To the ones who are feeling restless and homesick.
#16
Re: To the ones who are feeling restless and homesick.
Dunno, after 31 years here I still have great friends in UK (cannot say the same for friends in Aus, far more transitory) and every time I go home they insist on me staying and we have a ball with conversations starting up right where we left them the last time. Every trip home makes me even more convinced that I am living in the wrong place - immured at the a*se end of the universe is not where I want to be. So it doesnt always work out that a trip to UK makes you appreciate Australia more - for the things I want to do in life it makes me very sad that I have allowed myself to get stuck here and I cant do them. Comparing my life here with the rich variety of what my friends can experience makes me very sad.
However, had we tried to move back a few years ago when I was still working, like Polly it wouldnt have been possible to do the same job - lower level of qualifications needed here for the same job in my field and that is just one of the reasons we stayed. There is not a day goes by when I dont regret moving to UK when I had the chance!
However, had we tried to move back a few years ago when I was still working, like Polly it wouldnt have been possible to do the same job - lower level of qualifications needed here for the same job in my field and that is just one of the reasons we stayed. There is not a day goes by when I dont regret moving to UK when I had the chance!
#17
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2008
Location: Canberra
Posts: 165
Re: To the ones who are feeling restless and homesick.
Dunno, after 31 years here I still have great friends in UK (cannot say the same for friends in Aus, far more transitory) and every time I go home they insist on me staying and we have a ball with conversations starting up right where we left them the last time. Every trip home makes me even more convinced that I am living in the wrong place - immured at the a*se end of the universe is not where I want to be. So it doesnt always work out that a trip to UK makes you appreciate Australia more - for the things I want to do in life it makes me very sad that I have allowed myself to get stuck here and I cant do them. Comparing my life here with the rich variety of what my friends can experience makes me very sad.
However, had we tried to move back a few years ago when I was still working, like Polly it wouldnt have been possible to do the same job - lower level of qualifications needed here for the same job in my field and that is just one of the reasons we stayed. There is not a day goes by when I dont regret moving to UK when I had the chance!
However, had we tried to move back a few years ago when I was still working, like Polly it wouldnt have been possible to do the same job - lower level of qualifications needed here for the same job in my field and that is just one of the reasons we stayed. There is not a day goes by when I dont regret moving to UK when I had the chance!
Don't get me wrong I am not cynical and I don't have rose tinted glasses on either things are tough and there are problems with both countries and I never say never, you never know some day I might be sat here typing that I am going back to the UK....... but I am not too sure that will be anytime soon! If I go back I want to make sure it is for the right reasons at the moment I have made the decision to emigrate out here and am trying to make the most of it and lets face it in Canberra it is cold not like the Gold Coast but the trees are changing colours there are leaves on the ground and truly is like Autumn/Winter in the UK minus the rain!
#18
Just Joined
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 21
Re: To the ones who are feeling restless and homesick.
This is our second attempt at life n Australia. Been here 3 years this time so have given it a fair go. However, plan to return to UK in a few years - just doesn't feel at "home". The End.
#19
Just Joined
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 3
Re: To the ones who are feeling restless and homesick.
Hi,
my family and I are working hard to try moving to Brisbane before the ending of this year!
Wondering if we will be homesick and how to support our kids on the move... and on the stay
Thank you for the info you posted (also in the past) I found it very useful!
my family and I are working hard to try moving to Brisbane before the ending of this year!
Wondering if we will be homesick and how to support our kids on the move... and on the stay
Thank you for the info you posted (also in the past) I found it very useful!
#20
Re: To the ones who are feeling restless and homesick.
I have pretty much never felt homesick. I arrived in 1995 and never been back to the UK since. Although would like to. Home is where the heart is. I moved here for love, so Australia is now home. I made it official in 1999 when I took out citizenship.
But I certainly agree with your comment......”I think that people who have really strong attachments to people in the UK and have not moved homes and jobs a lot will find it a lot more difficult than others”. And I have met many migrants like this.
I had moved around a lot and changed jobs a lot both in the UK and backpacking overseas before I was 25. So I lost my connection to my UK home in the four years prior to settling here. The only thing I regret is not seeing my beloved Aunty before she died.
I don’t hold out much truth to the saying "the grass is greener on the other side". Life is what you make it. Being poor in London was the absolute pits. But being poor here different for me. In myself I feel happy and joyful and still after 15 years really appreciate the beauty around me.
Little things all add to the sense of joy in me. Watching the sun rise over the valley. Having a cup of tea on the balcony whilst a kangaroo hops around the garden. Driving up to the Hunter Valley for wine tasting and lunch (the back way through Wollombi with the convict sandstone bridges is very peaceful and beautiful), swimming in free ocean pools as the sun rises or sets over the horizon, seeing humpback whales in Sydney Harbour (there are not many cities in the world where you can sit in your office and watch whales frocking), taking the train over the Harbour bridge with the sun reflecting off the Opera House and over the harbour always fills me with an intense sheer joy at just being alive. Within 30 minutes of leaving the CBD you can be in a National Park that is thousands of years old. In winter I can drive up Bells Line of Road into the Blue Mountains and go tobogganing in the snow............a bit bloody different from freezing to death in a damp unit block in the London suburbs.
But I am not rich. In fact, very poor. Still renting. I have also been ill and had to reduce work hours. Often have weeks where ends don’t meet. But it is the little things like above where I think “my God, I am so lucky to live in this beautiful part of the world”. I never think about returning to the UK to “get on” in life, as my little bit of paradise is here.
***
But I certainly agree with your comment......”I think that people who have really strong attachments to people in the UK and have not moved homes and jobs a lot will find it a lot more difficult than others”. And I have met many migrants like this.
I had moved around a lot and changed jobs a lot both in the UK and backpacking overseas before I was 25. So I lost my connection to my UK home in the four years prior to settling here. The only thing I regret is not seeing my beloved Aunty before she died.
I don’t hold out much truth to the saying "the grass is greener on the other side". Life is what you make it. Being poor in London was the absolute pits. But being poor here different for me. In myself I feel happy and joyful and still after 15 years really appreciate the beauty around me.
Little things all add to the sense of joy in me. Watching the sun rise over the valley. Having a cup of tea on the balcony whilst a kangaroo hops around the garden. Driving up to the Hunter Valley for wine tasting and lunch (the back way through Wollombi with the convict sandstone bridges is very peaceful and beautiful), swimming in free ocean pools as the sun rises or sets over the horizon, seeing humpback whales in Sydney Harbour (there are not many cities in the world where you can sit in your office and watch whales frocking), taking the train over the Harbour bridge with the sun reflecting off the Opera House and over the harbour always fills me with an intense sheer joy at just being alive. Within 30 minutes of leaving the CBD you can be in a National Park that is thousands of years old. In winter I can drive up Bells Line of Road into the Blue Mountains and go tobogganing in the snow............a bit bloody different from freezing to death in a damp unit block in the London suburbs.
But I am not rich. In fact, very poor. Still renting. I have also been ill and had to reduce work hours. Often have weeks where ends don’t meet. But it is the little things like above where I think “my God, I am so lucky to live in this beautiful part of the world”. I never think about returning to the UK to “get on” in life, as my little bit of paradise is here.
***
If only more of the whingers on here would come around to this way of thinking....Life is what you make it..
#21
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2009
Location: Baldivis, Western Australia
Posts: 100
Re: To the ones who are feeling restless and homesick.
I could be wrong, but I think an important way of reducing homesickness and settling in a new environment is by fully embracing your new life.
When I was growing up in the UK I could never understand why English people went on holiday overseas and complained about the local environment. They would stay in English style accommodation, mix with other English people, drink English beer in English theme bars and demand eggs, beans, sausages & chips (whilst calling paella, risotto, mousaka or whatever the local food consisted of as “foreign muck”).
I could never understand this attitude – what is the point of wasting money to go overseas if you are going to mix with other English people, drink English beer in English theme bars, eat English food, and so on.
You may as well save your money, stay at home and hire a sun bed for two weeks!
I met an English lady here once who was terribly homesick and after speaking to her it was hardly surprising to me. She lived in a gated community with other ex-pats, she only socialised with ex-pats, she arranged for her family in the UK to post her English food. She only watched English TV shows, she only read the International Express. I asked her why she had bothered coming here in the first place and she said to “make a fresh start”.
Sorry – but to make a “fresh start” you need expect and welcome change and then embrace the adventure.
When I was growing up in the UK I could never understand why English people went on holiday overseas and complained about the local environment. They would stay in English style accommodation, mix with other English people, drink English beer in English theme bars and demand eggs, beans, sausages & chips (whilst calling paella, risotto, mousaka or whatever the local food consisted of as “foreign muck”).
I could never understand this attitude – what is the point of wasting money to go overseas if you are going to mix with other English people, drink English beer in English theme bars, eat English food, and so on.
You may as well save your money, stay at home and hire a sun bed for two weeks!
I met an English lady here once who was terribly homesick and after speaking to her it was hardly surprising to me. She lived in a gated community with other ex-pats, she only socialised with ex-pats, she arranged for her family in the UK to post her English food. She only watched English TV shows, she only read the International Express. I asked her why she had bothered coming here in the first place and she said to “make a fresh start”.
Sorry – but to make a “fresh start” you need expect and welcome change and then embrace the adventure.
I have always believed Australia was my true home and always hankered to visit, my first visit in 2005, after far too many years to mention, confirmed what I believed and we came out every opportunity we had! Which turned out to be April 2009, then Christmas 2009/2010 we felt so homesick for Australia after that trip within 12 hours we'd booked to fly out again in June. In the midst of these we applied for a visa and did masses and masses of research. The last trip we made was one that was the most amazing when I was offered a job. My visa is through now and we emigrate in 3 weeks.
We don't expect the grass to be greener, we don't intend socialising only with all the ex-pats or seeking out UK brands etc etc. I know living in Australia will be different from visitng but going in eyes wide open (I hope) some proper reccies under our belts and anyway it's where our hearts lay and we can't wait to be home.
#22
Re: To the ones who are feeling restless and homesick.
I will never stop missing family and friends - especially friends that I grew up with, they are the real people in my life that I miss.
I do miss Scotland for it's land and stunning scenery, someone earlier mentioned they only miss people and not land. It's both for me. Saying that, I do like my life here (most days ) and I do still have days where "i've had enough and going home"
I do miss Scotland for it's land and stunning scenery, someone earlier mentioned they only miss people and not land. It's both for me. Saying that, I do like my life here (most days ) and I do still have days where "i've had enough and going home"