Seven years of rural Australia
Sep 11th 2013, 5:04 am
#1
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Joined: Mar 2006
Location: Riverland, SA - Beds/Cambs/Nhants was home in UK
Posts: 1,503
Seven years of rural Australia
I wrote an update a few months back and there was a glitch and it disappeared on me before posting but I have just enjoyed another "long timers" update so thought perhaps I'd have another go!
Well as I said, we're rural. Being farmers, that's not too surprising really.
We came in 2006, sponsored RSMS with a three month processing time from start to finish, having never visited Australia before. Bonkers probably but not alone! I'd traveled as a child with my father working in the Middle East so I think it was always a lot easier for me to contemplate. My husband was little more cautious, which is why it was 2006 and not 2001 when I first suggested.
We moved to a small rural community, 3 hours from Adelaide, our property was 50 kms out of town (population around 1200) and managed a large scale horticultural farm, growing fresh produce for the likes of Woolies etc. Our life was extremely busy. The business grew enormously once my husband got his teeth into it. This was great but as one of our largest reasons for leaving the UK, was to spend less time working, it worked against us in the long run. I am not one of those wives that moans about their husbands working long hours, better than a lazy lay about, but I am a wife that enjoys spending time with my husband so I worked with him. Our two sons were only 3 and 5 when we arrived in South Australia so they adapted extremely quickly. We had early starts with the school bus leaving our property at 7.30 am and returning at 4.30 pm - that's a long day when you add in homework and dinner! I'd do 200 kms some days with after school sports and averaged 1000 kms most weeks. Working hard enabled us to buy a beautiful beach house and we run a nice car but getting time to get to the beach house became harder and harder.
Eventually we realised that the business wasn't going to get any smaller/easier/less involved, never would expect that really so instead we chose to move on.
We'd made some lovely friendships and it was a hard decision to leave the area but we'd come to realise that due to the nature of the farming community, if we'd stayed in the area, we'd have always been in the shadow of our former employer. Even when we'd moved inter state we'd get far too much info about what was going on each day!
Anyway through one of our business contacts, which had become a good friend, a work opportunity presented itself. After managing other peoples businesses for twenty years, finally chance to do it for ourselves!! Amazing.
We are now living in the coal seam gas area of Queensland. Having never lived in town, renting in a boom town has been a huge, huge change but not impossible. With the boys now 12 and 11 it's probably been a good time to move. Both boys have played Rep footy (Rugby League) even though only their first seasons. Quite an achievement!! They've also done well with school with our eldest being selected for school captain after only 6 months at the school. The opportunities have been greater for them both with moving to a larger community. They love being able to cycle (or scooter) to school and to have three extra hours a day where they are not sat on a bus is brill too.
We've decided to sell the beach house in South Australia which makes me quite sad (it was one of those magic "we'd never have done this in the UK" moments when we bought it) but realistically there's no point having something like that, that you don't use, and the rent only covers half the mortgage. Instead? I'm not sure but we'd like to buy a house here so hopefully that'll happen soon.
Our business has been well received. We're designing, selling and installing agricultural irrigation equipment so it's not a massive market but with the coal seam gas it's a growing market. Our clients are lovely, many have quickly become great friends and the opportunity is there for us to grow and grow.
But the best bit of all - we have weekends again. So many people always have weekends, you don't realise how precious they are when you don't have them for many, many years.
Quality of life for us is good. We're happy and our children are a delight. We are very proud of the young men they are becoming. Moving country, or even within a country isn't without it's challenges but we've attacked them together and it's made it possible. I've said it before, but you're foolish if you tackle migration to "fix" something - you need to be incredibly strong to deal with everything with either a non-existent or distant support network.
I look forward to the future and our next challenges!
Well as I said, we're rural. Being farmers, that's not too surprising really.
We came in 2006, sponsored RSMS with a three month processing time from start to finish, having never visited Australia before. Bonkers probably but not alone! I'd traveled as a child with my father working in the Middle East so I think it was always a lot easier for me to contemplate. My husband was little more cautious, which is why it was 2006 and not 2001 when I first suggested.
We moved to a small rural community, 3 hours from Adelaide, our property was 50 kms out of town (population around 1200) and managed a large scale horticultural farm, growing fresh produce for the likes of Woolies etc. Our life was extremely busy. The business grew enormously once my husband got his teeth into it. This was great but as one of our largest reasons for leaving the UK, was to spend less time working, it worked against us in the long run. I am not one of those wives that moans about their husbands working long hours, better than a lazy lay about, but I am a wife that enjoys spending time with my husband so I worked with him. Our two sons were only 3 and 5 when we arrived in South Australia so they adapted extremely quickly. We had early starts with the school bus leaving our property at 7.30 am and returning at 4.30 pm - that's a long day when you add in homework and dinner! I'd do 200 kms some days with after school sports and averaged 1000 kms most weeks. Working hard enabled us to buy a beautiful beach house and we run a nice car but getting time to get to the beach house became harder and harder.
Eventually we realised that the business wasn't going to get any smaller/easier/less involved, never would expect that really so instead we chose to move on.
We'd made some lovely friendships and it was a hard decision to leave the area but we'd come to realise that due to the nature of the farming community, if we'd stayed in the area, we'd have always been in the shadow of our former employer. Even when we'd moved inter state we'd get far too much info about what was going on each day!
Anyway through one of our business contacts, which had become a good friend, a work opportunity presented itself. After managing other peoples businesses for twenty years, finally chance to do it for ourselves!! Amazing.
We are now living in the coal seam gas area of Queensland. Having never lived in town, renting in a boom town has been a huge, huge change but not impossible. With the boys now 12 and 11 it's probably been a good time to move. Both boys have played Rep footy (Rugby League) even though only their first seasons. Quite an achievement!! They've also done well with school with our eldest being selected for school captain after only 6 months at the school. The opportunities have been greater for them both with moving to a larger community. They love being able to cycle (or scooter) to school and to have three extra hours a day where they are not sat on a bus is brill too.
We've decided to sell the beach house in South Australia which makes me quite sad (it was one of those magic "we'd never have done this in the UK" moments when we bought it) but realistically there's no point having something like that, that you don't use, and the rent only covers half the mortgage. Instead? I'm not sure but we'd like to buy a house here so hopefully that'll happen soon.
Our business has been well received. We're designing, selling and installing agricultural irrigation equipment so it's not a massive market but with the coal seam gas it's a growing market. Our clients are lovely, many have quickly become great friends and the opportunity is there for us to grow and grow.
But the best bit of all - we have weekends again. So many people always have weekends, you don't realise how precious they are when you don't have them for many, many years.
Quality of life for us is good. We're happy and our children are a delight. We are very proud of the young men they are becoming. Moving country, or even within a country isn't without it's challenges but we've attacked them together and it's made it possible. I've said it before, but you're foolish if you tackle migration to "fix" something - you need to be incredibly strong to deal with everything with either a non-existent or distant support network.
I look forward to the future and our next challenges!
Sep 11th 2013, 10:31 am
#2
MODERATOR
Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Adelaide
Posts: 29,872
Re: Seven years of rural Australia
I wrote an update a few months back and there was a glitch and it disappeared on me before posting but I have just enjoyed another "long timers" update so thought perhaps I'd have another go!
Well as I said, we're rural. Being farmers, that's not too surprising really.
We came in 2006, sponsored RSMS with a three month processing time from start to finish, having never visited Australia before. Bonkers probably but not alone! I'd traveled as a child with my father working in the Middle East so I think it was always a lot easier for me to contemplate. My husband was little more cautious, which is why it was 2006 and not 2001 when I first suggested.
We moved to a small rural community, 3 hours from Adelaide, our property was 50 kms out of town (population around 1200) and managed a large scale horticultural farm, growing fresh produce for the likes of Woolies etc. Our life was extremely busy. The business grew enormously once my husband got his teeth into it. This was great but as one of our largest reasons for leaving the UK, was to spend less time working, it worked against us in the long run. I am not one of those wives that moans about their husbands working long hours, better than a lazy lay about, but I am a wife that enjoys spending time with my husband so I worked with him. Our two sons were only 3 and 5 when we arrived in South Australia so they adapted extremely quickly. We had early starts with the school bus leaving our property at 7.30 am and returning at 4.30 pm - that's a long day when you add in homework and dinner! I'd do 200 kms some days with after school sports and averaged 1000 kms most weeks. Working hard enabled us to buy a beautiful beach house and we run a nice car but getting time to get to the beach house became harder and harder.
Eventually we realised that the business wasn't going to get any smaller/easier/less involved, never would expect that really so instead we chose to move on.
We'd made some lovely friendships and it was a hard decision to leave the area but we'd come to realise that due to the nature of the farming community, if we'd stayed in the area, we'd have always been in the shadow of our former employer. Even when we'd moved inter state we'd get far too much info about what was going on each day!
Anyway through one of our business contacts, which had become a good friend, a work opportunity presented itself. After managing other peoples businesses for twenty years, finally chance to do it for ourselves!! Amazing.
We are now living in the coal seam gas area of Queensland. Having never lived in town, renting in a boom town has been a huge, huge change but not impossible. With the boys now 12 and 11 it's probably been a good time to move. Both boys have played Rep footy (Rugby League) even though only their first seasons. Quite an achievement!! They've also done well with school with our eldest being selected for school captain after only 6 months at the school. The opportunities have been greater for them both with moving to a larger community. They love being able to cycle (or scooter) to school and to have three extra hours a day where they are not sat on a bus is brill too.
We've decided to sell the beach house in South Australia which makes me quite sad (it was one of those magic "we'd never have done this in the UK" moments when we bought it) but realistically there's no point having something like that, that you don't use, and the rent only covers half the mortgage. Instead? I'm not sure but we'd like to buy a house here so hopefully that'll happen soon.
Our business has been well received. We're designing, selling and installing agricultural irrigation equipment so it's not a massive market but with the coal seam gas it's a growing market. Our clients are lovely, many have quickly become great friends and the opportunity is there for us to grow and grow.
But the best bit of all - we have weekends again. So many people always have weekends, you don't realise how precious they are when you don't have them for many, many years.
Quality of life for us is good. We're happy and our children are a delight. We are very proud of the young men they are becoming. Moving country, or even within a country isn't without it's challenges but we've attacked them together and it's made it possible. I've said it before, but you're foolish if you tackle migration to "fix" something - you need to be incredibly strong to deal with everything with either a non-existent or distant support network.
I look forward to the future and our next challenges!
Well as I said, we're rural. Being farmers, that's not too surprising really.
We came in 2006, sponsored RSMS with a three month processing time from start to finish, having never visited Australia before. Bonkers probably but not alone! I'd traveled as a child with my father working in the Middle East so I think it was always a lot easier for me to contemplate. My husband was little more cautious, which is why it was 2006 and not 2001 when I first suggested.
We moved to a small rural community, 3 hours from Adelaide, our property was 50 kms out of town (population around 1200) and managed a large scale horticultural farm, growing fresh produce for the likes of Woolies etc. Our life was extremely busy. The business grew enormously once my husband got his teeth into it. This was great but as one of our largest reasons for leaving the UK, was to spend less time working, it worked against us in the long run. I am not one of those wives that moans about their husbands working long hours, better than a lazy lay about, but I am a wife that enjoys spending time with my husband so I worked with him. Our two sons were only 3 and 5 when we arrived in South Australia so they adapted extremely quickly. We had early starts with the school bus leaving our property at 7.30 am and returning at 4.30 pm - that's a long day when you add in homework and dinner! I'd do 200 kms some days with after school sports and averaged 1000 kms most weeks. Working hard enabled us to buy a beautiful beach house and we run a nice car but getting time to get to the beach house became harder and harder.
Eventually we realised that the business wasn't going to get any smaller/easier/less involved, never would expect that really so instead we chose to move on.
We'd made some lovely friendships and it was a hard decision to leave the area but we'd come to realise that due to the nature of the farming community, if we'd stayed in the area, we'd have always been in the shadow of our former employer. Even when we'd moved inter state we'd get far too much info about what was going on each day!
Anyway through one of our business contacts, which had become a good friend, a work opportunity presented itself. After managing other peoples businesses for twenty years, finally chance to do it for ourselves!! Amazing.
We are now living in the coal seam gas area of Queensland. Having never lived in town, renting in a boom town has been a huge, huge change but not impossible. With the boys now 12 and 11 it's probably been a good time to move. Both boys have played Rep footy (Rugby League) even though only their first seasons. Quite an achievement!! They've also done well with school with our eldest being selected for school captain after only 6 months at the school. The opportunities have been greater for them both with moving to a larger community. They love being able to cycle (or scooter) to school and to have three extra hours a day where they are not sat on a bus is brill too.
We've decided to sell the beach house in South Australia which makes me quite sad (it was one of those magic "we'd never have done this in the UK" moments when we bought it) but realistically there's no point having something like that, that you don't use, and the rent only covers half the mortgage. Instead? I'm not sure but we'd like to buy a house here so hopefully that'll happen soon.
Our business has been well received. We're designing, selling and installing agricultural irrigation equipment so it's not a massive market but with the coal seam gas it's a growing market. Our clients are lovely, many have quickly become great friends and the opportunity is there for us to grow and grow.
But the best bit of all - we have weekends again. So many people always have weekends, you don't realise how precious they are when you don't have them for many, many years.
Quality of life for us is good. We're happy and our children are a delight. We are very proud of the young men they are becoming. Moving country, or even within a country isn't without it's challenges but we've attacked them together and it's made it possible. I've said it before, but you're foolish if you tackle migration to "fix" something - you need to be incredibly strong to deal with everything with either a non-existent or distant support network.
I look forward to the future and our next challenges!
Hope things continue to go well in QLD
Sep 11th 2013, 11:39 am
#3
Waiting to be a grown-up
Joined: May 2010
Location: Adelaide
Posts: 4,695
Re: Seven years of rural Australia
Lovely update Jo
Sep 11th 2013, 1:11 pm
#4
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Joined: Jun 2003
Location: Sydney beachside
Posts: 3,505
Re: Seven years of rural Australia
That's great to hear, Jo.
You've never been the average, run-of-the-mill migrant and I've never heard you whinge or moan about anything (despite living in places most people wouldn't last five minutes in
).
You're always see the good side of everything and I've no doubt that your success here is due to your positive attitude.
Hope the next 7 years are even better for you.
You've never been the average, run-of-the-mill migrant and I've never heard you whinge or moan about anything (despite living in places most people wouldn't last five minutes in
). You're always see the good side of everything and I've no doubt that your success here is due to your positive attitude.
Hope the next 7 years are even better for you.
Sep 11th 2013, 11:17 pm
#5
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Joined: Mar 2006
Location: Riverland, SA - Beds/Cambs/Nhants was home in UK
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Re: Seven years of rural Australia
Arrrrrr thanks everyone. Nicky - that's what I aim for (no point moaning, make changes instead)
Sorry it waffled on - hadn't realised it was soooo long!
Sorry it waffled on - hadn't realised it was soooo long!
Sep 12th 2013, 3:46 am
#6
Officially Bewildered
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW
Posts: 5,523
Re: Seven years of rural Australia
Fantastic update, Jo - I'm glad the big change of moving back to "civilisation" has worked out so well for you and the family.
Sep 12th 2013, 7:30 am
#7
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Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Sydney, NSW
Posts: 7,580
Re: Seven years of rural Australia
Really enjoyed reading this.
Sep 17th 2013, 2:53 am
#8
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2012
Location: Hills outside Melbourne
Posts: 35
Re: Seven years of rural Australia
Great to hear your update Jo. As we came to Australia in 2006 with a sponsored RSMS as well (although to outback Qld) I was following your story at the time (my forum name was different back then but couldn't remember the pw anymore 
)
Glad that all is going so well in Queensland for you now, all the best for the future for your family and business
)Glad that all is going so well in Queensland for you now, all the best for the future for your family and business
Sep 17th 2013, 12:42 pm
#9
Crazy Cat Lady
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 65,493
Re: Seven years of rural Australia
Great update Jo, thanks for that. I often think about you because you're one of the very few who haven't done the standard move. So pleased it's worked out so well, although no doubt there have been quite a few ups and downs along the way.
Sep 19th 2013, 4:20 am
#10
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 15,526
Re: Seven years of rural Australia
Great reading and insightful from my point of view knowing very little about the farming community in Aus.
One question, have you been here long enough to call yourself a Cockie ?.... I guess that question is irrelevant now that you've sold the farm.
One question, have you been here long enough to call yourself a Cockie ?.... I guess that question is irrelevant now that you've sold the farm.
Sep 19th 2013, 10:26 pm
#11
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Location: Riverland, SA - Beds/Cambs/Nhants was home in UK
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Re: Seven years of rural Australia
And no I would never have called ourselves Cockie's - Cockie's are considered smaller scale farmers, think hobby farmer but a bit bigger.
Oct 5th 2013, 4:30 am
#12
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Hill overlooking the SE Melbourne suburbs
Posts: 16,622
Re: Seven years of rural Australia
(I gather there's opportunity out there for managing - it's not as if there are endless bucks in the bank for buying outright! But then look at the debt some farmers sit on - but manage somehow..)
Oct 20th 2013, 9:44 pm
#13
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 6,039
Re: Seven years of rural Australia
That's great to hear, Jo.
You've never been the average, run-of-the-mill migrant and I've never heard you whinge or moan about anything (despite living in places most people wouldn't last five minutes in ).
You're always see the good side of everything and I've no doubt that your success here is due to your positive attitude.
Hope the next 7 years are even better for you.
You've never been the average, run-of-the-mill migrant and I've never heard you whinge or moan about anything (despite living in places most people wouldn't last five minutes in
). You're always see the good side of everything and I've no doubt that your success here is due to your positive attitude.
Hope the next 7 years are even better for you.
Oct 21st 2013, 12:36 am
#14
Fighting my corner
Joined: Aug 2005
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Posts: 11,948
Re: Seven years of rural Australia
^^ +1
