In The Grand Scheme Of Things Is Australia So Important To You?

[Guest guest37336]

Afternoon folks.

 

Before I go any further I would like to make my own personal point of view very clear. I am lucky enough to hold dual citizenship, and Australia has always been a huge part of my life, and long may it continue, BUT.

 

If for some reason I and my family couldn't make it back out there I would be well and truly heartbroken, it is a country I hold dear and has been very good to, and at times very bad for me, but all in all if I found out I was not allowed to return I would be somewhat disappointed, I dare say life would go on, and I would make sure it would no matter the sadness I may feel, but nonetheless I would be a little peeved off.

 

So for those of you who visited, live, about to embark on the journey would it be a massive disappointment if you were not allowed to go/return for any reason, at the end of the day there are much more important things in life to worry about. As I said, I realise that to me I would be very upset, so to say 'Get On With It, Close That Door' is a bloody stupid statement to make because I know how I would feel.

 

But are you one of those that would crack on and say bugger it, onward and upwards, would you just sit there for days and cry yourself to sleep,:cry:, or would just 'accept' that this is the case and so on.

 

I know a very hypothetical question and one that may not be answerable yet, but thought I would ask anyway.:wubclub:

 

Cheers Tony.:wink:

[Guest]

Australia is also very important to me as my ex-wife and children live there.

 

My motto is:

 

* If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it.

 

* If you don't ask, the answer is always no.

 

* If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.

 

. . . but at the end of the day - home is where the heart is.

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

This is very relevant to me Tony

 

my situation is that i want to go to Australia for at least 4 years to get citizenship and boy that must feel good.

 

But my kids don't want to go, they live in their bedrooms, on facebook, msn and the xbox, so i can't blame them.

 

The wife is 50/50 and it will only be something she decides when she has to, at present for personal reasons we can't go, but when the end of the visa draws nearer, she will have to make the big decision.

 

Will it upset me if we don't go ............... hell yes it will, will it be the end of the world, well it will be very gut wrenchingly upsetting for me, but i have a great life here in the uk and i will just carry on enjoying my life, but .............. i will have to go on holiday more in winter to get some winter sunshine.

[pablo]

I'd be a bit chocker tone,what about 4 or 5k to get the visa?,7/8k on validating.so financially it would be a downer as well as all the hassle you go thru,but i try not to stress too much over things that are out of my control,if its meant to be.......,but jan would be gutted tbh.

Me?i'd switch me focus to germany,france or spain,maybe buy a cheap place that needs refurbing,i allways look on the net at heaps of rubble in france and spain that are going for buttons,so no point whingeing,just adapt and improvise,i'd have to find another goal to look forward to,just to try and keep jans chin up

[Guest Gothic Rose]

dont know enough about Australia as yet to give a truly informed reply to your thread. As I'm just at the very begining of my journey, but I'm full of hope that I shall develope a deep relationship with the place. I'm not going to Bash the UK as that's not what your asking but I will say although born here I've never felt any special affinity to anywhere in the UK & I live in one of the most stunning parts in Idyllic surroundings, but my soul is restless here. I've a close relationship with Portugal, where my family live but again it's not speaking to my soul. my Aussie cousin says the unspoilt areas of Portugal are very much like Australia on a much smaller scale.

 

I will be moving to Brisbane which is going to be strange having the Bustle of a big lively city after living across from the beach with a panoramic view of spectacular beauty.But I want something more I love nature but I want other things that I feel I will find in Australia. Cities can be useful too & in time who knows where we may end up living. It'll probably be easier to adjust to Australian ways by living in the city at first. I believe the culture & attitude of the country will encourage me to make the most of my life. I feel I will be able to contribute to the community there in ways that I cant here. I'm tired of just existing here & I'd much rather burn out than rust out, I'm not the kind of person to wonder "what if ", I have to go & find out for myself & I'm very good at adapting to new circumstances.

 

I've lived a bit of a vagabond life & never done anything by the conventional or easy route & the way my Australian journey has come about was most unexpected & very welcome. So in the spirit of things happening for a reason & all that, I'm very open to this exciting adventure. Perhaps Australia is calling me

 

I'm viewing it as a new start in a place with a great big horizon & though right now me & Australia are only newly aquainted I'm prepared to put the effort in to deepening my relationship with the place on all levels.

 

So If the authorities say no I will indeed be devasted as not only will I have put myself into debt to apply for the Visa & removal costs etc. My Aussie husband is over there waiting for me & if they say no we will both be heartbroken & have more years of separation until he could go through the process of being allowed to come here & all the expenses will need to be paid yet again. So yes, It's a really big deal & a huge risk that I'm gambling everything on being accepted & I'm really not sure they will accept me. if you fit into the conventional boxes on a form it helps, if you're in my position it's so uncertain many would call me crazy but I have to try. Wish me luck .......

[Guest guest37336]

I'd be a bit chocker tone,what about 4 or 5k to get the visa?,7/8k on validating.so financially it would be a downer as well as all the hassle you go thru,but i try not to stress too much over things that are out of my control,if its meant to be.......,but jan would be gutted tbh.

Me?i'd switch me focus to germany,france or spain,maybe buy a cheap place that needs refurbing,i allways look on the net at heaps of rubble in france and spain that are going for buttons,so no point whingeing,just adapt and improvise,i'd have to find another goal to look forward to,just to try and keep jans chin up

 

As normal mate I missed a very salient point that you have highlighted. In my OP I completely forgot about the costs involved. I was coming at it from a more emotional angle, (as I often do :no:) and completely forgot the fianancial side as well.

 

Maybe mate it is because when I applied the costs whilst being fairly pricey were in no way as much as they were now. I am gob smacked at the prices now, agents, visa's, relocation packages, the list is endless.

 

Thanks for reminding me mate and getting my head once again out of my own backside,:yes::biglaugh:.

 

Cheers Tony.:wink:

[pablo]

Well for a lot of people the emotional side will be the most important anyway mate,but not being rich i think of the £/$ as well(not even mentioning the flying:arghh:),worse things happen tone,ive had a big lesson these last 18 months,so i know theres no point in dwelling on the negatives,me not being able to go to oz is insignificant when compared to some of the things others are going thru,IE i'd feel guilty about feeling sorry for myself when theres others a million times worse off,jan wouldnt think that way btw,but im fatalistic about these things,your health is more important than countries,sounds a simple way of looking at things,and it IS a simple way of looking at things,but its true isnt it,good thread btw:wubclub:

[Si T]

Moving to Oz has, over the last few years, become an itch I have to scratch rather than an obsession. I remember 08th Feb last year when they announced all the changes to immigration and I was five points short needed for a 175 and both my wife and I were absolutely gutted. Twelve months on and we are both a lot more objective. Having never been I guess the emotional attachment isn't there but it would be more a case of always wondering "what if".

 

Once we have scratched the itch and if we were to find that we did not like it enough to stay on then we have always said that there is no shame in going home as we had the brass ones to give it a go in the first place.

 

So in short, no it's not in the grand scheme of things but it would be bloody nice if we find that we like/love it when we get there and the kids settle. Like my status says I'm not looking for utopia, just somewhere different for a while.

[saz71]

Moving to Oz has, over the last few years, become an itch I have to scratch rather than an obsession. I remember 08th Feb last year when they announced all the changes to immigration and I was five points short needed for a 175 and both my wife and I were absolutely gutted. Twelve months on and we are both a lot more objective. Having never been I guess the emotional attachment isn't there but it would be more a case of always wondering "what if".

 

Once we have scratched the itch and if we were to find that we did not like it enough to stay on then we have always said that there is no shame in going home as we had the brass ones to give it a go in the first place.

 

So in short, no it's not in the grand scheme of things but it would be bloody nice if we find that we like/love it when we get there and the kids settle. Like my status says I'm not looking for utopia, just somewhere different for a while.

 

I feel just the same. I've had itchy feet since visiting NZ in 2006 and we've toyed with the idea of emigrating there or Oz for years with Oz coming out on top after much deliberation. It was only after realising we'd need to apply for PR before the July changes that we decided earlier this year to go for it although financially we won't be in a position to make the final move for a number of years.

 

It's important to us but as where we live in the UK is lovely too it wouldn't be the end of the world if we didn't get there - I just like the thought of having choices and didn't want to turn round to my OH in 2 years time and say why on earth didn't we apply for our visa when we could!

[Guest guest36762]

Australia is where I live, it is my (current) home.

That said, if we were to decide at some point in the future to return to England (there are no plans), I wouldn't mind if I never came back here. That is not denigrating Australia BTW, I do like it here, I'm very comfortable, and have a good life, my wife's happy being near her parents, and my kids are happy here.

But I got the lure of Australia well and truly out of my system when we arrived in 2008, and I went through one of the blackest periods of my life. It was horrible.

I'd be quite happy living near my English family, near my closest mates, in England, part of Europe

In reality though, if we did move back to England, I would of course keep returning, maybe even to live, for the sake of my wife and kids, because it is so deeply woven into the fabric of their lives, and I'm never going live on the other side of the world from them, NEVER!

[Paul1Perth]

We have been one of the luckier families and settled in really quickly from the outset. Perth has been everything we had hoped for and we love it. Both me and the wife have had nightmares where we picture someone walking up to us on the beach one day and saying it's all been a mistake and you're going to have to go back to the UK.

Don't get me wrong, I had a great time growing up and living my first 38 years there. Just got to the point where we were newly married with a 2 year old, first house, broke and both in good jobs and started thinking "is this as good as it gets".

 

Would have been well and truly devastated had we been refused emigration. I think we would have maybe done something like Pablo is suggesting and gone to Portugal, France, Spain or something. It's a strange thing though that I always felt further away from England in those places than I do here. Probably just the language thing, although the culture here I find closer to England than anywhere in Europe.

Couldn't imagine having to live back in the UK now.

[Petals]

If I had to leave Australia would have to be a very good reason and I would not look back and wish I was in Aus. I would live on wherever I was. I find things I like in most places so leaving UK was easy, leaving Aus if I had to would be the same I guess.

 

Its not about where I live its about how I feel and having familiar things and we can have these anywhere given time.

[Guest guest33730]

I love Australia but I am one of those people who could probably adapt to live in most places so if we had to leave Aus then I'm sure I'd be fine.

 

I think my kids now understand the benefit of having dual citizenship so both of them have decided to live in Aus for 4 yrs in order to get that. I think us Brits are so lucky to be able to live in the UK but also live anywhere in europe if we see fit to, if you add onto that the opportunities that having a British Passport opens up to us in other countries I think it is THAT passport rather than the Aussie one I would miss the most.

 

Daniel

[PontePom]

I feel honoured to have dual citizenship also.

 

I love living in Australia and can't see us living anywhere else.

 

Pam feels exactly the same.

 

Both our kids Becki and Luke after a few ups and downs really love it here now and will be here for several years until they've sorted their careers out then the world will be their oyster.

They'll both will have got their citizenships here so will be set for life to come and go as they please.

 

What more can you want your for your kids

 

Those that have visa's and never come to Aus I guess there'll be a limit on the amount of visa's given per year? I think they should say not coming and hand it back to let those who want to come more of a chance.

 

Howard

[janine the party queen]

In the grand scheme of things I guess Australia is not that important to us.If we were told we had to leave tomorrow then hey.......that gives us the rest of the world to explore.

Don't get me wrong we love our life here,hubby is a citizen I will be in a couple of years but we don't intend to spend the rest of our lives here.We have a 10 year plan and if all works well we can both retire early and travel.

[kungfustu]

I dont think we would be distraught if we could never return to Australia. Knowing both sides of the coin there is nothing you can do over there that you cant do here. It just comes down to choice, where you would prefer to do those things and to come up with the right answer you need to live and experience both:yes:

[Paul1Perth]

nothing you can do over there that you cant do here

 

Apart from going to the beach every weekend, having water warm enough to swim in, having your choice of which 50m affordable pool to go to, driving for miles with the cruise control on, waking up to blue skies 90% of the time, being able to organise outdoor events without taking clothes for every other season.

That the sort of thing you mean?

[kungfustu]

Goodness me your a fickle bunch.

 

Paul I dont want to get into an argument with you, but I will try and answer the points you raised.

 

I can go to the beach every weekend If I please, its less than an hours drive. During the summer months the sea is warm enough to swim in. Why do you need a 50m pool to swim in? is a 25m pool not good enough? and yes its also affordable, in fact british gas were and still are I think offering free swimming, we also have deals at my local baths for kids to get in for next to nothing. This next one is a bit silly, but yes of course I can drive for miles with my cruise control on if I wished to, but where are you going, to the middle of nowhere, where no one lives and there is nothing and apart from that, what a waste of bl##dy fuel. For the past 2 or 3 months I have woken to plenty of blue skies, its been the driest spring on record I think, and so the same applies for outdoor events, we have had more BBQ's in the past few months than we have ever had.

 

Lets not turn this into Aus v UK, I was answering the OP with my opinion, accept it like I can accept yours.

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

Apart from going to the beach every weekend, having water warm enough to swim in, having your choice of which 50m affordable pool to go to, driving for miles with the cruise control on, waking up to blue skies 90% of the time, being able to organise outdoor events without taking clothes for every other season.

That the sort of thing you mean?

 

I think we have had our summer, in april again, its been like that for nearly 10 years and we go every year to Ibiza in august for 2 weeks, for guaranteed sun and have done for the last 7 years and in that time the weather hasn't been warm and sunny once in the uk ............ in AUGUST .............. when you should be able to plan something outdoors, but sadly you can't.

[Paul1Perth]

Goodness me your a fickle bunch.

 

Paul I dont want to get into an argument with you, but I will try and answer the points you raised.

 

I can go to the beach every weekend If I please, its less than an hours drive. During the summer months the sea is warm enough to swim in. Why do you need a 50m pool to swim in? is a 25m pool not good enough? and yes its also affordable, in fact british gas were and still are I think offering free swimming, we also have deals at my local baths for kids to get in for next to nothing. This next one is a bit silly, but yes of course I can drive for miles with my cruise control on if I wished to, but where are you going, to the middle of nowhere, where no one lives and there is nothing and apart from that, what a waste of bl##dy fuel. For the past 2 or 3 months I have woken to plenty of blue skies, its been the driest spring on record I think, and so the same applies for outdoor events, we have had more BBQ's in the past few months than we have ever had.

 

Lets not turn this into Aus v UK, I was answering the OP with my opinion, accept it like I can accept yours.

 

Yes you could go to the beach every weekend but the weather would put you off most of the time.

During the summer months the sea is warm enough to swim in

Debatable. I used to but I had friends on holiday with me in Bournmouth, so one of the warmer places and they flatly refused to go in as it was too cold.

 

Why do you need a 50m pool to swim in? is a 25m pool not good enough? and yes its also affordable, in fact british gas were and still are I think offering free swimming, we also have deals at my local baths for kids to get in for next to nothing.

 

Don't necessarily need a 50m pool, but they are better and laned off for people who actually want to swim. When we were on holiday I thought I'd take the kids to the only pool around which was Stockport. First day it was pensioners day so not open to the general public. Went the next day and it cost us about 5 pounds each to get in, they had a slide but not enough staff to let my youngest use it and I got told off for diving in the deep end with not another sole in the pool.

 

Here we have 2 x 50m pools within 15 minutes of our house. One indoor one out, both have separate 25m pools as well and one has water slide and whirlpool. It costs around $5 to get in for as long as you want.

 

On the same holiday we were lent a car by my wifes Dad which had cruise control. I tried to use it but there was so much traffic everywhere we went that I gave up. It was just too much trouble. I reckon if you wanted to use it in the UK you would have to go out in the middle of the night.

 

You really can't compare the weather between Perth and the UK otherwise you wouldn't have people jetting off to Spain, Portugal, Greece and the like.

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

Sounds great paul .............. if i swam in the sea in the uk i would freeze me nadgers off. lol It was 24 degrees and warm in the sea at surfers paradise and............. paradise it was.

[Guest Ph0en1x]

No it isn't, not in the slightest

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

What isn't, swimming in the warm sea at surfers paradise, only an old fuddy duddy wouldn't love that .............. it was fandabbidozee the kids loved it, we went in everyday nearly for a month and they still talk about it now, a year later.

[Guest Ph0en1x]

What isn't, swimming in the warm sea at surfers paradise, only an old fuddy duddy wouldn't love that .............. it was fandabbidozee the kids loved it, we went in everyday nearly for a month and they still talk about it now, a year later.

 

My post was to the original question "In The Grand Scheme Of Things Is Australia So Important To You?"

[Guest siamsusie]

I find it hard to say that any country is important to me, but right now Australia affords me a wonderful life, living in gorgeous surroundings with the man I love.