Well I do not regret for one minute moving back to the UK. Hubby had a job lined up which he has been in now for a month. I am still applying have had 3 interviews but so far no success however that will not put me off and I will keep trying.

We move into our house today it has taken 5 wks for the sale to go through. Luckily there was no chain so we are very pleased to be finally back into our own home. We got a mortgage through the HSBC not the best deal but they accepted all our Oz employment history whereas some wouldnt.

Not got the car on the road yet but should have by the end of next week. It has been in Derby getting the KPH changed to MPH and then can be put through its SVA test ready for registration.

Our stuff arrived in perfect condition thanks to OSS Worldwide.

I love being back. I have my life back I have people fighting over babysitting duties to give me my much missed nights out. I drove through York this morning dropping my hubby off at work and it is such a beautiful city with so much history and I felt happy to be back. The sun is shining with clear blue skies today and I just feel so happy to be back.

I find that clothes are cheaper than I remember here and food shopping is no more expensive than Oz. I love been able to buy bananas again at a reasonable price!!

It is great to catch up with family and friends and when I need a chat not have to think what time is it before I make the call.

I went to Mothercare the other day and I decided it was a good job I did not have my baby in the UK as I would have gone mad the choice here is unbelievable compared to Oz. Even in the supermarkets there is much more choice on baby products than I had in Oz.

Anyway I love been back and do not miss Oz at all and I do not feel bad about that. I will return for holidays when not sure But I do know we made the right decision. There is more to life than the beach, sun, large house and garden. We may be mortgaged to the hilt but we are happy. Regrets none what so ever glad we did it but glad we came home

Jo

I'm glad that you are happy, but I had the same view 2 years ago...now I want out of the UK again !!!

I guess the novelty wore off for me.....although I may think differently living in York...it's a very beautiful city.

I have to say that your reaction to being home mirrors mine. I've been back now for almost 8 weeks, and don't miss Sydney in the slightest. Not once have I thought 'I wish we hadn't come back'

That doesnt mean I didnt like living in Oz - on the contrary I liked it very much although it was my husbands decision to move there in the first place to give it a go. I had a very hard time deciding whether to come home or not, but in the end England won, and the decision was based on the fact that I missed my family and friends too much to continue living so far away from them. The nail in the coffin , although we'd already booked our return tickets at that point, was discovering I was pregnant with our first child.

I will never regret trying it - I always suspected it would be too much of a wrench, and after giving it 15 months, it turned out it that it was (for me, not hubby, he would have stayed), however it opened my eyes to the other opportunities that are out there.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got back - we've found an area where we'd like to settle and more importantly, can afford, the supermarkets are way better than in Sydney (price and size-wise) and you can get far better bargain clothing than I remember. I get so much more benefits workwise, (although I have to say travel costs are still extortionate) and the weather frankly is not that bad. Yes we have grotty days, but it still gets bl**dy hot here!

My husband has been very unselfish - he knew from the start I wasn't massively keen on going, but that I'd give it a try, and when I told him my final decision about returning, he went along with it in spite of his own feelings as he knew I'd never be as happy there.

All in all, I regret neither leaving in the first place, nor coming back. I could have stayed in Sydney quite easily, and just hoped that the constant 'anxious' feeling in my chest would eventually disappear. Now that I'm back in the vicinity of the other people I care about, and especially having their support with this pregnancy, that feeling has gone. My friends and our families have gone out of their way to help us, taking us into their homes whilst we look for accomodation, ferrying us about until we got a car, and so on. Just hope we can do something for them in return if they ever need it!

Can you tell me how you managed getting the car back? I was told in the week that the cost of the SVA could be thousands. I guess cos you were in Sydney for more than 12 months you had no duty or vat to pay - we'v only been gone 6 months and so I will get stung for that. And where did you take it to get the speedo done? I've been having trouble finding anyone to do mine. Thanks

What a lovely thread, very reassuring.

The SVA thing is just to scare people I'm sure...mine didn't cost that to come form the States and that had far more issues being LHD for a start and having Red indicators/Brake lights combo. I'd doubt you'd have to change a lot to get an Aussie vehicle through an SVA as it's pretty similar to a UK car anyway. Just check as it passes things like minimum front and side impact standards though. Last I heard it had gone to 12 months (and the car had to be rego'd and insured by you in the foreign country)....it was 6 months prior to that, but the Givt cottoned onto people storing them and shipping...so now you have to show you actually insured and used it or you are liable for vat & Excise...which is a real stinger...

That's exactly how I'm looking forward to feeling! Hopefully I will. I've been saying for a year that I just want my life back. Five days and to go..... :scared:

Lynniep, glad to hear you're enjoying being back home too. The extra support will mean so much when the baby comes along. We have been struggling with two kids here for the last year and a half with very rarely a night off.

We have a subaru Liberty which we have owned from new for 12 months. So far we had to pay out 55 pounds for a fog light, 150 for the sva test. 38 to register the car, 150 for road tax and the company we are using for the speedo is www.centralautologistics.co.uk they are still working on the conversion but got it through the SVA. We are waiting to discover the cost however they are not charging for the time it took to do the computer work to change ours over as they said no one in the UK has done a subaru liberty and therefore it will benefit them when someone else brings one in.

They also sent all the paperwork to the DVLA to get the car registered. We are picking the car up this weekend so I will tell you the total cost of getting the car on the road then

Jo

Thank you. I can not tell you how happy I am to be back and now we are in our own house it is the best feeling. The sun is shining again so it aint all bad in blighty. We got our tvs working through NTL and a dvd player in case anyone wondered if Oz tvs work here. Also the phone is working here too once we got an adaptor cost us 2.50

I did like living in Oz but I love living here. Got two nights out planned this week which I got one night out in a year once Erykah was born in Oz. Makes a huge difference having babysitters.

Jo

We never had to show we had insurance over there. We could prove we had the car from new and it was just over 12months when we shipped it though.

Jo

PS VOSA lost our C&E388 form which shows its a personal import and we needed this to get it through the registration. Customs do produce duplicates thank goodness. This did hold our process up. The car arrived 6th August and we should have it on the road by the 16th September.

I'm so glad to see people happy about being back in the UK....good luck for the future .......

Great post and so reassuring - we are considering leaving Oz and returning to the UK after just 10 months here and it's more daunting than moving out here was. It's great to know that you feel so positive and happy with your decision - wish you lots of luck. PS I can't wait to get back to Tesco's and Asda - Goodbye bloody Coles!!

Yes York is beautiful had we been coming back to most other cities (london, birmingham) I would have thought twice. Not that there is anything wrong with these cities just not for me.

I grow up in Bristol...I would think about moving back there because a lot of my family still live there...I moved away at 17...so a lot has changed since then...it would be like moving to a new place..but already knowing so many people....

Love York, it would probably be the place we would move to if we ever decided to go back!