Oaks

Why is it that everyone in the UK thinks that australia is this fantastic land of plenty.

We have decided to go home in january after 6 months here and the attitude fron people at home in the uk is really starting to annoy me.

Its alright for them in their familiar surrondings with all their friends and family around them telling us how lucky we are and how much of a opportunity we are missing.
We cant get them to realise that those 3 weeks they came for a holiday isnt the same as living here full time.

Sorry Rant over.

But I hope a few people can relate

brits1

Here, Here, just what I keep telling my dad...he thinks we are mad to consider leaving Aus after 9 years here (gulp) but he only comes on holiday (nearly every Christmas) gets spoilt rotten, taken to places we now only go to when family are here (as it cost's us an arm and a leg on the Aussie $ compaired to the British pound)...my dad had the chance to come and retire in Aus..but when it came down to it he did not come..why? because he goes dancing..swimming, on holiday's to the med a lot...watches the football...goes to shows...etc all in all my nearly 79 year old father has a way by far social life than we do (so does the rest of our family and friends at home)..they just come and see the weather, the touristy things etc..and think great....lovely,wonderful place...but after all these years not one of our family or friends have come to live here.....and they have the quals. etc....
I know why lots of people thing it must be wonderful to live here (and for some it is)we were home (in England) in August 07 and we saw many programmes about living in Aus and they did look wonderful...one episode showed an area in Perth W.A that looked wonderful (and it was one of the "bad" areas to live) and by the end of the programme I wanted to live there!!!!! some of these shows should be sued....I have always thought that you know if you are going to like living in Aus with in the first 6 to 12 months....and if you still don't like it go home....I wish we had done that now...but we did not and hopefully we will be home where we belong....and if anyone want to come out and live here then wonderful and if they think we are mad for going back home then tough...they have obviously not tried it!!!
It has never bothered me what people thought at home if we did go back....all in all our family want us back (except my dad to a certain degree...) but all I know after all this time here is that you have to be happy where you live, no matter the weather,homes,beaches etc....if it does not "do it for you" then home is where you belong....and it certainly does not "do it" for a whole lot of unhappy people out there...us included.

Take care and bestwishes with your homeward journey..you will not regret it I am sure...(wish it was us)
Jackie in Perth and it is still showery,sunny and damp.and is still just like my mood today..

Kath & Graham

Im fed up with the ones here saying "Why you going back" the look of shock horror on their faces, I nearly slapped someone the other day, she looked quite disgusted when I said I was going home, now if it was them it would be a different matter, why on earth do we have to keep explaining ourselves????grrrrr I am getting p....off with it, is like they are thinking "Oh my God how lucky are you to live in this wonderrful country???" Some of us have reasons why we are returning, I keep trying to explain myself, why God knows nobody listens Makes me laugh cos half of them go on to say how wonderful Europe etc etc is?? Doooh

Makes me laugh when they say "You see six months you'll be back" ?? Who do they think I am friggin Arni ???

Kath
Feeling positive and very happy to be going home

Eric Hitchmo

Totally. Trouble is everyone uses this phrase "lifestyle" without really defining what it means. The "lifetyle" in Australia is better. What they mean is the weather is better so therefore your whole life must be better. (Let's face it, if the weather was the same in Aus as the UK would anyone move there?). Like a lot of us you're probably finding that if you had good friends and a fairly comfortable lifestyle in the UK, then this means nothing. Good weather doesn't make up for being lonely and feeling like a misfit, and you can only spend so long sitting outside a cafe fooling yourself about how much better your life now is. I think the media here is partly to blame - especially those silly "get a new life" programs that portray life in Aus as one long beach holiday, and the newspapers which seem to have a mission to convince us all we all live in the worst country on the planet. As for comments from Australians about anyone who wants to back - just ignore them. They're not comfortable with anyone expressing a preference for the UK in any context whatsoever and can't deal with it. Just the way it is.

Good luck with whatever you do.

LouiseD

Completely agree with you all here.

Because of these stupid programmes and the silly British press, everyone thinks you are bonkers to return to the UK when you have been one of the "fortunate" ones to escape it. If only they knew the truth. It annoys me when people think they know better than you do about your life

To people who are thinking of returning home - don't listen to anyone except those who are involved in the move. Listen only to yourself and be confident of your own instincts. You are the one who lives your life, no-one else.

katesbackagain

It's not Oz, but funnily enough, not one of my family members has commented to me about how lucky I am to live in Florida. I think they must watch the weather channel during hurricane season!

The good thing about emigrating and then wanting to go home is that it not only solidifies your roots, but you can then tell people that you had the nerve to at least get off your arse and try it. I can't stand it when people think they know it all and haven't even left their home country for a holiday.

birdynumnum

Totally agree with you all. Louise you're so right its only you whose moving can know.
Eric too - that 'lifestyle' is seen as better in Oz too due to the weather and a few nice beaches, I can see why people get that idea though, especially with the negative media in the UK. Dont knw we're born here in UK - we isa lucky!
Everyone I know back home in UK though doesnt think Oz is better than UK, any who've been seem to think its kind of boring.
One great benefit of living abroad for awhile, if you do head back, is the way you appreciate the place all the more for having been away.
Good luck with the move back and dont worry what anyone else says, especially people who've never migrated or are in Oz.

katesbackagain

This is so true. I watched Three Men and a Little Lady the other day, and it has some countryside scenes in it, and it made me realize just how dull and flat it is where I live. Don't get me wrong, where I am is extremely clean, but there are no hills or anything. And the city has very warped priorities. Instead of creating adequate drainage on the roads, (anyone who lives in S. FL will know how quickly a brief afternoon shower will flood a street) or fix the pot-holes, they'll plant bloody trees on the median. :curse:

aussietobe

Weather does play a huge part in how people live... it is great to be able to get out and about without freezing or being drizzled on, I love being able to walk our dogs most nights of the week, my sons are often outdoors boating or playing cricket, they want to be outdoors, rather than being stuck inside a great deal because it is miserable out. I totally understand the pull of the Uk with friends and family there. Sometimes, I feel like no-one really "knows" me here in Perth (except my family) and you just crave being around people who know you inside and out. But, that is not Perth's fault, just the way it is when you move countries.

All the best with your move home, but don't bash Oz up too much or denigrate people who feel moving here might be th right thing for them, it really is horses for courses!

krizzy

I miss the English weather a lot of the time...its too hot and humid here in summer...too cold to go out walking in winter...but the fall can be lovely...sometime we bypass spring and go straight from snow to needing AC in a few days...

Scout

I love to 'educate' people who come into our Post Office that America is not the end all, beat all best place in the world to live. Everyone wants to know why in the world I would ever leave the States and move here to Wales.

I point out that Atlanta where I am from (and it's my home so I do love it)....has 4 million people.........it's hotter than hell on earth from May 1st until October 15th, the pollution in the summer sits on top of the city, shootings are common and crime is much more prevalent there. I tell them Atlanta is colder than Wales in the winter, traffic in Atlanta makes Cardiff traffic look like a joke, that you pay through the nose for health care, that in the States the elderly, the disabled, the single mums, etc, are not looked after nearly so well as here, that here there is a safety net if you get knocked off your feet for some reason. I also point out that they have cockroaches the size of golf balls and they can fly (they call them palmetto bugs but they are really just HUGE cockroaches)......that yes we have lovely huge gardens in the States, but from May 1st until October 15th you won't even go out into the garden because of the heat or god forbid the mosquitoes.

I do love the States, but I also love Wales. I love the people here, I love Cardiff City Centre, I love the hills and valleys of Wales and i love driving by sheep, cows, horses and hills that look like mountains to me whenever I go anywhere. Sometimes I feel like it's my mission in life to tel people that America is not what you see in a movie or telly show made in Hollywood.

TruBrit

this morning i was speaking to vodafone in the uk and during the conversation it came out i was in the usa..... they said 'oh, how wonderful' i replied 'why'.... they said 'oh america, i've been to disney and seen the holiday programmes'

Scout

They also want to know why have never been to Disney........especially when my brother lived for 10 years in Orlando. WTF? I alwys ask people back why they want to shell out so much money to holiday at Disney. See....I don't understand this way of thinking at all.

TruBrit

i can understand peeps wanting to visit other countries whilst on holiday but visiting and living are two completely different things

Elvira

At least if you go to Disney in Paris, you can then go and visit........... Paris!!!

I totally understand where you are coming from re. Cardiff. I went to Uni there and loved it. For such a comparatively small city it has such a lot of culture - theatres, concert hall, opera, art museum........ and the Welsh hills and the beach on its doorstep.

Plus it's only 3 hours from London.......... now London...... oops - better shut up before I get told to change the record