CruDeShue

Hmmm, yes - think we will just leave. The broadband service has been pretty crap so I don't think I'll feel too bad about it. We couldn't get less than a two year contract (seems standard now) and figured we would probably stick it out for that long so it didn't matter - how things change!

Just wondering - we had to sign up to a two year contract with Optus broadband and are now leaving Australia with over a year of the contract to go. Can they hold us to the contract and make us pay the remainder of the two years? What do most people do regarding landline and broadband providers when they leave Australia? Thanks!

Cheese! A really good, biting cheddar, an oozy brie, STILTON! Admittedly, for me, cheese is no small reason to return to the UK I also look forward to seeing English gardens (just normal, everyday gardens), hedgerows, blackberry picking, supermarket deli counters with more than four types of cheese and meat on the bone, decent chocolate, bonfire night, long summer evenings, cobbled streets, the beautiful old buildings, daisies in the grass, walking down the lane and across the fields to the local pub where I can sit outside on the wall and watch the sea whilst I have a decently priced drink. There's probably a whole load of other things but these are the things that immediately spring to mind...

Jacarandah - My husband was less keen than me to go back but given his work situation, he has become more and more frustrated here. I really hope this is the right decision for us and that we are able to get ourselves sorted out with jobs soon after we get home. It's cost us a minor fortune to realise that England is where we want to be but hey ho. We are moving to where I grew up as my parents and my sister and her family are still there. I have old friends there too so I won't feel as alone as I do here. Will your husband not think about returning to the UK? I realise I am very lucky that my husband doesn't love, love, love it here - it would be much harder to make a decision if he did. I hope you manage to sort something out where you can both be happy.

I quite agree with this! My husband cannot wait to get to Wales for some mountain biking and walking and I'm looking forward to walking down country lanes to the pub or down to the seaside near my parents. We will certainly be back up to the lakes one day soon and down to Devon where my parents-in-law are. For such a small country, there is huge variety. We are very lucky really - being small, it's easily travelled too (if you can afford the petrol - one thing I will definitely miss here is the cheap petrol!!).

From our experience, it is difficult to get a wages plumbing job here as almost all companies are asking for a minimum of 5 years WA experience. You can be a sub-contractor and I think that can be anywhere from $25 - 40 an hour. You would have to have your own vehicle and tools plus you need your licences (Plumbing licence and gas licence at the bare minimum. You will also need a white card to work on construction sites. You practically need a licence to breathe here!). My husband has applied for 50 or 60 jobs over the last ten months and cold called dozens of companies and still hasn't found plumbing work. It's part of the reason why we're going home. With the mining industry apparently experiencing a dip at the moment, all the Australian tradies are coming back to Perth which means skilled migrants drop even further down the list. BUT that's just our experience - others may have more positive stories!

Legal Angel - glad to hear you absolutely made the right decision for you - I hope we feel the same way! We don't have a house to go back to but we would have to ship clothes and many boxes of books back so we may as well ship everything again. Some of the furniture we brought with us has sentimental value too and I know I would regret selling it! I would rather struggle financially in the UK with my family around me than struggle emotionally on my own here in Australia. We always said we would rather give Australia a go and not have it work out than not emigrate and regret it for the rest of our lives. I am disappointed it didn't work for us but glad we tried. Thank you everyone for your good wishes and your stories of positive returns to the UK (and the negative ones - always good to have balance!)

Hi Byrned - we celebrated my daughter's birthday after a few months of being here and it was just the three of us. We skyped the different sets of grandparents for blowing out candles and singing happy birthday but it was pretty shite really. Not a patch on her previous birthday with aunts and uncles and godparents and great grandmas. I have a very close family so I always knew it would be tough but I'm a pretty independent person and I don't mind a bit of a solitary existence so I thought I would deal with it well. However, being half way round the world from everyone just isn't working for me with regards to my daughter's future memories. We'll think of our year in Australia as a very expensive working holiday and appreciate England and our families even more!

Thank you for the best wishes - just booked our tickets home! Now to sort out the shipping. By the time we get home, our furniture will be some of the most expensive in the UK! Does anyone have any recommendations for a shipping company? We're thinking about packing the boxes ourselves to save money - every penny counts now!

I might feel slightly more settled but I would still miss lots of things about the UK and my daughter would still be missing out on her extended family. You can't replace family and that's what I've really realised here. A couple of months ago, both of us got a stomach bug at the same time and it was horrendous trying to dredge up the energy to look after a two year old because there was nobody to do it for us. I think that was a defining moment for us!

Interesting point about the visa - didn't know that! However, I really do not see us becoming ping pong poms. We came from Oxford but will probably move down to the south coast where parents and siblings are. I've lived abroad several times but never felt like this. I think I'm missing the support network now that we have a child which I really didn't anticipate.

Reasonably priced books! John Lewis and Waitrose. Cows in fields. Song birds.

The sense of history in the buildings, the green green countryside, the British sense of humour, English cheddar and English chocolate, cold winters and so much more!

We thought about moving interstate to Melbourne but decided all our issues would still be there and we would have spent EVEN more money trying to make it work!

Thanks everyone for your kind replies! I think we've been miserable long enough and given it a fair go. Life is just too short so one way tickets are being booked tonight. We'll book for end of June which gives us a little time to save and sort things out. I already feel happier knowing that we have finally made a firm decision! We have a PR visa so can always come back (extremely unlikely but never say never!)...