Today Tonight - Poms returning to UK

**Rachiegarlo** · 11-11-2011, 12:55 PM

You can get your UK pension sent here, I think once you claim it though it doesn't get indexed anymore. It's a toughie for you James. Some people go back and forth until they finally settle here and it is usually the family that is the drawcard. It is hard to be away from all the family rituals etc that continue when you are not there. Adelaide is hard without a car unless you live very centrally or in the older nearer to city suburbs that are well served by transport. We had one car when our 3 children were little, but we lived very close to the city. If you are planning to live in Glenelg, then that would be ok as everything you need is within walking distance and the tram for the city. In summer there will be many hours when you will just not get on your bike and go down the road, even with sunscreen sloshed all over. It will be just too hot. Of course you will adapt your lifestyle and with one young child it is easier. Later you may find you need a second car as that sports match/ dance lesson or whatever after school will be at some school not within walking distance, or bike distance. Adelaide may be small in terms of population but it is spread out. I guess it depends on where your husband works too. Mine needed his for work.

**Diane** · 11-11-2011, 11:30 PM

Originally Posted by James

.... you will need to choose wher you live as public transport is here but not like in UK cities as my wife who does not drive will tell you...

Surely that is true about any country? When we lived in the UK the public transport was pants and we could never have coped without two cars. Here we live in a lovely suburb on the edge of the hills, which we specifically chose to live in so OH would be within cycling distance to where he would be working. He has since changed jobs but still cycles the 45 minute ride into work (in fact he gets grumpy if for any reason he has to drive instead but that's another story) and although I do drive to and from my work, if I was working in the city, I would definitely take the bus/O-Bahn as that's much quicker, cheaper and hassle free than driving.

If you are moving from somewhere in the UK where you had good public transport, and one of you doesn't drive, then of course you'd look to live in a suburb here that had the same...... wouldn't you? Yes, it might mean getting a slightly smaller house to start with, or maybe not having a pool, but you make your choices sensibly according to your individual circumstances...don't you? There are plenty of places in Adelaide that are very well served by public transport.

**Jessica Berry** · 12-11-2011, 07:56 AM

I agree with Diane, it all depends where you live. On our road the bus stops are outside, the train is a 5 minute walk and the tram a 12 minute walk. When I lived in Nottingham my option was only to get the bus, so we have more public transport options here.

We knew of a couple that moved out to Aldinga. The husband absolutely hated driving with a passion, he got a job in the Northern suburbs and it took him forever to get to work and in the meantime his wife was out at Aldinga with no car and on her own all day. They lasted 3 months in Adelaide and went back to the UK. Consider transport options when you look at a place to rent/buy.

**Barney Rubble** · 30-01-2012, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by Jessica Berry

I agree with Diane, it all depends where you live. On our road the bus stops are outside, the train is a 5 minute walk and the tram a 12 minute walk. When I lived in Nottingham my option was only to get the bus, so we have more public transport options here.

We knew of a couple that moved out to Aldinga. The husband absolutely hated driving with a passion, he got a job in the Northern suburbs and it took him forever to get to work and in the meantime his wife was out at Aldinga with no car and on her own all day. They lasted 3 months in Adelaide and went back to the UK. Consider transport options when you look at a place to rent/buy.

Call me harsh but to be honest i'd say that is just poor planning on their behalf.
No logic in that what-so-ever.

We stayed in Willaston (that's past Gawler for you Southerners

) for 3 months (20+ years ago) then every weekend (and some evenings) went driving around the suburbs.

Spent a lot of time 'down south' looking but eventually decided that if it was 30 minutes to drive to the beach that was a lot quicker than we had in the UK !

Still in the same house now, put in a pool that is not used much (except this week

) and the O-Bahn stopped at Paradise then.

Getting homesick,

, i'd like to meet one person who could put their hand on their hearts and say they don't get homesick now and again, it is how you chose to solve it that is the deciding factor.

That's my 2 bob's worth anyway

Cheers

BR

**Paula H** · 13-02-2012, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by Barney Rubble

Call me harsh but to be honest i'd say that is just poor planning on their behalf.
No logic in that what-so-ever.

We stayed in Willaston (that's past Gawler for you Southerners

) for 3 months (20+ years ago) then every weekend (and some evenings) went driving around the suburbs.

Spent a lot of time 'down south' looking but eventually decided that if it was 30 minutes to drive to the beach that was a lot quicker than we had in the UK !

Still in the same house now, put in a pool that is not used much (except this week

) and the O-Bahn stopped at Paradise then.

Getting homesick,

, i'd like to meet one person who could put their hand on their hearts and say they don't get homesick now and again, it is how you chose to solve it that is the deciding factor.

That's my 2 bob's worth anyway

Cheers

BR

Excellent post BR

**Jessica Berry** · 17-02-2012, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by Barney Rubble

Call me harsh but to be honest i'd say that is just poor planning on their behalf.
No logic in that what-so-ever.

BR

I agree. We had previously advised them on areas to live and likely areas to get work (as their circumstances were very similar to ours) and then they seemed to do the complete opposite. We felt it was almost like a deliberate attempt to make things difficult for themselves so they could say it did not work out and return to the UK.

As the saying goes..you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink....so we gave our advice and opinions with the best of intentions, but at the end of the day people make their own choices.

**Barney Rubble** · 17-02-2012, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by Paula H

Excellent post BR

Thanks

Feel for Jessica Berry in the post above, you, sorry, we'll all try to help others the best we can but i have nothing against the southern burbs at all but it seems like some people bring a 'get out of jail free' card with them.

Heads up

the 'convicts' are now paying good $$'s to come here so this 'aint no jail term.

Gotta go it's lights out time in Block H