Perth a year on.....................
Apr 2nd 2007, 5:09 pm
#1
Drifting back to earth
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 780
Perth a year on.....................
Instead of boring everyone to death with the details and year long life history (not that it's a crime to do that!!) here's our individual snapshot viewpoints a year after getting here..................
Dave : "No-one could ever prepare you for this change in your life, it's exciting, frightening, unsure, heartbreaking and full of optimism all at the same time. Western Australia is booming and going through a bizarre period of growth and we're lucky to be a part of it, the future holds a myriad of opportunity for us and more importantly Elley. My family life has improved leaps and bounds, I have the equivalent of 3.5 days a week with the family and get to walk my little girl to school twice a week which is precious. The only downside is that Kayt and I find it a little harder to go out on our own as there's no babysitters on tap! The people here seem to care a bit more about others and will always give you the time of day wherever you are, not like the selfish single mindedness and ignorance of a vast section of the british public. Society is a little more regressive here as well and does take you back a bit to the 80s! There's independent butchers everywhere and independent growers markets everywhere for fruit and veg as well, small business is still king in WA and passionately supported and as much as I know Tescos will take over the world it's nice to have that plethora of small businesses again for as long as it will last. I could go on for hours but won't, I think Oz is growing on me but still am not completely sold, we do love it here and can see ourselves here for at least another couple of years. After that I don't know, but that uncertainty keeps you fresh and on your toes.........................."
Kayt: "I've just read Dave's text and wonder whether it sounds too negative. The truth is that we feel terribly homesick, on occasions, especially after Mum & Dad, and then Mum on her own, visited - great whilst they were here but it shook us for a week after they left. We look around and think my goodness we must be mad for thinking about moving back to England. We have fantastic weather, great activities for Elley and a heap more family time together. I don't have to work but I do know that won't be forever - I'm already beginning to get itchy fingers. And we are building our own home - a fantastic, huge home with our own stamp on it ... yes I know that's materialistic but it's fun. We've also made some great friends whilst we have been here. BUT we can't replace our family, our 'old' friends and just knowing where to go to get clothes that fit or to get coffee that tastes even remotely nice! We are also sad about the huge amount of graffiti, 'hoons', lack of care when Australia Post muck up our mail redirection, hidden costs when buying things (like stamp duty on cars), the many unexpected fees when buying a house. I think we are writing this during a period of homesickness because Mum has not long gone. One friend of ours talks about the first year or so being a honeymoon period and actually I think she is correct. The rose coloured specs are certainly on top of the head now. They come down often but they are not always there. We had a look on the UK real estate website the other day to see what we could get if we moved back to our 'old lives' back in England and then we looked to see if we could replicate our 'new lives' and we'd be in a little pokey old house in the back end of beyond where the weather is crummy and I know we would be really unhappy despite having our friends and family around us. So ... it looks like we are here for a little while longer. We become citizens in another year and then we will sit down and re-evaluate again and see how we feel at that point. We should hopefully be in our new home (we'd better be) and Elley will be starting kindy for two full days a week so our proper Aussie lives will have begun. It feels as though we are just camping out at the moment. We are happy but often have tinges of sadness. Luckily though the happy outweighs the sad by quite a lot which is great!"
More ups and downs to come methinks
Dave
Dave : "No-one could ever prepare you for this change in your life, it's exciting, frightening, unsure, heartbreaking and full of optimism all at the same time. Western Australia is booming and going through a bizarre period of growth and we're lucky to be a part of it, the future holds a myriad of opportunity for us and more importantly Elley. My family life has improved leaps and bounds, I have the equivalent of 3.5 days a week with the family and get to walk my little girl to school twice a week which is precious. The only downside is that Kayt and I find it a little harder to go out on our own as there's no babysitters on tap! The people here seem to care a bit more about others and will always give you the time of day wherever you are, not like the selfish single mindedness and ignorance of a vast section of the british public. Society is a little more regressive here as well and does take you back a bit to the 80s! There's independent butchers everywhere and independent growers markets everywhere for fruit and veg as well, small business is still king in WA and passionately supported and as much as I know Tescos will take over the world it's nice to have that plethora of small businesses again for as long as it will last. I could go on for hours but won't, I think Oz is growing on me but still am not completely sold, we do love it here and can see ourselves here for at least another couple of years. After that I don't know, but that uncertainty keeps you fresh and on your toes.........................."
Kayt: "I've just read Dave's text and wonder whether it sounds too negative. The truth is that we feel terribly homesick, on occasions, especially after Mum & Dad, and then Mum on her own, visited - great whilst they were here but it shook us for a week after they left. We look around and think my goodness we must be mad for thinking about moving back to England. We have fantastic weather, great activities for Elley and a heap more family time together. I don't have to work but I do know that won't be forever - I'm already beginning to get itchy fingers. And we are building our own home - a fantastic, huge home with our own stamp on it ... yes I know that's materialistic but it's fun. We've also made some great friends whilst we have been here. BUT we can't replace our family, our 'old' friends and just knowing where to go to get clothes that fit or to get coffee that tastes even remotely nice! We are also sad about the huge amount of graffiti, 'hoons', lack of care when Australia Post muck up our mail redirection, hidden costs when buying things (like stamp duty on cars), the many unexpected fees when buying a house. I think we are writing this during a period of homesickness because Mum has not long gone. One friend of ours talks about the first year or so being a honeymoon period and actually I think she is correct. The rose coloured specs are certainly on top of the head now. They come down often but they are not always there. We had a look on the UK real estate website the other day to see what we could get if we moved back to our 'old lives' back in England and then we looked to see if we could replicate our 'new lives' and we'd be in a little pokey old house in the back end of beyond where the weather is crummy and I know we would be really unhappy despite having our friends and family around us. So ... it looks like we are here for a little while longer. We become citizens in another year and then we will sit down and re-evaluate again and see how we feel at that point. We should hopefully be in our new home (we'd better be) and Elley will be starting kindy for two full days a week so our proper Aussie lives will have begun. It feels as though we are just camping out at the moment. We are happy but often have tinges of sadness. Luckily though the happy outweighs the sad by quite a lot which is great!"
More ups and downs to come methinks
Dave
Apr 2nd 2007, 10:29 pm
#2
Account Closed
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 759
Re: Perth a year on.....................
Instead of boring everyone to death with the details and year long life history (not that it's a crime to do that!!) here's our individual snapshot viewpoints a year after getting here..................
Dave : "No-one could ever prepare you for this change in your life, it's exciting, frightening, unsure, heartbreaking and full of optimism all at the same time. Western Australia is booming and going through a bizarre period of growth and we're lucky to be a part of it, the future holds a myriad of opportunity for us and more importantly Elley. My family life has improved leaps and bounds, I have the equivalent of 3.5 days a week with the family and get to walk my little girl to school twice a week which is precious. The only downside is that Kayt and I find it a little harder to go out on our own as there's no babysitters on tap! The people here seem to care a bit more about others and will always give you the time of day wherever you are, not like the selfish single mindedness and ignorance of a vast section of the british public. Society is a little more regressive here as well and does take you back a bit to the 80s! There's independent butchers everywhere and independent growers markets everywhere for fruit and veg as well, small business is still king in WA and passionately supported and as much as I know Tescos will take over the world it's nice to have that plethora of small businesses again for as long as it will last. I could go on for hours but won't, I think Oz is growing on me but still am not completely sold, we do love it here and can see ourselves here for at least another couple of years. After that I don't know, but that uncertainty keeps you fresh and on your toes.........................."
Kayt: "I've just read Dave's text and wonder whether it sounds too negative. The truth is that we feel terribly homesick, on occasions, especially after Mum & Dad, and then Mum on her own, visited - great whilst they were here but it shook us for a week after they left. We look around and think my goodness we must be mad for thinking about moving back to England. We have fantastic weather, great activities for Elley and a heap more family time together. I don't have to work but I do know that won't be forever - I'm already beginning to get itchy fingers. And we are building our own home - a fantastic, huge home with our own stamp on it ... yes I know that's materialistic but it's fun. We've also made some great friends whilst we have been here. BUT we can't replace our family, our 'old' friends and just knowing where to go to get clothes that fit or to get coffee that tastes even remotely nice! We are also sad about the huge amount of graffiti, 'hoons', lack of care when Australia Post muck up our mail redirection, hidden costs when buying things (like stamp duty on cars), the many unexpected fees when buying a house. I think we are writing this during a period of homesickness because Mum has not long gone. One friend of ours talks about the first year or so being a honeymoon period and actually I think she is correct. The rose coloured specs are certainly on top of the head now. They come down often but they are not always there. We had a look on the UK real estate website the other day to see what we could get if we moved back to our 'old lives' back in England and then we looked to see if we could replicate our 'new lives' and we'd be in a little pokey old house in the back end of beyond where the weather is crummy and I know we would be really unhappy despite having our friends and family around us. So ... it looks like we are here for a little while longer. We become citizens in another year and then we will sit down and re-evaluate again and see how we feel at that point. We should hopefully be in our new home (we'd better be) and Elley will be starting kindy for two full days a week so our proper Aussie lives will have begun. It feels as though we are just camping out at the moment. We are happy but often have tinges of sadness. Luckily though the happy outweighs the sad by quite a lot which is great!"
More ups and downs to come methinks
Dave
Dave : "No-one could ever prepare you for this change in your life, it's exciting, frightening, unsure, heartbreaking and full of optimism all at the same time. Western Australia is booming and going through a bizarre period of growth and we're lucky to be a part of it, the future holds a myriad of opportunity for us and more importantly Elley. My family life has improved leaps and bounds, I have the equivalent of 3.5 days a week with the family and get to walk my little girl to school twice a week which is precious. The only downside is that Kayt and I find it a little harder to go out on our own as there's no babysitters on tap! The people here seem to care a bit more about others and will always give you the time of day wherever you are, not like the selfish single mindedness and ignorance of a vast section of the british public. Society is a little more regressive here as well and does take you back a bit to the 80s! There's independent butchers everywhere and independent growers markets everywhere for fruit and veg as well, small business is still king in WA and passionately supported and as much as I know Tescos will take over the world it's nice to have that plethora of small businesses again for as long as it will last. I could go on for hours but won't, I think Oz is growing on me but still am not completely sold, we do love it here and can see ourselves here for at least another couple of years. After that I don't know, but that uncertainty keeps you fresh and on your toes.........................."
Kayt: "I've just read Dave's text and wonder whether it sounds too negative. The truth is that we feel terribly homesick, on occasions, especially after Mum & Dad, and then Mum on her own, visited - great whilst they were here but it shook us for a week after they left. We look around and think my goodness we must be mad for thinking about moving back to England. We have fantastic weather, great activities for Elley and a heap more family time together. I don't have to work but I do know that won't be forever - I'm already beginning to get itchy fingers. And we are building our own home - a fantastic, huge home with our own stamp on it ... yes I know that's materialistic but it's fun. We've also made some great friends whilst we have been here. BUT we can't replace our family, our 'old' friends and just knowing where to go to get clothes that fit or to get coffee that tastes even remotely nice! We are also sad about the huge amount of graffiti, 'hoons', lack of care when Australia Post muck up our mail redirection, hidden costs when buying things (like stamp duty on cars), the many unexpected fees when buying a house. I think we are writing this during a period of homesickness because Mum has not long gone. One friend of ours talks about the first year or so being a honeymoon period and actually I think she is correct. The rose coloured specs are certainly on top of the head now. They come down often but they are not always there. We had a look on the UK real estate website the other day to see what we could get if we moved back to our 'old lives' back in England and then we looked to see if we could replicate our 'new lives' and we'd be in a little pokey old house in the back end of beyond where the weather is crummy and I know we would be really unhappy despite having our friends and family around us. So ... it looks like we are here for a little while longer. We become citizens in another year and then we will sit down and re-evaluate again and see how we feel at that point. We should hopefully be in our new home (we'd better be) and Elley will be starting kindy for two full days a week so our proper Aussie lives will have begun. It feels as though we are just camping out at the moment. We are happy but often have tinges of sadness. Luckily though the happy outweighs the sad by quite a lot which is great!"
More ups and downs to come methinks
Dave
Good to hear everything is still going well for you although I know what you mean about the first 12 months being the honeymoon period. We have been here 14 months now and Mark is blissfully happy. I'm not so sure, although I know that we are very lucky with the life we now have - I still have this nagging feeling that there is something missing. Difficult to explain though.....
We are talking about going back to the UK for a visit late next year/early 2009once we have citizenship. Will be interesting to see how I feel then. Mark's parents have just gone back after a 6 month stay with us (!) and they found everything was so fast-paced back in the UK after staying with us out in Woop Woop!!
Must get round to doing our own update, although often I think people on this forum are not very interested as we don't live in a popular Expat destination
Nicola
Apr 3rd 2007, 6:58 pm
#3
BE Forum Addict
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,612
Re: Perth a year on.....................
Hi Dave and Kayt,
Good to hear everything is still going well for you although I know what you mean about the first 12 months being the honeymoon period. We have been here 14 months now and Mark is blissfully happy. I'm not so sure, although I know that we are very lucky with the life we now have - I still have this nagging feeling that there is something missing. Difficult to explain though.....
We are talking about going back to the UK for a visit late next year/early 2009once we have citizenship. Will be interesting to see how I feel then. Mark's parents have just gone back after a 6 month stay with us (!) and they found everything was so fast-paced back in the UK after staying with us out in Woop Woop!!
Must get round to doing our own update, although often I think people on this forum are not very interested as we don't live in a popular Expat destination
Nicola
Good to hear everything is still going well for you although I know what you mean about the first 12 months being the honeymoon period. We have been here 14 months now and Mark is blissfully happy. I'm not so sure, although I know that we are very lucky with the life we now have - I still have this nagging feeling that there is something missing. Difficult to explain though.....
We are talking about going back to the UK for a visit late next year/early 2009once we have citizenship. Will be interesting to see how I feel then. Mark's parents have just gone back after a 6 month stay with us (!) and they found everything was so fast-paced back in the UK after staying with us out in Woop Woop!!
Must get round to doing our own update, although often I think people on this forum are not very interested as we don't live in a popular Expat destination
Nicola
as for wavy-davy - thanks for the update and your honest comments.....always good to read what kind of feelings might hit once we make the move ourselves....
Apr 3rd 2007, 7:50 pm
#4
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: Gloucester
Posts: 339
Re: Perth a year on.....................
Instead of boring everyone to death with the details and year long life history (not that it's a crime to do that!!) here's our individual snapshot viewpoints a year after getting here..................
Dave : "No-one could ever prepare you for this change in your life, it's exciting, frightening, unsure, heartbreaking and full of optimism all at the same time. Western Australia is booming and going through a bizarre period of growth and we're lucky to be a part of it, the future holds a myriad of opportunity for us and more importantly Elley. My family life has improved leaps and bounds, I have the equivalent of 3.5 days a week with the family and get to walk my little girl to school twice a week which is precious. The only downside is that Kayt and I find it a little harder to go out on our own as there's no babysitters on tap! The people here seem to care a bit more about others and will always give you the time of day wherever you are, not like the selfish single mindedness and ignorance of a vast section of the british public. Society is a little more regressive here as well and does take you back a bit to the 80s! There's independent butchers everywhere and independent growers markets everywhere for fruit and veg as well, small business is still king in WA and passionately supported and as much as I know Tescos will take over the world it's nice to have that plethora of small businesses again for as long as it will last. I could go on for hours but won't, I think Oz is growing on me but still am not completely sold, we do love it here and can see ourselves here for at least another couple of years. After that I don't know, but that uncertainty keeps you fresh and on your toes.........................."
Kayt: "I've just read Dave's text and wonder whether it sounds too negative. The truth is that we feel terribly homesick, on occasions, especially after Mum & Dad, and then Mum on her own, visited - great whilst they were here but it shook us for a week after they left. We look around and think my goodness we must be mad for thinking about moving back to England. We have fantastic weather, great activities for Elley and a heap more family time together. I don't have to work but I do know that won't be forever - I'm already beginning to get itchy fingers. And we are building our own home - a fantastic, huge home with our own stamp on it ... yes I know that's materialistic but it's fun. We've also made some great friends whilst we have been here. BUT we can't replace our family, our 'old' friends and just knowing where to go to get clothes that fit or to get coffee that tastes even remotely nice! We are also sad about the huge amount of graffiti, 'hoons', lack of care when Australia Post muck up our mail redirection, hidden costs when buying things (like stamp duty on cars), the many unexpected fees when buying a house. I think we are writing this during a period of homesickness because Mum has not long gone. One friend of ours talks about the first year or so being a honeymoon period and actually I think she is correct. The rose coloured specs are certainly on top of the head now. They come down often but they are not always there. We had a look on the UK real estate website the other day to see what we could get if we moved back to our 'old lives' back in England and then we looked to see if we could replicate our 'new lives' and we'd be in a little pokey old house in the back end of beyond where the weather is crummy and I know we would be really unhappy despite having our friends and family around us. So ... it looks like we are here for a little while longer. We become citizens in another year and then we will sit down and re-evaluate again and see how we feel at that point. We should hopefully be in our new home (we'd better be) and Elley will be starting kindy for two full days a week so our proper Aussie lives will have begun. It feels as though we are just camping out at the moment. We are happy but often have tinges of sadness. Luckily though the happy outweighs the sad by quite a lot which is great!"
More ups and downs to come methinks
Dave
Dave : "No-one could ever prepare you for this change in your life, it's exciting, frightening, unsure, heartbreaking and full of optimism all at the same time. Western Australia is booming and going through a bizarre period of growth and we're lucky to be a part of it, the future holds a myriad of opportunity for us and more importantly Elley. My family life has improved leaps and bounds, I have the equivalent of 3.5 days a week with the family and get to walk my little girl to school twice a week which is precious. The only downside is that Kayt and I find it a little harder to go out on our own as there's no babysitters on tap! The people here seem to care a bit more about others and will always give you the time of day wherever you are, not like the selfish single mindedness and ignorance of a vast section of the british public. Society is a little more regressive here as well and does take you back a bit to the 80s! There's independent butchers everywhere and independent growers markets everywhere for fruit and veg as well, small business is still king in WA and passionately supported and as much as I know Tescos will take over the world it's nice to have that plethora of small businesses again for as long as it will last. I could go on for hours but won't, I think Oz is growing on me but still am not completely sold, we do love it here and can see ourselves here for at least another couple of years. After that I don't know, but that uncertainty keeps you fresh and on your toes.........................."
Kayt: "I've just read Dave's text and wonder whether it sounds too negative. The truth is that we feel terribly homesick, on occasions, especially after Mum & Dad, and then Mum on her own, visited - great whilst they were here but it shook us for a week after they left. We look around and think my goodness we must be mad for thinking about moving back to England. We have fantastic weather, great activities for Elley and a heap more family time together. I don't have to work but I do know that won't be forever - I'm already beginning to get itchy fingers. And we are building our own home - a fantastic, huge home with our own stamp on it ... yes I know that's materialistic but it's fun. We've also made some great friends whilst we have been here. BUT we can't replace our family, our 'old' friends and just knowing where to go to get clothes that fit or to get coffee that tastes even remotely nice! We are also sad about the huge amount of graffiti, 'hoons', lack of care when Australia Post muck up our mail redirection, hidden costs when buying things (like stamp duty on cars), the many unexpected fees when buying a house. I think we are writing this during a period of homesickness because Mum has not long gone. One friend of ours talks about the first year or so being a honeymoon period and actually I think she is correct. The rose coloured specs are certainly on top of the head now. They come down often but they are not always there. We had a look on the UK real estate website the other day to see what we could get if we moved back to our 'old lives' back in England and then we looked to see if we could replicate our 'new lives' and we'd be in a little pokey old house in the back end of beyond where the weather is crummy and I know we would be really unhappy despite having our friends and family around us. So ... it looks like we are here for a little while longer. We become citizens in another year and then we will sit down and re-evaluate again and see how we feel at that point. We should hopefully be in our new home (we'd better be) and Elley will be starting kindy for two full days a week so our proper Aussie lives will have begun. It feels as though we are just camping out at the moment. We are happy but often have tinges of sadness. Luckily though the happy outweighs the sad by quite a lot which is great!"
More ups and downs to come methinks
Dave
you sound like you're having a nice time overall though, and I hope it stays like that for you.
Best wishes
Denise
