HEDGEROW

Hi Sounds like lots of good advice to me . It is very challenging to start anew in this country. Plumbing/ Gas Fitting is paid very well here but you do have to get the correct training to Australian standards which does cost. It sounds all very confusing at this point , you,ve already trained and qualified in the UK so why do it again. ??? I said the same thing.! Some good friends of ours came over, he is a qualified plumber, it was the same story for him , return to TAFFE . I know there was a considerable fee and time involved to get this done. He turned his hand to Landscaping and Building [ my trade] and helped me on a few projects but could not settle They decided after 7 months that the cost was not worth the pain, they returned to UK with a new lease of life and have not looked back since. They plan and enjoy every moment. In my own industry it was a HUGE shock to see the differences and I had to gain my builders licence in 2 states, as we moved from SA to QLD This did cost me around 5000 dollars and time to study and that was via the RPL process. Things are done so differently. To feel settled anywhere new does take a long time, some say 2 years or more, for us it has,nt happened at all. We know our surroundings well enough but that's as far as it goes, it,s not home. So after 6 years we are heading back to the UK, despite all this it has been a great experience and chances are that you are younger than myself. We felt that we did not want to go back to England after such a short time, we had goals and things we wanted to achieve so stuck at it and things did happen. So make some decisions, you could be very successful in your field here, its just finding the right path, meeting the right people and doors will open OR you decide its not for you. You choose, that's the best bit. The very best of luck. H

Thanks for that Matt, will give them a call. will post again when we get some news. Yep Devons paradise. !!!

Hi All Just a brief one. We are heading back to Devon in a couple of months and wanted to send over some essential items in 2 large suitcases to arrive near to our return time. Has anyone any ideas on who would be a good to do this for us and possible costs involved.? Many Thanks

Hi Grizzly111 You are definatly not mad. I hear all the point s you raised and agree with them all. As an english born person at heart i believe you will miss these things that we all know as English citizens and take as normal ie green feilds, etc We are from the southwest and are leaving Oz to head back there to live next year after five and a half years On our last visit the UK in general was growing slowly but with stability. We also tried the relocat to different part of Oz, still the same mindset, nothing different but just cost us a bit.!! Our part of the world namely North Devon and Exeter is booming , we have many freinds and colleagues in business and they are busier now than for many years. So its not all Doom as we may be led to beleive by the media etc. Even during the height of the GFC a sparkie freind had his best year ever but that does not count for all in business i know. Location just depends on your preferences and possible contacts, freinds ,to start with. I am sure you and your partner could suceed in any venture you put your mind to, just get a plan. All the best in your journey.

We will have done 6 years, planning to leave next May. This is my first post after following the site for over five years, but have felt that our journey may help others to make very life changing decisions, i am now in my 50th year and am heading home to start another business The first year in SA did,nt work out (plan A ) due to lack of decent consistent work. Then Sunshine Coast for last 4 years. Again a difficult place to find work. After four failed employers i started my own business ( construction Industry ) Wife has her own business based in UK so very lucky on that front. I have got past the angry, frustrated, depressed, dissalusioned point. Decision made last January after monster storms came through here and messed up the house. Many other things that made the decision though. Its not home. That was just the final staw. We did fortunately keep our UK home, leaving it with an agent to let.It did cost us a bit to top up each month but felt it was worth it, we had a few disasters ( total flood out due to burst pipe in bad winter, it ran for four days !!. Tenant left no heating on when they went on Holiday and UK had -8c.The house was ruined, it had to be gutted top to bottom.That was major, we decided not to go back as the cost of this would have been prohibitive. There was also a dodgy tenant or two. So in answer to another thread we are damned glad we kept it despite all this. I am not any of the above emotions any more, just very grateful to have been able to do this and incredibly excited about our new chapter. We did buy a property at the right time here and do a major renovation which was one of our goals here. So we plan to sell next March and head home. Building a massive list of things to do, see ( yes we do watch all the UK shows!!! ) Hope this helps.