Well here we are. Three years down the line and, as is traditional on this anniversary I like to reflect on our lives here in Australia since we emigrated from England. The first thing to say is that this past year has been the most difficult – financially, emotionally and physically – but most of all, financially.

Paying the bills
Workwise, my little PC repair business has faltered – it had a promising start, but work has dried up lately thanks in part to this global recession thingy. I hope to pump some new life into the business, but it was never going to make me a millionaire. So I’m also looking at the alternatives and at the moment I’m applying for fulltime work. This falls into two camps – jobs from my old life in the media industry (which if it happened would mean a commute to Sydney everyday) or local jobs where I can retrain as something else (including, I shit you not, a prison guard).

Liz’s business continues to go well, although we’ve had to find money to pay for the failures of an inept accountant and a large surprise tax bill – along with the daily difficulties she faces running business in two hemispheres. We are, at least, making ends meet – though we often have to perform various monetary miracles each month to get the mortgage payment in the account.

We were thrilled to find out that Kevin Rudd was going to stimulate us, and the $2000 cash handout we got from that meant the mortgage was paid for one month without too many dramas. The plummeting interest rates also helped us a great deal, dropping our mortgage payments by about $700 a month – though of course we’ll start hurting again when those interest rates inevitably climb skywards again. Hopefully by then I’ll have got meself a job.

Like most people we save cash where and when we can. We got rid of things like Austar and have started shopping for groceries more sensibly. We now do a large shop every two weeks in Aldi, rather than lots of small shops in the more expensive IGA (think, co-op non-Australians) in Broughton. We have had to put our plans for trips to the UK and America on hold and I’ve told the boat designers to use cheaper marble in the en-suite on the 50 footer.

The Sprog
Jack’s had quite a year of it at school too – lots of growing up has been going on. He’s a real brainbox and his mental capacity certainly outstrips his social skills – but he’s getting there. He had an outstanding school report this year and a gold stamp from the principal, which was great. He’s discovered that he hates teams sports, loves running and writing and using computers. So, ermmm, nothing like his dad then. He’s in a pretty shite class this year (they lumped all the ‘problem’ kids together) but we’re hoping he gets a better deal next year.

The Missus
She’s been slogging her guts out keeping a roof over our heads, while dealing with difficult clients on both sides of the planet (no, not you Jerry!). Oh and she’s got a second cat – a kitten called Simon who arrived on her birthday. Won’t say much more than that, because she reads the blog and I’ll get a cuff round the ear.

Rest and Relaxation
We still love living in our house in our small town, but you have to work hard not to take somewhere for granted. You get into your daily routine and before you know it, it’s three weeks since you walked on the beach. Why move to a coastal location if you’re not going to make the most of the coast? Makes no sense. I remember before we emigrated, reading all these posts from disgruntled British expats saying that the beach was boring and that after you’d been there for a few months you never bothered going. I thought it then and I think it now – move, then! It’s like people have this bizarre fantasy of what life’s going to be like here and unless there’s a palm-tree fringed beach involved, it’s not a goer. This despite the fact that most people, when it comes down to it, find the beach a bit of a bore. Ho hum.

So we make an effort to get out of the house. We walk the dog down by the river, we drive to Black Head and look out for whales and dolphins, we go to the headland in Gerroa, we walk on our own beach. It’s good for the soul, but we’re basically your average humans, prone to sitting on the sofa watching CSI Mentally Lie To Me Miami House.

So yes, what else? I’m currently fat. I was making good headway with a fitness regime last year, but in a kind of inverse new years resolution it all petered out after the new year. However I need to be in fairly good shape to patrol the beach here as a surf lifesaver and so I know that I’m going to have to hit the gym again any day now. Before I know it the surf lifesaving season will begin and I’ll have to do my proficiency and I sure as shit ain’t doing that when I’m puffed running for the bus. So yes – spin classes and laps in the pool await.

This year I made more gains in the surf lifesaving club, picking up my patrol captain, spinal, defib and IRB drivers awards. The IRB drivers was a big deal for me and I feel I’ve achieved something in getting it. It basically took me three years to get that award.

Oz in general
It’s all part of the wallpaper now really. Three years in, we know how everything works, what brands to buy in the supermarket, how to buy houses, car and pies, what day bin-day is on, why they all go to bed at 9:00pm, who Bert Newton is, how Centrelink works, why they drive in the middle of the road and what Lammingtons is.

We’ve made some good friends since we arrived here.You can’t expect these sorts of things to happen overnight and in our case they haven’t. We’ve made a few mistakes along the way, but that’s been half the fun to be honest.

The final thought
And that’s it really. Are our lives better here than they were in the UK? In some ways yes, in others no – where our lives are better, the reason isn’t due to any deficiency in the fabric of society in the UK, but in us. When you emigrate you have a chance to reinvent yourself. Nobody knows who you are and on the whole they couldn’t give two shits where you came from. So you have this chance to shed the baggage you build up living in one place, in one society at one time. Whether you do that is up to you – seems to me that many people just recreate their old lives here and then complain that nothing’s changed.