Sassy Duck

Great post and sums up Perth in a nutshell.

 

Fake, False, Overpriced, Overvalued and a bubble that has well and truly burst.

 

As far as it being a retirement centre, you hit the nail on the head, it already has the reputation of being most isolated town and biggest retirement village in the world.

 

if we were young again, knew what we knew and were absolutely intent on migrating somewhere out of Britain, we would be trying to migrate to America or somewhere with a bit of vibe about it.

Sums up Perth in a nutshell for you. Reputation for being the biggest retirement village in the world?? Haha are you just making this up as you go along?

You don't sound so happy :-(

Perhaps he/she should change their user name to home and bitter.

Light plane crashed into the swan river, pilot and passenger died and fireworks celebration cancelled. We saw it happen along with thousands of others...very sad news. :daydreaming:

$200k and you spend it all without kids? You must have a big mortgage!

Exactly what I was thinking! He said he earns in excess of $200k. I would feel pretty well off with that salary!

So, someone disagrees with you, and they are stupid? that I find rude completely, you are commenting in a section which is for persons who wise to or whom have returned to the UK. if you are not liking the comments don't read it but not reason to be rude at all.

Read my comment again. I did not say you were stupid I said your comment was stupid. Think you'll find your original comment was pretty rude but hey ho.

Sorry why would he need to give it a rest? , not everyone is blinkered by Australia.

 

I have now lived here for 5 years. we are hopefully moving back this year already been waiting 18 months longer than we wanted due to legal issues. bar the weather Australia, does not have a patch on the UK.... thats my opinion however others will rightly disagree, Bristol could tell you to give it a rest harping on about how great Australia is.

No he couldn't because I don't and never have harped on about how great Australia is, and I am certainly not blinkered...what a stupid statement. Thanks for your input though. :dull:

I don't need to justify anything, least of all to you.

Haha classic, you try to justify everything! No need to get nasty...you give...you take..simples.

You realise this is the MBTTUK section don't you ? Unbelievable!

And? That's your justification then :daydreaming:

Flights booked, shipping organised and family told...

 

But, we've just come back from a week in cairns and now I'm worried that I've made a mistake.

 

I want to go home as I miss friends and family but good lord Australia is wonderful.

We made the move back to the uk after spending 5 years in oz. First year novelty, after that we realised we'd made a massive mistake. Moved back to oz and honestly couldn't wait to get back! It's not perfect, nowhere is, but as much as I like the uk, I just don't like living there. We went back for a visit in November which confirmed we'd made the right decision. We had citizenship so easy for us to return. Good luck, hope you'll be happier on your return.

As I would be having to go to Melbourne lol

Jeez do you ever give it a rest! Unbelievable!

I am in the UK just now and finding that prices are not that much different for lunch for 2 with a couple of drinks! Maybe if you go to Wetherspoons and eat microwaved cardboard it will be!

We went back in November and was pretty surprised at the price of meals out and only had one decent meal in four weeks. In fact we went for a roast in one pub and all eight of us had to send it back as it was so bad! £12.95 each! They didn't charge us thankfully. This was in Witney. Have to say it was nice paying less for a pint and we did have a steak and a pint for £10 in Weatherspoons! Not the best but ok when you just want to satisfy your hunger.

I think the issue with Perth nightlife is that the city centre is pretty small. There is a good range of bars and restaurants, but there very much places for suits / after work office crowd and generally expensive and so soulless.

 

People say Freo is better, but personally I didn't think so. It reminded me of Camden today. Somewhere that had a rough edge that gave it character but which has now been gentrified / hipsterfied and feels very plastic. A sort of theme park of a cool place somewhere full of wealthy corporates who like to play hippy on a weekend. Its like the guys you see cruising around Freo on a weekend on Harlys trying to look like easy rider, but we know that actually there not so much the untamed nomad biker but Brian from accounts who dresses up on a weekend.

Really?? What a load of tosh.

We moved back to the uk in 2011 after spending five years in NSW. The reasons at the time were that grandchildren were arriving and thought it was time to spend some time with the family etc etc. Also the exchange rate was in our favour as an added bonus. Fast forward five years and we're back in Australia. First six months was a novelty and then all the reasons we left came flooding back. We didn't spend much time with family, people had moved on as expected and for us our lifestyle went down hill.

We do spend a fair bit of time between both countries and we're in the uk at the moment which has only confirmed we have made the right choice for us. The damp weather is just awful! It was cold the first week we arrived and although it's milder now, it's just so grey and damp. We'd forgotten how damp it gets and how depressing it feels with the lack of light. We love crisp autumn days but don't think we'll see much of those unfortunately! Next time we visit will definitely be in the summer!

Isn't there already a thread saying this

Yes there is.:daydreaming:

They are 2 boys in their 20s who I miss so much but can't see them giving me much surport.

Only working in retail I. Worried won't make it been single and 50.

We moved back to the uk in the middle of the recession. People told us there wasn't any jobs etc but we had no problem securing jobs. OH secured a job in Perth within two weeks, second one he applied for. Yes I've heard it's harder to get a job here but they're always advertising for retail and it pays a lot more here and we've found hardly any difference in our outgoings here compared to the uk, apart from the price of going out for a drink.

Not saying you will land a job straight away but you have just a good chance of anybody else with your experience. Granted it's a risk and being on your own only adds to that, but if you haven't any assets etc in the uk and nothing for you there....then it's only a cost of a flight. Could you have an extended holiday for six months, stay with your sons and see how you go?

And the funniest thing is that a thread in the moving back section of the forum is littered yet again with the so called 'Happy People' of Australia calling those who prefer the UK or any other country over Oz bullshitters etc.

Now thats what I call bullshit.

Oh dear :daydreaming:

It must be difficult settling in a new country if you have such a huge ego.

 

Really your new colleagues should have bowed down before you worshipping the ground you walked on. They really did not fully appreciate that they were in the presence of greatness. Now it is their loss (and Australia's) that they will somehow have to manage without you.

:laugh:

I too have lost almost all of my savings. I am not actually an electrician. I met one at Cottesloe beach who was working as a driving instructor while he was a having a ciggie break, and I was taking pictures....we got chatting and we compared notes. He was a driving instructor because he couldn’t get a job as an electrician! I was disappointed that his story was almost the same as mine. Even more so after experiencing so many electrical failures, bangs, sparks, shorts...most houses are like a 15 year old has wired them. It is pathetic. And then they say the UK qualification 'isn’t to Australian standards'. They are quite right. Australian standards are rarely up to UK standards in any field.

 

I am actually an Accountant, and the work I got was ridiculous. It was an insult. The money was less, they took no notice of my experience, they took no notice of my qualifications, and they didn’t know what they were doing half the time. I applied for a Senior role in Darwin, and after 3 interviews in Perth with a non-Aussie who was the CFO, everyone thought the job was mine. Then I went for a final meeting with the Operational Manager in Darwin who was an Aussie. He looked as if he hadn’t started shaving yet, and there was still moisture behind his ears. No shortage of arrogance, ahem, I mean confidence though. Way too much actually. (No doubt he knew the 1001 racist joke handbook many managers seem to learn in WA at school.) One question he asked was what I would do if I were to start. So I explained. He said 'I don’t like it when Accountants interfere with my numbers'. That was it. He blocked my recruitment, and he is still there. He must know someone. This happens a lot in Australia. It isn’t what you know, it is who you know.

 

I have been in the UK just two weeks contemplating my future, and it is a different world. Already I don’t think it is very likely I will ever go back to Australia. My contempt is growing by the day.

 

My advice to anyone thinking of going is this. If you are unemployed, and have nothing to lose, try it. If you have a job, a house and a car, DON’T GO. Take extra holidays to Spain etc if you want some more sun. You won’t be able to when you are there. When you live in Oz the holidays are Bali or stay in Australia. Longhaul trips will probablybe to the UK to see those you left behind, and will be costly, and too short.

 

If you must go, plan it so you have an easy exit strategy, and don’t export your lifes possessions. Keep your house and rent it out. Don’t wait to use up your lifes savings. Make a list of things to check on before you go. I mean things like:

 

1. Am I happy

2. Is it what I hoped

3. Is the work right

4. Is the work paying well

5. Where am I financially compared to where I would be if I hadn’t come

6. What do I like about my new home

7. Is this really making my life better

8.

 

And things like this. Make your own list of frank questions.

 

I was so keen to tell everyone in the UK how good it all was, I started believing my own bullshit.

 

Make sure you don’t lose touch with reality as your life savings evaporate. I did!

 

The whole proposition is bullshit. Jobs are hard to get for non-Aussies, the pay is usually less, cars cost double, housing in a nice area is expensive, everything is expensive. People say nice things, but are usually being two-faced.

 

In the years I was there, the only people I ever saw who clearly benefitted were those who had little when they left. Australia gives those with few skills and brain cells but who make the right noises a chance. If you have something to offer, they see you as a threat, and it will all be uphill.

 

I am going to write all my experiences down, but it will be a book.

 

If you think moving there is going to make your life better, think again. The only way it made my life better was to realise what I had before I went. Now I will find it very hard just to get back to where I was, never mind be where I would have been if I had stayed in the UK, and never mind my savings going down the drain.

That may be your experience but definitely not mine, one size doesn't fit all.

For us it hasn't been. its expensive (housing, food etc).Car Rego and insurance is a joke cost wise. Lack of culture. Bogans. Could go on and on.

We were better off financially in the UK even though Hubby earns good money here. Australians are friendly but often don't want to be your friend and many we have met have had a bad attitude.

It depends what you are leaving behind really as to whether you like it here. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I don't think we appreciated what we DID have in the UK...until we got to OZ. But moving back isn't always easy/ possible. Having said that....if we had never come here...we would always have the Australian dream in our minds that so many are conned by....and always wondered what if....

Why are people conned?? If you're moving to another country you surely do a lot of research? Different living in another country I know, but surely most people would never move to another country based on a brochure or watching a tv program!

We did almost all of our Asian holidays from the UK before we moved to Oz and found it was no more expensive than doing it from Oz - if anything cheaper. We will also be doing a lot of Europe trips now back in the UK. There are people I work with that head off for weekends in Europe every few weeks.

You sound just like Bristolman lol

what a load of horse ****, do you blame everything on the Muslims?

Did I miss something? Where did he/she mention Muslims??

I don't think they'd do it that often ........ maybe once a year - maybe twice - yes you can do it but how often do you do it ! A weekend visit to Port Douglas or Sydney would be just as fun

I don't think anybody does it that often. Although it's only a few hours flight away, you finish work at five on Friday, get a late night flight and arrive late in Barcelona or where ever....so you have Saturday & half day Sunday before you fly back for work on Monday. Unless of course you take Monday off but then you're eating into your annual leave allowance. Some people would use their leave to book weekends away but I'd say the majority like to save it for the one/two week summer holiday, week at Christmas etc. Also it gets more expensive if you go on a weekend. I would expect most people only do it twice maybe three times a year.

That's quite possibly the fairest post I have seen you make. If you could ask my wife the coldest she has ever been in her life without hesitation she would say on a motorbike ride from Geelong to Ballarat years ago. I'm lucky that I don't really feel the cold that much and our kids have inherited that.

Afree about the houses, they are crap basically. Our 400 year old house is better insulated than any house we have lived in Australia. It's been a pretty ordinary April that's for sure, they are forecasting up near 20 the end of next week, just about my ideal temp.

Its not the fairest as I am under no illusion about oz, the same as I'm under no illusion about the uk. I just post on my experience on both countries, as I spend a fair bit of time in both. I have to say that I was quite shocked that we had to sit watching tele in oz with a beanie on haha & I'm always happy to see a radiator when I'm back in the uk! :laugh:

It does get bone chillingly cold in the uk and we all know that and accept it, but we have heating etc to cope. In oz it doesn't get anywhere near as cold except in the houses because they have poor insulation & no heating. I hate that! It can be 14 degrees at night but feels like 6 degrees inside! A lot of my rellies have been saying how bad the weather has been lately in the uk, as usually by April we are starting to see the warmer days. It was snowing in Reading & Swindon the other day...pretty unusual for the end of April.

What do you mean ? I was merely commenting that you live in awesome Australia, I'm sorry you don't agree. I remember when it snowed in Melbourne at Christmas, crazy weather.

Awesome Australia?? Oh come on...why not just Australia? No need in imo..as I said just commenting on how cold it is for the time of year.