Back in the UK one month - update
Mar 6th 2007, 9:27 pm
#1
Life is more than a dream
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Kings Moss, UK - it's a bit like Emmerdale
Posts: 1,389
Back in the UK one month - update
Hi everyone - well we've been back in the UK for exactly a month now so I thought that I'd update you all on how things are going here in Blighty.
We arrived early February to cold, snowy winter days, which was in sharp contrast to the 30+ Melbourne summer. To be honest though I haven't been bugged by the weather at all - there are far more important things in life than weather and anyway, spring is on the way.
It is wonderful for us just to be a family again - for those who don't know my story, our youngest daughter who was 17 at the time, only stayed in Australia for six weeks, leaving me distraught as we had to stay due to our eldest daughter being at university there. We stayed in Oz, hoping to make a go of things and hoping that our daughter may return, however our eldest daughter didn't really settle either, missed her friends and her sister and hubbys work was very sporadic and much lower paid than in the UK. Whereas in the UK we had fantastic holidays and a great lifestyle, in Australia, our finances were such that we had no choice but to return to England. Every month we had to dip into our savings to help pay the rent, which wasn't part of the plan.
Whilst we liked Australia, we didn't fall in love with it at all, however once the decision was made to return, removals and flights were booked, we actually started to feel a bit sad at leaving. After all, it was the end of our dream - 3 years of planning and hopes of a new life were coming to an end.
On our return, I expected people to be telling us "I told you so" etc., but they haven't. Most people are genuinely interested in our adventure and tell us that they wish they had the bottle to do something so exciting.
Since our return 4 weeks ago, hubby started work after one week and one phone call - it's great to be earning a decent wage again. We bought two cars and after three weeks we'd signed up for a rental property. The house was the hardest thing in that we have loads of stuff coming over from a big 4 bedroomed Australian house and British houses are much smaller. We persevered though and eventually found an beautiful old cottage just outside town with lovely views over hills, fields and a golf course. The village pub is about a 5 minute walk away
We move in at weekend and just can't wait.
We've also been able to celebrate our daughter's 18th birthday and I'm now teaching her to drive
It makes me so happy to be able to take her to college each morning - as she walks away, I just sit there in the car grinning, realising just how wonderful life is. It isn't big houses or sun or warm weather that make me happy, it's people and living life. Life in the UK is portrayed as being bad by the media here, but in reality it's nowhere near as bad as they try to make out and no different from anywhere else - good and bad everywhere. Before we came back, people told us of asylum seekers everywhere in our town and Poles taking over the building trade - we haven't seen one shred of evidence to support these claims.
Our social life has been renewed - it's great to get out with our mates again. Shopping is fantastic - the choice and quality of goods is just brilliant.
So to all of you who are on your way back, don't worry. Life in the UK is good. Very good. In fact wild horses wouldn't drag me back to Australia right now
We arrived early February to cold, snowy winter days, which was in sharp contrast to the 30+ Melbourne summer. To be honest though I haven't been bugged by the weather at all - there are far more important things in life than weather and anyway, spring is on the way.
It is wonderful for us just to be a family again - for those who don't know my story, our youngest daughter who was 17 at the time, only stayed in Australia for six weeks, leaving me distraught as we had to stay due to our eldest daughter being at university there. We stayed in Oz, hoping to make a go of things and hoping that our daughter may return, however our eldest daughter didn't really settle either, missed her friends and her sister and hubbys work was very sporadic and much lower paid than in the UK. Whereas in the UK we had fantastic holidays and a great lifestyle, in Australia, our finances were such that we had no choice but to return to England. Every month we had to dip into our savings to help pay the rent, which wasn't part of the plan.
Whilst we liked Australia, we didn't fall in love with it at all, however once the decision was made to return, removals and flights were booked, we actually started to feel a bit sad at leaving. After all, it was the end of our dream - 3 years of planning and hopes of a new life were coming to an end.
On our return, I expected people to be telling us "I told you so" etc., but they haven't. Most people are genuinely interested in our adventure and tell us that they wish they had the bottle to do something so exciting.
Since our return 4 weeks ago, hubby started work after one week and one phone call - it's great to be earning a decent wage again. We bought two cars and after three weeks we'd signed up for a rental property. The house was the hardest thing in that we have loads of stuff coming over from a big 4 bedroomed Australian house and British houses are much smaller. We persevered though and eventually found an beautiful old cottage just outside town with lovely views over hills, fields and a golf course. The village pub is about a 5 minute walk away
We move in at weekend and just can't wait.We've also been able to celebrate our daughter's 18th birthday and I'm now teaching her to drive
It makes me so happy to be able to take her to college each morning - as she walks away, I just sit there in the car grinning, realising just how wonderful life is. It isn't big houses or sun or warm weather that make me happy, it's people and living life. Life in the UK is portrayed as being bad by the media here, but in reality it's nowhere near as bad as they try to make out and no different from anywhere else - good and bad everywhere. Before we came back, people told us of asylum seekers everywhere in our town and Poles taking over the building trade - we haven't seen one shred of evidence to support these claims. Our social life has been renewed - it's great to get out with our mates again. Shopping is fantastic - the choice and quality of goods is just brilliant.
So to all of you who are on your way back, don't worry. Life in the UK is good. Very good. In fact wild horses wouldn't drag me back to Australia right now
Mar 6th 2007, 9:36 pm
#2
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 511
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
Hi everyone - well we've been back in the UK for exactly a month now so I thought that I'd update you all on how things are going here in Blighty.
We arrived early February to cold, snowy winter days, which was in sharp contrast to the 30+ Melbourne summer. To be honest though I haven't been bugged by the weather at all - there are far more important things in life than weather and anyway, spring is on the way.
It is wonderful for us just to be a family again - for those who don't know my story, our youngest daughter who was 17 at the time, only stayed in Australia for six weeks, leaving me distraught as we had to stay due to our eldest daughter being at university there. We stayed in Oz, hoping to make a go of things and hoping that our daughter may return, however our eldest daughter didn't really settle either, missed her friends and her sister and hubbys work was very sporadic and much lower paid than in the UK. Whereas in the UK we had fantastic holidays and a great lifestyle, in Australia, our finances were such that we had no choice but to return to England. Every month we had to dip into our savings to help pay the rent, which wasn't part of the plan.
Whilst we liked Australia, we didn't fall in love with it at all, however once the decision was made to return, removals and flights were booked, we actually started to feel a bit sad at leaving. After all, it was the end of our dream - 3 years of planning and hopes of a new life were coming to an end.
On our return, I expected people to be telling us "I told you so" etc., but they haven't. Most people are genuinely interested in our adventure and tell us that they wish they had the bottle to do something so exciting.
Since our return 4 weeks ago, hubby started work after one week and one phone call - it's great to be earning a decent wage again. We bought two cars and after three weeks we'd signed up for a rental property. The house was the hardest thing in that we have loads of stuff coming over from a big 4 bedroomed Australian house and British houses are much smaller. We persevered though and eventually found an beautiful old cottage just outside town with lovely views over hills, fields and a golf course. The village pub is about a 5 minute walk away We move in at weekend and just can't wait.
We've also been able to celebrate our daughter's 18th birthday and I'm now teaching her to drive It makes me so happy to be able to take her to college each morning - as she walks away, I just sit there in the car grinning, realising just how wonderful life is. It isn't big houses or sun or warm weather that make me happy, it's people and living life. Life in the UK is portrayed as being bad by the media here, but in reality it's nowhere near as bad as they try to make out and no different from anywhere else - good and bad everywhere. Before we came back, people told us of asylum seekers everywhere in our town and Poles taking over the building trade - we haven't seen one shred of evidence to support these claims.
Our social life has been renewed - it's great to get out with our mates again. Shopping is fantastic - the choice and quality of goods is just brilliant.
So to all of you who are on your way back, don't worry. Life in the UK is good. Very good. In fact wild horses wouldn't drag me back to Australia right now
We arrived early February to cold, snowy winter days, which was in sharp contrast to the 30+ Melbourne summer. To be honest though I haven't been bugged by the weather at all - there are far more important things in life than weather and anyway, spring is on the way.
It is wonderful for us just to be a family again - for those who don't know my story, our youngest daughter who was 17 at the time, only stayed in Australia for six weeks, leaving me distraught as we had to stay due to our eldest daughter being at university there. We stayed in Oz, hoping to make a go of things and hoping that our daughter may return, however our eldest daughter didn't really settle either, missed her friends and her sister and hubbys work was very sporadic and much lower paid than in the UK. Whereas in the UK we had fantastic holidays and a great lifestyle, in Australia, our finances were such that we had no choice but to return to England. Every month we had to dip into our savings to help pay the rent, which wasn't part of the plan.
Whilst we liked Australia, we didn't fall in love with it at all, however once the decision was made to return, removals and flights were booked, we actually started to feel a bit sad at leaving. After all, it was the end of our dream - 3 years of planning and hopes of a new life were coming to an end.
On our return, I expected people to be telling us "I told you so" etc., but they haven't. Most people are genuinely interested in our adventure and tell us that they wish they had the bottle to do something so exciting.
Since our return 4 weeks ago, hubby started work after one week and one phone call - it's great to be earning a decent wage again. We bought two cars and after three weeks we'd signed up for a rental property. The house was the hardest thing in that we have loads of stuff coming over from a big 4 bedroomed Australian house and British houses are much smaller. We persevered though and eventually found an beautiful old cottage just outside town with lovely views over hills, fields and a golf course. The village pub is about a 5 minute walk away
We move in at weekend and just can't wait.We've also been able to celebrate our daughter's 18th birthday and I'm now teaching her to drive
It makes me so happy to be able to take her to college each morning - as she walks away, I just sit there in the car grinning, realising just how wonderful life is. It isn't big houses or sun or warm weather that make me happy, it's people and living life. Life in the UK is portrayed as being bad by the media here, but in reality it's nowhere near as bad as they try to make out and no different from anywhere else - good and bad everywhere. Before we came back, people told us of asylum seekers everywhere in our town and Poles taking over the building trade - we haven't seen one shred of evidence to support these claims. Our social life has been renewed - it's great to get out with our mates again. Shopping is fantastic - the choice and quality of goods is just brilliant.
So to all of you who are on your way back, don't worry. Life in the UK is good. Very good. In fact wild horses wouldn't drag me back to Australia right now
Great post and great to hear it's all going really well! It gives those of us left stranded here so much to look forward to!
Infact I'm going to print out your post and re-read it when I'm feeling low - just to remind myself. Nevermind - coming home for a 2.5 week trip in May!
God I want to leave
NOW!!!!
Mar 6th 2007, 9:37 pm
#3
Account Closed
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 3,533
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
Fan-bloody-tastic Louise!
I think that I will be just like you when we get back; I will see the UK through new eyes and appreciate it all the more. I will also never buy a newspaper again. They only print hype and rubbish.
I'm so glad that you've done the right thing and gone home. Your rental sounds idyllic. Just my kind of thing. A home with character and personality. Not just a big flashy box.
I think that I will be just like you when we get back; I will see the UK through new eyes and appreciate it all the more. I will also never buy a newspaper again. They only print hype and rubbish.
I'm so glad that you've done the right thing and gone home. Your rental sounds idyllic. Just my kind of thing. A home with character and personality. Not just a big flashy box.
Mar 7th 2007, 12:06 am
#4
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 145
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
oh - how I wish I was in your shoes back "home"
I am having such a rubbish week this week with the homesickness.
Everyone said it would get easier - its actually geting worse. we both got a jobs, purchased a house, our furniture arrived and none of it has made me/us feel better. I feel so trapped now.
The weekends seem to be worse as during the week I have to put a brave face on for work - weekend I can be myself (very misrable at the moment) this is not good for either of us.
Any suggestions - I want to try and start enjoying my time here and grit my teeth and hope this time next year I will be "home"
Est x
I am having such a rubbish week this week with the homesickness.
Everyone said it would get easier - its actually geting worse. we both got a jobs, purchased a house, our furniture arrived and none of it has made me/us feel better. I feel so trapped now.The weekends seem to be worse as during the week I have to put a brave face on for work - weekend I can be myself (very misrable at the moment) this is not good for either of us.
Any suggestions - I want to try and start enjoying my time here and grit my teeth and hope this time next year I will be "home"
Est x
Mar 7th 2007, 1:16 am
#5
Cup of tea, Father?
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Underground, overground, wombling free
Posts: 6,895
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
oh - how I wish I was in your shoes back "home"
I am having such a rubbish week this week with the homesickness. Everyone said it would get easier - its actually geting worse. we both got a jobs, purchased a house, our furniture arrived and none of it has made me/us feel better. I feel so trapped now.
The weekends seem to be worse as during the week I have to put a brave face on for work - weekend I can be myself (very misrable at the moment) this is not good for either of us.
Any suggestions - I want to try and start enjoying my time here and grit my teeth and hope this time next year I will be "home"
Est x
I am having such a rubbish week this week with the homesickness.
Everyone said it would get easier - its actually geting worse. we both got a jobs, purchased a house, our furniture arrived and none of it has made me/us feel better. I feel so trapped now.The weekends seem to be worse as during the week I have to put a brave face on for work - weekend I can be myself (very misrable at the moment) this is not good for either of us.
Any suggestions - I want to try and start enjoying my time here and grit my teeth and hope this time next year I will be "home"
Est x
Sorry, I'm not familiar with your situation. Where are you based? How long have you been here (assuming you're in Aus)? If you can give some details, perhaps some suggestions will come to mind?
GG
Mar 7th 2007, 1:36 am
#6
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 145
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
We have been in Brisbane since 3 Jan, left uk on 19 November so had a nice long holiday in between. Although I knew 13 hours after leaving manchester and arriving in singapore we had done wrong.
I started work in CBD on 22 January, in a legal firm, not a very friendly office - I am used to having a right laugh at work - nothing like that here. Bought a house in Forest Lake (feel trapped now). Husband started work this Monday - he is working self employed from home for his old boss - designing on the computer.
I do have things to look forward to - mum and dad coming in 53 days, sister in law and hubby in June, in laws in august. Just not looking forward to the day I have to wave them off home as I would so like to go with them and we are planning on going home in October for a holiday.
Things I am missing loads, family and friends. Other sister in law is pregnant due in April, best friends gets married in July - gutted that I cannot be there for these two massive life changes. I did not appreciate my family and friends, I obviously love and care for them loads - but did realise literally how much - and feel so selfish that it took me moving around the other side of the bloody world to realise
I just feel like crying all the time, I have tears in my eyes now. What a wos and failure I feel. Wish we had never started this whole thing now.
Est x
I started work in CBD on 22 January, in a legal firm, not a very friendly office - I am used to having a right laugh at work - nothing like that here. Bought a house in Forest Lake (feel trapped now). Husband started work this Monday - he is working self employed from home for his old boss - designing on the computer.
I do have things to look forward to - mum and dad coming in 53 days, sister in law and hubby in June, in laws in august. Just not looking forward to the day I have to wave them off home as I would so like to go with them and we are planning on going home in October for a holiday.
Things I am missing loads, family and friends. Other sister in law is pregnant due in April, best friends gets married in July - gutted that I cannot be there for these two massive life changes. I did not appreciate my family and friends, I obviously love and care for them loads - but did realise literally how much - and feel so selfish that it took me moving around the other side of the bloody world to realise
I just feel like crying all the time, I have tears in my eyes now. What a wos and failure I feel. Wish we had never started this whole thing now.
Est x
Mar 7th 2007, 1:54 am
#7
Cup of tea, Father?
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Underground, overground, wombling free
Posts: 6,895
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
We have been in Brisbane since 3 Jan, left uk on 19 November so had a nice long holiday in between. Although I knew 13 hours after leaving manchester and arriving in singapore we had done wrong.
I started work in CBD on 22 January, in a legal firm, not a very friendly office - I am used to having a right laugh at work - nothing like that here. Bought a house in Forest Lake (feel trapped now). Husband started work this Monday - he is working self employed from home for his old boss - designing on the computer.
I do have things to look forward to - mum and dad coming in 53 days, sister in law and hubby in June, in laws in august. Just not looking forward to the day I have to wave them off home as I would so like to go with them and we are planning on going home in October for a holiday.
Things I am missing loads, family and friends. Other sister in law is pregnant due in April, best friends gets married in July - gutted that I cannot be there for these two massive life changes. I did not appreciate my family and friends, I obviously love and care for them loads - but did realise literally how much - and feel so selfish that it took me moving around the other side of the bloody world to realise
I just feel like crying all the time, I have tears in my eyes now. What a wos and failure I feel. Wish we had never started this whole thing now.
Est x
I started work in CBD on 22 January, in a legal firm, not a very friendly office - I am used to having a right laugh at work - nothing like that here. Bought a house in Forest Lake (feel trapped now). Husband started work this Monday - he is working self employed from home for his old boss - designing on the computer.
I do have things to look forward to - mum and dad coming in 53 days, sister in law and hubby in June, in laws in august. Just not looking forward to the day I have to wave them off home as I would so like to go with them and we are planning on going home in October for a holiday.
Things I am missing loads, family and friends. Other sister in law is pregnant due in April, best friends gets married in July - gutted that I cannot be there for these two massive life changes. I did not appreciate my family and friends, I obviously love and care for them loads - but did realise literally how much - and feel so selfish that it took me moving around the other side of the bloody world to realise
I just feel like crying all the time, I have tears in my eyes now. What a wos and failure I feel. Wish we had never started this whole thing now.
Est x
Mar 7th 2007, 3:29 am
#8
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 987
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
Louise thanks so much for your update.We are going home in 4 weeks time and I have been having all sorts of emotions.
Today I am having a good day and cannot wait to get home.I know its going to be tough for us to begin with and we face many challenges but just being where I belong again will be great.
I cannot wait to get to all those wonderful shops.
I was at the Plaza today and I got chatting to a lady who is English but her husband is Australian and she just longs to go home.
She was having a good moan about the price of food here etc and It was interesting to say that her husband agreed with her about Australia and was thinking about giving the UK a try.Least its just not me then.
There will be many things I will miss but when I do I will look back on all times I felt so unhappy and appreciate England for what it is.Home!
Good Luck and I wish you all the best.
Today I am having a good day and cannot wait to get home.I know its going to be tough for us to begin with and we face many challenges but just being where I belong again will be great.
I cannot wait to get to all those wonderful shops.
I was at the Plaza today and I got chatting to a lady who is English but her husband is Australian and she just longs to go home.
She was having a good moan about the price of food here etc and It was interesting to say that her husband agreed with her about Australia and was thinking about giving the UK a try.Least its just not me then.
There will be many things I will miss but when I do I will look back on all times I felt so unhappy and appreciate England for what it is.Home!
Good Luck and I wish you all the best.
Mar 7th 2007, 3:31 am
#9
Account Closed
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,199
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
Thanks for the update Louise. I feel so happy for you.
I am feeling so down at the moment. Things happening back home, i'm stuck here, so bloody hot i can't breath!!! Not sure if i can wait all year til we go home. Maybe i'm having one of my bad weeks
Nice to hear things about the UK that are truthful for once anyway
I am feeling so down at the moment. Things happening back home, i'm stuck here, so bloody hot i can't breath!!! Not sure if i can wait all year til we go home. Maybe i'm having one of my bad weeks
Nice to hear things about the UK that are truthful for once anyway
Mar 7th 2007, 3:56 am
#10
Jedi Princess
Joined: Jun 2006
Location: Melbourne,Australia
Posts: 2,089
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
Hi everyone - well we've been back in the UK for exactly a month now so I thought that I'd update you all on how things are going here in Blighty.
We arrived early February to cold, snowy winter days, which was in sharp contrast to the 30+ Melbourne summer. To be honest though I haven't been bugged by the weather at all - there are far more important things in life than weather and anyway, spring is on the way.
It is wonderful for us just to be a family again - for those who don't know my story, our youngest daughter who was 17 at the time, only stayed in Australia for six weeks, leaving me distraught as we had to stay due to our eldest daughter being at university there. We stayed in Oz, hoping to make a go of things and hoping that our daughter may return, however our eldest daughter didn't really settle either, missed her friends and her sister and hubbys work was very sporadic and much lower paid than in the UK. Whereas in the UK we had fantastic holidays and a great lifestyle, in Australia, our finances were such that we had no choice but to return to England. Every month we had to dip into our savings to help pay the rent, which wasn't part of the plan.
Whilst we liked Australia, we didn't fall in love with it at all, however once the decision was made to return, removals and flights were booked, we actually started to feel a bit sad at leaving. After all, it was the end of our dream - 3 years of planning and hopes of a new life were coming to an end.
On our return, I expected people to be telling us "I told you so" etc., but they haven't. Most people are genuinely interested in our adventure and tell us that they wish they had the bottle to do something so exciting.
Since our return 4 weeks ago, hubby started work after one week and one phone call - it's great to be earning a decent wage again. We bought two cars and after three weeks we'd signed up for a rental property. The house was the hardest thing in that we have loads of stuff coming over from a big 4 bedroomed Australian house and British houses are much smaller. We persevered though and eventually found an beautiful old cottage just outside town with lovely views over hills, fields and a golf course. The village pub is about a 5 minute walk away We move in at weekend and just can't wait.
We've also been able to celebrate our daughter's 18th birthday and I'm now teaching her to drive It makes me so happy to be able to take her to college each morning - as she walks away, I just sit there in the car grinning, realising just how wonderful life is. It isn't big houses or sun or warm weather that make me happy, it's people and living life. Life in the UK is portrayed as being bad by the media here, but in reality it's nowhere near as bad as they try to make out and no different from anywhere else - good and bad everywhere. Before we came back, people told us of asylum seekers everywhere in our town and Poles taking over the building trade - we haven't seen one shred of evidence to support these claims.
Our social life has been renewed - it's great to get out with our mates again. Shopping is fantastic - the choice and quality of goods is just brilliant.
So to all of you who are on your way back, don't worry. Life in the UK is good. Very good. In fact wild horses wouldn't drag me back to Australia right now
We arrived early February to cold, snowy winter days, which was in sharp contrast to the 30+ Melbourne summer. To be honest though I haven't been bugged by the weather at all - there are far more important things in life than weather and anyway, spring is on the way.
It is wonderful for us just to be a family again - for those who don't know my story, our youngest daughter who was 17 at the time, only stayed in Australia for six weeks, leaving me distraught as we had to stay due to our eldest daughter being at university there. We stayed in Oz, hoping to make a go of things and hoping that our daughter may return, however our eldest daughter didn't really settle either, missed her friends and her sister and hubbys work was very sporadic and much lower paid than in the UK. Whereas in the UK we had fantastic holidays and a great lifestyle, in Australia, our finances were such that we had no choice but to return to England. Every month we had to dip into our savings to help pay the rent, which wasn't part of the plan.
Whilst we liked Australia, we didn't fall in love with it at all, however once the decision was made to return, removals and flights were booked, we actually started to feel a bit sad at leaving. After all, it was the end of our dream - 3 years of planning and hopes of a new life were coming to an end.
On our return, I expected people to be telling us "I told you so" etc., but they haven't. Most people are genuinely interested in our adventure and tell us that they wish they had the bottle to do something so exciting.
Since our return 4 weeks ago, hubby started work after one week and one phone call - it's great to be earning a decent wage again. We bought two cars and after three weeks we'd signed up for a rental property. The house was the hardest thing in that we have loads of stuff coming over from a big 4 bedroomed Australian house and British houses are much smaller. We persevered though and eventually found an beautiful old cottage just outside town with lovely views over hills, fields and a golf course. The village pub is about a 5 minute walk away
We move in at weekend and just can't wait.We've also been able to celebrate our daughter's 18th birthday and I'm now teaching her to drive
It makes me so happy to be able to take her to college each morning - as she walks away, I just sit there in the car grinning, realising just how wonderful life is. It isn't big houses or sun or warm weather that make me happy, it's people and living life. Life in the UK is portrayed as being bad by the media here, but in reality it's nowhere near as bad as they try to make out and no different from anywhere else - good and bad everywhere. Before we came back, people told us of asylum seekers everywhere in our town and Poles taking over the building trade - we haven't seen one shred of evidence to support these claims. Our social life has been renewed - it's great to get out with our mates again. Shopping is fantastic - the choice and quality of goods is just brilliant.
So to all of you who are on your way back, don't worry. Life in the UK is good. Very good. In fact wild horses wouldn't drag me back to Australia right now
Mar 7th 2007, 8:12 am
#11
Life is more than a dream
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Kings Moss, UK - it's a bit like Emmerdale
Posts: 1,389
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
Thanks everyone for the replies - I really just wanted to let you all know that life in the UK can be good so that those who are on their way back don't worry too much. Good luck to all of you returning and same to those who are still working on it
Undoubtedly there will be a few stresses along the way, finding houses, jobs, settling into new routines, wondering if you've done the right thing etc., but take each day as it comes and be patient and things do fall into place. I really couldn't be happier now.
Est I'm so sorry you are feeling bad - I went through exactly the same last year missing my daughter. We decided to look on living in Oz as a long working holiday and tried to experience everything we could from the place. We threw ourselves into doing all the touristy things at weekends, saw as many places as we could and told ourselves that we didn't have to stay forever if we didn't want to - that really got us through last year. Try to fill up the weekends as much as possible and visit somewhere different every week if you can. Now we're back, it's nice to look through photos of the places we visited - it's an experience.
We are from St Helens - we really didn't want to return to our home town - as it's not the nicest looking place in the world, but our youngest daughter is at college here until next year so we are so delighted to have found a place just outside the town - it's a place between two tiny villages, Crank & Kings Moss but is close enough to drive to town and just 10 minutes from our friends and family - lots of parties planned for the summer 
Undoubtedly there will be a few stresses along the way, finding houses, jobs, settling into new routines, wondering if you've done the right thing etc., but take each day as it comes and be patient and things do fall into place. I really couldn't be happier now.
oh - how I wish I was in your shoes back "home"
I am having such a rubbish week this week with the homesickness. Everyone said it would get easier - its actually geting worse. we both got a jobs, purchased a house, our furniture arrived and none of it has made me/us feel better. I feel so trapped now.
The weekends seem to be worse as during the week I have to put a brave face on for work - weekend I can be myself (very misrable at the moment) this is not good for either of us.
Any suggestions - I want to try and start enjoying my time here and grit my teeth and hope this time next year I will be "home"
Est x
I am having such a rubbish week this week with the homesickness.
Everyone said it would get easier - its actually geting worse. we both got a jobs, purchased a house, our furniture arrived and none of it has made me/us feel better. I feel so trapped now.The weekends seem to be worse as during the week I have to put a brave face on for work - weekend I can be myself (very misrable at the moment) this is not good for either of us.
Any suggestions - I want to try and start enjoying my time here and grit my teeth and hope this time next year I will be "home"
Est x
Mar 7th 2007, 4:00 pm
#12
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 2005
Location: Home and proud to be British
Posts: 1,035
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
Well done for your update, more than I have managed.
I am so pleased to hear that you are settling in well. Do you find that the days are flying past?
Please keep us updated after you have moved in. Did you have any problems finding a rental?
I am so pleased to hear that you are settling in well. Do you find that the days are flying past?
Please keep us updated after you have moved in. Did you have any problems finding a rental?
Mar 7th 2007, 5:35 pm
#13
Life is more than a dream
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Kings Moss, UK - it's a bit like Emmerdale
Posts: 1,389
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
I said to my daughter only this afternoon that there just aren't enough hours in the day or days in the week to fit everything in - and I'm not even working yet!!We didn't really have much of a problem with finding a rental - there are a few around but they all seemed too small as we have four adults now (girls are 18 and 21) so really we wanted at least 3 double bedrooms and two living rooms - we found most had two bedrooms and the standard box room and one living room. Luckily though we found the cottage just outside town which has everything we want, except it only has one bathroom and with three women in the house hubby is going to really suffer
We did find that many agencies wanted credit checks and work references - one even wanted a guarantor as we didn't have 3 months of employment! Most did say though that if we could put up 3 months advance rent that would be ok. The one we got though didn't even bother with references of any kind - just paid the one month rent and bond and that was it. As our stuff only arrives back mid April, I've just bought airbeds today
I'll keep you posted on how things go
Mar 7th 2007, 7:47 pm
#14
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 646
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
Thanks Louise for your post. I am glad things have gone well. Things take time but you seem to have fitted straight away which is great for you and your family.
We too are making plans to return and if we hadn't bought this darn house it would have been sooner rather than later, but that's life.Having said that I at least feel at peace with things and I am finding it easier.
My oh as already had offer of work so that's not a problem not that it ever was but it makes you feel better just knowing that it's there. All the best
We too are making plans to return and if we hadn't bought this darn house it would have been sooner rather than later, but that's life.Having said that I at least feel at peace with things and I am finding it easier.
My oh as already had offer of work so that's not a problem not that it ever was but it makes you feel better just knowing that it's there. All the best
Last edited by blowfly; Mar 7th 2007 at 7:49 pm. Reason: typing
Mar 8th 2007, 1:14 am
#15
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2005
Location: Tallebudgera
Posts: 607
Re: Back in the UK one month - update
We have been in Brisbane since 3 Jan, left uk on 19 November so had a nice long holiday in between. Although I knew 13 hours after leaving manchester and arriving in singapore we had done wrong.
I started work in CBD on 22 January, in a legal firm, not a very friendly office - I am used to having a right laugh at work - nothing like that here. Bought a house in Forest Lake (feel trapped now). Husband started work this Monday - he is working self employed from home for his old boss - designing on the computer.
I do have things to look forward to - mum and dad coming in 53 days, sister in law and hubby in June, in laws in august. Just not looking forward to the day I have to wave them off home as I would so like to go with them and we are planning on going home in October for a holiday.
Things I am missing loads, family and friends. Other sister in law is pregnant due in April, best friends gets married in July - gutted that I cannot be there for these two massive life changes. I did not appreciate my family and friends, I obviously love and care for them loads - but did realise literally how much - and feel so selfish that it took me moving around the other side of the bloody world to realise
I just feel like crying all the time, I have tears in my eyes now. What a wos and failure I feel. Wish we had never started this whole thing now.
Est x
I started work in CBD on 22 January, in a legal firm, not a very friendly office - I am used to having a right laugh at work - nothing like that here. Bought a house in Forest Lake (feel trapped now). Husband started work this Monday - he is working self employed from home for his old boss - designing on the computer.
I do have things to look forward to - mum and dad coming in 53 days, sister in law and hubby in June, in laws in august. Just not looking forward to the day I have to wave them off home as I would so like to go with them and we are planning on going home in October for a holiday.
Things I am missing loads, family and friends. Other sister in law is pregnant due in April, best friends gets married in July - gutted that I cannot be there for these two massive life changes. I did not appreciate my family and friends, I obviously love and care for them loads - but did realise literally how much - and feel so selfish that it took me moving around the other side of the bloody world to realise
I just feel like crying all the time, I have tears in my eyes now. What a wos and failure I feel. Wish we had never started this whole thing now.
Est x
I have been here now since last August and felt like you everyday nearly last year. Like you we bought a house and shipped our furniture except we went one step further and bought a business.
This year started off just as bad for the first two months. Hubby now has accepted I want to go home and we can put the business up for sale in sept and the same as the house to avoid capital gains. MY OH being on board has really changed my attitude now. If I feel bored I go to the beach or at least a walk on it. I am also starting an internet based business which is going to be .co.uk so at least I will hopefully have some money coming in to the UK account before we actually get back. Plus this is now keeping me busy and time seems to be passing quicker. Its a pity you are in Brisbane. If you fancy a trip down the goldie in the school hols PM me and we can have a fun day. PS I so took my family and friends for granted too and that is the part that makes me the most upset, that and selling the blooody house. aaaahhhh
anyway just try and make the most of the time you are still here, treat it like a long holiday
best of luck
Nicola
