About us and our first visit to Australia on a 12 month working visaI created this page to tell the story of myself (jack) and my wife's (bernadette) first visit to Australia on a 12 month work visa and eventually making the decision to move to Australia permenantly. We arrived in Australia for the first time back in september 2005, we had recieved our 12 month work visa and had planned to spend the year on the east coast of australia travelling between cairns and sydney. Having arrived in Sydney first we decided to try find work and find a place to rent. I managed to find work in the city quite easily, simply by calling up an advert in the newspaper. The work was mainly electrical but as i didnt hold a NSW electrical license I was mainly morking as an electricians mate / sweeper upper. Bernadette went through a couple of casual jobs, such as bar work and serving food and loved every minute of it, having come from a real estate & accounting background in the UK. She found this work very relaxing and enjoyable. 
We stayed in the Sydney area for 6 months, managing to find a beautiful apartment in the Park Regis Hotel & apartment block right next to Hyde Park & Town Hall train station. After 6 months we decided it was time to leave our comfort zone and explore a bit more of Australia and see what it has to offer. On March 1st we caught a plane from Sydney and flew to Cairns, amazed by how hot & humid Northern Queensland can be. We checked into a nice hotel which we found a great deal for the weeks stay on lastminute.com and had a while enjoying the sun and hotel facilities. We loved Cairns and the general feel of the place, every morning in the lagoon there were free water aerobics and yoga classes and with being so close to the great barrier reef I had plenty of things to keep me occupied. I would definately recommend visiting the great barrier reef if you ever get the chance to. I was able to get my PADI dive master certificate through a company called DOwn Under Dives for approximately $250 as the competition is so high in Cairns for Scuba Diving companies you are able to find some of the best value deals in the world for Scuba Diving packages. 
During our stay in Cairns we had planned to buy a campervan so we could see the east coast and take our time driving down the east coast back to Sydney. We found that every morning between 7am - 12 noon travellers would meet on the top floor of a carpark near lake Street to sell their campervans & cars, although their weren't as many for sale as in places like Sydney or Brisbane we were still able to find 'Big Blue' after only a few days of looking, she was to be our home for the next few months. She also happened to be 29 years old and had been round the block more times than Jennifer Lopez! The van came with everything you could possibly need to travel with including fridge, sink, cupboards, fold out chairs and table, even a couple of boogie boards to mess around on the beach with. Although she was old and we took a risk buying her she was in good nick & was a steal for $2400. We spent the next 6 weeks travelling south from Cairns, stopping at various points along the way. We found almost all the places we stopped were beautiful and entirely different from one another, from the perfect lakes of Fraser Island to the big city lights of Brisbane. I have included information of some of the places we stopped in the links on this page to help you find out information on each of the places and see if it of interest to you, so feel free to have a look around. After arriving back in Sydney in May it was now time to say goodbye to Big Blue and let someone else enjoy the benefits of her. We placed an ad in some backpacker hostels and sold her for the same price we bought her for $2400! Now thats good business! We spent our final 2 weeks in Australia in a Kings Cross hostel, an area in definately wouldnt recommend for a female on her own or anyone that is easily intimidated, my wife was not impressed by Kings Cross at all - although now she laughs about our time there. 
After leaving Australia we spent a few months travelling Thailand and Europe before returning back to our home in the UK, although we both loved Australia I would be lying if i said we both knew instantly that emigrating was the right option for us. There were many questions i needed answering first, all of which can be found in the FAQ/Advice pages of this site. The decision to leave behind family & friends was a very difficult decision to make especially as Bernadette & I come from such close families who we spend alot of time with. Bernadette worked in the same organisation as both her parents & sat on the next desk to her mother. We made the decision after around 12 months of us getting back to the UK, by this time we were both 100% sure Australia was the place for us to call home, but unfortunately we were unable to find the answers to all of our questions as quikly and as easily as we wanted, this is where i hope Australian Immigration Advice will help you and your family. Good luck and remember that the journey is the reward so make the most of it. Jack. About us
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