Bob

I think most people want to be with their spouses to be honest....but at the end of the day, its' an adventure, so enjoy it because once your gone, it's a fat investment sunk if you don't like it, not to mention a huge distance away from familiarity, especially for you moving to Oz

ladylisa

cool thats the attitude most of us that move to the States are on either work placements or marriage to a US citizen so there is often no choice in exactly which city to emigrate too.

I often read the Ozzie forum and it does seem that Brisbane is a good choice for you and your family. I visited Brisbane a few years back and I thought it was a lovely city.

mand8002

You may think that is rubbish but that is what I think and the original post was 'what do you say about the UK' and also that is how I remember it and I have only been away 9 months. Where I lived it was certainly overcrowded and not much open space. Maybe other people live in a less populated area.
Everyone has their own opinion and if people don't want it then they shouldn't post such a subjective post.

banjo

which......? the overcrowded or the grey skies?

moneypenny20

The reason the UK is so green is because it rains a fair bit and also the sun shines a bit but generally speaking the sky is grey more often than blue.

It is also definitely overcrowded. There are obviously beautiful empty bits but they are therefore not suitable to live in due to work commitments. It is a small island and there are a lot of people living here - therefore it is overcrowded. Not complicated.

Before anyone jumps on me, I love Britain, the geography, the history etc but want to live elsewhere because I have that opportunity

ShozInOz

Yes I agree the UK is overcrownded, but also...try Sydney (4 million) or Melbourne (3.5 million) for overcrowded. The same applies to many cities around the world.

There is a bit of a misconception about Australia's 'wide open space'; no-one lives in most of it because it is unliveable desert. Over half of the population live in the few big cities here, and from personal experience, getting out of Sydney can be difficult and not worth bothering with much of the time.

A useful attitude for anyone trying to 'escape the UK' is to check your attitude to the UK. Look at how much is endogenous and exogenous. Because you may be one of the great many people, 33% I hear, that wish to 'escape Australia' to go back to your homeland.

I personally am 50/50. I could live in either place because FROM EXPERIENCE I can see the good and bad in both.

MrsB

I agree with you. It does make me laugh when people talk about "space" though.

Where I live, most people have sub-divided their plot and built another dwelling in the garden, thus creating 2 houses in a space where only one house stood before. Quite often it will be a 4 bed detached "townhouse" with a "courtyard" garden, which means a narrow pathway.

My husband looked at quite a few of these to rent, but when you have got small children, you want more than a courtyard garden, and it doesn't help when you open the window, and it "hits" the fence of the neighbouring house because they are all so close!!!!

Most people who want 4 bedrooms are families, and they would also probably want a garden..........so why build all these "squashy" houses! Greedy house owners I suppose, with the lax planning laws you can do what you like here.

Yes, there is more "space" further out - but when you need to commute to the CBD, it's at least an hour or more.

Living in a huge "sprawl" - I have hardly any open spaces around where I live. It just doesn't compare to the 2 minute walk to the countryside, or the lovely park with the huge lake in it I had back home.

I would rather live on the edge of a medium sized town in England........grey skies or not

eurotramp

Grey skies.....

Its a bit like the half full and half empty Glass....you guys only ever seem to see the grey skies

ShozInOz

I actually feel like I have far less wide open space here in Sydney. To get to wide open space takes an age to get out of Sydney. And you can;t get too excitied about gum trees. On the other hand because we're by the sea I feel less hemmed in (but the same applied when I lived in Bournemouth - which I loved).

What makes me laugh is the Australian tourist propotion adverts on the wide open space in Australia - the featured landscapes/seascapes are 100s or 1000s of kms from where most people live!

Pollyana

Two years in Qld, waking up nearly every morning to endless blue skies and heat, you start to long for the grey skies of England. Being back there, it was great to see a mixture of weather, inpredictable, blue and grey alternating. Steady rain and gales blowing the sea everywhere
What do I say about the UK? Its home, its crowded in places but empty in places - like Aus. It has more historical buildings etc cos its "settled" history is longer, it has greener countryside cos it has more rain, it has older and quainter town centres - cos its an "older" country.
Its just different to Australia - and in the same way that you don't know the real Australia until you live here, the same applies to the UK.

Debs70

the best thing I read! xx great stuff Bobxx

Bob

Aye, well it's true...it's the little things that you end up missing, which you take for granted, don't think about them until you can't do them, like being able to walk to a park and playing footie with random people on a saturday afternoon or whatever.

LIBBY

ITS HOME

oH, AND THE WEATHER IS NOT EVERYTHING, PEOPLE ARE FAR TOO OBSESSED BY THE WEATHER. THERE IS MORE TO LIFE!!!!

bobbydavro1

Wise words ladyLisa (November 11th, 11.28pm). But as I read them I can appreciate how some of your points may be lost on anybody who has not yet lived away from home.

I chose to live overseas for a time, mainly to gain perspective on what it is to live in the UK, to see my home from a different angle. Without that perspective it would have been all too easy for me to join those who spend their entire life criticizing the UK, failing to do anything to improve their lot, blaming the UK, and wrongly assuming that life would automatically be better somewhere else. There are pros and cons to living anywhere. I don’t think anybody should form an expectation of things being better where they are heading. Different yes, but not necessarily better. The rest is up to you.

I have spent weeks pondering if I am doing the right thing in returning to the UK, ..or whether I should head off somewhere else right away. But, after a lot of thought I have concluded that I can now return to the UK knowing how different (again..not better) it can be living somewhere else, but happy that the UK is my home,.and that rather than it owing me a good life it is up to me to create it,..wherever I am. I might venture off again some time in the future, just for a change of scenery. But I think the life you make for yourself, the people you meet and the things you do, are what matter,..not coordinates on the world map. Anybody who thinks the latter is more important is to my mind fooling themselves.

The irony is that whatever it is that you long for you will grow tired of when you have it. And the things that you complain about now....you will miss. I can look out here at clear blue sea and skies, palm trees etc. and experience mild weather in November. But right now I honestly want to look out on grey skies, cooling towers, and allotments, and feel the heat of a gas fire.

Betty Boot

What a great post, I think I need to get my husband to read this to change his view where to live thanks