Pixie77

Thanks hadn't even thought of leaving before house sold! Something to consider during the madness of leaving!

Perhaps you could negotiate settlement date to be the say the week before you leave and stay in a holiday rental? Or make it the day before then stay overnight in a hotel near the airport? Another thing to consider what is the sales market like for houses in your area are they selling quickly for something equal to yours? There's always a chance it won't sell in the time frame you a working with.

Yeah timeframe is a worry- average is 2months on market but who knows. Only good thing is that Hubbie is transferring so still with same company who will be flexible so won't be booking flights until contract signed I think. Yes think we'll try to get settlement date & then a few days in hotel/rental . Thanks.... not looking forward to the chaos!

We're moving back in about 6 months. Just after some help on the logistics of it all. Got a house to sell &cars etc got a house contents to ship +flights to book.... plus 2 young kids.... so how did everyone do it? Wait until house on market to ship belonging? Then book flights once contracts signed? Want to go straight from house to plane don't really want to rent anywhere.

Hi everyone,

 

 

My name is Paul and I need your help!

 

 

I moved to Australia from England in Dec 2012 having married a girl from Melbourne. Not two months after arrival she announced that she no longer wanted to be married to me and I asked to leave. At this juncture I had no job nor did I have anywhere to live. Luckily I had some friends in Melbourne who were able to put me up for a short time. I then found another friend who had a room for a rent and then a job came along too and so I was able to prop myself up in my new country.

 

 

My dog also made the trek with me to Australia however, the apartment I was sharing was not dog friendly so some friends in Brisbane kindly offered to look after him for me until I could have him back. Some seven months had passed in Melbourne and I was unable to afford to move out and rent a bigger property in order to get him back in my life and so I left Melbourne and took a job in Brisbane to be with him and closer to my friends.

 

 

Moving from the U.K to Melbourne and then to Brisbane cleaned me out financially and I wasn’t able to make a trip home to visit until 3 years after arriving here. Suffice to say it was a very emotional experience. I have just come home from a second visit and have had to take two weeks leave as I pretty much crashed as soon I arrived and have felt incredible unrest since returning. My Dad’s partner was diagnosed with dementia and the last time I saw her she was fully functional. My Dad now has to do everything for her and it was heartbreaking to witness the demise of such a lovely lady. I feel racked with guilt for being on the other side of the world while this has been unfolding. Especially as I have no ‘real’ life here, more of an existence as such.

 

 

Like many on here, I miss my family and friends and (with the exception of a few good mates who are mostly all poms) have been unable to find any real connections with people on this side of the world. Similarly, I feel very disconnected and Australia has never really been somewhere I can call ‘home’.

 

 

Anyway, that’s my story per se. My next step is to apply for citizenship and I am just a few weeks to be able to go ahead. I have all of my supporting documents and I’m good to go. After that is the actual repatriation itself which is where I wondered if you could kindly point me in the right direction - maybe there’s an existing thread on here I should read?

 

 

Essentially, I’d like advise on the process of going home. I have a 20ft container with my life in it. Most of my stuff has been in storage and is still boxed from the day it left England. I do plan to downsize and sell some things but I will be taking a number of things back with me including my record collection, motorcycle and of course my pooch!

 

 

Does the same legislation apply going back? E.G Will my dog need to go into quarantine? Will there be importation tax for my British motorcycle?

 

 

I’m doing the move on my own this time and I’m finding it incredibly daunting already. Any help or links to relevant info would be greatly appreciated

 

 

Thanks guys,

 

 

Paul

Hey Paul- glad your sorted- we also moved here in 2012, will be doing citizenship & going home next year. We visited 3years ago (after baby #1) then in September thud year (after baby #2) & we have made the decision. Same reasons- folks are looking older. Think we're gpi g to do movecubes instead of container although been quoted for both.

Just wanted to wish you luck .

The only way to really tell is mark out the floor space and stack it up.

 

I took some photos in my thread about it:

 

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/transport-shipping/235966-movecube-ala-tetris.html

 

we got all our stuff in easily and with space to spare.

 

in hindsight, i would have done the same and then booked a smaller one for the rest of the stuff that we ended up dumping, on to have to buy here again.

Thanks so much for this info &link- really useful- think we'll do large &small move cube

We are moving back to England &my daughter turns 4in August so due to start reception in September- she does 2days a week at Montessori childcare here &I'm so worried about how going straight into reception full-time would affect her.... my try to hold her back one year but that also may have it's social issues in the future.

Move cube

departed Newcastle on 14august. Arrived at my door in Melbourne on 14 September. Nothing broken. All packed and stored by me. As well as giving seven seas my inventory list (numbered boxes with what was in) a copy was taped inside. I took pictures and customs have been through a few things and took my inventory. But nothing stopped. £780 for cube and insurance $250 to clear customs.

 

no drama all good. Would use again

What did you get in there? Just boxes? We're still deciding if 2 move cubes would be a better option- we have white goods &sofa &beds etc but most furniture cones apart.... just not sure of big enough!

Yes,

4mm foam wrap (we gave the big bits away on gumtree last week, along with some boxes). Then cling wrap on top and then numbered the item.

Bunnings doing 52L plastic storage boxes for $5.45 each. A good buy and the way to go with non-furniture/large items.

Gale.

Thank-you for the tips!

B,

I ordered a 40 foot as I didn't think we would be able to get the goods in a 20 with amateur packers. Chess Moving brought it all in a 20". Get a company in to quote (PSS were good), gives you an idea of what you'd need. Extra cost was £450 for 40 foot over 20 foot.

As all goods were cling wrapped, they stuck to each other, so no movement. We had plenty of space, so my worry was movement, but only a couple of boxes slightly crushed and to be realistic, they were weaker boxes. I worked for an IT company so had access to lots of DELL PC boxes and monitor boxes (good for pictures).

Chess provided 3 guys and they unloaded in 2.5 hrs, and also unwrapped all furniture. We left the boxes to ourselves as we're not sure where things are going yet.

The insurance is for the Marine part (boat sinks etc). As a self pack - china/mirrors etc are not covered.

Gale.

Thanks for updating were going Adelaide to UK &looking at self packing- got chess to quote us. So you wrapped all furniture in foam then cling wrap??

We haven't 100% decided to move back to the UK, but we are certainly seriously thinking about it so I'll give our reasons. Firstly, I would like to say that we have been very happy here in Sydney. We've been here for almost eight years, and came when our girls were 1 and 2 and easily transplantable. They hadn't formed any friendships or particular connections with family members because they were little, and so it was easy to bring them here. Australia has been good to us in the main. OH loves his job, the kids are in a fantastic school, and I am happy that they have had such a great primary education, with emphasis on producing well-rounded individuals, rather than on creating kids who are under stress from taking so many tests and things. We've travelled a little bit around NSW (the south coast and Blue Mountain areas mainly, which are beautiful), and also to Tasmania which is absolutely breathtaking. We live in a lovely area, and I have a couple of close friends who I will be heartbroken to leave. Having said that, I would also like to tell you that we had a great life in the UK. We lived in the countryside, OH loved his job, and we certainly weren't pushed from the UK by being discontented with our lives. We just had the opportunity to give it a go, and decided that we'd be stupid to turn the offer down, particularly since the kids were easily moved. We've both always craved something 'different' in our lives, and couldn't imagine a life living in the next street to our parents. Our relocation to Australia gave us something 'different' and we've enjoyed the experience.

 

Our reasons for thinking about relocating back to the UK are many, but of course the pull of family and friends is the main one. My mil had a breast cancer scare earlier this year which I think brought it home that we are all getting older. It made us feel that we would like to spend more time with family and also, rather morbidly, made us think about what would happen if one of us were to die and leave the other over here to cope with two kids on their own. Having said that, we like our independence, and probably wouldn't consider moving to the areas where our family are (I doubt we could afford to since they are in the south-east), but even if we were in the wilds of Scotland, it would be easier to see people than it is from here. And less expensive, which brings me on to my second point.

 

For us, as a family of four to go back to visit family, it costs $8000 on flights alone. We then have to factor in car hire, holiday accommodation when we visit those relatives who can't put us up, and all the other incidental costs of an expensive overseas holiday. Our holiday in September (we spent a month in the UK) pretty much knocked out our savings account, just as our last visit did three years ago. As a consequence, we don't have the time or the funds to be able to explore Australia as we thought we would be able to. Add to this the increasing cost of living here (it has risen dramatically in the eight years we've been in Sydney), and it just isn't sustainable long-term. I also worry about the future for our kids. If we were to move back the the UK, specifically Scotland, we could afford to purchase a home to live in outright and also one or two small investment properties (with a small mortgage perhaps) as a nest-egg for the kids. We could never afford to do that here.

 

Other reasons include the fact that neither OH or I can see ourselves living here full time in our old age. I don't want to live here for another five years and find that the UK ship has sailed for us, because by that time our eldest will be in the throes of HSC and university choices. She is year five now, and is due to start high school in Aus in 2018, or in the UK next summer. I feel that that is a deadline somehow, that we should aim to get her settled into high school and not move her until she is done - she is autistic, which complicates things somewhat. Additionally, I've not felt settled here for about three years. In fact the more time that passes, the less I feel like I belong, which is opposite to how you would think it should be. I have a couple of very close friends (both of whom are immigrants themselves, although not from the UK), but aside from that I've found it very difficult to find friends who I have any connection with. I don't have a deep connection with anyone else, even if I've known them for the whole time I've been here, it all feels so shallow and superficial somehow. I had lots of friends in the UK, but I just can't seem to get my foot in the door here, other than with other migrants. OH finds the same, and hasn't really made any friends at all. The people at work work for him, so he doesn't have work colleagues as such, and the couple of Aussie blokes who he has got to know he just doesn't connect with somehow. There is just too much of a cultural difference for him. Again, in the UK he had lots of friends who he'd just pop to the pub for a pint with, but he just hasn't been able to find that kind of friendhip here.

 

I think as I'm getting older my tolerance of the things that irritate me here is waning. I can't stand the heat and humidity of the summer here. Some days I feel like I am suffocating. One of the posters above said that they want to do more with less clothes on, but there are only so many clothes you can remove! I would far rather put on a coat, hat and gloves to go for a hike (which I love to do) than strip off to shorts and t-shirt and still feel like I am dying of heat stroke. I am sick of sunscreen and insect repellent. I react really badly to insect bites, so my legs and arms are covered in scars. I've already had a pre-cancerous lesion removed, and I worry about my kids who both have very fair skin. Of course these things were a consideration before we came over, but I think I'm just tired of it all.

 

I feel like a square peg in a round hole. I think it was Quoll who said this first, but this is how I feel - like at first the round hole was big enough to accommodate me and my square edges, just with the occasional bump. However, as time goes on I feel like the hole is getting smaller and smaller, and I feel like I am really struggling to fit. My corners feel battered and bruised, and I don't know if I could live like this indefinitely. My OH feels the same way luckily, so we have given ourselves a couple of months to think about things before we make any sort of decision. Having said that I think we will end up relocating back to the UK, having had a wonderful adventure and with great memories of Australia, but with something new to look forwards to.

 

Sorry that was so long, and please understand that this is MY personal opinion and I wouldn't want people to think I was anti-Australia in any way, because we really have been happy here. It is just time to move on.

This exactly sums our reasons up- in fact I could have written this!

I am originally from central Scotland, but spent a large amount of time in SE England after I turned 18 then after a WHV with most time spent in Sydney, I did not want to go home. Opportunity at work came up and made the move to Melbourne. Again a new opportunity has arisen and moving again. Reading so many posts about people moving back to be closer to aging family and it really sinks in, how far far away Australia is from them and you miss the little things like quick visits.

 

I see you a SA based, the housing market there is flat from what I understand, so yes it may be worth your while selling and hopefully having some decent equity to transfer back to the UK with the low pound.

 

Think the best thing out of this for you, your kids now have an Australian passport which gives them opportunities in the future that most British children will ever have, if they want to move.

thanks. yes were gettibg house valued this week so we'll have more of an idea- we had a private sale so saved a few $$ so hoping to gain a bit on the house but who knows!

yes im glad the kids do have that opportunity in the future.

my aubts &unckes are aging &watching my cousins run round to look after tgem puts things into perspective. my parents are fit &healthy but in there 70s so now is the time.

I am originally from central Scotland, but spent a large amount of time in SE England after I turned 18 then after a WHV with most time spent in Sydney, I did not want to go home. Opportunity at work came up and made the move to Melbourne. Again a new opportunity has arisen and moving again. Reading so many posts about people moving back to be closer to aging family and it really sinks in, how far far away Australia is from them and you miss the little things like quick visits.

 

I see you a SA based, the housing market there is flat from what I understand, so yes it may be worth your while selling and hopefully having some decent equity to transfer back to the UK with the low pound.

 

Think the best thing out of this for you, your kids now have an Australian passport which gives them opportunities in the future that most British children will ever have, if they want to move.

thanks. yes were gettibg house valued this week so we'll have more of an idea- we had a private sale so saved a few $$ so hoping to gain a bit on the house but who knows!

yes im glad the kids do have that opportunity in the future.

my aubts &unckes are aging &watching my cousins run round to look after tgem puts things into perspective. my parents are fit &healthy but in there 70s so now is the time.

Shipping advice or quotes? 20ft container? Is it worth taking everything?

Exactly how we feel- looking into whether we can afford to rent house out. Great idea- good luck- I'm looking forward to Christmas 2017 in nice cold England with the kids &family

I think your parents feel the same way as mine, everytime I talk with my Dad he says never to come back all doom and gloom. Then again they are in Scotland, which I am not sure is a good or bad thing in the current economic climate.

 

Do you ever think you would come back, ping pong pom as the cost of relocating both ways can mount up especially if funding both trips yourself?

 

Would you consider renting your property out in Adelaide, as a backup in case you change your mind in a few years time?

 

Have you had any shipping quotes and consider if using a sole container verses a shared container, as this can have a big impact on delivery time.

 

Would you be thinking of shipping your car back, as if quite new not really going to cost that much extra and even the charges on some of the changes required in the UK are minimal.

We're from north England so my dads the same- doom & gloom- he loves Australia.

We would love to rent house out but don't think we can afford it.

Haven't had an quotes yet but will be something to consider- thanks.

Not going to bother with cars as they're not new- will sell &use that money for flights

Not sure about the ping pong bit- we haven't explored due to young kids- so we would love to come back for that later in life- but who knows what the future holds! We will all be citizens so do have the choice.

What about you?

Thanks everyone

We've been on Adelaide for coming up to5years, loved it but haven't got the family or close friends that make life fun. Just told my parents- my mums so pleased but my dad thinks we're doing the wrong thing. So hard. I feel family pull & guilt & honestly they're not getting any younger. Hope financially were not making a big mistake but think I'd rather try it &see. Kids are young enough to adapt.

Considering the ways we can do it &whether it's worth shipping everything. Glad we don't need to register the kids.

So decision is made. We move back next year. We are having house valued this week & seeing what work we need to do to it. Shipping company coming to give us a quote next week (chess).

Just looking for a bit of advice- we have 2 children - both Australian born & not registered in uk. How do I register them? My daughter will be 4&due to start school next September (if we're back by then) so we need to get that sorted too.

Any other advice about moving back is welcome ?

We're in a very similar situation- moving back next year with a 2 &4 year old due to family. But we're undecided whether to ship everything or just boxes & start again. Going to cut right down on toys &they're so cheap in UK might just buy there. Good luck!