Who's returned home the quickest!

[calNgary]

That's pretty spot on.

 

Sometimes its more than a step back for some, sometimes its falling to the bottom of the heap and putting up with many tedious and painful years of trying to "prove yourself" all over again after having earned yourself a track record, respect and a name in your field early on in your career back in the UK.

 

To find yourself rolling your career back 10 years working with yesterdays technology alongside lower educated backward lazy insular people can be tiresome to say the least.

Some folk are smart enough to get out fast because they only realise then just how good they had it back home.

 

I agree to some extent as my hubby did just that. Arrived here well advanced on others in his trade, came from a throw away and replace with new society to a get an old one, pull it apart and repair it. He left being a works manager to start at the bottom as an every day mechanic... However a few years on, he was managing his new workplace, teaching other mechanics all across the country the modern side of diagnostics and established his own company.

In fact the job offer promised to him 6 months before we arrived, fell through once we got here so you could say he was more than a step backwards within a week of landing here, but he went door knocking and found the job above.

 

Back in the UK we had a house and also one in Spain, we had a weekend caravan in Wales, we had motorbikes, cars ,jobs, a nice home so its not a case of what people had being better IF your moving for the right reasons. We knew we wouldn't have all the above when we hopped off the plane but we didnt move across the world for 'the same'..

 

Some want to and can make it work ,despite the hurdles whilst getting established, it is nothing to do with being smart, its more down to your attitude IMO.

 

Cal x

[Johnny]

Whoops, we seem to be going off topic.

 

A family at my children's school 'emigrated' to Oz last July with 4 children. Had the big leaving party etc. The kids were back in school for the start of the Sept new term! I thought my son was making it up when he said Joseph was back in class.

 

The family didn't even wait for the container to arrive....the just instructed it to be sent straight back to the UK..... so came back to an empty house and had to wait 6 weeks for their stuff to arrive back. Nowt as queer as folk!

 

 

There's no shame in it. They probably figured out pretty fast how things were going to pan out for them and got out fast while they had the resources to do so.

 

Once your in the system and loaded up on debt while the economy is heading for a long slow downturn, then you are pretty much snookered.

 

Its not a hard formula to grasp really.

 

But hey, you can always "stay open minded and stay positive", if that works for you despite all the writing being on the wall, then great.

 

Those guys that got out fast were smart. It may not seem so right now, but touch base with them in say, 2 years and compare notes.

[janlo]

Well yeh....and he got his job back, kids back in the really good school etc. But a bit more research springs to mind!

[flatpack]

My sister met a family who had just arrived, they left before their container arrived with their belongings!

 

Personally I think that anyone who has got to all the trouble of emigrating then you owe it to yourself to try work through it and stay for a least a year, maybe two.

We're currently at 18 months and are pretty settled but we have openly spoken about if we wanted to return to the uk (home) we are both committed to gaining citizenship no matter what. I doubt we will ever return to live but never say never!

[Marisawright]

It didn't work out and I am bitter - you couldn't be farther from the truth.

 

 

Since your every word drips bitterness and hate, you can't blame us for drawing that conclusion.

 

Every country has good and bad points. It seems you can't see one good point about Australia, which proves you have a distorted view. We therefore presume you've had a bad personal experience.

[JockinTas]

Since your every word drips bitterness and hate, you can't blame us for drawing that conclusion.

 

Every country has good and bad points. It seems you can't see one good point about Australia, which proves you have a distorted view. We therefore presume you've had a bad personal experience.

 

............... and kind of hints that we who have had (and still have) a good life here are somehow not quite up to scratch.

[Johnny]

Since your every word drips bitterness and hate, you can't blame us for drawing that conclusion.

 

Every country has good and bad points. It seems you can't see one good point about Australia, which proves you have a distorted view. We therefore presume you've had a bad personal experience.

 

No bitterness whatsoever. We got out before it all went "pop" you could say.

 

Aus was VERY good to us, perhaps not job wise but, "hey-ho" as they say, we're loving our life in the UK now.

[AJ]

No bitterness whatsoever. We got out before it all went "pop" you could say.

 

Aus was VERY good to us, perhaps not job wise but, "hey-ho" as they say, we're loving our life in the UK now.

Why if you are so happy now do you keep coming on slating Australia. It is good that people get to hear the not so good but you don't really post anything that would help just all full of bitterness about your own experience which was maybe so bad because of your negative attitude. Just forget and move on because nothing you are saying is constructive at all just sounds like you didnt like it so you spat the dummy! Edited February 22, 2016 by AJ

[Patphillips47]

It didn't work out and I am bitter - you couldn't be farther from the truth.

 

Of course they rubber stamped you when you told them you would sweep the streets.

 

They're trying hard to boost their population and import more tax payers, what did you expect.

Well we definitely boosted the population We took 2 kids they married so we have 6 grandchildren ,they then gave us 7 great grandchildren All ridgey didge Aussies

My expectations were we would have to work for a living like we did in the UK -and we did

Expect something for nothing and you will get nothing

Your experience was obviously a bad one but really you cant blame your emigration on anyone else but yourself unless you were transported !

Adults make choices not always the right ones

[Guest]

It's a bit like people who separate on their honeymoon or jilt their partner at the alter, you wonder how they could have got that far before realising their mistake but I think it is hard to backtrack and people plough on hoping for the best. The reality of being in Australia is then the wake-up call, often going back sooner rather than later is the right thing because it is easier to pick up where you left off. It is hard though to know if it is culture shock/homesickness rather than a dislike for Australia/preference for the UK hence the oft quoted advice of giving it a couple of years.

 

If I am absolutely honest we knew on our reccie it wasn't for us but my OH got two job offers whilst we were there and we were afraid to regret not taking the opportunity. We stayed five years and I certainly don't regret our time there - I do regret staying as long but we financially could not have moved back any sooner and were just getting on with life - we didn't even think about moving back until a year before we did, the decision was made in an instant and a year was then spent planning the move.

[northernbird]

No bitterness whatsoever. We got out before it all went "pop" you could say.

 

Aus was VERY good to us, perhaps not job wise but, "hey-ho" as they say, we're loving our life in the UK now.

 

Can I ask why if you moved back to the UK and are happy did you join a PIO forum just a month ago?

[Johnny]

Can I ask why if you moved back to the UK and are happy did you join a PIO forum just a month ago?

 

You just answered your own question - its a forum for "Moving Back to the UK"

 

I don't post in other forums where there are excited newbies waiting to get their visas and head off on the plane to live the dream.

 

That's where I would expect the "We did it, we love it here and it worked out for us, life in the sun is great " brigade to be posting and egging them on to go for it, not lurking around a "Moving Back to the UK " forum.

 

Bitter absolutely not, Australia was VERY kind to us and I only hope it can be kind to anyone moving there too.

 

But the reality is the economy is tanking big time down there and as the papers report, people are selling up and bailing out of Australia right now by the plane load.

 

I will tell it how it is, if that rattles cages or touches nerves, I am not going to make apologies for it.

 

If you are settled and happy there or gearing up to go there, this is not the forum to be reading and snapping at people.

[Johnny]

I do regret staying as long but we financially could not have moved back any sooner and were just getting on with life - we didn't even think about moving back until a year before we did, the decision was made in an instant and a year was then spent planning the move.

 

Same here, we wanted out after a few years but really couldn't do it.

 

But they day came when it was "madness not to" and we did it, the conditions were right for us.

 

You planned your move back - well done.

 

Failure to plan, is planning to fail.

 

What I would share here is that moving home can be just as unsettling as migrating. A lot can change in a few years and some things which were once familiar are not really that familiar anymore !!

 

It is totally possible to feel a bit strange in your own country some days, and it does take a while to get into the swing of it again, make no mistake.

[JockinTas]

Same here, we wanted out after a few years but really couldn't do it.

 

But they day came when it was "madness not to" and we did it, the conditions were right for us.

 

You planned your move back - well done.

 

Failure to plan, is planning to fail.

 

What I would share here is that moving home can be just as unsettling as migrating. A lot can change in a few years and some things which were once familiar are not really that familiar anymore !!

 

It is totally possible to feel a bit strange in your own country some days, and it does take a while to get into the swing of it again, make no mistake.

 

I do get what you are saying in your last post johngdownunder. Many of us have mentioned in various threads to prospective migrants how much harder it is in Australia now compared to a few years ago. I feel for new migrants who come and find they could be out of work for weeks or even months. Imagine how they will feel about Australia then - all they would want to do is go home. Australia has changed a lot since we arrived in 1981 and it has become so much more expensive which many new migrants should be made aware of too. Also Australia has always had its boom and bust times which we managed to ride out. We worked hard and all in all this country has been good to us. I wouldn't live anywhere else now.

[Bound4Tassie]

 

You can always "suck it up for a few years until you get established" like you say.

.

 

Hmm funny , I don't remember saying that. Not sure why you have decided to quote me.

I probably have watched quite a bit of Wanted Down Under- more light entertainment than educational. I would like to hazard a guess that I know more about Australian life than you did prior to emigration!

My husband is more looking forward to the surf beachy lifestyle he used to enjoy but I'm happy to tag along. There are worse things to do with the kids!

I won't quote you on it but the way it was worded certainly read as if people who were happy in Aus didn't really know their own minds as they couldn't possibly be happy there. Just because that was your reality (even though you made some money) doesn't mean others don't enjoy themselves. It's a little arrogant to tell people what they feel!

[northernbird]

You just answered your own question - its a forum for "Moving Back to the UK"

 

I don't post in other forums where there are excited newbies waiting to get their visas and head off on the plane to live the dream.

 

That's where I would expect the "We did it, we love it here and it worked out for us, life in the sun is great " brigade to be posting and egging them on to go for it, not lurking around a "Moving Back to the UK " forum.

 

Bitter absolutely not, Australia was VERY kind to us and I only hope it can be kind to anyone moving there too.

 

But the reality is the economy is tanking big time down there and as the papers report, people are selling up and bailing out of Australia right now by the plane load.

 

I will tell it how it is, if that rattles cages or touches nerves, I am not going to make apologies for it.

 

If you are settled and happy there or gearing up to go there, this is not the forum to be reading and snapping at people.

 

Many people who frequent this part of the forum were members when planning their moves to Australia too. You left Australia 8 years ago, why on earth join a forum like this now, just seems odd.

[Bound4Tassie]

Many people who frequent this part of the forum were members when planning their moves to Australia too. You left Australia 8 years ago, why on earth join a forum like this now, just seems odd.

 

Either very bored or entirely altruistic, wishing to impart wisdom on the rest of us.

[JockinTas]

That's pretty spot on.

 

Sometimes its more than a step back for some, sometimes its falling to the bottom of the heap and putting up with many tedious and painful years of trying to "prove yourself" all over again after having earned yourself a track record, respect and a name in your field early on in your career back in the UK.

 

To find yourself rolling your career back 10 years working with yesterdays technology alongside lower educated backward lazy insular people can be tiresome to say the least.

 

Some folk are smart enough to get out fast because they only realise then just how good they had it back home.

 

Then again, someone who came from a very mediocre job with no promotion or career path and then getting another mediocre dead end job in Australia would be happy as the proverbial pig. from a life of debt and struggling in UK to another life of debt and struggling elsewhere is hardly progress.

 

Just an illusion of a "step up in lifestyle" which many buy into and feel they "made it" because of a bigger house and living close to a beach.

 

As I said in my last post, I get a lot of what you say but your snobby, sneering attitude is the pits. Why did you even need to say that? It doesn't apply to me or to most of the people I know.

[Fisher1]

As I said in my last post, I get a lot of what you say but your snobby, sneering attitude is the pits. Why did you even need to say that? It doesn't apply to me or to most of the people I know.

 

Hi all

 

I've found this thread really interesting. I'm not sure if I'm an 'excited newbie' but I am planning to migrate to Aus. with my husband some time during the next two years. The reason I am following this thread is because I like to hear both sides of a story and not just the side that pleases me. Its all to do trying to be realistic and plan well. I have to say, Johngdownunder that I too found your attitude a bit sneery and snobbish. Probably you didn't intend your posts to be that brutal, but they do come across as dismissive and a bit mean spirited.

 

I'm not a typical migrant in that I am going to join my daughter and her family. She is our only child and we have been missing her company for ten years now. We've talked around it and added up the money and are fairly sure of a few things. 1) we are going to be worse off financially. 2) We are going to have to build our own lives and not rely on our daughter for our social life. 3) We will be dreadfully homesick at least part of the time.

 

So why are we going? Well that's easy - because we want to be a proper part of our grandson's life. Because once you hit sixty six most travel insurance companies wont insure you for longer than a month at a time. Because we have visited Australia many times and we are reasonably sure we have taken off any rose coloured glasses we may once have had.

 

I think its very helpful to know what makes people turn around and head back to the airport - but a bit of tact doesn't come amiss either. I certainly don't intend to stay indefinitely if we cant make it work - but I also know from earlier travels that we wont give it all up without a good try.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Fisher1

[Lambethlad]

That's pretty spot on.

 

Sometimes its more than a step back for some, sometimes its falling to the bottom of the heap and putting up with many tedious and painful years of trying to "prove yourself" all over again after having earned yourself a track record, respect and a name in your field early on in your career back in the UK.

 

To find yourself rolling your career back 10 years working with yesterdays technology alongside lower educated backward lazy insular people can be tiresome to say the least.

 

Some folk are smart enough to get out fast because they only realise then just how good they had it back home.

 

Then again, someone who came from a very mediocre job with no promotion or career path and then getting another mediocre dead end job in Australia would be happy as the proverbial pig. from a life of debt and struggling in UK to another life of debt and struggling elsewhere is hardly progress.

 

Just an illusion of a "step up in lifestyle" which many buy into and feel they "made it" because of a bigger house and living close to a beach.

Are you having a bad day?

[Patphillips47]

Hi all

 

I've found this thread really interesting. I'm not sure if I'm an 'excited newbie' but I am planning to migrate to Aus. with my husband some time during the next two years. The reason I am following this thread is because I like to hear both sides of a story and not just the side that pleases me. Its all to do trying to be realistic and plan well. I have to say, Johngdownunder that I too found your attitude a bit sneery and snobbish. Probably you didn't intend your posts to be that brutal, but they do come across as dismissive and a bit mean spirited.

 

I'm not a typical migrant in that I am going to join my daughter and her family. She is our only child and we have been missing her company for ten years now. We've talked around it and added up the money and are fairly sure of a few things. 1) we are going to be worse off financially. 2) We are going to have to build our own lives and not rely on our daughter for our social life. 3) We will be dreadfully homesick at least part of the time.

 

So why are we going? Well that's easy - because we want to be a proper part of our grandson's life. Because once you hit sixty six most travel insurance companies wont insure you for longer than a month at a time. Because we have visited Australia many times and we are reasonably sure we have taken off any rose coloured glasses we may once have had.

 

I think its very helpful to know what makes people turn around and head back to the airport - but a bit of tact doesn't come amiss either. I certainly don't intend to stay indefinitely if we cant make it work - but I also know from earlier travels that we wont give it all up without a good try.

 

Read you post with interest and wishing you good luck in all you do Being an only child myself tore at me in 1982 when we emigrated we came back to the UK so many times to see my parents we never cut the cord ! Moved back 2001 to look after Mam moved back to Oz in 2006 as Mam had dementia and was well cared for in a home by then Moved back to UK IN 2013 to retire and not unhappy here but we are moving back to Oz in April Why because nothing beats being able to cuddle your grandkids or in my case great grandkids as well ! Sype FaceTime etc just isn't the same

[BacktoDemocracy]

Wow that's all pretty quick, it amuses me that such important decisions that could be planned meticulously can be overturned in a matter of moments because of a feeling or eureka moment which says wtf did I do! I worked in the Channel Islands with a guy that had planned for 18 months to come over to work and take a break from his family in New Zealand to earn better money and do a unique course (huge amount of money spent) .He started work,completed his first morning and had a lunch break with me,during his sandwich he got on his mobile phone and booked his return flight that night!He wished me all the best and that was that!

Amazes me how people can kiss so much money goodboy and how they can have so little commitment to a course of action, their lives must be chaos.

[BacktoDemocracy]

But i think your point shows how we differ, as personally we believed selling up in the UK would give you that bit more umph to stick things out when things got tough at the start, to us having somewhere to run back too so easily could give you the option to bail at the first hurdle and make a mistake (such as moving back so soon) you live to regret.

IMO Anyone who thinks they can move here and pick up where they left off in the UK will come unstuck, as i have always said its similar to starting adult life all over again, you start at the bottom and work up, those not prepared to take a step back whilst they get established tend to be the ones who return early on from what i have seen and read.

 

Cal x

Agree with your sentiments after experiencing some of those kinds of difficulties and why i would advise anyone over early 30's to think carefully because you need to have a few years in reserve to ride out all those setbacks to re-establishing your career.

[Johnny]

Amazes me how people can kiss so much money goodboy and how they can have so little commitment to a course of action, their lives must be chaos.

 

Some people make a quick assessment on their situation and get out while they can at any cost if it isn't ticking the boxes for them.

 

We put most of our cash into a house in South Perth quite quickly after arriving as we had already gone and sold off our ex-council house in UK before we left, so there was absolutely no option for us to return home or we just may have done it too. Even if we wanted to sell up was very hard to shift property in those days.

[Rachel Tilley]

I don't think johngdownunder comes across as bitter at all, he's posting from his own perspective and experiences. I notice he's a new member with a few posts under his belt which are not particularly 'pro Australia' or about 'successful relocations' and some people object to such comments. As for joining this forum 8 years after returning home? Well, perhaps he feels he has something valuable to offer regarding his experiences that he wants to share.

 

When I first joined this forum it was after six years of returning home. I came across it one day by chance and felt that I too had something valuable to share of my experiences in Australia but was immediately met with some unwelcoming comments, hostility and had some of my posts removed. I even got banned for 3 months! However, I persisted and hope that my posts have helped some people along their journey.

 

Sometimes I read comments on posts that I interpret as reading "if you didn't settle in Oz or couldn't hack it in some way then you're a failure" or "you couldn't settle in Oz? There must be something wrong with you." Then there are the posts that recommend you should "at least give it two years", and for those that do, there are the posts that say "if you came here with that intention then you were never fully committed as you had a get out option". I read one post the other day that said "some people should be banned from emigrating for their own welfare" and I did wonder if that was aimed at me!? (Shame a ban wasn't in place when I applied to go, lol)

 

For those that move over to Oz and settle then I think that's great. I'm not one of those that don't believe there are some truly happy migrants, indeed I met some families who were very happy out there, but I do know there are many that think a house in the sunshine with a pool and near a beach is the ultimate fantasy and if they have that then their life is complete as they have 'made it'. When I was younger I used to think that my signs of having 'made it' would be to have a house with an en-suite bathroom! If that's anything to go by then I still haven't 'made it' as I live in a 3 bed semi with one bathroom and toilet - I haven't even got two toilets

 

Once you know the move isn't for you then it's no good (IMO) to drag it out and give it more time. Life is short, why live somewhere that you're not happy and you know you're not going to be happy? Why stay for a few more years just because it cost you a lot of money to get out there? Cut your losses and move on to what makes you happier.

 

Some people may think I'm a failure for only lasting 19 weeks but I don't. I gave it a go out there - against the odds - and yes I failed at making a successful life in Australia, but I don't think I'm a failure. I have come home and re-built my life, re-gained my career and as a single parent I'm now better off than I was in many ways before I went to Australia. I can provide a stable home for my son - something I could not have done in Oz. The move cost me thousands, getting home cost me more, but that was all irrelevant compared to my mental health.