Reading fan

Sorry not been on-line alot recently but we are in Adelaide for 1 more day.We have decided to go home and we fly out on Tues.Good luck to everyone for a happy life.

PS Had a fanatastic day today snorkelling at Noarlunga we will miss it.

bluekipper

Back to the UK?

wish you all the very best in wherever you settle!

Bluekipper

quoll

You certainly do seem to have been on a bit of a rollercoaster over this past few weeks. I hope that whatever you do works out for the best, it isnt easy living with your head in one place and your heart in another. The pulls of both places do make you dissatisfied with the other, unfortunately. All the best!

Reading fan

Just thought I would post a quick update.

We have now been back in the uk for approx 5 weeks - had some fun in the snow and we are now looking forward to spring - the days are getting slightly warmer and the snowdrops and crocus are out.

We have found a rental - rents have definitely fallen. The year we left we were paying £1800 pm for a 4 bed, now we are paying £1050 for a similar size - not as nice but it will do us fine. We are staying with friends until our stuff arrives (not until end of March) - it will have been 5 months turnaround - we cannot wait to get our stuff.
The biggest downfall at the mo is that we left on Nov 4th with one suitcase each containing summer clothes. We still only have that 1 suitcase each and have had to borrow boots,coats etc from friends. It becomes a bit depressing wearing the same outfit day in day out - shorts etc is definitely a better option.

It was very weird taking the children back to school - they went back to the same school - it was as if we had only been away a couple of weeks. We didn't tell anyone we were coming back so there were alot of shocked faces !

Although we had only been away for 3 mths we were shocked at how quickly things have changed - I think job losses are obviously regional and depend on what sectors people are working in. We live in the south of england about 50 miles west of London - alot of IT,Telecommunications,building and banking jobs. We now know lots of people who have been made redundant. My hubby is a chippie but can't work because no tools until the container arrives - he has been putting the feelers out at the moment - everyone has reduced their rates and all competing for the same jobs.

The highstreets are horrible - boarded up shops.

We are still driving around in a hire car - no market for new cars but second hand car market very buoyant.

Houses do seem much better value for money and some are selling IF you are a cash purchaser or have a whacking deposit. We put an offer in on a place last week - they had had 46 viewings and accepted offer over the asking price. Our financial guy who is a mortgage broker received 1800 mortgage applications last month and only 6 were approved - that is scary.

It has been great to see the children settled and it will be heaven to be in our own place - sharing a house at our age is crap ! the fun really has gone after the first week ! I can't queue for the loo anymore.

Is this it ? For the moment we never stay never life would be too boring then. I have come to the conclusion that we are probably screwed for the rest of our lives - moved abroad 3 times now doesn't take long for itchy feet to start again although hubby and I have sworn to shoot each other if moving overseas is ever mentioned again.
I think at the end of the day many many people make a go of it Oz and have the most fantastic lives - I wish we could have been one of them. Unfortunately for us we could move back (financially) so maybe the incentive to make it work no matter what wasn't there - somehow I feel it would have been braver to stay than to return (does that sound strange ?).

Are we pleased to be back at the moment yes.

Good luck to all future ping pongers - it is a horrible hard decision.

glittababe

we did ok, no regrets X

Mrs Kiwi

I am about to find out what the chances of ping ponging success are - we're off to Oz in 5 weeks time after living in NZ and then returning to the UK.

Like ABC Diamond, when I left NZ I hated it and thought I'd never leave the UK again in a million years.

However, 8 years on, we're going to give Oz a go and I've written myself some golden rules for our new life in Oz that I hope will help me settle;

1) DON'T THINK TOO MUCH
2) DON'T COMPARE OZ AND THE UK
3) ACCEPT THAT HOMESICKNESS IS NORMAL
4) SAY YES TO EVERY INVITATION
5) IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE "FOREVER"

Those issues were essentially why I didn't settle in NZ. I had too much time on my hands so ended up thinking endlessly about where I belonged, comparing the UK and NZ and dwelling on missing family & friends. I also turned down more than one invitation to dinner, cinema, days out that I should have leapt at as a chance of making friends.

I also kept thinking I had to make a decision about where I wanted to be and stick to it forever. Talk about putting pressure on yourself!

Lets hope I stick to these rules, be interesting to see if they work....

(Of course we've got to bloody get jobs too!)

bluekipper

Thats spot on, your list is brill,ping ponging is not wrong, its best way to do it for some ppl, you learn where you went wrong, you learn how to change you opinions and way of thinking, you alo realise not to comapre and not to view everything negatively!

Good luck to us all who are intending to ping pong

pajones

Did your hubby find work in oz, we have been back in the uk ten months,but really miss Australia.Work is better here for me, I work for myself Plumbing and heating .There's a lot of red tape to get a Plumbing licence in Perth.Also the wages are better here in the uk.But Perth is a lovely place.Might be a ping ponger.

majohnno

So true and agree with everything you have said.we moved out to NZ in 2003 me wife and daughter.daughter moved to perth in 2007 so me and wife came back to UK last october as we were thinking we could settle back,you know,see a bit more of UK and europe etc.WELLLL..we bought a house in Lincolnshire in December but the day all our stuff arrived with PSS we hit the wall!.just an awful sense of feeling in the wrong place and reality bite.Our daughter misses us as we do her so now looks like we are heading there,We do have kiwi passports and i have a job offer there plus we will rent the house here.We are feeling quite anxious about the upheaval again and the "what ifs" so would appreciate some encouragement through this forum

bluekipper

I would say, we are lucky, we have those lovely visa`s, we can have a 2nd, 3rd and even 4 th chance if we so wish, I personally feel so privalaged, I think the ppl who settle best are the ones who dont have very high expectations, not materialistic and are prepared to start at the bottom again!


I would say, good luck to all who go back again for another go,, you are the ones who realise life in OZ can be good if you give it a good shot!

Bluekipper