Last month, we celebrated living in Australia for SIX years! A while back, I wrote a post to celebrate our first three years in Australia so I thought it was about time I did another post to celebrate this latest milestone. This time I wanted to focus on the positive things that moving to Australia has brought into our lives.
2020 has been an incredibly strange year, with so many downs and not so many ups. This is a chance to celebrate the best things about moving to Australia and reflect on how grateful I am for being able to have this experience. These are the things that the relocation to Australia has added to our lives that wouldn’t have happened if we’d stayed where we were.
The 10 best things that moving to Australia has given me…
It has given us freedom!
In the UK, we felt trapped in a box. Every day looked the same. We lived for our holidays, and were sad when the time came to return home from them. Everyone around us was happy and content and they couldn’t understand why our feet were so itchy.
The idea of living that life forever felt suffocating for us, but it also felt scary to step up and do things differently. Moving to Australia felt terrifying, risky and crazy but we knew deep down it was the right move for us. It wasn’t that we wanted to escape the 9 – 5 existence of house/mortgage/jobs/kids (we still have all of that here too!) – we just wanted something else out of our lives. Here, we’ve gained incredible weather, blue skies, more space, amazing scenery and wildlife, life-changing travel experiences and more opportunities to be outdoors – these were the things we were searching for.
Moving abroad taught me that the only thing making us feel trapped had been OUR OWN MINDS! You are never trapped in a situation – there is always another option or a way out.
As Jim Rohn said: ‘If you don’t like where you are, change it. You are not a tree.’ When you take action, you realise that you are in control of your own life and you can do anything you want! It took moving to Australia to really teach me that.
It has allowed us to introduce our kids to incredible travel experiences
Travel is one of the most important things in my life – it’s one of my highest values. I’m lucky to be married to somebody who shares this passion for travel too. To now be able to share our love of the environment, nature and wildlife with our kids is the most amazing feeling. They’re growing up seeing koalas and kangaroos in the wild. They’ve hand-fed wild dolphins. They’ve seen glow worms in the rainforest at night. They’ve been on night walks to see sugar gliders and possums.
I am so happy that my kids are getting to see how stunning the world is and that they’ve been introduced to good causes like Australia Zoo’s Wildlife Warriors. They are growing up into responsible little eco-warriors!
It has given us an opportunity to spend long blocks of quality time with family
The hardest part of moving to Australia hands down was leaving my parents behind. But on the flip side, one of the best things about the experience has been having my parents come out to Australia on long holidays. Before this, they’d only travelled to beach resorts in Europe so us moving has allowed them the opportunity to visit Queensland and enjoy a totally new sort of holiday and have some priceless experiences like holding a koala and feeding kangaroos.
Although we see them less often than we did in the UK (we used to see them for a long weekend every few months), we now see them for big blocks of quality time (like two to three months at a time) and I love these visits so much. Being together out here gives us opportunities to make the most amazing holiday memories with them.
It has allowed my husband to develop his skills and find a new career
My husband had only ever worked in military aviation in the UK and when we moved to Brisbane he started working in commercial aviation. It has totally transformed his career and he really loves it. He has learnt so many new skills and diversified his experience and it’s something he’d never have had the chance to do if we’d stayed in the UK where we were living.
In the UK, he’d only ever had one employer so moving to a new company and new industry has really invigorated his career and given him confidence. (Obviously, right now it’s a tricky industry to be in but we’re staying positive – aviation will bounce back when the world begins to travel again).
It gave me the chance to create this business
Had I not moved to Australia, I’d have never started this website or probably any online business! And running this business lights me up – it feels like exactly what I was always meant to be doing and so many coincidences led me towards it that I’m sure it was always meant to be. Not to mention all of the amazing people I’ve met as a result of this business (both readers and group members plus other business owners that are in my networks).
In the UK, I was self-employed as a writer and freelance digital project manager but I didn’t feel the support was there to help micro-businesses like mine to grow. In Australia, less than 18 months after arriving I was lucky to receive two business grants to help me develop a business plan and create my website and marketing material – that support was so important to help me get started.
Aside from the business and financial support, when I moved to Australia I found myself networking in different circles and meeting different people. This is where I began learning more about online marketing and found some new mentors. Had I not moved, I’m not sure I’d have had the skills or knowledge to launch an online business. You really are the sum of the people you hang around with – moving to a new country involves you meeting new people and finding new influences and for me that has been immensely positive as they’ve added so much to my life!
It has given me a happier outlook
I honestly think this comes down to the weather. Sunshine puts everybody in a good mood, and the sky in Queensland is bright blue 95% of the time. Even in winter, the sun shines almost all the time (actually winter is so bright and lovely here – we don’t even get rain then as that comes during our tropical summer). I wake up feeling happy here! I never get bored of the sunshine and I don’t ever complain about it, even on the crazy-hot days.
It has made me realise that anything is possible
All around you in Australia, you see examples of people who’ve done amazing things. People who are running their own successful businesses. People who’ve built their dream home. People who’ve taken a year off to do the big lap. It feels like a place where opportunities are there for the taking. That is hugely inspiring!
It has given us more space and calmness
I’m not one to care about having a flashy home but having a larger space makes such a difference to my mindset. In the UK, we were crammed into a tiny three-bedroom home with one bathroom and no garage and so much stuff. Here we have five bedrooms, a double garage and two, big open plan living spaces. The house here only cost a little more than our UK home, but the space it gives us to enjoy our family life is unbelievable.
We aren’t under each other’s feet anymore. I have an office to work from (instead of a tiny nook under the stairs!). We have room to relax together or apart. It’s also about the space around us too – we aren’t overlooked by any neighbours and our street is quiet (in the UK, our road was packed with cars parked up against each other). We have parks everywhere, and a great cycle track around our suburb.
All of this open space makes me happy. I feel like I can breathe.
It allowed us to make new friends
We love our old friends and family so much, but we also appreciate that moving across the world has introduced us to lots of lovely new friends who we’d never have met if we hadn’t made the move! And these new friends have added so much to our lives. We feel very lucky to have so many awesome people in our lives all over the world.
It’s been (and still is!) a grand adventure
Let’s be honest, we only get one shot at life and it should be one huge adventure! Life isn’t meant for playing safe and staying still – it’s about experiencing as much of this world as we possibly can. We intend to enjoy every second of it, and through this blog I hope I can inspire and support you on your own adventure too!
