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Hi @Jane W just wondered if there was any update on your thoughts on Wynnum High School and what you decided? We are looking at a possible move to Brisbane and have been looking at the Bayside area.

Thank you so much. He was registered to start school before we left and they advised to hold him back so that makes complete sense. We are looking at NSW or possibly QLD. Is it different there do you happen to know?

My son will be 11 in July and is currently in year 6 in the UK, he finishes junior school and starts secondary school in September. What year would he start secondary equivalent ‘high school’ if we were in Australia? Would it be year 7? Ive tried to google and can only find calculators for starting school. Thank you.

Thank you, my parents have looked into this before although we would obviously seek advice. I would never force them and my gut feel is that they won’t move anyway, I was just wanting to investigate options for them as that will be something they consider although ultimately I think they will stay. They would not travel to Australia anymore although they used to and I wouldn’t expect them to. Thank you for your thoughts.

Thank you, good to hear your story. We are currently investigating possibilities. It’s a lot to think about, it’s not as easy for various reasons as it used to be for us to make a decision.

Hi there, my husband used to commute from Gosford station to Sydney. From memory it was about 1.5-2hr journey door to door. It’s very doable but obviously makes quite a long day. Plenty of tradies used to commute down from Newcastle to Sydney but that’s quite a journey. You obviously get much more for your money and space in the Central Coast.

Thank you for your comments. I agree with not living your life through your parents, it’s just all the more difficult because we have done it before and I know how upset my parents were. They are now obviously older and they would be on their own here with no family. I am looking at whether they could get a parent retirement visa as both their children would be living in Australia if we moved back but not sure if that’s an option or if they would move. So much to think about.

Thank you Marisa. We very much regret selling our Sydney townhouse but we cannot change the past. We also sold ours for $620,000 in 2010 and as you say it is now worth over a million. I know property prices have dramatically increased since we left. We have indirect family in Newcastle so I will look into this area. I would need to see if there is work there for us. My husband is keen on the Gold Coast but we have no contacts or network there. Thank you.

Well I’m assuming we can live and work in Australia, my understanding is that we don’t get some benefits. Thank you for the links, I will look through these.

We have Kiwi passports so can live and work in Australia. Our children were born in Australia and also have Kiwi passports. So my understanding is we can live and work in Australia as we did before. It’s more people’s thoughts on moving back again that I’m interested in.

My husband and I are English, we lived in Wellington, NZ for about 7 years (we have NZ passports) before moving to Sydney in 2007 where we had two children. I have a sibling and nieces in Sydney. We moved back to the UK in 2012, our reasons at the time were financial and for our children to be near grandparents in the UK. After a short time back, we both regretted our decision, however our parents are here and obviously getting older. I am desperate to move back to Australia as is my husband. Our children are 10 and 8, they both love sport and also want to move although we don’t discuss it with them. They are obviously both in school, my husband has his own business here. Are we mad to move back or do I wait it out and hope my feelings change? I feel desperate that we have only one life and we are getting older as are our children. Do I stay here for our parents or do we greatly upset them by moving back again. I am at the stage of wishing I could be brain-washed to forget about Australia but it just won’t leave me Has anyone been in a similar position and what advice could you give?