Our reasons for coming here and our reasons for deciding to return home to Ireland

[Guest famousfive]

Our background-: I'm Irish and my OH is Australian. We have three kids,aged 7,9 and 10.This is my 5th visit to Oz and we spent 18mths here when the kids were younger.We left Oz to return to Ireland for a business opportunity[good decision] in '03 with the intention of giving life in Australia another go in 5yrs time.It took us a wee bit longer than that to get here but we have now spent 18mths here and have had a blast.

 

We have had a lot of ups and downs since arriving but on the whole these have balanced each other out.

 

The ups-:

~Our kids have dealt with the move amazingly well and it has made them more outgoing and confidant.

~Going back to working normal hours has given us more time together as a family.

~We have all been blessed with making some great friends and living amongst great neighbours.

~We have all realised that we love travelling and glad we took the opportunity to have three stopovers on the way.

~I have a tan for the first time in my life and I also took the chance to make some positive changes to my life by exercising more and giving up the dreaded smokes.

 

The downs-:

~Our finances have taken a huge nosedive.

~We live within minutes of family here but rarely see them,they have no interest.

~Lots of opportunities here if you have the money to avail of them[we don't]

~The education system has not been as good as we had hoped.

~Australia seems to have become very americanised which we don't see as being a good thing.

 

And the ridiculous-:

~Hubby went to a job interview and when the prospective employer looked through his CV and saw the name of the pub we ran in Ireland he said "I was there last year and ate there every day during my week long visit to the area"....Hubby got the job without having to say a word!!!

 

All in all we have had a great time in Oz and it has been an amazing learning experience for the whole family.But...........we are missing some important ingredients for a happy life here so are returning home next year.

Now all we have to do is enjoy every last minute of our time here...and decide which countries to visit on our way back.Can't wait.

 

Life is a great adventure if you make it so.:yes:

[plumm]

Your post was great for me to read, and reminds me not to take everything quite so seriously. you are so right it is an adventure! I strongly agree with all your postives and negatives, (other than the family as i have none here) just out of interest - do you ever worry about regrets?

[Guest famousfive]

To be honest i'm a fairly happy go lucky person in general and I have a great belief in living in the moment and always looking forward.

It has been quite a struggle financially since we got here but that in itself has forced us to learn a few valuable budgeting lessons which will come in handy for the future.

If I was to pin down one regret it would be the fact that we gave up a very enjoyable business to come here~we both loved it.But,ever the optimist,I believe our next venture will be even better[have my eye on somewhere allready].

 

Australia is undeniably a beautiful country but to our family it does not feel like our home.

I really believe we should not regret the past or dwell on the present but look to the future.After all,that is where we are going to spend the rest of our lives.

 

Are you in Australia at the moment or planning on moving here?

[Guest Taytoconnorrs]

just curious but what makes you think that your financial situation will change back in Ireland?. I speak to my mum and sis weekly and things are still really bleak. The government are slowly taking majority stakes in the major financial institutions and unemployment is nearly 13% and rising. I'm really homesick but I wouldn't dream of going back. I hate to be negative but.....

[Guest famousfive]

It's a gamble I know,but here is the reasoning behind it.We are planning on leasing a restaurant/cafe in a tourist area that we know well and have many connections there.We have managed to get a very low price 5yr lease on both the business and a 3 bed house owned by the same fella.It's pretty much an empty shell,they both are,so he has found it hard to create interest in it.This works in our favour as we have all we need in storage there from when we ran a pub before,and we also left all our furniture there and begged,borrowed and stole for our house here.

 

Some might think it's a wreckless decision but we think it's better than staying here and getting nowhere fast.

I certainly would not let fear keep me in a place I was not happy in.I don't see the sense in staying here until the timing is perfect because things like that often don't happen until it is too late.

Would you return home to Ireland yourself if the situation there was better? Or are you happier here?

[Quoll]

Good luck with your move Famousfive! It sounds like you have a good plan and a positive option for returning which is more than a lot of folk have. Hope your business really takes off!

[Guest famousfive]

Thanks very much.I have great faith in gut feelings and this one seems right at the minute so we are going for it.No real reason why it shouldn't go well if we work hard and prepare well.

Australia has been a great experience for us but then again so was Ireland.

[Rodfan]

Our background-: I'm Irish and my OH is Australian. We have three kids,aged 7,9 and 10.This is my 5th visit to Oz and we spent 18mths here when the kids were younger.We left Oz to return to Ireland for a business opportunity[good decision] in '03 with the intention of giving life in Australia another go in 5yrs time.It took us a wee bit longer than that to get here but we have now spent 18mths here and have had a blast.

 

We have had a lot of ups and downs since arriving but on the whole these have balanced each other out.

 

The ups-:

~Our kids have dealt with the move amazingly well and it has made them more outgoing and confidant.

~Going back to working normal hours has given us more time together as a family.

~We have all been blessed with making some great friends and living amongst great neighbours.

~We have all realised that we love travelling and glad we took the opportunity to have three stopovers on the way.

~I have a tan for the first time in my life and I also took the chance to make some positive changes to my life by exercising more and giving up the dreaded smokes.

 

The downs-:

~Our finances have taken a huge nosedive.

~We live within minutes of family here but rarely see them,they have no interest.

~Lots of opportunities here if you have the money to avail of them[we don't]

~The education system has not been as good as we had hoped.

~Australia seems to have become very americanised which we don't see as being a good thing.

 

And the ridiculous-:

~Hubby went to a job interview and when the prospective employer looked through his CV and saw the name of the pub we ran in Ireland he said "I was there last year and ate there every day during my week long visit to the area"....Hubby got the job without having to say a word!!!

 

All in all we have had a great time in Oz and it has been an amazing learning experience for the whole family.But...........we are missing some important ingredients for a happy life here so are returning home next year.

Now all we have to do is enjoy every last minute of our time here...and decide which countries to visit on our way back.Can't wait.

 

Life is a great adventure if you make it so.:yes:

One of the best and most balanced posts I have read on here, Good Luck with your continued adventures.:yes:

[Guest famousfive]

One of the best and most balanced posts I have read on here, Good Luck with your continued adventures.:yes:

 

 

Thanks very much for the kind words.:biggrin:

[Guest SophieKin]

To be honest i'm a fairly happy go lucky person in general and I have a great belief in living in the moment and always looking forward.

It has been quite a struggle financially since we got here but that in itself has forced us to learn a few valuable budgeting lessons which will come in handy for the future.

If I was to pin down one regret it would be the fact that we gave up a very enjoyable business to come here~we both loved it.But,ever the optimist,I believe our next venture will be even better[have my eye on somewhere allready].

 

Australia is undeniably a beautiful country but to our family it does not feel like our home.

I really believe we should not regret the past or dwell on the present but look to the future.After all,that is where we are going to spend the rest of our lives.

 

Are you in Australia at the moment or planning on moving here?

 

What a great post and good advice. I too want to return home , but I think I need to look at it in the way you have, I am sure it would cause less heartache.

 

 

Good Luck with your move back. Ireland is a lovely place .

[mrsindecision]

What a lovely balanced post - my husband has gone ahead of us and I felt totally lost without him when he went (only 2 days ago). We too had a great life in UK - good home jobs and friends. We have done the same here except the jobs havent been quite as good and the house is not a home and our friends are new ( however expect they will stand the test of time as they are lovely people and relaly genuine friends).

 

I have sorted everything out over there - got a house, got schools, got uni sorted - OH got his old job back I am taking some work back with me and will have the summer at home with kids and family and friends so looking forward to that and the opportunities open to us. Hope to work for myself doing a bit here and a bit there - and seeing what opportunites there are for me ( have done research plenty of contract work available in my sector) so could be fantastic for us.

 

I realise today that it really is the sun and sand I will miss not a lot else. It has been a great experience kids have loved it and it will stay with them forever I hope. Still worry about the rat race a little but am wondering if I might be able to bypass it a little.

[Guest AngieandMe]

I to have really enjoyed myself here. I dont regret doing it at all. We decided after xmas that are time in Oz was over. House went on the market in feb and yes finally we got a offer on the house this week. So we are so excited and if all goes well we will be back home in August. This is when the headache starts lol.... Sorting dog out getting furinture sorted etc etc ......:biggrin:

[Petals]

Good luck with your move back home I am the opposite to you having been home here for six weeks now I look forward to returning to Australia. We will be here for a good while yet but I could return tomorrow.

 

I think there are going to be big changes here due to the deficit and people are not going to like them, rumblings already. Superannuation is going to continue to be altered and they are saying people will have to work a lot longer to get a pension. No final salary deals. Also they are cutting jobs in the public sector and this of course will flow down through the economy. Saying on the news its worse than they thought the deficit and growth is not going to be what was anticipated.

 

As a lay person looking at it, its a hard one if people lose their jobs they do not spend, if people remain in work costs are too high. Unfortunately farm sold off so not much to sell to get some cash.

 

I think middle class welfare is going to take a hit as well.

 

Interesting times coming to UK.