JAYMAC

...how quick the last year has gone. We are well settled into our new lives and routines and we are still happy that we have picked a location that suits us (Upper Coomera on the Gold Coast).

Me and hubby are both happy in our work (that is definitely a refreshing change!) and the kids seem happy and have settled into school and started to build friendships.

I still miss family and friends from time to time, but then I just pick up the phone and have a chat to catch up. We also keep in touch by email and did start a website diary however, everyday life sometimes gets in the way of remembering to keep it up to date!

All in all we are happy we made the move, it wasnt easy to do but so far we think it was worth it.

Feel like this is our 'first' christmas in Oz as last year just seemed to pass in a blur of sightseeing, househunting, and shopping etc. I am a bit worried that xmas wont live up to our expectations this year but I will try to think of things that we can do to start up new traditions such as going to Carols by Candlelight etc.

Good luck to everyone on their way!

Julia

Donna&Neil

Hi Julia glad to hear you and your family are enjoying your new life. This site has been so helpful in giving us 'still in the UK' a insight into what to expect,what comes next etc. Have a lovely xmas whatever you decided to do. All the best Donna

Brisben

Nice post tell us more...

moneypenny20

Nice post but I think you could have babbled on for longer - I did

TeresaG

Great post. Glad that everything is going well and you have settled in well.

I hope that you have a lovely Christmas, whatever you decide to do.

the4ofus

you sound like you've had a lovely first year of your new life - here's to your second

lynn

Celtic Roses

Hi Julia

Thanks for that very positive post. Just been reading the "Return to the UK forum" and feeling slightly depresssed and anxious, it was a great relief to swap forums and read yours. It is good to get a balance but more happy stories please.

Best wishes for the next year, hope it gets better and better. Merry Christmas.

Marie

shiels

Great Post......... heres to your next year....should be there ourselves soon!!!! C x

mark 'n' joe

Glad you are enjoying it. All the best.

Joex

painter man

Have a very happy christmas and may all your dreams come true

Kind Regards

Santa

JAYMAC

couldnt babble on too long, I had just polished off a bottle of bubbly to celebrate !

Julia

moneypenny20

Fair play. I would have been in a coma for a month if I did that

curly

Really pleased for you but tell us more we want to know all about it

Have a good christmas

JAYMAC

Hi Curly,

Its strange, but I find that now we are living our lives here and have normal routines it becomes more difficult to know what people want to hear about. I also know how much I enjoyed reading about other peoples experiences during the long haul of the visa application so here goes ...

We arrived on the Gold Coast 30/11/05 and stayed with relatives in Reedy Creek for nearly three weeks. Hubby has an Aunt and Uncle there and they have two daughters and 5 grandkids living in Varsity Lakes and Elanora. Initially we tried to find a rental in that area but it became apparent that we werent going to find one as quickly as we had hoped as these areas are fairly well established and there isnt a lot of property for sale/rent - particularly that time of year.

We widened our search and I remembered reading other peoples post regarding Upper Coomera State College so we decided to look at that area. The school is a big super school all on one campus, which was a great benefit to us as we have a 13 and 7 year old and that meant the older daughter could take the younger son to school and back when I eventually found work.

We found a rental near to the school and paid the 6mths rent in advance and moved in a few days before xmas. We had furniture delivered and bought xmas tree (ours from England was still in transit) and sorted all the xmas shopping in the space of two days! Xmas day was spent at hubbys cousins house and we had a pretty good day, I was dreading it as I thought the reality of it all would hit then, at a time when you are used to having all of your family around. As I said in my last post I think that this will happen this year, as things arent quite as hectic and I have a lot more time to think about it.

Hubby found work as a maintenance fitter at one of the theme parks, so that was fanastic as it it literally a few minutes drive from where we live and given that he had applied before we even decided on Upper Coomera it just seemed to fall into place. He had applied for loads of jobs and you have to be prepared for the fact that you dont even get a reply from most of them.

I was stuck at home for the first few weeks, just getting the house sorted and the kids settled into the school. Eventually I found a part time job at a construction company at Loganholme and have been working there for 8 months now. The people are great, I can work hours to suit and the pay is ok so I am pretty happy.

We have now bought a house in Upper Coomera and have put in a swimming pool with the last of our UK money. We still have a large mortgage and dont have as big an income as we did in the UK but we have everything we need in our home and dont need to spend any more big bucks for a long while, we have a second hand boat and we both have a car. We find we dont spend as much money here and eating out etc is a lot cheaper here so we are managing ok.

The kids like the school and have both made lots of friends, my daughter had a bit of a shaky start as it is hard to break into established groups at that age and believe me when I say if you have a teenager, their happiness or lack of it can make or break the success of a move like this. Luckily she now has lots of friends and we havent had a weekend where we didnt have someone sleeping over.

My little boy was 6 when we arrived, and I have found that maybe because of his age he has just taken it all in his stride and is definitely becoming a proper little ozzie, he loves the pool, playing outside with his friends, and his accent has totally changed already.

Not sure yet whether this move will be permanent, but we are happy here at the moment and I know that we will definitely stay until my daughter finishes school, then we will assess our feelings. My mum had emigrated here when she was first married and only stayed two years, and she said that she regretted going home. Her advice to me when I left England was, if you get homesick and you really feel like you want to come back, book a holiday, and you wont know how fast to get back again.

Julia x

CHnJ

Your mum is wise indeed : )

Lovely post, and I'm glad it's working out for you.