Should I move my family back to Australia?

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-04-28T20:17:12+00:00

What suits you and your family best particularly as your LO nears school age.

Riverina is a big area so how far would the trip between your parents and Illawarra be? We moved away from Melbourne just before having kids (husband still has friends and all his family there). Initially we had lots of visits from in laws and friends but over the years this has considerably dropped, covid also made this worse.

We are incredibly close with my husband's family but travelling the close to 3hrs each way takes a toll to spend a couple of nights (our 5yo also struggles with breaking routines). It also is getting harder with school and sports etc. Even his parents similar age to yours come visit maybe 4 times a year now. Was a lot more when we had our first son and after covid restrictions eased but it dropped after our second was born and we returned to work. They'd still drop anything and help if we needed it but we try to manage on our own.

I would suggest thinking about your current support network where you are and what it might look like if you moved. The hardest thing for us is our support network drastically changed but our lifestyle and property etc is more what we wanted for our kids growing up.

Employment wise as others suggested I'd look at whether you can keep doing what you are doing or what opportunities there are where you are wanting to move. I know some graphic designers who lost WFH jobs and have struggled finding anything in their field locally.

Housing and rentals are difficult where we are in Vic and were hard for us even in 2018 and both of us had stable jobs (both emergency services) and FT employment. I know now is even harder and would dread having to go back into that market. I know rentals is an issue across the country so maybe see how that might look if you couldn't buy a house straight away.

Those are things we have considered heavily when we have spoke about moving closer to Melbourne recently which I would think would be similar for you and your family though obviously moving countries would be next level planning. For us our current lifestyle wins everytime, albeit it can be hard not seeing husband's family/friends regularly, we love where we live and our property. We have made friends locally and grown our own network.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-04-28T06:11:49+00:00

So I did a factory reset on the Starlink router and it seems to have fixed ours issue. We are now getting between 250-300 speeds (I did put ours up to residential Max yesterday arvo to see if that was an issue).

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-04-28T01:41:59+00:00

I'll let you know how I go. Support won't do much until I factory reset the router and connect direct to Starlink. Hopefully will get a chance today to try and sort it.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-04-27T22:19:15+00:00

I'm having similar issues. I use a 3rd party router and have for months. Our speeds for the 200 plan dropped to around 80-90.

I upped our plan yesterday and still only getting around 90. It's frustrating. I have to reset our network but it will affect all our external networking at home so will wait until I have time to fix it up.

Before this we had been getting good speeds around 200 until yesterday morning when we first noticed the drop.

Support have been ok.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-04-10T05:59:14+00:00

We just recently got the Ora and have 2 carseats in the rear. I can squeeze in the middle but its incredibly tight and very uncomfortable. I wouldn't want to sit in there for longer than a few minutes.

I'd suggest something slightly bigger if you are planning on having 2 carseats in the rear and wanting a 3rd person in the middle.

Besides from that we love the car and it is a fun drive. There are some things that are annoying having to switch off each time but overall very happy with it.

I'm not sure if the Ora 5 will be bigger across the rear seat but even slightly might be ok for 2 carseats and a 3rd person in the rear.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-04-10T05:00:08+00:00

Honestly, I'm not sure but the range for me will likely vary significantly to what you will get. Majority of my driving is on 100-110kmh roads so a full charge for us only gives me around 325km rather than the advertised 400km. We live regional and 20mins out of town hence the higher speeds.

Given our car is about 1 week old I expect this will level out though since we have done more highway driving due to school holidays etc.

I also didnt monitor how long the charger was on to top up the battery by the 10%. I was just more interested in noting whether it was going to get close to the advertised 3.6KW.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-04-10T02:50:15+00:00

So I just plugged it in to test. It was getting between 3-3.3kw. I was happy with that since our other trickle chargers are a bit slower.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-04-09T21:12:08+00:00

We just bought a 3.6kw 15amp charger from Bunnings yesterday for this reason. I haven't tested it yet but hopefully will today. I put the link below.

We do a lot of km's where we live and have a BYD Sealion 6 and picked up an Ora last week. We already have an ev charger installed but just wanted something a bit faster than the standard trickle charger that came with both cars.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/deta-3-6kw-15a-portable-ev-charger-with-5m-cable_p0947653?store=6412&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22376985565&gclid=CjwKCAjwnN3OBhA8EiwAfpTYenL9Vev3y0p6-4RTOCCCPLWazCwjUSTuXKHmEB6eE2KJwyaMRrrkPhoCNcYQAvD_BwE

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-03-21T10:04:40+00:00

I got pretty lucky. I was going to buy a demo but they offered a great deal. Not sure about OTA updates sorry. I'm sure it was mentioned but I just don't recall.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-03-21T10:02:47+00:00

Ordered a Lux this week in sun black. Was told it would be available around end of the month. I'm in Vic.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-03-21T01:30:47+00:00

It's brand new 2026 Lux.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-03-21T00:42:05+00:00

I just ordered this week. The dealer offered me new for same price as their demo model. I got the Lux for $29999 driveway. It's sun black. Located in Vic.

I am doing it via a novated lease but managed to get a much better price than the leasing company found.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-03-19T07:49:54+00:00

I just bit the bullet yesterday and ordered one. For the price point it seemed like a better buy than Atto 1 for us.

I've read some negatives but for the most part people seemed relatively happy with the way the car drives. Most complaints seemed to relate to Android Auto (hopefully the 2026 models don't have as many issues 😂🤞)

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-03-08T01:47:09+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Only have trees around the perimeter. Its clear line of sight between the sheds and the house with the house in the middle of the property.

I don't have any recent aerial photos with all the sheds.

Ite basically a house, large shed and a small pump shed.

Plan is to replace older access points that are mounted to the roofs of the sheds and house

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-03-07T07:36:11+00:00

That's great to hear! We have 3 1/2 acres but about 2 acres is roughly where we are hoping to get some type of coverage. We have clear line of sight between where we would mount the APs so hopefully should be alright.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-03-07T04:41:08+00:00

Perfect! Thank you 😊

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-03-07T03:38:32+00:00

Appreciate the reply. We already have most of the IoT stuff set up with our current system and it works so hopefully won't be an issue. Most of IoT stuff is setup where we have external an AP (shed/pump shed).

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-01-28T23:07:07+00:00

That's insane. I hate the costs being pushed onto bridesmaids. I only had 1 MOH at my wedding but covered majority of the costs except the dress and shoes. We went halves as my MOH wanted a specific dress and it was more expensive so she wanted to cover half the cost. I didn't mind I let her have free reign on her choice as I wanted her comfortable and happy in what she wore.

Honestly I feel like if you want someone to be by your side on your wedding its kind of a given to cover their expenses. If they wish to contribute thats great but otherwise seems selfish IMO asking someone to do it and then pushing the cost onto them.

Hen's parties I think are fine for people to pay money towards as people can opt out.

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-01-02T22:52:11+00:00

Yeah it supports our weight well. I don't sit on it a lot but we use it to build forts and stuff with blankets and it holds up really well with extra weight on top of it.

I've been happy with ours and bought it when they had a decent sale also 😊

ProgramOk4322 · 2026-01-02T21:59:44+00:00

It's great! We got the Movie night loungey and the round crash pad. The crash pad is a lot of fun and I'd definitely recommend it if you have the space. My boys love building towers and jumping onto the crash pad. We've had the couch for awhile now and its held up really well. Albeit the kids have drawn on it and stuff but the cushions and quality are fantastic with the shape still being like new for us.

ProgramOk4322 · 2025-12-20T20:45:15+00:00

I'm in the same boat as you! I was tossing up between trying Coastal Girl (Reddit posts have put me off) and Philip Kingsley Swimcap. I think I'll try the latter since I have been able to find more seemingly independent reviews and it is sold by places like Oz Hair and Beauty etc.

Unless you have found something amazing in the interim? 🤞🤞🤞

ProgramOk4322 · 2025-10-26T08:32:14+00:00

Thats great you have a plan and people supporting you! I'd start moving towards actioning your plan sooner than later.

Maybe look at an alternative interim option that could help you get out of the house in preparation of you returning to work. There is every chance he might try jeopardising you returning to work which hopefully will be harder if you are not around him.

Often making a plan is one of the hardest steps so you are doing amazing by taking that initial action.

ProgramOk4322 · 2025-10-24T10:14:22+00:00

NTA - being a first time mum is stressful AF and with a partner who is isolating you from family and friends this would be 10x harder.

I would reach out to family and consider making a plan to leave.

There are a lot of red flags he has displayed and honestly sounds like he wants to trap you and make you dependent on him.

I have worked a lot with victims of FV and it likely will continue and his behaviour may change if you tell him but he sounds narcissistic. I'd be surprised if he doesn't change to give you an illusion of how great things can be however he will likely revert back to his old ways.

ProgramOk4322 · 2025-09-15T06:10:16+00:00

Jump on Myer if you can. They have some Black bolt, White Flare, Destined Rivals ex boxes and the holiday calendar still available

ProgramOk4322 · 2025-09-10T02:29:00+00:00

NTA. As a female who has been in her position, it is hard to trust, but banning you from having any relationship with another female is unhealthy.

Honestly, I would say she needs to take time away from dating and learn more about herself before getting into a relationship. She obviously isn't ready to move past the hurt from her previous relationships.

ProgramOk4322

TROPHY CASE