australia or uk should join u?

[janeplustwo]

Hi Everyone hope you dont mind me gate crashing you forum. I am so fed up with living in uk its depressing me. It sunday lunch time here and raining (even though its summer) Its been raining for about two weeks now and there are floods every were. Theres just nothing to do here its the weekend and im so bored, theres nothing to do when the whether is nice let alone raining. Also the up rise in terrerist incidents is getting me down too i dont know were this country is going any more and its not were i want my kids to grow up.

I am wondering if moving to australia is just some romatic idea that life will be better down under or if it actually will be better.

Whats your typical day for a sunday or any day as stay at home mum, what kind of things do you do?

look forward to chatting with you
Thanks
Jane:gloomy:

[Beany]

Ah Jane - there's rain and floods abound here ... and where there isn't there's crippling drought.

The terrorist attacks here may be fewer but the threat is just as present ...

I'm an ex-pat Brit, by the way :wave:

My typical Sunday ... We usually head out to breakfast at a local cafe. Nothing hugely special - coffee and scones or a bagel usually. We then either mooch around the shops for a while or wander down to the local park (depending on the weather) and let the little one have a run around for a while. We come home, have lunch and a nap (in the case of the boy) and then either go and see the grandparents or just laze around at home.

Nothing at all fancy :)

To be honest, I would rather be in England. I think it's just a case of the grass is greener on the other side.

[niamh75]

hi
Jane i so get were your coming from
Im living in
Dublin Ireland and its
raining yet again this will make it a whole month if its rains every day this week its so annoying esp now the kids are on their summer holidays . it must be
worrying about the
terrorists attacks it was a lucky save with those car bombs when will it stop.
we are moving to
Brisbane next April and
im so scared but so excited and i cant wait we have friends over there already and i have an
uncle in Sydney and my brother is in
new zealand so i can pass on what they have told me


ild say yes they get rain but its not for as long as we get it although their winter will feel like a summer to us at first my friend was saying it was 22 degrees and freezing
that's a good day here
lol the life style is so much different in such as its a more out door life as the weather is so much better the rate of living is so much better compared to Ireland its a joke here at the minute.
if you are thinking of moving really research were your thinking of going i live in the country here but i want to be in a more built up area close to schools and that i guess were ever you are its what you make of it like for us on a
Sunday is family day and when we go to Brisbane we will go off with the kids some were like
Frasier island camping or
hiking or when its summer down to the beach all those sort of things or maybe have a
bbq and have some friends round. i know i plan to join a mother and toddler group and get out of the house and make friends . i think the only way to know if its for you is to try it out even for a holiday and see what you think my husband was over at the sunshine coast for our friend wedding he has come home more determined to make the move. from what i have seen and heard the weather is better more family orientated the people are very warm and friendly hey if you do come over look me up !

i will say that at my sons school i was telling the mothers what we are thinking of doing there was 3 mothers who had brother and sisters that went for a year with their family's and have all come home lasted a few month and moved back i think that says
a lot.
I hope
ive helped
Naimh

[niamh75]

hi sorry about the length of that post i went on a bit:ecomcity: i dont know what happened it looks like the spell check did some thing to it
Niamh:wave:

[janeplustwo]

Thanks hun the more i read the more i want to go! I think there will be so much more to do even if its just having a family bbq thats more than we do here! its bl$$dy misreble! I would love to have an out door life style. How long has it taken you to make the move i.e getting the visa act.

[mayasmummy]

Hi Jane :wave:

I'm also an Expat Brit living in Sydney. Sorry Beany but I'd take Oz over the UK any day of the week (although I would be very happy if they opened a Tescos here).

Our typical Sunday is very lazy indeed. As Beany says the weather has been very wet here too but this weekend it was dry (hooray) :smiliedance: so we went off down to the local beach to watch the crazy people turning blue from swimming in the ocean. There's a great playground there so Little Miss charges around chasing the seagulls whilst dh and I sip a coffee. Happy days.

Wrapped up nice and warm in the sunshine - I love this weather.

Sending you a hug and some sunshine :kiss:
x

[Manxie]

Hi

Another expat here, living in Adelaide

I think there are pros and cons to both countries.

Pro's

Schooling-compared to England it is a lot cheaper to privately educate your children here. Also from what I've seen the public schools are much better than those in some city's in the UK

Housing-get more for your money.

Health-Public health system is much better and private health insurance is affordable for most families.

Weather-In the summer you can plan to have a bar-b-que and not be rained off but it may be too hot!

Cons

Not having any family or friends around. I didnt realise how hard this would be, I thought oh well they are just a flight away. Yep a 24hr plus flight, that costs lost of money and is a complete nightmare with a toddler. All my holidays and money has been spent on going back to the UK. There is lots of Australia and Asia I'd like to see but I just cant afford it if I want to get back home. My family are now elderly and cant come out here. I have had to deal with my mum being diagnosed with breast cancer and it was just horrible not being near to her.

Also my daughter is missing out on seeing half of her relations and it breaks my heart that my family are missing out on seeing her grow up.

UK friends are gradually drifting away after being here for six years and I still havent made any real friends here.

As Beany said the grass isnt necessarily greener. Emigrating isnt like being on holiday, there are still hassles, bills to be paid etc.

I havent found that I have a fantastic "outdoor lifestyle" and I dont feel like I am living the dream. At the moment I'm with Beany I'd prefer to be in the UK to be close to family and friends but now we just cant afford to make the move back and are committed to living here.

Hope this helps

[Londonmum]

Janplustwo - Hi there :wave: I felt the same way when I was in the UK (I'm also an ex pat).

I'm living in Adelaide too, been here since end Nov 07. DH and I planned to emigrate for many years (he's from NZ) but it took us a while to get our act together and come over to Aus for a look see/fact finding holiday.
Took us about a year to go through the whole emigration process and we went through an emigration company to make life easier for us.

Like Manxie, I agree there are pluses and minuses.
I have no friends and family over here, though I am working on the friends thing. Don't get me wrong I have lots of mum friends but none I'd call best friends....yet.

I don't have any family here and that is hard, esp if you want to go out with your DH. If I was in UK then I'd have loads of volunteers to babysit. But again I'm working on that and already have a couple of work friends who will babysit for me on occasional basis......but none I could leave DD with over night/weekend like I could have done with parents.

Some things are cheaper here and some things are more expensive. Theres more beurocracy here then UK, but in converse I have found the weather better, people are more friendly and willing to help if you ask them. I have found there are more things to do outside if weather is suitable, we are in winter here now but I'm looking out the window and it's sunny though very windy.

As the others have said you need to do the reasearch and see if it really is for you. If you have family/friends here then thats a positive thing but if not then think really hard before leaving the UK and your family/friends/support network.
Saying that this forum has been great and I have met some very lovely ladies through here :thumbsup:

[Londonmum]

They say famous last words.....no sooner did I finiah my post and put lap top away then it turned grey and is now peeing down :laughing:

[quitecontrary]

We are holidaying (for 7 weeks) at the in-laws in Buckinghamshire, where it is bucketing down and has been Sydney winter cold. This is summer and it does make me laugh!!!
Dh decided to come to Oz before we met (he was PHD-ing) and had no qualms about making it a permanent thing.
It is bl**dy hard though sometimes. His mum and dad are much older than mine and couldn't make the trip over to ours. Last year we came over together once and he did a solo which happened to coincide with his mum being operated on for breast cancer. This year we are planning to do a Christmas run too (as we haven't had one here together) - so it is a good way to spend loads of money. At this rate at least one of us will qualify for a frequent flier trip before too long.

[Rose19]

Another expat living in brisbane with my aussie husband. I agree with alot of things Manxie said, I'm pregnant with my first child and am already missing my mum.

I do like the outdoorys lifestyle though and am already looking forward to summer coz I am very cold here, but am dreading not being close to family and friends from home when I have the baby. I also feel I've never made close friends over here, my sense of humour is too english or something!!

I guess I hope I'd meet new friends through having a baby, but it seems to get harder as you get older. I think if I knew how hard it would be moving away from friends and family I might have rethought marrying an aussie and moving here!

[filmgirlgail]

Hi there

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's said that I haven't managed to make close friends. I have friends who I've met thru having children but nothing like the mates I have at home (notice that lots of us call UK home).

There is a another thread which I think you should look at where I asked what do you like about Oz/miss about home. Click here (http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/showthread.php?t=81276)

For us on Sunday we went to the Science museum (free entry) which is always changing it's exhibits. And we had lunch out. But sometimes we just can't be ar**ed just like in the UK or I can't peel my DH from the PC and he's the Aussie who said there was so much to do in Brissy that he wouldn't play it as much here :D . However, in the UK we were just around the corner from my sister, brother and parents as well as friends so we'd just go round to them when DD was small, etc.

[Rose19]

I know what you mean filmgirlgail......in england I always popped round to see people or just called someone and there was someone to hang out with. I find here we have to plan our life in advance, so can spend some weekends really bored and then some packed full.

But I have planned to go to the powerhouse farmers markets next saturday and the movies on sunday to fill in our weekend next weekend after driving each other mad last weekend :)
So at least we are out and about...........getting used to me being pregnant in our lifestyle is more challenging than I expected and baby is a long way away yet!!! :)

[filmgirlgail]

I know what you mean filmgirlgail......in england I always popped round to see people or just called someone and there was someone to hang out with. I find here we have to plan our life in advance, so can spend some weekends really bored and then some packed full.

But I have planned to go to the powerhouse farmers markets next saturday and the movies on sunday to fill in our weekend next weekend after driving each other mad last weekend :)
So at least we are out and about...........getting used to me being pregnant in our lifestyle is more challenging than I expected and baby is a long way away yet!!! :)

Yeah we're the same - either the weekend is planned and totally packed, like last weekend, or it's empty and we just make it up as we go along. And we do'nt know anyone well enough to just ring them/them ring us and just pop over on the spur of the moment. We have just reacquainted (well my DH has, I met for the first time) an old friend of DH's and his fiance and we all really hit it off so planning to see them again real soon. Would you believe it's his ex-girlfriend's (one before me which didn't end well) flatmate? And, you won't believe this, she was in the same hospital as me having a baby the same week, then a few weeks later we saw her in the same cafe. DH can't speak to her tho. Anyway, that's enough :ecomcity: from me. :D

[Clinya]

In a nut shell i would pick ENGLAND over Aus anyday. We just got back on Thursday from England and the floods stopped us going to a concert but i could care less i want to be there!!!