Valespark is leaving the Country
Nov 17th 2008, 9:36 pm
#1
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 0
Valespark is leaving the Country
Next Monday I will get on the plane the start the 24 hour journey home.
As I will be loosing internet access on Thursday, I thought I would announce my departure now, and recap my time.
Melbourne well, we will have been together for 364 days when I leave, and I go back to the UK with a mix of emotions.
The most important aspect will be, to be reunited with my wife and daughter who returned to the UK in June, its been a long time, and no amount of phone calls etc, can make up for the time apart. We took this decision, based on a gamble, which hasn't payed off........ but who knew the credit crunch would hit so hard.
Anyway, back to the beginning, we arrived late one evening and were picked up by a pre-arranged car to be taken to our accomodation in Williamstown. The house was great, and located one street back from the waterfront and all the restaurants.
Within 3 days I had to start work, as I had been able to transfer from the UK, so a
for keeping the money rolling in, but a 
as it meant we were committed to a commutable location of the office (and it wasn't on the side of town we had been thinking of).
Having collected a company car, and having had Ruth's car delivered (we had already bought it over the internet fom UK), we started to drive around and try to get our bearings.
Melbourne.... "didn't look that far on the map"
Possible areas are quickly discounted as the roads and driving are shocking, plus the speed limit is driving me nuts.
The girls settle into enjoying the local area and I start the daily work routine. Work is ok, people are nice, and no nasty surprises.
Christmas is looming and the pressure to find somewhere to live is mounting. The current house is $1500 per week, so can't afford to stay for long, but other rentals in Williamstown are either shacks, or outside of the main area, which defeats the benefit of living there.
Schools are being a pain, as the local schools are strictly zoned, so no permanent address or lease papers, no school.
Having given up on Williamstown, we start to look into other areas, and eventually take a house on Sanctuary Lakes in Point Cook. The house is relatively new, with appliances and clean, so considering all the others we had seen, we took it.
Its now about 5 days to Christmas, so we decide to stay in Williamstown until the new year, so at least we can have a nice cosy Christmas, as our stuff still hasn't arrived.
Christmas day is very odd
The lack of family really hits me, as we normally have my folks and Ruth's brother over for Christmas dinner. Decide to go all Aussie and head to the beach in the afternoon, which Jasmin loved.
New Years eve was spent watching the (early) fireworks from Williamstown with about 1000 other people, great atmosphere
later we go over to my bosses house to see in the New Year.
During the last few days in Willy, the girls do alot of tourist things and really start to enjoy life and what the city has to offer.
Early January we move into Sanctuary lakes. Still no furniture, so buy some blow-up beds, plus some basics that we knew weren't in the container.
Wake up after 1st night on blow-up bed, drive to bed store and buy proper bed.:curse:
After about another week the furniture arrives. This should have been a real lift, but somehow felt all wrong. Maybe it took away the last bit of "holiday" mode.
Ruth and Jasmin set about sorting out a school for Jas, as she has now been out of school for about 10 weeks, and is missing both the company of other children and the learning structure.
Jasmin is accepted to local primary school. Tell people at work that Jasmin will be going to *** & *** school, Reaction 
Don't do it, its rubbish. I admit we were concerned by the size (1100) pupils, as Jasmin's last school was only 250. We are recommended another school, so some swift phone calls and Jasmin has a place.
School starts, and all seems to be going well.
We continue to learn about our new area, spending time on the great ocean road, going to the Koala sanctuary, zoo, and all the usual sights. I treat myself to a trip to the Grand Prix (Go Lewis!)
As the weeks and months pass, the routine becomes established, we start to look at houses to buy and Ruth starts to work at Jasmin's school.
Somewhere along the line, cant quite remember when, but the absence of family and friends really kicks in. School is becoming an issue, as Jasmin is well ahead of the others in the class and this indicates (in our opinion) the low level of education in the early years. Jasmin was in the middle of her class in the UK, so to see this difference to her new class is quite shocking. Ruth is working on reading recovery, as around 25% of the class cannot read well.
Me and Ruth have a number of conversations about how we can solve some of these issues. Whilst we like Melbourne, we have not fallen in love with it. We could have tried another city / area, but TBH, I didn't think that was fair to Jasmin to keep moving schools and areas, searching for something, when by leaving the UK, we had realised the something we were searching for was back home.
So having decided to return, the how and when debate starts. In reality it was easy. I wanted Ruth and Jasmin to be back where they would be happiest, and having decided to leave, the sooner we could get Jasmin back into a UK school, the better.
Ruth and Jasmin, left at the start of June, so Jasmin could have 5 weeks at school before the summer break. We hoped that by doing this, it would prevent the "starting a new school" fear building. It did, and Jasmin established herself very quickly into her new UK school.
We purposefully choose not to return to exactly the same life as before, as part of the reason to move was to do something new, and hence I didn't want to drop exactly back into the same area. We are only about 5 miles from where lived before, so knew which school we wanted. The new UK school were great, lots of emails back and forth, but no issues regarding addresses etc.
Ruth and Jasmin took up temporary accomodation at Ruth's brothers, and Ruth's new car arrived a couple of days after she arrived in UK (again bought over the internet).
I returned in July for 2 weeks, by which time Ruth had secured a rental house, using my employment here.
I continued to rent the house in Sanctuary Lakes, and sent all but a few items back to the Uk in July. I now had a bed, kettle and toaster, plus a borrowed TV, to last me until November.
On my return to Australia, I continued talking to work regarding a transfer back to the UK, all looked promising, until the crunch.
As September arrived, it became apparent that a transfer was unlikely. The company was shedding staff all over Europe, however the Australians did offer me a promotion, in New Zealand!
Work have been good and have agreed to pay various bonuses and Long Service Leave, so shouldn't moan too much.
So now, after 128 days away from Ruth and Jasmin, with 6 days to go, I am now sitting in a motel, having handed back the keys to the rental house today.
Has it been worth it? Yes. I wanted to come for the last 20 years, and my family supported me in that dream. Now we start the next stage of our lives in the UK, refreshed and remindered of what is important to us.
Good luck to you all.
Pete
(Hoping he can get a job real soon
)
As I will be loosing internet access on Thursday, I thought I would announce my departure now, and recap my time.
Melbourne well, we will have been together for 364 days when I leave, and I go back to the UK with a mix of emotions.
The most important aspect will be, to be reunited with my wife and daughter who returned to the UK in June, its been a long time, and no amount of phone calls etc, can make up for the time apart. We took this decision, based on a gamble, which hasn't payed off........ but who knew the credit crunch would hit so hard.
Anyway, back to the beginning, we arrived late one evening and were picked up by a pre-arranged car to be taken to our accomodation in Williamstown. The house was great, and located one street back from the waterfront and all the restaurants.
Within 3 days I had to start work, as I had been able to transfer from the UK, so a
for keeping the money rolling in, but a as it meant we were committed to a commutable location of the office (and it wasn't on the side of town we had been thinking of).Having collected a company car, and having had Ruth's car delivered (we had already bought it over the internet fom UK), we started to drive around and try to get our bearings.
Melbourne.... "didn't look that far on the map"
Possible areas are quickly discounted as the roads and driving are shocking, plus the speed limit is driving me nuts.The girls settle into enjoying the local area and I start the daily work routine. Work is ok, people are nice, and no nasty surprises.
Christmas is looming and the pressure to find somewhere to live is mounting. The current house is $1500 per week, so can't afford to stay for long, but other rentals in Williamstown are either shacks, or outside of the main area, which defeats the benefit of living there.
Schools are being a pain, as the local schools are strictly zoned, so no permanent address or lease papers, no school.
Having given up on Williamstown, we start to look into other areas, and eventually take a house on Sanctuary Lakes in Point Cook. The house is relatively new, with appliances and clean, so considering all the others we had seen, we took it.
Its now about 5 days to Christmas, so we decide to stay in Williamstown until the new year, so at least we can have a nice cosy Christmas, as our stuff still hasn't arrived.
Christmas day is very odd
The lack of family really hits me, as we normally have my folks and Ruth's brother over for Christmas dinner. Decide to go all Aussie and head to the beach in the afternoon, which Jasmin loved.New Years eve was spent watching the (early) fireworks from Williamstown with about 1000 other people, great atmosphere
later we go over to my bosses house to see in the New Year.During the last few days in Willy, the girls do alot of tourist things and really start to enjoy life and what the city has to offer.
Early January we move into Sanctuary lakes. Still no furniture, so buy some blow-up beds, plus some basics that we knew weren't in the container.
Wake up after 1st night on blow-up bed, drive to bed store and buy proper bed.:curse:
After about another week the furniture arrives. This should have been a real lift, but somehow felt all wrong. Maybe it took away the last bit of "holiday" mode.
Ruth and Jasmin set about sorting out a school for Jas, as she has now been out of school for about 10 weeks, and is missing both the company of other children and the learning structure.
Jasmin is accepted to local primary school.
Tell people at work that Jasmin will be going to *** & *** school, Reaction Don't do it, its rubbish. I admit we were concerned by the size (1100) pupils, as Jasmin's last school was only 250. We are recommended another school, so some swift phone calls and Jasmin has a place.School starts, and all seems to be going well.
We continue to learn about our new area, spending time on the great ocean road, going to the Koala sanctuary, zoo, and all the usual sights. I treat myself to a trip to the Grand Prix (Go Lewis!)
As the weeks and months pass, the routine becomes established, we start to look at houses to buy and Ruth starts to work at Jasmin's school.
Somewhere along the line, cant quite remember when, but the absence of family and friends really kicks in. School is becoming an issue, as Jasmin is well ahead of the others in the class and this indicates (in our opinion) the low level of education in the early years. Jasmin was in the middle of her class in the UK, so to see this difference to her new class is quite shocking. Ruth is working on reading recovery, as around 25% of the class cannot read well.
Me and Ruth have a number of conversations about how we can solve some of these issues. Whilst we like Melbourne, we have not fallen in love with it. We could have tried another city / area, but TBH, I didn't think that was fair to Jasmin to keep moving schools and areas, searching for something, when by leaving the UK, we had realised the something we were searching for was back home.
So having decided to return, the how and when debate starts. In reality it was easy. I wanted Ruth and Jasmin to be back where they would be happiest, and having decided to leave, the sooner we could get Jasmin back into a UK school, the better.
Ruth and Jasmin, left at the start of June, so Jasmin could have 5 weeks at school before the summer break. We hoped that by doing this, it would prevent the "starting a new school" fear building. It did, and Jasmin established herself very quickly into her new UK school.
We purposefully choose not to return to exactly the same life as before, as part of the reason to move was to do something new, and hence I didn't want to drop exactly back into the same area. We are only about 5 miles from where lived before, so knew which school we wanted. The new UK school were great, lots of emails back and forth, but no issues regarding addresses etc.
Ruth and Jasmin took up temporary accomodation at Ruth's brothers, and Ruth's new car arrived a couple of days after she arrived in UK (again bought over the internet).
I returned in July for 2 weeks, by which time Ruth had secured a rental house, using my employment here.
I continued to rent the house in Sanctuary Lakes, and sent all but a few items back to the Uk in July. I now had a bed, kettle and toaster, plus a borrowed TV, to last me until November.
On my return to Australia, I continued talking to work regarding a transfer back to the UK, all looked promising, until the crunch.
As September arrived, it became apparent that a transfer was unlikely. The company was shedding staff all over Europe, however the Australians did offer me a promotion, in New Zealand!
Work have been good and have agreed to pay various bonuses and Long Service Leave, so shouldn't moan too much.
So now, after 128 days away from Ruth and Jasmin, with 6 days to go, I am now sitting in a motel, having handed back the keys to the rental house today.
Has it been worth it? Yes. I wanted to come for the last 20 years, and my family supported me in that dream. Now we start the next stage of our lives in the UK, refreshed and remindered of what is important to us.
Good luck to you all.
Pete
(Hoping he can get a job real soon
)
Nov 17th 2008, 10:13 pm
#2
I don't give a damn
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: In the arms of my family. Heaven...
Posts: 4,980
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
I wish you all the very best my friend.
As you know I was separated form my OH when I tried to get sorted in UK on my own twice and I know how hard it is to be away from your loved ones. Good on you for enduring it and i really hope you get a job sorted soon
Bon voyage!!
As you know I was separated form my OH when I tried to get sorted in UK on my own twice and I know how hard it is to be away from your loved ones. Good on you for enduring it and i really hope you get a job sorted soon
Bon voyage!!
Nov 17th 2008, 11:39 pm
#3
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 109
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
Best of luck to you.I am about to embark on a not too dissimilar experience - my daughter started school in the UK in September,my son & I are moving over there in a couple of weeks time & my husband is staying on here, where he has work,for a few more months -like you, hoping that he can sort something out back home some time next year.
Keep us posted on how life treats you at home. I have enjoyed the sanity of your posts & have gained encouragement from your attitude to the difficulties of having the family split between the hemispheres!
Keep us posted on how life treats you at home. I have enjoyed the sanity of your posts & have gained encouragement from your attitude to the difficulties of having the family split between the hemispheres!
Nov 18th 2008, 12:28 am
#4
Account Closed
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 171
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
Good Luck and hope everything works out well for you all back in the UK.
We leave Perth for good in 7 weeks and can't wait to be back in the UK again.
We leave Perth for good in 7 weeks and can't wait to be back in the UK again.
Nov 18th 2008, 5:29 am
#5
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Sep 2007
Location: Canberra
Posts: 8,378
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
Good luck! I hope everything works out OK for you - at least you will be back with the people you love!
Nov 18th 2008, 6:36 am
#6
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 548
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
Has it been worth it? Yes. I wanted to come for the last 20 years, and my family supported me in that dream. Now we start the next stage of our lives in the UK, refreshed and remindered of what is important to us.
Good luck to you all.
Pete
Hi
Great read , just to say all the very best with the next chapter of your lives , if you apply the optimism that emmanated from your post, itll be a breeze
Have a safe trip back
Good luck to you all.
Pete
Hi
Great read , just to say all the very best with the next chapter of your lives , if you apply the optimism that emmanated from your post, itll be a breeze
Have a safe trip back
Nov 18th 2008, 7:12 am
#7
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Sep 2007
Location: NI (back from Toronto)
Posts: 3,409
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
Good luck with everything Pete you deserve it
Nov 18th 2008, 7:52 am
#8
Just hanging around
Joined: May 2008
Location: Back in England
Posts: 1,447
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
Smooth traveling, Pete. I hope everything works out brilliantly.
Bev
Bev
Nov 18th 2008, 8:03 am
#9
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Back in the UK after 12 years in Australia
Posts: 579
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
Best of luck with it all Pete, great post.
Totally agree you don't need to hate Australia to simply prefer living in the UK.
Looking forward to an update from you in a few weeks on how things are going over there, it will be so lovely for you being back with your family especially for Christmas.
Totally agree you don't need to hate Australia to simply prefer living in the UK.
Looking forward to an update from you in a few weeks on how things are going over there, it will be so lovely for you being back with your family especially for Christmas.
Nov 18th 2008, 12:03 pm
#10
Account Closed
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 723
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
That was a brilliant read.
Good Luck
Good Luck
Nov 18th 2008, 1:48 pm
#11
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Joined: Jul 2008
Location: My happy place
Posts: 3,043
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
Best of luck pete. 
Nov 18th 2008, 3:53 pm
#12
Account Closed
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 4,374
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
the very, very best of luck pete, have a fab xmas with your family
Nov 18th 2008, 4:00 pm
#13
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 377
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
That was nice to read xxx
Hope you find what you are looking for
Hope you find what you are looking for
Nov 20th 2008, 12:30 am
#14
Account Closed
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 0
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
Thanks for all your kind words, I will talk to you all again soon...... from the other side 
Nov 20th 2008, 12:51 am
#15
Sloopy Frickenbutt
Joined: May 2006
Location: Its good ere Honest........
Posts: 5,225
Re: Valespark is leaving the Country
Good Luck Pete Have a great trip home....And an even better xmas 
Have a great trip home....And an even better xmas
