Newy

It's not easy is it? We wanted to make sure that we don't leave it later than when our eldest starts year 9, which means our absolute deadline is August 2021. This will give us enough time to find accommodation and enjoy a bit of British summer before school commences. Just be careful with your 14 year old as if I'm correct, they need to be resident in UK for three years before starting university (if this is what they want to do), or else they'll have to pay international student fees. Good luck with your move.

Thanks Lynne. We just want want to be back. We've had our fix and it's time to return. Good luck with your move too. Will drop you a message in the weekend. xx This is so true. We hesitated announcing the news. They think we're mad too!

Thanks Lynne. We just want want to be back. We've had our fix and it's time to return. Good luck with your move too. Will drop you a message in the weekend. xx This is so true. We hesitated announcing the news. They think we're mad too!

You know what? Yesterday was dull, gloomy and rained a lot around where I lived. I imagined that I was back in England and it just made me feel so happy! It was a strange feeling, which made me realise that the weather won't be a factor if we do end up returning to a cold dark winter. However, given the latest lockdown, we're planning on delaying the move by a couple of months but not too long. We do not have a home to move into. Hoping to rent for a few months until we secure employment. We're hoping to find jobs in England but haven't ruled out Scotland either.

This! This is what I'm afraid of. I think if it was spring/summer I would've moved. I'm afraid that I will hate it there if we moved now. Not sure if my husband would feel the same. I think he'll be happy just being there even if we were forced to coop up inside the whole of winter! Don't get me wrong - I do share the same desire to move back but not to a lockdown in the middle of winter!

That was our original plan too - to have the kids start school on 4th Jan but that won't happen now. I think we'll try to holiday somewhere nice in Australia over the school holidays, somewhere we've never been to and try to enjoy...

Many thanks to you all! Definitely helped with making the decision to not travel in time for Christmas. It's not worth it! We're definitely delaying the move to at least late January but not later than Easter as my husband really do want to be back soon. Hopefully, we can enjoy one last summer here before we move. Fingers crossed x

It's not a nice feeling is it? This is exactly what my husband is feeling right now. We've had a chat last night and he was so disappointed to hear my views on this. Looks like it may well be out of our hands anyway as the flights will get cancelled and we'll end up feeling more stressed. We don't have jobs lined up in UK - we're not expecting to find anything for at least six months. I just hope we'll be able to return by Easter or else it's going to be so depressing and stressful for everyone as the decision has been made. Good luck with your move.

Thanks Marisawright. I agree that waiting for the pandemic to be "over" is not realistic. I was thinking of the practicalities of moving during the current situation/lockdown in UK. This is exactly what I had in mind! Makes so much sense to take this option than to rush to make it in time for christmas. We may not get to see our friends/family during Christmas due to the lockdown anyway. Even thinking about it makes me feel so stressed. Hopefully I can make my husband understand. Thanks MacGyver. We're planning on returning to England. It's so hard to get the timing right. Then again, I don't know if there's such as thing as a right time during this pandemic. The latest announcement has got me stressed and the more I think about it, the more I get convinced that delaying a little bit might not be such a bad idea. I'm not sure if my husband wants to delay until Easter, but I might be able to convince him to delay until early February. Thanks Marisawright. It's not so much a pull of 'home' for him. It's more like that he'd had experienced enough of Australia (I guess you can say we scratched our itch!). As the decision was made some time ago, delaying it doesn't sit right with him. He just wants to go back.

Hi all, We have been thinking of returning to UK since early this year but have been postponing due to the pandemic. We have a comfortable life here but we don't see ourselves making Australia our forever home. Our latest plan was to be back by Christmas but given that the situation is about to get worse than the first wave, I'm hesitant. My husband on the other hand thinks that this pandemic is not going to end anytime soon, so the sooner we move the better. I would really like to do that, but how can I knowingly take my children from the safety of Australia to a full-blown pandemic? We definitely want to move, but I'm inclined to move in the new year/Easter. I can see my husband's point of view - that if we had never moved to Australia, we would be going through this anyway, and our friends/family are somehow managing. He thinks that if we don't move by Christmas, we'll end up staying another year as there'll be another wave/reasons to delay... Please help us decide. What would you do? We're torn!