Am I the only one who gets irritated by 'Wanted Down Under'?

My brother went to live in Australia with his first wife. Our mother was devastated. Then sister went to visit them and on her third day met a friend of my brother and that was it! Sister flew home at the appointed time but on a stopover rang mum and told her she had met someone and was going back after a brief visit. Mum was devastated again. But for the next few years until her death, she flew out every year and met her four grandchildren as they arrived. Both my sister and brother’s families have been to UK often and I have been out to Australia many times. The last time in December 2019 for my niece’s wedding.

I wonder how many success stories this programme has?

There is a follow up series showing families' experiences both good and bad. Sorry can't remember where you can find it but it does exist.

I used to find the programme fascinating but haven't watched it for years. The quality of life in Australia is huge, jobs are generally well paid which offsets the high cost of living, the healthcare is fabulous. Doctors work half the time for double the salary here. Some people never stop missing family back home but the open friendliness, positivity and helpfulness of most Australians is worth a lot.
As to beaches, I'm afraid that for me, a cold, windswept often polluted British beach would always lose out to miles of sand and a climate that allows you to swim most days of the year. They even use swimming as a therapy for depression and swimming clubs do much to confront loneliness. I didn't go when I had the chance many years ago and I've always regretted it. I have been though and retain Australian friends and relatives, I think it's a wonderful country.

I once met someone who had been on one of the early programmes - however, I didn't realise it at the time because the programme hadn't then been televised, I only realised when I watched it when we arrived home again.

Jillyjosie thank you for your positive post.

a cold, windswept often polluted British beach

Each to their own, of course, and I can well understand the desire of some to want better weather and a different way of life.

But why do we always have to disparage what we have here in the process? We’re fortunate to have “miles of sand” ourselves and some of the most diverse and characterful beaches in the world.

I wonder if having made the decision to leave, the psychological way of adapting to your chosen life, is to disparage the life left behind maggiemaybe?

It's the same with the house buying programs GillT57 they invariably buy something different from their 'dream' home!

Jillyjosie thank you for your positive post.
I should clarify - I must disagree about the beaches, Jillyjosie.

But there are some rather unkind posts on this thread which I think needed challenging.

My DD1 and SiL emigrated there in 2006 after redundancy and two miscarriages hit her twice in the UK. She had a good job with Target and her husband soon found work.

Subsequently, she was successfully delivered of a son, now aged 12, and she has achieved promotion to a different company. They’ve recently bought a bigger home and she works part time besides fostering rescue pets.

Visiting the beach for most of the year is possible in most areas but not Victoria where they live as their Winters are similar to ours. Overall, they have a good life but she misses being able to visit family regularly, not least as her son has no siblings and only sees his cousins every few years.

Like PamelaJ1 I was brought up abroad. I didn't see my grandparents for years at a time - one of my grandma's used to send an airmail letter once every fortnight and the local paper once a month, sometimes she'd tuck a comic inside for me, but that was the only communication we had.
I only saw them and my aunts and cousins when we came back to the UK between postings. They found me very strange and exotic - I spoke and dressed differently and we had very little in common.
Now my only sister lives in Australia. She and her husband moved there to find work as he hade been made redundant a couple of times here in England. They enjoy their life there, but do miss their two sons and grandson. We speak on Skype once a week and they have been back to the UK for family weddings/funerals etc. We probably see as much of each other as we did before they emigrated.
My younger daughter met an USAF captain here in Yorkshire; they married and now live in Washington with our only grandson. Again, we speak on Skype or WhatsApp almost every day. I do miss them especially as we haven't seen them 'in the flesh' for about two years now, thanks to COVID-19.
What annoys me most about Wanted Down Under is the emotional blackmail during the family and friends messages . I would never have stopped my sister or my daughter from going to live abroad. They have the right to live their own lives and make their own decisions.

Isn't the follow up called something like Wanted Down Under Revisited? They go back to the families to see what decision they made and where they are now. Actually most of the epsiode is spent rehashing the original programme and right at the very end you get an update. I have never counted exactly, but I would say it is about 50/50 who actually settled there.

What annoys me most about Wanted Down Under is the emotional blackmail during the family and friends messages . I would never have stopped my sister or my daughter from going to live abroad. They have the right to live their own lives and make their own decisions.

Yes, it is cringe making, Tabbycat.
We should give them roots and wings.

I'm amazed at the number of people who watch the programme but obviously dislike it

Jillyjosie

There is a follow up series showing families' experiences both good and bad. Sorry can't remember where you can find it but it does exist

I saw it recently on BBC. It’s called Wanted Down Under Revisited.

It shows highlights of the family’s original episode then visits them 2 years later to see where they are now. I found it really interesting. Some had stayed and settled really well. Some couldn’t settle and returned to the UK. Others decided not to make the move at all.

Back in the 1950s my family was all set to move to Oz as £10 Poms. The tickets had already been bought for my mam, dad and sister and they got a free one for me as a babe in arms. As a miner, my dad had a well paid job all set up and they’d a house to go to. My mother changed her mind at the last minute, saying that she didn’t want to leave the family. I bet the air was blue in our house that night!

My dad would bring the subject up regularly, but only as a bit of banter between them. It’s strange now to think how different all our lives would have been (for better or for worse, who knows?).

I don't think it was all as lovely for the £10 Poms as they portrayed it, Maggiemaybe.
It caused a bit of disharmony with our family as DB wanted to go with his family in the 1960s.
They didn't go, I think they wished they had in the end.

I think if you were prepared to work hard, you could have a very good life, better than in the UK. But hard work was the key.

Occasionally you do see episodes where a follow up has been done and not everyone makes the move.

I used to watch it, never dreaming that either of our boys would go but when our eldest got married, he went over to Perth as that was his wife's dream.

That was 6 years ago and 3 years after moving out there they spilt up and are now divorced. No children involved which was a good thing and he's still there, loving the lifestyle.

I think many families on this programme have unrealistically high expectations of life in Oz. There’s always one who is resistant to moving who eventually becomes the keenest to do so! Depending on where, of course, property and the cost of living are pretty expensive, far more so than the applicants appear to think. DD2 has been there for more than half her life now, is married to an Aussie and has 4 children. They have a good life and have worked hard to achieve it. After all this time she has, at last, applied for citizenship. Although she will still retain her UK passport, I think this upsets me more than anything else - the realisation that she’s more Aussie than Brit ?. She still has really bad bouts of homesickness made worse by Covid restrictions on travel. I usually visit at least once a year and await the day these restrictions are lifted. Not for a long while yet I fear. I just hope I’m still robust enough by then to face the journey

Yes, and I get irritated by those saying they want to live there when they have NEVER even visited.
Are they after a cheap holiday?

Are they after a cheap holiday?
I think some are.

Marmight I think some do think that life will be easy, life will be one long holiday but that is just not the reality.
However, hard work does bring good rewards although, as you say, property is expensive especially in larger cities.

I can completely understand people trying to improve their standard of living, hoping to give their children opportunities etc., but the few episodes have watched have always involved both parents working full time so when exactly do they plan to spend this sparkling fun filled time with their family? The family and friends bit is tortuous, there was one episode a few years back ( since repeated) when the woman's Mother hadn't spoken to her since she had decided to emigrate! Maybe her controlling Mother was one of the reasons she was moving thousands of miles away....

love this show and also' wanted down under revisited' to see where they are now. Am surprised to see how soon their relatives go and visit them for a few weeks. Also how much more free time they are able to have with there children on outdoor pursuits. today it was a couple who had got married in New Zealand several years ago then come back here and had a family and good jobs and were going to see about moving back over.
Some really sour comments here. whats the matter with some of you.

It is a bit of a comedy really, that show. It usually takes many months or even years to actually get here because the emigration system is slow. By that time the houses they look at would be long gone and prices would be utterly different. It is a very volatile housing market. We emigrated early in the 1970s when they were actively recruiting people to work in Australia and it still took us around 12 months to get here. Some of the people who go on that show just want a holiday I think because there is no way they would meet immigration requirements.
On the question of whether children miss the extended family, I would say no they don’t because they don’t know any different. We had 2 babies when we came and had 2 more over here and we used to see their grandparents for extended stays every few years . When my mum died my Dad came over here permanently but now that doesn’t happen so much because it is more difficult to meet requirements. Even worse now I imagine, you cannot even get here if you are have an Australian passport.

Tabbycat and Callistemon I don’t watch the emotional blackmail bit, too cringe making.

I love the programme. I find it really interesting and very poignant. My daughter fell in love with an Australian whilst on a gap year holiday to New Zealand about 12 years ago and we thought she’d want to settle in Oz. This took DH and I through a huge range of emotions and I guess that’s why I can relate to the programme. The relationship didn’t last beyond a holiday romance and she stayed in the UK, eventually married an Englishman, 2 children followed and they are very happy. On a selfish note, I am so glad she stayed here and we now have 2 gorgeous GC, who we see a lot of (well did, pre Pandemic!) but we would never have stopped her and wouldn’t have voiced any emotional blackmail to get her to stay here (although I would have had loads of tears, privately). She would have gone with our full support and we can’t stop our children doing what they want to do, within reason of course. I do think that’s it’s a case of “the grass is greener” on the other side with the families in Wanted Down Under/New Life Down Under. The lifestyle does look wonderful and the job opportunities may be better, but leaving family behind here must be extremely difficult for all concerned. Apparently, about half of all families who emigrate return here after a few years. I wonder what their reasons are?

I haven’t watch it for a few years but I often thought there were underlying problems in the marriage, which they imagined would magically disappear if only it was nice and hot and they could be near a beach, have a pool in the garden and barbecues 3 times a week.

Plus they often had a shock at the cost of housing, unless they wanted to live right out in the sticks.

Talking of Aussie beaches, a niece of dh was there for a year (her dh was a dr on a placement) and once the jet lag had worn off she took her 3 very little dcs to the beach..
They were just heading in for a paddle when a local man charged up, yelling, ‘Don’t go in the water!! Stingers!!!’