Captain Roberto

Yes. I did use my own name for a time but one of the bosses here said to change it to something daft to fit in! Ha ha Time flies. Been here almost 2 years already. Like Is often good, but do seem to work more than I did back home. Longer hours and less holidays. With winters like these you can't really complain about the weather anyway. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We don't want to keep moving the kids schools. They have been at 3 different schools in just over 2 years. We'll have to try and make it work here. We can afford the rent. But buying is a bit hard going. Unless we get on the Island with the funnel webs Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure. Nothing is really cheap in 2017. Not to enter the market with a 4 bedroom house. The only things under a million are units. Mad eh! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Howdy Dave No we are still in Newport. We like it up here a lot. But buying a house that fits 2 adults. 3 kids of varying sizes and a dog, a cat and 3 guinea pigs is a bit too much of a stretch. Scotland island is a little more affordable but I gather it's not for everyone (which might mean it's not for us!). It's a little wild and very bush-like. And there no cars or mains water. And you need to use a boat to escape! Hope you're well. I've been working around your way lots recently. Lots of Nice lunchs from City Edge etc. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There's probably lots of places, and it depends on what you like. People seem to knock the eastern suburbs a bit, but in the two years I've lived here, I've never met anyone who lived or had lived there who didn't like it. Most of them love it. I freelance around the city and meet a lot of people. It does seem the place to be if you don't have kids yet and want the maximum sydney beach lifestyle. It's maybe a bit pricey, and the only reason some of those people move away is because they starting having kids and wanted more space and wanted to buy or wanted more space for their rent money. For young ish couples it seems it's just the ticket. If you like the beach, nice alternatives could be manly/freshwater. A little longer on the bus but you can jump on a ferry. All lovely places. Inner west is super cool and where younger people live but it's not beachy. But there are cars and buses and it's not so far. All the people I know from the inner west also love it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Other than that we just wanted to get an idea of practical things. Looks like more walking Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes thanks. Been doing desk research. We do actually love living in Newport. But we couldn't buy a family home here as to expensive to get on the market. So that's the main reason to look at these offshore places. We did a visit on Saturday and it seems like a different world! Many spiders... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well we are at the initial stages of looking into moving there as it's more affordable and the school catchments are the same as we are already in. But as it's a public forum I was hoping to ask a few questions via messages or a messenger app. They might be mundane for a public forum and i didn't really fancy lots of irrelevant people chipping in things as that can happen sometimes on forums Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think this is normal. We've only been here 2 years but my in laws have been over twice. Both times my wife and kids get upset and feel crap for a while after. Me less so

HI Does anyone or has anyone on here ever lived on Scotland Island? Thanks in advance! Matt

No! Still in sydney. It's nice. But it's crazy expensive

Also just been reminded why I hardly ever come on here. Keyboard warriors everywhere... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Most big design and ad agencies are in London. There are a few smaller places on manchester, glasgow, Bristol, Liverpool. But in general they are all in London. It's kind of the same in that industry all over the world. Paris, NYC, LA, Syd/Melb etc Not really relevant unless you happen to be in that industry. Still think it's a waste of time arguing with strangers. Pointless. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My wife is a nurse and has found work easily over here. She now gets paid more money working less, so she is happy. There are many 'private health' jobs, but she has just worked for NSW health. They are a decent lot. A bit like the NHS but not quite as under pressure financially. I guess there are options, but with the gov jobs, you get a standardised working contract, pretty straightforward. Steady shifts, pay, not having to help make some corporate entity rich etc. No real insight on firefighting jobs, but there are lots of fore engines about. But many are volunteers as ^ NSP said. Maybe with good experience and skills that could also work out pretty well. Before we got here my wife tried applying for jobs, and got nowhere. It was disconcerting at the time, but in hindsight, we realise they just aren't interested until you are here with all your Ahpra and other registrations in place. So when we got here, we did panic that we couldn't get work, but it's turned out well for her.

These are all nice spots. All by or near the coast. Not an expert as have never lived there but it would seem you'd get many of the benefits of living here with less of the high expense for property. If you can work in these places it's probably a good idea. No idea about schools but that's a whole big debate here with state schools, church schools and private schools. Bellingen is a little bit alternative/slightly hippie type place, which is fine with me. The other two are towns/resorts by the ocean. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

https://www.theurbanlist.com/sydney/a-list/6-awesome-day-trips-to-take-around-sydney?utm_content=buffer8502b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Let's all spend all day arguing with strangers on the internet... I'm out Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It probably depends what you do for work. But the kind of work I do mostly gets done in London, with bits and bobs in other big cities. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So many variables in all this. Most reasons people will factor in personal, family and reasons that aren't really anyone else's business. So it's kind of pointless debating it all with people on the internet. (Especially those keyboard warriors ha ha) If we move back I guess we'll just do it. This forum has been super handy for practical advice and I'd come here again for more of the same. But personal decisions are exactly that. Good luck LKC! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes I guess. In reality all this moving from one side of the world to another is a bit more complicated than that. I'm pretty sure our kids would be fairly happy either way. Our old home town has a bit less going for it these days. Modern Britain means all the work is in the a handful of cities. All the towns are full of empty shops, pound shops, and young people are on heroin again like it's the 80s. That's life in a north Wales town. It's all quite confusing! But it's good to know some people have gone back and it's all working well. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

also - if you don't have kids in school, then you could just rent for a bit. find out for yourself where you like. Then if you buy, you'll know what you're doing

Maybe the commute could be an hour. not such a big deal maybe? Barangaroo currently is a little bit fiddly to get t. It's 5-10 mins walk from Wynyard. Lots of poeple we now when we lived on the North Shore trainline work there (those big banks headquarters etc). Not sure of prices, but some of the lower north shore is nice. Crows Nest, Cammeray, St Leonards, Naremburn, Woolstonecraft all these places are near the train and bus routes. These would all be half an hour from Barangaroo. I'd rather commute a bit further and live in a better place. We live in the North East corner of Sydney and the commute is about 70 mins. It's not ideal, but weekend are great.

Houses are pretty damn expensive. They seem to have shot up even in the 20 months since we arrived. Crazy money! But it might be possible to find a decent place, or maybe if you flex a little bit higher, you might get what you want. Most people I know who bought here 10 years ago seem to be very happy they did, as the houses have all doubled in price. technically they could go down, but I think Sydney is a bit like London. The value rise might slow a bit for a while, but they never really lose value. they just get more expensive over time. Other people we know here have moved a couple of times to get the right kind of place over a few years. Unit, Bigger unit, small house, bigger house type of deal.

Born and lived in Wrexham for 44 years.

How do the kids like being back? We came 20 months ago, and whilst me and my wife thought we'd 'try it' for a while before we would see if we'd stay, our kids seem to have already chose Aus. I guess there's more to do and better weather and things for them to do for more of the year and less depressing environment than our old hometown. From their perspective it's great! (probably because they don't have to pay the bills... ha ha) From our perspective we like it, but the cost of things is pretty hard to overcome in Sydney. It just is super expensive! NB - I'm not really looking for lots of other answers and all kinds of topics here from everyone else on here, just really specifically asking how the kids like being back in the UK. thanks