The decision to relocate
Why are we leaving the UK for a new life down under? The idea of walking down a white sandy beach with a surfboard under my arm and the wind blowing through my new aussie mullet is a welcome distraction from a rainy day in Shropshire, although my days of having long hair are long gone. Moving to Australia has been a dream of ours for years.
The thought of exploring a new country and experiencing life from a fresh perspective fills us all with excitement and anticipation. After much contemplation and planning, we finally made the decision to take the leap and embark on this thrilling adventure.
The seed was planted in 2018 without us even realising it when we were lucky enough to be posted to Brunei for 3 years. You are probably googling “where is Brunei?” Becky did exactly that the day I came home from work and asked if she wanted to go live there for 3 years. It was an unbelievable family posting that gave us the confidence to know we could move and live comfortably in another country.
New adventures
Our approach to that posting was to treat it as a new adventure and one that wouldn’t be forever if we didn’t enjoy it; that is the view we have now as we look to move to Oz. Becky wants to think of this move as another long term posting with the opportunity to come home if it doesn’t work out. I think because it’s another daunting life changing decision that view gives her a comfort blanket.
Living in Brunei gave us an awesome opportunity to travel, we took every chance we got to travel around Asia visiting: Thailand, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Mulu and that’s when we first visited Australia.
We fell in love with Australia when we visited in Dec 2019. A week in Adelaide spending Christmas at my brothers, a week on the Gold Coast exploring and NYE in Sydney. I must say my brother moved to Adelaide 7 years ago having never visited beforehand and he is absolutely thriving – another reason we made the decision to move.
The wide-open spaces give a sense of freedom, there’s so much to be explored and its so suited to those that love the outdoor lifestyle. The mental weather and killer critters all add to the sense of adventure in my mind and as the saying goes, “you only life once”….. so why shouldn’t we move?
We returned to the UK in the summer of 2021 having been sheltered in Brunei from the Covid madness to a cold damp UK. We had to start again, new schools, new cars etc etc, all the usual new posting admin. Unfortunately, 6 months later I was posted again so we up sticks and moved to Shropshire.
We felt a little deflated, we missed the warm weather, we missed the sense of adventure living in the jungles of Borneo and everything felt strangely small. Good friends of ours that we met in Brunei had just arrived in Queensland having joined the ADF and were living the dream. We decided it’s now or never… I submitted my expression of interest in May 2022. https://newadventuresdownunder.com/overseas-lateral-transfer-a-guide-to-the-application-process/
Embrace the unknown
I have been so lucky in the last 23 years having achieved a whole bunch of cool stuff. Now, it feels like the right time to move on. I feel the adventure has gone, probably because the first 15 years were mental bouncing from tour to tour. The ADF is such a good opportunity if you’re not done with military life but want a new career with fresh adventures. We love life outdoors and cant wait to travel and explore Australia and share our new adventures.
The grass is not always greener and I am under no illusion that parts of Australia are not going to be the land of milk and honey – but I do believe the overall package will be worth it. I hope. As I grow older my outlook on life has changed. I’m more focussed on ensuring my kids have better opportunities than I had and at the same time provide us all with awesome adventures while I’m still young…at 40 I count myself as young…ish.
Leaving family and friends behind can feel selfish but you have to make sacrifices if you want to have great opportunities for you and your family. We never returned to the UK while we were posted in Brunei and to be honest we didn’t miss it at all. Obviously we missed our family but they flew out to spend time with us and we found that was more quality time than the odd weekend here and there. Technology also makes connecting so much easier and hopefully the cost of travel will improve soon.
You’re a long time dead so grasp the chance to do something amazing!!