Originally Posted by Bermudashorts

Today is my one year anniversary in Australia.

We received our 175 visa grant in December 2009. I sometimes wondered why I had ever started the process; we already had a nice home in a nice area and were settled. But once the visa was in hand, I didn’t want to waste it. I say “I” because Mr BS never had any doubts. So we booked our validation trip in May and decided to test the job market. By the time we were boarding the plane home again we both had job offers and we decided that if we were ever going to do this there would never be a better time ... so here we are.

I spent those first few days in Sydney by myself and whilst I kept myself busy doing “stuff” I definitely felt like a fish out of water and as I walked through the city I had an acute sense of being the person that didn’t belong. Three or four weeks later, Saturday, and I went to see the house Mr BS had picked out for us in Collaroy he picked it as I had to start work straight away. Afterwards we went for lunch, nowhere fancy, the Collaroy RSL and we took a seat outside overlooking the sea. I distinctly remember saying to Mr BS that it was the first time I had felt even a flicker of happiness since we arrived. It was the turning point and perhaps I am lucky it happened relatively soon; the fish out of water feeling , that what on earth have I done feeling, started to dissipate and it has only improved since then.

We have been living in Collaroy since August, the house is great and we have ceiling to floor windows on one side with ocean views that I am still not tired of. We love being an easy ten minute walk to the beach although we have not taken advantage as much as we should like. Does anyone? But much as we like it here we toyed with the idea of moving at the end of our lease; the house is a bit too big and expensive and we thought it would be fun to try city apartment living for a couple of years. As the time approaches we are having a change of heart and perhaps we will stay here for another year. I don’t like moving house. We have no plans to buy anywhere at the moment and probably won’t for a few more years at least. We have instead set ourselves the goal of trying to pay the UK mortgage off.


Fortunately I never believed that stuff about Australian’s having a better work life balance! I have said it before and I will say it again, I have never worked harder or longer hours in my entire life. We leave for work at 6.30am and get home around 7pm if we are lucky, much the same as in the UK although we spent more time commuting and always went for coffee / breakfast in London, here it is straight to work.

Something else we see mentioned on BE a lot but I never really bought into is this “local experience” thing. It was not a stumbling block for us in finding work and indeed neither of us have found there to be any more differences between how things are done beyond the usual differences from company to company. I think it is just an excuse.

It has been easy to settle in and my new colleagues have been nothing but friendly and welcoming. I have found my work environment quite stressful nevertheless, due to a fairly chaotic regime above, fortunately it has been on the whole successful but I am not sure that the level of stress is sustainable for me in the long term. Mr BS is very happy at work and has no gripes. After nine months his boss resigned and he got a two week overseas trip out of it (going in place of his boss) when he got back he was offered the more senior position. So that is a big promotion and a 40% pay rise for him within a year.

I always said I thought London and UK had more opportunities than Australia, now I tend to think that whilst there may be more opportunities in numbers, it is easier to shine and be noted in Australia. My husband is an example, this promotion is perhaps just a year too soon and if this happened in the UK, I think they might have gone to recruit externally, whereas here he has been given a shot. I have been head hunted once for a CFO position in Melbourne (which I turned down) and in one or two of my more stressful periods more recently I have put my CV forward for a couple of positions and it has been immediately pounced upon. My CV is considered decent in UK too, but it simply does not generate the level of excitement that it does here.


Mr BS and I know that financially we are fortunate in having a high joint income and as we don’t have children the cost of living was never going to be a big struggle. We don’t have to carefully budget things like a weekly shop and so I don’t tend to notice differences on things like a pint of milk or a loaf of bread, overall the cost of my shopping trolley does not feel too bad and my utility bills and transport costs are definitely less than in UK. I never compare prices using current exchange rates, I divide by 2 and bit as that is about how our salaries compare.

I do notice we have less disposable income though, mainly because the rent is so much more than the mortgage we paid back in the UK, nearly a third of our income here compared to about an eighth back home. This year we have not gone without anything and we have still had our holidays; two weeks in NZ, a trip on the Ghan in platinum class and we are going to Las Vegas (business ) to meet up with family for Christmas. But I have noted that we are not saving as much as we should, so after this year of indulgence we will be pulling in our belts.


We did not live near our family in the UK and have lived overseas before so this move was not breaking a close physical or geographical bond for us. But I do worry about us growing apart from family, especially as there is just the two of us if that makes sense. I am aware that we are not seeing our niece and nephews grow up but most of all I worry about the bond between me and my sister. She is really it when it comes to blood family for me (the niece and nephews are on Mr BS side). Unfortunately, she is not too great at keeping in touch although she and her hubby are making that trip to Las Vegas. I think that they will visit at some point but I expect we will go back to the UK more often. Our current thinking is that we would like to go back at least every other Christmas.

I must admit we have not tried very hard to make friends, we just don’t seem to have got round to it. Mr BS and I enjoy other people’s company and we are sociable and chatty when in it, but I think we both have a loner streak in us and we have just not bothered to try and form real friendships so far. We will get round to it, but it has not been of major importance to us so far.


A few random observations; Australians eat a lot of beetroots and avocados, generally people are very friendly, bus drivers are helpful, children are courteous, high streets are not identikit there are more independent retailers, it rains a lot I swear I have seen more rain in the last 12 months than I have in the previous 40 years put together, Sydneysiders put on arctic survival suits id the temperature drops below 18C. Finally, Mr BS would like to note that he finds the price of DVDs, CDs and books quite shocking.

So after a year we are happy. I love so many things about this country, I love looking at the map of Australia (I have always liked maps) and thinking that this is my home and I am glad I am here and where shall I visit next. I don’t wear rose tinted glasses though, I get annoyed by the better lifestyle type clichés and I am somewhat baffled by a statement made by Mr Bermudashorts on a regular basis about how he finds everything in Australia to be in colour whilst the UK is black and white. I have a fear that in a couple of years, I could start to yearn for the UK and want to go back, but that isn’t how I feel at the moment. For now at least, it is a thumbs up from us.