My Story on our recent move back to the UK!

[vinnie3004]

Hello All,

 

For those that sent me lots of questions about the move and for those who just fancy a read heres an update on my move home.

 

Background

I have lived in Perth for 12 years. I moved over with my mum, dad and 2 brothers when i was 18. Met my now wife in Sydney who was travelling and believe it or not lived in the town about 20 minutes up the road from where i lived in the UK. I went back to stay with her for a few months and then she came out to visit before eventually applying for a visa and joining me in Australia. This was in 2012. We have since had a son (17 months old now). About a year ago we visited England to show the baby off to my extended family and my wife family. We started to become really homesick (I had always found it the hardest out of my family and new one day i would head back) and really missed the UK and our friends, more my wife friends as they had all had babies at the same time as we had our son but i was still very close to a lot of my friends as well. We made the decision officially in July of this year and put the house on the market and started to plan. Told my parents who were of course devastated as i had just given them their first grandson. Originally the move was not going to be until June next year. Then out of the blue my wife received an email from her old boss asking how everything was. They started talking and it was brought up that her old job had just become available and that she should apply as we were heading back but we would need to make the move permanent in Jan 17. Total coincidence. My wife applied for the job and got it. Brilliant. 1 of us had guaranteed employment which was a huge weight off our shoulder.

 

We already had a holiday booked back to the UK in the October just gone for a friends wedding and after a bit of chat decided it would make sense to just go then which my wife boss loved as it meant she would start sooner. Told the folks and obviously they were even more devastated. I won't go into how the final 2 - 3 months were with them, but it was hell. Sold the House in September, finance all finalised just in time for the move and shipped our furniture 2 weeks prior to leaving. Everything just fell into place in such a short period of time. A lot of planning was put into it but we had a some good fortune as well as some bad fortune (Perth property market is very bad right now).

 

Securing a house in the UK

We had already looked at houses to rent on the web and luckily my mother in law went to view a handful on our behalf before we managed to secure a property in the town my wife is from by offering 6 months upfront. The town my wife is from is in greater London and as expected the prices for houses to buy and rent are pretty high. But we knew this so no complaints here and decided that for convenience and my wifes commute to work in London it was a good idea to set up home there for the first year while we settled in, got our feet on the ground and had the support and help from family and friends very close by. We will then look to head a little further out once we are settled which would fit into our budget.

 

Shipping

As mentioned we shipped our furniture 2 weeks prior to us leaving as this meant it would arrive within 2-3 weeks of us getting there. We were comfortable doing this as the final two weeks in perth we stayed at my folks and we had a house secured here. For those 2-3 weeks in england we stayed at my mother in laws, don't get me started on that. Furniture arrived, delivered to the house, unpacked and finally we had our home back and was able to set up our new life and get on with it. The shipping company we used were Chess - 1 word amazing! They were great, cheap, thorough and just brilliant both ends.

 

The first 6 weeks

My wife settled back into her job well, we have seen all of our friends and family and are feeling very good. We have our son in day care for 2 days a week at the moment to settle him in before i start looking for work just after christmas which he will then go 4 days a week. He loves it in day care and we are so pleased we found a great one close by, a huge weight off our shoulders. So right now I'm the house husband/ baby sitter and its bloody hard work! I now know why my wife had had enough of maternity leave after a year! Its actually been handy having me at home as i have been able to set the house up and do all the essential bits that you need to do when you set up life somewhere new which you may not necessarily be able to do as easily if both were working. After being here for 3 weeks i returned to perth for 7 days as we had return flights already booked as it was just meant to be a holiday. This allowed me to sort the dog out, get him shipped over and finish off a last few things in perth, mainly have a leaving do with my mates and a week off with the folks after 3 tiring weeks! Doing this trip was good for me as it allowed me to see my parents and ultimately reinforce that i had made the right decision. Would i have done this if the return flight was not already booked prior to us knowing we were moving home? probably not and i was dreading it a bit and thinking it was a bad decision but I'm glad i did it. So 3 weeks on from returning from Perth and I'm back, still loving it and continuing to set up shop.

 

Good decision based on early findings?

For us, absolutely. Australia is a fantastic country, it was my home for 12 years. I was lucky enough to travel all of Australia through work and personal holidays and it is a beautiful place. However, right now, at this point in time, my wife and i wanted to be in England, needed our strong social network here that enabled us to socialise with our son included as all our friends here have kids and just to be home, where we both feel like we belong. In Aus our friends were in different stages and we didn't have a massive social network so very rarely did anything. My wife had a very close circle of friends here in the uk and never really settled 100%. We pretty much socialised with my mum and dad which was not healthy for our marriage. We could have made more of an effort but we got into a rut and just wanted to come home. Will this move be forever? We don't know, right now we belong here and want to be here, but in 5-10 years time we may want to head back, who knows. Probably not but were lucky enough to all have dual citizenships and have that option.

 

England - If i haven't bored you already and you are still reading

I just love it, its only when you move away from something for a long period of time do you realise that England really is a great country. Yes its got its faults but what first world country hasn't? The history here is just amazing and i appreciate it a whole lot more now after spending 12 years in perth. The novelty may ware off slightly but i don't think it will to be honest, the countryside here, the life style, the villages, as previously mentioned the history, its just great and there isn't a day where i do not stop and look at a building and think wow. The ease of access to everywhere (south east), the choice in everything, its overwhelmingly brilliant. yes theres some not so nice places and a few undesirable people but i was under no illusion that i would not see this occasionally. And yes the prices in the south east are expensive, but we worked hard, saved hard and can afford it right now. However, i do not think general day to day living it is anymore expensive than Perth. Houses may cost a lot more here but look what you have on your doorstep.

 

At the end of the day, if you have the option to move somewhere that will make you happy or you think will make you happy then take the chance and do it. Right now this has been the best choice i have ever made and i will do everything in my power to make this successful, however i have the right attitude so i doubt this move will ever fail. I will miss my family in Perth, i will miss certain things in Australia, i will get "Australia Sick" occasionally but that is to be expected. I should also add I'm not one to look at things through rose tinted glasses, i new what both places were like, the pros and cons of each, i just pined to be home where i feel like i belong.

 

Cheers!

 

[JockinTas]

Hello All,

 

For those that sent me lots of questions about the move and for those who just fancy a read heres an update on my move home.

 

Background

I have lived in Perth for 12 years. I moved over with my mum, dad and 2 brothers when i was 18. Met my now wife in Sydney who was travelling and believe it or not lived in the town about 20 minutes up the road from where i lived in the UK. I went back to stay with her for a few months and then she came out to visit before eventually applying for a visa and joining me in Australia. This was in 2012. We have since had a son (17 months old now). About a year ago we visited England to show the baby off to my extended family and my wife family. We started to become really homesick (I had always found it the hardest out of my family and new one day i would head back) and really missed the UK and our friends, more my wife friends as they had all had babies at the same time as we had our son but i was still very close to a lot of my friends as well. We made the decision officially in July of this year and put the house on the market and started to plan. Told my parents who were of course devastated as i had just given them their first grandson. Originally the move was not going to be until June next year. Then out of the blue my wife received an email from her old boss asking how everything was. They started talking and it was brought up that her old job had just become available and that she should apply as we were heading back but we would need to make the move permanent in Jan 17. Total coincidence. My wife applied for the job and got it. Brilliant. 1 of us had guaranteed employment which was a huge weight off our shoulder.

 

We already had a holiday booked back to the UK in the October just gone for a friends wedding and after a bit of chat decided it would make sense to just go then which my wife boss loved as it meant she would start sooner. Told the folks and obviously they were even more devastated. I won't go into how the final 2 - 3 months were with them, but it was hell. Sold the House in September, finance all finalised just in time for the move and shipped our furniture 2 weeks prior to leaving. Everything just fell into place in such a short period of time. A lot of planning was put into it but we had a some good fortune as well as some bad fortune (Perth property market is very bad right now).

 

Securing a house in the UK

We had already looked at houses to rent on the web and luckily my mother in law went to view a handful on our behalf before we managed to secure a property in the town my wife is from by offering 6 months upfront. The town my wife is from is in greater London and as expected the prices for houses to buy and rent are pretty high. But we knew this so no complaints here and decided that for convenience and my wifes commute to work in London it was a good idea to set up home there for the first year while we settled in, got our feet on the ground and had the support and help from family and friends very close by. We will then look to head a little further out once we are settled which would fit into our budget.

 

Shipping

As mentioned we shipped our furniture 2 weeks prior to us leaving as this meant it would arrive within 2-3 weeks of us getting there. We were comfortable doing this as the final two weeks in perth we stayed at my folks and we had a house secured here. For those 2-3 weeks in england we stayed at my mother in laws, don't get me started on that. Furniture arrived, delivered to the house, unpacked and finally we had our home back and was able to set up our new life and get on with it. The shipping company we used were Chess - 1 word amazing! They were great, cheap, thorough and just brilliant both ends.

 

The first 6 weeks

My wife settled back into her job well, we have seen all of our friends and family and are feeling very good. We have our son in day care for 2 days a week at the moment to settle him in before i start looking for work just after christmas which he will then go 4 days a week. He loves it in day care and we are so pleased we found a great one close by, a huge weight off our shoulders. So right now I'm the house husband/ baby sitter and its bloody hard work! I now know why my wife had had enough of maternity leave after a year! Its actually been handy having me at home as i have been able to set the house up and do all the essential bits that you need to do when you set up life somewhere new which you may not necessarily be able to do as easily if both were working. After being here for 3 weeks i returned to perth for 7 days as we had return flights already booked as it was just meant to be a holiday. This allowed me to sort the dog out, get him shipped over and finish off a last few things in perth, mainly have a leaving do with my mates and a week off with the folks after 3 tiring weeks! Doing this trip was good for me as it allowed me to see my parents and ultimately reinforce that i had made the right decision. Would i have done this if the return flight was not already booked prior to us knowing we were moving home? probably not and i was dreading it a bit and thinking it was a bad decision but I'm glad i did it. So 3 weeks on from returning from Perth and I'm back, still loving it and continuing to set up shop.

 

Good decision based on early findings?

For us, absolutely. Australia is a fantastic country, it was my home for 12 years. I was lucky enough to travel all of Australia through work and personal holidays and it is a beautiful place. However, right now, at this point in time, my wife and i wanted to be in England, needed our strong social network here that enabled us to socialise with our son included as all our friends here have kids and just to be home, where we both feel like we belong. In Aus our friends were in different stages and we didn't have a massive social network so very rarely did anything. My wife had a very close circle of friends here in the uk and never really settled 100%. We pretty much socialised with my mum and dad which was not healthy for our marriage. We could have made more of an effort but we got into a rut and just wanted to come home. Will this move be forever? We don't know, right now we belong here and want to be here, but in 5-10 years time we may want to head back, who knows. Probably not but were lucky enough to all have dual citizenships and have that option.

 

England - If i haven't bored you already and you are still reading

I just love it, its only when you move away from something for a long period of time do you realise that England really is a great country. Yes its got its faults but what first world country hasn't? The history here is just amazing and i appreciate it a whole lot more now after spending 12 years in perth. The novelty may ware off slightly but i don't think it will to be honest, the countryside here, the life style, the villages, as previously mentioned the history, its just great and there isn't a day where i do not stop and look at a building and think wow. The ease of access to everywhere (south east), the choice in everything, its overwhelmingly brilliant. yes theres some not so nice places and a few undesirable people but i was under no illusion that i would not see this occasionally. And yes the prices in the south east are expensive, but we worked hard, saved hard and can afford it right now. However, i do not think general day to day living it is anymore expensive than Perth. Houses may cost a lot more here but look what you have on your doorstep.

 

At the end of the day, if you have the option to move somewhere that will make you happy or you think will make you happy then take the chance and do it. Right now this has been the best choice i have ever made and i will do everything in my power to make this successful, however i have the right attitude so i doubt this move will ever fail. I will miss my family in Perth, i will miss certain things in Australia, i will get "Australia Sick" occasionally but that is to be expected. I should also add I'm not one to look at things through rose tinted glasses, i new what both places were like, the pros and cons of each, i just pined to be home where i feel like i belong.

 

Cheers!

 

 

Very good post Vinnie!! I wondered if you and your wife and little boy did go back as you hoped and so glad everything has worked out for you all. :smile:

[Gbye grey sky]

Really good post. You come across as having the perfect attitude. Though I don't know about Perth personally I feel that the south east of England is a great place to live particularly as a young adult and London similarly is a great place to work with so many opportunities.

 

All the best in your new life adventure.

[Pixie77]

Hello All,

 

For those that sent me lots of questions about the move and for those who just fancy a read heres an update on my move home.

 

Background

I have lived in Perth for 12 years. I moved over with my mum, dad and 2 brothers when i was 18. Met my now wife in Sydney who was travelling and believe it or not lived in the town about 20 minutes up the road from where i lived in the UK. I went back to stay with her for a few months and then she came out to visit before eventually applying for a visa and joining me in Australia. This was in 2012. We have since had a son (17 months old now). About a year ago we visited England to show the baby off to my extended family and my wife family. We started to become really homesick (I had always found it the hardest out of my family and new one day i would head back) and really missed the UK and our friends, more my wife friends as they had all had babies at the same time as we had our son but i was still very close to a lot of my friends as well. We made the decision officially in July of this year and put the house on the market and started to plan. Told my parents who were of course devastated as i had just given them their first grandson. Originally the move was not going to be until June next year. Then out of the blue my wife received an email from her old boss asking how everything was. They started talking and it was brought up that her old job had just become available and that she should apply as we were heading back but we would need to make the move permanent in Jan 17. Total coincidence. My wife applied for the job and got it. Brilliant. 1 of us had guaranteed employment which was a huge weight off our shoulder.

 

We already had a holiday booked back to the UK in the October just gone for a friends wedding and after a bit of chat decided it would make sense to just go then which my wife boss loved as it meant she would start sooner. Told the folks and obviously they were even more devastated. I won't go into how the final 2 - 3 months were with them, but it was hell. Sold the House in September, finance all finalised just in time for the move and shipped our furniture 2 weeks prior to leaving. Everything just fell into place in such a short period of time. A lot of planning was put into it but we had a some good fortune as well as some bad fortune (Perth property market is very bad right now).

 

Securing a house in the UK

We had already looked at houses to rent on the web and luckily my mother in law went to view a handful on our behalf before we managed to secure a property in the town my wife is from by offering 6 months upfront. The town my wife is from is in greater London and as expected the prices for houses to buy and rent are pretty high. But we knew this so no complaints here and decided that for convenience and my wifes commute to work in London it was a good idea to set up home there for the first year while we settled in, got our feet on the ground and had the support and help from family and friends very close by. We will then look to head a little further out once we are settled which would fit into our budget.

 

Shipping

As mentioned we shipped our furniture 2 weeks prior to us leaving as this meant it would arrive within 2-3 weeks of us getting there. We were comfortable doing this as the final two weeks in perth we stayed at my folks and we had a house secured here. For those 2-3 weeks in england we stayed at my mother in laws, don't get me started on that. Furniture arrived, delivered to the house, unpacked and finally we had our home back and was able to set up our new life and get on with it. The shipping company we used were Chess - 1 word amazing! They were great, cheap, thorough and just brilliant both ends.

 

The first 6 weeks

My wife settled back into her job well, we have seen all of our friends and family and are feeling very good. We have our son in day care for 2 days a week at the moment to settle him in before i start looking for work just after christmas which he will then go 4 days a week. He loves it in day care and we are so pleased we found a great one close by, a huge weight off our shoulders. So right now I'm the house husband/ baby sitter and its bloody hard work! I now know why my wife had had enough of maternity leave after a year! Its actually been handy having me at home as i have been able to set the house up and do all the essential bits that you need to do when you set up life somewhere new which you may not necessarily be able to do as easily if both were working. After being here for 3 weeks i returned to perth for 7 days as we had return flights already booked as it was just meant to be a holiday. This allowed me to sort the dog out, get him shipped over and finish off a last few things in perth, mainly have a leaving do with my mates and a week off with the folks after 3 tiring weeks! Doing this trip was good for me as it allowed me to see my parents and ultimately reinforce that i had made the right decision. Would i have done this if the return flight was not already booked prior to us knowing we were moving home? probably not and i was dreading it a bit and thinking it was a bad decision but I'm glad i did it. So 3 weeks on from returning from Perth and I'm back, still loving it and continuing to set up shop.

 

Good decision based on early findings?

For us, absolutely. Australia is a fantastic country, it was my home for 12 years. I was lucky enough to travel all of Australia through work and personal holidays and it is a beautiful place. However, right now, at this point in time, my wife and i wanted to be in England, needed our strong social network here that enabled us to socialise with our son included as all our friends here have kids and just to be home, where we both feel like we belong. In Aus our friends were in different stages and we didn't have a massive social network so very rarely did anything. My wife had a very close circle of friends here in the uk and never really settled 100%. We pretty much socialised with my mum and dad which was not healthy for our marriage. We could have made more of an effort but we got into a rut and just wanted to come home. Will this move be forever? We don't know, right now we belong here and want to be here, but in 5-10 years time we may want to head back, who knows. Probably not but were lucky enough to all have dual citizenships and have that option.

 

England - If i haven't bored you already and you are still reading

I just love it, its only when you move away from something for a long period of time do you realise that England really is a great country. Yes its got its faults but what first world country hasn't? The history here is just amazing and i appreciate it a whole lot more now after spending 12 years in perth. The novelty may ware off slightly but i don't think it will to be honest, the countryside here, the life style, the villages, as previously mentioned the history, its just great and there isn't a day where i do not stop and look at a building and think wow. The ease of access to everywhere (south east), the choice in everything, its overwhelmingly brilliant. yes theres some not so nice places and a few undesirable people but i was under no illusion that i would not see this occasionally. And yes the prices in the south east are expensive, but we worked hard, saved hard and can afford it right now. However, i do not think general day to day living it is anymore expensive than Perth. Houses may cost a lot more here but look what you have on your doorstep.

 

At the end of the day, if you have the option to move somewhere that will make you happy or you think will make you happy then take the chance and do it. Right now this has been the best choice i have ever made and i will do everything in my power to make this successful, however i have the right attitude so i doubt this move will ever fail. I will miss my family in Perth, i will miss certain things in Australia, i will get "Australia Sick" occasionally but that is to be expected. I should also add I'm not one to look at things through rose tinted glasses, i new what both places were like, the pros and cons of each, i just pined to be home where i feel like i belong.

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

Interesting read &glad you're settled in. We feel the same, been here 5years with Hubbie also from England- now got 2 children age 3 &almost 1 and the need to be close to my family &friends is huge- went home in September to introduce baby to both families &I struggled to come back.... we head home for good (although will be dual citizens) in July this year with Hubbie transferring to UK office ? will be a few hours from family but at least weekends/ Christmas Easter birthday etc will be family occcassions. Can't wait. Great to read your post. Good luck

[Quoll]

Good to hear that you have hit the ground running with your move after all your deliberations earlier in the year! Sometimes, all it needs is a "sign" - like a job offer and it all falls into place! Enjoy your first Christmas back, there is so much to enjoy!!!

[VERYSTORMY]

Great post and glad it is all going good.

 

I can relate to much of what you say, particularly about how you see things differently. I am always the type who after work just wants to get home, but I often find myself pulling over to look at something that is stunning such as a valley of woodland or a building.

[Gareth 666]

Fantastic post. I can imagine DD writing something similar in a few years providing we get through this first year and get settled. It must've been a wrench to leave your Oz family behind but I hope they understand you are old enough to make your own choices and you're doing what you feel is right for your young family. Good luck, best of British to you.

[costa123]

Hello All,

 

For those that sent me lots of questions about the move and for those who just fancy a read heres an update on my move home.

 

Background

I have lived in Perth for 12 years. I moved over with my mum, dad and 2 brothers when i was 18. Met my now wife in Sydney who was travelling and believe it or not lived in the town about 20 minutes up the road from where i lived in the UK. I went back to stay with her for a few months and then she came out to visit before eventually applying for a visa and joining me in Australia. This was in 2012. We have since had a son (17 months old now). About a year ago we visited England to show the baby off to my extended family and my wife family. We started to become really homesick (I had always found it the hardest out of my family and new one day i would head back) and really missed the UK and our friends, more my wife friends as they had all had babies at the same time as we had our son but i was still very close to a lot of my friends as well. We made the decision officially in July of this year and put the house on the market and started to plan. Told my parents who were of course devastated as i had just given them their first grandson. Originally the move was not going to be until June next year. Then out of the blue my wife received an email from her old boss asking how everything was. They started talking and it was brought up that her old job had just become available and that she should apply as we were heading back but we would need to make the move permanent in Jan 17. Total coincidence. My wife applied for the job and got it. Brilliant. 1 of us had guaranteed employment which was a huge weight off our shoulder.

 

We already had a holiday booked back to the UK in the October just gone for a friends wedding and after a bit of chat decided it would make sense to just go then which my wife boss loved as it meant she would start sooner. Told the folks and obviously they were even more devastated. I won't go into how the final 2 - 3 months were with them, but it was hell. Sold the House in September, finance all finalised just in time for the move and shipped our furniture 2 weeks prior to leaving. Everything just fell into place in such a short period of time. A lot of planning was put into it but we had a some good fortune as well as some bad fortune (Perth property market is very bad right now).

 

Securing a house in the UK

We had already looked at houses to rent on the web and luckily my mother in law went to view a handful on our behalf before we managed to secure a property in the town my wife is from by offering 6 months upfront. The town my wife is from is in greater London and as expected the prices for houses to buy and rent are pretty high. But we knew this so no complaints here and decided that for convenience and my wifes commute to work in London it was a good idea to set up home there for the first year while we settled in, got our feet on the ground and had the support and help from family and friends very close by. We will then look to head a little further out once we are settled which would fit into our budget.

 

Shipping

As mentioned we shipped our furniture 2 weeks prior to us leaving as this meant it would arrive within 2-3 weeks of us getting there. We were comfortable doing this as the final two weeks in perth we stayed at my folks and we had a house secured here. For those 2-3 weeks in england we stayed at my mother in laws, don't get me started on that. Furniture arrived, delivered to the house, unpacked and finally we had our home back and was able to set up our new life and get on with it. The shipping company we used were Chess - 1 word amazing! They were great, cheap, thorough and just brilliant both ends.

 

The first 6 weeks

My wife settled back into her job well, we have seen all of our friends and family and are feeling very good. We have our son in day care for 2 days a week at the moment to settle him in before i start looking for work just after christmas which he will then go 4 days a week. He loves it in day care and we are so pleased we found a great one close by, a huge weight off our shoulders. So right now I'm the house husband/ baby sitter and its bloody hard work! I now know why my wife had had enough of maternity leave after a year! Its actually been handy having me at home as i have been able to set the house up and do all the essential bits that you need to do when you set up life somewhere new which you may not necessarily be able to do as easily if both were working. After being here for 3 weeks i returned to perth for 7 days as we had return flights already booked as it was just meant to be a holiday. This allowed me to sort the dog out, get him shipped over and finish off a last few things in perth, mainly have a leaving do with my mates and a week off with the folks after 3 tiring weeks! Doing this trip was good for me as it allowed me to see my parents and ultimately reinforce that i had made the right decision. Would i have done this if the return flight was not already booked prior to us knowing we were moving home? probably not and i was dreading it a bit and thinking it was a bad decision but I'm glad i did it. So 3 weeks on from returning from Perth and I'm back, still loving it and continuing to set up shop.

 

Good decision based on early findings?

For us, absolutely. Australia is a fantastic country, it was my home for 12 years. I was lucky enough to travel all of Australia through work and personal holidays and it is a beautiful place. However, right now, at this point in time, my wife and i wanted to be in England, needed our strong social network here that enabled us to socialise with our son included as all our friends here have kids and just to be home, where we both feel like we belong. In Aus our friends were in different stages and we didn't have a massive social network so very rarely did anything. My wife had a very close circle of friends here in the uk and never really settled 100%. We pretty much socialised with my mum and dad which was not healthy for our marriage. We could have made more of an effort but we got into a rut and just wanted to come home. Will this move be forever? We don't know, right now we belong here and want to be here, but in 5-10 years time we may want to head back, who knows. Probably not but were lucky enough to all have dual citizenships and have that option.

 

England - If i haven't bored you already and you are still reading

I just love it, its only when you move away from something for a long period of time do you realise that England really is a great country. Yes its got its faults but what first world country hasn't? The history here is just amazing and i appreciate it a whole lot more now after spending 12 years in perth. The novelty may ware off slightly but i don't think it will to be honest, the countryside here, the life style, the villages, as previously mentioned the history, its just great and there isn't a day where i do not stop and look at a building and think wow. The ease of access to everywhere (south east), the choice in everything, its overwhelmingly brilliant. yes theres some not so nice places and a few undesirable people but i was under no illusion that i would not see this occasionally. And yes the prices in the south east are expensive, but we worked hard, saved hard and can afford it right now. However, i do not think general day to day living it is anymore expensive than Perth. Houses may cost a lot more here but look what you have on your doorstep.

 

At the end of the day, if you have the option to move somewhere that will make you happy or you think will make you happy then take the chance and do it. Right now this has been the best choice i have ever made and i will do everything in my power to make this successful, however i have the right attitude so i doubt this move will ever fail. I will miss my family in Perth, i will miss certain things in Australia, i will get "Australia Sick" occasionally but that is to be expected. I should also add I'm not one to look at things through rose tinted glasses, i new what both places were like, the pros and cons of each, i just pined to be home where i feel like i belong.

 

Cheers!

Great post - a lot of similarities to where we are right now! Except my husband will be the one finding the job in the UK (although I will be hoping to find something part time and will then look to put my son in daycare for 3 days a week once settled.

Quick question about the fact that your mother in law helped you secure a property before you moved over - would you recommend this? I'm now thinking of flying home with my son a few weeks ahead of my husband just to try and get the property sorted before he arrives, will be a lot less stressful I can imagine and would mean that we would only have to stay a short amount of time with my mum before moving into our rental property...

[warren&liz]

Really pleased that everything has fallen into place for you and you family.

[Home and Happy]

Really good post. You come across as having the perfect attitude. Though I don't know about Perth personally I feel that the south east of England is a great place to live particularly as a young adult and London similarly is a great place to work with so many opportunities.

 

All the best in your new life adventure.

 

Couldn't agree more. England is a fabulous country with so much to see and do, great food, great telly and lots of interesting places to visit on our days off, far from perfect but I love it, its home. You feel like you have far more freedom here. Like I always said, if you migrate to Perth, you really have to love it there, because there is really nowhere else to go to ands it starts closing in on you after a year or two.

 

Great to hear another success story.

[vinnie3004]

Great post - a lot of similarities to where we are right now! Except my husband will be the one finding the job in the UK (although I will be hoping to find something part time and will then look to put my son in daycare for 3 days a week once settled.

Quick question about the fact that your mother in law helped you secure a property before you moved over - would you recommend this? I'm now thinking of flying home with my son a few weeks ahead of my husband just to try and get the property sorted before he arrives, will be a lot less stressful I can imagine and would mean that we would only have to stay a short amount of time with my mum before moving into our rental property...

 

I think because we know the area well we knew what parts of the town we wanted to be so focused our search around these. Most agents got back to us and were very happy to deal with the mother in law. She knew what we liked and we took her word for it really. Luckily we were not let down when we arrived but we also knew that this wasn't out forever home, it was a years rental while we found our feet and decided where we could afford to and would like to buy after this. i guess if you have the option to come back and sort it yourself then it would be better. We made sure when we arrived we went and visited the agent and they were lovely and i think it reassured them that we were good people although my mother in law is a lovely lady so they were quite assured anyway that we were not dodgy. Good luck with the move back. It seems daunting but its actually quite easy really and most stuff does fall into place if you plan it well.

[vinnie3004]

Absolutely, its a very isolated city and that suits many people but its only when you do travel out of Perth you realise just how isolated you are. The choice in the UK is unreal and something i guess most people here take for granted but when you move somewhere that does not have that sort of choice then you really notice how good it is when you return. Right down to the choice in electricity and gas providers, tv and internet services, supermarkets, restaraunts - all of which want your business. 20 minutes one way and we are into urban London, 20 minutes the other way and we are in country side where you feel like you are a million miles away from the hustle and bustle. Yet still you have lots you can do.

[bristolman]

Absolutely, its a very isolated city and that suits many people but its only when you do travel out of Perth you realise just how isolated you are. The choice in the UK is unreal and something i guess most people here take for granted but when you move somewhere that does not have that sort of choice then you really notice how good it is when you return. Right down to the choice in electricity and gas providers, tv and internet services, supermarkets, restaraunts - all of which want your business. 20 minutes one way and we are into urban London, 20 minutes the other way and we are in country side where you feel like you are a million miles away from the hustle and bustle. Yet still you have lots you can do.

 

That is exactly it, so many take this country for granted. Simple things as you say like a fantastic choice of providers for everything from electricity to insurance to food.

[bunbury61]

Absolutely, its a very isolated city and that suits many people but its only when you do travel out of Perth you realise just how isolated you are. The choice in the UK is unreal and something i guess most people here take for granted but when you move somewhere that does not have that sort of choice then you really notice how good it is when you return. Right down to the choice in electricity and gas providers, tv and internet services, supermarkets, restaraunts - all of which want your business. 20 minutes one way and we are into urban London, 20 minutes the other way and we are in country side where you feel like you are a million miles away from the hustle and bustle. Yet still you have lots you can do.

 

 

I have to say ,as much as I love London to visit ,and I believe it is the most influential city in the world .

I couldn't live there ,and some of the inner city suburbs are shite ,bloody horrible.

Balancing that some of the decent areas are beautiful .

Those further out ,lining the Thames ,have an enviable lifestyle .

Personaly ,couldn't live in moat of the s.e ...too busy for a start .

[bunbury61]

I have to say ,as much as I love London to visit ,and I believe it is the most influential city in the world .

I couldn't live there ,and some of the inner city suburbs are shite ,bloody horrible.

Balancing that some of the decent areas are beautiful .

Those further out ,lining the Thames ,have an enviable lifestyle .

Personaly ,couldn't live in moat of the s.e ...too busy for a start .

 

But in addition ,the stuff I just take for granted here is enviable indeed ...shops,schools and transport links are bloody good

[flag of convenience]

People probably as a whole don't leave UK as anything wrong with it, apart from lower earnings which impacts on standard of living, quite severely with some. Australia was and remains for many an escape from a lower living standard for many, for now.

Once this becomes the 'norm' and other considerations kick in, Australia can appear to be wanting in many areas. Many things cannot be easily replaced by a move to Australia. Other things missed in UK. One can indeed wonder at times why people put themselves such trauma?

[starlight7]

It would be quite interesting to hear the real reasons that people emigrate these days, given that Australia is struggling in many ways just now. When we left Britain it was a pretty dreary place to be and there was a big contrast in attitude and living standards here. Maybe not the case now. Guess we were the lucky ones.

[bunbury61]

It would be quite interesting to hear the real reasons that people emigrate these days, given that Australia is struggling in many ways just now. When we left Britain it was a pretty dreary place to be and there was a big contrast in attitude and living standards here. Maybe not the case now. Guess we were the lucky ones.

 

Can the young still make it in Australia ? ....serious question .

Because they cant in the u.k .

 

My daughter has a fantastic ,almost ,job for life .

Great career prospects ,but I wonder if she will ever get close to having the opportunities for housing etc ,we had 25 years ago .

Britain is still a low wage economy for most .

There again ,I know mates rammed out with work ,earning big big money in the u.k.

One mate has just come back from visiting family in Perth .

They are split family ,and he spent a lot of time in oz .

He loved being back in Perth on holiday ...but he said the work situation is DIRE .

He was really backwards and forwards about whether he could live in w.a again permanently ,for much the same reasons as me ,which gave us a good laugh .

[newjez]

Can the young still make it in Australia ? ....serious question .

Because they cant in the u.k .

 

My daughter has a fantastic ,almost ,job for life .

Great career prospects ,but I wonder if she will ever get close to having the opportunities for housing etc ,we had 25 years ago .

Britain is still a low wage economy for most .

There again ,I know mates rammed out with work ,earning big big money in the u.k.

One mate has just come back from visiting family in Perth .

They are split family ,and he spent a lot of time in oz .

He loved being back in Perth on holiday ...but he said the work situation is DIRE .

He was really backwards and forwards about whether he could live in w.a again permanently ,for much the same reasons as me ,which gave us a good laugh .

I don't know if it's fair to say that kids can't make it, but I think it's harder. My kids have decided to go to university locally. Our local unis are pretty good, and it means they will graduate with half the debt. It would have been nice to have the experience of studying away, but I think they will be better off in the long run. Housing is expensive, and they couldn't possibly afford a house where we live. But there are places not too far away that are affordable at a stretch. When they are ready to buy we will downside and give them some deposit money, and we have a spare house with an elderly relative that they will inherit which will help them along when the time comes. It's not easy but not impossible. My niece's nephews are all young and have managed to buy houses in Australia and in the UK. Admittedly with help from their moms and dads in one way or another. If you we're on your tod, or your parents couldn't help then life would be hard. (Help doesn't have to be financial. Even babysitting or help renovating is help).

 

We do need higher wages and lower house prices. But if you have a supporting family you can still make it.

Edited December 21, 2016 by newjez

[bristolman]

Can the young still make it in Australia ? ....serious question .

Because they cant in the u.k .

 

My daughter has a fantastic ,almost ,job for life .

Great career prospects ,but I wonder if she will ever get close to having the opportunities for housing etc ,we had 25 years ago .

Britain is still a low wage economy for most .

There again ,I know mates rammed out with work ,earning big big money in the u.k.

One mate has just come back from visiting family in Perth .

They are split family ,and he spent a lot of time in oz .

He loved being back in Perth on holiday ...but he said the work situation is DIRE .

He was really backwards and forwards about whether he could live in w.a again permanently ,for much the same reasons as me ,which gave us a good laugh .

 

I'm not sure how you can say kids can't make it here, we have friends with young working age kids

and they are doing fine, one joined the navy and drives a nearly new Mercedes. The others are doing

really well.

[Guest]

My parents got married in the early 1950's, they lived in 'rooms' (lodgings) & it was expected that they would do so until they got a council house, that was the norm for the working classes. Actually they caused an uproar by saving every penny and buying a house and I guess that was at the very beginning of homeownership being the norm.

 

It was really the 'right to buy' & the housing boom in the '80s that resulted in 'everyone' owning a property. I graduated in 1988 and got a job paying £8k & I lived in Kent. I honestly thought I would never own my own home but then the crash came, my career developed, circumstances had changed and I bought my first house. Very many ups and downs in the housing market since.

 

When I was starting out it was accepted a mortgage could be 3x your income, when we came back from Australia I was 'pre-approved' £900,000 & whilst I have a good income 3x my income is certainly not that much!!

 

We are returning to a position where renting is the norm but that doesn't suggest young people are 'not making it', it was a Tory policy that home ownership was an ideal - there are plenty of other countries in the world where it isn't.

 

For those of us of a certain age 40-60 maybe, we were sold a dream that a lot of us still believe but maybe all we are seeing is a 'correction'

 

 

 

As a mother I won't be measuring my son's success in terms of owning house (or a Mercedes!) but in terms of him being able to pursue what he wants to do. I do not think the UK or Australia definitively comes out on top, it depends very much on what the ambitions are. He wanted to work in the Computer Gaming industry and he is far better off in Scotland for that but the latest idea is Herpetology so he may find more opportunities in Australia (although @bristolman says otherwise) certainly there are more trade opportunities in Australia, at least there was in 2013 when we left.

[bristolman]

If your son wants to pursue herpetology I would say there would be more opportunities in Australia, I'm not sure why I would say otherwise as you put it ?

To be fair I was using the ownership of a Mercedes as a measurement of doing pretty well for someone who recently joined the navy.

[Guest]

If your son wants to pursue herpetology I would say there would be more opportunities in Australia, I'm not sure why I would say otherwise as you put it ?

To be fair I was using the ownership of a Mercedes as a measurement of doing pretty well for someone who recently joined the navy.

 

Apologies it must have been someone else - I made a comment on another thread that I thought there would be more opportunities for him in Australia and someone commented that all the herpetologists they knew were British or European - I thought that was you.

[bristolman]

Apologies it must have been someone else - I made a comment on another thread that I thought there would be more opportunities for him in Australia and someone commented that all the herpetologists they knew were British or European - I thought that was you.

 

I don't recall saying that, its possible I said that as most do seem to be British or European. Having said that I know loads of herpetologists from all countries. As far as work as a herpetologist I do suspect they would be opportunities outside of Australia.

[Guest]

I don't recall saying that, its possible I said that as most do seem to be British or European. Having said that I know loads of herpetologists from all countries. As far as work as a herpetologist I do suspect they would be opportunities outside of Australia.

 

I had a look for the post and couldn't find it but no matter - it is probably not the easiest of work to get anywhere, I am slightly trying to move him towards Zoology or Veterinary Science as only Bangor University offer Herpetology and it would be better if he went to University in Scotland (no fees!) plus it gives wider options - he is only 13 so I'm worrying unnecessarily! He'll probably end up back at Computer Science, although given that's what both his parents did it rather lacks imagination! As a dual citizen he can take up the opportunities when & wherever they rise in whatever he ends up choosing.

 

My real point was that I do not think anyone can make a blanket statement that there are more opportunities in one country or the other as it depends in what field. Not specifically aimed at you just joining in the general debate.