Wanted Down Under 2014

[MrsReiver]

I know all you addicts are out there! I am not the only one.

That's really sad that they've not gone -she is so unhappy it made me cry

Oh dear. I think she deserves to have her chance. Poor things.

Well if he waits until he has an actual job before going there, they're never going to move are they? I can see that situation running for years with increasing resentment on both sides.

Bummer update for them. He's never going to go.

Surely he could temp and they could live with her family for a while.

It really is her turn.

Think I'm in a harsh mood today as she is really annoying me. She has wanted to go back to Adelaide for years as that is where she is from, (fair enough), but why does she have no idea of the houses they can afford, what is a likely income and cost of living.

I can understand this from people not from there but she is so no excuses in my opinion.

I hope they do go. I think she really needs her family. I too thought she may be depressed.

I thought that Shenanagins - don't they have RightMove or estate agents websites over there?

That's why I think the show is so unrealistic. Daft.

Am I the only one to feel cross? Firstly because I thought the point of the programme was to help people who were keen to find out about life down under to go out for a week to give them a taste of life in Australia or New Zealand. Then it appears that she has family in Adelaide, and they go often for weeks at a time to visit!! Plenty of time for them to investigate then, BBC didn't need to waste our money on this family. Also I found her very selfish and turning on the tap about her sad, lonely life and involving her older child in her emotions. "No-one to visit you when you're in hospital having a baby" - what about his family, her brother in the UK? Fair enough, I know how she feels (I have family in Australia and it can tear you in two). I just feel more annoyed about my licence fee being used on her when there must be more deserving families. How do they pick them?

She was incredibly annoying and self-pitying and I didn't feel a bit sorry for her. Those hints about their relationship being under threat if she didn't get her own way were very unpleasant. Felt sorry for the husband and kids. in the end she will do just as she wants.

Yes, the husband seemed a lovely man, and I thought she would get her own way even if it makes him unhappy. With all that family in Adelaide you would have thought one of them could have come over when she had her baby? She is using emotional blackmail to get what she wants.

Clawdy and Martha, I'm afraid I disagree.
I can feel her pain as I live with something similar every day.
He does seem lovely and was won around, and rightly so, he could see the job prospects were almost tailor made and how much happier his wife was.
I think he would be quite happy in Oz, and when you have a family of your own you need to think of their needs not the needs of your siblings and parents. But I think the real reason he wouldn't go is because he feels he couldn't provide sufficiently for his family and I see that and understand it. But what he needs to try and do is take a leap of faith.
If not for himself then for her or just for the sheer hell of it. You only live once and he could give it a go. If I they end up coming back, then so be it, but it will be an adventure for him and the kids, the wife is happy and hopefully they will be closer. Mums and sisters will always visit.
Men can get a bit jittery about taking the plunge and can become risk averse when they get families but a stale life is not a life and I feel he could lose her and possibly the kids, or she could do of something to harm herself (God forbid that should happen) because you can see how much she despairs. She really looked very very unhappy. I know, Scotland can do that to you!

IMO, the problem with not taking your parents and siblings into consideration isn't just about their needs (although in this case it was rather a lot), but THEY are your DC's family. Just doing what is "best" for your own little family, if it involves leaving everyone behind, is not a great message to your own kids. They won't think twice about leaving you on the other side of the world when their turn comes. I've experienced this in a small way as me and my sisters don't feel bad if we can't always help out our mum because we know that she did nothing to look after or help her own mother. We do look after her and help her, my older sis in particular, but we are very aware that she never did it, or considered doing it, herself.

That's an interesting point you make there Davros

I have a friend who's parents left the UK and moved to America when she and her siblings were young. She grew up in America, and then moved back here to the UK. She now has a young family, and her parents must feel the pain of being so far away from their grandchildren, just as their own parents did.

You reap what you sow. Not saying it's a bad thing to emigrate for a better life, but be prepared for your children to grow up with that mindset too.

Why do they only ever send them to Auckland? I went to NZ and there was much more to it than Auckland, which to be honest was my least favourite place. There's the whole of he South Island for example!

And why do they always seem to want to move because in Oz you can go horse riding? We have horses in the UK the last time I checked. And bikes.

Cosy tea bags, as people grow they can make their own decisions, and we all, as parents have to deal with that (sob!) .
But grandparents make decisions too, and sometimes their decisions take them from the family. My grandparents lived in Scotland then in the canary island while I was in England. I didn't know them. My own parents are not very involved with my children. What they do does not impact on our life and vice versa. My children would not miss out if we went further away. Some families just work differently.

ooo this should be a good one!

This is odd

How would they get a work permit?

And she looks a lot older than 18

I hope Michelle has actual friends as well as her mum!

This one is a joke- these two are just having a free holiday!!

They seem more like a couple -why is an 18 year old driving this?

she's not your best friend, she's your mum ffs!! Drop the emotional blackmail, live your own bloody life.

Get a grip woman!

They actually look like they're 'acting'

Moving overseas is setting a bad example to your children? Really?