Martinbjulieb Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Hello from England!! Well, we did it, we are finally home! After a few years of thinking "shall we shan't we?" we finally decided last July that "yes, we should!!" The housing market in Perth was not great and we took a drop on the price we originally hoped for but we were sold in 4 months. Chess moving were fantastic, the team were friendly, polite, knowledgeable and hardworking. They way they fought to get all of our belongings in that container was nothing short of a miracle! Insurance was taken out with Letton Percival. we had a motorbike and household goods from a 4 bed house and the premium was about £470.00. After completion we had a holiday rental for a week in order to tie up loose ends and to ensure I had sold my car. Ironically my car sold straight away so we actually did not need that long! STILL waiting for my deposit back from the holiday rental. Not a very nice place to be honest and the owner is now as scarce as hen's teeth!! Funnily enough though she was very attentive during the booking process!! Believe she has been mentioned on here before, I should have paid attention to that! Our dog flew out on 6/3, big shout out to Lewis at Dogtainers who was wonderful and the crew at the animal centre in Dubai. She coped with the journey really well. We flew on 7/3, empty plane, great for lounging! Stayed at the Britannia Country Hotel near Manchester airport, dog friendly, great rooms, bar and restaurants so I recommend them. Be careful when renting a car, we had booked and paid to a car online but when we came to pick it up and mentioned that we had moved back here, and in effect had no fixed address (because they asked us) they refused to give us the car, not good with 6 cases, 2 kids and a dog awaiting pickup!! PM for details of that company. Went to another rental company and got a car!! Subsequently got a refund from first company but still not happy about that! We are now in Matlock, in Derbyshire, so beautiful, weather has been fantastic, even had frost which the kids were thrilled about. The countryside and walks are wonderful. All of us are loving being able to walk without the fear of deadly creatures! The job hunt has started and this will dictate where we finally settle. Had some positive feedback but nothing concrete yet. We were advised to set up on LinkedIn, so maybe think about doing that just before you get here. Also if you know which county you are going to and have school aged kids go on the Councils website and apply for places. We didn't know you had to do this and this has subsequently delayed the school start date. Also note that if you intend to put your children back a year due to the differences in the school year start dates you have to put a special application in with the Council. Our children had just started years 7 and 9 in February so we thought it would be a good idea to put them back to 6 and 8 for the remainder of this school year and start in 7 and 9 in September. Had we known that (a) you have to register online for a school place and (b) you have to put a special application in for out of year enrolment we would have done it prior to our arrival!! All in all, so far a very positive experience. Happy to be home, meeting up with friends and family has been wonderful but is not the sole reason for our return. We returned for US. I feel like a whole weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I know we have a way to go with the job hunt and then the house and then possibly more schools if we move away from here. Sorry for the long post but hopefully some readers will gain from it!!!! J? 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tea4too Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Hi Martin and Julie and welcome home! You have returned at a lovely time of year with nature waking up, the days getting longer and summer just around the corner. And you have settled in a lovely part of the UK. I have fond memories of Matlock and the surrounding area, including Buxton, Dovedale and Bakewell. Good luck for the next chapter! T x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinbjulieb Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 Thanks@Tea4too. So happy to be here. Been to Bakewell today actually!! [emoji4] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Good to hear you have made a good landing! Onwards and upwards from here with that weight off your shoulders! It's a lovely time of year to be arriving. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesmalls Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 Hi @Martinbjulieb Great post and appreciate that update (and direct emails). Just getting myself across everything it is I need to know and re reading stories etc. Got Paul from Chess coming out tonight. So the process begins. Will send direct email Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil & Vikki Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 It sure sounds like it has all worked out for you and hopefully the jobs will follow shortly. Totally agree that it is a nice tome to land, you can enjoy the British summer without the fear of burning to a crisp and having to slap on loads of sun block. Was over last year around this time and I had forgotten how nice it was to go around without a vest on all the time and not fear about looking like a sweating pig. The long summer’s nights and sitting in a beer garden enjoying them. Was also back at Christmas time and it was so nice to have the crisp mornings and wrapping up nice and warm. I bet some people will read this and think “not for me, I would rather have the heat”, but we have found out that the heat is not for us now. We hear so many times that when Brits return, they have a far greater appreciation for what the country has to offer. We feel that will be the case with us and it sure sounds like it is for you. We are planning the move back (still early days), but we are getting excited about what we will do and the things we will be enjoying. Good one for you moving back. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simmo Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Agree with all of the above. Especially the bit On 4/1/2017 at 20:40, Martinbjulieb said: I feel like a whole weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Accepting that you don't have to agree with the majority who come to Aus and love it. The best bit for me was when I told the mrs that I didn't really like it and she smiled and replied "me neither, let's get out of here". 3 hours ago, Phil & Vikki said: when Brits return, they have a far greater appreciation for what the country has to offer. That is so true! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Yes we are all different. We also have friends who never settled in Australia, even after 30 odd years. They returned to Scotland and are now as happy as the proverbial pigs in the brown stuff. I do think,however, that the place they settled in played a part too- they were very close to the CBD and the community feel wasn't too strong where they were. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kungfustu Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 On 2017-4-1 at 20:40, Martinbjulieb said: Hello from England!! After completion we had a holiday rental for a week in order to tie up loose ends and to ensure I had sold my car. Ironically my car sold straight away so we actually did not need that long! STILL waiting for my deposit back from the holiday rental. Not a very nice place to be honest and the owner is now as scarce as hen's teeth!! Funnily enough though she was very attentive during the booking process!! Believe she has been mentioned on here before Where was your holiday rental and who was the owner? Just curious as our paths may have also crossed in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinbjulieb Posted June 17, 2017 Author Share Posted June 17, 2017 Have PM'd you.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesmalls Posted June 19, 2017 Share Posted June 19, 2017 Sorry to hear @Martinbjulieb about the deposit - hope they come good and get it back to you asap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mino Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Dear All I wonder if anyone could advise me regarding how to rent a home through realestate agents upon returning back to UK? We will be arriving in Feb 2018, and we won;t be having jobs on arrival. We have good references from our last realesatet agent in UK and would be happy to pay in advance too. I just don't now whether agencies would accept that ? Any info would be very much appreciated Minoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixie77 Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Hi we found one agent wouldn't rent to anyone who hadn't been in country for 12months! But apart from that no issues. We have references & houses ale contract. But make sure you register to vote & get a bank account asao to give you a credit score (depending on your time our if UK) paying I. Advance is also a big hit we've found even the offer to do so has changed things.... Goodluck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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