stacybird123

Hi Myself 33, hubby 36 and our four children are moving to helensvale may/june time, any other people on their way ?? would be great to chat and see how people are progressing with the move :-))))). Stacy & Jason

Myself 33, hubby, 36 and four children, 11,9,6,3... Moving to Queensland (helensvale) hope to arrive in may. Cannot wait!! ;-)))))

Unfortunately my business means i have to be based in australia for it to work, its not ecommerce or anything. My uk business is here http://www.carpetvan.co.uk , had the same thing going in oz but like i say the local stores didnt approve of a mobile showroom store under cutting them, to which is understandable in a way as their argument was that they had rates, rents and more overheads to deal with so was not able to compete with my model.

good points, and also not the whole story because if you too came as an immigrant to uk in the 60's and brought 1 or 2 houses then you too would not be far away. Infact looking at the population figures in the other threads in my lifetime uk population has not grown as much as we are led to believe. The worlds population is growing as people living longer so in reality everywhere is getting harder and more competitive/expensive. I also guess this is why alot of third world countries are now up and coming. Infact if cycles are anything to go by, we in uk have had our blip and things should get better from here you would think. Where as australia is still very much in need of a correction.

sorry, just generalising but assuming if you brought a property or 2 and now retired you should be close

WA was a huge disapointment to us in the end. It seems the time to go to oz was maybe when my uncle came as a 10 pound pom, he is now a millionaire like most poms who came then, I cant see that cycle repeating, infact australia will get its own blip first imo before any further sustainable growth but just my opinion, and then maybe then that will be the time to go for it, but this could be years away yet. The opportunity is not there now due to the cost of houses mainly, and this is not worth the sacrifrice of worst schools and lack of things to do. Really really fraustrating because my business in oz was making amazing money and the australian's just loved the concept and I was in at the beginning, the first to do it but then my competitors complained and i was shut out and closed down basically. I look now sometimes on google adwords australia and see that still there is no competition and I could seriously do well. These are the reasons I came to oz for the opportunities. Some ways I think its a good thing as they try to protect things and industries better than us but in some ways change is a good thing. Its still a tough one because for all australia's faults it still probably offers my kids a better future but who knows. New Zealand probably right now offers better opportunity infact, more affordable housing for a start, can actually get acreage properties at affordable prices but again slow pace lifestyle. O well, many thanks for the advice, Im certainly going to find out more about the return visa just in case.

Is this true?, i was under the impression to apply for that you have to prove you intend to go to australia very soon or special circumstances?, please advise Australia is definately lacking in everything but If I can hold out with an extension that would be great news and take the pressure off abit incase I see things differently in the future.

I know what your saying and its probably 80 % ill stay in uk but I fear I may regret it someday possibly when i can appreciate the laid back life more. As for starting visa from stratch, then no I would not do that, its now or never to be honest or at least until july 2014 when my pr runs out. Another reason is our best friends we met out there think we are mad to move back but they are 10 years older than us and maybe we will see things differently in the future.

Hi, have not posted in a while so here is a bit of an update and also some insight for people contemplating the move. If you look at our previous posts, years ago now, you can see we were in holiday, rose tinted mode, and I feel didnt give a true fair reflection of our experience in australia to this point anyway, and perhaps alot of poster here do the same thing that is to intially love australia and belittle the uk, but once they have actually lived in oz for at least 2 years, I feel give a fairer account. Long story Short, We immigrated to Perth in Nov 2009 and was not so keen on perth NOR or SOR after staying in both for a while first. Eventually we settled in Halls head because we loved the lifestyle and quietness of Mandurah. Anyway we loved our first and second years there but eventually run out of things to do to be honest and kids were not being fulfilled like they was in the uk with alton towers, southend's adventure island, London, chelmsford riverside centre and general clubs and sure starts we have here in the uk. After 2 years there we moved back home to uk as we already had our home there as we rented it out. We have been back a while now in the uk and have done so much in that time which has been amazing, we really have seen that the uk is a great great country with so much more going on and we have more fulfillment for sure. Problem is we have only just started to ponder that we made a mistake coming back and maybe we should have tried a different state or another town in WA. We never felt terrible homesickness when we where there and we could have got through any homesickness as we really dont have any close family in the uk we see that often, but the main issue was boredom, lack of opportunity due to high cost of everything, no decent theme parks or days out, schools were not on par, lack of ability to change or adapt to fresh ideas etc etc. My 176 permanent visa will expire in july 2014 so not sure if i should give it another go or not. Im quite happy here in the uk and people say theres no jobs or opportunity here but i have more op here than i did in australia as I have set up my own business again here in the uk and doing ok, something I tried to do in mandurah but got closed down by suppliers ditching me because competitors threatened them etc etc, something you dont get in the uk as we embrace change and competitiveness. My wife thinks we were a little hasty in going back and I agree with her but unfortunately we are not made of money and simply cannot afford to travel all of australia looking for the perfect place for us. So Im asking all here if there is anywhere left in oz that is cheaper generally property wise, up and coming, at the start of a population boom, excellent on par with uk state schools(not private) and most importantly quality days out on par with uk. And im not talking walks at the beach, body boarding, surfing, soccer clubs, picnics and free barbeques because believe me we as a family wore this out and it got boring to be honest, we need much more from a place if thats possible especially for the mind. The best fit for us as a family is probably the gold coast to be honest and we should have gone there and not perth. We went for a reccie there first in 2007 and loved the place and i also have my uncle who lives in runaway bay. But our 176 visa was state sponsorship for 2 years in wa, but thats now up so im free to go anywhere in australia now. Problem is with the gold coast is again, have we missed the boat a bit, as it seems expensive too and lots of population etc etc. Ideally we would like to be on the fringes of a big city i feel but a suburb that is not established yet, up and coming, brand new state schools, hospitals all in the pipeline or just built. Is this too much to ask?, am i looking for too much?.....I want to be in a place from the start and look back and say i made a good choice. My uncle did say once to me that utopia does not exsist and maybe I want too much. Anyone who has come back home gone through the same issues?, Is it something Ill get over?...We dont want to look back with regret in 10 years when australia may suit as better then, with regret we didnt give it another crack. Actually writing this out has helped me alot, reading over my thoughts I can see maybe its just too risky of a move now?, as I say I am happy with my life in uk and I appreciate the uk more now than ever. But would still appreciate any thoughts from people.