Quoll

What about the rest of the family?

Good luck!!! Hope it all works out brilliantly for you!

Interesting, how do you set it up as a virtual sim on your iPhone?

Did that for many years with O2 but you have to send a text every few months or it dies. I'm currently more profligate and just keep the cheapest Virgin contract going. I moved from O2 because they bombarded me with advertising and random calls. Not sure if the deal I used to have is still going or not.

If you go back on Aus passports be aware that they could get stamped with a 6 month visa and be required to leave. Always safer to enter on a UK passport then you won't have any other glitches with NHS etc. If they haven't got passports the government doesn't know they are British - just you saying they are, doesn't make them so until it's been proven. It's a faff but worth your time, energy and cash.

Yes you can apply for passports for your kids, form C2 from memory. They are citizens by descent and it is a straightforward process. Edited to say, they will, of course, also need their Australian passports to leave the country but you are wise to get their UK ones to enter UK otherwise they will be stamped with a 6 month visa and all sorts of issues - like registering for the NHS etc could be an issue.

We did much this except we weren't working we went back to care for my olds - ended up staying 9+ years (we had no idea it would be that long!!!). Because we were forced to retire at that point, theoretically, it did cost us quite a lot of unearned income over those years. We didn't rent out our home because it was only partly renovated and our son and his family needed somewhere to live so they looked after it for us. On the plus side, although we weren't earning but living on our Aus pension we squatted in my parents back bedroom (they needed someone there as mum was always falling and they were very vulnerable to the unscrupulous!). End result, apart from lost income (which wouldn't be the case for you) it didn't cost us horrifically - we paid premium fares to get back before Covid shut everything down and we went with backpacks but came back with a move cube. We lost money on the car but it was old second hand when we bought it and got 9 years wear out of it. I think if you have a skill like dentistry you'd be laughing all the way to the bank! No need to go near the NHS I would have thought. For us it was almost a decade of great memories and extensive travel all over the country. We were there when mum died and we cared for dad 24/7 through his several strokes and a heart attack. We were also able to lend a hand to an elderly aunt and uncle who had no children of their own. Dad decided to go into a care home and we weren't there when he died a bare 3 months after we left (his anniversary today!) but we have no guilt or regrets. Our home was still here and we moved straight back in. It honestly was the best decade of my later life - I loved it and DH really enjoyed himself too. He travelled back to Australia every year and I came back 3 or 4 times to see the grandkids. If your kids are young, you have transferable skills, you can rent out your home and have an adventure - take a career break if you can but your wife, at least, is never going to have an issue finding a job back here down the track. Only thing you need to have in your pocket is your Australian citizenship then you are free as a bird.

Not to worry, repaying your debt will start again when you get back in the country - or, of course, you could just give them a lump sum to pay it off.

I didnt say dont seek their support - it rather depends on what you seek their support for - if you expect a decision to be made for you then that only puts the stress back on you, sadly Nana did find one that was unhelpful which has not been very productive - I would have thought an offer of anti anxiety meds could at least have been discussed. For counselling to work, the client has to be willing to participate - none of them are going to make the decision either and the possibility of helping you go round and round in circles for the process is often not helpful either, as I said, the best they can do is to help you cope with the outcome of the decision. It rather depends on what you think the counsellor or doctor could do - make the decision=no, help you cope with whatever decision you do make=yes. But you have to want to participate in the process and that takes work. In this case there is no right or wrong answer and short of a crystal ball nobody on earth is going to know which outcome will be the most successful/fulfilling unfortunately. A decision has to be made and then lived with because perpetual limbo is an even more unstabilising situation than a less than optimal decision (most of the time, you can fix wrong decisions albeit at some cost, emotionally, financially, socially)

True! They’ll never make the decision for you. The best they may be able to do is to help with the debilitating feelings that seem to be preventing a normal life - whether that be medication or talk therapies. Sometimes, however, they just increase the sense of hopelessness which can be counter productive.

Just have to put your big boy pants on and get on with it!!! Good luck, I really hope it all goes brilliantly for you.

Pragmatically, rent out your home, go to Aus while you have a RRV, stay long enough to get citizenship then re-evaluate. You'll have the income from your home to help you with the frozen pension thing. You'll either love it or hate it but you'll have kept all your options open. All depending how long you lived here for before that could be quite a short period. But sometimes we just have to put on our big girl panties and suck it up - goodbyes are never easy but there will always be hellos to follow. You've got a long time to go before you're old and frail (you're about my age I think!) - and invite them for Christmas!!!!!

It's interesting because both my sons in adulthood have said that they regretted not being around their extended family as kids. Both married women with huge tight family circles and I think at that point they felt a bit like a third wheel as we were a small self sufficient family. However both have also indicated that they are frustrated that their partners lack self reliance and are far too dependent on those extended family networks so maybe time has cured them of their initial regret.

I hear you, hindsight is perfect vision and there is bugger all we can do about the past. No point in entertaining regret, remorse or guilt, it just drains your soul. Only thing you can do is to look forward and make things the best you can with what you’ve got. Not easy but if you reframe it into that it’s your life and you make the choices about what to do with it then it makes the feelings of hopelessness dissipate a bit. Remember that if you go through life looking backwards you are more likely to fall into the holes when moving forward. Enjoy your sanity hit! (It’s about time I organised my next one!)

While you have doubts, don’t do it. Looking at the pic you posted of your house, the only way you’d get me out of there is in a box! It’s what most of us aspire to and few can achieve. I know others disagree and absolutely love the heat but Australian summers can be as restrictive as U.K. winters for those of us who don’t do so well when it’s over 25 - so it all depends on how you cope with the hot days. Fortunately we’ve been in LaNiña pretty much since we got back to Aus so the summers have been mild but locking yourself away with the windows closed and curtains drawn isn’t a way to live. Actually, the notion of renting out and giving it a go is quite sensible - it won’t make a skerrick of difference to whether you settle and enjoy or not. But what it might do is to get you citizenship so you’re not frantic about getting a RRV all the time - and once you have citizenship you can come and go at will. Last resort, go and see a fortune teller LOL

It might be easier for you to move to a different part of UK for starters - much cheaper and just as much adventure. Moving away from your parents is always going to be the best option for you to grow to be the person you want to be. Remember the old saying - wherever you go, there you are. You are still going to be the same person, changing countries isn't the magic bullet and you can make smaller, more immediate changes which will take your life in a different direction.

At 30 odd dont you think that finding a place of your own would be a good idea anyway? Your cash will disappear quite quickly here especially if you plan on seeing more of the country than just one or two capitals

I have heard from people in immigration that they have, indeed, been sent quite a few pornographic videos to evidence the relationship - highly amusing to them all.

You're cutting it fine - you will need to apply when you are 30. But dont assume you will be eligible to stay after your holiday is over - either one year or two if you have done your rural commitment. Edited to say, I understand from the official website that only some countries have the 35 yo leeway and, according to the website, UK is not one of them (Canada, France and RoI are the only 3 that have 35 listed but I see Italy and Denmark also increase from July) UK has been agreed in principal but not enacted yet - we've had a change of government since then so you dont know what might happen

Kids under 4 won't be going to school. When they are just 4 or just about to turn 4 (the cut off date depends on the state) they may go to part time preschool them when they are just 5 or just about to turn 5 they can go to full time school. How good is it? It's alright but it's not the best in the world. Kids get off to a bit of a slow start compared with UK. Have you got a visa? If you have a temporary visa, in some states you could be paying anything between $5 and 10k pa per child at school.

He probably wouldn't want to be moving into the middle of A levels but if he could start at the beginning of the A level course (which iirc is years 12 and 13???) then he could do A levels, take a gap year then he would be a domestic student. Might mean him starting in September and talking to the college about catching up with GCSEs if necessary. You may have to send him back early to start the year ahead of you if you cant move then. I suggest that if you dont move now, you never will - he will want to go to Uni in Australia, meet a partner, settle down blah blah blah and it will never be the right time. Good luck with it!!!

They won't have "completed their year" they won't have done any Australian education at all - remember it's a foreign country with several different education systems and depending on their birthday may find themselves in a year level with their age cohort that they think they have already "done". However, the wisest route is to get them into school once you've found your rental then they can start to connect with the local community. Nobody would give a toss if it takes you a couple of months to get settled though and they're out of school for that long although they may take a dimmer view if you are able to enrol them but don't. School is compulsory until age 17.

Don't worry about moving during the school year, kids move and start school all the time so you don't need to start at the beginning of the school year nor even at the beginning of a school term. You can start them when you've managed to secure a rental and it's not like UK - each school has a priority enrolment area and is obliged to find a place for a child in that area. You're probably marginally less likely to be offered an out of area placement if you decide on a school which is not your local priority enrolment area school at that time of year though. Move when you need to move because a job starts or maybe time it so you don't coincide with a big demand for rentals or when the job market is going full swing and not on holidays. Australia goes on holiday in January so getting a job just after Christmas can be tricky. People generally know that they are moving for the beginning of the year so for the month or two before Christmas the rental market goes gang busters and it can be even harder than usual to get a rental then of course the rental market tends to slump just after Christmas. Is more a case of which months to avoid! If you come after the kids finish school for the year in UK then you'll beat the end of year rental rush, possibly find a job before Christmas and you can get them into school so they have at least a couple of months before Christmas to make some friends to see them over the summer holidays.

We had a move cube from Seven Seas and cannot fault them. Left Dec 12 arrived 1 April but that was over the period that Covid started.

He's on a 482 so one assumes that comes with employment. You could ask your employer for an address - either a personal one or the business - to send your stuff. It'll arrive well after you do so that'll be plenty of time to change when you arrive and find a permanent address. Most people get an airbnb or stayz place for 4-6 weeks and that's generally enough time to find a rental.