scoobydoo

I was wondering when you realised that Australia wasn't for you and how long you gave it before you decided to go home?

You see, we've been here 4 months and there are a lot of reasons why I feel that we may not live here for ever!! Will try and last for citizenship and may think differently by then anyway.

It must be a very hard decision to bite the bullet and go home.

Mercedes

4 months isn't very long. If you aren't happy why wait for you citzenship and then leave. You might as well go now if you're not happy.

Pants

Hi

4 months is not very long at all? What are your circumstances?
I have been here 21/2 years and decided early this year to head back home. It's not that I don't like Australia because I do. Lots of other reasons are taking us back.

I think my first year was the best as it was all new and we brought our house, I joined a playgroup etc so it was the "honeymoon" period but the second year was the hardest. Its all very much down to the individual isn't it. What's good for one person isn't necessarily good for another.

I think we all experience good and bad days wherever...my Aussie mate is in the Uk and we both say..shame **** different country.!!

Anyway whatever you decide I hope you are happy.

Check out other peoples experiences on this site....lots to read !!!

Cheers

Pants

scoobydoo

I think that I'm still very attached to our place in the UK...we are renting it out. Also I'm a housewife for the first time ever whilst child is at school ...no school time jobs appeared yet but am looking in earnest!

Have made a couple of good friends which helps. As you say you have great days and bad days. I don't think we'd throw in the towel so soon as we are lucky to be in the position to have the opportunity to try a new country.

4 months isn't long, even if it feels like a lifetime! Just had some serious homesickness and am missing my lovely old job!!

MikeStanton

One poster once commented that deep down you know very quickly whether Oz really is/isn't for you. I think there is a lot of truth in that. That view then determines how much effort you will actually expend trying to get settled.

Although I stayed in Oz for 12 years, I would have been happy to return to UK after 1 or 2. I only stayed for personal reasons. Although I had a good job and local friends, I never felt settled and felt something important was missing. Obviously, I'm a slow learner!

When I started working back in the UK recently, I was amazed at how easy it was to fit back into the work environment - same sense of humour etc. Now I do feel settled and am so much happier.

Well, for the moment anyway

Tapalinga

Hi, we are a family of 3, our 2 year anniversary is in August, when we first got here i think we knew straight away that it was not where we wanted to settle long term. But, we have given it almost 2 years and are now ready to return to UK. We have had some great times here, and times like christmas and birthdays and family things have been difficult. We have had lots of visitors from home which has been fantastic. I feel so lucky that we have had the opportunity to experience living in another country, and we now realise that if we can do it here we can do it any where. Good luck with what ever you decide. But, one thing we should all do is be true to ourselves and not others. Listen to your heart and you won't go wrong what ever you do.

robertd

I miss my business in the UK, I dont miss my family yet, we have been hear for a year now, we will be hear for 2, if i cant start something good up hear, we well return to the UK, a lot pourer, but a lot wiser, I think we are vey lucky to have come out to Australia, If we did return the children would find it very hard as they love it hear. Rob

lynnxa

I can't speak for Australia - never been there

but having twice moved to a different country - and having met lots of 'expats' it seems that 4 months is the 'homesickness period'.

Give it more time

Bella

I have been here for 8 months. The first month was the honeymoon period, months 2, 3 & 4 were miserable as I felt alone & completely displaced.

I am much more settled now & I am sure work has alot to do with this. However, I will be returning home after about a year or so because, even tho life is much improved, I feel the same inside as I did at month 2, that Oz just isn't for me in the long term.

I had really wanted to give it the 2 years but decided I didn't want to be less than happy for so long!
My husband has been more settled than me which is why we haven't left sooner.

If you feel able to give it 2 years then good on you. But don't feel anything less than proud that you gave it a go if you decide to return sooner.

Bella

HiddenPaw

as much as I love Melbourne as a city, I always knew I could never live there forever. Too noisy, too polluted, too much traffic, too big. We had fun there but a lot of those things used to grate....I really wasn't used to being in a big city and I can say I never want to be in the middle of a city again! Now I am back in Cheshire I miss some of the things that the city offers - like fantatsic and diverse range of restaurants.

In terms of settling, I did feel settled eventually but it took a good 9-12 months to start to feel that friendships were ones I wanted to be in rather than just a social circle for the sake of socialising.

4 months isn't long...but I knew from about 4 months that Melbourne wouldnt be my long-term home. Would have tried elsewhere in Oz but came home cos of baby

Good luck. Where in melly are you? We lived in Kew.
HP

scoobydoo

HP - we are in Eltham...very nice here...lots of trees and transport links to city are good. Lots of people with very clean 4 wheel drives!!!!

Thanks for everyones replys...food for thought!

angelica

After 4 months, we moved to another state to see if it was just Adelaide that wasnt so great. But after a few weeks living in Perth we realised it was the same there too.

Our plan was to stay for a couple of years to give it a good go & call it a 'proper' experience but we worked out that, if we had returned to UK in two years, our eldest would have had to start secondary school straight away but way behind her classmates academically .

Also the offer of my husbands old job in England was too good to miss!

Good luck scoobydoobydoo, whatever you decide. Dont hang around though if it makes you both feel miserable, it can make you ill .

Angelica

Olibeneli

On what basis/evidence can you say that your eldest will be way behind her classmates academically ?

I am very interested in how you are judging and comparing Oz and UK schooling............??

scoobydoo

I was thinking along the same lines - maybe trying another state after a year or so.

If we did go back I'd do it before my child started the secondary school too. I feel that the education here has a different emphasis - more social skills than the reading etc. My child is about 2 years ahead over here in reading and maths and the teacher here has been very helpful in trying to taylor work to suit. So I'm just asuming that some catching up might be needed if we went back!

janeyray

Hi Scooby

Everyone is different and all have different views on how long it takes to feel that a place is home or not. I too, like you felt that OZ wasn't for me. It took just four months to decide. We arrived in February 2003 and four months later I just wanted to be in the UK. I even went along with the purchase of a house in Perth, thinking all the time that we can sell if we decide to go back. After just a few more months of being in our new house I told hubby how I felt.

We had always said that if one of us didn't settle (including our daughter who also wanted to go home) then we would all return as a family which is what we've done.

The best thing you've done is not to have sold you house!! WELL DONE!!!!

I do hope you feel better or make the right dicision on what you plan to do. I don't think moving to another state/city makes things feel any different if you are that homesick and two years is a long time to stay somewhere if you're not happy?