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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Exactly!!!!!!!!!

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.

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.

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!

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

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?

I think that many people go there thinking that it's some kind of paradise - me included 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?

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

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........