whatsitallabout

I don't think its strange not wanting to go back, we were the same. But my little sis has decided that she is getting married so we will all be going back. It will be four years then, so am now getting excited & horrified at all the places we will have to visit in our 3 weeks there. South & North of England everyone wants a piece of you & will be really upset if you don't see them. The cost is seriously overpriced! I will make sure that we have a good stopover, so we can recover from sleeping at so many different beds!

Would second that Bring as much as you can, as it certainly goes very fast after paying out for rental, car, school stuff & just today today living expenses, we dont live life we did back home as we cant afford to!

Each person has different circumstances & different lifestyles. You can survive on a budget but its tough. don't rush to buy cars any as they are very expensive here & you do really need one. We didn't bring much as some of our friends & we struggled for a while, I just become very good at budgeting.

I remember feeling just like that when we 1st arrived, the 1st 6 months were hell for me, just wanted to go back home savings were going down the pan, was so depressed. Got involved in the kids school started making friends learnt to shop on a budget very fast. Once the job happens it makes a huge difference trust me. 3 years later are very happy here. What your feeling & what your emotions are going through are pretty normal. Most people have gone through the same. I am sooooo glad that I gave it a chance & didn't rush back, it does get easier once you have security of our job. I sent cv after cv to many many employers, it took me 8 months to land a job but I never gave up. Good Luck x

It took us 1 year to sell & dropped a huge amount to sell & the hoff is right the maket is stagnant. From the price we started on to what we sold a massive drop, but so glad we did as we still had something to come over with. But to get people in the door, our house was a lot cheaper than the rest in our area. The house was all decorated nicely & had new kitchen & bathroom. It was sooooo frustrating.Keep posistive someone will walk in & fall in love with it! But you might have to drop your price!

Fingers crossed beach pig you get the contract in WA. Really hope it all works out for ya. As I feel you don't really want to go back to the UK. Australia has been good for us too! Wish ya well & keep us posted! x

Ajdownunder, what a fantastic post! Loved reading it! We too have been here 3 years & it certainly has taken me at least 2 years to settle & get used to the cost of living. But we learnt to adapt to the aussie wasy of life, we too have met some amazing friends. I don't think that homesick feeling will ever go I just know how to deal with it now! Am planning to go back next year to visit & cant wait to see friends & family

I was under the impression if you lose your job under 457 you have 28 days to find another sponsor, not sure you can get a bridging visa. If you can find a willing sponsor then its pretty easy to get your 457 swapped to a new employer. Good luck & hope you can find a new employer.

Haven't been to Perth so can't coment on that. Live in Melbourne & really like it here. Fourseasins in one day cold winters makes me feel like I am home & love the summers yes we do have the odd 40 degree day. Lots to do, My kids love it here!

Think your idea to head to Dorset is good, we always said if we were to return thats the area we would like. This year we saw 3 friends head back & they all got jobs pretty much straight away! So there is work there if your want! Good luck with your adventure.

The 457 route can be a stressful way in ours was good after working for 2 years for not a great company & the pay wasn't good, we gained PR which was really quick as we went through the ENS visa. The downsides on a 457 are: Your stuck for 2 years you could lose your job (only 1 person we have met here that has happened too) thankfully they found another sponsor in the 28 day timeline. If a family you get no help what so ever, was a real struggle for us as oz is so expensive.

Sorry to hear about your loss of your job, have you not had any replies from jobs in melbourne? As have seen a few in the papers for your trade. Would you be willing to move to any state? It seems such a shame to go back when you like living here, & the cost to take you home will be be a chunk out of your savings. Good luck wish you all the best

Thanks for the update so glad you have settled back into life, hope hubby won't be too far behind! Wish you all the best & thanks for letting us know how you are doing!

Hi Devon67, Mount Martha is a beautiful place to stay, some lovely places around that area! Wishing you all the best on this exciting time for you & yeah just in time for summer xx

Hi, Have a look at these short term, pretty cheap but basic, we stayed in one when we 1st arrived. www.easystay.com.au

Really agree with that 1st 2 years I tried too hard, & really didn't let Oz into my life. I can so understand what blooby ia saying.But I stopped fighting the negatives & looked at my kids who love the life they have here, & started to let Oz into my life & the amazing thing happened I started to enjoy it too. Trust me has been the most stressful thing ever! I hated Oz for such a long time my friends here thought we would go back home.But I just let it in my life & have fallen in love with OZ I will never lose who I am AM SO Bloody PROUD to be british I love MY cockney accent I wont change but I love the life style here!! Seen so many friends go back 3 are returning!!! so OZ must offer something nice!!!!!

Belgrave & Emmerald are lovely, some great restaurants, pubs, coffee shops too! I used to work in the city & travelled on the Belgrave line got the express train!

Most people do realise that its not going to be easy!!! I think the cost of living here actually cheaper then the UK! It also depends oh how your lifestyle is. There is good & bad in each country I sometimes find your posts very negative against Australia buts that just my opinion. We struggled like hell back home & we are certainly in a better position now!

Your post was spot on to our reasons for coming here had our own business back in the uk that we were really struggling to keep afloat, the cost of bills, mortage & every day living in the UK was a struggle. We thought the same nothing ventured nothing gained. Was bloody hard to start with finding your feet, making new friends, finding work, but we kept going we knew the 1st 2 years will be hard. Am glad we didn't give up as 3 years later as worked out really well for us as a family & was the best decision we have made! Everyone has a different journey here, for us it worked in our favour.

The people we have met along our stay here returned for a number of reasons, homesickness, the high cost of living, the long working hours & the lack of making good friends. It is hard but these issues haven't really effected us yet! Was homesick but after 3 yaers here it has started to wear off (only a little bit)

Its great to read that other people feel the same too! As moving here was so stressful for a few years! Its nice to hear that your heart can love two countries!

Melbourne weather is vert interesting, Can be a glorious day, then you can get golf balls falling out of the sky!!! A couple of years ago we headed off ito the city it was a very hot & sunny day. Around late afternoon we had massive hail, never seen anthing like that before! Lots of cars got damaged. You can get four seasons in one day here any time. I never go out without a umbrella. But think this winter has been mild. 2 years ago on new years eve we had a shocking 42 degrees! Sometimes it get very hot in the summer.

We found it difficult to start with, as we kept getting rejected for rentals as never rented before, so got a letter from new employer, bank statements showing we had money upfront then paid 5 months upfront to secure property. I got estate agent in uk to write a ref luckily they had sold all our previous properties, I also showed the real estates here pictures all all the houses, we had previos owed so they could see how well kept they were. If renting in the uk get your current landlord to do a ref for you. Or maybe get a friend to do a ref saying how you have always owed your proprites & well they were maintained,

We got ours through ens, we had to wait 2 years the longest part was waiting for the ens number to come through which took 7 months. Then we also needed medicals, xrays, police checks. We will put papers in took 3 weeks to be granted

Tell me about it!!! Work for dealership & have to deal with all the states they all do things different, VIC roads the hardest!!!!