Hello folks,

Just wondering how you are all getting on with your escape plans from wherever you are back to the UK, would love to hear your stories.

My wife's first wage in her new job came in, so we sat down and worked out how much we could save & how long it would take to reach our target for leaving Oz/landing in the UK.

6 MONTHS! . (It's a whole lot better than I thought)

I transferred some money across to the UK account online today, and I can't tell you how good it felt clicking confirm on the transfer.

Lots of karma goes out to those who are stuck far away from home and don't want to be.

How long have you being in oz and whats made you decide to go home?

We left Manchester on 19 November and had a littkle holiday first. We landed in brisbane on 3 January. I dream about going home every minute of the day.

For me/us its the friends and family thing, I knew we would miss them but I was being far too tough and thought I would be ok only seeing them once or twice a year. I really didnt appreciate what good family and friends I had.

I have found alot out about myself these last couple of months and realised I am a complete wimp - I have cried every day since leaving.

I hated missing Christmas - its was very lonely on our own - we ended up in Starbucks at Glenelg beach (Adelaide) on Christmas day and it was bloody freezing.

I have missed out on kissing and cuddling my nephew who was born on Monday and I terribly miss my 5 year old niece.

This was our dream and all we had talked and thought about for a year before we arrived. Could not wait to get our visa.

We didnt leave the uk saying we would never come back - we said we would TRY it and it we didnt settle we would come HOME and thats what we are doing. Only we wont be heading home until end of this year maybe even begining of next - the sooner the better

Take care - It must be a great feeling knowing you are going home and having a time plan in place

Est x

Just once would've done Est!

PS - I kow exactly how you feel, it sounds like your situation was pretty much the same as ours, we seriously underestimated the importance of being close to our friends and family.

Est, you're repeating yourself

I had the same problem on another thread, thought it was my pc

My PC went abit dolally earlier, had to delete my messages too as they were repeated

I think it was just this forum as my session also started to run very slow, seems like its back to normal now though thankfully.

I blame it on living in WA

and mine thought it was me too!! hehe

How long have you been in Oz if you dont mind me asking?

Am I the only one buggering off at the 6 months mark? I still have minutely doubts as to whether we're doing the right thing or not! Half of me actually wishes we had never wanted to do this in the first place (migrate to Oz), it would've been a whole lot easier if we were the kind of people who would never dream of leaving home, those people dont know how lucky they really are! They're the sane ones!! lol

Been here a year last week. And don't worry mate, I would have been back at the 6 month mark myself if I could have.

I moved because my Aussie wife who had lived in Scotland for 10 years wanted to live in Australia for 5 years before going back to settle in Scotland. I didn't fancy it, then did, then didn't, but came here for her anyway. I had been around Oz with her on a 1 year backpacking trip a few years ago, so knew what to expect in a lot of areas.

She now sees how miserable it can make me feel being away from Scotland/UK and she doesn't want to do that to me, she also doesn't want me to be a "half & halfer" like her, not fully fitting in anywhere.

Some people get confused & think Australia is "better" country than the UK, it isn't, it is on a par with it.

To me, I equate living in Australia to betting on a "safe horse" with low odds. If you don't like risks, then Oz is for you. It's safe.

But if you want higher returns & are willing to risk it then the UK might be your "horse".

Well put, going off that analogy I'm definitely a UK man, I mean whenever I go to the races I always back the outsiders, thats usually why I win sod all though!!

From someone who has tried to make a go of it here for three years, I wish we had never come. Funnily enough I wish I had never been born here (bit drastic!) or that OH had been refused his permanent visa and then we would never have got into this debacle at all! We are broke now after coming here with a handsome sum from the equity of the sale of our UK house. Three years of time wasted and money drained. If I could turn back time I would have gone back to the UK at 6 months... but hindsight is great isn't it!

Set yourself a time limit and then when you reach it and you still are not happy here then go back. Then at least you can say 'well we reached the time limit so therefore we gave it the 'go' that we felt was sufficient' Then noone can tell you that you didn't give it a go. If that is 6 months or 1 year it doesn't matter as it is your time limit.

Personally my time limit should have been the point where we were starting to dip into the money we vowed not to touch and I was told by a teaching agency that because there were no teaching jobs I was fortunate because my teaching qualification meant that I could work in day care centres on minimum wage cleaning the toilets and mopping the floor. Should have just packed our stuff and used what would have been a fraction of our money that we had left at that time to get back to the UK.

The point of all this is your gut instincts are the ones to go by and if you ignore them you could end up trying hard at something that you are not going to be happy with eventually. We are also going back in 6 months so we are ecstatic!!

Sounds like you've had it tough, good luck with it all anyway.

Its nice to know there are so many people all going through similar times and all looking forward to being back in the UK so much.

I'm on Sky News UK website watching live news now, anything for a piece of home!!

oh well done you, six months will fly by...

I read your thoughts with interest............we have been here for a yr now and are heading back end of july, and we are always being told that two years is the magic time!! and we should stick with it!

we cant stick with it for many reasons, money being one of them, but have never felt happy here, been ok at times at the beginning, but never happy, or at peace, i think that says alot, and when i here friends say they feel happy and the lifstyle is great i just dont get it!! i think personally this speaks volumes and we are doing the right thing for us! even if i do have wobbly days!

goodluck with you move and the plans, im amongst loads of lists as we spk!!

The 2 year thing is a pile of pants. Ususally spouted by fellow British expats who are members of "The Cult".

What? you actually like the UK? Surely not!