[QUOTE=callé] you said exactly what i was thinking. I've been back 9 months now and occasionally when i have a spare minute i pop on to read what people are up to. But like many of us i think i've been there and done that and am happy to back in the UK. I loved the experience but nothing beats family, friends and the history and culture of england. I was in NZ so its great that this summer we are going to drive down to france and spend 2 weeks over there... we had nowhere to go from NZ it was too much in the middle of nowhere. I speak to my mum whos still out there and i miss parts of it, but there certainly isn't enough to make me want to go back. So to those who miss it, maybe they are not sure what they want but for me i think i'm going to stay put for a while and just enjoy life here for the next few years and not keep thinking about the grass being greener on the other side because for us it wasnt.

Well, we have been back nearly a year now (doesn't time fly) and pop in and browse the forums every now and again. Don't post much now but I still like to see how everyone is doing.

We are getting on well and enjoy being back 'home' with family and friends. Once in a while we have twinges of what could have been (mainly hubbie with dreams of a boat, fishing, cold beer and cheap steak)!!

Australia is a wonderful country but so is the UK but for different reasons. I do miss going for a swim, for free and not worrying about what to wear all the time. I don't miss the bugs or the heat, having to close the blinds during the day to keep the house cool.

We will visit again, maybe for a few months but I doubt we will live there again. We have too much to keep us here.

Oh, and with all that said, hi to everyone who remembers me and to all that don't.

Mandy

[QUOTE=scrawni]Well, we have been back nearly a year now (doesn't time fly) and pop in and browse the forums every now and again. Don't post much now but I still like to see how everyone is doing.

We are getting on well and enjoy being back 'home' with family and friends. Once in a while we have twinges of what could have been (mainly hubbie with dreams of a boat, fishing, cold beer and cheap steak)!!

Australia is a wonderful country but so is the UK but for different reasons. I do miss going for a swim, for free and not worrying about what to wear all the time. I don't miss the bugs or the heat, having to close the blinds during the day to keep the house cool.

We will visit again, maybe for a few months but I doubt we will live there again. We have too much to keep us here.


Hubby's mate lasted a month in Adelaide!!!The dog was still in transit 3 months afer they returned!!!!!!Mind you this was the guy who looked for the knives and forks on his first trip to mcdonalds!!!!!!!A workmate of mine found great delight in saying a couples of friends of hers had lasted 6 months in Brisbane - reason for returning - too hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Had all to keep my mouth shut in front of her!!!!!!!However another friends friend went to Adelaide 4 months ago and is loving it.Horses for courses!!!!!!!!!

Hi Mandy,

I was wondering how you were getting on, good to hear things are still going good for you. Nearly a year :scared: where did that go!!

Anyhow nice to hear from you

Susan

We returned just over a year ago after almost 8 years in NZ.
Still busy getting used to having money in our pockets. Seem to have spent the last year cramming in all the things we missed.

!!!!!!!!!!

Well, got to say that many get what they wish for...and good on them.

Was back in the Uk end of last year, and got to say was glad to get back to Canada! Let's just say, horses for courses is fair enough...but for some, (like me) the idea of going back to the UK to live is a definate No No! :scared:

Each to their own...

I'd love the BBC to show a program about people who choose to migrate to the UK rather than leave it so it could be seen in a positive light for once...

Hi everyone
Thought I should do an update to us being back since Dec 05.
Hubbie still hasn't a job which is very worrying and he is a very good Electronics Engineer/Production Manager. Has tried everything and only had two interviews since being back. We decided to stay in and around Rugby as this is where my son, wife and two children are, its central and so we thought we could get most jobs in many areas. We love the area too even though we aren't from this area. Must add, we didn't come back for family but its a bonus them being here.

One 13 yr old son has settled in High School and loves the challenge in the work and seems to be thriving in that area. Thinks its great having to wear a blazer, tie etc! Sure it will wear off soon!!

We all love being here, seeing the winter which strangely enough wasn't as cold as we had remembered, and now seeing the spring come in with the new leaves is wonderful. We love the variety in the supermarkets, clothes, appliances, car its amazing. The pets have settled down amazingly well but we have noticed just this week tht our dog wants to go sit out in the sunshine so it looks as though she misses that.

Downsides?: Kids in High School seem a lot rougher than Perth and we have had two bullies already, one at the bus stop coming home. Son was given a free bus pass and we thought it good to give him some independence which he loves except the bully With the first bully I went straight to the school but this second one son wants to handle it and says he will let me know when he cant. The hardest part for us is hearing him chat with his friends in Perth on MSN, he had some really true friends that he would have gone onto High School with plus it was a private school too and quite reasonable in price. Have looked into the same thing here there is no way we can afford it at all, ever!

House prices: I know we must have done it when we first arrived in Australia but we can't help converting house prices here and being utterly amazed. We know the prices in WA are going up higher and higher, so high that first timers are finding getting on the ladder hard also, but here in UK I just wonder about the future generation and what they will have, or not have as the case may be.

For a year before we left Perth we did loads and loads of research on jobs, houses. area, you name it we did it and enough so we thought. Our original idea was for hubbie to go back to UK alone and sort out a job then we follow, wish we had done that, it may have been a long time apart but we would still have had our house collecting value. Instead we decided to all come back as it was coming up to the start of High School for son and basically we didn't want to p... about any more. We are here and love it but we now beginning to wonder if we will ever afford to get on the property ladder again and wonder what the future holds.

If anyone has any questions I will try to answer as honestly as possible.

Shelly, would you mind sharing what drove you out of there? and whether you now think that perhaps, with some modifications, you should have stayed?

Thanks for the update, Plants! It's good to hear your experience; the good and the bad. It sounds like you're remaining pretty level-headed about everything though. I hope your husband manages to get a job soon and that you can get back on the property ladder again. I worry about the same kinds of things. Don't want the four of us to have to live with my parents forever! Take care and keep us updated.

In all honesty
I have to answer NO to both of your questions

I'm not sure where to start by answering what drove us out, false pretenses false hope, on the companies part was the main reason.

(shame on the companies that are still doing this) messing with people's lives.

We got talking to a guy on Saturday night that has just got back from Canada, he went out on the PNP program, promise of fantastic working conditions, well paid job, cheap housing, he came back after 4 months didn't like it, wasn't prepared to put up with crap from the company
( not the same company as us i must add)
he also felt he had been lied to.

And just not realising or understanding what culture shock is, its ok trying to explain to people about culture shock, but you can't possibly understand what it is till you live it.

We had a comfortable life in the UK but felt we needed a change, we we're in the rut that many of us feel we're in.

Even with modifications we would not have stayed, some people are happy with their choice we weren't, it wasn't the life for us, not what we we're looking for.
(do any of us know what we're looking for?)

Hindsight is a great thing, losing everything makes you realise what you had, and I'm not just talking material things, Job, house, car those are the things you can replace.

I suppose its the pull of family ties and the things you know, i wouldn't say we had a big close family there's not many of us left, maybe thats it.

I lost my last uncle on my mothers side three weeks after arriving in canada
that hit us all hard we wanted to and couldn't get back, husband was away in training, the kids we're in school. No support network.

Then a week or so later i had a phone call from my sister telling me she was going to be a grandma, the much wanted and tried for baby by her middle son and wife was finally after three years of trying for on his way.

(And i wasn't there)

Now my nephew and Niece nearly lost this little boy Yesterday as he was being born, she was in labour for 48 hours and the medical team had to intervene there was no heart beat he'd stopped breathing, i was there with my sister to support her every second of the way.

Callum Matthew was born at 9.25am

So should we have stayed in Canada NO we lost everything material that we had.

What we have here at home is more precious than houses, cars, money, jobs.
We have the most important thing in the world

The one's we love
who love us.

Shelly x

Congratulations to them on the safe arrival of Callum - that must have been a terrifying time for all of you.

I have to say, family is the main thing making me want to go back "home"... I think if one of my brothers wives announced they were pg, I would want to go back straightaway. I feel like DD (2.5) is missing out by being so far away from her family... but we have decided to give it a bit of time... but I can't imagine Australia being "forever"

At first i did worry that we'd jumped the gun and should have given it a little longer, but in the long run we just knew it wasn't for us.

We struggled the last few days to get my sister from Yorkshire to Wales to be with her son and daughter in law, with both our husbands working away from home and the kids due back at school today, god alone knows what it would have been like if we where half a world apart.

I would be telling lies if said i had no regrets,
Its not easy being 42 and starting again from nothing,
Maybe we should never have gone but you can't change the past.

Still taking a day at a time building our lives back up.
Yesterday just proved to me we we're right to come home, its where we belong.

Shelly x

Just have to post here. I identify so well with your posts.
We returned almost 2 years ago with nothing. Starting again was terrifying. We had no idea what our lives would be like back in the UK.
Well here we are 2 years later, age 41. Close to family. Mother-in-law dying of cancer, and all the family close together.
Material things not important, but just to show you things do work out. We both have good jobs, and almost at the point we can buy a house. Kids happier here with the English way of life.

It's been hard. Up and down days. Hubby made redundant in March but has another job now. We had a choice.... Keep on keeping on, or give up.

There were many days I said to hubby... If I leave you taking the 4 kids, I could get welfare and a council house in no time. Once thats all sorted you could move back in....
But we carried on and it's paid off.
One thing I learnt through all this is to enjoy the little things. I try to do one nice thing for myself every day, it helps.

You say a day at a time, and thats so true.. Keep faith and hope and work towards your dreams.... It will work out..
You are stronger than you think. Your posts show that.