Penelope Pitstop

Totally agree. My father-in-law comes from the northern end of Lake Como, We have had some lovely holidays in the area - it really is beautiful.

When we moved here my son had done a term in year 6 in England, then had to start year 5 in Australia! He wasn't too happy with that, but in reality he enjoyed being one of the older kids in the class. Being a July baby he had always been the youngest boy in his class in England - being older was a new experience for him and gave him a lot of confidence. Curriculum-wise he was ahead of his peers in Australia which gave him some breathing space to get used to the differences in the 2 systems and allowed him to concentrate on making friends without worrying about falling behind with his school work. So although it might sound like going back it isn't necessarily a bad thing (and nobody in Australia will care what school year you were in England).

If your son was 15 in July then there is a small chance he would go into year 11 next January but most likely it would be year 10. My son is a whole year older than him (16 in July) and is currently in year 10, he is one of the older ones in his year but the cut-off point is roughly April. If your son went into year 11 he would be the youngest in the class and a whole year younger than some of his classmates - saying that though all schools are different and there may be a difference between states.

If you are Indian you can't have dual citizenship. My work colleague and her husband have become Australian citizens but her adult son won't give up his Indian citizenship.

Heel/ankle pain could be something called Plantar Fasciitis (google it) - it hurts most first thing in the morning when you get out of bed or if you've been sitting still for a long time. I had it quite bad (must admit I didn't go to the doctor) and from what I read the best cure is rest, time and losing weight. I stopped walking so much which has helped, and got a new decent pair of supportive walking shoes - haven't managed the weight loss so far though!! [h=1][/h]

We were last there a couple of years ago. I didn't feel that anything was particularly expensive, or any more expensive than Australia. The hotel bar had a happy hour, we ate in the hotel and the prices weren't exhorbitant and the food was good. Plus there is always McDonalds or the food courts in the malls which aren't expensive. Public transport is very cheap, we caught taxis a couple of times and they were surprisingly cheap too (especially when there are 4 of you). If you are with Singapore airlines their hop on hop off bus is free. The airport transfer desk will get you to your hotel for S$9 per head (A$8.50) - obviously the exchange rate isn't so good now but it is still not mega-expensive.

I work administrating OUA courses provided by UniSA in Adelaide. It is a great and very flexible way to learn and our developers are very dedicated to improving the courses to make them as good as they can. It is the way forward for lots of universities to make more of their courses available for online study. Good luck with your studies!

My husband didn't struggle with anything, he missed hot weather and the beach at times but not too badly. We lived in a semi-rural area so it was less busy and built up than living in a city in Australia.

We used a hop-on hop-off double decker bus to get around, was pretty cheap. Spent ages in a shopping mall near our hotel (the Swiss Garden), the mall just specialised in IT, phones, cameras etc, huge and absolutely fascinating - just googling it must have been the Plaza Low Yat http://plazalowyat.com/. For the best views of the Petronas Towers and the city go up the telecom tower nearby, no queues and you go up higher than the twin towers https://www.menarakl.com.my/

I would agree - Brighton is good, also anywhere in the South East/Home Counties/M4 corridor/Reading area. Essex is great, ignore any comments about wide boys, just a stereotype. Rainfall is lower in the East (Essex/Suffolk/Kent) than in the South West, but if you want to be able to escape to Devon or Cornwall regularly then west or south west of London is better. Alternatively live near Gatwick airport (between London and Brighton in Sussex) or Stansted airport (between London and Cambridge in Essex) and escape regularly to the sun on cheap flights to Europe!!

Took this one last summer at Henley Beach in Adelaide

That's incredibly poetic. I returned to England after 3 years living in Australia (many years ago). I thought the youth looked malnourished and pale and that people in shops seemed miserable in comparison. The culture shock didn't last for long though and I soon forgot about Australia and embraced the complexities and subtleties of life that are noticeably missing in Australia. I am now living back in Australia again and we went to England for a holiday last year and it honestly felt as if I had never been away - it was as if my life in Australia had never existed it was so insignificent. People in England were cheerful and full of life but it was summer and the weather was good. Everyone says the country is struggling and people are struggling but everyone I know is doing well, living in nice houses and having holidays abroad. However having teenage kids I am glad we are in Australia as their peers in England seem much more wordly-wise and cynical (that's the impression I get from Facebook at least). It's swings and roundabouts.

Hi David, Have just read your posts and they are much appreciated (we have just got back from holiday so I haven't been on here for a while). Your case does seem much stronger than ours, as we decided to move back to Australia but are now wishing we hadn't. We have left the majority of our money in the UK all this time but that is the only tangible tie (apart from my family). We would love to move back to England but do worry that it wouldn't be the right thing to uproot our children again - but we have really stuggled to settle here - so it is a difficult decision and we still haven't decided what to do for the best. I will take onboard your advice to get a good lawyer if we go try to go down that route - and congratulations on getting the RRV!

The passport does make me feel more a part of Australia now. I did the citizenship ceremony but it didn't mean much, having the passport somehow makes it more real.

I find that some days I feel very English and other days I feel more Australian. My first ever Australian passport arrived in the post today - was weird looking at it - my photo, my name, nationality 'Australian' - weird!!!

Why prolong the agony? If you know you are going to head back at some stage, why not do it now before your baby is born? I am sure that becoming parents will be so much more enjoyable with your families and friends around you rather than being stuck miles away from anyone, feeling lonely with no support.

As everyone says, go with the flow, as the reality is unlikely to be like you expect. I was induced with both of mine, people say the contractions from induction are worse than natural birth and I would testify that the pain was of an intensity and type that I could never have imagined beforehand. I asked for an epidural with my first, only to be told that the anesthetist had been called away to the operating theatre to attend an emergency, and by the time she was free it was too late for me so I had to make do with gas and air!! To be honest everything went out of the window when the time actually arrived, the breathing exercises did help and as one of the midwives helpfully told me when I wasn't coping too well, don't panic, your body is designed to give birth. Afterwards I was really pleased that I didn't have an epidural and didn't even consider one with my second (which by the way hurt just as much but was better as mentally I knew what to expect second time around).

We don't have property but we do have a virtual house, in as much as the proceeds from the sale of our previous house are still in England (we have been renting for far too long here)! This means that we do have adequate funds for the spouse visa route if needs be. Once you've got the visa I assume/hope you can then go out and spend the money! As for the ancestry route - unfortunately that is not an option, they don't let you go as far back as great-grandparents.

Thanks for that, I suspected that it was too good to be true. I suppose an agent would know what our chances were of getting it. We can go for the spouse visa route, but this one seemed more appropriate and the easier option.

Has anyone got any experience of the UK Returning Resident Visa? It says you can use it to return to live in the UK. You must: plan to return to live in the UK permanently have been settled in the UK when you last left have been away for more than 2 years not have been given public funds to help you leave the UK This sounds ideal for my Australian husband - he lived in the UK for over 12 years and had Indefinite Leave to Remain, but because we have been living in Australia for over 2 years (4 years 8 months to be exact), the ILR is no longer valid. It seems silly to have to apply for a UK Spouse visa when he was settled in the UK, worked and paid tax there for 12 years, has been married to a UK citizen for 20 years and has 2 UK citizen children. Somehow this visa seems too easy - has anyone else got any useful information about it? We are looking at our options for going back, having come to the conclusion that we should never have left!!

Full price for a Mars Bar in Oz is $1.99 !!! (that's £1.10)

There were race riots in the UK back in the early 1980s - Toxteth, Brixton then Broadwater Farm in Tottenham when a policeman got killed. I can remember going on Anti-Nazi League marches marching against the National Front. I can also remember protesting against the South African rugby team who were in the UK on tour despite the sporting ban during the aparteid years. The races and religions involved may be different now but it's just a continuation. These things seem to flare up and die down over the years.

Adelaide is definately warmer and dryer than Melbourne, Adelaide has better beaches near the city, but Melbourne would probably be better for jobs.

Britannia was the name given to the island by the Romans. They called the other island (now Ireland) Hibernia. The native inhabitants of Britannia were celtic tribes when the Romans turned up. The Picts and the Scots were 2 tribes in the north of Britannia, the rest was inhabited by the Belgae, Cantii, Iceni, Trinovantes tribes etc. The notion of England only arose with the coming of the Anglo-Saxons (the Angles gave the name to England - Angle-land). Many of the existing celtic tribes fled to the west to evade the invaders from the east. The Saxons called them foreigners - the Saxon name for foreigner was 'welsh'. Many of the native Britons also fled to the north of France (Brittany) to get away from the anglo-saxon invaders. Hence the Bretons of Brittany. Who knows where we all come from. The English are a mongrel race. It is interesting that migrants from overseas condsider themselves British, whereas most British see themselves as English, Scottish or Welsh.

Lovely post, what strikes me is that you seem to be searching for Mr Right so that you can settle down and as you say 'live happily ever after'. Probably if you met him you wouldn't care where you were living - so in some ways whether to live in the UK or Australia isn't really the issue as you would be content wherever you were. I have been happily married to an Australian for almost 20 years now but it brings its own complications and problems - one of us is always living in a different country to their family and friends, plus all the issues of visas, residency etc. I have often wished that I had married the 'boy nextdoor' - it would have made life so much easier. So my advice would be to give it a bit longer in the UK!