torn

Good to know about the education system over there. It can definitely be played and the system is flawed over here but not to the same extent. I went to private school in Sydney and TBH am not that keen for my kids to go through the same system. It was an all girls cookie cutter school which I am sure suited lots but was very results driven and not really great for fostering divergent/ innovative thinkers. As far as I can tell, not much has changed. The Sydney private school circuit is pretty toxic. However, my cousin went to an elite school in the UK and it was much worse than my experiences in Sydney. There also doesn't seem to be the same emphasis put on what university you went to here. Yes, it's great to have got your degree through a G8 uni but if you didn't, you wouldn't expect to be at any real disadvantage at the end of the day. I think australia is still more of a level playing field in that regard but we'll see what happens when university deregulation bites hard.

Agree on the humidity front. I did that growing up in Sydney and that's nowhere near as bad as QLD but it was still pretty sticky and nasty in a school uniform. We are considering Melbourne which is actually cheaper to rent than here in Canberra! We would rent out our place here and rent in Melbourne.

I think Tassie would be great if it weren't for this. My business is mainland and so is husband's. If not, Tassie would definitely be the silver bullet solution. I am a little hesitant about prospects for the kids too. I have friends who grew up in Tassie and they loved it but haven't returned (even if they wanted to) because naturally the opportunities are OS/ mainland.

Yes the joys of living in a hot country with heat intolerance

Yes I feel like it's a now or never situation as my 8 year old will soon become too old to move I think. I like Brisbane but it's too humid and hot for me and Perth is just too far away from anything (sorry to those who live in and love Perth :)) Melbourne I think is slightly more affordable than Sydney (not by much though) but at least doesn't have the humidity. It seems to have ridiculous heatwaves but they break unlike here in Canberra where it's just never ending now.

Yes, it's the heat I struggle with mainly although at least Canberra is dry unlike Sydney's humidity. At the moment it's over 32 degrees every day and will be for the next week at least and we've already had a hot December. Cambridge just sounds amazing to me at the moment as I sit huddled under a fairly useless air conditioner! Those requirements for the visa are difficult. I am self employed and run my own business over here so I am not sure whether that would qualify in their eyes as a viable income source. The loose plan was to expand to the UK but that won't work if I have to go first and leave husband and kids here. My daughter, 6, just wouldn't cope . I do love the adventure aspect of it.

Yes, even though I don't have much family over here as I am first generation australian, the kids have a pretty large extended family on my husband's side which they seem pretty attached to. It could be difficult to explain to them later down the track why we took them away from that in their formative years. Maybe just some long holidays to the UK will have to do!

This. I think you might have hit the nail on the head. Thanks for your response. It has really helped to dim the rose tinted glasses. We haven't been happy in Canberra for quite a while and I have no desire to return to Sydney having grown up there so I think we need to cast the net a bit further in Oz/ NZ and see where might work down here. The points you made have really resonated. I know that the proximity to Europe is not as easy to put into practice as it is on paper. We also have friends who live in London who have told us about the fines implemented by the school system which I can understand in a way but also can see the additional strain they put on parents who are already juggling many balls. Also good to hear a take on the UK school system as I am pretty disenchanted with the system here so I guess it's no better over there, in fact it sounds worse. The spouse visa requirements have changed so much since we last applied which I wasn't aware of. It really is very difficult I can see to get a spouse over there and it looks now like it is a very stressful process. Funnily enough, my husband has a US passport and it seems it's much easier to get the equivalent to the spouse visa for the States than it is to get him into the UK.

Thanks Cal. We haven't been back since our last 18 month stint which was ten years ago. You've raised some really good questions. It's very easy in the height of mid summer to gloss over the reality of the long, cold months. I think we should go back for a couple of months at least at the end of this year and 'do' some winter time as we've never done that with kids before which, of course, will put a different perspective on it too. Parkas, gloves and rain are just as tedious when dealing with kids as sunscreen, hats and sunburn I guess. Good also to hear from people who are actively choosing not to raise their kids over there. Makes me feel a little more at peace about my own kids being raised here. One thing on my mind is their future access to the UK but, as with everything else, it can all change so quickly. They don't have UK passports as I am British by descent but I guess we can only hope that they will still be able to apply under the ancestry visa category when the time comes around (if the want to go over). Thanks again.

Tassie sounds lovely.

That's a good point Skani. My husband had a spouse visa ten years ago (we spent 18 months in Oxford) and it was easy to get. Does that mean it's harder since then? He runs his own business so shouldn't have much problem proving financial viability. I'll have to follow that up.

I like this idea. I think I need to use that mantra!

Hi all I am a first generation australian, born and bred, to British parents. My dad was originally from Yorkshire and my Mum is from London. I grew up mainly on the Northern Beaches in Sydney which I didn't like at all as it's a bit of a cultural void. We spent a couple of years when I was 8-10 living on Guernsey and I have such great memories from this time. I think I actually felt like I belonged for the first time. Then I was ripped out and put back in Australia which I haven't really questioned until recently. DH is Australian, as are my two kids (6 and 8) and all their extended family (grandparents, cousins etc) but we don't see that much of extended family to be honest. DH and the kids love living here but we all hate the heat and summer is just becoming almost intolerable. I have health issues (heat intolerance) which mean I am pretty much housebound during summer and unable to look after the kids and take them outside to do normal summer type things. We live in Canberra, which doesn't help, as it's searingly hot in summer, very cold in winter and, on the whole, pretty boring. We are thinking of moving to Melbourne, but I my daughter has bad eczema and I am not sure the longer, darker winters will do her any good and it doesn't help with my heat issues. I have this yearning to move back to the UK though and it's a scratch that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. I would love my kids to experience life over there and explore Europe and I love the idea of not having a searingly hot summer with blazing sun and blue skies (it becomes tedious to say the least). I love overcast weather and rain and European history. As my kids get older I am just so much more aware of how isolated Australia is and I'm not sure I like it any more. I feel like I have completely fallen out of love with the country, the expense, the climate and the education system. I don't know whether I am just seeing the UK through rose tinted glasses just because I am not happy with where I am. I try to convince myself that the winter is long and grey and would cause eczema problems with my daughter but I still feel this pull. I have always identified more strongly with being British than Australian but it hasn't bothered me as much as it does now. I just look back on my childhood and think that I have always felt like I was in the wrong place. On the flipside, all my old friends are here and DH's family and I don't know whether I could actually see myself growing old in the UK without that support. In short, I am unsettled and torn.