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hello i'm planning on moving back 'home' after 20 years living in england with my UK husband and half mancunian/half australian 4 year old daughter! i'm not moving back to perth where i'm from - hoping to go to sydney or melbourne. we're finding it a pretty daunting prospect - and that's with me knowing the country fairly well, so I do empathise with all the other expats moving to a new place. i just wondered whether anyone knew of a forum for expats returning to australia at all - or if anyone is in the same position to me. what i'm most worried about is settling in to australian society. australia has changed massively since i last lived there and i really have no idea what its like to live there now. i worry that i will be in a limbo - not really being australian or english anymore. anyone gone through the same doubting process? cheers

Myself and my fiancee, are both UK citizens, and now living in Australia. We wish to get married in England, as that is where the majority of our family and friends still live. We plan to get married in June 2012, and have been told that before we do this, we need to "give notice" in the UK, and be in England for 9 days before doing this, together. Unfortunately, this is not possible due to work commitments. My fiancee will be in England for 7 days in July 2011, as she is attending a family wedding, and I will be in England in September for 3 weeks, to attend my best friend's wedding, where I am best man. We will then not be able to be in England at all, until 10 days before our actual wedding day, in June 2012. Is there any way we can "give notice" in Australia, via the British embassy or are there any other options available to us? We really want to get married in England, as a marriage anywhere else would not feel right. Anyone else encountered this? Or heard of this at all? Any advice given would be very helpful.

Hello Everyone, I will be moving back to the UK in the New Year and will be selling off all contents of my flat, i will be uploading pictures in the coming week. Ideally this would suit someone who has just moved to Perth ideally i could sell the whole lot, or piece by piece. If anyone knows of anybody this would suit please get them to get in touch. I am based in Joondalup with plenty of parking for trucks / utes ect for moving. the list includes: Double Bed and Mattress x2, Beside table, Dining room (table seats 6), bedroom Unit, lamps x2, couches 2 seater and 3 seater, TV Unit, TV, Coffee Table, SIde table, Fridge, BBQ and Smoker, Pots, pans, cutlery, plates, bowls, ect. anyone is welcome to come past and have a visit, i know whats its like to get started in a new country and how hard it can be, if i can sell the lot in one go a discount will be given. not looking to rip anyone off just want rid off it all. Please share Cheers Neil neilwilliams1987@yahoo.co.uk

Has anyone managed to claim back there super if you are a permanent resident and have moved back to the UK for Good. Any advice would be great or if they don't pay it out can you transfer the funds over to a UK pension? Thanks

Hi all Looks like we're going to be going 'home' for a visit in early May. All very unexpected, but my husband has to travel to Europe for work, so the rest of us are going to visit our family whilst he works & then he'll joining us afterwards. My dilemma is that three of us will have Aussie passports AND British passports, but my daughter who was born here only has an Aussie one at the moment & looking at the time scale we're going to be pushing it to get a British one processed in time. What I was wondering is there anyone out there that has travelled as a family back to the UK where one of you has had only an Aussie passport? What happens when you get to London? Were there any problems? Many thanks in advance :smile:

I know someone has posted this recently but I feel it needs to be made a sticky, there are lots of people who need to return to the UK and this is great news for them. I have attached the information from DEFRA, but briefly: Dogs/Cats now only have to wait 21 days from after the Rabies Blood Test No Blood Test for Dogs and Cats No Tick Treatment is required pb13582-bringing-pets-to-uk110706.pdf pb13582-bringing-pets-to-uk110706.pdf

Hi there, Just wondering what people's thoughts are on the best time of the year to move back to Blighty. Our target is October. sunni :wubclub:

Hi, I have been living in Melbourne for the past 7 years. I have an Australian wife and a 2 year old son. We both have jobs in Oz however we are finding it impossible to secure any future ie buying a home due to the ever incresing costs of living over here. My son has a British passport which we arranged last year so thats not a problem and my wife has a visa to stay in the uk as her grandfather was British. My parents have kindly offered for us to stay with them untill we get up and running which is nice. The plan is that i go to the UK first to try and secure a job then i will fly back and bring the whole family over(including our dog, which i know is expensive) any suggestions? I will not have a bank account set up in my name so any advice on how i might go about this would be fantastic It will be a big move i know, but i feel this is our best opption to have a go at securing our future. Any advise, tips or people's experiances who have done the same thing would be great. Many Thanks

Hi - can't believe there's not been a thread on this one... What's the deal so far as taking dogs & pets generally back to UK - whether they were born in Auz or not???:wideeyed: Also any ideas on costs & procedures... Just in case! Thank you :spinny:

we have given this move our all, and after trying and trying to make it work, it is plain to see that it never will, the culture change is just too much, i know we had to expect this and we did, but until you live somewhere you dont know how it will affect you, we moved to jimboomba six months ago, and we have never really settled, we have made a few friends mainly english people and enjoy the warm weather, but the weather is not everything. i tried making a list of what is better in oz and what is better in the u.k. and the only thing in the oz list is the weather. i think some people settle in better than others, and some peolple just hate it. i think terrible shops and supermarkets, getting up at rediculous hours to go to work, horrible food, expensive cars and expensive cost of living, having to travel so far for work, nasty insects and mozzies, and australian people with no sense of humour, have all taken there toll. i know as with most negative threads there will be a lot of anti negative thread attackers ready to jump on us, but we have tried it, hated it, and cant wait to get back to the u.k.

I'm moving my family - English husband, two boys born here in London - to Melbourne, where I'm from originally. I've been in London for over 10 years, and I must admit, I'm more nervous about the move than my husband. I know hardly anyone apart from my small family, and while I may be able to pick up a few old school friends, I'm not sure really. Anyone else out there have an australian wife/husband who's brought you back to Oz? Just wondering how other couples have found it...

How many other families etc have returned back from Aus as 1 of you havent settled, my husband wanted to return I didnt but I went along with it to save our relationship. I think the uk has gone downhill in the space of 9 months whilst we were away, think a reckie trip to Perth is needed. Anyone else in the same dilemma.

Greetings one and all...so glad I found this site as now realise I am not alone!!! I was born in the UK and moved to Australia with my family when I was 7. Always feeling unsettled and wanting to return to England, I moved back when I was 17 to live with my Grandparents, study and work. In those teenage years I was torn between loving my life in the UK but missing my family back home, so I ping ponged between the two before meeting my Aussie husband on one of my many trips back to Auz and have been here ever since apart from 5 trips back since we got married to visit my friends and Grandparents and to show my 4 kids that part of the world. However I have always longed to go back to live in the UK and now more than ever I am so homesick and wishing we could just pack up everything and spend some time living as a family in England. As they say 'Home is where the heart is' and although I have a home and family here England will always be home to me. Of course most people don't understand (apart from Mum) and think I am mad for wanting to live in cold old England where the cost of living and unemployement is so high...but when I go back I always feel HOME! I always get more homesick when I watch episodes of Location Location on Foxtel...like today! This brought up the 'Let's go live in England' topic again...and hubby said if he had a job to go to then he would consider it! I have my own home based travel business with a UK based global company Travel Counsellors so I am able to set up in the UK or just find work in a Travel agency if need be. My eldest daughter (9) is keen to make the move but obviously has no understanding as to what it would mean. I have to consider the kids otherwise I would be doing exactly what my parents did to me and tearing them between two countries. Also my parents are getting older and I would have the problem Mum has had with being so far away from elderly parents. Is it worth just going back for a few years with the intention of returning to AUZ...or do I just have to accept I am trapped here by circumstances...which is a horrible feeling. I hate the heat here in Auz...and miss the seasons and cold weather of the UK too! Anyway...just venting! :SLEEP:

In the last few weeks we (me, wife & 2 kids) put through a Skilled Migration application & our credit card has been taken for $2500. We put it all through in my wifes name - she's a senior doctor here in Victoria. In the meantime I've got myself sorted in an IT Recruitment role. I've got all the relevant degree qualifications. While I haven't pushed it with the new company I'm with, I think the possibility would be there to go down the Permanent Application route through them. My idea would be that I'd offer to pay whatever it costs - $7k to $8K from what I've heard. Main motivation behind this PR application is because it's costing us close to $40K a year for childcare for the 2 kids. My understanding is that we'll get half that back if we become permanent. My questions are as follows - can I get that $2500 back and start the application again - if so how? Is there any risk that the company takes in letting me put the application through them (would be good to be armed with any important facts before approaching them)? Do things progress a lot faster when it goes through the company rather than off our own stream? I heard that once the application is submitted, we're entitled to the childcare rebate - is that true? If there's any feedback on our situation, it would be great to hear. Cheers.

Hi guys, have a question that i'm hoping someone may be able to help with, apologies if this has already been asked before:wacko: We are moving back to UK next year and i have been making enquiries about getting the kids back into schools, particularly my eldest who will be going into year 7. I contacted the local county council and they informed me that it would have to be classed as a late application as we have to residents at the time of applying. This means that my child will be allocated a place at the nearest school to us- and this could quite possibly not be the school of our choice! Has anyone encountered this situation when returning to UK and if so is there any way around it? :wink: Thanks xxx

Hi everyone. Just joined the forum looking for advice/opinions on moving back to Australia. Moved there 3 years ago and only lasted 3 weeks and hated it so much I moved straight back. Now I thinks I may have done the wrong thing. The UK is sinking fast and I want out but my fear is that i will go back to Australia just as the recession hit there:wacko:.

In May 2006 I moved back to the UK after 3 years living and working in Melbourne. The main reason for the move was career-motivated but I also wanted to move back because, contrary to popular opinion, I actually prefer life in the UK. Let me start by saying I am in no way anti-Australia or anti-Australian. My girlfriend is Australian, some of my best friends are Australian, I had some very good times when I was in Australia. Having said that, every day I am grateful for my move home and am 100% happy with my decision. It really annoys me that every time someone speaks to me about Oz they say ‘Don’t you miss it?’ ‘Why’d you come back?’ ‘You’re mad for moving back to rainy old England’ The truth is that most people base their opinion of Australia on one of the following – a) the stunning views of Sydney harbour and the Opera House; b) pleasant memories of watching Crocodile Dundee and/or Neighbours on the telly whilst growing up or c) if they’re lucky, a year-out bumming around on Bondi or the beaches of Queensland. People are really comparing their life in the UK to a surfy, bush-tucker stereotype rather than reality – so its, say, Manchester versus the Gold Coast, Liverpool versus the Whitsundays. People equate sunshine to happiness and therefore the grass appears much greener on the other side (of the world). Suburbia Sure, some people go to Australia and live the stereotype for real but the reality for the majority is vastly different from the beachy ideal. Over 90% of the Australian population don’t live on the beaches of Queensland but in one of 5 cities (despite preconceptions, their population is actually far more urbanised than ours). Due to virtually everyone living in bungalows and the Aussie dream of owning a quarter acre plot, the housing is extremely low density. This means that the suburbs stretch and stretch. In Melbourne’s case, suburbia stretches 40 or 50 miles from the CBD in literally every direction. Even when there isn’t any traffic on the roads, the outer suburbs are often over an hour’s drive from the city. You might claim to live in Melbourne but very rarely venture into the city. Most of these suburbs have nothing. Literally nothing. For entertainment there may be a pub in the suburb - But not the charming local that most Brits are accustomed to. Because there aren’t many – often one pub per suburb – they are huge. They often aren’t just a pub like we know, but a tacky pub / casino / betting shop monstrosity featuring row upon row of fruit machines, locally known as ‘Pokies’. The only other ‘entertainment’ is often a nearby mall. These are usually generic enclosed shopping centres with foodcourts, situated just off the freeway and surrounded by massive tin-shed developments. Just like in the States, these places tend to become the focus for teenagers hanging out and skipping school. Because of their locations, they also help to fuel the car culture. People drive everywhere. Trapped People often say that Oz has the kind if laid back lifestyle they are after. The reason the lifestyle is ‘laidback’ is because very little actually happens in Australia. Perhaps compare life in Australia to being in a coma – sure enough its quite comfortable, but feck all happens. The local music scene is ordinary at best (even requiring a local content quota on Australian radio). International acts often tag on gigs in Australia to the end of their world tours and bands only ever do proper world tours after they have really hit the big time. Really good up-and-coming acts rarely hit Aussie shores. Big Day Out, the biggest music festival in Australia and New Zealand, is the antipathy of the what a proper festival is all about – free spirit, rebellion and having a kick ass time. The event is a one-day event finishing at the rather conservative time of midnight. Alcohol can only be consumed in specially designated areas. The event does draw some big names but typical of Australia it is safe, bland, boring. When the bands do come, they come for a couple of weeks in January to play the Big Day Out franchise and a gig in each of the state capitals and then head home. In any other month of the year it is extremely difficult to see world class musicians down under. The same goes for standup comedy. Granted, Melbourne has a comedy festival every April but outside of this, you will never get to see world class comics in Australia. Between April and October the cultural calendar in Melbourne is empty apart from the AFL season. Winter in Melbourne is nowhere near as harsh as a UK winter but it does get cold, and wet, and windy. Because the seasons are back-to-front, there is no Halloween, Bonfire night, Christmas or New Year to brighten up the darker months. Beyond the almost endless suburban sprawl, there is often nothing (bare the odd redneck town) for many, many hours drive. Melbourne and Sydney may look like next-door-neighbours on an atlas but they are roughly a 9-hour drive apart. It is a strange thing that in this sparsely populated country which should feel more open, this geographic isolation actually makes you feel slightly trapped. If you get bored of Melbourne, its not that easy to just pop over to Sydney. On a bigger scale, if you get bored of Australia or just want a holiday abroad even New Zealand is a four-hour flight away. Melbourne and all the other Australian cities are nice enough in their own right. But you have to view them in context: both in terms of their location within Australia and Australia’s position in relation to the rest of the world. Utopia? Far from the utopian image that is often portrayed, Australia is not free from social ills – there is widespread gambling addiction (including a quarter of the world’s ‘Pokies’), a high crime rate (violent crime is more prevalent than in any other OECD nation) and rampant drug abuse (including a much higher use of heroin than any European nation). The casino is seen as the evening of choice for many. Almost every night on the shock-docs or evening news, stories are run on gangland or outback murders. The only time I have ever seen someone injecting heroin into their arm was not in a parked car by the side of a city park in Glasgow, but in Australia. Despite our moaning, Australia have poorer healthcare and education systems than we do – most middle class Australians have gone private. Medicare, to be frank, is a bureaucratic mess. Student debt and university funding is also in poorer shape with fewer Australians being able to afford higher education. Excluding the outback (where you can literally get away with murder), Nannystateism is taken to a higher level in Oz than Mr Blair could ever imagine. The Alternative Whilst not perfect, I believe the UK is a better home for me at this particular point in my life. There is so much I want to achieve in my career, things I want to experience and interesting places I want to go that Australia just can’t offer. It might be a great place for retirees wanting the quiet life, but it wasn't for me. Simple things that I completely took for granted when I grew up in England I really began to miss on the other side of world – Sunday dinners, rolling green countryside, long summer evenings, trips to Europe whenever I wanted, cider, the buzz of discovering a cool new band, decent, thought-provoking TV that wasn’t peppered with adverts, driving through cute little villages, exploring historic towns, watching snow fall, conkers. Most of all, I missed those days in January when its freezing cold but there’s pure blue sky and everything is crisp and it tingles slightly when you breath. The best thing about England is that it isn’t bland. It isn’t beige. It isn’t flat and suburban and dull. There may be things that I hate, but there are far more things that I love. Sometimes it is miserable but more often than not it is glorious. It is the highs and the lows. The past and the future. Love it, hate it. It is life at 100 miles per hour…. And for now, it is my home.

Thought this could be an intresting debate, no matter how long you have been in Oz......If you loved Oz but your other half decided they were returning to the UK and nothing you could say would change their minds.....what would you do?

Hi all I am a new member and have just stumbled across this site which is packed full of info so I am really happy. My name is Phil, I moved to WA living in Mullaloo in 1999 only to move back to Liverpool in 2003. I am now married with 4 kids, we are coming over... I have had enough with the UK, Liverpool isnt so good any more so its time to move. I have loads to sort out yet, its early days. I have to.... Renew australian passport Apply for citizenship by descent for my 4 kids get a visa for the wifey Sell everything in my house including cars etc Get rid of my dogs Succesfully get a new job over in WA. I plan on coming over next year on my own as my new job will require me to complete a few tests, should they be successful then ill probably remain and get the family out asap. Anyway just thought i'd say hi Thanks

Hello. I am new to the forum but would like to share my experience with everyone warts and all. After 2 years of waiting to come to Brisbane we finally arrived in Nov.We left a great life in the UK, jobs, family, friends, etc hoping Oz would offer so much more. The wife did show concerns; massive hit on our house so sold for alot less, raising mortgage and house prices in Brisbane and were we too old for the move (both in our 40's). 2 teenage children that we wondered if they will settle but we (especially me) went with the flow saying it will be ok. 5 months on it isn't for me or my daughter. I have been struggling for weeks with the change and know in my heart I got more wrapped up in the adventure of coming over than the reality. Im not a hot weather lover or beach person (why come to Australia, you may ask. I really don't know!!). We came over with little money due to circumstances and now are in a position of not having enough money even to put down on a nice house, never mind affording the mortgage payment that would take 50% plus of our income a week. We have never had this issue and is affecting me greatly. My wife likes it here and son does but if we are struggling what life is that!! For the sake of my mental health and general wellbeing we have decided to return. If we go back soon the kids can get back in their school and not interfere too much with my sons GCSE's. Job wise we will have to start looking again but fingers crossed. The houses are still low in South Yorkshire so can get on the property ladder ok. We still have some money over in the UK because we dare not bring it over because of the poor exchange rates. I am not knocking Australia. It is a lovely country with lower crime and better weather (if you like sun). Would it be better for my children, I don't know. My son was doing really well in the UK and we did not have a bad life. The education here doesn't seem better and asking around the uni's are not as good as the UK. 3 things I would recommend for people who are thinking of emigrating; 1. Bring alot of money. Brisbane is soo expensive and house/rental is going through the roof. 2. Come when you are young and so are your kids. 3. If you are happy with life where you are, stick to it. Don't try and mend something that is not broken. I know 5 months is not long but we need to go back soon to get our lifes back on track and not mess the kids education up. This experience has taught me how much I do love my wife, my family and happiness for us was right there in front of us, not at the other side of the world.

Hey all, first post so go easy on me :wink: Our story: We came to Oz in April 2004 on a scouting holiday after living and breathing moving to Oz for 18 months. Managed to grab some interviews while here and after being back in the UK for a couple of months we got a call asking when I could start. So.....we arrived in Melbourne in March 2005 and I have worked for the same employer for all of the six and a half years we have been here. The first 18 months were very hard, but we listened to others telling us - Yep its hard at first you'll get past it don't worry. Well we have come to the conclusion that although we have a good lifestyle, double storey house, flat screens etc etc - it means nothing when your eleven year old son can't even talk to his grandma over the phone becaue he falls apart.....bless him he hasn't spoken to any cousins in four years now. My wife is doing it hard also, school holidays, public holidays, but mostly Christmas - well it isn't Christmas really as far as we are concerned - it isn't cold for a start and there's no family around more importantly. So with all of this in mind, and after some soul searching we had made the decision that family and friends come first and so we are going to move back to the UK whether I have a job or not. I cannot stand the thought of my wife and two kids not being happy.....wow glad I've got that off my chest :biggrin: Ideally, we'd like to move back to our old village (Berkhamsted, Herts) but I guess we'll have to be within an hour or so drive (for me) of where I would hopefully find work. I've spoken to some friends who still live around the Watford area who tell me I'm mad thinking of coming back, but they don't understand the situation here with an unhappy family. Feedback appreciated, although it won't change our minds LMAO.

Hi i was just wondering if anyone has flown a pug or any other snub nose dog back to the uk. i was ment to be flying my pug on Cathay Pacific but they ban snub nose dogs as of monday. Im cant find another airline that will fly snub nose dogs to the uk, does anyone know of one?

Has anybody left Oz, gone back to the UK and the deiced to go back to Oz?? It's really a comment to gauge feeling if when you go back to the UK do you feel the same as your time in Oz? Does the UK feel like home or a dump? Does it show that Oz is at the arse end of the world and feels too remote? Answer on a postcard please - or post a reply... Cheers Dan :daydreaming:

I grew up in England and moved to Oz with my Australian girlfriend after I graduated . I lived in Melbourne for the next 3 years and had a great time, but towards the end of the 3 years realised that better weather wasn’t everything in life. I had reached a bit of a dead-end career-wise (due in no small part to Aussie bureaucracy) and decided to move home about a year ago. Coming back to the UK felt like waking up from a deep sleep. The speed with which things happen was really refreshing and things that I’d taken for granted previously suddenly became really appreciated. Some of the people on this website (and in general) strike me as incredibly naive with regards to Australia, making comments about the place either without ever being there or having just arrived and blinded by sunshine. They seem to think that moving to Oz will result in one big beach party, one never ending barbeque and talk about the place as if it was the garden of eden. Sorry, it isn’t. Being realistic, you will do essentially the same things as you do here: commute to work, work, commute to home, eat, watch TV, go out, sleep, repeat, repeat, weekend. Having held several jobs in Oz, I worked with a vast number of different of local people, primarily in a similar age bracket (20-30) and of a similar background (relatively middle-class and mostly degree-educated). This pattern generally holds true. Unless you live in London you are likely to spend longer on your commute in Australian cities. Many of my friends thought nothing of travelling an hour each way to work, in fact several even had longer journeys combining driving to their local train station, catching a train into the city and then tram to their office. Very concentrated CBDs and virtually unchecked suburban sprawl means that people often live huge distances from their place work. I now live on the edge of Leeds, 5 miles from the city centre. In Melbourne this would be classed as an inner suburb. Where I live now is walking distance from rolling hills, cows, sheep, literally a couple of miles to the Dales. The unemployment rate is higher in Oz and depending on what industry you work in, you are likely to find more job opportunities in the UK and likely to get paid more for the same work, especially if you are a skilled professional. If you don’t live in the South-East of England, the cost of living is very similar. Coming from the Yorkshire, I actually found Sydney expensive and Melbourne comparable. There are overs and unders, sure, but averaged out across a ‘Basket of Goods’ prices were very close – its certainly not as cheap as the States and not nearly as cheap as smug locals would have you believe. You seem to get more public holidays in Australia but less annual leave. 4 weeks is standard, where many employers in the UK now offer 5 or even 6 weeks (even if it is salary-sacrificed into flexible benefits packages). The holidays are all bunched up around Christmas – that’s also their summer holiday because of the reversed seasons. Apart from Afl, nothing seems to happen there over winter (actually most of the year round come to think of it). With your time off their is infinitely more things to do in the UK, or at least from the UK. Generally 2 hours travelling time is what you want to arrive at your destination of choice. Within 2 hours I could be in Paris. 2 hours from Melbourne and i’d be driving through never-ending nothingness, on the way to Wolf Creek probably. Having been back in the UK for about 12 months, I have had a much outdoors lifestyle than in Oz. It may be warmer there, but you seem to spend your life in an air-conditioned cocoon. Since being back I have played more golf, gone walking in the dales and the lake district (there is nothing that I saw in Oz that can compare to these in terms of beauty). From where I now live, I can go on day trips to York and Harrogate and go to lovely country pubs for Sunday dinner. I have only been back a year but have already been for weekends away to Prague and Paris, worked in Chicago for a fortnight and am going to Tuscany in June. These sort of opportunities simply do not exist from Australia. Once you are there, it is very long way to anything else. Don’t get me started on Australian TV (non-stop American reality show imports littered with adverts). The music scene is awful. The food is strictly Greek/Italian or Viet/Thai. Nobody has heard of Tapas. Curries are almost impossible to find. And French food might as well not exist. A lot of people cite their children as the prime reason for emigrating which I find quite strange. As if a bigger garden and a bit more sunshine is all kids need! Did i think my friends and colleagues were any happier or more rounded individuals as a result of growing up in Australia? Certainly not. For most of the people I know in Australia, many have rarely been outside the state of Victoria. The vast majority have only been outside of their home country once or twice, generally on a year out working in a bar in London, ‘doing’ all of Europe in a 3 week contiki tour. Whilst, I count many Australians amongst my best friends, I have to admit that on the whole, the geographic isolation and inward-focused media leaves them relatively uncultured, often quite narrow-minded and occassionally extremely bigotted when compared to people of similar socio-economic backgrounds in the UK. Those that don’t believe me should have been in Oz when the Shappelle Corby case was in the news. The way people I knew (and the country as a whole) reacted to it made me embarrassed to be in the country at the time. There is massive problems of drug abuse (especially Crystal Meth and Heroin) and gambling is seen as socially acceptable, normal even. People who think that anti-social behaviour is purely a British problem are absolutely deluding themselves. My ‘neighbours’ in Melbourne used to use our stairwell as a urinal. Fights in pubs and on the street are commonplace, often much more violent than in the UK. My girlfriend’s cousin recently had a freind die in her arms from stab wounds inflicted after a fight out in Perth. Another friends of mine has permanent damage to his eyes after a gang jumped him in St Kilda and kicked and scratched and gouged at him, completely unprovoked. Young people get involved in illegal drag-races out in the suburbs every single weekend. If you keep an eye on the local news you may also have heard about the Cronulla race riots, Premier Brack’s daughter recently being taken to A & E after underage binge-drinking and yobs defacing the ANZAC memorial. People who think this stuff doesn’t happen in Australia are, frankly, living in cloud cuckoo land. Because of the nature of the work I do, most of the people I worked with had been to University. Because of the financial constraints of tertiary education in Australia, the majority of people I knew had both lived at home and worked part time to fund their studies. University was 3 of the best years of my life, mostly as a result of living away from home and being completely immersed in the student way of life. The Australians I know have a massive void in their experience as a result. I grew up in a small village in a rural area. As a result we had big a massive garden. Did this make my childhood more enjoyable? No. The things I enjoyed most were trips abroad or knowing that I would be able to do what I wanted in life, going away to University and having the world at my feet. I used to go on holiday at least once a year either with my family or with school. The furthest kids go in Oz is on school camp to Maloooonlongatta or somewhere else completely irrelevant. For people like myself, young, ambitious and cultured, Australia has very little to offer. From England I may not have the time and money to do everything that I want to do. Trapped in Australia, however, there simply weren’t enough things to keep me occupied. The world is an amazing place, I couldn’t be removed that far removed from it again. People contemplating a move to Oz should really look beyond the beaches and shiny office buildings before they decide to sacrifice all the things they take for granted.

Hi, We are all ready to move over to Oz, Visa sorted etc, but we cant sell our house near Leeds, West Yorkshire without giving it away becuase the housing market is dire hete. This is a VERY WILD shot but it there any POM in Oz who is desperate to come back to England out there that would like to do house swap? And Leeds happens to be a good location? Ours is a detatched 4 bedroom house, I love it and cant bear to sell if for peanuts but we just want to get going to Oz before our 20 year old son changes his mind and decides he want to stay in Leeds. Hope to hear from you soon Carole and Ands