BooBooBear

I didn't say they were. I said I would be.

Do you mean in general? Or for getting helpful answers on this forum! :laugh:

Why do you need to know this? How is it relevant to my original question? Yes. Hence my original question.

In my opinion, the UK is as awful as I describe. Yes I know I should stay put. That is what I have decided. Thought I made that clear in my first few posts.

I don't think so. Good for you. I don't. Disagree If it was that fab; I would never have left.

Err well it WAS a joke. It was meant to be daft.

That pretty much sums it up. It is classed as a suburb of Sydney still. But it's an outer suburb. 38 kilometres north of the Sydney CBD. Has good bus service and train service. And all the facilities a family needs. Lots of bushwalking in the surrounding National Park. Boating down at Berowra Waters. A popular place to raise children as classed as very safe. Has a community there. Too big to be a village really if you compare it with UK villages. But they call themselves a village. Biggest event of the year is the Woodchop. http://www.thebushtele.com.au/ Only 15 minutes by train to the shopping hub of Hornsby. And about a 35 - 45 minute drive to Kellyville.

There is a fair distance between Middleton Grange and Kellyville. If you are working in Middleton Grange, then nearby Camden is classed as semi-rural. If you are working in Kellyville, then nearby places like Dural, Arcadia, Galston and Fiddletown are lovely semi-rural country areas to live. If you can afford it, and don't mind a bit of a commute, then Wisemans Ferry is lovely too.

Berowra is a suburb. An outer suburb. Another really nice suburb is Brooklyn. It is the northernmost suburb of the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area. Or one step over from Brooklyn is another great place to live : Dangar Island But it really depends where you will be working. As pointless living in Brooklyn, if you plan on working in Sutherland. It would take you three hours to drive to work. But perfect living in Brooklyn; if you had a job in Hornsby. [h=1][/h]

How is me not wanting to leave my happy life here, being a drama queen ??!! Because I have traveled all over the world in my younger days, and do not want the opportunity to travel and explore again. No. I am a very happy and positive person. I will only be miserable if I have to live in England again.

No not all of a sudden. Always been like it.

Northern beaches are generally cleaner, safer and less crowded. Southern beaches seem to be more party beaches. Lots more backpackers. Or racial rioting if you are in Cronulla.

Yes nice areas. Not as nice as Northern Beaches though. Getting into the city and home again would be an absolute nightmare during rush hour. You would be lucky to see your husband home before 9pm. On Google maps it looks like a fantastic 20 minute quick drive. But last time I did it during rush hour, it took me nearly 2 hours. There are no trains and no ferries. Bus or car only. I suppose you could cycle but hardly healthy breathing in all those car fumes. Also Sydney is "unfriendly" to cyclists - so in general I would say avoid cycling if you value your life and sanity! Bus is the best bet; as at least they have a Clearway bus lane.

Manly is probably your best bet then. It has the beach lifestyle you wanted. But relatively close to the city. And fast ferries of 18 minutes direct to Circular Quay. So your husband will be back home super fast in the evenings to spend time with the children. The Manly Ferry SmartCard gives you discounts on ferry fares. Manly also has some good mothers groups for you. Good support and make friends: https://www.facebook.com/manlymums/ http://www.buggybootcamp.com.au/ http://surfingmums.com Manly does get busy because it is a very popular holiday and day trip destination. It is fine during the week. But can get crowded at weekends. It also has rental properties within your price range. The best thing you can do, is book into temporary accommodation for say six weeks upon your arrival. That will then give you the opportunity to explore different suburbs and find one you really like.

Difficult for me to say Matt, not knowing your location Can you PM it to me? Don't need to know the house number obviously. Just a rough guide of where you will be. I may be able to give you some short cuts depending on where you are. Obviously being the Mona Vale end of the suburb, it will be quicker for you than being at the Bilgola Plateau end. There are several short cuts you can take to minimize travelling time. People can get stuck behind a slow moving bus or truck going up the first section of Mona Vale Road. I have never got stuck because I miss that section entirely. We turn off at the Link Road too. Saves heaps of time. But there is also a back route onto Link Road. Do you have a GPS or Sydways book in your car? Highly recommended.

A very valuable and useful piece of advice for any new arrivals. Everything seems to be done by email these days. Particularly real estate agents and similar wanting photocopies of documents. We brought a combined printer scanner from Office Works. Pretty cheap from memory. Use it loads. Particularly useful too when applying for jobs. Save your resume as a PDF, scan and email. Hardly anyone asks for fax or mailed resumes anymore. Of course you can go to the library and use all these things for free. But so much nicer doing it in your PJ's at home.

Interesting. So really what everyone is saying is - It seems perfectly fine for me to be : unhappy, miserable, angry, resentful, bored, fed up, irritated and foaming at the mouth for one year living back in the UK........as long as my husband is happy and contented. Bugger it. He can go back. I will stay here. There we are decision made :laugh: and fingers cross the relationship survives.

I had my traveling adventures in my younger days. Lived in a few different countries. Found no better place than Australia.

Yep. Totally unwilling. I have made many sacrifices in the past when required. But I am not backing down on this.

He is not unhappy in Australia. He loves it here. He just feels like a change for some reason. Even he doesn't understand why he feels like this suddenly. He won't just leave. That I know for sure. I doubt he will think like that. We may not have talked about the UK much. But we certainly know each other every other way.

Why is that ridiculous?! No freedom of choice. Bad food. Lack of sunshine. Dull. I would say it is going to be exactly like being in prison. His family is fine. It is mine that I don't like. Well I was making mirth about the mid-life crisis. I don't dismiss his desire at all. He was the one who described it as a "feeling" nothing more. His words; not mine.

You could get a decent four bedroomed house with a nice garden for $600 a week in Berowra. Berowra is a suburb of Sydney. Very popular with young families. A very nice place to raise children by all accounts. And only an hour on the train to Sydney CBD.

You could potentially do it. Depending on where you lived. Politicians do it quite regularly. But most of their commutes would be the working week in Canberra, and weekends elsewhere in the country. There is talk of a high speed train between Sydney and Canberra. But that would be years away I reckon. I know people who work in Sydney but live in Coffs Harbour. Fly down and back up. Goulburn is a nice NSW country town and only an hour to Canberra by car. We looked at buying a house in Goulburn and were advised that many people make the commute daily.

Well that will be cheaper than a trip to the UK :laugh: got a side car for me too!

It is very easy to meet new people. I was very shy when I lived in London. Then I came out here on a WHV alone, and just found it so easy to chat with other backpackers. Who they were, where they were going, recommendations, pub nights etc... you just naturally getting chatting with people about this and before you know it you are on best buddy levels. So many different nationalities to meet too when staying in a backpackers hostel. Then when I started working in a hotel, I made friends with local Aussies and they would invite me out with them. I returned to the UK after my WHV a much more vibrant and confident person.