in a job, which was the equal of the one she left here. Currently she is in a job doing admin in a company that is closing in 8 months time, She didn't enjoy the PR one, she was ostracised by her workmates, plus travelling by public transport from Simpson MK, to Newport Pagnell, took well over an hour.

In Her current job, her workmates are fantastic, but the work isn't challenging. In the jobs that she has gone for that would have stretched her, the feedback from the agency was, that they liked her, however the employers are worried that she is likely to come back to Australia. She is also working in MK central on the weekends behind the bar in a nightclub.


I think England was a very different place back in 88/89 at the time of my first visit back, there was grafitti everywhere, and it definitly wasn't safe to go out at night. The 16 year gap, wasn't of my own choosing, it was because we had another child (unexpectedly). Which meant we went down to one wage after putting an extension and committing to other major purchases, which knocked our finances for six. However the main benefit of that 16 year gap, was England had turned into another country almost. I could not in my wildest imagination have expected the vast improvement from 89 to 2005 in every aspect of the british scene.

I've got to say, I think new migrants from the UK now are going to have a greatest proportion of disappointed Migrants in the history of Migration between the two countries. Such is my perception of the improvment in British living standards.

Hi Guys!!

I haven't posted much recently as I have family over. I am so pleased to hear people responses to the UK. It is wonderful hearing about how others that have been out hear for a while have found the old stomping ground. Thanks for taking the time to post.

I am really enjoying seeing my family again and I would move mountains to be on the flight home with my mum, however after just one week I am beginning to think that my sister and I really need to live the other side of the globe from each other to get on.... At the expense of my poor old Mum that I love dearly. I am still unsure where we will end up but the main thing is that I have my kids and hubby and I am enjoying good old Vic for now! My pets shall be vaccinated and ready to travel in 12 months so fingers crossed that the housing market doesn't bottom out before hand.

Hello woody, wondered where you were. Enjoy the family.

I have to agree with you. The combination of Australia being massively oversold and England massively under-rated make for a rather slippery slope with new migrants being at the top. I was speaking to an older English couple who said that the golden age here was the 60s and 70s, and it has gone downhill since. that was their view of Australia anyway. A key thing for us is that we could never have appreciated the sheer size of Australia. We imagined frequent trips around the country as we did in the UK, and yearly trips to Europe (once per 5 years is enough with a baby)! Many of the comparisons between the UK tend to be misleading. I think you have to compare Australia with Europe (equal size, excluding Russia), or Britain with an equal sized area of Australia, say Victoria.

Long time, no post. We've now been back in the UK for nearly 2 years, a few years after a 12 year stint in Oz. We love it back here.

One of the critical issues concerning education is the increasing impact of the global marketplace on the job market. Both UK and Oz need to get their educational acts together, but give me the UK system any day...

The stats will tell you that the Oz and UK systems are much of a muchness. However, in our Oz experience, across both the private and public sectors, the Oz system is way too undemanding - from primary school to first degree level. Oz, with its superficial egalitarianism, 'she'll be right' and celebration of mediocrity has a lot further to go.

Even the odd Aussie may agree:

'I emigrated to Britain to study.... It was a wake-up call. The encouragement at school in Australia was wonderful but I became very big-headed about my artistic abilities. When I went to art school in England, I got a very rude shock.... I'd gone from being the best in my class at my previous school to somebody who was only regarded as average.' - Rolf Harris (!) reflecting on his arrival in the UK in 1953.
So, nothing's changed.

In Oz, highly-developed (well, that's what Aussies might call them) social skills, especially sports-based, seem to be a key concern.

But, pray tell, what good are these skills in a global market where highly educated, relatively low paid residents of China/India/ (please insert rapidly developing country of your choice) will be filling the 'Situations Vacant'? In a global marketplace, the currencies are qualifications and experience.

And it's changing fast. 10 years ago, who had heard of outsourcing? What will the Western job market be like in 10 years' time?

And before anybody thinks Oz universities rank very highly, they don't. The top ranking Oz university, ANU, sits at #56 in the Top 100. Denmark, with a quarter of Oz's population has a university at #57. And Switzerland, with a population less than half of Oz, has a uni at #27.

This is an issue for all (Western) kids - we owe it to them to give them the best damn education we can afford so they can hopefully be the haves, not the have-nots...

Welcome back online Mike

G'Dayyyy Mike!

Hope you didn't mind my post when I quoted you a few months back. I said I loved the 'shear variety' that Melbourne offered us.

Seems to me with cheap labour costs, that no 'western' country is going to have it easy with regard to competition. The Asian kids will always work harder....

Welcome back to Expats!!!

Welcome back Mike always interesting and informative posts,please keep in touch with British expats also pleased that you have settled back in the U.K.

You might not believe this Mike, but you have been missed Glad all is well with you and yours.

OMG Mike where have you been...now all we need is Dotty and few others and it's just like old days!!
Hi Mike....