Reading fan

I have been visiting the forum for a couple of months and there seems to be a common thread regarding people moving back to the UK (apart from missing family,friends,shopping etc ) BOREDOM. I was just wondering what everyone did that was so exciting in the Uk or what you are not doing in Australia that you imagined you would be doing ?

Sandra

Actually I get bored here in terms of trips - I miss European destinations and the diveristy of the travel it is much more expensive to get yourself up to Asia than it was to do Mainland Europe and the Med etc.

I do get around on trips here and have had some interesting breaks but nothing I am hankering to do again in a hurry.

I also miss my season ticket for Reading FC!

TraceyW

This place is not boring if you're the type that loves sports and the beach/water. I don't.

Kids will soon get bored of going to the beach and the well kept parks every weekend. I feel like I'm in a goldfish bowl, going round and around, doing the same things ; Freo, The Boat, Hillary's, Kings Park.

I find it bland, lacking in character and soul, it has nothing like England or Europe, no diversity. And yes, it costs an absolute fortune to get out of it.

quoll

Yup, what the others have said. You can drive for hours and never see any different scenery. Once you have done the touristy stuff that's it, same old same old. A trip to Sydney for the weekend doesnt quite cut it when you compare a trip to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Edinburgh as possibles from London. And if you live in Sydney then going somewhere with a bit of "buzz" for the weekend is even harder - Newcastle???? hmmm no, think that is a bit of a pass.

If you want to live with sand in your cozzies every day on the beach then fine, you will probably be happy as a sandboy but if you want to go somewhere with character, history, culture then you will have a very long drive!

This is a very boring, shallow place full of puffed up arrogance IMHO - if only the Poms had one tenth of Aussie arrogance and pride in their country, the place would be absolutely buzzing and the Poms have a darned sight more to be proud of and skite about!

rabsody

Yes, I liken it to a gilded cage. It looks beautiful from the outside looking in - nice house, car, sun shining - but you still feel trapped, bored and disassociated from the rest of the world.

DunRoaminTheUK

I once went to a Reading away match at Pompey. It felt as if someone had placed me into the Polar Bear enclosure at SeaWorld, except for the fact that the Pompey fans seemed to be capable of inflicting far more damage than a polar bear (as well as seeming more eager than a polar bear to be given the chance).

Sandra

thats what you get from Pompey fans.

We have at least enjoyed the last two years in the Premiership so we have managed a few live matches easrly in the morning.

Son is trying to get us to go to some fottball matches over here but it doesn't seem to have the oomph. I have tried local Rugby League matches and some international Rugby Union but still trying to find a local sport I can find a connection with.

mattmc

I moved here (SE QLD) looking to take my foot off the pedal as far as work is concerned but I have found I am really not ready for this at my age. I commuted to London for 5 years before coming over so I was a bit fed up of the rat race. As another BE poster said that they should have taken an extended holiday rather than a full on move to the other side of the world and with hindsight this would have probably been a better idea. Problem with that is once you start the whole Oz thing you really need to see it through and try it out. We are a sports mad family and with the exception of Sunday (family day) I play sport every day of the week. It is just not enough to shake off the feeling of being unsettled and wanting to go home.
I really don't know what we would do though if we were not into sports. I have never really been a beach person but even that is wearing a bit thin with the kids, very unexpected.

rabsody

Same here, mine are never interested when we suggest beach for the day. They do still love pools though (shame we haven't got one LOL but their dad and grandma both do).

Nu-Shooz

Boredom here for us is not having much to do. Unless going to the beach is your thing and hanging out in parks. Can't do that now anyway in the winter.

But we do miss our social life, pubs and clubs are few and far between here in Perth. Having a BBQ gets abit boring after afew.
We just got it all wrong and were told by rellies here that there were loads to do, our own faults really.
The blue skies and sunshine can be a lovely thing, but the novelty wears off. We miss good shops and quality foods. Aswell as missing our friends and family. So with no-one to share things with, it's a lonely life.
We would rather be happy in dull UK than miserable in sunny Perth

mattmc

Ah but maybe if they had one (which we do) they may not be in it as much as you think. My boys like it when they have their friends over but didn't go in it as much as I thought they would over the summer. Kids of today..huh!!

caledonia

this is something I think about constantly - what exactly did we do back home that we cant do in Perth?? With a young family, back home (scottish highlands) we went to the cinema, swimming pool at weekends, the odd concert, walks in the country (if no gale force winds) and that was basically it. holidays were a package deal to spain/greece etc - not for the culture but for the sunshine - and we could usually only manage a week or two every year. we didnt jet of to paris/bareclona/rome etc everyother weekend for "culture". nor did we visit any of the many other cities such as dundee, manchester etc etc. we mainly socialised in our house with friends.

so basically what i am saying is there is nothing we cant do in perth that we didnt at home. if anything we do more as you can take the kids into pubs until 9pm and we can get out more - although we dont go to the beach very often funny enough. but what is missing here is the good friends from home, someone to share good times with. we knew it would happen but didnt appreciate how hard it would be to strike up new friendships. maybe if we had family or friends here it would be different.

so i dont agree with those who say there is nothing to do - we can fill our time no bother but we do feel lonely without our old friends and family.

Nu-Shooz

Not trying to argue with you about this, but you say there is more to do in Perth than in UK...maybe for you, but defo not us!
We took the kids to pubs in UK and they stayed with us all night. Depends on where you lived i suppose. We were in the middle of many big cities, easy to get to all of them.
My kids were never in back in UK, but here they never go out as no-one is around, it's like a ghost town. So no point in them trailing round streets on their own.
When the weather gets too hot here, we stay indoors. You can't bike ride in temps over 30c with kids really! But in UK we rode in all kinds of weather.
Sitting on a beach all day to us is boring, for others it's great. We all expect different things.
We enjoyed visiting London, Scotland, Ireland on many weekends away. Not many places like that here is there.
So we made a mistake, i accept that. But there is definately more to do in Uk than here.

caledonia

yeah I take your point- if we had lived in a part of the UK where the weather was less harsh and the nights less dark (winter) and no midges (summer), there would have been more for us to do. In scotland, the licensing laws are different and you cant take children into pubs - we always said one of the things we liked about england was the "country pubs" (even those in towns!!!) where you could take the kids. plus there was alton towers, legoland etc etc which you dont have here. so overall there is probably more to do in uk for most families - but for us and the stage we were at in our lives (ie young family, money restricted for visiting the likes of alton towers etc), perth offers us similar things. so i cant disagree with you, but as i say for us, its swings and roundabouts and the reasons we are considering home is only the family/friends thing - overall we are happy with the lifestyle/things to do here. will i say the same thing once we've been here longer and the kids are older?? who knows - maybe we wont be here long enough to find out! cheers

rabsody

I think what you say about little kids is spot on. Aus is great for littles ones who don't have to be cooped up inside all day and who enjoy parks, picnics etc, so you don't have to spend loads of money. Once they get older ... well not sure yet. My nearly 12 year old moans that she's seen everything now and Brisbane's boring (and I have to say I agree with her!) but then that age group always say that don't they?!