Dreaming Down Under: Your practical guide to creating a new life in Australia

By Claire Strodder

Have you been dreaming of a new life Down Under? Of course you have - that's why you picked up this book!

Swapping those grey skies, the constant drizzle and the cold British winters for the all-year-round sunshine, endless beaches and barbies - sounds perfect, doesn't it?

Claire Strodder dreamt of a life Down Under, and made the lif

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreaming Down Under
• Release date: Dec 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781922553553

Claire Strodder

Claire grew up in the north-east of England and first came to Australia on a Working Holiday Visa with her partner Dan. After deciding to make the big move, Claire and Dan married and now live in northern New South Wales with their beagles Bailey and Lily. Claire is a lawyer and worksremotely from her home.

Book preview

BEFORE I MOVED

Now, before I let you into my story of moving to and settling in Australia, I would like to take the opportunity to tell you a little about me before I made the move.

I am from a small city in north-east England, Hull, and specifically a village outside of Hull called Cottingham. Cottingham is a historical village that dates back to the 11th century and is on the fringe of the Yorkshire Wolds and countryside. As you can imagine, I have a strong northern Hull accent, which I have never been proud of as the Brits never liked my accent. I am now incredibly proud of my accent and it is very much loved in Australia, and is surprisingly a frequent conversation starter.

My roots are firmly from the areas around Cottingham, especially on my mum’s side where my family has a long history. I grew up in a middle-class family – small, supportive and close-knit. My mum was a nurse and my dad was (and still is) a painter and decorator. My mum and dad had me when they were young – Mum was only 21 – and I am an only child and was also an only grandchild for the first 11 years of my life. This meant I had a strong relationship with both my parents and grandparents, and this made the move to Australia especially challenging.

I did well at school and was guided towards the ‘usual’ routes when you did well at school – either a career in law or medicine was waiting for me. The thought of dealing with blood as part of my job was not for me so law it was. I wasn’t really given a choice of anything else, which is very different from current times. I went on to study law at Hull University and graduated in 2007.

When I finally emerged from my studies, and after the failure of a long-term relationship, I felt somewhat lost in my life. I had no strong direction of where I was going or what I was doing. I was working in a national law firm in West Yorkshire and living in Leeds with my best friend but things just didn’t feel quite right and I felt like I didn’t really belong there and that there was something else waiting for me.

I started looking into going to Australia on a Working Holiday Visa for a year on my own, just to get a change of scenery and to see what happened and what Australia was like. I chose Australia as I wanted to move to an English-speaking country (so Europe or Asia were out of the question) and I wanted to create a new life that was less like the rat race in the UK (so America didn’t appeal to me). I spoke to my mum about it and she was supportive and helped me research the visas and which places to go in Australia. It was going to be Brisbane – I am not sure why I felt attracted to Brisbane. All was in place so now all I had to do was save some money, book the flights and set the wheels in motion.

Then life threw a little curve ball my way, as it does, and I was offered a promotion at work, something I had been waiting for and would be really great for my career. I decided to stay put in England for the time being and took the job. The promotion also meant I was able to get a mortgage, so I bought a small apartment in a local town called Beverley. I was near to friends and family and had a good lifestyle which consisted of going to the gym, shopping, coffees and lunches, weekends away and nights out. The typical life of a young twenty-something.

Three months later, I met my now-husband, Dan. I met Dan on Facebook as our grandmas were best friends. One day I received a message from Dan asking how I knew his grandma. The next thing I knew, we were going on our first date and then we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I remember calling my grandma to ask her if her best friend had a grandson called Dan and to tell her that he had asked me out on a date. She was really excited as she had met Dan before and thought he was a nice young man.

Dan and I had only been dating for about a year when we first discussed moving to another country. We had talked about travelling for a year or so. Both of us loved travel and exploring new places. I said, ‘What about Australia?’ I knew there was a Working Holiday Visa we were eligible to apply for and this would enable us to work and also see that part of the world at the same time. Dan agreed and that was it – our ‘working holiday’ to Australia was born. It then took about one and a half years for us to leave the UK for Australia – this was a time where we were planning, saving and sorting everything out back home for us to make the move.

We were 27 and naïve when we finally made the move to Australia. I am now 35 (or probably 36 by the time this book is published), I am happily married to Dan and we have two adorable but cheeky beagles, Bailey and Lily. I am working as a lawyer in a virtual law firm, where I am able to work remotely from home. We live in a beautiful village called Tyalgum in the luscious area called the Northern Rivers in north New South Wales. For the Brits reading this – this is near where I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! was filmed. I will be honest with you – my life couldn’t be further from what I expected it would be when I first moved to Australia as a naïve 27-year-old. The journey was hard but it has also been amazing and I would not be the person I am today if it wasn’t for this move and the experiences that have come my way.

I am writing this book to share our story – the good and the bad – and while your story will undoubtedly be different, I hope our story will give you an idea on what to expect and push you to chase those dreams despite the adversity and challenges that you will no doubt face.

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT AUSTRALIA

So, we have all seen Australia on the TV – perfect views of the iconic Sydney Harbour, the amazing Great Barrier Reef and then, of course, the red centre but what do we really know about Australia? Being honest, we did not know as much as we should have done about the country we wanted to up sticks and emigrate to.

If you are going to make this move successfully, you need to do your research on Australia (I will cover this later in the book) and actually find out what this country is really like before embarking on such a time-consuming, expensive and emotional journey. I would like to start with this small introduction to Australia and bring in more information later in Chapter 4 when I talk ‘Location, location, location’.

Australia, or officially the ‘Commonwealth of Australia’, is a huge country and this was something I didn’t really appreciate before we made the move – Australia in total is 2,969,907 square miles in area. To put this into perspective, the UK’s total area is 93,628 square miles. Unbelievably, the UK fits into Australia about 32 times – yes, you read right, 32 times.

Don’t be fooled, this country is massive. I first started to understand the sheer size of Australia just before we came out as Dan was offered a job in a place called Moree. At first glance on the map, Moree looked like it was on the east coast of Australia just below and to the left of Brisbane. Great – I would be able to work in Brisbane if Dan got this job – perfect. Google Maps then told me that Brisbane was over a five-and-a-half-hour drive away. This was really when the size of Australia started to sink in and I couldn’t quite believe that Australia was so big.

Australia, as we know it today, was officially (and legally) formed in 1901 when all the individual states and territories of Australia (except for Western Australia who came on board later) came together to form Australia as a country and to set up a Constitution, a document that sets out how Australia is run with its rules. This Constitution is still in place and abided by today. In fact, the Aussies consider the Constitution to be a very important document for the country.

Australia is split into 6 states and 10 territories (only three of these are mainland territories – the others are external to Australia). Generally, each state and territory has its own capital city, its own government, its own unique weather and culture. While there are capital cities for each state in Australia there is also a capital of Australia – Canberra. See the table below of the states and the mainland territories.

Other than the mainland territories there are seven external territories to Australia – Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Norfolk Island, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

AUSTRALIA’S HISTORY

Another important thing you need to know about, especially if you decide one day you want to live in Australia permanently and become an Aussie citizen, is a bit about Australia’s history. I will be honest with you – I knew very little about Australia’s history before I came to Australia and this surprised me as I love history. On reflection, I think I formed this view, as many do, because the UK and Europe is steeped in history and I have heard so many times that Australia has ‘no’ history as it is such a young country. This is not true – just because Australia doesn’t have historical buildings to prove its history doesn’t mean that Australia has no history – it is just different.

So, yes Australia is a ‘young’ country in terms of its discovery by the Europeans but Australia and its original inhabitants have been around as long as the rest of the world. It certainly has a history – it just has a history that has not been spoken of. This became clear as we started to settle in Australia and learn about this wonderful country and how it came to be the Australia we know of today.

Some 40,000 to 70,000 years ago the Indigenous people (often but incorrectly referred to as ‘Aboriginals’ – a term which I will not use as this does not accurately reflect the original and native settlers in Australia) arrived in mainland Australia from south-east Asia. These were the ‘First Australians’. The Indigenous people can be found all over Australia in their tribes and amazingly there were over 500 tribes across Australia all with their own distinctive languages, beliefs and cultures. The Indigenous people are known for being deeply spiritual and for their strong connection to the land, environment and Australia itself. Today, the Indigenous people make up about 2.4% of the total Australian population, which is about 460,000 people.

Just over 400 years ago marks the first known landing in Australia by a European settler, a Dutch navigator in the early 1600s. It wasn’t until 1770 when the British explorer James Cook charted the east coast of Australia and returned to London with ideas of colonisation. Some eight years later in January 1788, the First Fleet of British ships arrived in Botany Bay, which is where Sydney is now and created the first penal colony on mainland Australia. This was when the British convicts started to be exiled to Australia as the British jails were getting overcrowded. The British convicts were the labour that enabled the first colony in Australia to be created.

If you have the chance to visit Sydney and ‘the Rocks’, there are a number of Australia’s old pubs that have newspapers from the First Fleet on the walls. It’s great to check out as the newspapers list all the convicts from Britain that went on the First Fleet, including the ship they sailed on. You can find out if anyone had your surname or any of your family surnames and if any of your ancestors were on the First Fleet.

The settling of the British (and also other European settlers) had a devastating effect on the Indigenous people who had lived on this land for tens of thousands of years. First, the Europeans brought to Australia, as it is now known, diseases which annihilated the Indigenous population. On top of this, the new settlers took the land inhabited by the Indigenous people for themselves and the Indigenous people were massacred and abused. During this time of colonisation the Indigenous population declined by about 90%.

Still today, Indigenous people in Australia experience discrimination and they certainly do not live the Australian dream. Today’s Australian people have made efforts to apologise for, acknowledge and recognise the wrongs that happened in the past. You will notice when you get here that at the start of events and meetings the person opening the event will speak an Acknowledgement of Country, an opportunity to acknowledge and show respect to the traditional owners of the land on which the event is taking place. An Acknowledgment of Country usually sounds like:

‘I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which this event is taking place, and recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.’

After the First Fleet and the first mass migration from Europe to Australia, there have been a few other periods of mass migration to Australia. In the 1850s to just before the turn of the century, gold was discovered in Australia (in the southern parts) and this was the start of the Australian Gold Rush. The start of the gold rush brought many migrants from Europe and other corners of the world, like China, to Australia to make their fortunes.

After this, the next wave of migration to Australia was after World War II when migration was really needed to build Australia up and prevent it from falling apart after the war. This prompted the start of the ‘Ten Pound POMs’, when people from Britain and her colonies (like Malta and Cyprus) could pay £10 to migrate to Australia – there were also similar schemes in the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Germany and Turkey. The term ‘POM’ or even ‘Pommy’ is basically the nickname Aussies use to describe an English person. This nickname is thought to simply come from the words ‘Prisoner of her Majesty’. Once you have made your move Down Under you will undoubtedly become a POM.

So, Australia does have a history – it is not a pretty history and this is why its history has been kept quiet. If you are going to settle in Australia on a permanent basis you really should know a bit about how Australia as we know it today came about. You will also need to know about Australia’s history if you decide to become an Aussie citizen in the future.

AUSTRALIA TODAY

Australia today is a country that due to its past truly holds a mix of people from all over the world from many different backgrounds, races, cultures and beliefs. Australia in recent times has had a booming economy due to the mining industry and has been seen by many from other countries as the land of opportunity and the place where you can build a better life for you and your family – it really is the modern-day Aussie Dream.

The mantra here is that Australia is the land of the ‘fair go’, which basically means that anyone, no matter where they come from or what their background is, has a chance to make a go of it in Australia. Many people think that they will just step into the so-called Aussie Dream and it will be easy – this is not the case. The opportunity is certainly there for migrants, like Brits, to follow their dreams and set up a new life in Australia – this opportunity is there for everyone but it is those that work hard to forge their new life in Australia who will succeed in making their dream a reality.

AUSTRALIA’S PEOPLE

It is perceived that the Australian culture is very similar to that of the British culture and that is not untrue. But – and this is a big but – there are some subtle differences and these subtle differences in reality are not so subtle. This is something I will discuss later on. Importantly though, many of today’s Australians are ancestors of those who came over on the First Fleet or subsequent ships – so you will automatically build a connection with these Australians. Australians will see the commonalities between you and them and they will welcome you into their country, their lives and their homes generally with open arms.

You may think that Aussies speak English as the Aussies originally came from Europe so you must be very similar, right? While this is in part true, we have found there are many distinct differences between the Aussies and the Brits. First, the Aussies are very upfront and direct – there is no messing about, which can be a bit of a shock to the traditional British trait of keeping quiet and generally being agreeable.

Lastly, Australia is a land of difference, opportunity and adventure. Once you have got over the initial pain of moving and settling into your new surroundings, this is when all the fun will begin and you can start to explore the country you will hopefully one day call home. You can then start to enjoy the outdoor lifestyle, learn to surf, check out the cities, work your way around the many vineyards and breweries, navigate your way through the rainforests, tick off all of those beaches (there are over 10,000), experience the isolation of the outback, cheer on your local footy team, enjoy the endless BBQs and much, much more. There is literally so much to do and see in Australia you simply won’t have enough time to get it all in. Importantly, there is something for everyone no matter what their interests – so everyone in the family (and any overseas visitors) will no doubt be happy – how could they not be?

Setting goals is the first step in turning

the invisible into the visible.

- Tony Robbins -

CHAPTER 1

WHERE TO EVEN START?

So, you too have made the life-changing decision to move to Australia, but what happens next? What steps do you need to take? What do you need to think about? Where do