Hi all,

I moved to Oz three years ago, and everything was hunky dory, after 6 months, I sold my UK flat and used all of the proceeds to build our dream home. In the last six months I have started missing the UK and Europe like mad, and not being able to afford to go back is driving me nuts.

Its like I am already tired of the big house (my wife keeps saying its too big to maintain and we should sell and get a smaller one) and fancy car. I achieved what I wanted and it didn't make me much happier.

We have many acquaintances here but no real friends. I have never gelled with the sporting/drinking culture (I don't drink and I hate sports - which I found out is a big no-no here in Melbourne - I got told off at work for saying how empty and shallow must people's lives be to be so obsessed with grown men throwing around a ball)- and add to that I hate sunny hot weather as it brings all my allergies out -(so i spend most of the summer inside) - it kind of makes me feel like I am in the wrong place.

I am earning $130k in Melbourne which is a great salary. I am considering an offer for a GBP90,000 job. I know it is a great salary for the UK and although it means having a tiny house, the ability totravel around will make up for it.

I have two ideas:

Count losses and sell up: if I sell up here, I would have made a loss of thirtyfive thousand dollars and returning to the UK with only fifty thousand pounds (I arrived with sixty three)

We are thinking alternatively of leaving the house empty for a year, (selling the car will supply us with one years worth of mortgage payments) just in case we change our minds again and decide to return.

What would you do? Am I nuts to go back to the UK? I haven't lived in the UK for six years (I also lived in Asia and France).

Cheers
Alex

If you manage to get 90k GBP for a Uk salary you will NOT be in a TINY house.
How tiny is tiny anyway????

Housing market back home is in a slump at the mo. Gordon Brown has decided to get rid of stamp duty on anything under 175,000GBP to help first time buyers and get the market moving slightly.
BUT everything above this is still static. Rubbish for sellers there - great for us returnees.
If you've a decent deposit ie 15-20% and above and you have that 90k/year salary - you wont have a problem. You can get gorgeous huge period houses and cottages in York where I'm looking for 200,000-250,000GB and less no problem. Take off a 33%deposit and it's not that bad!

£90k Wow............ i wish But agree with above post, does sort of depend where you want to live in the Uk.

Why did you go downunder then?

I'd say you'd come out of the whole thing pretty well. Ignore thirty five thousand dollars - and look at the "only" 8 thousand pounds bit. That was a cheap immigration exercise - you've achieved what you wanted - but realised it perhaps wasn't what you wanted anymore.

It's called a life-affirming exercise and if the UK is calling you, a £90k salary in the UK is absolutely fine.

I'd say your next step is a lot more research on the UK - and whilst I get that you don't particularly gel with your Aussie colleagues, what else would you gain/be able to give/achieve with the UK. No rose-tinted spectacles of a happy care-free life please! But feeling "at home" is a much loved but oft under-appreciated state of mind. Can you move and get that?

It sounds like you are still not sure - so rent out the house and see what life throws at you. Good luck

Thanks for the replies. Perhaps I should just hold on to the house temporarily.

Coming to Australia was not based on any rose tinted ideas, but based on research of cost of living and the fact my wife had her favourite Aunt here. I had many countries to choose from, and I actually took the plunge without ever visiting! I chose Melbourne as I didn't want somewhere hot. I was rather impulsive. I never thought about the culture here or how far it is from Europe - I just wanted a big house and car - a silly materialistic idea.

I guess I have found life here ok but bland. I missed travel opportunities and I missed my friends, and I miss the grandeur and history of UK. I don't have any rose tinted specs for the UK. I know that I will be better off with the high salary in the UK and the job on offer itself will be interesting.

Despite my high salary here in Oz, I am the worst off financially than I have every been in my life (the mortgage is a killer). I am used to saving a lot and travelling a lot and it is just impossible here. I have felt marooned here!

Well I better get going.... Thanks for the replies.

You are in a very enviable position financially either way so you really don't need to worry about money at all, it's just about whether you feel happiest here or in UK.

I wouldn't make too much of the fact Melbourne people (men especially) are obsessed with sport because in my opinion the same often applies in UK.

I completely agree with you though that there are few things more boring than watching people kick a ball around a field. I would literally prefer to watch paint dry (no joke!)

I'm struggling like crazy to decide whether to stay or go myself so I'm not really in a position to be advising others on that, but good luck!