JulesBax1980

We stayed in the UK. A few reasons really … the costs in Australia don’t make it that attractive anymore to us. We’ve managed to buy a house here and have £160K equity in that house in a short time (renovation) and we really enjoy being close to our family. In Australia we couldn’t afford to buy in the areas we wanted to live. We have a good work life balance as I work remote and with no childcare support in Australia, my work options would be limited. I miss it in terms of wanting to go back for a holiday but not so much to live anymore. I was probably pining more for our life before children and that wouldn’t be our reality if we moved back… no more care free meals out after work in the city but… saying that, if work wise we had options to move away but be closer to home (Europe for example) we would Probably take it x

The background I've had to create a whole new username because I can't remember my old one lol...but if anyone remembers we emigrated to Melbourne in Jan 2012 and on our way out there whilst waiting for our flight from New York (we had a mini holiday) I stumbled across a post on here from someone who was also heading to the airport but felt as though they were making the wrong decision ... only to find out that person was my husband he was the driver behind the move so he obviously felt he couldn't talk to me at this late stage! That kind of set the scene for our adventure really...I'm not one to hold a grudge and tend to be positive but each time things weren't going our way I guess I felt angry...because OZ wasn't my dream, it was his. Yet he had planted the seed that he wasn't sure and this became a circle. I never much cared for OZ when travelling in 2007 and spent most of my time looking under the mattress in our campervan for spiders and didn't ever feel I could relax lol. The Move We moved to Point Cook mainly because that's where Brits recommended and the houses seemed appealing and cheap compared to the Bayside. But the shiny new appeal soon wore off and I craved some culture and the features found in old houses and suburbs that are more established. I remember many days we would go out walking and wouldn't see a single person out and about on our whole estate. Bizarre. So we moved to Sandringham and I feel that's when life began for us. I had a fantastic job in admissions at a gorgeous little grammar school in St Kilda and enjoyed nipping for coffee on Chapel street or walking round Albert Lake on an extended lunch break. The hubby was happy not to be stuck in traffic morning and night and that meant he could enjoy his job (only a little mind lol) ... as a plumbing and heating engineer of 18 years in the UK he still wasn't qualified in OZ and so that frustrated him but he managed to get a job installing central heating. We lived in an apartment opposite the beach practically, Coles across the road, cafes, bakeries ... the train station a two minute walk and we loved life. Then our daughter came along and boy did that change things. She had several issues including an allergy to dairy, low birth weight, sleep apnoea ... having a baby seemed so much harder in OZ. Supermarkets don't stock everything like they do here... there's no argos as a back up for absolutely everything lol. I went to my doctors several times and they told me my expectations of a newborn were too high despite me telling her she cried morning noon and night and that my mum (who was visiting for three months) had never seen a child like it and she had 6 of her own!. When she was three months old and able to fly we went home for a planned holiday and to christen her and we never returned. Luckily I had friends who shipped my things back and sorted everything out there for us. The doctor here quickly had her assessed and prescribed a dairy free milk and she blossomed and wasn't in pain all the time. She went on to have an operation (tonsils and adenoids) before she started school here and now she sleeps soundly and things are easier. Life in the UK Whilst on holiday here my husband was offered a job offshore and we didn't feel we could turn it down. So we stayed and he worked offshore for long enough for us to buy a house. He now works self-employed onshore and I have my own events business that I've built up. We spend a lot of time together and things are good in general. We got a puppy in lockdown which now makes things harder as it takes a minimum of 7 months for her to be in a position where she is ready to fly. But we never thought it would be forever in the UK and we like an adventure so we made sure we got resident return visa's but they run out in April 2022. So now we have the dilemma ... do we return and inevitably eat in to a lot of our savings/equity from the house or do we stay and have a move within the UK? So there are two questions I'd like help with... 1. As our daughter has citizenship and we only have PR (due to run out in April), is there any way in the future that we would be granted a visa if she went back? So as parents of a citizen? 2. Are there any stories of a ping pommer who actually then settled out there? Thanks in advance

Hi! Is there a reason that it has to be in July? Things aren't great here at the moment and I wouldn't come back until things are as back to normal as they can be. If you have the choice of course. If it was me I would wait until we were through another winter to see how we cope and to see if this continues. I would give an arm and a leg to be back in OZ right now with little restrictions ... I'm looking out of the window, it's torrential rain and the only place we are allowed is the supermarket or for our daily walk (er no thanks!).

This really does depend on how things go for you. There are certain jobs in Australia that pay incredibly well compared to what you would get paid in the UK and so yes you would be better off but then there are other professions where the pay isn't as lucrative. It also depends where you settle...we found Melbourne expensive! We started in a suburb out West that was cheaper but it had no feel and so we paid a fortune to relocate to a beachside suburb on the bayside. We didn't worry about money at all in Australia but then we didn't see any improvements...we came back here and within 5 years we have built up a tidy sum in equity in the house and other things which I don't think would have happened in OZ as property where we were was soooo expensive. We used the equity in our first house to move initially and we underestimated how much it would cost. We were Permanent residents so we arrived with no work and had to live off our £ for about 6 weeks and the rate at the time was not great. Buying a clapped out car was expensive - we couldn't believe how much! We quickly spent the money from the house sale! We are now contemplating returning before our RRV runs out next April but the one thing putting us off is cost! Each time you move, you spend a fortune and then there's setting up from scratch each time. x