Ah ha, hence the name frogman!

That's certainly enough reasons for me, I wish I was braver. We have decided to persevere with the UK and its bad customer service, plumbers that cost the earth, repair men that dont turn up, trains that are late, traffic jams, expensive food . . . . . Anyway, our plan is to invest in a couple of places abroad (NE Brazil and Morocco) and hopefully make enough money that we can pay off our mortgage and not have to stay in the rat-race.

We have brought 2 plots of beachside land with planing permission and a guaranteed price (£35k) for building a specified 3 bed house with garage and pool in 2 years time. We plan to sell 1 plot of land, hopefully it will have increased in value enough to pay for the building on the second plot.

I dont know anything about the building side of it, but it does seem the best route for knowing exactly what you're getting and financial gain. I have spoken to a friend in Sao Paulo, who is used ot living in Europe, and he says generally standards of building, carpentry etc in Brazil are good.