7 year itch?
 

Not a chance!

On this day 7 years ago a slightly scared, overtired but adventurous family of five set foot in Australia for the first time. We had nothing to lose and everything to gain by move to the other side of the world. Some people called us brave, some called us crazy, but we just saw it as an opportunity to broaden our horizons.

Pauline had secured a job in a Sydney hospital before we left. The plan was that I would be the house husband and help the kids settle, then find work for myself.

When i say kids i meant teens. Oldest was 19 and was hoping that moving to the other side of the world would mean adventure. Our oldest daughter was 17 and had left school, but we decided that for her to get a real chance to settle she would stand a better chance if she went to school. We knew she wouldn't go back to school so we decided to spin a little white lie and tell her that it was part of the visa requirement that she would have to do at least a year of schooling. As luck has it she bought it. Our youngest daughter the 15 year old really hated the fact that we were dragging her away from all of her friends and she made sure we made it lol

The first couple of weeks were a holiday for the girls. Our son had secured work in a local bar through friends we had made on our first day we arrived.

Within a month Pauline and our son had settled into work, the girls had really settled into school and had a massive group of friends but i was still on holiday lol

After 3 months of living the life it was time to find work. It only took me a week to secure work as a dept head of the tools department for a mitre 10. i loved it!
2 years flew past and we decided that it was time we made the move to queensland where we had always wanted to be.

Pauline found a job and we headed north, leaving our son who was really settled in Sydney.

Again the two girls were not too happy about the move. I found work in the first week driving a taxi. It was perfect for me and i loved that too. Both the girls really struggled to find work and make friends. So much so that after 9 months our oldest daughter headed back to Sydney to live with her boyfriend. Our youngest was now on her own and i think this spurred her on to find work and friends. Withing a week of her sister leaving she had secured work in retail.

Both Pauline and myself were having a great time with the kids all doing their own thing.

It took us another two years to buy our own little bit of Australia. Just after that i changed my job and life stated to sail past.

Our son had begun to miss the family so moved back to live with us. Not long after this our youngest moved out to live with her boyfriend, then a few months later our oldest daughter moved back to our place. For a while there it was one in, one out lol

Since moving to Australia we have had a very active social life, but since buying the house and with all the renovations we are making this has come to a halt. I do miss the social life but you cant have everything. This year we have ripped out the old kitchen and fitted a new one, done the port Douglas road trip and also paid a quick visit to Sydney where we caught up with old friends.

To be very honest the last year has been the hardest for us. Being so far away from the Uk when you really need to be there has been hard. Both of our jobs had been threatened back in August so it has been a stressful year. There have been some good points but sometimes we wish that 2010 had never happened.
Our son headed north at the tail end of last year and found his way to Hook island, so far hes loving the lifestyle. Both our daughter seem to be very happy and just getting on with life. Most of the time its just Pauline and myself at home so its really easy to cook and clean. I still enjoy my work and still love playing golf (if i ever get the time) and Pauline is tinkering with a business idea of her own. On a whole we have had some fantastic times In Australia. We have made friends for life through BE. When i say friends i mean real friends, i might not sea them for months or years but i know we will pick up where we left off as soon as we meet. Its one of the reasons i love the BE meets. I want everyone to be as lucky as we have been over the years.

We have big plans for the next year ahead so things should be exciting!

If I was asked if I would do it all again, we sure would. There are a few things we would change though, but not too much.

We are very happy that we made the move and our only regret is that we didn't do it sooner. We didn't have the money at that time so its not worth thinking of really.

I'm now wondering where we will be at the 10 year mark. Life is always interesting in the soapy household and I don't think thats going to change anytime soon.

Good luck to anyone thinking of making the move, your going to need it lol

Oh and a big thank you to all the BE members who have made our journey much easier with you help and friendship. You all know who you are!

If your not bored out of your skull by now and want a more detailed update on a year to year update. Just do a search through my old threads.
thanks for reading!

Soapy and Pauline :wub:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

You have the life you have because you all deserve it and worked hard to achieve it.

Well done to all the family and may the next 7 be equally as fantastic.


Had to laugh at the Head of Tools though, you are still Head Tool around BE :rofl:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Nice one baldy. :D

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Congrats on the 7 years :thumbup:

Great update :)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

lovely update, your kids have done you proud making the most of life! There certainly is alot of coming and going in the Soapy household. Funny the BE thing you mention, i have met no real friends through it:ohmy: when going to the meets i felt like the granny, maybe its a mlbourne thing that the peeps are younger, i remember when someone was arranging a mellie meet they had the cheek to put no one over 40, otherwish they would be as well socialising with thier mum:sneaky: cheeky ******!

The last year for us has been the best, for me its coz at long last i have made a couple of good mates throug work (thier ozzie though, but you cant have everything:lol:), and for anyone out there , they would find that funny and rib me for being a scot (and to get me swearing they would mention the fact i cant speak english:lol:)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

:lol:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

That's fricking outrageous! :eek: Who was it, I'll get them for you. :frown::lol:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

to be fair to BE , it was on PIO forum:), but honestly i eventually stopped going to any meets, it just wasnt happening for me, to be honest i found alot of folks, quite , well....snobby

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Ahh well that explains a lot. They're even wierder than us :lol: They (meets) don't happen for me either and I've been to a few that Soapy's been too, he loves them, I hate them. It's great that they do work for so many though.

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Nice one mate, luck, you are awash with it, nice update.

Keith:fingerscrossed:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Always funny, and always an inspiration Soapy; look forward to catching up with you soon :thumbup:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Wow, that 7 years has gone by quickly.
At first, looking at the title to your thread, I thought you were thinking of coming back. Should have known better :p

:beer: to the next 7 years.

Julie. x

Re: 7 year itch?
 

:lol:

cheers pal
your right though, Australia is what YOU make it. :)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

:lol:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

thanks Lindzi :)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

y'know Mags. the meets are not for everyone. i love them, but i could talk pish to anyone as you all know and i do love meeting new people. Pen is right when she says she doesnt like them. there are just not for her, but to give pen some credit. she does attend one now and again. i'm sure other people take a lot from posters who have been on here for years attending meets even if they dont get to meet them.
so glad life is getting better pal, theres nothing worse than living somewhere that makes you unhappy

Re: 7 year itch?
 

thanks Keith
i think you make yir own luck
the harder you work at it the more luck you have ;)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

thanks pal :)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

our two daughters were over last night and i pretended that we had decided to move back
i managed to get them to bite, but pauline can lie and the girls sussed it because she couldnt hold the laughing in lol

good to hear from you pal
i hope all is well :)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Its not that i hate the meets , i dont, its not that am shy, am not and i think am quite friendly , but i did find most peeps in thier 20's or early 30's, (if Bobbin's reading this i hope she aint offended, she is an absolutely lovely young girl, very genuine), so i found i didnt have much in common with them, but i would go to another one, but if i felt it was full of young'uns, then i would leave pronto, but perhaps they're just not for me! (meets i mean, not young people, lol)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

:rofl:Well come up and 'meet' up with us auld farts. We don't mind if your the wrong side of 21 lmao:thumbup:
Paulinex

Re: 7 year itch?
 

just wanna thank everyone for the lovely karma given :wub:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

its definately on my to do list:)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Get yir finger oot then lassie!

Re: 7 year itch?
 

One thing about your updates is that it means its time for mine :p. Cool update. Must go do mine soon.

Jo

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Great update Soapy. What are the things you would have done differently?

Re: 7 year itch?
 

That's just too funny, wish I could've seen their faces :rofl:

:thumbup: plenty of us who will never see 21 again! I really surprise myself sometimes at the meets cos believe it or not I'm quite shy in "real life" and find it hard to make friends. Without BE meets, where I know I'd have something in common with people, I'd have been totally lost :ohmy:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Brilliant Soapy :thumbsup:

Be great to meet up with you guys in July. :thumbup:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Where do i start lol
We would have kept the money we spent over 2 years in sydney
And bought a house then
Shipped our furniture out
Kept a fund for trips back to the uk
Not wasted money on things we dont really need lol

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Looking forward to it pal

Re: 7 year itch?
 

7 years!? blimey .... :lol: time flies!

congrats on the 7 year mark chick :thumbup::wub:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

chick???? lol
you lost yir heid lassie
but thanks anyway lol:)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Indeed. We gave all of ours away, 2 yr old leather suite that cost us a fortune was just one.

Re: 7 year itch?
 

i know the feeling pal, but we thought it would be great to start from the begining
it was, but it has cost us a fortune lol

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Us too. We done a SuperAMart special - crap I know but it's brilliant for just arriving and you need stuff quick, a great starter pack.

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Congrats on 7 happy years and here's to many more :beer: Brilliant update I really enjoyed reading it :)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

its a sheffield thing soapy!! :lol:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Great update Soapy & congrats to you & Pauline :thumbsup:

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Thanks pal :)

Re: 7 year itch?
 

Just spent the day with friends who remind us why we love it here