Greta

Thank you you for all the advice everyone, I've got a lot to think about. Nothing in my mind was done on the cheap, we booked through stayz in the uk and paid £1750 per week for 3 weeks in a sea view 3 bed apartment, but we only stayed 4 days so had to pay out again for somewhere else. Our car was also booked through europcar and we collected from the airport we just thought it would be a brand new car like we had always had in the past, again it wasn't done on the cheap it was the going rate for a 4x4. We flew with qantas and virgin, again all pretty standard, the way most people would do it. The way we feel has nothing to do with any of this, what I was trying to say was that because something felt wrong so early on I put it down to these things initially because I couldn't understand why I wasn't loving it the way I thought I would. It is nice to know that others feel the same and I'm not totally crazy, (not that I would wish feeling this way on anyone else), thanks again for the support x

I've been reading this forum for the last year and have read so many stories and dilemmas that I can totally relate to regarding moving back home. This is was my dream to move to australia and I started the application back in 2007, we made the move permanently last April, so it's just a year we've lived here. I had had really bad cold feet at the last minute before we left, but never said anything as I thought that this was probably normal. I came feeling optimistic that we could have a nice life here, I wasn't expecting it to be better than what we had in the uk, but then I also wasn't,t expecting it to be worse. We we had a hard journey, over 30 hours with 3 children and we were all tired when we arrived. We stripped out of the airport stressed, and then annoyed that our hire car was a wreck', I remember feeling very underwhelmed by what we had come to. I immediately thought we'd made a mistake, but then thought that it was tiredness, stress, crap car, breaking down on he 20 min drive to the rental, then being told we would have to pay for a new battery for the car we'd had less than an hour just finished me off, then to finally finish me off going into a filthy infested holiday rental we had paid ridiculous money for, all in all we felt quite down, but we put it down to the journey and hoped we would feel better the next day. We initially said that we would give it 2 years, 12 ,months on and I have disliked being here more and more each day. The initial bad feelings never went away, we never experienced the 'holiday feeling' that people talk about, we just felt something wasn't right from day one. People say never regret, etc. but I do feel massive regret. My children are different people, miserable, withdrawn, have no real friends and miss the friends and social life that they had in the uk. I thought they would adapt in time but if anything they seem to be getting worse. I've been applying for jobs daily for the last11 months and only had one interview, financially we are in a bad position, we have spent just under £100,000 and this is part of my regret, we have nothing left, we can't afford to come back, I miss my old life, i have no friends here so no one to talk to, I've not spoken to my mum in 6 weeks because I just can't face calling her and pretending everything's great. Our relationship is now over but were stuck living together because there is no other option. My husband has a friend here that came in January, he has a job here but is flying back for good in 3 weeks, he knew within a week he had made a mistake so has decided not to stick it out. I can't help wondering why I keep thinking things will get better in 2 years, just because that's what I read somewhere? Just feel like life's passing by and I'm stuck in limbo, I'm crying everyday and I've no idea why I'm feeling this much sadness, then trying to put on 'happiness and smiles' for the sake of the children, I knew it wouldn't be easy, but never expected it to be this hard