alandeej

I think you will find Truro has excellent schools, I don't think you should use threads to decide between places. I would choose Truro and Cornwall anyday over Surrey unless you need to be close to London, Truro having both excellent state and private schools and state of the art college. As for education Australia which is academicly behind the UK, since returning my daughter has managed to catch up with school work and Cornwall is a great place to go to school and grow up!

Cancel it and go, you may get a few emails for several months but at the end of the day there is nothing they can do!

If you don't like it just go back, I have seen so many times on here give it 2 years etc; but I have found moving around you get a gut feeling more or less straight away and you know if you have made the right or wrong move. Many who have moved to Gero on a 457 visa are trapped there by said company conditions after promissing so much and delivering so little. If the company brought you to Australia they have to send you back if you request to go home, even if you sold up everything for Oz you can return and rebuild you life in Blighty. I certainly have no regrets returning home and with the summer just starting I can open the window without loads of flies coming in, not to mention cockroaches and spiders!

Don't get me started on that rag 'The Daily Mail' some of the articals are no better than 'The Sun' Then there are programs like 'Wanted Down Under' showing how you can buy a house and get a job straight away, unfortunately it doesn't work like that, the reality being high rentals, jobs are just as difficult to find as in the UK and with the high cost of living I found myself working longer hours. One thing I regret not doing was a 'Recci' rather than just packing our bags and going, this way actually being in Australia to get the feel of the place and the reality would have changed my decision but unfortunately I could not afford a recci trip but in hindsight this would have been money well spent.

OMG I broke my tooth, quoted several appointments to fix and was looking towards $600!!! Waited until I came back to Blighty cost me £17:50 on the NHS.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...mmigrants.html Typical 'Daily Mail' scaremongering no better than 'The Sun' of course Australia hasn't got an immigration problem hence the boat people that seem to be arriving every week!

DONT GO! Do you really think Australia will solve your problems, go if you WANT to go to Australia but don't go simply to escape problems here as you will swap one set of problems for another, some of the factors we chose to leave the UK was the constant rain, failing economy, NHS falling apart, being at work all the time, little time will the family, immigration etc; etc; And then found despite earning twice as much the high cost of living often 3 to 4 times higher than the UK we were worse off paying high rental prices in WA meant I had to work longer hours away from home. We noted job losses in Australia so if you are struggling for work here what makes you think you will be any better off in a Australia? You may have loads of debt here but you just can't get a credit card in Australia either, we only had several thousand pounds in savings although I had a job to go to but we found it a real struggle financially as we were worse off, you never take into account things like paying to see a doctor or even an ambulance, even state schools charge. Australia has its own problems not shown in TV shows like "Wanted Down Under" it was an experience but we returned to Blighty which is not so bad.

Brits tend to jump in the air at earning twice as much as the UK for example I was on £40,000 and offered £71,500 which sounds a lot more by UK standards and many shows like 'Wanted Downunder' makes Australia sound a good move financially BUT we found the cost of living around 3 to 4 times higher than the UK and rentals were extortionate taking half of my wages alone. People seem to think that being in Australia you save on heating bills but I ended up with an $800 bill for Jan/Feb 2012 electricity from using the air con to keep cool as we were in WA. Unfortunatly you can't use the exchange rate for comparison as this does not give a true rate due to the cost of living as we found that being on double the money with the cost of living higher we were actually poorer than in the UK, so I had to work longer hours away from home to make ends meet a far cry from a better living that TV show hence we decided to return home!

We used Wridgeways, one word 'brilliant'

Rio Tinto has made cut backs and mining projects have been shelved including a planned A$10bn iron port project , likewise BHP Billiton has confirmed it is cutting jobs in its iron ore division and Fortescue is cutting spending and jobs as iron ore prices dip. There are normally always jobs due to the fly in fly out nature of the work normally two weeks on, one off so its not for everyone despite the money!

Very brave Dorian Grey, I was a train driver that moved to WA and indeed if it doesn't work out it is a one way trip. So many think Australia will bring a better life but we found Perth boring and isolated and with no house or job it will be a struggle, we found Australia expensive especially having to rent, we decided it wasn't for us and returned home, so I sincerley wish you good luck in you venture!

Yes been there, blinkered to Australia being a better place the TV showing the outdoor life and beaches on "Wanted Down Under" and then we went to Australia......... We were in regional WA and what did we find was struugling businesses with shops closed down, job losses, rubbish jobs for rubbish pay especially for women and my 14 year old daughter found the schools were behind by UK standards, we seemed to have swapped one set of problems for another, then there was boy racers or 'Hoons' screetching round at night in their V8 ute's which was highlighted on the local Perth news as a problem. We seen several burnt out cars in the bush and there seemed to be a higher burglery rate than the UK due to the drug problem as most public conveniences have needle disposal boxes. I would have liked Perth for a holiday especially with the wildlife (not the red backs mind) but found as Quoll said it is very boring and isolated and not without its problems and for us financial worse off despite earning twice that of the UK, anyway thats what we found but hey ho you may love it. From too much rain to too much sun which is fierce that you have to hide away!

Where abouts are you in Australia, I was in regional WA on a 457 visa so I know how you are tied to the companies conditions with a promise of PR, we managed to get back to the UK as the company have to fly you home if you request it and just handed back the car to the finance company!

Worked in the Railway industry in both the UK and WA as there is a lot of investment in rail in both countries.

Apparently proper British fish and chips shop that have tried it Down Under don't survive as the Aussies simply don't like them, the Aussie chips tend to be those rubbish frozen ones with Chicken salt and white vinegar and the fish is Snapper. The pies were 'Mrs Macs' in WA, bloody awful by compared with say Pukka Pies with peas and Carrots, the Aussies swear by them I swore at them, I don't think the likes of mushy peas and battered sausages sell alledgally plus the difficulty of importing UK items makes it expensive!

I'm Mrs alandeej and I can, hand on my heart, say that we gave it a go, even lost our beloved cat who was 12 years old in Sydney quarantine. I know the company and the Kyle Minogue look-alike who told us a load of bull. At the end of the day it is up you and your family. Even Bilko is over here in UK looking for jobs.

In a nutshell not being so blinkered in thinking Oz is a better place despite all the pitfalls.

Have to agree:- Three things I'd miss about Australia now I am back in the UK 1. Hanging out the washing and knowing it would dry on the same day. 2. Frozen Coke 3. Chicken Treat Three things I DONT miss about Australia apart from the weather (well I don't miss the endless heat) 1. Flies, mossies, spiders, cockroaches and snakes........infact ALL the creepy crawlies 2. Mrs Macs pies and the Aussies banging on how good they are - err NO and you don't put peas and carrots in Cornish Pasty either! 3. Unfriendliness of the natives - Arrogant Aussies

After moving back to Blighty, I can say that Britain isn't broken but dented. I was in western Australia and struggling to live with the high cost of living especially being in a regional location but can honestly say that being back home I can afford to live again!

Good luck, best thing I ever did was to pack my bags and come back home to Blighty - No regrets!

Glad you are enjoying your return to the UK, best thing we ever did was return to the UK we found Australia was too expensive we appreciate the UK more now we are back.

We used Pickfords for shipping UK to Australia, but we couldn't afford to ship our stuff so it went into storage, glad we didn't ship our stuff as we are now back in the UK but Pickfords even managed to loose some of our items, Pickfords also lost and damaged other families goods that we went to Australia with so I will never use Pickfords again. We had a part container for Australia to UK and used Ridgeways a lot cheaper than Allied Pickfords and better service so I would recommend them 100%

I think as you said on another thread, Western Australia is 'over rated and over priced' sooooooooooo glad to have come back to the UK, nice for a holiday but not to live!

I did try to warn those coming over to work for QR National that the company did not live up to its expectations and in some cases lying to get recruits, but I was knocked back by certain people that I was negative, moaning and to a degree shunned by other Brits. But I was open and honest in my posts both on here and other forums, Such was the blinkered escape from a so called broken Britain peoples lives are now being ruined by the PR changes and this company, The lure of a life in the sun seemed like one big holiday but as the reality of the job, location, PR and cost of living sinks in, now see's some families heading home. Some families have given up everything and can't return and there are some families that are still enjoying life down under, whatever you decide I wish you all the best but for me I'm certainly glad I got out and managed to get home back in the UK.

Would love to have tried Melbourne, but visa and work restrictions make it impossible to move not to mention the cost involved, been stuck in Geraldton WA which has tarnished my opinion of Australia, so heading home!