Moving to Oz - how did you rationalise moving so far from family and friends?

[Buda]

As some of you know we are currently in Budapest and planning on relocating back to UK in 2 years or so. But. But. But.

I keep thinking of Oz. Perth to be precise. DH would go in a heartbeat but thinks I would struggle hugely with distance. I have lived away from my family in Dublin for years but for the last 8 years have been close enough to go back 3/4 times a year. We are popping back this weekend for my Dad's 70th in fact.

I have 3 younger sisters all with children. DS is an only and loves his cousins. DH has no family ties to anywhere or anyone.

We have just sat and tried to logically work out pros and cons and give various aspects of living in either UK or Oz points but we are stuck on just how much the proximity to Dublin should be weighted (DH is a very logical accountant!!).

If you have done it how did you decide? And how do you feel now? How bad is the journey to an from? (Have been to Oz twice but both times from Asia so travel/cost less of an issue.) How often do you get back? How much do you miss people? Is it really worth it?

I may not get back on again tonight but will be on in the morning. Looking forward to lots of helpful replies from you Oz lot! Thanks!

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well maybe it's the immigrant mix there, I don't know how to express it. I quite like Melbourne

Unless you have some very time consuming hobbies, I would think you would get bored quickly in Adelaide to be honest.

It's nice enough, and the schools are very good, but unless you like watersports, golf, vineyards, eating out, hiking etc, and sport there isn't loads to do. Theatre and cinema, galleries etc are rubbish really.

It's fine for us for the time being as we are at work in the week but I think if I was retired I would go crazy.

The advantage it does have is that it's very cheap - if you could spend up to $1.5 million you would have an absolute mansion here - as much land as you wanted, probably a 5 or 6 bedroom house, pool, literally an absolute dream home (and I have expensive dreams).

So you could base yourself somewhere cheaper and then fly all over the place exploring - that's the advantage of basing yourself in a cheaper area.

Even for $1million you could have an amazing home here. We were vaguely looking a while ago, and even for around $700,000 you are looking at 4 bedrooms, a pool, lovely garden, and only 20 minutes from work.

my dh is in the navy and they are based on garden island , rockingham. house prices aren't to bad. we are looking at 4 bed, 2 bath double garage, outside eating area and garden, close to beach ,parks and shops this is all for just under $480,000. in uk terms that £240,000!! we are going back for second looks. in centre of perth they are more expensive but thats the same in all city centres. depends on what you want. also i feel more in touch living here with the real world than in did living in plmouth,uk. as londeners all know the world stops at bristol!! have also had a lovely couple of days and my washing has dried nicely on the line!!!!!!

just read the rest of the threads!!! theres more to do in perth area than taunton. i lived near cheddar and you still have to travel miles for things and theres so much more traffic

My brother relocated to Oz earlier this year. To him and his (new) wife it was a new start for both of them and her child. They had both had a pretty rubbish time here for a few years, met and realised that they had met the love of their lives. It was all about new beginnings for them, and they are very happy. I miss them terribly (especially at 5am!). I have two other siblings, one who also lives abroad, one who lives 5 hours away.

Loads of food for thought from all this. Still no nearer a decision but we have time yet.

ben5 - I know what you mean about there being lots more to do in Perth than in Taunton but one advantage of Taunton is that it is easy to get to places i.e. for me to get to Dublin and to see other friends and the few relatives we have in the UK. The washing drying on the line is fab isn't it. I love seeing my washing drying on the line!

It's good to have a choice though Buda. Not sure if I could retire anywhere I chose where I might go. Dh would consider Australia, he quite liked it and for me since my sister and her brood are there, it would sense. My family are scattered about the globe as it is and you cannot trust any of them to stay put. We're like those prairie bushes that get blown about all the time.

If your parents are getting on and your family is mostly based in Ireland and you are all quite close, maybe Australia is really a bit far away.

Last attempt.

I used to live in West Monkton when I was a child - nice place. If you don't want this one I'll have to rob a bank to buy it . Also good access to Taunton - Taunton school side.

I asked Dh about land for sale - he knows the sort of bods who might know - but none atm.

you have been finding her some nice places but what would the homes in Perth look like for that type of price range I wonder?

Oooh, a fellow Dub! Come to Sydney Everyone keeps on telling me how many Irish people there are here but I can't find any of them - all my expat friends are brits. Seriously though, I thought Perth property prices had skyrocketed in the last few years. As Ozziegirly said, if you don't need to commute to the CBD (which unfortunately DH does) Sydney may be a real option. Have a look at Scotland Island on Pittwater.

I'm flying back to Ireland next week to see my dad who is 84 and in long term care. My mum died 7 years ago and my sister lives 5 hours from my dad but rarely goes to visit. The family thing is a real nightmare, I haven't been back for 2 years when I got the "you need to come NOW" call, well two years on I've had a few more of those but he's still there and I'm still here. I feel very guilty a lot of the time, but I spent 18 years in the UK and returning to Ireland was never an option so do I spend the rest of my life in a country I don't particularly want to live in just so I can go "home" 3/4 times a year, or do I follow the dream and focus on what is best for my family (DH and 3 kids). There are no easy answers really, just whatever you feel you can live with.

I don't doubt it would be palatial! But she was potentially looking in Somerset and I don't know anything about Oz..

buda is that 800 in uk pounds? if so translate that to 1.6 million au dollars. you can have some fab houses for that. have you been on www.realestate.com.au ?

ben5 - I know! That is one of the draws of OZ. I KNOW we would get so much more for our money there.

have you tried www.realestate.com.au

To be fair, you could spend $1 million, have an amazing home AND have the cash spare to fly back to the UK 3 times a year business class for the next 10 years....

I don't think there's any doubt about the size of the house you could buy with UK sized house sale proceeds in your back pocket!

We sold a vast house on the Sunshine Coast back in Jan this year- 1/3 acre, 4 bedrooms, study, utility, 2 big living rooms, a kitchen you could land a small aircraft in... drive in integral double garage, pool, shade house, patio, yadda, yadda for AU$565,000....(£292,000)

BUT thing is, you can GET such big houses towards the northern half of Oz cos you don't have to heat them! They ARE quite flimsy, too. This can be an issue when the neighbours around you are out in the summer evenings having a barbie- that goes on til 2am....but also they can be really quite cold for the 2 months of winter- I brought the DSs' fleece PJs back when we emigrated to the UK 6 years ago and have never unpacked them! But similarly they've barely worn the anti-skin cancer sunsuits or the selection of wide-brimmed hats, and we still have 2 litres of sunscreen left! The point I'm rather facetiously making is that though waking to The Sun every day is pleasant, it destroys young skin! We would go under shade by 10am at the latest and re-emerge at 4pm, giving us perhaps 2 hours in the morning and 1-2 hours in the evenings before it got too dark to enjoy the great outdoors!

We were also well in a position to afford private schooling but again, where we were, the options were ALL religious! Two Christian Fundamentalist colleges, a Catholic one, a Lutheran one, a Methodist one (recently taken over by the Methos when the previous owner/head-teacher had his past catch up with him re fiddling with under-aged girls...!!- not slanderous, but completely true!) and an Anglican one. Sport, sport, sport was the order of the day in each, to the extent that our very Lutheran neighbours who were both Lutheran teachers moved back to their Germanic-heritage homeland of the Adelaide Hills to get their DCs away from the 'No Worries', surfing dude attitude that even the privately educated DCs started to exhibit come Y10 and 11.

I have a friend who has just emigrated back from 4 years on the Gold Coast. She has had to have her 14 year old DS privately tutored to catch him up with the DCs in the school he left 4 years ago in Gloucestershire now they're back. He was on his state school's 'gifted' program in Oz. Thing is, I think a big issue re education is we here have OFSTED, league tables (not that I condone these particularly!) and the broadsheets ENDLESSLY bang on about standards in education. You don't have that to nearly the same extent in Oz. It's quite hard to measure how good a school is in many ways. Whilst obviously there are no doubt great schools in Oz, be aware that the snob value attached to many would make Eton blush!

Just some food for thought and of course, all my own opinion!