How Long before you realised that Australia was or was not the place that you wanted to spend the rest of your days ?

[bug family]

1 hour ago, Blue Flu said:

I wonder though if the expectation ever fully complements the reality. Everywhere changes , perhaps ourselves in how we view things as well. 

I think that is why I possibly set a period of time on living here, in my case I told myself 10 years and then I would return,  I realise a naive thing to do as a lot can happen in 10 years, i am willing to accept that a lot will have changed when I go back.....including me and my total outlook on life as compared to when I came to Australia, the person that started that journey from a small welsh railway station some 10 years ago is not the same person that is returning.....

[bug family]

On 14/12/2021 at 22:12, MacGyver said:

To be fair the UK has changed a lot in the last 10 years too. Comparisons are always challenging as recent experience living in one place inevitably means a lack of recent experience living in another, and change happens so fast.

I know you are looking forward to going home, I do hope it’s everything you remember it to be and you find happiness there.

Thanks @MacGyver , I am sure and expect that people and some places will have changed, but the parts that I have always loved will definitely have not, old buildings, castles, churches, beaches, mountains, countryside  etc, i suppose I am lucky that I got to have a few weeks back home in 2019 just before the COVID pandemic hit, this trip back with my son Daniel gave me a brief view at life back home (pre pandemic) and I felt instantly that I belonged and that it was time to go home and possibly back to happiness, who knows fast forward two years from now I may even find a person to share that happiness with  lol

[proud preston]

@bug family- Agree!! Yes, I miss my siblings immensely but all the things you mentioned are still the same (albeit the countryside gets eaten up for ‘development’ -same world over) and I miss them all. 

15 years ago this month we moved here and I still miss buildings, trees, light, seasons etc etc. I know that I always will and ....I do feel bad because it is hard for my husband to know that I’m yearning for home. Again, I’ll stress, I’m not depressed, do not need therapy ....Australia really is, for me, just ‘a different world’  

Maybe we need a little SE Qld group that we could meet in person every now and then to have a good old heart to heart without any well meaning advice - just to listen and agree....and some alcohol chucked in for good measure. 

[Bulya]

1 hour ago, proud preston said:

@bug family- Agree!! Yes, I miss my siblings immensely but all the things you mentioned are still the same (albeit the countryside gets eaten up for ‘development’ -same world over) and I miss them all. 

15 years ago this month we moved here and I still miss buildings, trees, light, seasons etc etc. I know that I always will and ....I do feel bad because it is hard for my husband to know that I’m yearning for home. Again, I’ll stress, I’m not depressed, do not need therapy ....Australia really is, for me, just ‘a different world’  

Maybe we need a little SE Qld group that we could meet in person every now and then to have a good old heart to heart without any well meaning advice - just to listen and agree....and some alcohol chucked in for good measure. 

Why are you living in QLD if you miss seasons?  Half of Australia has four, where you live has two.  

[proud preston]

@Bulya ah if only it was so easy... so....originally decided to move here from Ireland as my husband had a scuba business pre-Australia and wanted to continue diving, boys then got enrolled in schools, jobs etc etc. Even if I lived in a state with seasons it is the "wrong way round"- for me anyway.

[Bulya]

15 minutes ago, proud preston said:

@Bulya ah if only it was so easy... so....originally decided to move here from Ireland as my husband had a scuba business pre-Australia and wanted to continue diving, boys then got enrolled in schools, jobs etc etc. Even if I lived in a state with seasons it is the "wrong way round"- for me anyway.

Spring follows winter, followed by summer then autumn.  Exactly the same as the U.K.  

[proud preston]

@Bulya-I think you know what I meant! I like the familiarity of winter in December etc 

[ramot]

2 hours ago, proud preston said:

@Bulya-I think you know what I meant! I like the familiarity of winter in December etc 

I can’t remember are you in Brisbane?  I’m fairly sure there is a Brisbane British Club, BBC,  that I think has meet ups. xM

[bug family]

10 hours ago, proud preston said:

@Bulya-I think you know what I meant! I like the familiarity of winter in December etc 

I love the seasons you know where you are and what to expect....when I went back at Christmas time in 2019 I loved the cold  and wrapping up warm, all the high streets where lit up and the pubs that I went in where all decorated in holly, tinsel lights etc...yep a real Christmas should be cold in my opinion 

[Lavers]

1 hour ago, bug family said:

I love the seasons you know where you are and what to expect....when I went back at Christmas time in 2019 I loved the cold  and wrapping up warm, all the high streets where lit up and the pubs that I went in where all decorated in holly, tinsel lights etc...yep a real Christmas should be cold in my opinion 

I know what you mean, xmas was my favourite time of the year when living in the UK. 

Xmas just doesn't have the same feel here.

[s713]

15 hours ago, Lavers said:

I know what you mean, xmas was my favourite time of the year when living in the UK. 

Xmas just doesn't have the same feel here.

It doesn't. You either embrace an Aussie Xmas or accept that it won't be the same ever again. That's not a slight on Oz, rather an acceptance that differences exist.

We thought about it and moved back but that's us.

[Marisawright]

10 minutes ago, s713 said:

You either embrace an Aussie Xmas or accept that it won't be the same ever again. That's not a slight on Oz, rather an acceptance that differences exist.

 

Not sure about "embracing" the Aussie Xmas. I'd say what you have to do is look at the whole picture.   For me, there are so many positives about Australia for the rest of the year, it's worth putting up with an Aussie Xmas. That's about as far as I'd go.

[Lavers]

11 minutes ago, s713 said:

It doesn't. You either embrace an Aussie Xmas or accept that it won't be the same ever again. That's not a slight on Oz, rather an acceptance that differences exist.

We thought about it and moved back but that's us.

I've just gone with both haha, it's still the same for the kids and that's all that matters really

[s713]

9 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Not sure about "embracing" the Aussie Xmas. I'd say what you have to do is look at the whole picture.   For me, there are so many positives about Australia for the rest of the year, it's worth putting up with an Aussie Xmas. That's about as far as I'd go.

Who wants to 'put up' with Xmas? Wow.

[s713]

Xmas is the best time of the year, full stop. Make it your best.

All the best!

Edited December 18, 2021 by s713

[Marisawright]

35 minutes ago, s713 said:

Who wants to 'put up' with Xmas? Wow.

If you don't have family, then Christmas is the loneliest time of the whole year.   Everyone is with their families, all the shops are closed, some restaurants and cafés stay open but they are usually very quiet with no atmosphere.  What's to enjoy?

[beketamun]

On 01/12/2021 at 14:45, Marisawright said:

It's certainly true that for some people, moving to a different city or state could make all the difference.  It's the same in any country.  Someone who loves living in Inverness might hate living in London and vice versa.   It's a very bad mistake (and unfair) to live in one city and think it represents a whole country.   

However, as Paul1Perth says, there are people in this world who really should never leave their homeland.   They are too attached to it and will never be truly happy anywhere else.   The tragedy is that such people often don't realise they're like that.  They see other people migrating and "living the dream" and just assume anyone can do it.   By the time they realise their mistake, it's often too late, especially if family is involved.

Yes I agree.  It is similar to the farmer leaving the paddock gate open for the beef cows to go somewhere else, yet they will always return at night to what they know, until one day it is too late.   Mindfulness can be a useful skill to develop and practice.

[bug family]

3 hours ago, Marisawright said:

If you don't have family, then Christmas is the loneliest time of the whole year.

yep I totally agree Marisa, some of the worst things I have seen are related to being alone and having no one , Christmas is a really tough time for some and the best time of the year for others....

[Drumbeat]

4 hours ago, Marisawright said:

If you don't have family, then Christmas is the loneliest time of the whole year.   Everyone is with their families, all the shops are closed, some restaurants and cafés stay open but they are usually very quiet with no atmosphere.  What's to enjoy?

I agree with you, even though I’m not alone I still struggle at Christmas. As I’ve got older I try to just accept that It will be a quiet time and appreciate the fact that that I won’t have to deal with family dramas.

[Amber Snowball]

6 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Not sure about "embracing" the Aussie Xmas. I'd say what you have to do is look at the whole picture.   For me, there are so many positives about Australia for the rest of the year, it's worth putting up with an Aussie Xmas. That's about as far as I'd go.

I think you are right. All this talk of Christmas is probably symptomatic of the wider picture. If you like where you are the other 364 days of the year then you accept or put up with a “different “ Christmas. If you don’t like where you are it becomes another focal point of your discontent.
I just accepted Christmas was weird to me in Australia. If you have small children it’s pretty much the same for them. It wasn’t a reason I moved but a cold Christmas with dark evenings and twinkly lights was a bonus once I got here.

Merry Christmas to you all wherever you are.

[MARYROSE02]

On 17/12/2021 at 18:25, bug family said:

I love the seasons you know where you are and what to expect....when I went back at Christmas time in 2019 I loved the cold  and wrapping up warm, all the high streets where lit up and the pubs that I went in where all decorated in holly, tinsel lights etc...yep a real Christmas should be cold in my opinion 

I'd agree with you up to a point but I don't like icy roads and footpaths whereas I used to look forward to them.  And of course the older you get the more scary a fall is.

[MARYROSE02]

On 14/12/2021 at 18:56, Toots said:

SLIGHTLY   .................  you are having a laugh aren't you?  I don't think I've ever seen a place being slagged off as much as Perth.  Boy oh boy there are some haters of the place on this forum.  l 'm just happy that most of you managed to escape such an awful place.  I lived there for way back in the early 80s and rather liked it.  

Google kindly showed me photos from four years ago today when I was in Perth for the first time in 20 years. I stayed for 7 weeks then went back for another 6 weeks in May, 18. I was thinking of moving there.  It was just the thought of "emigrating" again with all my family in Sydney.

  I'd feel the same way at the thought of going back to England again. Perth has everything that Sydney has with the bonus of being able to drive for pleasure instead of a seven-day rush hour which varies in intensity. Pubs, restaurants, cafes,  beaches,  supermarkets  - 24x7 IGA supermarket  - not sure if we have them in Sydney - 711 and servos with shops certainly,  Bunnings, if that's your thing,  not mine. 

Ultimately it's having family and friends closeby which is important to me. Everything else is just "things", inanimate.

[Rita Shankar]

On 16/12/2021 at 07:13, Blue Flu said:

Well while I suspect one would likely find a far superior curry in Bradford than Perth, perhaps not quite reason enough to pack up and move there. I seem to recall it being named fourth worst city to live in UK. 

I was born and raised in Bradford. Loved growing up there. It still has a rich cultural heritage. The curries are superior to anything you will find in Perth. Sadly Bradford has fallen on hard times, partly because of mismanagement by the useless Bradford Council and lack of investment by success governments. As for 4th worst city to live in the UK. Load of crap. I think of dozens of worse places in the UK.

[Bobj]

9 hours ago, Rita Shankar said:

I was born and raised in Bradford. Loved growing up there. It still has a rich cultural heritage. The curries are superior to anything you will find in Perth. Sadly Bradford has fallen on hard times, partly because of mismanagement by the useless Bradford Council and lack of investment by success governments. As for 4th worst city to live in the UK. Load of crap. I think of dozens of worse places in the UK.

I lived there in the 1950s and early 60s and  it was a dump! West and north sides were ok, but the city centre and east and south sides really were 'on the nose'. The smallpox epidemic was, perhaps, the lowest ebb of the city while I was there.

Bradford was the world centre for the wool trade for many years, receiving over 95% of the world's wool and a rich city like that should have been a model for the whole of the British Isles, but...the city fathers were a useless lot and gradually, Japan took over the wool.4 years after coming out to Australia (1967), I went back for a 6 month  holiday and was so disgusted with the apathy of the area in general, that I flew back to Perth, WA after 1 month.

Cheers, Bobj.

[Blue Flu]

On 18/12/2021 at 13:01, bug family said:

yep I totally agree Marisa, some of the worst things I have seen are related to being alone and having no one , Christmas is a really tough time for some and the best time of the year for others....

It can be  indeed. If alone I think I'd prefer it to be in the heat actually. At least there is the beach to go to and being alone not quite as challenging as in a colder, damper, darker climate. 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Blue Flu