AliQ

I know exactly how you feel, been there, done that ( still doing it ! ) and there is no easy answer unfortunately. However, and this is just my personal opinion, I think for day to day living then life in Australia beats the UK by far. It was suggested that you stay through a winter here, good idea as that will certainly help sort out your feelings, and if you have to go to work in the frost and snow, that will certainly help you decide ! And, as for moving back for family, I never think that is a sufficient reason alone for moving back to the UK, unless you have many other reasons for wanting to stay in the UK like a good job etc, and I speak from personal experience on that. Being apart from family at times of crisis is very hard to deal with, I’ve had enormous feelings of guilt on that front, but that is part and parcel of life when we all decide to emigrate. I don’t see it as “giving up” at all, moving back to the UK is not always what you think it would be like, even if you were born and bred here. Trouble is, once one has tasted life in Australia, it makes this type of decision hard, it will always have a pull on you I think. I wish you lots of luck.

Hi Sadge, www.covermore.co.uk will cover you for one way travel from UK to AU. We used them when we went back to AU earlier this year, in fact we're used Covermore in both the UK and AU for all our trips (one way's and return's) as we found them particularly good for covering pre existing conditions.

VERY strongly agree. Also returning for holidays is NOTHING like living in the UK. We're about four months into our nine month " another trial of living in the UK" and finding life here VERY frustrating to say the least. Trying to communicate with utilities and communication companies is shocking. However, we are enjoying our time here and it's always what you make of it yourself anyway. But, if we had to work then no way would we consider re settling in the UK, just could not face the traffic & crowds during the bad winter weather trying to get for work for 07.00 in a morning (in the medical profession which involves shift work)

I found the same. Looks like the UK branch is no longer in business ? I’ve always used Covermore here in the UK and Australia.

Hi, no we're not down south. In Derbyshire. There are eight council tax bands where we are (A to H) and we are band C, so lots of folk will be paying much more than us.

A pack of 12 Milky Way's is just £2.50 !!!!

Hi, where we are currently renting, our council tax is £1,590.00 a year, today I saw petrol (unleaded) at £1.29 a litre ,and what we paid in £ for our new car (Ford Fiesta, base model) was similar in price to what we paid for a VW Tiguan, good spec, just one year ago in Perth.

Interesting to see these comments. As recent arrivals back to the UK, we currently find the opposite. Our Council Tax here is nearly double compared to our Council Rates in Perth, petrol is very expensive, cars are ridiculously expensive, and as for gas & electric - don't start me on that !!! But chocolate is so cheap here, never seen such big bars / packets at such a low price - and it's always on "special" too.

We recently spent a few months in Queensland and found it VERY hard to find a decent rental, in a nice area, that would take pets. We secured a rental (on line with an estate agent) prior to leaving the UK, just to make sure we had somewhere to go to with our cat. Big mistake, the house was not nice despite all the photo's and questions from us ! We left that house after a few weeks (our cat had not been flown over at this stage) This is such a tough decision to make. There is no right or wrong answer whatever you decide to do. I wish you well with your move but do NOT secure a rental until you are there and can see it yourself - lesson learnt for us.

You learn something everyday, never knew you could do that. Well worth remembering this for when I reach pension age ! (wherever I may be in this world) Thanks everyone for this thread.

Ramot is correct, they now ask for much more information. When we arrived back last October, my husband had to provide evidence that we had came back to live in the UK, we had to provide a copy of our tenancy agreement to prove that we were not here on holiday. They actually asked us quite a few questions as to why we had returned to the UK too.

Having recently returned to the UK from Australia, cars here in the UK are super expensive compared to Australia, it’s quite a shock. When purchasing our new car here a couple of months back it nearly made me cry ! You will be pleasantly surprised at the cost of new cars in Australia, there are always deals on as well, you will have fun buying a new car over there ! Google new car dealers in Australia, you will see the prices and models available there.

The Laguna in Nusa Dua, been there three times, it’s mainly couples and a great place to escape to. It was getting a tad old last time we were there, but everything else in the resort makes up for that, brilliant spot for a bit of R&R.

Hi - no, we don't have children so I suppose that make's it easier for us to travel back & worth, but, we do have a cat - and that gets VERY expensive !

Hi bug family, well, our first "trial" of living in the UK was great, we both enjoyed everything about living back here (Sept to March) and settled well, but after our six month tenancy was up, my husband did not want to stay, so we went back home to Aus. To cut a long story short, we decided to scratch that itch (I still had it) one more time to be sure, so, we returned, but, it's not like our first experience in many aspects. We don't find every day life as full filling this time round,. After the initial honeymoon phase of being back again had worn off, it's on to day to day reality. For us, day to day life is much more enjoyable in Australia, but again, that all depends on what we all, as individuals, like and want to do each day. I don"t want to get into a debate on UK versus Australia, because we are all individuals, we all like very different things in life, and we also have our own expectations. However, our ping ponging is now bringing my husband and I together on the SAME page, it's no longer a debate on the UK or Australia. We'll see our tenancy out and move back next year. We're not unhappy here, far from it, we enjoying it, but we feel day to day life in Australia, for us, is better long term back in Australia.