verystormy

Well on the 9th May 2008, we left our little house in Leicester and headed for London for a overnight stay with family before catching the flight from Heathrow to Sydney via Singapore and a two day stopover.

We arrived Sydney the 13th and had two weeks in the Harbour View Hotel paid for by my company who were our sponsers for my 457 visa and this give us enough time to find a great place to live in Breakfast Point, inner west Sydney and to start the process of buying all the new furniture. We decided to only bring 10 large boxes of personal things / cloths and non of the big furnishing as most were well past it anyway and instead used the small amount of cash we made on the sale of the house to re buy everything.

Well i flew out to work after two weeks for my first 2 week stint away working as a exploration geologist for a medium sized lead / zinc mining company and all went well.

But!!! I returned back to Sydney on my first seven day break to be called in to the office to be told the lead / zinc prices had collapsed and i the exploration office was shut down and i was being transfered to the mine as a underground geologist.

Well, "give it a try" i figured, but then the big worry came when i started and it became pretty obvious that the mine was in trouble with the downturn and redundancies were being made.

So, found myself with having to find another job and sponser asap in case i was laid off. Well, i loved Sydney and did everything possible to stay, but there just wasnt any thing going and the mining industry was starting to suffer big time. Well, September i had a interview for a job in Perth with a large gold mining company back doing exploration which i love and so in October, we found ourselves, having moved to the other side of the world only 5 months earlier, having to move across a continent - though at least the company picked up the removal cost.

Well, another 2 weeks in a hotel and house hunting and found a place that we love in Dawesville, south of Mandurah. Its a long commute in to the city and exspecially as my role is now much more office based, but for the price of a small app;artment in the city we have a gorgous new 3 story house, opposite a great beach with dolphins and a lovelly pool and spa.

Perth is a funny city and you either love or loathe it and i am much more of the later, but i do like Mandurah and the wife loves where we live and Perth is just where i work so it doesnt matter.

We love the weather and the slower pace of life and have started making friends, though we both find west australians less friendly than in Sydney, and i have to say i miss Sydney and hope one day to return, but our west coast adventure is good and i certainly wouldnt go back to the UK. There are little things i miss, such as friends, good beer / pubs and even was sad that i missed the snow, but what i have gained is so much more.

Work is good and i have learnt a huge amount in 7 months and the company have agreed to sponser us for permanent residence which i will be eligible for in October. I dont think that we will stay in Oz for ever - the worlds too big a place and we are keen to see as much as possible, but for now it certainly feels like home

It has certainly been a exciting year and who knows what the next will hold, but i am sure it will be fun!

bourbon-biscuit

I enjoyed that- thanks and good luck for the future

Kooky.

Never a dull moment eh, verystormy! Glad that you finally found a great job and your wife is settled. Look forward to welcoming you back to Sydney one day.

Sally Simpson

Really interesting update.
Congrats on your first year & for successfully making the most of a second move!