Still Call Australia Home

For me, anywhere with my family is home in the sense that I can lock the world outside and know that whatever is out there will not affect us. We have travelled to three countries as a family, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia and all were fascinating, eye opening, difficult, stressful and unexpected in so many ways.

The first two were obviously far more foreign in terms of language and culture, but they were also far more foreign in terms of our relationship with the local people. For that reason I always felt as though our home existed somewhere outside the country as a little piece of the UK which I could escape back to when things outside the door got too stressful which they did frequently in Hong Kong in particular. Once we got to Australia things changed, for 6 months after Japan and 16 months after Hong Kong.

The lifestyle in Australia was simply perfect for a young family. We didn’t have a huge amount of money but we didn’t need it with beaches, parks and low cost or free attractions all within 30 minutes of our base. I had always liked Australia from afar and in 1989 had switched my allegiance to the Australian Cricket Team because I loved the way they played.

It’s worth pointing out here that I was able to see a day of test cricket for $30 in 1999 when it was about £40 in the UK and completely out of reach. Now, the Ashes costs $60 a day in Australia and £185 a day in England so I will always feel more welcomed by my favourite sport in Australia and will always support the Aussies!

If we could have stayed in Australia my life and the lives of the family would have been so different and, in my opinion, much better. We’ve made the most of the UK but my spiritual home will always be Australia 🇦🇺