In 2012, newly retired schoolteacher Laurie Lumley and his wife Jill packed up their life on the South Coast of NSW and moved to the Philippines. From the ocean-facing balcony in their new home 50 kilometres outside Cebu City, Lumley reflects on how different life would be had they stayed in Australia.
“In Australia, we could see the water, but we were probably about two kilometres back from the beach,” he says. “It’s also so cheap here compared to Australia, where costs have basically gone through the roof. This is my dream come true, but there’s no way we could afford this in Australia.”
The Lumleys are part of a cohort of Australians, estimated to be in the tens of thousands, who
