blobby1000

Yes you are absolutely right. I suppose really I just wish I was less of a miserable git. Many of the things that did annoy me were really unimportant.....but they would annoy me again if we came back! The kids definitely need some stability and they seem quite happy here (and they were happy in Australia.). It's me and Mrs Blobby with the issues!

Nah Mrs Blobby's OK!!!

Yes you are absolutely right. i can give countless example of us doing wonderful things in Australia but still feeling fairly unhappy at the same time!

Yes Fremantle is a wonderful place. I don't think we will be taking the gamble of returning but I'm sure if we had lived in Fremantle we would have got on a lot better in Australia.

I guess about 40k would be a conservative estimate. That's quite depressing! And it would be insane to spend another 40k and end up back here again via Australia AGAIN!!!

I missed the UK far more then than I now miss Australia. I think the thing I struggled with most was the thought that, if we succeeded, we would stay in Australia forever....I found that very hard to deal with, even though that's the whole idea of going there!

Thank you for all your helpful responses. I have read them all and I agree with everything you say. Harpodom, you are certainly a voice of reason and I think you're absolutely right......to return would be madness and it may well drive me to madness. Imagine the pressure to be happy knowing we definitely couldn't return to the UK again! However we would never have left Australia to return to Cheltenham, we felt we were done with it here even though we weren't always satisfied with Australia. We always had this alternative plan in The back of our minds to live in Cornwall and I wish we had got that out of our system BEFORE we went to Australia......when we decided to come back to the UK it didn't feel like we were returning home because we were starting again in a new area of the UK...but once we found Cornwall was not for us, we just ended up back In Cheltenham by default and because we had really run out of energy. i understand what people are saying about me being chronically bored, I love being married with kids, it really is the best thing I have ever done, but there is a responsibility to stay still for 15 years to give some stability and I think this can give a feeling of being trapped...not trapped by having kids, but geographically trapped. I've always travelled and found it hard to give it up. The thing is eventually we would have needed to settle in one area in Australia for 15 years and those feeling of being trapped would have been present there too... In terms of "the daily grind" that's something that living in Australia did not fix....I remember thinking, it's not all surfing before breakfast, we still got to pay the bills, go to work, vacuum, pick up dog poo etc.. It's not so different to being in the UK in that sense on a daily basis! I just think things got muddled in our heads in Australia with this idea of Cornwall being an alternative, it sort of never allowed us to settle. But it was more complicated than that, and although there really were times when we didn't think we would return to the Uk, we did spend a lot of our time missing it,

Cancel your Facebook account for at least 6 months and immerse yourself in local culture!

Well if Boris said that I think we have definitely made a mistake returning! And he would know wouldn't he, Having spent a holiday there!

Hello We returned from Australia in December 2012 after 26 months living near Melbourne and in Torquay on The Great Ocean Road. Although we did many things in our time in Australia, we had generally negative feelings about it as a country and about our lives there. These feeling ebbed and flowed a bit but I think it's fair to say (and is reflected in my posts at the time) that I was mostly negative. We found some perspective on leaving and were able to be more pragmatic and left without any of the bitterness or anger that had been present during much of our stay. We moved back to the UK but instead of returning home we started another new life in Cornwall. In was awful and we left after 8 months and came back to live in our house in cheltenham. I returned to my old job. Mrs Blobby got a new job. Our boys aged 6 and 4 have really settled Into fantastic schools/preschools. we have bought a trailer tent to go off on holidays, we have a new puppy to go along with our ageing Retriever who had travelled to Australia and back with us. I'm on the verge of promotion at my work (just as I was when I left in 2010 and just as I was when I left Australia, but I never stayed still long enough!) The funny thing is when we talk about Australia, which seems to be getting more frequent we don't really talk about the endless boiling summers when we couldn't go outside, the terrible chicken in their takeaways, the terrible standard of rental property and the high interest rates which would have meant buying our dream home would always be very very difficult,. We don't talk about the appalling drivers, the way they treat their dogs, the poor standard of nursing, the racism, homophobia and general aggressive attitude of people. We don't speak much about the difficulty in making new friends or the overwhelming feeling of misery at Christmas! Good Lord no.... We talk about the fact we don't really have the time to spend with many of our friends. I don't particularly want to spend my days off drinking down the pub with my mates I would rather spend the time with my young family. We tire of the competitive nature of parents in the school playground. Many of the actual things and places that I really missed when in Australia when I now revisit I have this overwhelming feeling that I have done this all before. We are skint, just as we were when we left the UK, and, for the next 20 years at least, that isn't going to change. We look back on Australia and miss the opportunities, the sense of freedom that meant we felt we could do whatever we wanted with our lives. And it was nice not to work for the NHS and to finally have some money! Holidays in Bali, Sydney, W.A, anywhere we wanted really......and I could murder a flat white! Even if we could afford to go back to Australia it would be completely unfair on our children, and our wider families who have been very pleased to have us back and are all getting old (although we don't live near hem and don't see them all that often). Returning would mean selling the house, and putting everything in One Australian basket.....and, when we got there, can I be sure we wouldn't be focussing on the terrible chicken in the takeaways? In truth, although our lives are really quite good, we don't really feel like we belong anywhere anymore!

JetPets are absolutely wonderful. I cannot praise them enough. Our dog came off the plane looking like he had just had a stroll in the local park, they certainly looked after him as if he were a King. They took the stress out of everything in the planning and even drove 150km to collect our dog prior to the flight. The price was also reasonable. I have not heard of the other company.

Sorry to hear your very sad story. You can get them out. And you don't need to pay them any compensation. But you are right in that you will need to take them to court if they do not go voluntarily. We have not done this but we did enquire about it. Your reasons are perfectly reasonable, its your house and any judge would rule in your favour. Let them find another home, you dont have to, you have one! (PS in the end we decided not to persue our action due to feeling guilty. When we got home finally we found our tenants had wrecked the house and the agents had only taken £15 off theire deposit....its cost us around £3k to put back together, then the agents went bust!)

I always found the issues around boats arriving/sinking/people dying very sad indeed and found the governments policy and that of many Australian people incredibly heartless. I understand you don't have the finances to take everybody but you certainly have the space to offer asylum to the most needy. The conditions in the detention centres were horrific, I knew many hardened mental health nurses who found working in these places too disressing even for them.

Yeah St Kilda is great, it's got just about everything you could need and it's only 3 miles or so from the CBD. Having said that the actual beach is fairly poor, although walking along the prom with the palm trees is lovely. Only problem with st Kilda as a family is that it's just so expensive to live there. to be honest we found all the best places were too expensive to live in (in terms of actually buying property) and the affordable ones were affordable for a reason (none wants to live there because they are crap)

No way. The beaches in the UK are much better than Melbourne city beaches.

Welcome to Australia Happy Motoring

And there is a massive outlet pipe right on the beach! Although I must admit I did like WilliamsTOWN (the beach was rubbish) How's it going boganbear, enjoying Queensland I hope still.

Fair enough

Yes but what does that actually mean Who can actually afford to live IN Melbourne?

Please name one decent Melbourne city beach?

In my experience of two years in and around Melbourne I would say that your points are all true (although I have swum in the sea off melbourne and am still alive, I would argue that the beaches are far from good). It is also true that Melbourne Smells (see my thread from many years ago of this title). It is also the case that, with a family, surburban life is likely to be your only option (unless you are rich) and Melbournes's suburbs are not what dreams are made of. However, if you want to live in Australia there are many many positives about Melbourne as well.. For example: The weather in spring and autumn is wonderful There are amazing sporting events/concerts all year round and you can get tickets for anything (unlike the UK) It's a cultural city 1.5 hours takes you to the beautiful Great Ocean Road You are central to many things to see and do And lots more besides

Did you live in Berwick Pom Queen? How long for?

Anyone live in either of these places in Victoria? These were the two places we lived in in Australia between 2010 and 2012. it would be interesting to hear your thoughts!

Which suburb were you in in Melbourne

Its a 50 mile circumference around Melbourne!!!