gwolst77

We used Grace to move back from the Melbourne to the Lancashire, can't fault them so far. Container landed in the UK today just got to wait a few weeks for delivery as we did not have use of a sole container I'll will post more details in the next few weeks

Just relocated back from Melbourne to Lancashire and we are using Grace who have been brill so far, our container (shared groupage) lands next week and should be with us before the end of the month. I will give a full review once we get our stuff delivered but so far so good. Also the guy from Grace who does the quote is a Brummie lad called Paul and is a top bloke.

Thank god you posted this, I was about to post the exact same question

Thanks for all the messages. Truth be told I'm not worried so much about her being behind and having to catch up for a couple of months, plenty of kids in the same situation and sometime worse (in and out of hospital). I'm just trying to get a comparison between her current level out in Oz without formal schooling and what that equates to in the UK when she will start school in just over two weeks time. We see stuff on Facebook being posted by parents with kids younger than my daughter (year below) and we think 'oh sh*t what have we done moving out here and back again so soon' she can't do any of that. If we had stayed here to the end of the year and we went back at Xmas, I don't think we would have been so worried as she would have completed a full year at school. I know a lot countries don't send their kids to school until 5 - 6 and they beat the UK in the education league tables. She can write her name, knows the alphabet, read and spell a few words (some of it is probably just from memory), count past 100 and do basic addition and subtraction. If judging by the posts I've read there will be kids at the same sort of level as her because UK reception is just like Kindie but for 5 days a week as opposed to 15 hours a week in Oz. If that is the general consensus then we do feel a bit better as it looks like she will be only about 5-6 months behind her peers (due to how the school year is structured). We do what we can with reading etc, but I work full time and my wife has not been well (one of the reasons for moving back) but at the end of the day we are not teachers. Oh well c'est la vie at least she can say she has lived in another country for 19 months (in fact she has done more globe trotting in her first 6 years than I did till my thirties)

We head back in a couple of weeks and was wondering if anyone had any experience of young kids starting UK school and being a year behind in terms of education My family moved out at the end of November 2012 after my daughter had finished her first term at primary school, she was 4 in the July and started school that September. Due to the school age being 5 and also the the cut off being April 30th in Victoria my daughter only attended Kindie last year. She was due to start school this week but because we are going back in just under 3 weeks we decided not to send her, also it means we save over $800 in school uniform and books fees (also not including the iPad they need either) When we return she will effectively missed out on over 12 months of schooling, I was wondering if anyone else has been in a similar situation and also what they did about it (how long it took them to catch up, does the state help with additional tuition)

I MAY be wrong, but I think if you give up your PR status you may still be able to get you Super contributions back (I don't believe there is any chance if your a citizen though). Hopefully other people will be able to confirm this one way of the other.

Yes raking it in and also paying all those higher rate taxes that go along with a good salary, and yet taking NOTHING out of the system they are paying into (apart from child education depending on what state they are in).

Exactly we are not like that, it's a bit like the foreign food scenario you get with the Brits on holiday in Spain (que Peter Kay comedy routine). We have never been like that and prefer to experience the local way of life, we did not come here thinking or expecting it would be the UK with sun. It is surprising how some things here in Victoria are very similar to the UK and also similar to the US (if you have spent time there), I think that's going to change dramatically over the next few decades due to the high amount of Asians that are coming and settling here. Over a period of time those little cultural vibes that make the place unique will change as the ethnicity of the population changes, however Australia will probably embrace (I hope) the parts it wants and ditch the parts that do not fit or does not like.

The fed up of being an immigrant statement was a tongue in cheek reference regarding how my visa status is viewed by certain parts of the community. Actually re-reading my post I can understand why it may have come across wrong regarding the bullet point title, so I apologise for that. The simple truth is that I am an immigrant in Australia, and the following applies and it's also what I would say to an immigrant back in the UK - 'If you don't like it then you can always go back to where you came from' I am taking that advice and doing exactly that, but I also look forward to having the luxury of being able to say it if required when I'm back in Blighty (not that I foresee a need to say it to anyone) :wink: Just so we are clear I do not believe my country is going to rack and ruin or any of the other generic comments you hear about your country not being the place that it was. I'm just admitting to having said those type of things in the past before coming here (only once or twice, it's not like I was preaching it on the streets), just in the same way a lot of people said it to me (who incidentally had never left the UK apart from the occasional 2 week foreign holiday) when I told them about going to Australia last year. As I stated in my original post I have worked in major international cities all over Europe and the Middle East, and going about your day to day business is a lot different than visiting them as a tourist. It's not like I've never experienced different ways of working and living before moving to Australia, we was expecting things to be different and even challenging. The point I was trying to make is that being away from the UK for such an extended period of time has made me realise that the UK is a better place for me and my family. As a family we are happy and thankful we got the chance to experience Australia, we will be slightly gutted that we did not get to see much more of it before we go back. I am also relieved we did not go down the PR route and spent all that money on visa fees, flights etc. just to realise the place is not for us (one of the benefits of being on a 457) Midlife crisis? Hold on I'm only in my mid thirties :chatterbox:

We are going back to the UK in March after 18 months of living in Melbourne, it’s been mostly a great experience and we are richer for it. We realise we have been lucky to have lived in Australia, especially as it has not really cost us anything apart from the time spent here and a bit of cash which works out less than coming over here for an short holiday. Just so we are straight Australia was never a dream of ours, I basically got headhunted for a role out of the blue (very good salary and relocation package) and we decided to give it a go. We did not want to get into our 50's and think 'What if’? We originally planned to give it 18 – 24 months and then make a decision if we was going to stay long term. I think by May / June that gut feeling it was not going to last was rumbling around, we was originally planning to go back around early December next year, after I had done 2+ years in my current role and my daughter had completed her first full year at school. But in reality the prospect of doing another depressing Aussie winter (seeing all your family and friends having a great summer in the UK was a killer this year) and the fact that my mother could not travel out and stay with us between May and July as originally planned, due to her not being fit to fly played a part in bringing the leave date forward. So we have decided to head back after the Aussie summer as it will be a lot easier job and house hunting wise (plus hopefully the worst of the UK winter will be over) and also be back in time for my Mum’s 60th birthday in May. I thought I would share the following main reasons, partly to get things off my chest and also to help people facing the same decisions when deciding either to go out to Australia or to return back home. 1. We never really settled as a family unit here. Initially I loved it here, then from about April through till September I became more and more indifferent about Australia and realised my long term future was not here. If I had to stick it out for another 12 - 24 months or so I could probably have done it, however by September I was ready to go back to the UK. My wife and 5 year old daughter on the other hand have wanted to be back in England since around June so this made the decision a lot easier for me. 2. Family Support It is really hard not having those family support structures in place that you have in the UK (if you’re lucky), especially with two young kids (aged 2 & 5). Please do not under-estimate this if you thinking about emigrating and are use to your family helping out, or if you spend a lot of time with your parents and other family members. You will make good friends here (some will be friends for life) and you help each other out the best you can, but it’s not the same has having family around especially when you need help (sickness, work and social commitments) 3. Bereavement The sudden death of my wife’s step-father in January approximately 7 weeks after she and children came out here (I came out on my own 3 months earlier) was a massive thing to deal with and a true curve ball. She had to fly back to the UK at great expense knowing he had gone and could not say good bye. This has totally changed our perspective on certain view points we held prior to emigrating regarding family (especially as they get older). If this had not happened so soon after landing we may have stayed here longer, but knowing what we know now I still think we would have ended up back in the UK. 4. General high cost of living I did plenty of research on here before accepting the job offer (divide / multiply by 2.2, online shopping, spoke to friends who live here etc.) but over the course of the last 12 months and doing all four seasons with the bills that go with them, I am still a bit awe struck how much things can cost here Being a one wage family for another 3 years till the youngest starts school also compounds this due to being on a 457 and the high cost of childcare. Also the cost of PR would set us back $10,000 (due to all the fees going up this year) and the only benefit that would give us would be the 50% rebate on child care fees. We are not struggling but there have been numerous times we have had to choose between doing things rather than being able to do both, and these are not extravagant things but stuff that we did regular in the UK or did not have to think about or budget for 5. Work and Finance I am very fortunate that I can earn a better income back in the UK, and also the wife can go back to work as well (which she has always done until we came here) so financially we would be far better off. Some of this will be because of the role I have done out here and the fact that generally living and working abroad does not hurt your CV (so that is one of the bonuses from our little stint here). But the majority of it will be because of the skills I already had, which was the reason my current Aussie employer brought me over for in the first place. Originally I took a slight overall pay cut to come over here in exchange for a standard 40 hour week, It was one of the key factors in making our decision to come here so I had a better work life balance. At the time 30% of my UK wage was made up of overtime and things had to change at some point. I was getting addicted to the additional income (and the things that buys), but on the other hand not getting a break from work (for the record it was all my own choice I was never forced to do it). Don’t get me wrong in my line of work IT, the overtime work is generally done from home in the evenings/weekends (so it’s not like I am physically grafting for a living) but it does start taking over your personal schedule. However as time as gone by this last 6 months, I have found that I am creeping back into the same overtime routine again (mainly due to the cost of living) which was never the plan. As the wife has stated she would rather go without and be skint in the UK surrounded by family and loved ones, rather than be skint in Australia and have no one. 6. Aspects of Aussie life/culture Certain aspects of Aussie life regarding shopping, work, socializing, politics, media that are too numerous to list individually (and been done to death in previous threads), have made me realise that the UK is not the basket case I thought it was before I left. I was guilty of playing the UK down before I left saying the place was going to rack and ruin, and there was going to be nothing here in the future for my kids and grandkids etc. My previous job took me all over Europe and the Middle East, so I thought I had some idea how UK stacked up against other countries. Having these foreign working experiences and thinking the grass is always greener was one of the reasons why we decided to have a go. However being away from the UK for this length of time has actually made me realise now how lucky I was to be born, raised and live in the UK with all its problems, they are the same problems Australia faces today (and most developed first world countries), so you can't escape it. Australia does a fantastic job of marketing itself as paradise and selling the dream to immigrants, which it then charges an awful lot of money in visa fees for the privilege if you then decide to come here (DIAC charging you extra money for lodging your PR application if your onshore, even though you have been working here for 2 years paying tax is one of my personal favourites). I am guilty of falling for it and I consider myself well-travelled and been around the block a few times. Now that the rose tinted glasses have been removed, I see past the hype and to me Australia is no different than living in any other first world country that is not your home country. For me personally when I remove the weather component and the associated type of things it allows you to do from the Australia equation. I don’t think it’s even on par compared to living in the UK (or even some parts of Europe). Australia has some truly stunningly scenery and you can do some amazing things, but the same can be said about the UK and Europe 7. Fed up of being an immigrant Stating the obvious but this is a bit of a rant regarding some of the drivel I see spouted on the Aussie media and have utter shite I have read on this forum. I’m one of those so called evil 457 visa holders (and work with a lot of 457 visa holders) and for the record I am paid the top end of the market rate. There is a holier than thou attitude by certain people I have witnessed (especially on this forum) because of my visa type. In summary I had to prove all my qualifications to get my 457 and I will have paid well over $60,000 in tax before I leave. I have taken nothing out of the system apart from my daughter going to Kindie this year and state school for a few months next year (and the last time I checked Aussie kids did not pay for state schooling in the UK). We only get Medicare because we are Poms and it is reciprocal. If I did go down the PR route I would be looking at $10,000 in visa fees and associated costs and that’s not including a migration agent / lawyer to do the work for you. So let’s call it $80,000 the Aussie government would have had out of me over 2 years in direct taxes and fees if I decided to go PR. That’s not including all the indirect taxes I have paid and the visa fees my company also paid to get me here either. All that money paid into the coffers before I can stay here permanently and take anything out of the system (CentreLink etc.). All the people I know in my line of work on 457’s are in a similar situation. Some of them are also paying school fees due to which Aussie state they live in and have no access to Medicare due to which country they originally come from. Yet that’s not good enough in some people’s eyes, I know the system is not perfect and it does get abused but I think people should bear this in mind when commentating (or posting in PIO).

I never had any of my TV's connected directly to an aerial in the UK before moving to Oz and I am in the same boat here, they have always been connected to boxes such as streaming devices, SKY/Virgin, or Freesat (which you need a box for anyway). So if you are going to have a similar setup back home then take the TV back with you (you've only got to change the plug) You may find that if you reset the TV you may be able to choose your country/region again and it may all work, I believe Germany and Australia's tv freq range are similar but that's taking a European TV to Oz not the other way round (unless you are going to Germany)

I know people go abroad all the time for long periods of time and it's not any issue. I just wanted to know if people carry on using the account as normal with no problems 1 -2 years down the line, with the bank knowing full well you are 'living' abroad as opposed to being on a long trip. At some point cards have to be replaced or you may want a credit limit increase / decrease etc. I quite like my aussie credit cards they will be quite handy if I do go back and start working in a similar role I had in the UK, which involved a lot of travel and staying in hotels during the week racking up business expenses and then claiming them back.

Could you give a ball park figure and size of container please?

Just so we are clear I was not asking about running away, I want to keep my card running as it will be handy IF I go back and need a credit card to cover my business expenses etc (working away from home in foreign countries). Just wanted to know if when informing the bank about going back to the UK they have insisted about closing the account or are they happy to take your UK address and carry on as normal.

Anybody here keep there Oz credit cards etc when they moved back and kept them running (paying off and using them for purchases) with the bank knowing they had returned to the UK (even if you implied it was only temporary)