Aussie

OK to answer some questions. We are planning to come to retire.He is of retiring age, I am of course much younger than that! I left England after doing two degrees (Portsmouth and Cranfield) and worked in Oil/gas. He left as teenager - he was ten pound pom. He is TV News director. He may pick up casual work in Europe but for all intents and purpose we will be retired. I am from Hertfordshire and he from Shropshire,So we have both had UK winters, albeit some time ago! We plan to potter, garden, read, write books, sing, drink wine, walk, travel, you get the idea. We will attend a local church but aren't bible bashers. We intend to live in the country, I am a country girl, my main thing is wherever I go I don't want to be able to see/hear neighbours. I have bred/trained/ridden horses here but probably wont there, but we will bring one dog over. If we had infinite amounts of money (and the weather was better!) we'd probably settle in UK but we don't and the type of house we want is too expensive. We plan to sell up here, head to England to do some rellie bashing (yes that's Strine!) Then get car and caravan and travel all around France for as long as it takes to really decide where we want to be (probably South West corner) So if all goes to plan I imagine we'd be buying in a year or 18 months time. Ideally it will be country area, large old house, already restored. We may have an elderly mother in law, or a weird sister in law, or my even weirder parents with us. Keep coming with the info and ideas, it is all very helpful, thanks.

What do I miss? Mainly the history, particularly old buildings. I spent a few weeks in England last year and spent most of it going round cathedrals castles etc. Nothing that old here in Aus. Other thing is being able to travel to other places easily. Aus is so bloody big, Husband works in the news media in Geelong, 16 hours drive away. He was working in Woolongong which was only an 8 hour drive to see him for a weekend. We get used to a lot of long distance driving! A few years ago we moved us, dogs and horses from WA to Tasmania. That was a five day trip across 2/3 of the country!. I have friends in England, Spain and Holland and we are looking forward to doing more travelling. Australia is getting expensive, and full of undesirables. Maybe it is the whole world doing that same? It is always possible that we will get fed up with old stuff and want to come back here. Lucky that both of us have Aus and EEC passports, so we can. I think for now (hopefully long term) we are just needing a change. Oh and Minnie, there is absolutely no worry of us flashing a lot of money around!! Haha, I wish!

Great, thanks all, just as I suspected, people are people, and if we become part of the community then we should be OK. No, Jonzjob I don't think I have an unknown brother. Though we do live on the East Coast here just down the road from Byron bay which is the most easterly part. Lovely part of the world but I am missing certain aspects that we don't have here.

Has been said, and recently as we get closer to moving we hear it more, "but you know they hate us"? Husband and I are both English but have lived most of our lives in Australia so we can be either! We plan to improve out French speaking, and make friends and immerse ourselves into the daily country/village life. We have done so wherever we have moved, but will we be up against some kind of prejudice?

Thanks chocolatefish, that makes perfect sense. As we plan to travel a  tad in UK first I think we may just buy both there. And yes your last point is taken on board. We live in an area of NSW that is so overregulated and governed BS that it drives  us mad. I am aware that France may be worse and I am wondering how to manage that. May need to start booze...

I did wonder about registering a car in France without having a permanent address. If that is impossible then I guess it answers my question. I can have an address in England as my father lives there and we may well use his home as a base.

Ok ignore last post, I now have notifications!

I think the issue may be no notifications. Or at least I haven't found that button yet. If she didn't get a notification that I had posted on her thread I guess she forgot all about it. But good of you to answer, thanks!  

Thanks Paul for the info and the feedback. We will certainly look at everything, have been enchanted by some properties on line from here but will not do anything without seeing it...and as we are no au fait with all areas feel the need to visit them first! We have done a lot of moving around Australia and don't enjoy it much, so hope that it will last a few years till my terminally itchy feet get itching again... We have lived in extremes here, Perth which is hot and dry, Tasmania which is cold and dry and windy, now in Coffs harbour while can be hot and humid in summer, but pleasant in winter. I think I just yearn for whatever I am not getting at the moment, now in winter here I yearn for summer and vice versa... We will be retiring so the work issue is not important and we will keep property and investments in Australia so hope to spread our risk. I certainly think that the way Australia is heading we will be able to live more cheaply over there than here. I came here 30 years ago from England and it truly was the lucky country, easy to find jobs, and dead cheap to live. That has very much changed and on my recent visit to England I found it has reversed and England is now cheaper to live (though still exy for what we want in terms of property). The other advantage of Europe is (for us now) its size, we have family in England, and friends in Spain and Holland and we will be able to visit them. Id welcome any more input from anyone on this forum, I found you guys from a google search, this one came up first so must have the most recent or relevant additions!

Soooo. Clare did you go and how did you like it? We are in Oz now, house on the market ready to head over. We are both English originally but have lived here our working career. Love lots about it but are totally fed up with some aspects which are getting worse. We miss history and I recently spent two weeks in England hugging old cathedral and monument walls to get some of that lovely smell and feel.  I want to live in an old house and go to an old church. We are older, ready to retire, no kids (apart from one dog)  ready for an adventure. And if we hate it we can go elsewhere!  

We are currently in Australia and selling up here planning to come back to Europe. Probably France. We are both EEC and Aus passport holders. We love Aus but miss history and culture and little village life. Id be interested in why Oz to France was awful CdeL, and anyone else's opinions on anything else that might be relevant to us. Was it only the move itself or that fact you left Australia? We wont be bringing much, but will be bringing one dog. Of course if there is any help I can offer from Australia (we live in Coffs Harbour, half way between Sydney and Brisbane) I would be happy to help. Anyone want to recommend where we might end up (will be travelling first to suss it all out) . We want a big old stone maison de maître or similar, small village/rural, slow pace of life, best value for money, not too many tourists, friendly people, don't need ocean, not too extreme in weather, we had thought maybe Limousin, or down towards that south west corner.... Any ideas?  

Morning all! Hubby and I are planning to move to France as son as we sell our property in Australia. We both have UK and Aussie passports so that is not too hard. We both also have relatives in UK, and will go there first, flying into London and probably hiring a car to travel round. We then plan to travel round France, really checking out each area before we decide where we want to live. We thought the easiest way to do that would be to buy a car ()that we can keep) and a caravan that we can sell when we settle. So do we. 1. buy car and caravan in France, if so where and what (be mindful that we have been in Aus some time and don't know the brands over there). Our French speaking is not great yet and I am not really confident in buying a second hand car, even in English 2. Buy a car in UK, do our travelling in UK and then ferry it over to France and buy caravan there (will electrics etc match?) And if so where. Advantage of that would be that we don't have to hire a car to travel in UK and we do understand English! Disadvantage is that we would have steering wheel on wrong side, and would have to take it back to UK to sell eventually. 3. Buy both car and caravan in UK and ferry them both over. 4. Forget the caravan idea and stay in gites/similar??? Appreciate any advice, thanks.