Back in UK from Oz...
 

Well, we've been back in the UK for 4 weeks now. What did we find? Same problems here as when we left. Have spent literally hours in traffic jams, not just on the usual M25, but even on minor roads these days. England is totally snarled up.

House prices - it would be a joke if it wasn't so desperate. We're having to considering forking out over a quarter of a million quid for a house we hate - how's that for madness??? (As cash buyers, we thought we'd got one sorted but the mean bastards wouldn't drop £1,000 off the asking price).

Mind you, the weather has been fantastic, the people are great, and there are flights available all over Europe departing from our local airports (Southampton/Bournemouth) from as little as £8.99...

Hopefully we'll come through this nightmare in time, can't wait to get settled again, and despite the above, yep, I reckon the English beat the Australians (note people, not places) every time.

The Aussies are English. hehe

Re: Back in UK from Oz...
 

Welcome home Rosy, good luck in the house buying, I am sure once you have your own place again you will soon get settled, we did and have no regrets.

Susan:D

Great to hear from you Rosy. Glad you caught some of that warm weather, we're waiting for it to warm up in Perth, it's really cold and rainy here!!

Unfortunately the road congestion hits you right away, especially coming in to Heathrow. It's going to be hard to re-settle but I'm sure you will feel better once you have your own house. From what you've said house prices haven't fallen / stablised at all - surely they can't keep rising in SE England?!?! :confused:

Keep in touch. Good luck! :)

Re: Back in UK from Oz...
 

Glad to hear you're back safe and sound. Hope you get settled soon as possible. All the best for the future.

Hi!

Weather fantastic here - children still swimming in the sea most days and its nearly the end of September!!!

House prices have come down a bit around Southampton area - we have looked at several houses which were initially around the £280,000 mark, but have now been reduced to around £260,000 and also the houses seem to be staying on the market longer before they're sold.

Managed to pick up a reasonable one in the end, hopefully moving in around the 17th October - this one has also been reduced, firstly from £265,000 to £255,000 and we got it for £245,000, so hopefully the estate agents are right when they say its "stabilised" now, but who knows???

Got the children into a "Beacon" primary school 10 mins walk from the new house, which is excellent news, and son goes up to a brilliant high school next September, also 10 minutes walk away. Really pleased about that.

People here have been fantastic - makes me realise why I wanted to come back.

Still missing lots about Oz, but overall, very glad we made the move back here again despite the bloody traffic!!!

Hoping to book up a weekend away in Europe soon - they fly from as little as £8.99 one way from Southampton now - can't be bad!!!

Will keep you posted on future developments.

Welcome back rosy.
The traffic is hideous aint it, set to increase by 10% per year last time i looked!
Hope you settle back in soon:)

It must be a relief to know your children are in decent schools!

Thanks for the housing feedback, I just hope things stay stable until we get back next year. As you know house prices in Australia are still moving up so hopefully that should help.

We are planning a trip over to Sydney next January for Australia Day, how can they justifed $500 return each from Perth when you can get to Europe for £8.99!!!!

I do miss those great bargains and quality clothes, what I wouldn't give for a day in M&S to replace my undies!!!!!:D

All the best to you and family.

Hi Kath,

We loved Sydney when we visited there in May this year. Just wish we could have afforded to have lived there!!!

Just to rub it in, I`m sitting here in M&S undies, Next Jeans, and an M&S top - just couldn`t resist a little retail therapy to get me through what has been a nightmare experience trying to get settled back here in the UK!!!

Will keep you posted on the housing front if you like.

Hi Rosy,
We came to Oz in March this year, just as you were thinking about going back to the UK? I notice some of your postings on the site.
After much disscusion and thought we have decided that here is not the place we want to be and will be going back to the UK next year.
I just wondered what made you return (and how long were you here for) and did you give a sigh of relief to be back in the UK, regardless of the traffic!!?
Jane

Hi Jane,

Reasons for returning? Well, the main ones were: Poor quality of schools, unprofessional attitudes to business, government red tape, Queenslander mentality ("no worries" is all very well when you're on holiday, but when you're trying to run a business it's literally translated as "who gives a toss" which is so very frustrating, and thel general "who pays, wins" culture, which applies to almost everything in Oz - healthcare, education, etc. etc.

We were in Oz for around 17 months, but to be honest I realised after about 4 that it probably wasn't for me long term. I DID like a lot about the lifestyle - great weather (well in Spring, Autumn and Winter at any rate!), the space, lack of traffic, the cleanliness of places, etc. etc.

It was a very hard decision to return to the UK but we decided that as our eldest starts high school next year we had to move now if we were coming back. If it wasn't for the children, I think we'd have given it a couple more years.

to be perfectly honest I didn't breathe a huge sigh of relief when we returned here, I was quite depressed for some time, but now I am certain we did the right thing.

What are your reasons for wanting to return to the UK?

For all of you lads and lasses returning to the uk may I suggest that you look for houses around the Peterborough/Cambridge areas.....a lot cheaper than the SE and Electrified rail line gets you into London work areas in just over 1 hour.
If you are looking for something a little bigger then you really ought to try Lincolnshire, for example 3 bed detatched, 0.5acre gardens and village location can be had from around 150k.
Good luck to you all with your moving (either way) and try to remember be nice to each other :)

So Rossi what do you think would be a decent/average price around Cambridge?

If I move back with say 50K GBP for downpayment and a decent job and good credit what do you think I could afford?:)

I'm from London/Kent area but have lived briefly in the Cambridge area prior to moving to the States. I will be moving back as a single parent with 2 children.

Hi there
:beer: :beer: :beer:
bye from Snooze:zzz: :zzz: :zzz:

Hi Rosie

I read your reasons for returning with great interest. It's very similar for the resons that I will never live in the UK permanently.

I am originally British - moved to Sydney as a child and am back in the UK for 3 years as a 35 year old.

Things that struck me most when I got here were the lack of customer service, the extreme red tape (eg getting a National Insurance number). Despite the fact that I worked for a bank in Oz and was working for an Investment Bank in the UK, opening a bank account was just about impossible. I had to use my Oz credit cards for 1 year before I could get a credit card in the Uk!

The limited number of people I have come across who were still in secondary or tertiary education (people on work experience mainly) have made me wonder about UK Education standards.

Getting to see a doctor here is a challenge in itself - having to register and then wait for up to 2 weeks for an appointment. In Sydney all I had to do was walk in when ever I wanted.

The things I like about here are the freedom to travel. The posibility of being in Europe quickly and cheaply which isnt possible from Sydney is a godsend.

I definately wont stay in England. The mother country is too old fashioned.

Although reading your comments and mine, makes me wonder if both our experiences are just a case of settling in??


cheers

Again, another point of view

- getting an NI number should not be easy as it allows for free medical treatment and many other forms of benefit if obtained illegally it would add to cost to all.

- walking in an getting a doctors appointment is easy in Sydney if you pay - not much bulk billing left?

- education, over 60 million in UK but education standards still high in many areas, kids can leave school at 16 in the UK, in AUS they can leave at 15 after 6 years junior, 3 years plus a few months high, most is 6 years, in parts of the UK 6 years in junior, 5 in high. Depends on area but can be 7 in junior and 5 in high is normal can take 7 in senior.

- banking, agree with you in part it was a complete pain getting bank account details in a new country always will be, was shitty getting one in Aus without history. And the tighter they are the better for personal debt....AUS has one of the highest in the world per person

- income, you are possibly working here to raise money to go back to AUS? Actually most aussies who stay over the normal backpackers norm do - you make money here on high incomes and then go back with little long term contribution to the economy. Disregarding the fact you eanred income in a high revenue low tax system. UK is seen as one of the best earners areas in the European market for middle income.

- weigh up what people want and AUS is not great....for all.

Cheers

I lived in PNG until I was 21 and moved to Oz then, although I had been to boarding school in Sydney.

I remember getting my Tax file number in Australia. All I had to do was go into a post office with the appropriate documentation, fill in the forms, get the post office people to check it and that was it.

NI in the UK was a nightmare. I had to go to Social Security, spend 6 hours (despite having made an appointment) with people who were absolute dregs of society and and probably never held a job their life. I was made to fill in a form, told to wait, finally got called up and watched while some fellow copied the form that I had filled in onto a an official form. I am yet to work out what the point of that was!

Bulk Billing is available in the City, Burwood, Ashfield, Neutral Bay, Penrith to name a only few that I know of... actually I think I only paid to see a doctor once and then I claimed most of it back thru medicare.

Banking in Oz was a matter of putting together "100 points" of identification of which a passport was about 60 and a driving license 40 (might not be totally correct on points but you get the idea). In the UK, I had all the ID, was registered to vote, had letters from my Aussie Bank, had references from the Investment Bank I worked for in Australia and also had a signed contract with an Investment Bank in the UK... I still couldnt get a bank account! Infact I had one bank who opened an account for me and then told me a few weeks later that they shouldnt have opened it, it was done in error and that they would have to close it!

Income wise, I earn similar to what I would in Oz. I'm not here for the money - about 6 months after I got here I was offered a job in Sydney on more money than what I am on in London. I'm also not a backpacker - bit old for that. I came over because of family reasons and will be here for 3 years. I get trips back to Oz every 6 months and I am away in Europe every couple of weeks so life isnt too bad.

I do agree though - it definately is different strokes for different folks!!

Re: Back in UK from Oz...
 

Going back through some old posts and wondering if you have an update of how you are getting along, would love to know.

Cheers
Merlot :)

Re: Back in UK from Oz...
 

Hi,

We're getting back into the swing of things again slowly. It really has taken so much longer than I thought to get up and running again here.

The children are truly settled in their school, catching up well, although they did find it quite hard when they first came back - it really is much harder work at primary age here than in Oz.

It's pretty depressing here in a lot of respects (same reasons we were depressed enough to try Australia), and I must admit I often think back to those lovely sunny days spent in our huge garden with beautiful pool in Brisbane and for a few seconds question my sanity in coming back to the UK, but they really are fleeting moments, and when I come to my senses again I think of all the wonderful conversations and laughs I've had since we came back, how much more "alive" the English are compared to those spaced-out Queenslanders, how great it is to watch/listen to some top quality TV/radio programmes (probably get slated for that by some, but compared to Oz media, the UK is world class), how friendly and GENUINELY helpful most people are here, and I realise I made the right move.

Watching the current C4 series about families moving to Australia the one theme which keeps recurring is that whilst Australia is a fantastic country for weather, space and beaches (and the type of lifestyle those elements bring with them) the biggest problem is the cultural differences between the English and the Australians. They may look the same, speak the same language, but they are worlds apart, and if you really don't feel you can ever become part of that world, you might just as well book your plane tickets home....

Currently looking into buying a home in France which we could do up over time and move into when the children leave school... Best of both worlds then - the space and beauty of France with the convenience of popping back to the UK to keep in touch with all our friends and family.

Re: Back in UK from Oz...
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rosy


the biggest problem is the cultural differences between the English and the Australians. They may look the same, speak the same language, but they are worlds apart, and if you really don't feel you can ever become part of that world, you might just as well book your plane tickets home....

Hi Rosy

Thank you so much for your update.

You have hit the nail on the head with regards to the differences with people raised in the UK and Australia. It is a tough one.

I have some wonderful Aussie friends but find in general there is a gulf which is hard to fill. I have said in previous posts to people coming to Oz, don't come here trying to change the Australian's, to survive you just have to fit in to their ways.

As you said, if you can't do this get your ticket back as it is a lonely old road. It is not all sunshine, sea and happiness.

Good luck with the house in France.

Kind regards
Merlot