The Journey from Wigan to Perth

The Journey Begins (The Beginning)

 Dave has always been interested in moving to Australia and actually never shut up about it, so in January 2006 he talked me into going there for a holiday.  We decided on Perth because of the yearly weather and after a lot of research it just seemed to suit us both better.

Anyway off we flew on January 1^st and landed on January 3^rd (via Hong Kong).  We stayed in Perth City for 2 nights then travelled south along the coast through to Albany and then back to Scarborough Beach for the last 2 days.  The whole trip was amazing, the people are so friendly, and Perth City was so clean and with free transport in the City (wow).  We also loved Kings Park as it's so family orientated with public barbies to use, you couldn’t ask for more except the view of the City which it had.  Plus we also went there at night when it was busier as a lot of family’s seem to gather at night to relax.

Dave decided to take his CV with him to start circulating to see what job prospects are out there as well as researching house prices and also to find an agent.  He dropped his CV off at an agency in the City, and when we returned home he checked his email and there was a job offer from the agent, for a 3 month contract sent on the day we dropped his CV off.  So hopefully finding a job shouldn’t be a problem when we eventually arrive.

We travelled south all along the coast and found we fell in love with Mandurah, Bunbury, and Margaret River.

To cut a long story short I agreed to move to Australia, so after our long journey back to the UK we started the even longer journey of applying for a visa.  Dave had an eventful past were myself I’m uncomplicated so finding an agent was a godsend who helped a lot with the forms and where to look to find out information.

Having Dave’s job assessed with the ACS and having to do the RPL has taken months to complete.  This was the biggest task of all, much more to it than you first think, but hey it’s all been done and a positive result at the end, phew!!

After receiving this positive result, we we’re just starting to collate all the information to fill in the visa forms when I started to become ill.  After a few months of sever itching and lack of energy I was diagnosed with having a condition named PBC which is a progressive illness of the liver, but can be maintained with a few tablets and a couple of powders to stop the itching.  It was very depressing for a while thinking our Australian dream was vanishing, but I start to get better after taking the tablets and my liver is now back to normal, although I will need to take the medication for life. 

We thought we would ask our agent and several other agents what the outcome of the medical would be with me now having this condition, but they all seemed quite positive but the only real way of finding out is to go for it so that’s exactly what we have done.

I will be very nervous when the medical is due, and have everything crossed my illness won’t stop us.

So now we have both decided to go on a health kick and joined a gym, Dave has stopped smoking on January 1^st using patches and is doing really well, and we are now starting to eat healthier, and hopefully ready for our new healthy life in Oz.

So after all this our visa was sent from the agent in Perth to the processing centre on the 28^th of February 2007.  Now the journey is really beginning!!