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Here we go again! Same garbage spouted when a young couple want to start a new life in a country they love. @Blue Flujust put a sock in it, mate, all you seem to do is whinge about everyrhing Austalian and then rabbit on about global politics. Get out of the rut and enjoy life, there’s a good lad. Cheers, Bobj.

Visa was finally granted overnight. Let the fun begin. Omg crying this morning.

Last Friday, my little Lahsa Apso, Chlo, died at Age 15. On the following Monday, I went to the Mackay RSPCA shelter and adopted two 2 year old fox terriers. When I contacted my “daughter”, Katie. She told me that when she was talking to my wife, Jo that when Chloe died, , that Jo hoped for a foxy for our next dog. We have not been without some make of dog since we mwet, over 48 years ago. My new mutts, Titch, in the red harness and Shorty in the blue one. Jo died 7 months ago… Providence? Cheers, Bobj.

Josh has made it to 1st Lieutenant in under 2.5 yrs on return from the pictured last trip to sea. Covid was the best thing that happened for him. As a personal trainer he had no job security at the time and this was his route to job security. 2nd from left. Some of the long term members here may remember him as a teen

Hi to all on PIO, A little update hope you and yours are all well X It has been a roller coaster over the last few months; since I last wrote on here I have been very busy (did I expect anything else) .....side note a rather experienced health care professional recently discussed a potential diagnosis (off the record and not official) of ADHD ..for me ...cheeky ...but something for me to consider ...when I get time....is this why I never settled in Aus? I am no longer employed as a Paramedic around Manchester.....................(an amazing bunch of people to work with) Because I am now employed as a Paramedic for the Welsh ambulance service I am finally home following some intense interviews, clinical tests and a months' worth of blue light emergency driving assessments ... I got the Job for the people of Wales (and England as we operate over the border).. I am proud to serve all before me, regardless, it is a privilege to serve all..... I have also found a very small 350-year-old! cottage in a small village ...that I have been accepted for a mortgage for. I have to be honest I have had many 'wobbles' over the past few months... I am in some ways my own worst enemy...maybe I like to test / torture myself.. for example, I have set up a screen saver on my desktop computer ..it scrolls past pictures of my children and my life in Australia ...I love seeing my children's pictures scroll past, aaaaand it absolutely destroys me at the same time .... I miss them, that aching has not and will never go away... My wife (ex wife) I cannot as yet get used to the past tense in that statement, has definitely moved on as she has had a number of ..liasons, dates what ever you want to call them...and has now got a stable partner again, I am happy that she is happy again.....but it is a very bitter pill to swallow. If I am honest....I still miss her ... I carry my wedding ring around with me in my 'manbag' which goes every where with me ....yes I know this is not probably healthy but it suits me ..for now...after all I am thousands of miles away, I recently went on a coffee date....I enjoyed myself (nothing physical), I was honest, ridiculous though it sounds I felt guilty for meeting another women...I guess its to soon for me.... Many times I have wanted to go back...but the logical part of me realises that that would be harder than staying put....plus my wife (ex) has said I cannot go back..... being single again, in mid-life presents new challenges, it is at times very lonely and without purpose, once you have been a functional father being without your children and partner sets you adrift .... I now can see those that are also invisible, ....as I am also invisible....I shop at the large super-markets ...I sometimes feel embarrassment, ...a cursory nod to those in the same boat ...until you wear the uniform of singularity you will not know how this feels..... I have never noticed to quote the Beatles ' All the lonely people' before.....(next time you are shopping really take a look)...its the person with a small milk and micro meals.... Anyhow I am hopeful to complete on my (and my children's) small cottage in a small Welsh village within the next month...it needs work...but then so do I .... don't we all....I absolutely love my Job....I make a difference , every day.... I make sure of it.....the 93 yr. old who was my patient recently...we both sat and ate cake and tea ...we may be from different decades... but we are the same .....

Today is a good day. I have received my 143 visa. Application February 2017 Request for medicals/police clearance/AoS November 2022 - all submitted Nov/Dec 22. Request for second payment last week and payment made. Visa granted 1st June. Grateful to Alan Collett and his team at Go Matilda. They have been fantastic. Excellence at its best. 

Iknowcb... 15 days until we fly!! Have been unbelievably busy. Finished up work now, getting rid of a few more things and arranging things for my new job in Aus (not so much though as most of it I can't do until I'm in the country). I start 2 weeks after we land so not a lot of time to relax, actually no time to relax haha. We are in an air bnb for the first month so we can use that time to look for a place to live. I know some people secure a place to live before they arrive but we want to be there in person to make sure we pick the right place. Have a goodbye party this week too, definitely going to get emotional! Been getting upset at the thought of leaving everyone but it is what it is...still very excited for our journey I also got engaged a few weeks ago

We know life in Australia isn't better than life in the UK - it's just different. Nit picking differences between two really good countries really is @FirstWorldProblems. But for me there are some things that are just better in Australia and as our 2026 move gets closer these are things I'm excited to take advantage of and stay focussed on. Sydney is a breathtakingly pretty city. No matter how bad things were at work or with life, catching a ferry to and from Circular Quay always left me chilled and happy. Most winter days are around 20 degrees at some point - warm enough to be able to spend the weekend outdoors in shorts and a t-shirt Blue skies. Even though there's 50% more rain in Sydney than where I live, there are nowhere near as many days where it's just cloudy all day/week/month. A blue sky makes everything look better and makes me feel better Lebanese parties. The wife has a big, big extended family. There's a wedding or another reason to party every few months and the Lebbo's know how to party. Everyone gets up to dance the dabke, the sound of the drums and the spectacularly over-the-top bride and groom entrance - all wonderful. Having a pool and the weather to use it. We''ll be early 50's when we move back and if we're lucky there will be grandchildren before too many years pass. I love the idea of goofing around with them in the pool every visit. Al-fresco dining for most of the year. We love to eat outside. Proximity to Asia. I'm really looking forward to taking holidays in a part of the world that we have not explored yet. I'm going to make a really nice outdoor entertaining space with an outdoor kitchen area. Somewhere we really enjoy being. Exploring somewhere new. I don't know what suburb we'll end up in, but it's almost certainly going to be somewhere we don't know well, or at all. I'm looking forward to exploring every street, and reserve on our walks or on my runs I'm looking forward to joining a triathlon club to help me make new friends, learn where the best runs, rides and swims are and exploring all of those. There are some great looking coastal walks that I am keen for us to do of an evening or weekend. Enjoying the epic scenery on those early evenings when the weather is warm but not uncomfortable hot. Bunnings. Bunnings is great. I was wearing my Bunnings cap today when I went down to Homebase - which just doesn't compare. OK B&Q is probably better but I don't have one nearby Parking spaces that modern day cars actually fit into Seeing my wife re-connect with her family. They are close and annual visits just aren't the same. Giving all that up to support me for >20 years was incredibly selfless. I look forward to seeing how much joy she gets out of being back with them all. This is a very personal list that compares our life in a Warwickshire town to life in the big city. What aspect of day to day live is better for you in Australia?

I will also benefit, but I am also smart enough to recognize that in addition to lots of hard work over many years, I also benefitted from being born white, in an prosperous part of a developed western country with high education standards, went to a school that encouraged us to believe we could go to university, to parents who believe in hard work and making the most of your opportunities. I also had a great group of friends at school who helped me stay on the right side of doing too many stupid things, and have been fortunate in being in the right place at the right time career wise. Lots of people don't get these starts in life, and it is no bad thing to pay a bit more tax to help boost them up.

I agree with this. I have stopped asking questions in this forum cos they inevitably take over the post going on and on about the same old thing over and over again. Its like a weird obsession. One of my posts (asking advice about Port Macquarie) got shut down because they took it on such a tangent.. I even went on a different forum to get away from it and there was clearly the same poster spouting the same stuff on there aswell. I know not relevant to the post (sorry) but I do think it needs to be called out as they are ruining this forum for everyone else who are just after some advice. On the topic however I have friends in Mandurah who absolutely love it and I am moving there myself in Sept. I have absolutely no concerns despite birdflus attempts..

I've known since the first week I've been here that I will eventually move back to the UK. My partner feels the same way. It's a funny thing really - I've spent almost a decade aiming to return to Aus after travelling here years ago and wanting give it a go at living here. But it took me being on the other side of the world to truly realise that I couldn't imagine spending the rest of my life in another country to my family. I think now that I'm in my 30s I've become more family orientated and maybe more family dependent. I used to see family at least fortnightly. And I never disliked where I lived in the UK either. My partner and I have been here for 3 months now, and obviously that isn't long enough to give it time to settle. I'm enjoying where I am and getting settled in with work and we make the most of our days off exploring but I think at some point the pull of family will make is return. In the mean time will make the most of being in Oz.

@Blue Flu, I was waiting for your apology to the original poster, who has had to unsubscribe from his own thread because you're intent on arguing with someone about a totally different subject. But oh no, you've got to keep on thumping away. If you have an argument with another person on someone else's thread, take it to the messaging system. This forum is not your personal soapbox.

The reality is, in my view alone, Australia is still much better than the UK. Just a more laid back attitude and simple pleasures (heat, beach, more outdoor spaces). I probably earn less than I did in the UK (yes I'm that one guy who didn't get paid more when moving here) but it goes further. I live slap bang in Sydney's Inner West, there isn't really a more expensive lifestyle anywhere in Australia but it's still hands down more fun than anywhere in London. Is it perfect ? Certainly not, but I don't see the crime cess pit and drug addled youth that others seem to say is everywhere, yes plenty of drugs in Newtown but it's the "recreational" variety not the "life ruined" demogeaphic That said drugs in the modern world are like rats in the London underground. If you can't see some straight in front you it's because you aren't looking hard enough. That said it's mainly innocuous and certainly it is way more prevalent in the cities in the UK and US than AUS

I would say that you were out of order speaking to a young lad like that, don’t you know that your not aloud too speak to kids like that anymore. The young lad could well end up with anxiety from this

I came to Australia from the North of England on a WHV in 2015, met my partner here, ended up staying. I’ve been back four times since and the last trip back, which was recently, was when I truly decided I can’t spend the rest of my life here. We live in Sydney and while Sydney is great if you are high earners, if you’re not, it just isn’t affordable compared to where I’m from. Slightly regret not bringing my partner back in 2017 instead of applying for the partner visa. It cost us 6k, which was a lot of money to us. I know by now we’d have a mortgage on a house there. Buying a house in Sydney is just out of the question for us. My dad died last year. We went over for a few weeks to support my mum who has very poor health herself and it was heartbreaking having to leave. I have a younger sister and I would like to be able to see her more. The flights are getting more and more expensive, too. Probably too expensive for us to afford but I can’t not visit my mum. I have never really found ever type of friends here who I had in the UK who share a similar ethos on life. The friends I have I don’t see that often and after this visit and being able to see friends properly for the first time in a few years I realised how lonely I am here. The sad thing is I have kind of gotten used to it. I miss the countryside deeply and I’m not a beach/hot weather person. I do appreciate I am living in a country that is a dream to be in for so many, it was just never really my plan to move overseas. So I suppose I have a multitude of reasons really but I know this last trip home I felt a sense of inner peace/contentment I haven’t in a long while and I know I have to get back some day. I am unsure when it will be. We have pets, a toddler and plan on trying for another soon. But I hope before it’s too late.

That's sad I've been out of the loop here what with poor health whilst juggling admin on two FB groups and being Secretary and Duty Officer Coordinator of our local fish stocking association. Seems like I've got busier as I've got older and more decrepit I'm going to be a grumpa again in a few weeks.

Anyone sending private messages like that should be banned imho.

NO ONE has any right to be offended just because Australia doesn't suit you. I'm sorry some morons have sent you messages like that. As Toots says, you know where we are if you need to vent.

Well thanks to everyone who commented and we took advice and went round visiting some lovely places. It wasn’t all that bad. But can I reiterate, ANYTHING I put in here it solely my opinion based on my situation. I don’t go out to offend folks as a few are very patriotic about OZ and the private messages telling me I’m wrong, I should go home if I don’t like it blah blah blah… IM TRYING!! If it was that easy. I am one of the folk who hasn’t adjusted to being here and only trying to help folk in the same bubble as me that life isn’t always bubbly and unicorns and shiny after making such a big decision. That doesn’t mean to say I hate here. It’s just not home. Darwin or Perth. But I make the best out of a bad situation and try my low brow humour to help. But this will be my last post anyways. Good luck to all who move and sincerely, all the love in the world on your day to day sh!t.

I know no one will care but... today's my birthday!

Don’t blame you, unfortunately time after time threads are taken over by a poster, and deteriorate into online ‘I know better than everyone else’ , especially if the thread can then include the use of illegal drugs, even if irrelevant to the original post. I wish you all the best with your decision, both my children followed us here in their 30’s. sadly they don’t have children, but they love their lives here, as does my son and family who are equally happy in Bristol. No one place suits everyone. The Sunshine Coast is fabulous place to live for families judging by the young families I know., x M

We will need help I think for a while, have to be realistic and accept offers of help, which have already been kindly offered. Our son lives in Brisbane an hour away. We do have some lovely friends, and good neighbors, one friend of my son came yesterday to help get my supper and tidy up while son and husband rushed of to A&E. I can obviously do things, and am, but would be stupid to not to be careful, till my check up, and I can’t risk my right shoulder giving way.. certainly a steep learning curve.

Yippee I’m finally going home, had a good MOT, hopefully just a blip, should be sorted out now. nothing too serious thankfully, because I’m a grey haired old granny they thought I needed looking after, got to take it easy for a while, and fingers crossed I stay well. Shan’t miss my 5am Ecg’s!!!

All the best with making a decision but you have probably just answered your question there. We had never been to Aus before we moved here but it was always in my head for some reason to try living here. My biggest fear of moving here was not moving here (if that makes sense). I didn’t want to end up like most the guys I worked with in 20 years time saying I wish I had done that. Your only here once and our old life in the UK will always be there if ever we wanted to go back, but there will be no more “what ifs” as we will have at least tried living here. We came here (Me,Wife & 2 girls 10 & 5) with no job offers, nowhere to live and didn’t know anyone. We had a plan and luckily we nailed every step of it and soon settled in. Fast forward 3yrs we are all happy, have an extra addition to the the family who is 1 and also should have our house which we have had built finished in 6 weeks time. If you are struggling to find reasons to move here then there’s no point fighting it, if you stay in the UK I’m sure you will still have a good life, it will just be different that’s all.

Barramundi fishing all year round. A 2 minutes walk to 2 pristine beaches and a view of the Fabulous Whitsundays. Living in a National Park, Wallabies, bandicoots, whistle and burdekin ducks on most lawns, mango, frangipani and poinciana trees in most gardens. Cheers, Bobj.