Colin

My father came to Australia from the UK with my Australian mother in the late 40's.  Some 36 years later, after my mother passed away, he went for a holiday back to the UK and on return his said well that will do for another 36 years!

I suspect my father left the UK with no regrets as he had spent some time here during the war and new what to expect.  Quite a number of his colleagues that served with him here also returned to live here. 

I have great admiration for people who come live here from overseas as it must be very difficult to leave what is so familiar to come and live here as Australia can be at times a difficult environment to overcome. I have great compassion for those who find it too difficult and return to their home countries.

I would imagine living in Yorketown would be something of a big leap compared to living in the UK.

Congratulations Colin on your achievement.

Kind regards

Geof

They are nice words, Geoff, I appreciate them, and I'm sure Colin will too.

In my case, it was a spur of the moment thing, and, being young, not a lot of thought given was to it. I left the UK on my 22nd birthday with a job already lined up, but I had a very open mind. I'm an only child and it must have been hard for my parents (though me Dad never showed it, of course). I told them that no matter what happened, I'd come back and see them in two years. If I didn't like Australia, I wouldn't be going back.

Forty years later with a wife and three daughters, I guess it doesn't take a Ph.D to work out that I came back!

Once again, thanks for the thoughtful post. 

George

Quote from: Mr.Grumpy on March 08, 2014, 12:37:18 AM
How much did it cost you to relocate? (gimme a ballpark figure?)

I might follow in your footsteps one day in the not too distant future.

Also, how are the spiders? This is the main concern for my woman.

She's hoovered so many of the poor blighters up that she's now afraid to empty the hoover. Convenient.

Living as I do on the east coast of NSW (which is nasty critter central), I can assure you it's not too bad. I live right next to a creek which is probably all the more reason to see beasties, but in the 34 years of living here, we have not really been bothered. We have only spotted two snakes in that time (albeit one was a red-bellied black snake which IS a dangerous one).

Yeah, we get spiders, but are by no means inundated by them! The worst one is the Funnel-web spider which can kill - but they never come inside. It is easy to tell where they are lurking because of their distinctive funnel-shaped web. A quick blast with the spray brings 'em out and takes care of them (mind you, there are environmentalist types here who would be up in arms about me doing that - they can wave their arms about as much as they want - all snakes have fangs, and all spiders have eight legs, as far as I'm concerned).

Red-back spiders are also iffy - their bite can be deadly (particularly in young children) - but hey, I used to find them under my kids' tricycles and stuff left lying around the yard, and they are 27, 25 and 22 years of age these days!

The scariest ones are the large Huntsman spiders which are actually harmless. They have long legs and are extremely fast on their feet, but! 

Anyway, hope all this hasn't put you off. Tell Mrs. G that not all wildlife out here is dangerous:
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Although it can be a nuisance. There seems to be hundreds of these birds around our suburb this year, and they will eat wood fences if allowed to. Even their huge claws do damage. They are not scared of humans - that photo was not taken with a telephoto lens - that's our balcony railing there and I literally had to shoo it away after I took the photo!

Or you get nice critters running around, like this family of three blue-tongued lizards:
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Finally, in response to the initial query of how much it cost, I was what the Aussies used to call a "Ten bob Pom" - in other words, I came out on an assisted passage scheme with a job all lined up (actually it was 50 quid in 1974). That scheme is, of course, history these days, and Colin in South Australia will be able to give you up-to-date info there.

All the best,

George