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.

Yep same as ScottieGirl, so can take longer. it sounds like you were lucky

We have always taken the approach that the sooner we can get our kids socialising with other kids, the better, it really helped with their social skills and growing up. We have friends who kept their children with them as long as they could, not taking them to day-care or such like and when they get to start school, it is really noticeable. You can really tell the kids who have been mixing with others from them who have been kept in a little bubble for as long as possible. With regards to year 3’s being exposed to year 4 or 5 work, the fact that they are being driven to strive and learn more can only be a good thing. Life is not sugar coated and there will be pressure, the sooner we start coping with it the better later on in life.

We have not moved back yet, but from what we hear we are counting on a few months on the boat and a few weeks to be cleared.

Totally agree about Worcester and we feel that way about the surrounding areas too. We are originally from Kidderminster and would often go to Worcester. We are heading back this Christmas and it is a shame that we will miss the Victorian Market. The prices of houses in Worcester is going up, but then again they are all throughout the country.

Thanks for the comments on our post and we feel for you in your position, but like you say your mum needs you now. It is a shame to hear that it has all fallen on you to do, but like you say you have to pity the others as they are missing out on what can only be classed as limited time. At least one thing, you are there when your mum needs you most. You can always say that.

Totally agree. We will be moving back to Kidderminster. Good old carpet town.

That is one of the main things that has got us too. We underestimated the impact of our family aging would have on us. Yes we know they were getting older (as we all are), but we didn’t take into account the feeling of guilt we would feel not being there to help out and missing the funerals of the family members we grow up with. This struck home hard when my father passed away suddenly. Ten am UK we were talking to him, by 12pm he was gone. This happened on the weekend and we could not get back to the UK, to my mother until the Thursday. Time when she needed someone close to help her during this difficult time, we were not there. This combined with the fact that we have never been able to call Australia home, has made us think that the time is right to go home. Our 12 year old son has already made the move back and is living with my mum, so that is a bit of company for her. We have done what we can to get our son settled in and it seems to of worked, he is doing fantastic both in school and scouts. However, not being there is taking its toll on everyone. So like you, we have made the decision that the time is right and we are looking to go back next year, in time for our daughter to start the new school year. It is true, when you need to get back fast, only then you realise how far it is away. There is no jumping in the car and getting to there in a few minutes. We never thought of moving to Australia as a dream come true, we say it as an adventure and a break from our normal (what we thought was boring) lives. Only now we can look back and see that it was not boring and in fact we had it quite good there. We do not see our time in Australia as a waist or mistake, as we have had 7 years adventure, that most of our friends and family can only dream of and our kids have two passports now. So if they decide they want to come back in the future they can without the cost of problems we had to face getting the visa. We too have a house in the UK, which we have been renting and on our return we could go back to if needed. However, with good tenants in, you kinda think leave them as they are and let’s keep the money coming in. The option is there though if we need it and if we cannot buy another place straight away. Rent and mortgage free accommodation is a very big pull though lol. When we left the UK, we said that we would not sell our place just in case it didn’t work out. We heard about lots of people who did sell their place to take the money with them to Oz to buy a new house. We didn’t take that option and now it seems like the right one, well for us anyway. We brought in Oz and are going to keep this place too as an investment and a place to come back to later if we or the kids need it. It is true though that the sun shining all the time can get to you. Last summer we remember it being 38 at 11.30pm, which is not fun, trying to get to sleep with that heat. Also no matter how hard you try the mosquitoes get in and you get bittern to bits. This is the side of it that people back home will not understand as they are still probably in the mind-set that all is fantastic and the sun shines all the time. Personally we would rather have the cold as you can wrap up. We also have never been able to call this place home. We thought that buying our own place would help, but it did not. Like you say your daughter is a grown women and she can make her own mind up. You have to prepare yourself for the fact that she may not want to come back to the UK after she has finished uni. We have read a few posts on there and Crown seems to be the best people to go with. Before we leave we are going to have a big sort out and only take what is needed as when we came over we brought everything including the kitchen sink (as they say). We are not going to do that again as in 6 years there are boxes full in the garage of stuff we brought over and have not used. No point keeping it and paying extra to ship it back when we have not used it in 6 plus years. We have a car to take back with us, one we brought over in the first place.

This is what we feel and what we are thinking.

Very true and it is not like anyone can say that you have given it a good go. You just realise where you want to be and may be where your heart is. Well we do after this time.

This is something that has always made us laugh. For us, it generally seems to be a statement originating from people who take all they can from the UK and still think it is a bad place to be. People who take it for granted that they can go to the dentist, doctor or hospital and get treatment on the NHS. Yes they have to pay a bit towards it, but nothing like the costs here in Australia. The kind of people, who watch the popular Australia relocation programs and think that it is all a bed of roses, the grass is far greener in Australia. People who still think that they can sell their UK terraced house (taking what little equity they have) and come over to Australia, buy a 5 bed house, with a pool on a big block of land and only work four days a week for more three times the amount of money they are getting in the UK. Think you are getting the picture lol. People who when it comes to living in Australia, do not know their @ss from the elbow. We travel back every Christmas (as feel that Christmas in the blistering heat is not right) and when we tell people our plans to move back, we always have the “why” question. Most of the times you can see on their fact that, what you are saying “does not compute”. As their vision of Australia and the reality is clearly so far apart. Yes, it may work out for a few people moving here, but generally it is work, mortgage, bills and such like. All the things that you have in the UK, just here you pay more for aircon and in the UK it is more for heating. With house prices here in Sydney, you still have to work like a dog to pay the bills, survive and keep a roof over your head. Here though, you sweat going to work and from work and sometimes while at work. You tell people this in the UK and their reaction is “oh I love the heat”. Yes we do now and then, but you get sick of it all the time. Trying to get to sleep at night when it is still 30 oC is no joke. At the end of the day moving your whole family back is not a decision taken lightly, things must be serious for anyone to wish to move back. To go through all the hustle and up evil of moving again so if anyone had any feelings for you to start with, you would hope that they realise it is something that you need to do for your overall happiness. To anyone who is moving back or has, good on you. You have realised that Australia is not right for your family (at this time) and you have taken steps to improve the short life that we have on this earth. The way we look at it is that we tried it, we know what it is like and we have given our kids dual passports, what we see as the best start. We now realise that it is not right and we can make that decision based on knowing both sides of the story. We have lived in Sydney coming on 7 years by the time we plan to move back to the UK. We feel that we have given it a fair go and now the time is right for us to move back. Our move is due to a number of factors; not feeling like this is home, realising that we have not got the golden better life here (that we were looking for), the UK is not actually that bad after all, aging family members and all our thoughts are about the UK. We sent our eldest over to the UK to start school and live with grandparent. He is loving his time there and doing far more and better than what he would have done here. That is also a driving factor as being away from him is hard on everyone and now we just want the family back together. With one child being there and settled in school and life, we just have one more to sort out in school when we get there, for now anyway. Hopefully, 40 is not too old to enter the job market, as that is how old we will be when we move back. Well add a few years lol. We are sure that it is not a problem and all will be OK. From the replies on this post being 40 does not seem to be creating any issues at all. We have a place in Sydney so like you we have decided to keep it and rent it out (like you). Worst case we have to sell it and take the money later, best case we have a pension from it when we get older. With keeping it for us, we can let the kids use it as and if they want to. We also do not think that we will be ping-pong-poms but want to keep it as if we get off the Sydney property ladder there is no wat (at our age) we would get back on again. Hopefully all will go OK with your move and now that everyone is on board (hubby and yourself).