Anyone moved to Australia from the UK and came back home?

[chicaguapa]

DH is doing a PGCE in Chemistry and we're thinking of moving out to Australia for a few years while DS are still young and to enjoy the relaxed outdoor lifestyle for a bit. I can't see us staying out there forever as I have loads of family in the UK and I know I & DC will miss them.

I have lived abroad before and have really enjoyed it, but have also been pleased to come 'home' eventually. I have a few reservations about going to Australia though as I'm not sure how easy it will be to come home to dreary old grey England after such a lovely lifestyle in Australia. So I was wondering if anyone had any experiences of doing that?

DH has been before and would go like a shot, but he isn't particularly close to his family. I've not been but easily adapt to places so I have no worries about that aspect. I guess I'm just worried that I'll feel torn and part of me will want to stay for the lifestyle and the other part will want to go home to family. And then I'll wish I'd never gone in the first place!

Thanks.

savoycabbage when are you going back to the UK?

You do nothing but moan and complain about every aspect of this country at every opportunity - get the hell over it!!!

This is NOT England. Yes we look the same and speak the same language but it is a different country.

Shit - to make the effort to complain about a hot slide burning your arse in the summer OMFG!!! Go to the friggin pool or beach FGS!

Wow savoy....I think you need to go back to the UK!

In my daughters school, they take fruit for morning tea (she is 6, btw) recess and lunch.

For kindy she took 2 x fruit & lunch.

They do most of their learning through play at the kindy. Dd has never burnt her anything on any play equipment!

You make it sound like all Australian's do is eat! I know plenty of Aussies of all weights & sizes!

And racism? Sexism? Not where I live!

We moved to NZ about 18 months ago and had DD 10 months after we arrived. NZ is a very different country to Oz, but the experience of moving so far away is probably similar. Just different advantages and disadvantages to the countries.

Have to say I'm loving NZ at the moment- helps that the weather here rocks (25C, not too hot but feels a bit tropical at times).

Anyway, what I wanted to say was that being away, can be what you need to learn about yourself and the place you are from. We went back recently to show off DD and had a great time. I had thought I would love it and be desperate to go home, or hate it and decide I could never live there again.

Instead, I got a weird sense of perspective on it all. There are great things about the UK- the culture, the shopping, the TV, the comedy, the way the UK has been a world leader, old friends and family. I could live there again. BUT it isn't going anywhere and very little had changed. I suspect we will yo yo between the two places and that is cool with me. Just means we'll spend a fortune on shipping!

thumbwitch- sorry to hear you are homesick. I think everyone gets it so don't feel out of place. Three months really, really is a short time to adapt to such a huge change. I was definitely out of my comfort zone for ages (still am at times) and felt like a total muppet for not knowing how things worked pretty much every day. Give yourself a break- you will feel different in a few months.

Yes I think I do. I am sorry though. I don't complain at all about Australia to my RL friends. I don't want the ones at home to worry about me and I would never complain about Australia to my new RL friends here, it's just not on I don't think. I suppose I just use MN to rant and complain as I have literally no other way of doing it. So I do complain a lot on here. Sorry, I can see that it is out or order.

I was having a rant as my friend died at home. She was a 36 mother of three and it was very, very sudden. It really set me off about how far away I was from people.

There are a lot of good things here. I did burn my bum though!

Savoy. I remember burning my bum as a kid on the slide. It hurt!
Sorry to hear about your friend.
And I understand about the needing to offload/rant thing. You just can't do it in RL can you and I do think its part of the process of coping with somewhere new.

I would like to add that I will be going back to the Uk in Feb. We are doing this because we prefer to live there.

The past year living here I have been the fittest in my life, There is the opportunity to walk run when the dc,s have gone to bed and the weather in winter is great. I know so many more fit, healthy people than I have ever known.

I work in an emergency department and the incidence of obese people is far less than the Uk. There are things that we don't like as much as back home, but generally it is a pretty good place to live.

I moved to auz lived in Melbourne went on a sponsored visa. Working in the motor sector I found the auzzies reinvent everything as a mechanic with over 30 years experience the auzzies make you feel like an apprentice, they have a strange way of working job creation more like. My UK hgv licence was no good they wanted me to sit the auzzie test I found this insulting as there roads are mainly dirt tracks. The winter drags and its the coldest I have ever been indoors. the houses are built out of cheap rubbish tin roofs and asbestos walls in many older property's. They are ageist racist and backwards in many ways, auzzies tend to sit nursing tap water in many of the bars because its extortionate to drink and eat out. Down the coast around Melbourne they set up camp sites in the summer it looks like a refugees camp. They care more about bling than personal appearance. All the young kids are sprayed orange. I saw loads of people drinking beer and driving like we do with soda or a coffee. Cost of living is mega expensive. Water bills gas bills lecky bills and food shopping will make your eyes water. You won't get to enjoy the outdoor lifestyle because your working all the time just to live. Ants are everywhere in your house food, car, I mean everywhere. In the summer it's to hot to go outside. It is not the barbie culture, most auzzies do nothing at weekends. Leave the city travel 5ks inland and your in the set of the Waltons old fashioned Western like towns. Its very lonely for ex pats and a very long way from home. You should get the Victoria Cross for the flight from UK to Australia torture. flying back home for visits is not really an option. Not to mention the flight prices. Its not all bad the sights, wildlife, sky at night worth seeing and its very very light and bright out, its one of life's gambles you have to go find out for yourself. Food tastes better than food back here. If your prepared to work yourself to death you could have a decent life but you'll never come home rich 50 dollars goes like 10 goes here. I m glad I done it but would never go back even if someone bought me a first class ticket. I came home, and now I work in London living on the outskirts of town making good money with plenty of savings and if I want to visit family I drive my car. I would advise anyone to visit have a great holiday but get back to blighty and look back with fond memories. Living in auz is not a wize moove.

We lived in Australia for 4 years with DH's job and although it was fun, we were so happy to return to London. The weather in Australia really isn't great (unless you are in Melbourne, which has "normal" seasons). It was so hot in Perth, WA, it was miserable. Imagine having to stay indoors because of the heat for about 8 months of the year.

We have much more of an outdoor lifestyle here and the children (10 and 14) don't pine for their old life at all, although do of course miss their friends there.
We all missed the european culture and history when we were so far away. That was surprising to us but a really big issue.

Peeree - how old were your kids when you came back? How did they find school here as opposed to school there? I have a thread in aibu about moving abroad but someone suggested I try this overseas topic too. I am very scared about the move! I can't imagine not wanting to come back to the UK

@coco123456789, we've been back 3 years. The kids were really good about school (there and here) as we always reminded them it was a temporary measure.

Do it or you'll regret not doing it. Will be a great experience. Children are very adaptable.

Thanks - so you came back for first year of secondary?

By the way, you said weather good but thought Melbourne wasn't great?

coco - I said the complete opposite about the weather.

Ah - well it's Melbourne it would be!