Hit here

Husband, little one and I have been in Bris now for 2 years and we have decided to go 'home' by no means do we hate it here. In fact our lifestyles have been great. Husband work is fine if and I have and little one have been doing well also. However, for some reason I just want to go back to UK (husband too he thinks) whenever i think longterm about life in Aus I just can't see myself here. The notices are in and we leave in November. I thought I would feel a huge relief and excited to go back to UK but I don't i'm scared and confused and my husband seems really down. Is it just normal to have these feelings before you leave and is it just best to fight through them? I really do feel like I could live in two places and I'm feeling torn. I can't wait to friends and family though and I just think my head is in Aus and my heart is in the UK. Plus littleone can get to know grandparents again -my head is spinning

hugs
know exactly how you feel we have been here a year in NZ and are hopefully heading back in Jan with no jobs etc and lost thousnads of pounds but it has taken this move to realise what we had was good and worth living in another culture it has made me more tolerant towards differnet cultures and more understanding having now been a foriegner!
We are under no illusions of life being any differnet with family as we could live on the moon for all they care! is it worth trying a different area in the UK perhaps?

I'm sure it is normal...the question I often ask myself about any place we are posted to, is 'if OH were no longer here...would I stay here with the kids on my own - money not being an issue since he is well-insured lol' the answer is always a resounding 'no, I'd return to UK like a shot' ...so that proves to me just like you that my heart is in the UK.
I like NZ, I am happy here, I have settled to some extent but I just know I could never live here for keeps..it is too far from other places and people I love.

I think any move abroad is scary, whether you are emigrating or repatriating. We are scared of the unknown, scared of making a mistake, scared if we stay, scared if we go. It's only natural to second guess ourselves. Just remember why you made the decision in the first place, and in the meantime enjoy your last few weeks in Australia safe in the knowledge that you will soon be in the place that your heart strings are pulling you toward.

Try and write down on a piece of paper, a list of the reasons why you wanted to move, and a list of why you might want to go home/things you are missing.

Then pick out the important ones.

Maybe if you've got it down on paper, in front of you, it might make things easier. It sounds like you've got lots of thoughts going through your head at the moment.

Have you and your husband talked about how you're feeling? Is it definitely a one way trip? Could you go for a holiday?
It's tough when you have young children - I understand the desire for them to know they're grandparents. It was a big factor in our decision to go back instead of moving from Perth to Melbourne a few years ago.
It took me a very long time to settle back in to my life in the uk - I kept comparing it with our life in Perth, but it did happen eventually and I was happy. My children loved it.
I can completely identify with how you're feeling. Do you think the feelings might be because you thought coming here was forever? That could be why you feel a bit wobbly now.
I don't know if it's normal to be this way, but it's definitely how I was and it did work eventually!
That said, we're in Sydney now - I love it, but my family don't. Here we go again....
Good luck!

I found it hard to settle in the UK when we returned, it was so different and even though I had a lot of family it was too different, got used to it though and then after a couple of years we moved back to Aus and had to do it all again, its not the place its the familiarity that is missing I believe.

We know quite a few pingpong poms and its amazing they go back and the family make a fuss and the friends make a fuss then after a while the family slip back to their life, the friends slip back to theirs and what happens they come back here.

Happy people do not post. I post because I hope that I can help people and now I am retired I have the time, but before retirement I would not have had the time at all for forums.

Good luck on returning sometimes people keep looking and never find.

Australia or the Uk are as exciting as we make them.

I think your feelings are normal, you made the decision to move to Bris, and that has not worked out as well as you had hoped. Now you are thinking of making another move, of course you are going to be a bit wobbily. The idea of writing things down, pro and con is a good idea, and if your husband was not there, would you stay?

Doing these sort of things gives you a prospective on these things. I leave in 6 days and I am still having those kind of thoughts but I know that after these many years the yearning will not go a way. Good luck with whatever decision you make

Emigrating and repatriating can be an extremely stressful experience (and believe me, doing it multiple times, it seems to get more stressful every time!)

What you are going through is normal, but without twisting yourself in knots unnecessarily, I'd agree with a previous suggestion to sit down with your spouse (maybe even hire a professional counsellor or mediator) to discuss whether this is really what you want to do, and identiify the sources of your stress.

Good luck - I sympathise completely.

I feel much the same as you regarding the possibility of returning to the UK. I don't like the idea of being in Aus forever, as it were, and would like to think I will have some extended time in the UK again at some point. Which would mean moving back. Which means the whole upheaval thing which with 2 kids is daunting. I don't want to be the bad guy a second time. When we left the UK I felt terrible for leaving my family, especially my mother, and if we go back I will feel like a b****** for dragging my wife and kids back and away from my wife's parents and family here.

If I was single or even if we were childless I would find it easier to just say ''f*** this, I wanna go home now''. But having kids (and a business also!) makes it a lot more complex.

It gets me down a lot actually.

The feelings are absolutely normal, we even considered changing our minds a few days before. However I'm glad we didn't because it's great being back!