There are several sayings about being late. To be ‘fashionably late‘, for example, is somehow cool and something to be looked up to. Then there is the very forgiving ‘better late than never‘ kind of late. That’s being late and still getting a pat on the back. And then there’s the kind of late that [...]
Moving To Australia

Today is a special day for me and my family. Exactly 9 years ago, on 14 November 2007, we touched down at Brisbane Airport with our Permanent Resident visas to begin our life here in Australia. As we enter our 10th year living here, none of us have any regrets about the decision we made [...]

When I first arrived in Australia in 2007 the place was booming. There were plenty of jobs around and if you didn’t like the job you had, you could get a new one. All the tradies had more work than they could handle and it was often difficult to get someone to turn up. Electricians, [...]

It’s always a tricky one, telling your relatives that you’re moving all the way to the other side of the world. When, exactly, is it a good time to mention it? How do you tell “granny” that the cute little fella she dotes on twice a week when she looks after him for you, is [...]

Tomorrow is Australia Day. I won’t explain what that is, I’ll assume you’ve read my post about Australia Day from three years ago. Or perhaps you’ve read about the Australia Day party I went to a couple of years back. Last year, almost all Australia Day parties became charity events, raising money for those affected [...]
This week, on various different days, communities in and around Brisbane have been marking the anniversary of last year’s floods. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cop2si0Dd-A As the reporter in the video says, the weather around Brisbane this week has been absolutely glorious. He’s right, it has been truly scorchio. Temperatures have been reaching between 32° and 37°C. So it [...]

AKA…. Ping Pom Merrily Goodbye. Sorry about that, just trying to keep it Christmassy. You see, the phrase being used is ping-pong poms; Brits moving back and forth between Australia and the UK. Anyway, a story by the BBC was brought to my attention by a reader called Julian. The story is called “Why are [...]

I wrote about the concept of the “three-year itch” about six months ago in my post called Moving to Australia and Missing England. Well, I say “wrote”, but it was more of a video post. But when I decided to cover the same subject for a recent Australia and New Zealand magazine article, I couldn’t [...]