jad n rich

Somebody on one of the fourms answered it perfectly some time ago,

"Australia is not as great as it thinks it is, and UK is not as bad as it thinks it is".

arkon

Excellent and sums it all up perfectly. So if the UK for you wasn't really that bad I think your more likely to not like it so much here. Whereas if you really genuinly didn't like living in the uk then this might well be your paradise.

Hutch

When you log onto this site, and it lists the country names, it shows the number of people viewing a particular section of the site. Typically speaking it'll show something like 140 people viewing Australia, 11 people viewing Canada, 30 people viewing USA, 10 viewing moving back to the UK. Why? Because the site mirrors the most popular destinations for UK migrants - Australia is an incredibly popular choice.

So whilst this site is called British Expats it could really be called British Expats for Australia - those seeking to move to, living in, or returning from Australia comprise more visitors to this site than pretty much all the other countries put together. So of course you're going to see more people talking about heading back from Australia. No doubt some of the more bitter users of this section of BE will call me an apologist for Australian immigration, but the facts speak plainly for themselves - if more than 50% of the users of this site are moving to, living in, or moving back from Australia, then more than 50% of the posts are going to be from people moving to, living in, or moving back from Australia.

Some of the reasons for return migration to the UK from Australia are familiar - homesickness (missing family, friends and the UK in general) seems to be far and away the most popular reason, but economic hardships, inability to find good employment, inability to integrate, breakdown of marriage, naivety about the Australian lifestyle and issues with children all seem to play their part. It also helps if you know some of the background behind the reasons for dissatisfaction with Australia - particularly in the case of a couple of the more prolific posters in this section of the site.

cdandi

I lived in Oz for 19 years and never settled. A million reasons why!!
I left and lived in New York for 7 years....loved it despite all of New Yorks problems.
I've just returned to Sydney for family reasons and the honeymoon is over. After 4 months I have the same critical feelings about the place and in particular the people. I just want to escape. Please get me out of this parochial, unfriendly, materialistic (yes even after NY) jealous society!

cdandi

Addendum:
By the way, I have no desire to return and live in the UK. I hate the climate and could never afford to live there now anyway. So my reasons for hating Oz is not homesickness.....I just think that the society over here in Sydney is sick!

NC Penguin

Interesting comment but IMHO the greater number of members reading the Oz forum may relate to the isolated feeling Brit expats in Oz feel plus the forum is providing a place to vent about the frustrations of living there. In general, I think you'll find that there are more Brits interested in moving/living in the US than Oz. The fact that BE carries three US immigration related newsgroups supports that belief.

I think the owners of the site may disagree with you. I may be mistaken but there was a USA forum on BE before there was an Australia forum. The Oz forum has flourished since it was created. Also, the Oz forum is so busy because more Brit expats are unhappy living in Oz than Brits living in the US and are venting and sharing experiences of life in Oz.

I am closing this thread because it's not quite appropriate for a forum named "Moving Back to the UK".



NC Penguin