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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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 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.

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 wonder how many success stories this programme has?

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.

In answer to the OP -NO, you are not the only person irritated by this programme. Rarely watch it. But when I dip in do note that they only show those who decide they want to go. Wonder how many who do not get shown decide after their free weeks holiday there that they do not think it has enough to offer them.
My sister-in-law, back in the 1960's married her American boyfriend. Her eldest child, born there, came to live in UK as soon as she was 18 years old, and has made her life here. Lovely, that even now in her fifties she and two of her cousins here meet up when they can.
Yes, people get sold the idea of sun and beach - but seem to be told little of the downside of living in such a hot weather country. Plenty of beaches to live close to in UK.

The ones that worry me are the couples where one partner really doesn't want to go and a lot of effort goes into changing their mind. If they have such different ideas it is hard to see how emigrating is going to improve things.

I can't speak for children who are ripped away from family as my DGC is born and bred Australian, but I do think that children are resilient and adapt very quickly as I do know other children, now teenagers and young adults who emigrated with parents when they were young. At least two have come back to the UK and spent time living with DGP but have returned to Australia.

It's Covid which has emphasised the distance.

It also works the other way round and many young people from NZ and Australia choose to come to the UK for their overseas working experience. My sil's girls came over from Dunedin to Cornwall and Southend in order to improve their skills in shepherdary and nursing. One settled here in the UK and married an English man.

We had 3 years in California in the 80s with a job transfer. We all had a fantastic time and had but had to come back when the job ended. I so wanted to stay for many reasons. The attitude of positivity, the hospitable people, the wonderful climate and much more. We had a lovely house in the uk in a great area but I still miss the time we had there. It’s a big picture people emigrate for and their children’s chances and most people weigh it up and don’t make the decision lightly.

I agree with Callistemon. Australia has a more relaxed culture than the UK, and the climate lends itself to year round outdoor lifestyles, which suits many families - work doesn’t dominate people’s lives in the same way as here, they may work longer hours if they were part time here, but evenings are long and warm for the majority of the year.

My sister and her husband emigrated 30 years ago, when their children were small, and have never regretted the decision. Technology has made contact with family much easier in recent years, and in normal times family visit them, and they come home every couple of years for a few weeks at a time (they have a brilliant long service award holiday system). My brother in law jokingly calls their house Sponge Cottage as we are all so keen to visit - and when people go out there they stay for a few weeks at a time, so time together lost is regained, I don’t think the children missed out, they are as much part of the family as the rest of us.

I don't think parents or grandparents should ever use emotional blackmail to stop their children pursuing their dreams.
My DD keep saying they wish we were there with them as everything looks so terrifying in the UK, viewed from the other side of the world.

I was very resistant to my DS and future DGC moving to NZ. But now looking from the perspective of time and the pandemic, it was the best decision a young family could have taken. My son is the happiest I’ve seen him in years, he is a stay at home dad, wife makes much more than she did in the U.K so supports them all and their weekends are their weekends, no more 6/7 day work weeks. They have also almost entirely missed the pandemic too, for which I am very grateful. If I wasn’t so happy they are safe and well I’d be jealous of their sunny beach lifestyle. I do struggle and miss them and the dear gc I’ve never met, but I haven’t even seen my own sister often and she lives round the corner, so how much would I have seen them if they did live here?

maddyone I'm sorry if you have had a bad experience but describing it as "being ripped away from grandparents " is quite emotive. My daughter went to live in USA with her husband and had a great life out there, living on a farm with horses was her dream. I think
there are so many opportunities and in normal circumstances visits and technology keep relationships alive. I don't think we will agree on this.

I think some would-be immigrants have unrealistic expectations but food and housing was relatively cheap not that long ago - however, property prices in Sydney, areas of other cities such as Brisbane, have gone up to match and even exceed British prices now.

From what I can see, life is better there for so many. Doctors, for example, are not as stressed as those in the UK but set against that is the price of healthcare for all Australians.

I can't say that people work less hard than in the UK but, from what I know, perhaps life in general is less stressful and the rewards are greater.

Who would not want to give their children a better, more hopeful future?
Why can grandparents not emigrate too?

In one of the programmes a family wanted to live in Sydney and the only property they could afford was a small flat. No open plan kitchen, pool, games room and spacious bedrooms. Do people really not do any research. I think Sydney is one of the most expensive places to live.

Gill57 perhaps after Covid one of the upsides is that we will value what we have?

Yes I know that people have always emigrated and immigrated, I think I am just bemused at the reasons that people give spend more time with the family and then have to work full time, do more as a family, well why not do it here?

I spent most of my life on the opposite side of the world when I was young.
I don’t know my cousins very well but have a very good and close bond with my immediate family.
What I think I missed was a sense of belonging. Where did/do I come from? Although we lived in HK for most of my childhood it was always a place of change. Friends coming and going all over the place.
The children whose parents go to live in Australia or NZ when the they are small won’t have that feeling though. They will go and settle and belong.
I absolutely know that if my children moved to Australia and had children I would be there at least 6 months of the year. As it is myDD in Sydney doesn’t have children so we see them every year but I choose to stay here at the moment whilst my other DD has children that I feel need us.
Don’t know why I have shared this, sorry, not much to do with the programme. Ignore me.
Actually one of the things about the programme that irritates me is the consideration that parents give to the children and their needs. We were just taken. Thank goodness, we had a fabulous life.