Well we made it to the one year mark – but to say it’s been a rollercoaster ride is so very true! Here are some of the “Highs” and “Lows”

HIGH - seeing the Sydney Opera House & the Harbour Bridge for the first time…and thinking “Wow – we’re in Sydney!”

LOW – cooking dinner, then seeing a cockroach scurry across the worktop.

LOW – seeing my children all excited for their first swimming carnival…………then having to console them when they came last in every race. (Aussies living by the ocean learn to swim at birth!)

HIGH – walking along the beach, (Northern Beaches), after school most days.

LOW – applying for several jobs I thought I was capable of ……then not hearing anything.

HIGH – picnics on the beach, bushwalking.

LOW – only being able to afford a rental that was upstairs, (20 wooden steps– to be exact,) no AC or flyscreen on the door. One door in – one door out. Teenagers living downstairs that enjoyed late night parties!

HIGH – making some great friends in Sydney – Aussie, German, NZ, Brits – even a family of expats* from my hometown in Manchester!

HIGH – ordering Robbie Williams tickets for December in Sydney.

LOW – turning up at my first interview for Night fill at Kmart…….to be told “ The interview is tomorrow”…(when I knew it was TODAY).

HIGH – seeing my children make some great friends.

LOW – going out on my first “Girl’s Nite Out” since arriving in Oz…….only to return home at 8pm as I didn’t feel confident enough to be out. (I was a very confident person in the UK).

LOW - realising that people in the UK don't always keep in touch!

HIGH – seeing my children having fun swimming in the many rockpools by the ocean.

LOW – seeing my other half happy at work for the first time in ages………………but realising that the wages are not enough for a Northern Beaches lifestyle.

LOW - cockroaches.

LOW – nits (that you don’t need a magnifying glass to see!), worms, nosebleeds, impetigo, verrucas (apparently all due to change in weather!)

LOW – more cockroaches!

LOW – getting letters from school requiring money for “this and that” and realising we don’t have any!

LOW – cockroaches!

LOW – deciding we just can’t afford to live in Sydney – so do we cut our losses and return to UK…or try somewhere else?

HIGH – OH finds a job in Brisbane, and a lovely rental – so we decide to give it a go!

LOW – realising I might have to miss the Robbie concert in Sydney.

HIGH – getting tickets for the Robbie concert in BRISBANE!

LOW – saying goodbye to all the great friends I’d made in Sydney.

LOW – watching my kids saying goodbye to all their friends.

LOW – arriving in Brisbane…..and having no friends (apart from the ones from our hometown, see above*) who relocated in Brisbane just before us!

LOW – attempting to make friends in the playground – only to be “snubbed”

HIGH – not seeing any cockroaches in the rental – Hoorah!

LOW – seeing lots of ANTS…Boo!

HIGH – turning to BritishExpats for help…and receiving an offer to someones house for a BBQ – Thank-you, you were a lifesaver.