blobby1000

Surely they still have to have a decent reason don't they?

I'm not surprised she is being negative. If what she says is true, this is not a "speed hump"; she has been unfairly dismissed and is quite right to feel aggrieved.

This all sounds a bit strange. They cannot sack you for making a medication error so long as you were honest, owned up, took all necessary steps to keep the patient safe and were convincing in your regret for what happened. I have read some of the posts on here about people being over and under medicated and being kind about it because nurses are under pressure but to be honest, thats not really any excuse. Medication errors shouldn't happen and if you are on the receiving end of one you have every right to be angry (incidently, what did your patient think of it?) Having said that, in my job I give out medication to 22 people a day, maybe 4 or 5 tablets each plus all the extra meds as required and injections etc. Over the course of a year thats about 2000 single times I will give someone some medication. I am afraid it is inevitable that there will be the occasional error. I do not know a single nurse that has not made a medication error. How did the hospital treat you prior to this incident? Im not being nasty but they are either a hospital that do not accept mistakes of any kind or, for whatever reason, they wanted you to leave. This could be due to financial issues, it may not be personal at all. Its a great pity you are not in the union. Australian nursing unions are brilliant, far more militant than these UK ones who don't fight anything or anyone. I did hear that Aussie unions may help you even if you join after the adverse event, give them a call. You need to put this down to experience and ask them politely to provide you with a reference. I wouldnt go down the unfair dismissal road at the moment but I definitley would if they dont provide you will a reasonable reference. You cant lose your career over one mistake which you were honest about. I would be interested to know where you worked? I understand you may not want to tell me. Best of luck

I reckon about £20k by the time it was all paid for, and that was on a 457. But I'm including full container shipment, 4k to fly our dog out, flights, temporary accommodation, visas, buy a car, money until I started work etc And then about 20k dollars to get back home 2 years later!

I know a lovely place in Berwick, 3 bedrooms, it's actually in Harkaway, just outside Berwick in the Far Eastern Suburbs, bit over an hour from Melbourne. It's furnished and reasonably priced, I could dig out the details if your interested. We stayed there when we first came over and went back for a weekend in 2012.

I heard, and it may be wrong, that if your permanent visa has expired (generally five years after it is granted) and you state clearly you will ever return to Australia! then you can claim all your super back. it may be wrong though but it's surely worth a try.

Whereabouts in Australia did you live Bora? i wonder if you will miss anything given time, but very pleased your glad to be back.

They are just different to the British. It's not what we are used to, but it's a foreign country! on the whole, I didn't really like them, but I met some really lovely Aussies too.....there are knobheads in the UK as well of course!

Jet pets were absolutely fantastic. I cannot praise them enough. Honest, organised, realiable, friendly and our dog trotted out of immigration like he has just been for a pleasant stroll.

brilliant article, thanks for this. I love the bit about if you talk about whether you are happy, you are not! we had endless discussions on this subject in Australia! Exhausting!

Great Post Melbourne Smells.

So true. We had a really beautiful summer last year, I preferred it to an Aussie summer of 40 degrees and having to put sun cream on the kids just to walk to the end of the garden (and it was a small garden!) And it is possible to go outside in the rain!

Great post and nice to be reminded of why we left Australia (which we sometimes forget in amongst the rain and mounting debts) I suggest you get yourselves back home!

Great advice. I remember a rather odd pom who lived in the same town as us in Victoria (Torquay) and I asked him if he would ever return to the Uk and his answer was: "No, all my mates back home are really envious of me being here!" (as if thats a reason to stay....but its precisely what you were saying) Where were you in Conutry Victoria incidently?

This is extremely true and exactly what we did (not helped by a gigantic party the night before we left the UK)...and what's more, on returning to the UK we often look back on our life in Australia was rose tinted glasses as well! Although I have often criticised people on here for going on about the need for endless positive thinking when in Australia, actually, in our position now we have three choices: We either look at the negatives in the UK and the positives in Australia and have regrets, or we look at the positives in the UK and the negatives in Australia and look back at the past in a fairly bitter and twisted way.....or we look at the negatives and the positives of both and remember that all we have ever done is tried to make the right decisions at the time....

You can get the Temperory Visa bit of the super back after the permanent visa has expired. My understanding is that if you can argue that you will not return to Australia then you can aslo get the Permanent bit of the super back as well.

Oh by the way, you know you can claim your super back don't you? if you were on temp visa you can claim I back once you leave. If you were on permanent residency you can claim it after the visa has expired which is generally five years from when it was granted,

My wife had a 24 month contract, we paid the whole lot off after we got back to the UK and kept the phone. They can chase you if they want to but it has to be financially viable for them. in terms of the child benefit, I told them we were leaving Australia, I told them we had left And then I told them again we had let (because they kept paying us). I wrote to them and kept proof of posting and also emailed so I have proof I told them, they did stop paying us about a month after we left the country. You will need to do a tax return once you are back in the UK....you can do this through etax online. Keep your Australia bank account because your debate will go straight in there and any tax you owe will deducted.

I have not heard of Clyde North but I have heard of Cranbourne (Crimeborn!) it's not the nicest of areas. I reckon you should do what you can to get a car and then Spend the next year pottering around looking for nicer places to live. Berwick is much much nicer....not entirely sure it's nicer than where we live in the UK but it's a good spot, near to Mornington Penninsula so you can head out to the beach easy and near to the Dandenongs and not a ridiculous way from the city, Also quite a decent ex-pat community and it's a friendly little town. We got through the first year by looking for places to live in the second year! i was most upset leaving three particular friends. now we have returned, one has moved up North, one is moving a couple of hours away with his new partner and the other one (much as I love him) is doing my head in. You got it spot on, you wouldn't have said those things had you not been leaving (but I think it was great to experience those extreme emotions, amazing life experience and a great way to get to know yourself, something we would never have down without going to Australia!) i would just say, hang on in there, give it a 2 years because I think people that return really soon may well wonder what might haven been had they stayed out a little longer. All the best!

But how did they know I was not the best person for the job if they never returned my calls, let alone actually met me or saw me work? Based on 2 years experience of working with Australian nurses, I would argue that I was at least worth a return phone call. And your argument of preferring local talent...without actually speaking to a foreigner about an application....is just plain and simple racism.

The broker is probably trying to rip you off try another one and see how much that comes out at

I have heard of long distance relationships petals, but I don't think any new relationship could handle 10,000 miles!! i was planning to go travelling in 2005. I met a girl, totally changed all my plans almost instantly, We are now married, with two Kids and two dogs. We moved to Australia together as a family in 2010 and did loads of travelling in the two years we were there. unless you are 44 years old, Australia will always be available, your girl won't be if you leave!

Yeah, in Victoria if you dont have a big deposit (I think 25%) you have to pay a compulsary mortgage insurance fee (its thousands of dollars) in case you default. I think this policy applies across Australia but Im not sure.....its not applicable if you have a decent deposit but would have cost us around $20k (they add it to the mortgage but thats hardly the point)

Hi, glad you are settling in. I must warn you (although I only have experience of Victoria) the quaility of rental accommodation is NEVER that great! I must urge you to listen to the people that have done the commute before you decide where you will live. I appreciate that you drove 4 hours in the UK but do you really want to do that again in Australia? Looking back, one of our (many) mistakes was moving from Melbourne to the beach 90 mins away and commuting back to Melbourne....it took 2 and a half hours each way some days....it cost a fortune too and I was too knackered (or just too busy driving) to ever actually go the the beach!!!! Like someone said, you work every day, you go to the beach at weekends.. we would have been better off staying in Melbourne and visited the beach at weekends (but I guess its the beach lifestyle many of us want, and its hard to get jobs in the seaside towns so long commutes can become inevitable)

There is a form you need to complete which means you dont have to pay the 25% on the rental income... Its a non-residents form... Then you have to only pay tax on any profit (minus mortgage, repairs, insurance, agents fees etc) Your letting agent will know, if you dont have one you can call the inland revenue (they are actually incredibly helpful) Im sorry I cant remember the name of the form but all ex-pats end up paying 25% on all collected rent if they dont fill in this form.