lismith25

Hi, we have just returned from a 3 week holiday in uk, lots of travelling and catching up with family, great time. For at least 2 yrs before i have had bouts of homesickness, country pubs beautiful scenery and villages, went and did all those things lots of times and it was great. Its weird as homesickness has gone, had a great holiday but feel OZ has a bit more going on for us. But i think either choice is good as long as you give it a go UK surprised me, weather was cold but still got out and did things. Wife and kids loved the cold and it wasnt good coming back into the north qld heat and humidity, but a move to brisbane is a lot cheaper than move to uk and we can both transfer our jobs. Cairns is a great place and somewhere else we looked at but want somewhere that has a bit of a winter. Good luck either country has good and bad points but i see lots of happy people in the uk as well as australia.

Hey mate, seek.com.au is good for jobs. I'm in North Qld so not sure how Perth is going, mining is picking up over here so maybe Perth will follow. How's electrical work in UK? Plenty about?

Agree and this is really the main point! We didn't move to Australia for the money, we left for the adventure. 12 years later, 2 kids who will be high school age, my husband who will be 50 and our priorities are slightly different now. We need to make sure our family will be ok financially. We are fortunate to be able to get our ducks in a row before we decide where and when to go.

Thanks for the responses, we are aware we would earn less in the UK, but somehow if the living costs were also less it would balance out. Over here we both have good jobs including super, living expenses are high where we live, but we are able to save a bit each month. While the move would not be for financial reasons, I am concerned that the areas we are thinking of moving to in the south west will leave us a lot worse off. And that is a huge obstacle for my husband to overcome!

As far as i can work out, teacher in AU $ 69,500 ( 34,000 pound) from web site uk wage 24,000 to 29,000 pound. Electrician town work AU $78,000 ( 38,750 pound ) from web site uk wage 26,000 to 32,000 pound. Big difference in wages and AU also pay 9% super on top, not sure if uk has a compulsory superanuation. Want to head back home but don't want to be worse off financially if we can help it.

How do the costs compare with the wages? I am reading all of the replies, as a serious return is on the cards for us, but as a teacher and electrician the wage difference between countries is pretty huge. The arguments over living costs is a major issue for us, so this is a very interesting point.

Unfortunately when you get here you have to jump through the hoops, pain in the arse but until you have a licence you can only work as a TA. Once you have your have it there are still some high paying jobs around, Oil and Gas pay pretty well and coal mine contractors are always looking for shutdown or install work? companys will sometimes put you through some training but Hazardous areas is always a good qualification to have, not everyones cup of tea but great money. Town work normally pays $33 to $36/hr.

We are on a 2 year plan, to save as much as we can before we head home. Nothing is wrong, we live in a picture perfect paradise, both have good permanent jobs, citizenship and 2 Australian born "English" children. But the heat and working outside is killing my husband and yes while we do have friends, my true friends will remain wherever we go. And it is simply getting to "that" time! We have been here 12 years and are both starting to resent the restrictions. Not going back specifically for family, but it would be a lie to say being in the same country and having some support is not a positive. Do what makes your heart sing, everyone has different needs and no one will fully understand? So do what you need to make yourselves happy :cute:

I am not a big fan of Southampton but I have friend who live in Hamble which is close to the water and definitely more villagey. I like Portsmouth but you would have to be away from the student areas or Chichester but that is more pricey. But other possible options I know that are on our radar are Salisbury and a little further Taunton. Good luck

Can I please check something, I was hoping to send my dog back about a month before we would fly. My reasons are we live in an inconvenient pkace to travel too and from, so I was going to travel with him down to Brisbane. Settle him, hand him over and get my parents to collect him from Heathrow, then come back and finish the pack up. Is this going to be possible or Is there a timeframe? Thanks

We are also thinking along similar lines. Been here 12 years and it's now looking like we will have a definite move before my eldest enters high school. She is in Year 2 currently, so we will either go next year at the end of semester 1(end of June) when she would go into Year 4 straight away or the last opportunity would be June 2017, to give her a year in primary with me before high school. And also it gives us the option for her to sit the 11+ for possible grammar school entry. We will probably keep our house here, but it's time to show our kids a different perspective. :wink:

Fabulous information AA thank you for the detail. I have been in contact with the Education department about getting my qualifications and work recognised, all takes time but seems to be a straightforward process, we will see. I have contacted a teaching agency who seems to be optimistic about work, obviously it will depend on availability at the time, but it might give me a more secure way in. The plan is looking like I will secure the job first and my dh will sort his qualifications out when we are back. We are also going back for a reccy over the christmas period to look at potential areas to move too, in the cold and wintery light. All things considered we seem to be moving forward. We will definitely move from here, before my daughter is old enough for high school so it will just be a question of where. It's a bit exciting

Hi, just wondering why you chose Chester over Plymouth ? I was brought up in birkenhead and do like Chester but Plymouth was one of the places we looked at heading back to and looks really nice. We also are looking at salisbury or Bournemouth.

Thanks everyone, feeling hopeful. Glad the doomsayers are just spouting nonsense. Keep it coming :wink:

No I don't think the UK is hideously awful or I wouldn't even be contemplating the move :wink: I am just looking for some constructive information. It's very hard to get an accurate picture of what life is like and unfortunately those that sing the loudest are often the ones unhappy with their situation. Which is true of everywhere! We are not the unattached free youngsters we were when we arrived, so this is simply us planning our next course (phase 1), but with 2 kids and a dog in tow. We are in no hurry and can afford to be picky with where we relocate to, so we just want as many options as we can possibly get.

Hi everyone, my husband and I are looking for information about England at the moment and I am hoping to hear from those who have gone back. We have been in Australia 11years and seem to be reaching a natural conclusion to our adventure. We still love it here, Australia had been good to us; we have a nice house and 2 Australian school aged kids; both have permanent jobs but England has started to call us home again. So I am looking for information, positive and negative....we need ALL the information. Whenever my husband goes onto the electrician forums about work, it's all negative but no one actually gives him the facts, it's all opinion and they all want to know why we want to return, which is part of the frustration for us as 'it's just time' doesn't seem to be an adequate answer! We are thinking about Sept 2016, to give use enough time to save and as I am a primary school teacher my girls and I will start the school year. It will also help to head back in the uk summer. We are also looking at the south west, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset etc but work will be a deciding factor ultimately. So there it is, how have you found the move back? is the UK really so hideously awful at the moment? How did your kids adapt to school? Do jobs have a superannuation equivalent attached to them? Have any electricians or teachers headed home? I know if we can get useful information anywhere, it's going to be here. Thanks

Glad your move back is working out for you. If you don't mind sharing how did you go about things like drivers licence, nhs etc. We are similarly 11years in and thinking ifa return, but we are in a position where we can be as organised as humanly possible should the opportunity arise. One of the things my husband is constantly looking for are comparisons between qld and the uk? So how do you find shopping, utilities, rent etc. How were the banks towards you? How is the job situation? I know it varies greatly between places, we live in Airlie beach and it is in no way the same as Brisbane but any information is added to the pot. thanks

Electrician in QLD doing town work is anything from $65k to $75k plus 9% super on top, UK is about 30k sterling. Electrician working in the mines $120k to $180k mainly coal mines on an even time roster, 7/7. Electrician on FIFO in oil and gas construction can be anything over $200k+ but thats working a 4/1 roster. Suppose the oil rig jobs in the north sea would be comparable to the mines but not sure.

I flew at christmas last year with my 2 on my own, with my eldest on her Australian passport as I procrastinated too long and then the process all changed. I decided to go the non-European line, which was huge!!! But I didn't want to risk being told to join this line after I had already waited in UK line. Anyway my youngest had a massive tantrum in the line, I was on the verge of losing it and we were promptly plucked out and pushed through. The passport control guy told me that we could have entered through the UK line because of me and my passport. So I guess it depends on who you get and how frazzled you look

I think it is easy to get bogged down in the 'don't expect it to be the same' argument, but the reality I think for some people is that living in AUstralia can just come to its natural conclusion. If the contract had been renewed you may well have still been happy to plod on again, but when your options are limited you do start to question. We have been here soooo many times, but something happened and we focused on living again. Now we are at the same crossroads again, my husband took redundancy last year and while he has worked, he is not feeling the love for his new job and I am 7 weeks away from my contract ending and have not yet been told if I will have a job next year. And I wonder if this is our time coming to its natural conclusion, as my youngest will start school here next year so we are no longer tied to daycare. The fear of making the wrong decision is always there, but the decision is half the battle, you are on your way :laugh:

Please keep us posted on how you get on, the process etc. We like you have been here 11 years and have contemplated the move back numerous times, then Australia throws us a bone and we back down. We also love both places, and I really do think if we do head back it will be because it is "our time". Love to know how you get on and well done for setting a date.:wink:

I suppose thats why a lot of people sell when heading back, thanks for your help.

Thanks for the reply's, The mortgage is currently 95k with a redraw available of 170k, as we have hammered the mortgage recently. If i redraw 100k [deposit for uk house} then my mortgage payments will increase as my mortgage is now effectivly 195k and i will pay interest on that figure. If the house is rented and negativly geared so i am not making a profit then i can't see how i am doing anything wrong? If i do make a profit i will pay 30% tax on it as a non resident. Its just a way to keep a foothold in oz should we ping pong back, something i wish i had done with my uk house when i came out here 13yrs ago.

Thanks Marisa, i thought that was the case. We are well ahead in our mortgage payments so i suppose if we redraw enough to leave the mortgage in negative gearing and we don't make any profit, then they can't tax me 30%. The money we redraw could go for a deposit for place in uk, although the CGT if i sell the oz property later could be a problem, will have to look into that. Appreciate your feedback, thanks

Hi, looking to go back to uk after 10yrs in qld, do not really want to sell house but rent it out instead just in case things don,t work out for us over there. Not sure of the tax implications though, would we still get the tax free threshold here if working in uk? We have a large redraw on our property and could use that to negative gear it and put a deposit down on something in uk, checked a lot of posts on here and couldn't find any answers. Hopefully someone has had the same problem and knows a way around it.