TraceyW

Yes, me! I lived in Perth for 4.5 years and moved back to the UK 6 months ago. Absolutely no regrets at all and really enjoy being back. We purposely didn't return to the area we'd left in the first place as the reasons why we left would still be there (if you get my drift!). We changed location and now live in a lovely little town in the South Hams, are in regular contact with family, have Dartmoor on the doorstep, glorious countryside in abundance, a huge choice of things to do, the kids are in a great school and have lots of mates, I have landed a decent job and hubby is retraining.

To all those wanting to return, it's exactly the same scenario as when you moved to Oz: do your research, perhaps come on a reccie, and return with your eyes open. There are still Chavs, there is crime, the weather can be naff, but it's home for us and always will be and we all love it!

jacqui cameron

awww thanks.. really needed to hear that. What didnt you like about OZ if you dont mind me asking ? You dont have to answer that and also what did you miss about UK to make you return ?

Pollyana

Sounds like my life here - work is my day (or nioght, I do shifts). When I'm not at work we are stuck in the house, my OH prefers watching TV to exploring, and our lives are just one round of after work-rush down to the parking lot- rush to car-rush to door- then sit in front of the telly. I saw more of the world based in Brighton than I do based in Brisbane.
Just cos some people find their lives change doesn't mean we are all that lucky - for a lot of people once the novelty wears off its a case of same kak, different bucket.

jacqui cameron

hahaha so true... we are the same. Beach on door step which gets taken for granted but work is work and at the end of the day we get home.. have dinner.. put kid to bed and watch TV. Same same rather do it around the people I love in UK so weekends grandparents can visit and we get a break !!! To be honest .. Aussie summers freak me out.. we are so fair skinned our family we just burn or have to slap on the old factor 30 plus and cant bare the heat. Especially now preggas its unbareable :curse: and all my holiday time is spent drinking tea round people's houses in UK and driving up and down motorways visiting everyone and getting pulled apart It must just be easier to live there and then have holidays elsewhere

TraceyW

Now this is only my opinion, others feel very differently, but I just found Perth very bland. We aren't beach/water sport people, so found the lack of variety quite limiting. We did travel around WA quite a bit and found we could drive for hours on end and find nothing much at the end of it. Yes some things were lovely, but on the whole we much prefer the diversity of the UK. Also the isolation got to us too. It costs an arm and a leg to get out of the place! If you take away the big house, the beaches and the sun, I didn't feel there was a lot left to impress after that.

I also missed family something rotten. We didn't live in our families pockets before we left, therefore I didn't think I'd be too bothered by not seeing them on a regular basis. How wrong was I! I missed not having the OPTION of seeing them and them being part of our lives, especially the children's lives. This has proved to be something wonderful for them upon our return.

I also missed England. Strange to some, but true! I missed the countryside, the beauty of that cannot be matched in Perth. I missed the history, driving around ancient towns and villages and being stunned by the architecture. I hated Christmas in Oz. So wrong to me sweltering in 40 degrees when I should've been cosying up in front of the fire with the tree lights twinkling.

I found the 'going round to so and so's house and drinking yourself silly' each weekend incredibly dull after the novelty wore off. It usually consisted of the same group of people, it was only the geography that changed.

There are many other reasons why we left, and why we prefer life back home, and as I said the above is just my opinion as everyone is different and has different needs. It all depends on what 'floats your boat' so to speak.

I remember only too well how confusing it all is trying to decide, and justify, your reasons where to live. Awful feeling. I hope things sort out for you soon.

jacqui cameron

You sound so much like me word for word. This is how I descible life in OZ to people back home. I am not a big drinker. I am not a sports person. I am not a beach person. My husband used to surf but novelty wore off. I am really excited about moving back to the UK.

bubbles08

i totally agree with tracy.
we lived in perth for seven years.If i had known it was only seven years and not for the rest of my life then i would have been happier ,but i hated being so far away from anywhere!!!!we love travelling ,but it cost a fortune to get out of the country,we went to Bali which is a third world country and even that cost quite a few thousand dollars !!
We both realised that,we preferred England and English people.We had a business which was retailing,repairing and remodelling jewellery and where we were, alot of people walked round with no shoes on in the shopping centre which was really hard to do business with people like that. !!!
talk about laid back lifestyle.!!i could never understand this,people either love it or hate this way of life.
this made it really quite hard to sell jewellery to people that dont even wear shoes!
where we lived was new,clean,but very bland.
We are both really social people but struggled with the neighbours as they could not even bring themselves to say hello!apart from our English neighbours that wanted to show off their pool,house,latest plasma.........which i could not stand.the Australians would not speak to us ,apart from when they rummaged through our bulk rubbish!!!! ha ha .
On the day we moved in in UK we had so many people come up to say hello!!!we had to stop ourselves from being so pleased at that, as they would probably think we were mad !i have described this to my friends in UK but you really have to live it to see it for yourself.
People on these sites often talk about the outdoor life in OZ but my girls spent alot of time in the air con as it was too h
hot !!youngest one was really scared of spiders and would not go outside !!!it has been so lovely to see them running round in our back garden .........that backs onto countryside.That was another thing that drove me mad .We built a lovely house but had to have it surrounded by colourbond!!!!!in beige!!!!! so every window looked out onto that.I felt i was in prison.
I now live in a lovely village that has character.
My neighbour who was from Manchester,I am from Merseyside so i am a Northerner myself,was horrified when i told him we were going back to UK.He went on to tell me that i would get shot or mugged !
Well been back since december and and have not been mugged or shot !........i must send him a postcard and tell him i am still alive!
well.its not perfect,but all places have good and bad sides to them.But we much prefer to live in the UK.
On sat night we are having friends over from OZ to visit so we are only 400 yards from local pub,so we are off out for a drink,something we could never do in Perth as where we were was too far away from anything.
All those Aussies that told us that OZ was the ................"best blaaaaadee place in the world " i would love to see them now and tell them they are wrong!
We met some lovely people in OZ but we are now surrounded by lots of friends and that is the best homecoming to have xxx

jacqui cameron

OMG i thought I was cut off in Sydney but Perth takes the **** ! :curse:
Where are you living now in UK ?

Syedney

Damn...This post is getting to me...

I am starting to miss home...

Home sick...

Is this what being emigrant means?

Don't really want it..

Heljinder

We're off back to the UK for good, mostly because of the same reasons as you've said, Tracey. We're in Perth, although we've only been here 8 months I know for sure this isn't the place for us long term - definitely not! I'm open minded to change, and I'm over the gut wrenching homesickness of the first 4months, and this has allowed me to see even more clearly that Aus, and especially Perth, isn't for us. I can't bring myself to allow my 7 and 3 year old boys to grow up here. I wan't them to experience all the things that the UK offers in terms of history, diversity, culture etc. My boys aren't that keen on the beach, and positively hate the hot summer so they're on a loser already by living here. We came on a year long reccie, leaving our house, cars and belongings all in England, and hubby is in the health service so will get work quickly. It's been a good experience for me and hubby, but an experience neither of my children really needed nor asked for.

orange&

Try Lewes, Sussex, if you're looking for something beautiful, historical, and alternative

orange&

Good on you Jacqui for being honest. I share your thoughts about Sydney...

Michwif

Note to self...don't go to Perth!!!
My friends husband has to go to Perth on business a lot and he cannot stand it.

Melbourne sounds like THE best place for expats. At least the seasons are distingushable and it is very European in feel. Don't get me wrong I really miss the English countryside and familiar things like Sainsburys, bourbon biscuits and sweet popcorn at the cinema.
I soothe my blighty ache with hrs of UKTV. I almost had a fit when Cbeebies came here and CPR was required when I saw that Mothercare is opening it's 1st Oz store 5mins up the road from me....tragic considering my youngest is 3 and I have no real need for baby stuff!!

bubbles08

I moved to Bedfordshire to a little village called Streatley and the land that i look onto back and front is called....... .land of outstanding beauty.........and it is!!!!
its about 1o mins away from where i used to live so that means we still have our friends round us.
By the way people say, people move on while you are away and things change,well people do change as do you,but the important people will always be there,your real friends,which is what we have found.
We have a quaint English pub up the road................and NO they are not all shutting down like some English fella told me when he was grilling me on the reasons for going back.Which was ironic as after a few hours of telling me England has gone to the dogs he told me he was homesick !!!!!........after he had reduced me to tears !!.... must get in touch with him and tell him about all the gorgeous country pubs round here,set in the most beautiful,stunning countryside ever .
The best thing is,and i dont go there often ..........honest!!is that when we went in to the pub,the landlady recognized us from week before.
She welcomed the children which was great,and they loved the roaring open fire!!
telling you this as i was so fed up in OZ of people really slagging the UK off and they did not even know what area we were going to.
My neighbour has a huge sign on her door ............the two most beautiful words in the dictionary are England and Countryside!!!this country has to become more patriotic!
We are so looking forward to the change in the seasons and cannot wait for CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Syedney

Was actually a place where I worked for a while too...

Absolutely gorgeous landscape all round and not forget the guy fawkes fireworks too

Unfortunately, bad floodeline...

But surrounding Sussex countryside is absolutely to die for...