Korina Ivatt

Thanks everyone, so much to consider! This is why it has taken us years to get to this point as it is so complicated trying to move country. We are saving like mad and will continue to do so as we want to be able to pay our way and not get in a mess no matter what we do.

lol Rhian, the UK is set up for cold weather with central heating and double glazing, Melbourne is full of weatherboard houses with no heating in them. Doesn't compare. And actually my dislike of Melbourne has little to do with the weather to be honest. I've always preferred cold weather so Australia has never suited on that level at least.

Hi Ali, We are both British citizens as our parents are from the UK but immigrated over this way years ago.

Hi kkris, So are your wife and kids still back in the UK? That must be really tough and personally I'd get them over to Oz before making any firm decisions.... and anyway, nothing in life is permanent. Yes Melbourne weather is awful a lot of the time and Sydney and Melbourne are very expensive places and obviously your wife having to work full time is not the life change you were looking for. Have you considered moving out of the city? On my husbands 70K salary we could never afford to live right in Sydney or Melbourne but instead choose to live about 1.5 hours from Sydney, first on the Central Coast and now in Wollongong so commuter distance if necessary though my husband never did as he always found local work. That way we could afford to live on one salary and to buy a house. Just an idea. Not sure of the equivalent areas in Melbourne but happy to ask my sisters if you like as they all live there? Something I keep telling myself is that no matter what, no decision we make is final and we can change our minds and go back whenever we like. Being on your own would be tough though and having my family with me would be the first thing I would do personally as you need to see if it is a fit for you all. Good luck with your decision.

Thanks NicF, I was on that site ealier today and it actually gave me an estimate significantly higher than $430 a year.

lol Rupert, perhaps you could actually read what I wrote correctly. I *do not* work at all as I m busy raising and homeschooling our children. My husband is the only earner in our family. A little less judgement and a little more empathy will get you a long way in life. Wanting a nice life is perfectly acceptable and actually something I believe everyone strives for. In Australia we manage (& have a very nice life) perfectly well on my husbands salary along with Family Assistance from the government which everyone on low incomes (& not so low incomes) is entitled to. There is nothing wrong with utilising all at your disposal. My query about what is available in the UK is perfectly reasonable and I'm so sorry that your judgement and inability to read posts correctly means you leave such mean spirited attacks on a thread. I would appreciate it if you would please be kind enough to not post attacks towards me, I certainly wouldn't dream of doing the same to you and ask you return the courtesy. Thank you.

Thanks Gillian, yes that does help and we are looking at doing an exchange to the UK through my husband work as that would give us a year in the UK without actually having to give anything up. The exchanges are a lot of work to organise and not guaranteed but we figure it is worth the effort to give it a shot and if it doesn't pan out we can look at just moving there for a couple of years.

Both of those options sound awesome.

Hard to say exactly but somewhere between GBP30K and GBP34K.

Thanks

Could you live just on your husbands salary in the UK? I suppose that is a tricky question though as you both work here in Oz so I should ask could you live on your husbands salary alone here too! Ha ha, yes camping is the only holiday we can afford right now but I figured it the UK it would be the same, can't see us affording resort holidays on a teachers salary.... or could we, how exciting would that be. Thanks, it really helps to hear about the quality of live/affordability over there, because when we lived there we had no kids and two incomes it is impossible to compare to our life now.

He is an Industrial Arts high school teacher and no I won't be working as I homeschool our four kids.

Thanks I was looking at the child benefits last night and they really aren't much but I had forgotten about tax credits so will check them out too, thank you. Yes re dentistry, braces here are soooo expensive but on the NHS affordable. Good to remember as dentistry is expensive here all round. That is so helpful to be told rent, running a car (except petrol) and food are much cheaper in the UK, I have heard that before but nice to have it confirmed. Thanks for the links too.

The problem is though I don't just want to just "manage" to live, obviously I want a good life for my family. Financially we are pretty well off in Australia but we pine for English life so trying to work out if the move would be the right thing to do is difficult.