to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

friends of ours have arrived in Oz this week to start their new lives, just reading on here that a lot of you have/are returning from down under and just wondered if you could sum up the main reasons for going back

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I would imagine, different reasons for different people.However at the end of the day I think it simply boils down to a sense of where you belong.We have lived here for 18 years.Been through some very bad times and good.Time helps.That old adage "it will heal with time".And it does but there is alway's;be it ever so slight, a yearning to be where you belong.Hope your in a good place and happy:)

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

thats mainly it for me, i want to be where i belong:) i want to be surrounded by accents like mine:), corny but true.

We did think our standard of living would be better here , but its not, so no point being here for us.

I worry endlessly about retiring and being ill, i want the security of the nhs and feel i have more chance of retiring at some point in the u.k, here i think i would have to work till i die.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

There could be a hundred and one reasons why people return from oz to the UK and from any other country for that matter. Some people may think some of the reasons are trivial, while to others these reasons are extremely important. Human nature I guess, we all will just have to agree to disagree when it comes to comparing living in our adopted countries or living in our own country.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

Probably because we think we can have better quality of life (greedy in a sense). But then reality hits and we realise all is not what it seems. We can choose to ignore it, or do something about it.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I just feel like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole. I don't belong here, I'm unhappy without my F&F around me and they are unhappy without us.

Nice weather and lovely views do not make up for the people in your life.:(

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me

The streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well, that's where I belong
And you belong with me

Oh what good is it to live
With nothing left to give
Forget but not forgive
Not loving all you see

Oh the streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well that's where I belong
And you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea

You belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea
Yeah, you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea

:cool:

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

Exactly!!!!!!!!!

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

Yup, it's that magic word - belonging. It may not dawn on you until 10 or even 20 years down the track but once the holiday is over you realize that this is forever and you just do not belong here. If someone had told me 20 years ago that I would be yearning for home the way I do now, I would have told them not to be stupid - Aus was just fine, good place to bring up kids etc etc - bottom line is that it is just another place to live your life and once the novelty wears off then you start to hanker for those things that make your life whole.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

It's wanting to belong, it's being jealous of your workmates who get to see their families regularly, it's being fedup of missing birthdays, weddings, funerals.

A good part of it is that Aus is just sooooo far away, it is so time consuming and exxy to get back for a visit that even once a year isn't achievable when you work fulltime. Plus with the jetlag you feel like crap for 2-3 days on either end of the trip.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

The terrible media and TV in Australia is enough to drive anyone away. The extremes in climate can be an annoyance too as are the Aussies themselves!

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

How long have you been here techieguy? Do know exactly what you mean!

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

and it's probably a numbers game - I mean there are such a LOT of people who emigrate to Oz, so it's natural that a percentage will return. Maybe just seems like a lot of people compared with other countries?

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I think that many people go there thinking that it's some kind of paradise - me included :o They get there and realise that you still have to work, still have to pay the bills and there still aren't enough hours in the day.

I was watching that stupid Wanted Down Under series yesterday and a butcher bloke and his family were emigrating because he worked long hours at his own business in the UK. Do they really think that people in Oz who have their own businesses work less hours?

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

Bloody hell Quoll, you have some serious holidays mate!!!!:rofl:

I knew within a couple of weeks that this wasn't right for me here. It's called gut reaction. You just know don't you?

But hey ho, 4 years down and I'm on my way home in exactly 32 days time. Oh heck....hyperventilating again........:eek::rofl:

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

The butcher and his wife are very good friends of mine. When he started work here for a very reputable butcher near the City he was working daft hours, worse than the UK to be honest. His quality of life was zero. He left his job and has just started training to be a police officer.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

Because when you get here....and start living the "so-called" dream...you realise that Life is Life wherever you are.

So as "Life" as it is....continues....you start to realise everything that you have given up, e.g family, friends, opportunities to travel to the rest of the world easily, good education, etc etc - well lets just say there's a gaping hole in your life.

All you do is just exchange one set of shortcomings for another set of shortcomings!

And what's worse....is that you have to live life as a "Pom" or as an "expat" i.e - you never really fit in or belong, so you always have a "label". You never escape the "so how long have you been here", "are you staying here", "so do you like living in Australia?" questions and you have to repeat the answers over and over. As said on another thread - I always make family the excuse when I tell people I'm going home, otherwise if you start saying what isn't so good here - you get another label - a "whingeing" pom.

And one other question I get when people find out we are renting is "oh...so haven't you decided where you are going to buy yet", I say that we decided not to buy because I realised I didn't want to live here! And the other person always looks surprised and gives a big "gasp" as if it is so really incredible that a Pom does not want to spend the rest of her life stuck out here.

At home we can do normal things like take kids to visit grandparents, walk to the corner shop with them for a treat, socialise with our friends who don't ask us why we are here, why we are renting, do we like it here etc - they take us as we are, and we can have a good old laugh at things with proper "humour".

Not only that, you obviously get the Poms here who have decided that is it for them, but you then have to listen to them running down the UK "in order for them to feel good" about the decision they have made!

Sorry - but it just isn't for me and never will be!

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

thats how i feel so home sick now esp after having a baby here plus ild agree with what others have said about belonging

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

Port Power and The Crows make me want to go home:D God it's sooo boring.

Seriously family/friends, nothing else matters.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

Thought Oz was great when we first got here but was alot younger then and I think things change and when you have a family yourself they miss out on cousins, grandparents etc and everyone is right beaches, pools in the backyard cant make up for having no family around. I am also sick of spending my holidays going back to visit and hate the 24 hr flight. I want to meet the family in the pub for sunday lunch and be able to spend some time with them before they are too old.

I know my oh would say he is sick of turning on the TV and all your hear about is AFL and NRL , we have been here long time, have always thought one day would like to go back but over the last couple of years the feeling has got stronger and we want to do it now before our son starts High school and wont want to go

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

[QUOTE=Mrs Best;6757268]
Not only that, you obviously get the Poms here who have decided that is it for them, but you then have to listen to them running down the UK "in order for them to feel good" about the decision they have made!


Ain't that the truth. There's nothing worse than having to listen to a pom constantly put down their country of birth, just to condone the decision they've made. :thumbdown:

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I think all in all people move to Aus to live what they think is their dream i.e sunshine, beaches, big house. Then when it happens they just realise those things just are not important without family and friends to share it with and things start to loose their appeal very quickly.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

You are right on... having a big house, fancy car and seeing nice bits of Australia is great at the beginning, but the novelty does wear off. You realise just how far Australia is from home. And I think I will never feel Australian. The more I live here, the more British I feel.

I have decided to go back after three years, and rather daftly only a year after we moved into our big fancy house that we had constructed (way too big to maintain btw). When I realised that we cannot afford to go back to UK and Europe even for a vacation for at least three years - I am at the point, I have to go back. I came here to be better off - not financially squeezed and marooned!

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

Nah, I'm just a slow learner:rofl:

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

a) If they dislike it they have just as much right to 'put down' the country as you do with regard Australia and b) Why does it necessarily follow that they only do so to 'condone' their decision?

Why can't it just be that they think the UK's shit? Opinions and arseholes - we all have them, remember?

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I have this same problem. I immigrated to Canada four years ago, with my Mum, Dad and sister, but two years down the line, I went back to visit relatives for six weeks, and I entered a state of depression upon leaving English soil. It took just over a month and a half for me to settle down again. I have just come back from another visit for seven weeks, and once again I feel myself loosing concentration already. I have to go to school in half hour!
I'd like to persuade my parents to move us back to England, but my dad won't seem to budge. I have told him how I feel and I am awaiting his reply later on.
When I'm in England, I feel rather safe, secure, and at home, I do not feel safe or at home here. I feel secure (A bit too secure perhaps!), and that's it. I'm not happy.
Problem is, we can afford to move back after we've sold our house here, but Dad does not like all the taxes, the congestion and all that. I think our hometown in Ware, Hertfordshire is a lovely place, Dad doesn't.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

experience of live.
So for some people its good to know where you belong to.
Better going back after several years, than missing the experience.
What could be mor boring looking back in the age of 75 and tell yourself: I missed so much, turn back the time.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

For me it was because Australia was not Britain with better weather, it was a different country with different ways of doing things to the way I was used to. I found myself complaining when the Aussies didn't do things the way I was used to.

However I did come back to Australia again, once I decided that I was actually looking for a "change", and I didn't just want Britain with sunshine.
Once I decided that I was the one that had to adapt to a new country, Australia, and not expect Australia to adapt to me, it became a great place to live.

Only about 70% of British migrants actually do stay in Australia for life, and it does make sense that a number do prefer to move on, whether to return to the UK or find pastures anew ?

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I do strongly disagree with that.

Once I did my "return home for good" trip, and then came back to Australia with a different attitude, I now do feel that I fit in.

That may not apply to everyone, but a lot of Brits do integrate into Australian life, and many do it quicker than I did.
I spent 10 years here before I decided to stop complaining that Australia was different to the UK, and after my trip "home", I accepted the fact that Australia IS different to the UK, and I came back, because I did actually prefer it to the UK. It did take me that trip though, to realise it.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I happen to know the people I'm talking about. Talk to them some other time and they're telling you about wonderful things they did and saw while in the UK on holiday. Mention your returning to the UK to live and you've opened up a whole different can of worms. Opinions and arseholes just about sums it up.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

Very true, some stink, some don't.:D

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I think you have to take the rough with the smooth. Nothing will go perfectly according to plan when you move abroad. I guess the main question is where do you feel most at home and happy. For some they move here and love it for others not so.

I do also think there is a slight anti-england feeling among a small minority Im not saying it's really bad but there is a slight them against us mentality amongst some Aussies.

I guess at the end of the day you can say you gave it a go rather then wondering what if.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

Where is your karma button gone, have you been a naughty boy?:p

Are they the couple from Luton C?

How old are you Hertford? I know Ware quite well and I also think it's nice.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

We met a couple from Ware and visited them. What a lovely village. Their house was a tiny terraced but cost 3 times more than the house we lived in oop North.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

yes they are, they now live in Quinns.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

Funny i saw that aswell. Man they how did they get all that stuff from their place in Luton over to Oz!

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I'm sixteen in two weeks time. I love Ware. I'm a trainspotter, and Ware has a branch line -> Main line link station. Perfect for me.
However, Dad thinks it's too crowded and too rough. I've tried to tell him that Ware is actually one of the safest places in the UK to live, as long as you aren't around late on a Friday or Saturday night when the pubs empty out. Ware is a little crowded, it really shows on Musley Hill. Only one lane of traffic can go up or down the hill at a time, drivers going down have to pull over to let traffic pass them to go up the hill.

Ware is a town. I love Ware, but it's expensive. A semi-detached three bedroom house is £225,000 in Ware.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I think the main reason , is Belonging,

We know and have met quite a few people that have lived here for over 20yrs +, but still say they would go back if it was not for the children now being australian,s etc. The children get their belonging for Australia, as the parents get their's for the memory's and gut feelings for what they had.

How people say they still won't to die in the country of there birth.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I think a lot of Brits come to Australia with very unrealistic expectations. They expect a sunnier version of the UK when in fact the culture is quite different. This means they don't always make much effort to adapt and integrate.

Another reason so many return is simply that so many go to Oz in the first place.

Re: to sum up...why do so many return from Oz ?
 

I would never and have never put Australia down in front of an Australian!!!!!

And to answer your second point - because they openly admit to slagging off the UK to make them selves feel better about their decision