Tomawa

Sorry in advance if I sound ungrateful! We were asked to move to Australia just one year into an overseas posting to Kuala Lumpur, we left the UK originally for an adventure with our young family and had plans to return to the UK after our 3 year posting. We decided to carry on the adventure and move to Perth instead of going home after just one year in Malaysia. We went to such a lot of effort renting out our house in Scotland and selling furniture and cars to just go home. We have been here in Perth for 3 years now and have a mixture of Aussie and British friends. From day one everyone assumed we had emigrated here. The conversations I've had with my friends here have all been about staying, buying a house, what schools I want my kids to go to for high school (seems the norm to send to private, not just well off families either) and I'm finding the pressure to settle down and stay hard to deal with. People constantly saying "oh I could never go back" and putting down the UK mainly because of the "rain". I find myself defending my old life and the things I loved about living there. We have applied for PR and hopefully we will get it before next January otherwise we will have to pay the local state school $6,000 to send our 2 kids there. All 457 visa holders will have to pay for schooling next academic year, I wonder if that will push up the wait lists for private schools further? There are 4 classes in each year group at my kids school up to year 5 when half the school leaves for private religious schools. There are 8 kids in year 7! What is so wrong with the local high schools that people on mass feel they want to shell out thousands for private schools. Anyway, that's another issue, getting side tracked. We absolutely love our life here and we are having such a good time but it's expensive. We plan to stay for another two or three years and then go back to the UK when our kids are ready for high school. House prices are half the price back in Aberdeen (even though they are considered to be through the roof there) with a top performing government school on our doorstep that is as good as expensive private schools here (and it's free), I've been on so many school tours here and I'm an experienced teacher so I have something to compare them to. Grandparents and other family back in the UK will be a 4 hour drive away. So that's the plan. We will swap golden beaches for the gorgeous Scottish countryside, both equally beautiful but very different. We are going to make the most of having this amazing time here in Australia, lap up the gorgeous beaches and beautiful weather but for us it's too far away from our families as our parents get older, property is massively expensive, local government schools not as good and saving $11,000 for flights for the family on a regular basis might be tricky with all the other costs. Salary will be about 20% less in UK but houses half price. My dream was always to travel the world and I feel so lucky to be able to spend several years in this beautiful country, looking forward to taking my kids to some of my favourite places in Europe when they get older. For me change is what makes life exciting, one chapter ends and another begins. Anyone else love it here but feel they can't afford to stay and still afford those flights home, schools, mortgages etc?

I think it's worth remembering that the UK is so diverse, people's opinions vary and so do the places. For example living in Birmingham would be very different to living in Cornwall or North Wales to London. In my opinion if you go back and work hard at building a new life then things will work out just fine. Be prepared for a few tears and regrets within the first 6 months but know that that is part of the process of settling in somewhere new and not anything more. Be the first to get yourself out there, we lived in a very conservative street where the neighbours never talked so we decided to invite the whole street for mince pies and mulled wine at Christmas. That night started many new friendships between neighbours and really broke the ice. I'm not normally that confident but when you're new you have to try that bit harder to make connections with people. We moved to the US then back to England, up to Scotland over to Malaysia and are now in Australia. We plan to settle back in the UK when we are done! Expect it to take over a year before you feel settled.

Hi Helz We were asked to move to Australia just one year into an overseas posting to Kuala Lumpur, we left the UK originally for an adventure with our young family and had plans to return to the UK after our 3 year posting. We have been here 3 years now and have a mixture of Aussie and British friends. From day one everyone assumed we had emigrated here. The conversations I've had with my friends here have all been about staying, buying a house, what schools I want my kids to go to for high school and I'm finding the pressure to settle down and stay hard to deal with. People constantly saying "oh I could never go back" and putting down the UK mainly because of the "rain". I find myself defending my old life and the things I loved about living there. BUT, I do absolutely love our life here and we are having such a good time but despite that our plan is to stay for another two or three years and then go back to the UK when our kids are ready for high school. House prices are half the price back home, with a top performing government school on our doorstep and grandparents and other family a 4 hour drive away. We will swap golden beaches for the gorgeous Scottish countryside, both equally beautiful but very different. We are going to make the most of having this amazing time here in Australia, lap up the gorgeous beaches and beautiful weather but for us it's too far away from our families, property is massively expensive and local government schools not as good to be able to call it home forever. My dream was always to travel the world and I feel so lucky to be able to spend several years in this beautiful country, looking forward to taking my kids to some of my favourite places in Europe when they get older. For me change is what makes life exciting, one chapter ends and another begins. Good luck with your adventure. Hope it all goes smoothly for you.