Best decision ever!!
 

Hi Thought I would update you all. Flew home on Monday night with Emirates , fantastic flights, only half full so plenty of room to crash out for the children plus chocolate for them ....breakfast lunch and dinner!!

Arrived into Glasgow on a beautiful cold crisp sunny..yes sunny morning and felt FRESH air.....fantastic. One bag failed to arrive out of 7 so not bad and it was delivered last night.

Went for a 'making sure we don't fall asleep' walk along Troon beach, sun out, bright blue sky and a bit of snow on top of Goatfell looking over the sea to Arran.....postcard stuff. Even passed some families on the beach having picnics and making sandcastles,,,it's February!!(must have been Glaswegians!!)

Sat outside having a coffee listening to the fantastic scottish patter and so relieved by the warmth friendliness and humour. You do worry slightly that you put your rose tinted glasses on when not settling abroad but thank goodness it is what I expected and missed. The shops, TV and subtle advertising so refreshing compared to Perth.
Out golfing today with middle son walking around in his t-shirt just smiling..he hated the heat, So all I can say it just feels so right, I feel alive again, energetic and optimistic. The children are so happy to be home and so excited to be returning to school next week and have their social diaries filled,,oh to be young again!!

So for us so far the most fantastic decision and absolutely no regrets. feel far more settled as we have scratched the Oz itch and the icing on the cake will be when OH and dog return as well.

From a very happy returnee :thumbsup:

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

Thats fantastic you sound so happy!!! how long were you in perth for?

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

Brill, here's to many more happy years.:thumbsup:

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

Great to hear you are loving it. I know just what you are feeling . I felt it as soon as i landed there last August.

Best wishes to all of you

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

You sound soo happy to be back, one of the best feelings isnt it.
ENJOY

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

How long were you in Perth?
Just wondering how the kids are coping with change in education/system uk to oz to uk.
I have 4 children 5,8,11 and 13 so all at different stages in their education.
OH has possible job in Oz for two years,so have concerns about their education any advice would be appreciated.
Are your lot mid way through GCE'S??

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

Welcome home:thumbup: yes the first hit of cool fresh air on a frosty morning is so exhilarating after the heat of Perth that it kind of bring your senses back alive.
The weather for the last month has been glouries and the long range forecast is for a long warm summer after the hitch of last year:rofl:

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

Can I also ask for your advice?
We are considering emigrating to Oz, you'll know the place I live (Millport). Have an ideal life here, good jobs, good house, family and friends but just hate the drinkign and ned culture here. Also prefer the sunshine and amount of sports available in Oz (we spent time working and living in Oz while on a 12 month visa) and don't really want our kids growing up to be neds!
Can I ask why you returned? Was the grass not as green on the other side?
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

Hi

I'm no expert on Autralia but having been in Canada for the last couple of years my experience has to be worth something..

Ok sunshine is definitely in more supply in Australia, and Canada for that matter but in the words of Jeremy Clarkson " Sunshine and heat is great when you are on holiday but when you are at work you want it to be 57F and raining"

As the father of 2 kids, I know that much of the way your kids will turn out is down to you, it doesn't matter if you are in Montreal, Sydney or Glasgow, there will always be nasty elements for them to mix with.

I bet you can find just as many sports in the UK, as there are anywhere. Again it will come down to you being proactive, and getting into it.

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

Gildoc, I can only tell you from my experience,it is just as bad in certain areas in Oz as it is over here, plus I am a runner and I could not even go outside because of thr heat on most days off.

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

Sorry still can't work out multi quoting but thankyou to all for the supportive comments about returning..yes feel great. To answer a few questions for people our story is a bit of a long saga. My Oh is from Perth (met in scotland) and since meeting 17 years ago we have always spoken of moving to Australia to live. i worked for a year in melbourne when I was 20 and loved it. OH was offered a job in Perth last December 2006 when we were there on our umpteenth holiday (10+ month long holidays since we met). we decided to take the plunge before our eldest (10) went to secondary school.

OH went out April 07 we followed in June. I should mention as OP has we were leaving great friends, good jobs and good schools but the itch had always been there and we imagined a life as we had with the added bonus of year round good weather as we are sport daft. We had a lot of good friends in perth and of course lots of family.

Anyway to cut a long and rather emotional and gobsmacking story short I realised after about three weeks of living the day to day school life, mortgage, supermarkets, weekends etc that we had given up far more than we were gaining and it was so wrong. For us holidays were great but living very different. Very monocultural (if there is such a word), lack of diversity everyone seems to do the same things and a huge 'something' missing.

The schools (and they were the supposed top tier private) were not a patch on where they had been. The kids normally meet kindred spirits easily and although made friends seemed to be on different wavelengths particularly in the sense of humour and maturity departments! All their friends were all very nice and polite but seemed to be fairly serious and very driven and controlled by their parents..perhaps luck of the draw but a lot of child pampering compared to what we were used to. The actual education level was way below where our children were and although accelerated the style of education in WA did not stimulate them as they had been so used to fairly stimulating and progressive school work.

Sport, they did heaps before we left.. swimming rugby tennis hockey and lots of music. Basically the sport set up in WA ie a lot out of school clubs meant we were travelling here there and everywhere trying to get each of them to their various venues. Again another negative point for us as it actually restricted wha they did. Our youngest was unable to get music lessons as he went from going into P3 (scottish system) to grade 1...big difference so they felt he was way too young to concentrate for a music lesson ( he has just turned 7)

So we realised very quickly that no way would we want to live long term in Perth so rather than drag it out because that is what people say you should do we cut our losses and made plans for myself and kiddies to return.

Absolutely no regrets as it has always been an itch and looking back great experience but ...not to be repeated!!

I would so strongly advise to really carefully analyse why you are moving. It is fantastic for some but make sure it is the pull of Australia and what it has to offer rathjer than a push from the Uk. I saw worse anti social behaviour in perth and as much drinking (if not a bigger drink culture by everyone rather than just the teenage chavs).

No doubt some pro Perth BE barbites will have a go here but this has been our experience......our opinion and I am genuinely very pleased for those for whom it is a positive experience but it certainly was not what I expected.

Would bemore tha happy to provide more info or PM's if needed.

Best of luck in everyones decisions...that's the hardest part!

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

i spent last weekend at millport,i absolutely love millport,i returned from perth last october and one of the first places i headed was millport.
personally i would say if you are happy with your current situation,stay put.
i moved to perth for a better life for my family and i and realised my life was better in the uk.
i had visited oz on a few occasions over the years,but after settling down for a couple of years found myself bored shitless in perth.
it costs a lot of time, effort and MONEY to migrate,it's not always worth it.

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

I agree with fritz, one of the reasons I moved to Oz was for the weather....boy was that a mistake, to hot to do aything on my days off and I love running:mad:and when it rains it can last for days on end. I also found Perth mind numbing boring, so if you are going I would look at Brisbane or Melbourne or ask around the forum.

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

Those words should be emblazoned at the top of every BE Forum.

Re: Best decision ever!!
 

Hi lorids,

What a good post! ( except for the Glaswegians bit - that's me!! ) ;o)
I can understand what you didn't like about Oz - the constant in your face advertising and product placement especially. Drives me nuts. That guy Hughey the TV cook winds me up no end - HE'S TERRIBLE!!
Anyway, don't get me started on Oz TV.
I too am looking forwards to the subtleties of home,most of it genuine and heartwarming at best.
We will probobly settle in York when we return. I've been away from Scotland for about 10/11 years and as much as I love it,living there has never been "my bag".
But, my reasons for leaving oz sooner than we'd planned are based on us not being able to settle and being so unlucky since we got here. We too had so much more back in the Uk and here we have next to nothing-not even been able to buy a house. That is imortant to me ( perhaps not to everyone else ) and I think we'd have settled here better if we'd been able to afford somewhere here in the first year.Instead, we spent every weekend looking at houses and doing nothing else. It was so depressing,frustrating and made me feel really angry. We are now having to continue renting and our landlord is selling up so having to look elsewhere in a rental market which is at an all time low. It's a very uncertain and unsettling experience. Makes me think perhaps we were never meant to settle here????
We're looking at buying a place back home and letting it out until our return.I feel we are at last moving forwards and actually doing something - and it happens to not be here in Oz.
I am a great believer in fate and what feels right, and planning our big move back there in a year or so feels right and exciting and so far there have been no obstacles in our pathways unlike what we have experienced here.

*pearly*