Phil & Vikki

With the way that mortgages are going up, would not be surprised if things on the whole get worse before they get better. Sydney seems to be having issues at the moment, but not sure if that is all across the country, but would think it is. Hopefully mortgages do not go up much more as if they do owners will be forced to sell up as they cannot afford the repayments. This will in turn lower the amount of rental property available.

From some of the posts that we have read in the past our understanding was that the three year rule had been scrapped now. Every student had to pay the same fees to go to uni these days and there was no special reduced rate for local students as apposed to international students. That may be wrong and we hope it is, as we are moving back and want our kids to go to uni if the choose to, without high costs. If the three years rule has been scrapped then you could go at any time.

Thanks for the replies and likes. Yes we believe that it is all about where is best for our family at this moment in time. Not hate or love the place, but where is going to work best. The hope is that with keeping the place we will have the option to return in the future, if we decide that the UK is not the right place for us all then. Been thinking about it for a bit now but only booked the flights a couple of weeks ago. So now we have the mad rush in doing the place up. Late nights with a roller in our hand lol.

Well after closer to 8 (than 7 years) in Sydney, our Australian journey has come to an end, at least for now. We say journey and not dream, as we do not see this as the end (full stop), we see it as something we need to do at this current time. We have decided that our life would be better in the UK, by family and friends. Just over a year ago, our eldest son decided he wanted to go back to the UK to live with grandparents. This was so that he could start high school with the rest of the year. We let him decide and fully supported he decision. This worked out really well and he has done great in school and scouts too. The overall idea behind this move was that we know the path our life as a family was going to take, so if we had him settled, that would be one pressure off the whole move back. The last few months have been a whirlwind and so busy. We have now booked the flights, notices have been given and are being worked and we are doing up our apartment like crazy as we intend to rent it out. With only weeks to go it is starting to feel real lol. We have our place back in the UK which we will be moving back into until we get our feet back on the ground and then go from there. It is not ideal as it is only a three bed detached and we need four bedrooms. However, it is paid off and rent free. So we will have to make do for the moment J We have decided to keep our Sydney apartment (just a few stops from the cbd) and will rent it out. We are currently doing it up now like crazy to get it ready to be rented out. With the downturn in the property market and may be wanting to come back in a few years, we have decided to keep it for now and see how renting goes. We have been able to save a years’ worth of rent to cover any time when it is not rented out. However, if things get too bad we will sell it on. It was a hard decision to keep and rent our apartment, as if we sold it; we would be able to get a very, very nice place in Kidderminster. However, we are trying to look at this long term. Our daughter will say bye to her old school on Tuesday, we fly on the Wednesday and she starts her new school the following Tuesday. No long 6 weeks holiday for her this year, as she will miss it in Australia and just miss it in the UK. She will be going to the same scout troop that her brother goes to and she is looking forward to starting both school and scouts. Our little boy will be going to the same day care that his elder brother and sister went to a few days a week. Then when we have jobs, he will go full-time. Phil will return back to Australia to sort out the final things and then come back to the UK in the near future. The only issues/concerns that we have are the fact that we are returning to no jobs, but hopefully we will be able to get something soon enough. We are going to use all our contacts and see how we get on. It would be nice to have a rest though for a few weeks. We have the shippers coming in next week and currently we are in sorting out “junk” that we do not want to pay to have rubbish shipped back again. Last weekend we spent Sunday sorting out boxes in the garage and throwing away things that we no longer needed or used. It feels good to do that now and then. We are not leaving because we “do not love Australia any more” we are leaving because it is right for us as a family now, right time and right situation. True, we wish we had a month or two more to get things totally sorted so we all could stay in the UK, but sometimes it does not work out like that. By no means do we “hate Australia”, in fact we are both leaving very good jobs and a great apartment that had doubled in value in the last 5 years. We like Australia very much and may return when the time is right, but we want to be in the UK now with aging family and friends we have known since we were young. We all see this as a big adventure and we are looking forward to it, possibly more so our eldest who is already there. True, it is a lot of pressure, but we see it as a new chapter. Sorry for it being long, but we just wanted to let anyone know (who is going back home) that this sort of thing does not always need to be seen as a downer, but it can also be an exciting opportunity. Hope that it helps a few with their move.

Cheers. We have heard that it has been a good summer. Shame to not be there enjoying the long summer evenings in a country beer garden.

We ae moving back to the UK in a few weeks and yes there are certainly things that we are going to miss about Sydney. One of the main this is what we class as real Asian food. Yes it is nice in the UK but for some reason it seems to be more authentic here. We will miss our life and our place. We will not miss the heat and the sweating so much, but we will be leaving g with four days memories. Australia had been good to us and our third child was born here. All our kids have both UK and Australian passports, so they can come back when they want. We would like to come back at some point but for now we need to go home. The one thing that we will not miss is the long flight back to the UK every Christmas. With a new born that is a real bit of a pain.

Actually, there is no suggestion that the father will break the family up and that the mother will come back alone. The original post says that the father is easy either way, in regards to staying or returning. Not that he will stay here alone. That is how we read the post anyway.

Totally agree with the comments above. At the age of 20 you can say OK if you will not go back then you stay here on your own. Let's see how much shine friends and the life here has when she is unable to pay rent or buy food. We have a son born in Oz and we are moving back in a few weeks. We do not see any issues. He, like the rest of us has a UK and Australia passport. So for us settings g things up and getting him all set in the UK should be easy. Things like family allowance can be a bit of a pain if they only have an Australia passport. Like already said your 20 year old daughter will leave at some point. Now though she has two choices if you do go. Stay on her own or come back with her family.

We are in the pretty much the same position. Wife and the kids are going back in three weeks time and at that time we will get the shippers in and get most of the stuff. I will be staying back for a month or two to get things finished on our place ready for renting. During this time I will need tool's and clothed, etc. Have you got that many tools being left over to warrant a cube? We are going to look at a few boxes of things to go later. This is working out at a few hundred dollars.

We are planning a trip back the end of next month, so we may just of missed it. Shame, but the weather will still be nice. Wife and kids will stay in our house and I will return for a bit to finish wrapping things up. Then I will return before Xmas

Yes it sure does sound like it is a nice place to be at the moment with the weather and everything going on. I too have heard a few people complaining about the heat though. When we talk to friends and family and we hear that, it does make us laugh. Try 40 during the day and 30 at night with no aircon Love the UK summer nights, nice and warm and light until late. Combine that with a nice beer garden in the country and you have a winning combination. In short yes we do wish we were there now enjoying it.Bottom of Form

That is the one thing that we are glad about. When we left the UK we were in a position not to have to sell our place, so we kept it. It has not been easy renting out but now when returning back to the UK to a 3 bed house with no mortgage or rent to pay. We are glad we didn't sell.

Oh yes in the past it did get you a fair bit, but now your penny does not go far at all. We had high expectations when we got here only to have them cut down after a few months of every Saturday looking around places that our money would get us. The funny thing is that if you do not buy it, someone else will here in Sydney. Places that before we would not let our dog stay in (if we had one) we were thinking that may be with a coat of paint we may be abe to live there. That is one thing I do not see Sydney crashing the same way as what Perth did. However, there are clear signs that the market is slowing down. When we got here we did notice how far behind the place was generally. They do not tell you that on the shows and at the expos lol.

Yep back to good old Kiddy. The time away has also made us realise that England is not as bad as people make it out to be and that we had a good life there before we left. Stourbridge is a nice pace close enough to the big smoke and to the countryside. When we moved we wanted something new. A new challenge. To a certain amount we were "fooled" by TV programs and expos about how good life was down under. The fact that you could sell your semi in the UK and buy a 4 bed detached house here (with pool). However, we soon found that was not the case and in places like Sydney, your money does not go far at all. We are coming back for now due to family issues and the want of again something better. We do not hate Australia and in fact with keeping our place here and renting it out, we may look at returning later down the like. We do have a greater appreciation of the UK and what it has to offer though.

We have decided too that we are making the move back home to the west midlands. We have been in Sydney now for just over 7 year's and feel the time is right for a move. Yes we are excited and keep on talking about the tings we will do. However, there is a fair bit of worry too lol. It is hard to say when we will all be back as we are doing it in stages but hope to be back as a family by Christmas. The eldest son is already back and settled in school and scouts. My wife and two other kids are going back in August so our 9 yer old daughter can start school. We have already got her into a school near our house. I will be finishing things off here to get our appartment ready to rent and then will return to the UK. When we left the UK we decided not to sell our house. Our three bed house with no mortgage. Now we are returning to it was are so grateful we didn't seel so many years ago.