possie in brissy

Hi Ozscousers. We are currently living in Maghull, but travel through Melling quite a lot, and also go to the pub there called the Bootle Arms, and there is an amazing very cheap garden centre, which we always go to. Our lad goes to Maricourt and loads of his mates live in Melling too. seems a lovely quite area. People say a bit close to Kirby but again we ave lovely friends from kirby so its swings n roudabouts. We only lived in Maghull just on a year cause we been in Aus (brissy for 5 years) but yeh seems a nice enough area. Hope this helps Possie

we are the same 1 year back in the UK and what a year its been. still catching up with our lovely family and all the friends whom we have lots of History with. We done the "Harsh winter" and i definetly prefer the changing seasons from the Harsh heat of the sun. and not having to constantly put sunscreen on and then mozzie spray of an evening. the changing seasons and the long days (doesnt go dark till after 10pm at the moment) have definetly won me over. I do not regret emmigrating to Aus and staying for 5 years. but even more so definetly do not regret coming back eithier. we are just very lucky we had the option. i feel sorry for the people who feel trapped in a country they feel they can never call home. And believe me ther are lots of people who are trapped. due to finances, partners not wanting to do the same, feeling they need to wait and get citizenship, married to an australian partner, or maybe splitting up with the father/mother of a child who will not agree to kids leaving the country. My heart goes out to these people and count my lucky stars everyday. I LOVE READING POSITIVE POSTS ABOUT OUR OWN COUNTRY IT SHOWS ITS NOT ALL BAD. THANKYOU X

no we didnt have jobs to go to sunni, but we didnt ave jobs to go too when we emigrated to Aus and that didnt stop us going !!!!! so having no jobs to come home too, didnt stop us either. the thing is...... it was much easier to get jobs back home because, all quals were recognised, "its not what you know, its who you know" kinda thing and we ave sooo much family friends, friends of friends, previous colleagues ect, it just seemed "easier" than being in an ALIEN place with ALIEN people who could not understand you, didnt recognise your qualifications, thought it was too much hassle to obtain references from overseas and basically didnt wanna emply you anyway as they would much prefer "one of thier own" JUST MY OPINION!!!!!! that was what both myself and hubby found, obviously it is not applicable to all. We both found work within 2 months, hubby within 4 weeks myself probably 10 weeks but that was purely down to it being summer holidays and i work in the education sector. but found it pretty easy and have since been offered other positions and both been offered promotions. So its how much you want it, and how hard you are prepared to try to get back on that ladder. Good luck to all those who are taking the step in eithier direction. Once u find your happy medium, happiness follows xxxx

we were Northside Brissy, not far from Redcliffe, northlakes (also known as Little Britain) Were are you guys???? Good Luck with the move!!!!:hug:

Thanks "sunshine" you will be glad to know it has been just that lately in North Liverpool SUNSHINE most days and 10.15pm the sun goes down (nightmare for kids going to bad if you dont have black out blinds) But Fantastic for us having BBQ's on our aussie BBQ. everyone is amazed by our BBQ, which we got from Bunnings for about $250 and a similar one is 450quid here. so make sure you bring a barbie with ya lOl.... I know how you feel with the "trying everything, and nothing sticks thing" I felt numb/bored/lifeless/mundane/ Homesick can cause all kinds of emotions, and can change you as a person. It did change my way of thinking towards my family even my in-laws in the end LOL. I really appreciate everything they do for us now, and savour every moment with each and everyone. Most importantly I love it when my door bell goes and its my mum/sister/cousin/ or even the friendly neighbour or postman. I used to dream my mum or relative would knock on my door in aus, They came over many times on ARRANGED visits lots though!!!!! I wish you all the luck in the world with your move I have 2 kids too (12 and 8) and they love being home!!!! I know it seems hard to arrange an international move with kids hanging off ya neck but sometimes I would be up till 3am on the phone to my morgage advisor in the UK or family memebers helping us look for a house ect.... But it worth every second, when you board that plane to a life back with your fambo.... (bad weather, crime, credit crunch, ect ect) has no relavance if you want to be were the heart is. Take care and keep Smiling :biggrin::biggrin:

Hi we have been back 10 monthe also. Lived in Brissy for 5 years and came home to Liverpool in aug 2010. We used Kent Removals for our container and they were absolutely Brilliant could not fault them at all Micheal was the guys name (he may not be there now, but you could try) We used Jetpets for our 2 dogs, and they were also Great. We secured our morgage and bought a property whilst we were still over in Aus we used a broker and he got us an expat morgage with the Halifax. We kept our bank accounts going here in my mums address which i think really helped with credit ratings and stuff. We did have to put down 30% of the morgage though. and we kept the morgage on interest only for a while until we found our feet. (240 quid a month on 96,000 quid) not bad when we were paying $700 per week morgage in aus. We have a lovely house now on the outskirts of Liverpool and could not be happier, the kids are still amazed that we have so mant relatives, aunties, uncles, cousins, and my calendar is chocker block all the time with 30th, 40th Weddings, communions, christenings ect ect. we had no problems fitting back into life here. u do find lots of people saying "OMG what ave u come back HERE for, u mist be mental" but we are used to it now. our move went amazingly smooth, with a lot of organisation and timing, we were amazed how smooth it went. we love our family and friends here, and no-one including us will ever take that away again..... If you need anymore help or advice just PM me and I will help ya were I can. Its very stressful and u spend a lot of time organising, jumbling money around ect ect. But its worth every minute. If your family mean more than sun, sea, sand and loneliness. then you are doing the right thing HONEST. Take care and Good luck with you planning and organising. :biggrin:

Hi we came back to the UK after being in Aus for 5 years. I was with the Comm bank of Aus Insurance and i emailed them when i hit these problems and they sent me a copy of my No claims within 10 mins I submitted this to Budget Insurance here in The UK and they accepted it it saved us nearly 600 nquid a year per car, so worth the hassle really. Hope this helps. Ps our friends who also came back never had thier cars insured with a company in Aus (only the insurance that comes as standart with your rego) and that was knocked back by every company here in the UK as it is not classed as an "insurance Poilcy" therefore they will not grant it. Hope u get sorted soon :smile:

Hi Lindar we ave been back in the UK for just on 12 months (after 5 years in Brissy). I agree with all of what you said in your thread. we had a nightmare with our car insurance too. I am a working mum, with a hubby and 2 kids aged 13 and 8.... the kids love being back home with all the fambo and friends they are having a ball, finding out they ave aunties/uncles and cousins they didnt even know about LOL... weather has been lovely in April we have bought a little tourer caravan for 900quid (same van about 4000 dollars in oz) and we ave done a bit of touring lately with all the school holidays and bank holidays in April. And we plan on going down south to cheddar gorge and newquay in August... (we are from merseyside) we didnt realise how beautiful our country is when we went chasing the sun 5 years ago.... But we should be grateful for what we were given by our parents....Anyway gr8 thread... I found PIO very useful when i was coming home, gr8 info for bringing my dogs back, exchange rates ect. Havent been on here in 12 months but thought i would check out all the members who were in the same boat/same time... and wish everyone health wealth and hapiness in wherever thier path of life takes em