SHANO7

Hi Kelly Well she got a place at Uni but I think its more like your son im afraid as she has got herself a boyfriend !! not Looking forward to waving her off as she flies 2 weeks tomorrow Shane p.s I will get round to joing your f-book group but im nmot on it yet SHane x

Hi Kelly We are also home and have been for nearly 3 weeks now. So glad we are home after trying it and echo everything that you have said. Home is where the heart is and we now realise what we had here was not that bad after all. Agree with milly also about feeling half dead. Only drawback for us is our daughter is only home for another 3 weeks as she is returning to Oz hopefully only for a short while. Good luck Shane

Arrived back on Good Friday. Had the surprise of seeing my brothers at the airpoort as well as my wifes family. So for me its easy. Its Home. Australia never felt like home to us. Stepped out of terminal 3 took our first breath of uk air in 8 months. It was 2c and the vapour of cold breath looked amazing. Our drive down to devon was picturesque, lambs in the fields, rolling green hills, old country cottages it was awesome. then arrived at my mothers who was waiting at the top steps that i sat on as a 5 yr old and all of my youth to get the hug that we had waited for for so long. My wife has just got back from a trip to Morrisons and was gobsmacked at the prices. We scrathced the itch of Oz but when all is said and done we belong in the Uk in Plymouth with family and friends.

Totally agree with you HB588. Makes me laugh when people say the weather is poor in the uk. Most of the time it is but when its nice its lovely. Can wait for the bus in the summer without sweating your **** off. Perth and Australia is beautiful but so is the UK and with far more character and culture than Australia would ever have. In my short time here I have found Perth to be a little bit dull, Like a supermodel with no personality !! We have scratched the itch and are off home to family friends and people that dont just care how blue the sky is or how close the beaches are.

We fly into Heathrow on Saturday morning before travelling downto Plymouth..... for good !! Cant wait to breathe in some crisp fresh Devon air and go and see all the beautiful places Devon and Cornwall have to offer. Dont realise how much you miss it until you have left it

You cannot possibly immerse yourself in Australian TV as its basically very poor. Foxtel is full of dross and the only thing worth watching is old UK tv. The sports is a must if you like proper football. But be careful , Sky One had Game of Thrones, Spartacus and very good US programmes. The equivalent channel is classed as a movie channel which you have to pay extra for.

I would suggest you think long and hard. If you have a PR visa you generally get 12 months to validate. Do some homework about the houses. there was an article in the WA paper which generally is full of cars, horseracing sports and house builders selling the dream. It stated the mean house Price is $500,000.00 now . And it was $450k when we moved here 7 months ago. Rental is extremely expensive. Its not just the price of property but they are more based on size than substance. It depends what you are after in a home can you pay the mean house price and risk losing 20% in a recession. WA has seemed to have missed out on this though and the cost of living is high in comparison to the UK. I urge you not to base your move to Australia on just houses. We made the move like you after a very long process as the Australian government did not have any morals when it came to making applicants wait after they had taken the money and if we had our time again we probably would have sat it out in the Uk and waited or just not come at all. Houses we looked at 8 years ago that cost $125k without the land are now nearer the $200 k mark

Very strange that my relative received it

I dont believe this either..... they are just not Cold

They might be entitiled to it because they worked and lived in the Uk all their lives but the reason for its introduction was to assist the elderly with their UK heating bills in winter in the uk not summer In Australia. I completely understand were people are trying to justify the acceptance of it because of pensions being frozen but WFA was not created to top up pensions for those that had left the uk . I agree why should pensions be frozen when you leave the uk when you have paid into tax etc most of your working lives but that is a different issue. My point was why do ex pat pensioners need a WFA basing it on the reason the WFA was introduced in the first place . To assist with Heating bills for Pensioners in the Uk . No other reason. So with this in mind ... they dont . Just as a footnote John from moneycorp posted today that the UK could well be entering into recession again!! The British government need to get tough and there are a number of ways to try and help this. Wasting money on benefits would be a good start.

Reading everyones posts would suggest that the majority of people think its wrong some think its not. Those that think it is not fair believe its due because a pension has not been index linked. I fail to see the link between the two. The WFA was introduced to assist pensioners who have their pensions index linked withe theri costs in Winter of keeping warm without struggling to pay. It was not introduced to cover a shortfall in an ex pats pension when they moved and as a result of this move their pension would no longer be index linked.

As I have said before I did agree and say in my original post that Pensions are an entitlement . My point being that WFA and Pensions are not directly linked only in the fact that Pensioners receive them. But I maintain Pensioners living in Australia or other warm climates do not need this as much as pensioners in the Uk. Everyone who has migrated to Australia in recent years have made sacrifices financially and have not been helped by the lower exchange rate so Pensioners are not the only ones that are effected by this. We moved to search a better life and sold our house to fund this move. I want to point out I am not against Pensioners only it does not seem illogical for winter fuel allowance to be paid to them and not to be seen as a gift to be kept with the attitude that I will take it because my Pension is effected. WFA is relatively new if I remember rightly and a lot of people receiving it probably moved to Australia before it was introduced. I have heard people that receive it in the Uk and here openly say I dont need it but I can buy a new tv or something nice for the house. This is not what it was intended for. I feel you need to remind yourself of my original post where I purely stated that WFA is wrong for people that live in warm climates as they obviously dont need it. You decided to comment stating that other factors ie Pensions being frozen mean they should keep it and basically backed up my origianal post about peoples attitudes to this Gift from the government. I made the point that it would be better served given more benefit to the people that still live in the uk. The beauty of an opinion is that not everyone agrees with each others, You feel strongly about yours and I mine . You found it difficult reading my comment with my suggestion that the money would be spent on something nice to wear. This was clearly suggesting that an ex pat in Oz does not need a WFA . Why would they... its summer !! Whereas your comments have merely substantiated what i Wrote in my OP.

Like I said in my OP pensions etc yes but WFA definately not. As you said its disgusting to accept it when you dont need it. In reference to the cost of living . How can a comparison be made between cost of living in the Uk and Australia. I agree a £52 difference seems somewhat large but how would the Uk government rate it. Would they use a cost of living allowance from the country that we left or the country that we chose to live in ?

Is it any wonder things are getting bad. Millionairres receiving WFA, very wealthy people receiving child benefit and ex pats and EU residents receiving benefits.

Did you hear Lord sugar a few years back ? He received the WFA and obviously being a multi millionairre was a litle bit embarrassed. He requested could he send it back to be told by the Health department he couldn't because it was due to him !!

Portugal, Spain bit of a common trend... They could all do there bit and just send it back. Then again I somebody told me that they moved to Spain years ago but go back to the Uk when they need treatment for an ear condition. They havent paid Uk tax in all that time but believe they are entitled to receive treatment.

I cant believe this is happening !! Found out the other day that one of my relatives received a winter fuel allowance from the UK. Now lets put this into some perspective. Its 35c in Perth currently but for some reason my relative is entitled to this payment from the UK when they have lived in Australia for 20 years. My Grandmother who approaches her 90th birthday still lives in the UK. She receives state pension and gets the same amount for her winter fuel allowance whilst Britain Freezes. This has left me gobsmacked. Why do Brits living in Australia need a winter fuel payment ??? When will the Uk government realise that this should be means tested or just apply some common sense. Winter fuel allowance for someone who now lives in Australia should not be allowed if this money must be used give people like my Grandma twice the amount or better still spend it on Hospitals etc. If anyone comes on here and says they are entitled to it is talking boll&%$s !! Maybe entitled to a pension for paying NHS and Tax for ages but entitled to Winter Fuel Allowance.Get a grip !! Its greed to keep it and should be returned with a thanks but no thanks letter. If the government refuse to take it back donate it to Charity or something. Benefits that are given by the Uk government should be a benefit for those that still live there. Dont live there ... should not expect it. I have just read in the International express that Energy companies have just put bills up again the Uk and due to the freezing temperatures the average winter fuel bill is expected to be about £500. I can just picture it an Ex pat receives the winter fuel allowance and says thanks Uk no wonder the country is in a rut and then spends it on something nice to wear in the hot Australian summer. How anyone of sound mind or morals can not see that this is absolutely wrong on every count is beyond me.:arghh:

We moved over from Plymouth in August last year and follow whats happening there. Shops are still closing left right and centre and charity shops opening up in their place. British people ( although having a perception for being whingers) do just get on with it and always will. The major retailers and clothes stores and business tend to beleive that the Uk stops at Bristol and Exeter so dont bother coming to Plymouth anymore so I fear Plymouth will get worse. Being close to Cornwall was wonderful as it is one of the nicest places on the Planet but homes are being bought up by wealthy people as holiday/second homes which is making it difficult for people who grew up in those areas to buy as prices are inflated and the difficulty in getting a mortgage.

Was is and always will be Great Britain. Well done to the lady for standing up to the arrogance of the man preaching to her. We should send Gillard over to the Uk and get her to discuss the topic with the vigilantes. would love to hear the " if you dont like it get out quote " I wonder if we would ever hear David Cameron say this ??

30c here today in Perth Hoff

The OP was just saying how he feels, rightly or wrongly, its his opinion which we have all had in the past and no doubt posted on here. He has been picked up on voicing that he thinks his kids will stay get married and and have kids here with people saying how does he know that. I would say he probably knows his kids more than us. Also most of us have moved our kids with us some are 18 some are 5, 6 etc. How convinced were we that our children 100% wanted to come to Australia ? Can a 5 year old have a true understanding of what moving to Oz means. Probably not and its one big adventure. We made the decision on their behalf because we felt it would bring happier times for all. For most it does and for those that it doesnt.. well they go home having tried. Everyone came because they believed it would be a better life than in the UK and I doubt if anyone made the move simply because they felt like it. If we were honest I would imagine most people made the move as they thought Australia would be better than the UK and probably told someone or other in conversation " The Uk is going down hill " or " things are getting expensive ". It frustrates me that someone who was probably trying to empathise with other peoples position gets slaughtered. Give him a break . Move on and enjoy wherever you are. At least he is prepared to give it a go and is obviously excited by the prospect of his kids and grandkids growing up here. Good luck to the OP Shane

Hi All Well we are seven weeks into the big move from the Uk and things are looking good. My wife started work with my uncle 2 weeks in in his salon and I started work yesterday for a bank after having worked as an insurance broker for 20 years. I had 2 interviews for 2 banks and received job offers from both. Our daughter has also managed to obtain a PT job in the local mall so all good on the work front. We bought our first car last week and spent a bit more than we wanted too but the Km were good so good value. Shopping wise, after doing a few shops we have decided to use Coles as in the main we have found them to be cheaper overall with good quality food. We are on skype most weekends and also get an AT card to phone home as this keeps it Seperate from the phone line/broadband etc. Cards range from $10 and generally give you an hour for $1. This is a god send. We are in a rental ( family) in Joondalup which has absolutely everything you will need aswell as the only shopping centre with a train link right outside. We still miss the families and always will but we remember the reasons we left. When we calll home they say the same and say that they are happy that we are ok and that we must stick it out. This is good to hear and definately lifts spirits which sometimes get low. Our phone line etc is with Telstra and after a few teething problems this has been ok. We have a Tbox with our package which allows you to watch Youtube so we are only 24 hours behind Corrie.... You will be suprised but its easy to miss Uk Tv. Im not saying we watch it all the time but its nice to watch familiar things on the box. We have in the main found people to be friendly and polite and hope this continues. Anyway off to bed now as an early start. Cheers Shane

Good Luck Cornwall is beautiful. We moved over 5 weeks ago from Plymouth. All the best Shane

Cheers Mate Hows Perth treating you all ? Shane

Hi Shez Yep we are off next week. Cant bloody wait. PM when you get here and we should all meet up if you are going to Perth x