ali Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Arrived in Perth 11 years ago, we didn't know a soul here and had to be very resilient and self sufficient. Our children who were 11 and 7 at the time have now both officially spent half their lives here, my eldest says she's happy to have spent her childhood years here. She visited family in the UK briefly last year on her way home from a European holiday and says whilst it was nice catching up, she didn't have any anchoring to return. Our son was 18 in September and his pressie is a trip back with hubby to watch some football - he remember little of living in the UK so it will be interesting to see what he makes of it. We were fortunate to arrive before the rule change for Citizenship and were able to become citizens after 2 years here. We've developed a close friendship group who are like family to us now, this did take time and in the early days, the lack of friendships was what I missed - but they do happen if you put yourself out there and there are a few that don't quite happen for whatever reason. We both still work in the same places that we got our jobs before we arrived. Education for the kids has been good, I think like anything with the move you have to not compare, certainly, primary was more relaxed this a reduced amount of home work (I remember my son in year 2 in the UK having so much at weekends), here the teacher said that her students would be working hard throughout the week and like mums and dads deserved some time off at the weekends. For those who've read my posts in the past, my children are chalk and cheese, my daughter is academic and my son, whilst not unintelligent is more sporty. We were lucky that our local high school was able to meet both their needs, my daughter was in the academic extension programme and studied her degree at UWA and has just completed her masters in Education there, my son, left at the end of the year, unsure of what he wants to do (he's enrolled in a sports development course at TAFE), but whilst at school as part of his lessons, did his keys for life driving assessment (to get learners permit) and obtained his skippers licence (for a boat). We've never really been homesick - in part probably because we had family visit us a few times, but also I think that we didn't fall into speaking with people in the UK every week. My dad did fall ill in 2016 and sadly passed away which necessitated a return to the UK. The circumstances weren't the best and it wasn't a holiday but nothing about the trip made me miss anything and just reinforced that Australia and our support networks were here in Aus. Whilst the children were older and able to care for themselves for the week we were away - our friends were contactable and dropped off food. You often here that Perth is isolated and boring .. we've never felt isolated or bored here at all, we've been to great concerts and have been able to travel interstate and internationally as well as seeing some of the places that WA has to offer. We're not beach goers and a relaxing day for me is being able to sit reading at the back of the garden next to our pool (I used to have to go to Spain to do that lol). We eat out and we also entertain at home - some would criticise the backyard get togethers and see it as an indicator of being 'boring' .. but we entertained at our home in the UK - we just have an opportunity to do it all year round here as we have covered out door areas. We go out for drinks in the city often although before we left the UK we'd probably already grown out of the pub culture/pub crawls having been 'going on the town' since we were 16/17. We still love it and our children are young adults and we're not yet retiree's (looking forward to that so we can do all the things/trips we don't have time for). WA/Perth/Australia isn't perfect by any means, it's not Utopia nor is it the UK with sunshine, politicians and red tape are the same the world over and I don't get stressed about things that I have little or no control over. Our move has been a good one - we've gone with the flow, not compared Aus to the UK and not fallen into the trap of saying "In the UK they did this, that, the other better than here" ... and Aussie colleague once told me that when she heard this she used to think "well if it was so bloody good - why did you leave"? My advice - come with an open mind, expect it to be different and expect it to be difficult, it's not easy re-establishing yourself with work and friendships in the early days, but it is worth persevering with it. We came with the idea that if we didn't like Perth, Australia was a big place and we'd try somewhere else. We've been lucky that we haven't bee wracked with homesickness that's made us question leaving, our families were supportive of the move and seen the life we've carved out for ourselves. Would we return to the UK? - whilst unlikely, you can never say never - at 40 years old I never imagined moving to Aus - yet here we are. 15 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toots Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ I did enjoy reading that Ali. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramot Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 A great read Ali, you sound so settled and happy. We are almost up to our 15 years, where do the years go? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Happy Anniversaty Ali, it was 11 years for us last November . In one way time flies but in another it feels like we have been here forever,lol Cal x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 28 minutes ago, calNgary said: Happy Anniversaty Ali, it was 11 years for us last November . In one way time flies but in another it feels like we have been here forever,lol Cal x Totally agree, we were talking about the old days of PIO when you, Deb and I were waiting (not so patiently) for our visa's 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 We arrived on Australia Day 1975, suitably enough. We weren't homesick, either, though there were certain things we missed for a while. We thought the schools were actually a lot better and the kids more respectful - that was our experience anyway. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 1 hour ago, starlight7 said: We arrived on Australia Day 1975, suitably enough. We weren't homesick, either, though there were certain things we missed for a while. We thought the schools were actually a lot better and the kids more respectful - that was our experience anyway. Took us a little while to get over how relaxed things were school wise. At their UK school, at there start of the day there was a bell to stand still, a bell to line up and then a bell for each class to proceed (one at a time) into the school. Here, the kids put their bags on the outside bench and walked into class .. hubby and I were "are you allowed to just do that" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobj Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Love it, Ali. Cheers, Bobj. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulya Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 50+ years in God’s Country and life is good! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celt Down Under Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 36 years here in Melbourne, and no regrets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toots Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Nearly 37 years in Australia. We've lived in Perth, Sydney and now in Tasmania. No regrets at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumbeat Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 I've been here in Perth 28 years. Bit tired of Perth but we're stuck here until hubby retires and then planning to move elsewhere, possibly Tasmania. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulya Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 51st anniversary coming up in 2 months 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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