Fifteen years ago today i landed in Australia not really knowing what lay ahead. My partner and i arrived knowing only a handful of people ready to start a new life and i have to say it was pretty daunting. Starting a new job had always been an exciting thing for me in the past, i would always bring my band of loyal customers with me and hit the ground running but when the new job is on the other side of the world it’s a different thing all together. I always believed that selling cars would be much the same wherever you are but there was a great deal to learn, different currency, different cars, different taxes, but mostly, different paperwork! There seemed to be so much of it here, much of it i thought unnecessary. All the dealerships i had worked at in Yorkshire had a minimal amount of forms to fill in, in fact, the last one didn’t seem to have any real paper trail at all. Deals were done on the shake of a hand in true Yorkshire fashion, and i liked it that way.
Despite the differences i soon found my feet and got into the swing of how things worked. The two year point arrived and it was decision time. We had agreed that we would give it a minimum of two years then decide if we wanted to stay. It was a resounding yes and the job of obtaining permanent residency was next. It wasn’t without its difficulties but we got there eventually and had a large party to celebrate.
Looking back it all seems so long ago, indeed a lifetime ago quite literally. I sometimes can’t even remember being anyone other than Stephanie, my life seems to have changed so much. For many years for some strange reason I resisted getting my citizenship, i was and still am proud of my British heritage but we literally have so much to be grateful for here in Australia and our tiny part of this vast country i firmly believe is the best. As an example, i drove over from Busselton to Nannup on Friday afternoon and passed just a handful of cars, 70 kms with just a handful, no wonder when my best friend from England was here in 2019 he just couldn’t get over how deserted our roads are compared with England. I love Australia so much and i am blessed to have so many wonderful friends, Australia is home!
xx