Oh well, homesickness can mean that things just don’t work out

Aug 6 2008 by Andrew Baldwin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Oh well, homesickness can mean that things just don’t work out

Sometimes a new life on the other side of the world doesn’t always work out. LEN VASILJEVS writes about his experience

ON January 19, 2003, my wife and I set out on a new and exciting adventure. We boarded an aircraft at Manchester Airport and our journey and new life in Perth, Western Australia, was about to begin.

Earlier in 2002 we had decided to emigrate to Australia.

Kathryn, my wife, is a nurse. In August, 2002, she found employment with the King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women and Children in Subiaco, Perth.

We had been granted a sub-class 457 temporary business long-stay visa because the hospital was sponsoring her.

Our plan was to experience living and working in Perth for two years. After this time we would decide if we wanted permanent residency.

However, we were very fortunate, permanent residency being granted to us by July, 2003. Also, after two years we would have the option of becoming citizens of Australia.

We had made preparations for shipping our household effects; they would be collected after the sale of our home in Birkby.

By the end of 2002 we were ready; well, as well as ready as we could be considering the step we were about to take. We had no friends or relatives in Perth, so we really were on our own.

The time we had left was spent selling our two cars, preparing change of address letters and sadly saying goodbye to family and friends. The new year was just around the corner and a new everything for both us.

When we stepped off the plane and on to the tarmac at Perth the summer heat of the southern hemisphere immediately greeted us.

The air felt very heavy and the heat was something we had not experienced for a long time.

After a few days of constant perspiration and the sensation of walking through a warm pool of water I could not help but think that I would not last another summer.

Our early days were spent outside while it appeared most sane people were indoors! However, we had things to do. We had to register with doctors and the health care system, Medicare.

Private health cover was a requirement of Kathryn’s work and we arranged a policy.

Affordable housing was a necessity, as was buying a car, which was one of our first purchases, a Toyota Echo, known in the UK as the Yaris.

Although most people spoke English and drove on the left-hand side of the road many things seemed so different. Vauxhall cars in the UK are called Holdens in Australia. The supermarkets and shops closed on Sundays.

Most washing machines were top-loaders and the TV stations aired many American programmes. What was this strange land called Oz!

After a few months had passed we had both begun to find our feet. I found employment as a printer in the first month. So we were both making a living and venturing further a field on our days off.

Towards the end of October, 2003, we had purchased our home, a three- bedroomed, open planned, single storey villa. We were realising our dream, to set up our new home in another country.

Yes, we had experienced some difficulties and setbacks along the way; but with the warm autumn sun shining most days it was hard to become downbeat.

Two years passed by so quickly and we were in a position to consider citizenship. We did not take long in deciding to become citizens. We attended a ceremony at our local council buildings and received a certificate of citizenship in October 2005.

We thought that Perth was going to be our permanent home.

But a lot can change in a 12-month period.

Even though the bouts of homesickness do diminish, they sometimes never let up. Kathryn’s father had experienced ill-health and the realities of being on the opposite side of the world from family and friends took hold.

Living in one of the most isolated cities in the world can have an effect too. Travelling afar was not so easy due to the high cost of air travel, although we did visit Melbourne and Sydney.

Unfortunately there are only so many things you can see and do in Perth before a sense of monotony creeps in. We began to feel the feint pull of England drawing us both back.

So began our plans to return to Huddersfield, my birthplace and Kathryn’s home for 16 years.

Our home was put on the market the first week of the new year; we would save money not paying an agent commission to sell our home. We would sell it ourselves, or rather we were confident it would sell itself. It did, sooner than we had anticipated.

The purchaser stated that they wanted to move in within a two-week period. We had made prior arrangements with the shipping agents and agreed a removal date.

Within the two weeks we had arranged settlement on the house and we handed the keys to the new owner.

We had both previously handed in our notice to our employers too. Our nearly new Suzuki Swift had been shipped with our household effects and our feet felt like they had not left the ground.

We were soon to be house-hunting ourselves, this time in Huddersfield.

We arrived at Manchester Airport on March 6 this year. just over five years after we had left. It was drizzling, but it felt good and right to be back.

While we were looking for a place to call home again we stayed with Kathryn’s sister and family in Lightcliffe.

Kathryn has now accepted a position with the Kirklees Primary Care Trust where she will work as a community staff nurse.

I am running my own courier business, a2b Courier, servicing businesses and people in Yorkshire. You can also find out more about a2b Courier and what we do on at www.a2bcourierltd.com/