Thinking of going back

[Guest mollymo]

£1,200 a month seems a bit steep. What would that get you over here these days and where? Our flat is three bedrooms and costs us a bit over half of that amount. £1,200 a month would definitely be the top end for rents up here. Manchester was even cheaper than here. I suppose it depends on where you want to live. I saw a reasonably nice house, three bedrooms, for rent in Aberfan for £390 a month earlier this year. I think property prices must have come down a fair way, because I also saw on the web recently what looked like a fairly nice 2 bedroom flat in the Kilburn area of London for a mere £360 a month.

 

Mind you, if you are coming back to no job and need time to get established, it's possible people may not be able to take advantage of these deals. It's worth considering offering to pay the whole of the rent, six months in advance, because it does avoid some of the landlord's risk and would give you breathing space while you got sorted.

 

Not £1200 for rent £1200 living costs inclusive of rent :yes:

[Guest Surfview]

Hi there I am new to this site and just thought I would post my thoughts for a bit of therapy.

We have been in Oz for just over 2 1/2 years now, we all loved it from day 1 and never really had any doubts that we have done the right thing about moving here, however recently I have become increasingly homesick. Ive started to think about how my life would be if we moved back to the UK I didn't realise just how much I was going to miss everyone and how much family and friends were going to miss me. Theres lots of things about our experience in OZ that concern me and make me think that in the long term it may be better to return to the UK, such as:

Education System - not as academic as UK

Career prospects, my OH cannot get a job in his chosen career, in fact can't even get an interview, although he does have a job

I don't feel that we will ever belong we'll always be POM's even though in time our kids would be accepted as aussies,

We live in an area that has a lot of ex pats and although we have made lots of friends, I don't really feel that I can call them proper friends not ones that you can rely on or go to if you need to talk.

We could have applied for our citizenship a few months ago but I'm not interested I don't feel australian and therefore would feel a fraud by becoming a citizen.

The only thing that is stopping me from packing up and going back is the children, we came out to Oz for them to give them a better lifestyle, safer environment to live, and for all the faults i've mentioned Oz scores on this front my kids are happy here and dont want to go back. Rather than jump in feet first we have booked a trip back to the UK to visit family and friends and see how we feel, we are hoping that the reasons why we left will smack us in the face and we'll come back to OZ thinking no way!! But on the other hand I'm hoping that it might clarify my feelings to go back to what we know.

This is so me! But ive made my mind up -im going back where i belong,its just ive got to wait 18 mths,let me know how you get on !:hug:

[Guest jackie Macdonald]

this place has stripped me of my personality, confidence and happiness and caused me to become quite ill with depression, something that has never happened to me before in my life.

 

 

I experienced the exact same thing, I am and always have been a very positive, upbeat and sociable person. The depression hit me too! Feeling this way, rest assured that once you touch down in good old Blighty that awful sick feeling will leave you. You will immediately become the person you had previously left behind and you will never look back.

 

Good luck to you!

 

jackie xx

[Guest treesea]

Not £1200 for rent £1200 living costs inclusive of rent :yes:

 

Ah yes, I see. I didn't read your original post right. That sounds okay for 2 people, but a bit light, I would think, for a family of four. Even benefits are worth more than that a week, by the time you include housing assistance and council tax. I suppose too it depends on where you are coming back to. I fancied Dundee as a place to live - it's a bit cheaper than Edinburgh and the housing seems better value for money. The rent we pay here for a flat would rent us a four bedroom house up there. But there's hardly any work up there compared to here.

 

Maybe, when moving anywhere, even back to the UK, one needs to take a longer term view. Getting back to one's original income could take quite a while. Especially if you live in a place where there are not a lot of jobs. When we first came back we had enough to buy a terrace in inner city Manchester. I tried to sell this to my OH on the basis that Manchester and Melbourne were quite similar so it seemed as good a place as any to settle. He said that took a "leap of imagination" that he just wasn't capable of.

[Guest treesea]

It seems lots of people think the move is great but then start to regret it. The UK is not a great place to be apart from being near family

 

The UK isn't just one place though, is it. It's literally hundreds of villages, towns and cities, all really different to each other. I really like Australia and still think it's a great place to live, but I find the UK more satisfying. It's interesting, and kind of cosy. It's a chance to live in a place which is still a full on city, but where walking somewhere is viable and cars don't rule.

 

Still, you just never know until you come back if it is really going to suit. So I would say to people who are eligible for Australian citizenship that it's something worth having, just to have that element of choice into the future.

[Guest PhilBen]

I know one thing I deal with lots of people moving to Australia, I would be intrested in the actual amount of people moving from the UK

[ezzie]

I find that we'd probably be happy enough to stick it out here in Sydney if we knew we could:

1. Retire early back to the UK

2. That our kids would come with us and have their children there

3. Had enough money to keep us in comfort

 

The thought of retiring here fills me with dread. I mean, what on earth is there to do past bowls, RSL and sitting doing nothing?

 

It costs ludicrous amounts for a nursing home/retirement village here...I'm sure it's similar in the UK though. I am looking forwards to being a little old lady who carries a string bag down to the village each day!

[Guest treesea]

I know one thing I deal with lots of people moving to Australia, I would be intrested in the actual amount of people moving from the UK

 

For the 2007 year, in the skilled migration category, just over 20,000 Brits emigrated to Australia.That's just the one category though. This 2009 year, the Australian government have upped their total planned immigrant take to 190,000, with Brits estimated to make up around 40,000 of that total, in all the various categories. So including family reunion, business set up, retirement and the like.

 

What I found interesting is why they are increasing the immigrant quota so much - it's in part because numbers of people leaving Australia permanently are at record levels, over 70,000 people per year.

[Guest treesea]

I find that we'd probably be happy enough to stick it out here in Sydney if we knew we could:

1. Retire early back to the UK

2. That our kids would come with us and have their children there

3. Had enough money to keep us in comfort

 

The thought of retiring here fills me with dread. I mean, what on earth is there to do past bowls, RSL and sitting doing nothing?

 

It costs ludicrous amounts for a nursing home/retirement village here...I'm sure it's similar in the UK though. I am looking forwards to being a little old lady who carries a string bag down to the village each day!

 

I've met a few retirees in Australia over the years. They all seemed to live pretty full lives - rotary, golf, bridge, bowls, reading clubs, travelling, swimming, bowling, surfing, skiing, sailing, dining clubs, coming over here to visit the grandchildren (this is after their "reluctant to emigrate" offspring have grown up and hightailed it back to the UK), bushwalking - in some ways Australia is a place where the old stay young.

[ezzie]

That's interesting....and a different take on it. Trouble is, I want to do bellringing, walks over the moors, CWA, be a National Trust volunteer, make blackberry jam, take-up Morris dancing (with a hey and ho and a hey nonny no!), tend the village green, and of course go shopping with my red hat and string shopping bag. Can't really do any of that here.

 

BTW...Do you mean they emigrated here with kids, who then returned to UK, or came here, had kids, who then went back to UK?

[Quoll]

I've met a few retirees in Australia over the years. They all seemed to live pretty full lives - rotary, golf, bridge, bowls, reading clubs, travelling, swimming, bowling, surfing, skiing, sailing, dining clubs, coming over here to visit the grandchildren (this is after their "reluctant to emigrate" offspring have grown up and hightailed it back to the UK), bushwalking - in some ways Australia is a place where the old stay young.

 

LOL not sure I really agree with you - many retirees are now going back into the workforce because their retirement income went down the dunny. Those with nous might get off their backsides and do stuff but the ones I know - who have managed to retire, just sort of potter about - actually getting old before their time. I think this is a retirement home waiting to happen. I dont much go for bowls and havent seen a dining club. I work for a charity so have my fill of charity work and travelling is so darned expensive to go anywhere except Queanbeyan:arghh: I think there are some that do the half year here and half year there kind of thing and for me that makes sense but few people can actually afford that these days. I do agree though that many families have split because the youngsters have migrated back again for the better opportunities and taken the grandkids with them. So far we only have the one here but I quite expect there to be more in UK before too long.

[ezzie]

Blimey Quoll...does this mean son no. 2 is about to give-up on his organic turnips and head over to Blighty. Methinks dh is soon to run out of excuses to stay put, surely?

 

Queenbeyan...I dream of visiting it, the architecture, sweeping vistas, quaint charm!

 

LOL not sure I really agree with you - many retirees are now going back into the workforce because their retirement income went down the dunny. Those with nous might get off their backsides and do stuff but the ones I know - who have managed to retire, just sort of potter about - actually getting old before their time. I think this is a retirement home waiting to happen. I dont much go for bowls and havent seen a dining club. I work for a charity so have my fill of charity work and travelling is so darned expensive to go anywhere except Queanbeyan:arghh: I think there are some that do the half year here and half year there kind of thing and for me that makes sense but few people can actually afford that these days. I do agree though that many families have split because the youngsters have migrated back again for the better opportunities and taken the grandkids with them. So far we only have the one here but I quite expect there to be more in UK before too long.

[ezzie]

I've just noticed my profile thingo says I have 'no status'....that's a bit rude isn't it?

[Guest treesea]

That's interesting....and a different take on it. Trouble is, I want to do bellringing, walks over the moors, CWA, be a National Trust volunteer, make blackberry jam, take-up Morris dancing (with a hey and ho and a hey nonny no!), tend the village green, and of course go shopping with my red hat and string shopping bag. Can't really do any of that here.

 

Things like morris dancing and bell ringing, those kind of traditional English things, are probably easier done somewhere like Christchurch, NZ, rather than Australia. Same with Dunedin, for traditional Scottish activities. There was quite a good morris dancing troupe in Melbourne that I saw a couple of times at fairs around the place. There's probably plenty going on in both countries - Britain and Australia are fairly alike in that regard, as in no need to embrace old age with one foot in the grave. The difference to me is atmosphere. I like cosy, "nesting", snuggling in type places, and going to places which take 20 minutes to walk to rather than two hours to drive to - which is what a lot of towns, and even cities like Edinburgh, are like in Britain. One thing I really like here is you go to the smallest of places - not even a village; more of a hamlet - and there's 200 people living there.

 

BTW...Do you mean they emigrated here with kids, who then returned to UK, or came here, had kids, who then went back to UK?

 

Both. If coming back permanently, probably the former. Though I have met quite a few Australian born Brits living up here since we came back, and they're usually the children or grandchildren of the original migrants to Australia. A lady across the road from us is in her late 70s. Though you would never know to look at her - it must be all the walking, cos she's wee and sprightly, with endless energy. She was saying that her two sons (both in Canada) and daughter (was in Australia originally but now lives in NZ) have never moved back here. They all left Scotland in their 20s and 30s, with young families in tow. But three of her grandchildren have moved home and she was pleased because she had just heard another grand-daughter is on her way, complete with family including her first great grandchild.

[Guest treesea]

LOL not sure I really agree with you - many retirees are now going back into the workforce because their retirement income went down the dunny. Those with nous might get off their backsides and do stuff but the ones I know - who have managed to retire, just sort of potter about - actually getting old before their time. I think this is a retirement home waiting to happen. I dont much go for bowls and havent seen a dining club. I work for a charity so have my fill of charity work and travelling is so darned expensive to go anywhere except Queanbeyan:arghh: I think there are some that do the half year here and half year there kind of thing and for me that makes sense but few people can actually afford that these days. I do agree though that many families have split because the youngsters have migrated back again for the better opportunities and taken the grandkids with them. So far we only have the one here but I quite expect there to be more in UK before too long.

 

My mum kind of potters around, but she says it's because going anywhere means driving, and though she has kept her driving licence up I guess the extra effort isn't always worth the effort for older people. She gets one first class trip a year free but most of the time doesn't take it. Mind you, perhaps she should, because I see British Airways are looking to axe that particular perk.

[ezzie]

Gosh, that's interesting!

As to Morris dancing...there is a group here that I went to...a bit of a drive mind into Sydney. They were doing their best, but like a lot of Australians were getting a bit competitive with it instead of having fun.

 

I met an older chap on the Gold Coast waiting for respective kids/grandkids to come off a ride. I knew he was a Pom because he spoke to me...he'd been to a 'friendly' bowling match the day before locally and couldn't believe how 'unfriendly' it was in that everyone was taking it far too seriously!

 

Things like morris dancing and bell ringing, those kind of traditional English things, are probably easier done somewhere like Christchurch, NZ, rather than Australia. Same with Dunedin, for traditional Scottish activities. There was quite a good morris dancing troupe in Melbourne that I saw a couple of times at fairs around the place. There's probably plenty going on in both countries - Britain and Australia are fairly alike in that regard, as in no need to embrace old age with one foot in the grave. The difference to me is atmosphere. I like cosy, "nesting", snuggling in type places, and going to places which take 20 minutes to walk to rather than two hours to drive to - which is what a lot of towns, and even cities like Edinburgh, are like in Britain. One thing I really like here is you go to the smallest of places - not even a village; more of a hamlet - and there's 200 people living there.

 

 

BTW...Do you mean they emigrated here with kids, who then returned to UK, or came here, had kids, who then went back to UK?

 

Both. If coming back permanently, probably the former. Though I have met quite a few Australian born Brits living up here since we came back, and they're usually the children or grandchildren of the original migrants to Australia. A lady across the road from us is in her late 70s. Though you would never know to look at her - it must be all the walking, cos she's wee and sprightly, with endless energy. She was saying that her two sons (both in Canada) and daughter (was in Australia originally but now lives in NZ) have never moved back here. They all left Scotland in their 20s and 30s, with young families in tow. But three of her grandchildren have moved home and she was pleased because she had just heard another grand-daughter is on her way, complete with family including her first great grandchild.

[ezzie]

Sorry, is your mum in the UK or Australia?

 

My mum kind of potters around, but she says it's because going anywhere means driving, and though she has kept her driving licence up I guess the extra effort isn't always worth the effort for older people. She gets one first class trip a year free but most of the time doesn't take it. Mind you, perhaps she should, because I see British Airways are looking to axe that particular perk.

[Wishful]

That's interesting....and a different take on it. Trouble is, I want to do bellringing, walks over the moors, CWA, be a National Trust volunteer, make blackberry jam, take-up Morris dancing (with a hey and ho and a hey nonny no!), tend the village green, and of course go shopping with my red hat and string shopping bag. Can't really do any of that here.

 

BTW...Do you mean they emigrated here with kids, who then returned to UK, or came here, had kids, who then went back to UK?

 

 

Sounds like heaven x

[Guest Nods]

A friend who worked for the emergency services swichboard in the UK left for Aus thinking it would be safer here. He got the same job here and found violent crime is just as bad here as in the UK. As someone else on the forum pointed out, there are more people in the UK, so more crime. But not necessarily a higher chance f being the victim of crime.

[bunbury61]

Sounds like heaven x

 

Come on ladies , f,ckin morris dancing, wots all that about?

I get the village fete, the English quirkiness, the pub,being stuck on the m20 in kent as the sun goes down......iam living it, but Morris dancing ......perrrrrrleeeeasse

[ezzie]

Bunbury you old scroat, my fellow Brummy.....you sound like you need a touch of Morris Dancing in your life. You've not lived till you've hopped & stepped and stamped...with a hey and a ho and a hey nonny no!

(now you see how hopelessly out of kilter I am here in Oz...and possibly even Solihull!)

When I next come back I shall come and wave hankies on your driveway...I know, and you'll have me arrested!

 

Come on ladies , f,ckin morris dancing, wots all that about?

I get the village fete, the English quirkiness, the pub,being stuck on the m20 in kent as the sun goes down......iam living it, but Morris dancing ......perrrrrrleeeeasse

[bunbury61]

Bunbury you old scroat, my fellow Brummy.....you sound like you need a touch of Morris Dancing in your life. You've not lived till you've hopped & stepped and stamped...with a hey and a ho and a hey nonny no!

(now you see how hopelessly out of kilter I am here in Oz...and possibly even Solihull!)

When I next come back I shall come and wave hankies on your driveway...I know, and you'll have me arrested!

 

I will tell you about that " morris dancing " lark .

16 of us go to play golf every year in France . Brummies,cockneys, scousers .......you can imagine the banter cant you !.

2 of the cockney lads , hired a " baby bentley" golf buggy, bright red ......Flash b.stards.

They carried there clubs around the course in it.

 

I was in the last group, on the last day, walking up the 18th, when these pair drove onto the 18th fairway, in this bloody car, and proceeded to jump out dressed as " morris men".

Ginger hair and beards, sticks and bells, the full works , dancing around doing the "hey nonny nonny"......w.nkers .....funny though !

[ezzie]

Brilliant! That just gave me the first chuckle of the day, and living in Sydney, it may well be the last one I get today too!

 

I will tell you about that " morris dancing " lark .

16 of us go to play golf every year in France . Brummies,cockneys, scousers .......you can imagine the banter cant you !.

2 of the cockney lads , hired a " baby bentley" golf buggy, bright red ......Flash b.stards.

They carried there clubs around the course in it.

 

I was in the last group, on the last day, walking up the 18th, when these pair drove onto the 18th fairway, in this bloody car, and proceeded to jump out dressed as " morris men".

Ginger hair and beards, sticks and bells, the full works , dancing around doing the "hey nonny nonny"......w.nkers .....funny though !

[Guest MELS]

hi there, i just wanted to give you the benefit of my experience for what its worth! i lived in oz, melbourne then perth for over 7yrs. at that point i felt very much like you do at the moment. so i took the plunge,packed up kids, sold the house and headed "home". initially it was wonderful and i was happy to be back and spend time with family, friends, etc, all the things you miss so much. after some time i began to really miss oz (perth) and that has continued. so the upshot is im returning to perth in 2 weeks time! its been a costly business and not just financialy, however i have learnt so much and i now know for sure that oz is where i want to make my life. i like you didnt want to take out citizenship as i too felt hypocritical, but it will be one of the first things i do when i get back. i dont know what the answer is for your family but for me being back living in uk for past 18months has made me realise how much i love perth. i hope i can settle properly this time having learnt that living in the uk is now not for me. i wish you all the best, remember that holidays are very different from returning and a word of caution, the recession is terrible here. good luck,mel

[Guest treesea]

Sorry, is your mum in the UK or Australia?

 

Neither. She now lives in NZ. Says Australia is too hot for her liking and the UK too cold.

 

I agree with Mel on the recession over here though. Lots of people in their 40s and 50s being laid off, some of them quite senior managers. Some of the shops near us have changed hands three times in the one year.