We arrived in Melbourne in 2004 (we being myself, husband and 13 year old daughter), with our other 20 year old daughter to follow in a few weeks.

In the lead to up to our departure from Scotland, with selling our home, shipping all of our belongings, leaving our jobs, family and friends as you can imagine, my husband and I were very stressed and tired.  We were so looking forward to arriving in Australia and starting our new exciting venture.

On our arrival we soon got all the necessities organised, bank accounts, taxfile numbers, medicare cards, ambulance cover and everything else that we now take for granted.  It’s amazing how much time all this stuff actually takes to organise.  Soon after my husband started work, my daughter was in school and we managed to find a house to rent.  Within 6 weeks, I was also working and Australian life was beginning to take shape.  Only problem was, we still did not have our shipment of furniture yet so we were living very rough!  But we were happy and our daughter was making new friends (which was a big help).  Soon after, our older daughter arrived to join us in our new life.

We have now purchased our own home (we could only ever dream of owning a house like this in the UK) and have been happily and busily spending all our spare time in renovating to our dream.

Four years on and things are going good although I will be honest and say that there have been some very tough family times.  My older daughter is moving back to the UK to live.  She has never really settled in Australia and has already moved back to the UK twice already over the last 3 year, and in a few short weeks, she will once again make the move.  My youngest daughter who is now 17 is settled with a huge circle of friends and a boyfriend.  But she also still misses the UK and is planning to return to Uni there in a couple of years.

I returned to the UK on holiday, a couple of years ago, it was great to see everyone again but to my amazement, I really missed my home –Melbourne! I could not wait to get back.  Everything seemed so dull and small in the UK, and I was beginning to feel claustrophobic.

When I think back to us planning to immigrate and have a new life in this wonderful country, it didn’t enter my mind that our daughters would return and my self and my husband would be on our own.

But the strange thing is, although I know that I will miss my daughters terribly, they also have their life to live and decisions to make.  And the door will always be open for them to return to the best country in the world Australia – the land of hope!

©Jackie Byrne