3 years in

[snifter]

So 3 years here in Adelaide have ticked round in recent weeks. Can't believe its gone so fast.

 

Keeping it short (and it'll still be on the longer side knowing me ) we are very happy here. Its been a good move for us. The first year or two were patchy work wise for me but my husband went self employed from the off and that went well thankfully. I'm now working 20-25 hours a week on a regular basis which is lovely. I work around school hours and while I work during the school holidays we've found the OSHC to be great for childcare and also family and friends help out too with play dates and so on.

 

Son is very happy here. He loves his school, is doing well there and has really gotten into his sports more. He is a huge AFL fan and we go to Crows games and he also plays at local club level (as does hubby). Also cricket, Little Athletics and swimming are his other sports clubs and he's also getting into tennis and basketball.

 

There have been other things happen in our lives since moving here that have made it tough going on occasion but we've been able to work through or overcome those thankfully. Hasn't always been easy but we've gotten there.

 

And here we are, 3 years on and settled well and loving life. I feel so happy when I begin my drive up the hill away from the city and into the foothills heading home. I often say to my husband I feel very thankful we found such a lovely area to settle and that its an area we really enjoy living in.

I don't hanker for or miss much about the UK at all tbh. I had a trip back there last year and after 10 days or so was itching to leave In many ways I am far happier here than I was there in the years before we left but that is probably more to do with my personal struggles with PND and other major health issues I suffered after the birth of my son than anything else. The crap I went through for a few years was enough to cloud my enjoyment of a large portion of my life and since being here, I've really been able to move on from that, have been able to resolve a number of health issues and other things and while its not always been easy, its a corner well and truly turned. I'd have probably managed that in the UK too but honestly, overall, as someone who has lived elsewhere in the world, moved around the UK also, I can honestly say this has been one of the best moves we've made, if not the best in terms of us as a family. As I said earlier, its not always been a walk in the park but we work through the tough times and have come out the other side. Yes we've given up certain things by leaving the UK but we've also gained a great deal with the move here so it evens out and we are happy with the way things are going and our lives here.

 

I still find some aspects of living here a bit different, sometimes frustrating, but as I tend to have an overall positive view of Adelaide (and Aus) these things don't really irk me enough to be a bother nor do they niggle away at me to spoil my enjoyment of the city or my life here. Its more a case of i/we have a bit of a laugh about them. Don't sweat the small stuff IYKWIM. You can get too distracted and caught up in those things and it can start to impact in a negative way.

 

Hubby is so happy being back and has really embraced life and feels very differently about living here now than he did in his teens and twenties. I think for him being an Aussie returning home after being a migrant in the UK, his experiences of and attachment to Adelaide are different from mine but its interesting to see how we have both found ourselves enjoying it so much.

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

Thank you!

What a brutally honest and insightful thread. So pleased that it was the right move for you

[Sallyh]

Interesting. We really ought to catch up some time. I think your dh's experience is v different to my Aussie dh's experience moving back home to adelaide. I had thought from memory you were Aussie and him English, the other way round to us but not so then.

 

8 years here for us now!!! Our experience I think is v similar to yours as a family, about what it's been like to live here. Good to reflect on it.

 

 

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