We are sitting in the living room of the house we have just built. It’s raining outside as usual, and we have just come home from a holiday with a friend who lives in Majorca. We are talking about all the different things our friend has done, places he has seen and the people he has met, and we can’t help feeling that somewhere along the road we have missed something. John and I have been so focused on getting job security, a house and a mortgage that we have somehow missed out on the life-changing experiences.

Suddenly John turns to me and says: “You know Queensland police are recruiting overseas officers?” My response is: “Let’s do it,” even though I’ve never been to Australia! It’s Saturday night and we decide to go and see OE Visas on Monday to see if we are eligible to apply. I’ve seen OE’s website while browsing on the Net and I like the sound of them. OE seems more honest and down-to-earth than the rest.

It’s Monday now and after the longest day at work we go for our meeting with OE. Turns out that as a teacher and a policeman we meet all the criteria for skilled migrants.

After about 30 minutes with the consultant we decide to just do it! I am so nervous that I try to sign the cheque for the first instalment three times - in the end John has to write it and I sign it.

We are asked to go and get all our documents as listed in the information pack from OE – very easy to follow as it’s just a tick list. OE will do all the other nasty paper work. Just as well as we later find out that if you do it yourself and make a mistake, you have to start all over again!