British Expats - Hilton`s - 15 months in Oz!

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Hilton`s - 15 months in Oz!

When we arrived on the gold coast 15 months ago, I honestly thought we had made the biggest "boo boo" of our lives. We had 2 not very happy sons, then aged 15 and 17, who had left all their life lifelong mates in the UK and as it was Nov they had a long spell when they only had each other for company, as they were starting school in the January. I have to say that they didn`t give us any grief but the guilt for me and my oh was sometimes unbearable. Anyway, we found a house to buy in the second week we arrived but could not move in for 7 weeks so we had a bit of a panic to find a rental for that time right on top of Christmas, which wasn`t easy but luckily we managed it. My oh landed a job in the second week and so that was a relief, although he wasn`t particularly happy there, it was a job! Anyway we got through our first Christmas (that`s all I`ll say on that) and on the 12th Jan 06 we moved in to our new house in Pacific Pines. We were all really happy as it was so nice to feel settled in our own place and the boys were thrilled to have their own bedroom (they shared in the UK as our 3rd bedroom was a box).
A few weeks later we hit a really bad patch as it was my eldest son`s 18th birthday and he went through a really bad time knowing that if he had been back "home" he would been celebrating his birthday with all his mate`s and here he was "Billy no mates" just with his mum, dad and brother and no real mates! That had to be the lowest point for all of us!

Anyway, it`s not all doom and gloom things do get better! 15 months on he has just celebrated his 19th birthday with all his aussie mates and three of his pommie mates who are over staying with us as the moment (for 6 weeks, aaarrrggg!!!) Both the boys are settled and the eldest one is never home now! Our youngest son who is 16 has started to go out more and more although we knew it would take him longer as he takes longer to make friends and also out here their social life seems to take off when either they or their friends get their driving licence as it makes it a lot easier to get about.

My oh and I have made loads of new friends, mainly poms, I have to admit, and are always socialising or doing something at the weekend, which is great.

We are still 100% happy with the house and area that we chose to live in and have had a pool put in, something that we would have never have afforded in the UK, this certainly goes down well with the visitors we`ve had,
(we`ve had 4 lots so far and our 5th arriving a month after my sons mates go home).

My oh now works 15 minutes from home and I have a little job which is 4 hours every morning, which is great!

So 15 months on things are very different from when we arrived, I would say that we are all really settled in our new lives and now know that we have made the right choice.

So to everyone on this rollercoaster, just bare in mind that it can be really hard at first but it does get easier and is well worth the all the heartache in the end!

Tracey x