I have always been aware of the cultural differences between the UK and other countries like Australia and likewise have understood the differences in lifesytle and opportunities between living in each.
Whilst visiting Australia for the first time during Christmas 1997, I got my first real taste of what that really meant. Although I liked what I saw at that time, I was not personally in a mind to 'up sticks' and move, especially with Denise pregnant with our first child. I think that most people knew that Denise would have been happy just to stay there then!
Subsequent holidays in 2001 and again in 2005 gave us the opportunity to visit different places in Australia and to experience the lifestyle as a family.....the ability to say "we'll have a BBQ the day after tomorrow" and not have to worry about whether it might get rained off, and having access to a swimming pool in your back garden.
The swimming pool thing is a great driver for me personally. I have never been a particularly strong swimmer and as such lack a certain confidence in the water, therefore, I am very keen for the children to become strong swimmers.
The very 'outdoors & sports' orientation of life in Australia is also a great driver for me as my desire for healthy type activies has grown over the past five years.
Of course I'm going to miss my family and friends. That was also the biggest hurdle for me when I took the job in Gloucester originally. I know that Australia is a little different to Gloucester, but the concept is much the same. The main balance for me in this area is that I know that (if everything goes to plan) the life that I can provide for the children will give them a great start in life.
I do not believe that moving children to foreign countries is harmful otherwise I wouldn't be doing it. Quite the contrary, I believe that the opportunity to live in a truly multi-cultural sociery, like that of Australia, will give the children an undeniable advantage as they grow up. They will understand more about other cultures and when they are older will be able to travel more freely and have a real choice about where they want to study and subsequently livein order to get what they want from their lives.
Why now? Now that's a very good question. Denise would have done this years ago. The kids have asked about living in Australia since the holiday in 2005 (although I wasn't sure how much they understood.)
For me, I have only recently decided to make the move. The past 18 months for me have been difficult and stressful. Following our return from our Oz holiday in 2005 I found out that I was to be made redundant, shortly afterwards I learned that my old friend, Nigel Marshal, had been tragically killed in a car accident leaving his partner and two young children. From my redundancy in June of last year and the 6 months run-up to it (which really were not nice) I started to think about options seriously. At that time, I could have chosen Houston in the USA, Camberley or Australia, but decided to settle for a job which would be based at the end of our road............. as most of you know, this has not worked out to be the role that I was hoping it would be and after 6 months of working in Glasgow almost continuously and not being able to take Georgina to dancing or James to Tae Kwon Do, etc, I have decided that enough is enough.
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