Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Free at Last
The movers came yesterday and packed up all of our stuff. 96 pieces packed into a sea container. Bye-bye stuff, see you in 3 months! And 150 kg of essentials that will be traveling by air. All we have with us is a few suitcases of the clothes we're bringing down there with us. After all the work we've put in over the last few weeks organizing our stuff and getting ready for the move, it's finally over and it feels as though a weight has been lifted off our shoulders. Now we just have a bit of time to kill and 3 more sleeps until we're off.
Monday, 29 August 2011
Behind the Scenes
How we came to move halfway around the world.....
A year ago, my wife Tara and I decided to leave Calgary in pursuit of a better climate. We sold our house, downsized, and began preparing ourselves for a lifestyle change. Tara was completing her degree in psychology and was determined to go on to higher education starting in September, 2011. I wanted to live near the ocean and continue working in the oil and gas industry, which don't exactly go hand-in-hand. After looking around for an international location that would accommodate Tara's schooling and my career, we decided that Australia would be the best place for both of us. I had spent 8 months traveling in Australia in 1998/1999, so I knew what I was getting myself into, but Tara has never been.
We initially decided that Perth would be the ideal location for us. Tara was keen to attend Murdoch University and we thought there would be lots of jobs in oil and gas for me. We also realized that Brisbane was a hotbed for oil and gas work, so in March 2011 Tara applied to Murdoch University in Perth and also Bond University in Gold Coast, just outside of Brisbane.
In April, 2011 Tara was accepted to the Juris Doctor (JD) program at both schools and she accepted the offer at Murdoch, paid her fees, got a student visa, and I started pounding the pavement to find a job in Perth. 3 weeks later, we attended an Australian career fair in Calgary and were informed by many people that there were no jobs in Perth, but plenty in Brisbane. So I decided to look for a job in Brisbane, but this meant that Tara had to withdraw from Murdoch with only a 70% refund of the tuition already paid. She also had to ensure Bond would still take her, as she already declined their offer of admission.
Once we switched our focus to Brisbane, everything fell into place. Bond accepted Tara, our visas switched over, and I secured employment with Origin Energy. To make this even sweeter, Origin provided a great relocation package which includes flights back home to Canada once a year!
Since receiving the offer of employment from Origin in July, it has been a very busy few weeks. I've been corresponding with the relocation company to coordinate our move, speaking with Australian and Canadian tax advisers, wrapping up the loose ends with my current employer Encana, organizing our finances, sorting and organizing our household items for the movers, selling our electronics (they don't work on the 220 voltage in Australia), getting someone to take over the lease on our Toyota Rav4, and visiting friends and family before we leave.
We met Tara's parents in Las Vegas in July, went to Ontario at the beginning of August to visit my mom's side of the family, Toronto to visit our friend Sina, Winnipeg to visit our friends Tom and Nareesa, and Saskatoon to visit our friends Brendan and Kalah. We had a going-away barbeque at our place the day after my last day of work at Encana, followed by lots of going away dinners with our friends here in Calgary.
Deciding what to do with our 2 cats, Flea and Mikka, was by far the toughest part of the whole experience. Australia has the most strict pet importation laws out of any country in the world. In order to import pets, you need to do lots of tests, file lots of paperwork, and the pets still need to be quarantined in Australia for at least 30 days. Ideally, we would have found a friend or family member who would be willing to take our cats permanently and give them a good loving home but unfortunately this didn't happen. Because we thought we might end up taking them with us, we performed all the necessary tests and got the ball rolling with the paperwork and importation process but because of the regulations, our cats would still have to spend a few months in Canada after we left and a few months in quarantine in Australia. In the end, we made the tough decision to surrender them to a no-kill shelter so that they could be placed in a good home here in Calgary and not have to go through the stress of an international move. Flea and Mikka have been part of our family for the past 4 years, since they were 4 weeks old. They are, and will continue to be, very missed by Tara and I, but the thought of them going to a loving home is comforting. It's just too bad our paths will never cross again.
A year ago, my wife Tara and I decided to leave Calgary in pursuit of a better climate. We sold our house, downsized, and began preparing ourselves for a lifestyle change. Tara was completing her degree in psychology and was determined to go on to higher education starting in September, 2011. I wanted to live near the ocean and continue working in the oil and gas industry, which don't exactly go hand-in-hand. After looking around for an international location that would accommodate Tara's schooling and my career, we decided that Australia would be the best place for both of us. I had spent 8 months traveling in Australia in 1998/1999, so I knew what I was getting myself into, but Tara has never been.
We initially decided that Perth would be the ideal location for us. Tara was keen to attend Murdoch University and we thought there would be lots of jobs in oil and gas for me. We also realized that Brisbane was a hotbed for oil and gas work, so in March 2011 Tara applied to Murdoch University in Perth and also Bond University in Gold Coast, just outside of Brisbane.
In April, 2011 Tara was accepted to the Juris Doctor (JD) program at both schools and she accepted the offer at Murdoch, paid her fees, got a student visa, and I started pounding the pavement to find a job in Perth. 3 weeks later, we attended an Australian career fair in Calgary and were informed by many people that there were no jobs in Perth, but plenty in Brisbane. So I decided to look for a job in Brisbane, but this meant that Tara had to withdraw from Murdoch with only a 70% refund of the tuition already paid. She also had to ensure Bond would still take her, as she already declined their offer of admission.
Once we switched our focus to Brisbane, everything fell into place. Bond accepted Tara, our visas switched over, and I secured employment with Origin Energy. To make this even sweeter, Origin provided a great relocation package which includes flights back home to Canada once a year!
Since receiving the offer of employment from Origin in July, it has been a very busy few weeks. I've been corresponding with the relocation company to coordinate our move, speaking with Australian and Canadian tax advisers, wrapping up the loose ends with my current employer Encana, organizing our finances, sorting and organizing our household items for the movers, selling our electronics (they don't work on the 220 voltage in Australia), getting someone to take over the lease on our Toyota Rav4, and visiting friends and family before we leave.
We met Tara's parents in Las Vegas in July, went to Ontario at the beginning of August to visit my mom's side of the family, Toronto to visit our friend Sina, Winnipeg to visit our friends Tom and Nareesa, and Saskatoon to visit our friends Brendan and Kalah. We had a going-away barbeque at our place the day after my last day of work at Encana, followed by lots of going away dinners with our friends here in Calgary.
Deciding what to do with our 2 cats, Flea and Mikka, was by far the toughest part of the whole experience. Australia has the most strict pet importation laws out of any country in the world. In order to import pets, you need to do lots of tests, file lots of paperwork, and the pets still need to be quarantined in Australia for at least 30 days. Ideally, we would have found a friend or family member who would be willing to take our cats permanently and give them a good loving home but unfortunately this didn't happen. Because we thought we might end up taking them with us, we performed all the necessary tests and got the ball rolling with the paperwork and importation process but because of the regulations, our cats would still have to spend a few months in Canada after we left and a few months in quarantine in Australia. In the end, we made the tough decision to surrender them to a no-kill shelter so that they could be placed in a good home here in Calgary and not have to go through the stress of an international move. Flea and Mikka have been part of our family for the past 4 years, since they were 4 weeks old. They are, and will continue to be, very missed by Tara and I, but the thought of them going to a loving home is comforting. It's just too bad our paths will never cross again.
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