Ex-pats returning to the UK ?

That's exactly what I thought, but did not like to say so!

The UK has not become nicer in the last decade, let alone the last two!

ATB from George

I guess that you want to live under grey skies, in close contact with your fellow man - commuting for many hours a day to work, with failing services and increasing taxes.

I can see why you would want to come back - how often have you been back - why not do a dummy run to see what sub life is like in the old country.

A millionaire pal of mine who moved to the south of France 2 years ago is seriously considering moving to Australia as he and his family fell in love with the place during their recent 1 month holiday. Being well off he can live anywhere in the world.

ScottC

My wife and I moved the UK from NZ over three years ago. Our experience won't be yours but I too am going to ask the question why? Not because I think it's a bad idea but because I might be able to give you informed advice.

What's your working background, kids, where are you thinking of moving back to, etc?

regards
Jay

Hey! Naim is cheaper here. What better reason do you want?!

Gee Derek, you make it sound so attractive I've booked the dog into the boarding kennel and started to pack. Bugger the sunshine and open spaces, I'm on my way!

Bazz - Glad to be of some help for you, in this nanny state we have very strict laws re trades description and misleading advertising (apart from politicians and government) so I had to be honest with you. <g>

It can't be that bad, surely. You don't have Bindi Irwin on TV do you?

Why would I move back ? Well life is different for everybody so my reasons will be different to yours but here goes.

The first couple of years here were the toughest but everyone said you have to last two years before making a decision to stay or not. We decided to stay and for the next few years we had a good time. I'm not going to run down Australia but things have changed in the last couple of years - there are loads of reasons for this but here are a few.

Although we've got Australian citizenship I feel more British than ever. I don't surf and am not interested in "Aussie" sports (cricket, Rugby League, swimming, tennis, AFL etc etc) - there was a glimmer of hope last year when they did well in the World Cup but that has been forgotten about by now.

We've been to loads of great places and for holidays it's a great place to visit but I'm beginning to have a low tolerance of the heat & humidity and in Brisbane it's hot and humid for 9 months of the year.

You can only drive so far on a weekend and for Brisbane this means Noosa, Byron Bay and a couple of places in land that we've done to death by now.

We enjoy hill-walking on our trips back to the UK in Wales and Scotland. Here bush-walking means walking through tree covered hills with no view of where you have been or where you are going. Different but not our cup of tea.

Family & friends. We do have friends here who we would miss but as the years have gone on and they've had more kids we see less and less of them. We don't have kids or family here so no such ties for us there. We do both have family & friends in the UK that we catch up with on trips home - it would be nice to see them more than once every 2 or 3 years.

Boredom. I spend so much time avoiding the sun here that I end up staying in-doors far more than I do when we are in the UK.

Other places to visit. Because we do a UK trip every 2 or 3 years it eats up our finances & holiday time which means we can't get to other far flung places in the intervening years. Also Europe is on your doorstep - for us it's a major trip.

So there you go - some reasons why we'd like to return. We realise that the UK is not paradise on Earth but nowhere is. I see a lot of people on this forum bitching about how bad life is in the UK but how many of them actually do anything about it ? Remember - going somewhere on holiday is not the same as living & working there.

The comment about wide open spaces ... well yes there are but they are so far away that they might as well be in another country. Bear in mind that since we have been here, immigration to South-East Queensland is running at something like 1500 people a week. In that time there has been hardly any investment in the infrastructure that this population density now requires. In effect we now live in a city that has traffic snarl-ups just as bad as I used to suffer traveling from Guildford to Addlestone (A3-M25). To avoid this I cycle to work most of the time.

Jay - I'd be interested to hear your experiences. We have no kids, I'm in IT (.Net developer) and my other half is a pharmacist. Regarding where do we want to live : we both love Sussex (having got together in Brighton) and Scotland. But we're open to location so we have options.

Cheers
Scott

PS Oh and as a few of you have mentioned it will be easier to audition not just Naim but all HiFi - we are down to about 3 real hifi stores in Brisbane - the rest being box movers.

PPS And also His Tonyness has gone and it looks like is being reincarnated as Kevin Rudd who it looks like might just be the next PM here :-)

They'll be coming back in droves from France now that Sarkozy has withdrawn health care rights to those not working and under 65.

When people think of emigrating,I think good advice is to try a 'dry run' ie move to the country for a while to test the water, rather than just going because you are fed up & have had a good holiday in another country.
I realise that Oz is a bloomin long way away, but would it be feasible to take, say a month back in the UK to experience how it is now?
Property prices, weather, tax, can all be researched on the net, but how you feel about a country can only be experienced by you on a personal level.
A difficult decision, best of luck.
Matt.

Look at each of the issues separately

Heat and humidity - move south - to Sydney or Melbourne etc

Hill walking - which areas in Oz meet this need - I think that Newcastle and the south may answer this need.

Friends in a far country - may only be friends because you do not see then very frequently - if you were closer you may well have drifted apart by now.

Just a few random thoughts

quote:

Originally posted by ScottC:
After 11 years in Brisbane we're thinking of returning to the UK.

Hi Scott

Are you a Muslim?

If "yes", fly back tomorrow. You'll find the UK a great place to settle back to.

Ian

Ian,

The fact that the UK is a great place for Muslims and indeed a great place for any nationality and members of non-Christian faith speaks volumes for the tolerance, friendliness and hospitality of the greater percentage of intelligent and thoughtful Brits. The multi-cultural society that is the UK is something to be proud of in my view.

quote:

Originally posted by acad tsunami:
.....speaks volumes for the tolerance, friendliness and hospitality of the greater percentage of intelligent and thoughtful Brits.

Acad,

With the very greatest of respect for your view and, stepping on eggshells here, I see things differently.

I think the British openness to multi-culturalism and the obsession with being seeing to be decent and honourable is a real weakness which is being abused and it will come to haunt us in future years.

To Scott, I am not earning quite enough at the moment to secure my retirement to France, but I live each day for the time when I can - I truly hate living in the UK. And I don't write that lightly after one too many red wines - I mean it.

No Bob, the health benefits withdrawal in France is irrelevant to me.

Returning to the UK? Think and think again before making your move, Scott (obvious, I know.)

Ian

quote:

Originally posted by ScottC:
Why would I move back ? ......

Hi Scott

Your experiences sound very very similar to ours except in parallel. With the one exception, we are happy where we live!

But we have done the whole - annual trip back for weddings, use up all your leave and your money. Mind you I wouldn't have missed them!

I would echo the comment about moving down south. Brisbane is far too hot - all the time. We love Melbourne and could very easily see ourselves settle there at some point in our lives. It just seemed to have the right mix of sport, culture, food wine and weather.

We also miss our friends but do try to keep in touch. The internet and telephone are just fantastic for that but it's not so easy when you just want that quiet beer with a good mate.

Sometimes the grass seems greener and I think moving back to the UK is "a" solution to the problem you have. But it's only one solution. Try to really nail down why you're not happy where you are and then go on a little trip - somewhere with no distractions, think and talk about it. You never know you might come back with a different answer.

regards
Jay

ps. feel free to flick me an email I can elaborate more!
freak n out at g mail dot com (no spaces obviously)

Hi Guys,

I think some of you have gone off topic a bit although to be honest I was expecting it. I don't need to hear why some of you think the UK is going down the tubes - there was a topic last year detailing this (or at least why you would leave the UK).

What I was really trying to achieve was to find out from those who have returned to the UK from overseas
1) are they glad they returned ?
2) were there any major problems ?

Although we've been in Australia since March 1996 we have returned to the UK in 1998, 2000, 2003 & 2006 for between 4 and 6 weeks. We've always enjoyed these trips and on the last 2 I've felt more alive than I do here in Brisbane.

Granted - we were on holiday (and the visits were in July/August/September) but I just felt like I fitted in better than here.

Moving to Sydney or Melbourne is not really an option since we don't know anyone there. If we move anywhere it will be to somewhere where we can drive to see family/friends on a weekend. Also Sydney has traffic issues & house prices that make London look good.

Even if we do move back we fully intend to keep on our house here (rented) for at least a year. Then if change our minds we haven't burned our bridges. We've got dual citizenship so no problems with Visas.

I remember a casual acquaintance of ours who returned about 4 years ago telling me that he just didn't feel like he fitted in here anymore. I didn't understand exactly what he meant at the time but over the last 3 years or so I've come to the same conclusion.

I did like the comment from FrankF about his friends who bought the Tappas bar in Spain. I've got some embryonic plans to do something outside of IT which would allow us to live where we want.

Cheers
Scott

Oh and another reason - the long summer evenings. We don't get them here. 7:30pm is about as late as we get light in summer and even though it is broad daylight at 4:00am in summer we don't have daylight savings here in Queensland (something about the cows getting confused and the curtains fading)

quote:

Originally posted by ianmacd:

quote:

Originally posted by acad tsunami:
.....speaks volumes for the tolerance, friendliness and hospitality of the greater percentage of intelligent and thoughtful Brits.

Acad,

With the very greatest of respect for your view and, stepping on eggshells here, I see things differently.

I think the British openness to multi-culturalism and the obsession with being seeing to be decent and honourable is a real weakness which is being abused and it will come to haunt us in future years.

I truly hate living in the UK. And I don't write that lightly after one too many red wines - I mean it.

I agree; I don't want to leave Britain as I have loads of friends here, but I'm sick of the way we get pumped by all and sundry; not all Brits are docile and willing to keep putting up with it.

Mind you, when America's economy collapses, our house prices'll tank so that'll be one thing that'll help.

I'd love a government to grow the balls to stop dolescroungers being paid to watch telly and reproduce like rabbits, but I doubt that'll happen any time soon.

Living in the UK can offer very different experiences according to location. Living in London offers as different an experience to life in say, Sutherland or Caithness, as moving to a distant country. You can probably find what you want in the UK, if prepared to make the effort.
At present I would find it hard to give up my usual day-off habit of having no plans, walking 5 minutes to the station with a copy of Time Out and stepping off the train 20 minutes later with my just selected choice of; exhibitions, concerts, recitals etc. Then when finished, a frequent train service home to; woods, farmland, bridlepaths etc.
I agree it is expensive to live here, and I could have a much grander house in other parts, but the UK pays me the money in the first place.

I guess if I was a GP earning £100k I'd be feeling pretty cosy and smug too.

well you should have studied harder at school.

The UK is very nice if you have plenty of money, but few things are uglier than jealousy!

I admire people who have got on well. I have a few who have done so as good friends. We do not spend time discussing money!

ATB from George

quote:

I guess if I was a GP earning £100k I'd be feeling pretty cosy and smug too.

I doubt it.

You'd probably be jealous of other GPs who have had the foresight to get shares in private health delivery companies to whom you refer your patients for specialist treatment under new NHS arrangements.

Cheers

Don

Going over to France for a few weeks this summer was a salutary experience. In general, of course, the food is better, the roads are better, there's no traffic, everyone's well-behaved and well-dressed, etc. And all because they don't mind paying a bit of extra tax. They seem to get as much done in their 35 hour week / 2-hour lunch breaks as Brits do getting in at 7 am and then spending 3 hours surfing the internet...

On the other hand you have the ex-pats, basically 58-yr-old Brits who've had enough of the society they created when they voted for Thatcher and now want to live in a socialist state! hilarious.

Dear All,

I moved here to Sydney a year ago and do not regret it at all.

I have swapped no mortgage reasonable NHS salary job security boredom and futility (you try working for the NHS) for poverty no job security cant afford a house where i am renting lousy Sydney traffic.

I couldnt be happier.

THis could go tits up but i will be applying for residency iminently so hopefully i will get it and then Australia is my oyster and i will be able to make proper roots.

If i had to go back to UK i would go to Somerset or Devon, but i would prefer to stay here.

I knew nobody here when i arrived but a bit of effort and i have good bunch of HiFi buddies am secretary of the Sydney Audio Club and a member of the Audiophile Society of NSW. I have got in contact with my school Old Boy Network etc etc.

So a bit of effort has paid dividends.

Returning to the UK you remember will result in disappointment as it wont be there. The UK has real problems and i hope not to have to return.

If family is the major reason for your return then that is as good as any reason.

I would add that you can choose your friends but not your family.

But WHAT IF is a terrible dilemma.

So go back keep your aussie home and see what happens. You may head south again very quickly.

regard David