docboat

Do you have acess to a nursing agency? You will find that there are plenty of jobs out there, and the wages are better within the agency. Do not be put off by thoughts of lack of security, although you do need to check with others for the accuracy of my opinion. If you have a job in areas more remote (and they are also more interesting and varied) you may well find that accommodation is provided. At least, that is what I saw in the Pilbara and Kimberley. But I am not a nurse, so once again do check. If you are set on finding accommodation in Perth, good advice has been given. Reckon perhaps first on living in a hotel or similar for at least one month, and give yourself plenty of time to search the areas. Online search from the UK may be profitable too, but I think you will find it easier once you are here, with a car, and a list of agencies to trawl through.

This sounds unacceptable behaviour. Good advice so far - especially documenting what is being done - do you have any facility (government job?) for starting a grievance process? However, you might try this, when in company: (to 2IC bitch when she is misbehaving- "When you say '<whatver she said>' I feel '<insert your negative emotional response'>." That way, you have not criticised her behaviour, but made her aware of the response it evokes in you. Have a read on this method of assertiveness ... you might find that she changes her attitude. Then again, she might not, but then you have a clear conscience when she gets hauled over the coals for bullying. Also, and this is a bit weird: Try using apps for brainwave entrainment and subliminal programming. In combination. They work wonderfully on getting your mind (and therefore the rest of you) into a better place, and they have absolutely no effect on the 2IC bitch. End result should be that you prosper, and she does not. Sweet revenge, but it does take time to manifest. See more under applications for manifesting the law of attraction. At the very least it will make your life even better. And ooh! No - don't quit your job. At least not until you have resolved the issue. Why? Because then you leave on your own terms, proud, and not running away from a situation which will then -trust me on this! - be repeated in the future.

Hep B is part of the national infant immunisation schedule. I am not certain that you will be refused entry to school if that is lacking (YMMV ...) but they do try and force MMR on you. It is, at any rate, a safe and sensible immunisation to have.

A 2-way process? Why? Does the renter own the property being rented? No. Not one brick. It is the perfect right of a renter to walk away and buy their own property. Or find a landlord who is prepared to give away half of the rights to the property. Then they have never rented out a house themselves. It is not easy, it is a business, it does have risks, and it needs to be managed, and managed well. I wish you well in managing your rental properties.

well done to you. Welcome to Perth, and may your life here be everything you dreamed it would.

I hear where you are coming from. But you do realise, I am sure, that what you have basically said is this: "I will make my own independent decisions based on how other people feel about my decisions." Put it into context. This is your life. You do what you need to do for your own best interests. If, after that, there is a way to please other people, do it. But not at the expense of your own best interests.

Look, Australia is a great place to be. For me, I would not consider living anywhere else. But that has not always been the case - I have lived in Europe, Asia and Australia. In every country you must be open to change, accept differences, learn to find new friends, adapt to different routines. You know this, you have done this. From the sounds of it, however, your intended is not open to change. OK - I felt the same way about living in Hong Kong - would not have left, had I been asked in 2003. Times change, needs change. And it may be that she is much the same,not ready for a change. That may change. I think you would be foolish to bank on that hope. You would very likely thrive in Australia - anyone can. But you might not. Putting yourself into such a relationship would not be clever. By all means come here. You can find a good visa, get a job, settle. But I would stay clear of a relationship where firm boundaries are given which do not permit flexibility and open mindedness

I would not be so sure. 1983 they changed the rules and suddenly I, then being a normal British citizen (Aussie now), born to parents serving the UK in the colonies, found myself less British than before. My children are now not necessarily British, and depended on the good humour of the Home Secretary to attain citizenship. Keep the options open, get the passports, keep the passports up to date, and there will be far less hassles.

The OP knows that s/he is not going to like what s/he finds in the UK on returning, so a simple return is not the best option. What is needed is not a change of place but a change of mind. What is it that you really want from life? Why? (Not where, or with whom .... and especially not "how?"!) Decide on that first, and then the where, when and how become clear.

From UK to Australia? I would ask on the forums for Australian cruising - need to google, as I do not have the magzine reference for you. There has been a lot of hassle with Australians importing boats on return to Aussie waters. AFAIK, no-one has had a satisfactory response from the authorities, a lot left "grey" and GST will probably need to be paid in advance with no certainty of refund. But I would ask the online sailing groups as well. When you get a response, would you mind posting a summary here? Much appreciated.

Best wishes and congratulations! Delighted for you

I would be in favour of increasing options and maximising freedom. Make the choices you need to based - for the moment at least - on ensuring that you have the best options for the future. Your support network in both countries is meagre, so that will be less of a consideration.

Seriously, I would recommend you get your licence in Scotland. Not sure how it is in Scotland these days, but the WA licence is a lot of hassle.

Same in Perth - multicultural,lots of mixed marriages, and Halal food available. There are some areas of Perth and, dare I say, in all other major cities where it is less nice to live, but that is for living in general, not specifically multicultural. One piece of non-PC advice is to avoid those areas where there are a lot of aboriginals. There is usually a tendency for increased violence and crime. One comment made about living in a rural setting. It may be a generalism that there is less multicultural life in the country, but I find, as a country resident, in a mixed marriage (Caucasian/Chinese) that there is absolutely no problem at all with acceptance. What does make a huge difference though is the mindset of city/country. City folk feel less comfortable living rurally, and find little in common with their neighbours. If you and your hubby are already country people, then you willfind no issues at all in a rural setting.

1. you do not know me, nor my qualifications, so 2. your opinion is based on ignorance and prejudice, so 3. your opinion is of absolutely no consequence to me But yes, I agree with the sentiment

The "snap out of it you idiot" would be completely stupid, of course, and you probably meant to insult me a little in your reply, but in essence you are right. Grief, for example, is also a state of mind, not a state of fact. The fact is that someone has died, or left, or emigrated. The emotion is that someone you love has died, someone has left you, someone you love has emigrated. Were you, for example, in the grief of losing a loved one, be completely certain that your loved one is now roaming in Elysian fields, all pain and suffering gone, in true peace, then your grief would be lessened. It would be more like waving goodbye on a train platform, and you know you will meet again soon.

Quite agree. It can be quite specific. In Germany, for example, I loved visiting Sylt or Norderney, but I would have hated to live there. I much preferred living in a small town in Niedersachsen. Plattdeutsch spoken in both areas. Both flat. Both agricultural. Strange huh? Were I to have been forced to live on Sylt, I would have fallen into depression too.

Based on your answers and on previous posts, I would say "not much". And that is OK.

In general I would agree with you on most points. The fuzzy group hugs etc do 'help' it does make you feel better to be not alone. That is an essential part of managing - say - depression, of which homesickness represents one part of that spectrum. The trouble is, most people leave it at that level. What results is that the stricken individual may feel less bad, but there is no resoluton to the problem. Yes, you could go home, that would fix the immediate symptoms. Avoidance techniques have their place. But problems arise when one person feels homesick, the other does not, and the choice is between splitting the family, or one of the two has to make a (possibly very large) sacrifice. The root cause is not the absence of "home" because home is not a real place, it is a construct. It is a state of mind. It is remembering the original taste of sausages, or how much marmite is better than vegemite. It is mother at home cooking stew, and the smell of her kitchen and a roaring fire in winter. It is a friend around the corner, or in the pub. It is what you know and remember. In my case it was parents on one continent and me on another from the age of 11. It was not nice. It is a little like the feeling you get when the parents are dead, but perhaps worse because you know they could, with a plane trip, be in your life again. And that is an OK feeling for an 11 year old, but it is a different matter for an adult. Personally I think that the recent trend to dumb down society is partly responsible - no marks for exams, no scores for sport, no places for a race incase those who do not win feel demoralised. Adults are emerging who are basically unable to deal with real life. Everything, unless it is given to them on a plate, is too hard. Think of the immigrants who left Europe in the 1950's to a life here, no return ticket, visits to "home" unaffordable, no allowance in society for multiculturalism. They had to sink or swim, and most swam. Today there is little acceptance for the toughening up for real life. Here in rural WA life is pretty much the way it was in the 1950's, and we generally have little time for the soft city folks and their whinging. We get on with it, and carry on. Resolution? There are plenty of approaches, but if you want to bring it into one generalised approach, it is to focus on future benefits. But I digress perhaps, and a bottom line might be to say that if you permit homesickness to continue, you may as well go home and suffer the consequences of failing to address a resoluton. There is a price to pay for every decision.

No, not at all. The reply was aimed at those who mistake PC comfortable answers for 'helping'.

Sadly, yes

Let me explain a few things then. First off, I have experienced homesickness. I have also moved continents quite a few times, before returning to Australia. So I have every right to an opinion every bit as valid as anyone else here, based on experience. Secondly, as a practising doctor, and with training in psychiatry and psychology, I am every bit as familiar with depression, psychosis, empathy as anyone else here, and probably more so. Do I care whether anyone here takes this info on board? Not a whit. Think what you will, but the thoughts expressed above are both baseless and inaccurate. Not my problem though. What is often expressed in the form of empathy, however, especially on this forum, is not empathy, but a form of political correctness. That takes the form of ignoring what the root cause is (and hence preventing an approach to treatment) and replacing it with fuzzy group hugs and sympathies. If you were to sit in on some real psychoanalysis, you would know that when you are confronted in a spiritual mirror (in some forms of therapy) it really hurts. Fail to get past that point, and the whole therapy fails. So once again - get real. And if you don't want to get real? Again, not my problem.

Quoll and others have no real clue as to what was really said. It is an issue of the mind, and the mind alone. It is a mindset. Either you have a mindset which regards the place of birth as the only home you have, the family in that area as being inseparable from your own happiness OR (and this is the challenging bit) you decide that you make your own way, independent of what other people think say or do, and make your current place of residence your new "home". If you set your mind to it, then that is what you get. For those who quibble and disagree, I say "you are quite right" by which I mean that your mindset has decided your feelings. If that truth is uncomfortable for you - tough. Now you can say "get over it".

Homesickness is a state of mind. Which means that, if you have a mind to, it can be banished. Continuing homesickness means the sufferer has not the mindset required to relocate. Yet.

tbh, if the OP needed the support of family to get them through tough times, then they would not be suitable to come to Australia, let alone return. At the next tough time they would feel the need to hold on to the ties of home. And then the head-holding would start, and hey-presto! ping pong