Johnny

From what I have seen with folk who have taken counselling and mediation etc, unless both parties really want it to work, it usually has little success and often just prolongs the inevitable. If you are happy and the kids are happy, then that's all you need, so stay here Once you set foot on aussie soil again, you cant leave with them apparently - so be strong and stick to your guns. Do what your gut feeling tells you to do. I know what you mean about feeling complete again after being home....that "me" feeling. We too felt it the minute our plane landed at Heathrow. Groundhog day in the suburbs of Oz again.....I would not wish that on anyone. Stay in UK if you love it !! Its great here !!

Superb sounds like well planned exit. Hope it all goes well for you all. It will feel great to be home again !

I think its a case of "the truth hurts". When you get a supposedly "settled, happy and loving it" pom lashing out angrily, then you have really touched a nerve or "hit a sore spot" with them. Yet ask yourself why are they obsessively lurking around a forum for those who are moving back or have moved back sharing common feelings and past/present experiences. Its like they are on some sort of mission Rest assured, they too think a lot about moving back home, and in many cases would really love to but cant for various reasons (Pride, Money Spouse etc) , so for some the only way to deal with it is to lash out in a rage, or play the cool dude and tell you how good it has been for them and why they are settled and happy but doing it on a "Moving Back to the UK" forum. For the latter group, you are seen as easy meat to make them feel good, and this forum offers plenty of easy targets for them hence the reason they hang out here all the time. Bottom line - if you don't like the place and if you have the resources to get out, then do it, sooner rather than later.

e That's so funny !!! Perth is nowhere near Singapore .....Singapore is 5 hours flight away !!!! , When the tedium of suburbia and the whole retirement vibe of Perth gets too much, catch a plane to Singapore to get a taste of civilisation again and some great local food. Then come back to the sleepy retirement town and save up for the next trip to Singapore.

Come home, Britain despite its problems, is still the best place to live in the world. It's never too late. Ignore the haters, this is a forum for Moving Back To UK. Many are "stuck" down in Australia and have no chance of ever getting out. You can still do it, so I say if you can afford to then go for it. You are always welcome back "home".

And after all, this is a forum for people moving back to UK. So we should give support and fly the flag to those wanting to return. If we want to share what we didn't like about Australia, there should be no problem either, a great place for those to vent off a little or a lot of steam, not a big deal.

That's just plain nasty, to be honest. We are just sharing experiences on a Moving Back to UK Forum. If you are happy in Australia, I am curious as to why you comment on this forum and keep responding like a cracked record ...about why "some of us made it work and we really love it here. This is Moving Back to UK. People will say why they didn't like it and why they want to go home....or is that not allowed ?? I solved a problem which a child could have solved - simple logic, wasn't hard but 3 geniuses with egos the size of Texas could not solve it and could not handle the shame of being shown up over s simple problem. For the record, I am neither an intellectual or a genius...never have been, never will be. Grew up in the country, still live in the country and still very much a bumpkin.

I worked in 15 countries with absolutely no problems. In my early days starting in my first Australian job, I solved a problem in less than 30 minutes which the 3 other Australian engineers at my company had been working on finding a solution to for over 2 months with no success. The solution was so simple it was staring them right smack in the face. Thought I had done a great job but I paid a very high price for it and it made me very unpopular, hated by everyone from management right down to the receptionist. I had to deal with TPS (tall poppy syndrome) for a long time until I moved on to work in another equally unsatisfying backward thinking company with even more over inflated fragile egotistical losers. Anyone with vision, creativity, drive & ambition should keep well clear. I will say it again, if you have a good stable career/job/income, a home, good friends, a loving family around you in UK - that as good as it ever gets in life. DO NOT throw all of that away to go to that place. The electrician I knew who could only get work packing carrots before he threw the towel in and came home would say the same thing to you also.

My mate was an electrician too in Oz and they would not accept his tickets, he had to go through college again to learn how to be an electrician of a lower standard to get his licence. I remember my own observations in my house and others I visited - 220v socket outlets sitting above wash hand basins, circuit breakers OUTSIDE the house in a box with no IP rating, only 3 or 4 MCB/circuits for the whole house , no RCD's or RCBO's to be seen anywhere, and of course the plugs are unfused and due to the lack of sockets in most homes people plug in lots of multi-way extension cables and load up the power circuits to the point the breakers keeps tripping.... No matter how much anyone tries to defend the place, it has a long way to go to catch up with UK standards. It has a long way to go to catch up with the UK in general come to think of it.

My version (don't take seriously) I dislike a sunburnt country, a land of nothing but sand lots of jerry built houses in suburbs that were bland I hated her far apart boozers, and shark infested sea you've entered early retirement when you're only 33 !! johngdownuder

Very accurate summary there - we saw massive changes in Perth from when we arrived. As time went by we saw the writing on the wall and knew deep down that the bubble would burst one day. Not really a great place to be putting your money nowadays.

Yes, welcome back home to the land of great pubs and great food !

I agree 100%. You did the right thing getting out of Rockingham. I had a British friend down that way who eventually sold up and went back to UK. Perth itself can feel quite isolated from civilisation, but Rockingham is seriously isolated. Its a stupidly long commute up to Perth everyday too which I think you would soon get pretty sick of. There were a couple of suburbs in Rockingham you would not want to go anywhere near back in the day. A huge concrete sprawl way out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do. The houses are super cheap and hard to sell for very good reason. Not as bad as Baldives I suppose.

I am beginning to think that must be why many prefer it way out there - coming out of a small house in a grotty overcrowded dump then suddenly being able to rent or own a detached house on a sprawling suburb would create the illusion of a new "elevated" sort of status.

Long way to go and pretty major upheaval just for a "big detached house". Why not just get a big detached house here in UK ?

Camping out with the crocs, venomous snakes, poisonous creepy crawlies and ants sure is a "different" sort of camping.

Exactly my point. They then become the "immigrants" themselves, but think that its "okay" for them because they are British. How hypocritical is that ? Brits who come with a sense of "entitlement" thinking that because they are British, white and speak the same language are in for a huge shock because in Australia, the "land of immigrants", its all "fair dinkum". Being British doesn't mean you will enjoy "almost an aussie" status.

Not sure about Windsor but I lived next to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam and also near Tampines/Pasi Ris in Singapore which was next to Changi Airport. You just sort of "zone it out" I suppose is the best way to describe it. You never really like it but just learn to ignore it. I lived in Kensington and had a rather busy rail line directly behind the house and again...just sort of zoned it out. That said if I had to live in any of those places now after living in a place where the loudest noise is birdsong or the odd cow moo or sheep bleating in the distance, I would probably struggle to zone it out. But I was almost 20 years younger then and most of my pursuits were noisy...Knebworth, Glastonbury, Donnington to name but a few !!! These days its not Knebworth, apart from the 80s rewind gig at Scone, its the local pubs with the arran sweatered, jumbo cord trousered bearded ones listening to celtic & irish folk music instead and that's as loud as it gets round these parts !

Well done and congrats on a successful relocation. Bonnie Scotland is a fine place to live.

I find it hilarious and downright hypocritical when people say they want to "get away from immigrants" when in fact they are going to become an "immigrant" themselves ! Generally most these immigrants contribute a lot to society, although there may be some who do not integrate, refuse to learn the language of their host country and therefore become unemployable, but this is the case in any country not just in the UK. Australia has committed to take and resettle its equal share of North African refugees fleeing war too if this is what they are on about . The sad thing is when they get to Australia, they will not only find the exact same social issues they will face in most developed countries, but they become the "immigrants" themselves and expect people to welcome them. In fact, they may find things worse given the much smaller population into which immigrants have to integrate into down in Australia. All governments and voters are becoming far more liberal and left wing than they used to be, whether people like it or not. The world is changing wherever you go, running away wont fix anything. People have to live & let live and just get on with it, which thankfully most do.

That's a great bit of advice there. Good "research" is the key to everything. One should never underestimate what it can be like coming home to what you "think" is familiar. A lot of things change in only a few years and people (including yourselves) change too.

Its "okay" to say you hate a place, no one should take offence or snap back at what you say, it's just your personal experience and everybody has a different one. Its the "right thing" to be honest to yourself and go for what you "really" want. I can imagine that there will be many who just "wont face up" to the reality of what they have done to themselves and will "soldier on" regardless whether its because they don't want to lose face with the family & friends back home who they think will laugh at or ridicule them for "quitting" if you want to call it that, or they don't want to give up their new perceived status of owning the big house by the beach etc etc... or whatever. Many of you will get the "I told you so..." stuff from friends no matter what, when they finally get home, we certainly did, (my mates didn't mince their words either) but it didn't bother us in the least. Coming home was what "we" wanted and that's all that mattered, we couldn't care about what others thought of us and the reality was although they may have enjoyed trying to rub our noses in it, they were all glad to have us back anyway. There's nothing smart or brave about "hacking it" while deep down inside you "know" it's all wrong and you can see your wife/kids lives turned upside down facing stupid pointless challenges they really don't need to be facing or how its badly affected the people back home who really care about you. If you hate it, you just go, and the sooner the better.

Great Story bristolman, Rock On. I would have thought that over time after coming home, we would have taken the UK for granted all over again, but no, quite the opposite, we see everything differently, its really a lovely country to live in despite all its problems. We chose the right place to live for our needs. We couldn't move now, we are too settled and part of the village furniture all our friends and family are near or within reasonable driving distance....plus the years are rolling on now and I value the peace & tranquillity of the countryside more & more as time passes, but I have had had some good job offers for way down in England and would be lying if I said I didn't feel tempted. Love it down there.

Nothing personal, it's only just another point of view, not intended to upset anyone. For anyone who loves the beach, loves sunbathing, loves the "patio life", hates travelling etc, I totally get why they will enjoy Australia. It certainly "delivers" in those departments.

You're right, there is just so much concrete, man-made lakes, industrial estates, endless suburbs, and lets not forget the lovely shopping malls full of dated and overpriced shops to see. Oh and the countryside - nothing like a bit of scrubland or desert eh ? Just don't wander away from the safety of the roads though, those crocs & taipans can get pretty nasty. I don't really need planes where I live, its all on my doorstep although having access to Easyjet and their £39 tickets to take us all over Europe does give us a great choice of very interesting places to have our long weekends if we want. Its warming up now, and the days are getting longer, its "long weekend" season again ! You're wasting your breath trying to portray Australia to me as being interesting. Its not. Its also very isolated from the whole world.