Gday DUCers!
Here you can check out our migrant stories that cover all parts of the move, interviews from our DUC team and Relocation Agents, hear from employers, relocation partners and more!!
If you are a migrant going through the process or are already living in OZ, an employer, service provider or a tour company and want to be interviewed, please click the button below and complete the form. Thanks!
4 weeks in on the Gold Coast with Kirsty
4 weeks in…
It’s full on from the second you land. We had house viewings that same day (bare in mind we had been travelling so no jet lag).
We did attempt to find a property before we came but in all honesty I just needed to see if for my self so we held off as I found it was important to understand the market ourselves.
We stayed in a holiday lodge on arrival. After finding our property we were able to enrol our little one into school. Hubby had started work and life was to now become our everyday.
My job was getting organised to move into our longer term home. We found furniture shops that had in stock items, we bought cars. This has been a very easy journey and the dealer gave us a rental until our cars were ready.
Everyone has been so friendly, here on the Gold Coast there is a very relaxed feel.
I have met some amazing people already who will be friends for life, people are so willing to help.
Our son is the happiest he has ever been in school.
We now do things after school whether going out for tea, a trip to the beach or an evening walk around the lakes.
There is so much to see and do and we will never do it all but just knowing we will not have to be mundane is a great feeling.
It’s can be tough when you get here, just keep high spirits and take the time to enjoy where you are, even if it is on the way to the furniture shops.
Q and A with Catherine
Where do you live including State? Roma, Qld
Names and members in your family? Wayne, Aaron, Kieran, Courtney, Gabrielle, Bella
Move date: 25/05/2022
How would you describe Australia now you live here? Amazing. Beautiful beaches and so much to do and so many places to visit.
Biggest question – why did you choose Australia? The weather and more opportunities for the kids.
Describe your process and visa route getting here: It was a very long and stressful process. We applied for an employer sponsored 494 and my employer was constantly writing letters to the local Mp and immigration.
What was the journey over like? Leaving was very emotional but the flights were easy and comfortable. We flew from Manchester- Doha then Doha- Brisbane with a 4 hour layover. Which was plenty of time to get a drink and some food.
What was your first month or 2 like? We had a 3 month holiday to start with enjoyed relaxing after packing up our lives in the uk and that gave us plenty of time to explore and find a rental.
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Anything that went well/didn’t go so well? Finding a rental went well but doing tax file number and Medicare felt like I was going round in circles until I was sent a link to apply online.
What is your life like now compared to your old life? More family time, more days out, bigger house, financially better off.
What do you do in your free time? Not as much to do here in the outback but we try to go paddleboarding and kayaking or relaxing by the pool and we’ve been spending weekends at the coast hopefully exploring more of Australia and visiting different places.
Favorite food here? Anything with chicken salt.
If you have kids, how are they doing? The kids have settled really quickly and made friends easily. Everyone has been very welcoming. Everyone had found work easily even my 14 year old has an after school job.
Anything you miss about your old life? Just family and friends but with FaceTime it doesn’t feel like I’m that far away.
Any advice you would have given to yourself while going through the relocation process? Take One step at a time, try not to stress and everything will fall into place at the right time.
Trip before we settle in Tasmania with Amy
So we are a week in to our motorhome travel from Cairns to Sydney before we settle in Tasmania.
I would 10000% recommend anyone to do this if you can, it has given us so many memories already and we still have over 2 weeks left. So far we have been:
•Cairns
•Townsville
•Airlie Beach
•Cape Hillsborough
•Mackay
Highlights have been visiting Hartleys Crocodile Adventure and holding a Koala, and seeing the Kangaroos and Wallabies feed at sunset at Cape Hillsborough.
We went to visit Whitehaven beach but unfortunately the wind was northerly which meant it wasnt safe, so we will have to do this in the future.
There have been no negatives, we just wish we could do longer as we really dont want to leave northern Queensland- will definitely end up this way in the future.
Christmas Concerts in QLD
A little insight into one of the ways the schools in QLD do their Christmas concerts…
4.30pm today we gathered on the school Oval, the temperature about 25 degrees, taking a picnic blanket and camp chair, we gathered together with great friends where we watched local dance performances, and ate a sausage sizzle.
5.30pm the main performances started from each year group where we enjoyed listening to each year sing and dance to their Christmas song.
Our little boy Harry is in grade one here attending the local public school in the area, the school is fantastic and the Christmas performance was just lovely (I do miss the traditional nativity show though).
Harry finishes for his long school summer break on December 9th for 6 weeks.
– Tanya
4th Year
We are now in our fourth year in Australia and I can honestly say it took me about 3 years to ‘settle’.
The price is just in dollars now.
The weather is just in Australia now.
My mind has stopped comparing, thinking. That door back to to the U.K. is firmly closed in my mind.
I’m too ‘Australian’ now. I want the wide open spaces, the easy lifestyle, the friendliness I have found here.
No longer need to prove the reason for being here. No longer feel guilty about any of it.
Both pretty much always working from home, kids settled and growing the work life balance we craved is here. The stress of juggling everything feels non existent. Lunch time walks and time to talk without kids around is amazing.
Yeah, feel we have made it!
Hi we are the Fell Family..Tanya (Wife and Mummy or should I say instigator to our move to Australia) Craig (Husband, Daddy and Electrician) Harry (the baby boy of our family, aged six.)
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We started our process with the DUC back in 2017 after attending an Australian expo in Birmingham, where we got chatting to Wes and his team there, so that is really where it all began for us and 16 months after completing our full visa process, we landed in Brisbane QLD July 2019. WE HAVEN’T LOOKED BACK SINCE!
We started our Australian life with a couple of days in Brisbane city before we moved into out little apartment on the gold coast for a month and had a chance to explore before we then set up home in the Redlands South East of Brisbane, where we have been since.
We both love our work; Craig works for an electrical firm that cover’s Brisbane area down to the gold coast. And myself where I work in the Brisbane children’s hospital in the allied health team.
Harry is loving life in school and is doing so well in all areas and enjoying all the extracurricular activities and outdoor sports activities he has to do.We have a perfect work and life balance and enjoy our outdoor time as a family, meeting new friends and exploring all that Australia has to offer.
Australia is home for us now and has given us everything and more we need and wanted as a family.
Wes chats to the Fell’s
Hi my name is Claire and me and my family moved to Bundaberg in 2021, we came out here on holiday in 2018 and fell in love it with it. I am a psychiatric nurse and got a job over here, my husband is a builder and has gone self employed, the kids have settled in so well and as you can see loves interacting with the wild life!
Hi I am Kristen! My family, husband and 2 boys moved over to North Queensland just before covid hit! What a life changing experience this is! We do so much more than we would ever do in the Uk. The boys have learnt so many new sports and have become pros at surfing! Our outdoor life is just amazing! I’m slowly getting used to the wildlife here!
8 weeks in…
8 weeks in, and what’s it like now we’ve been through this intense period of time?
It’s not just 8 weeks though, it’s more like a year to get to this point!
All I can say is that individuals must have layers of resilience that build over time, and mine is thick with layers.
I’ve been through it all. What a mad mix of emotions and heaven and hell!
8 weeks since landing to follow our dream and, well I just know Aussie life is for us. I feel at home here. I love it.
It’s simpler. It’s easier. It’s friendlier. Yes, in some respects you feel like you have stepped back in time, but I always hated how full on the U.K. was.
The kids get to be kids. In school and out. They climb trees at school. They pet chickens. They learn swimming in the sea. They don’t get bombarded with homework.
The food isn’t so expensive if you buy in season. It’s a different way of shopping here. Cucumbers can be 90c one day, $2 the next.
The outdoor lifestyle! Cook most things on the bbq. Spend an hour at the beach at the drop of a hat. Pack a picnic or take some food to cook on the free public bbqs.
Every day I wake up excited for life. So many things to do.
Every weekend is a holiday and an adventure.
I won’t let life become mundane. I’ve made a decision that every weekend we will do something new.
If you come here with your eyes wide open and just allow yourself to experience things and work through your doubts, then another layer will build.
That layer is happiness.
Lisa
Christmas!
This will be our fourth Christmas in Australia, and although still learning, feel more educated about what to expect this year.
A lot of people wind down over this time, and most take multiple weeks holidays.
Therefore, Christmas isn’t such a big deal here. It just kind of creeps up on you. There isn’t the build up like in the U.K.
In fact, if it wasn’t for the odd bit of tinsel in shops, the few hanging lights here and there, or the small section in the supermarket dedicated to roses, quality street etc and decorations you wouldn’t even notice it when food shopping!
Christmas also comes around our longest day here. Meaning the lights on don’t have the same effect when the sun is blaring.
Rather than an opportunity to spend two weeks eating and watching tv, it’s an opportunity to have fun, relax, play on the beach and take holiday.
It’s quite a common thing for people to go on holiday from Boxing Day till New Years.
Christmas dinner can be whatever you want, wherever you want it. Some people do the whole U.K. thing at home, some bbq on the beach, others do a bit of both.
We eat lighter over Xmas here compared to the U.K. I don’t feel the need to stuff the fridge full of heavy food. Instead we take it day by day as we get out a lot.
Our first Christmas, we tried being too U.K. and that didn’t work well.
Last year and the year before, we packed too much in. We tried having Xmas lunch at home, then rushed to the beach for the afternoon and eve.
This year will be a little more slow. We will bbq at lunch, but lots of seafood, and have a picky buffet type thing with pavlova of course. Athough, quite tempted to pick up a KFC (yes it’s a think at Christmas here)…
Then, later we will probably head to a quiet beach and watch the sunset and have a swim.
The fact is, part of settling is finding your own rhythm. The settling takes time, but year by year you build on experience.
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