Plumber Scott Dargie, 30, and his wife Jolene, 29, a clerical worker, emigrated from Arbroath to Brisbane in 2005 with their children Gabriella, 8, and Jack, 4. Here, Scott looks back on the experience of emigrating.
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Coming to Australia had been a dream of mine since I was in my late teens. I had always seen myself living in another country, and Australia ticked all the boxes for me with a good climate, laid-back lifestyle and the chance of a better life. However, thoughts of emigrating were always put on the back burner because of other commitments and family life. |
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On the first of January 2004 Jolene and I sat down and talked about our New Year resolutions, and that's when we started to talk seriously about really making a new life out in Australia. Jolene had always been a bit worried about leaving our families and everything we knew, but she decided that it was worth a shot to give the kids a better lifestyle and take a chance at adventure. We decided that if we were going to try to do this, it had to be while the kids were still young so it wasn't too difficult for them to adapt.
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Initially we did some research on the Internet to find out how easy it would be to apply to emigrate. While we were browsing, we happened to see OE Visas' website and gave them a call, more to get advice than anything else. At this point we were still checking out all the possibilities. We had a meeting with Mark Welch at OE, and after that we decided to use an agent rather than go it alone, as there was so much paperwork involved; we were worried that it might be rather time-consuming, and we were also worried about making mistakes and having information sent back to us to be redone. After our meeting with OE we were confident that they would deal with our application more smoothly and quickly than we ever could. |
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After that first meeting in January 2004, we didn't actually send away for our first part of the visas (Trades Recognition) until April. Getting references and letters from ex-employers and clients was very exciting but stressful, and this part seemed the longest. In order to get it right first time we had to put in a lot of effort, and it took quite a while to get the information we needed, but when the Trades came back we realised that we were half-way there, and the next part - getting in our application for the visa - was the most serious part. We felt that we were so close to achieving our goal, yet still so far away, but constant updates from the team at OE reassured us that everything was going fine. |
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In February 2005, and it put our lives into a complete spin! We had already decided to go to Brisbane, and while we were waiting for the final confirmation we researched areas of the city to live in, which was all quite exciting. We decided we would give ourselves six weeks after getting our visas before booking our flights, so we would have time to get organised selling our house and so on; but, looking back, it all seemed to go so quickly. |
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We felt a bit sad as we had told our families of our intentions, and they found it quite hard to be as excited as we were, although they were very supportive. Those six weeks just flew by and it felt very strange to think we were leaving our family and friends behind to start new lives on the other side of the world. But, to be honest, during these last few weeks we were so busy booking accommodation, dealing with paperwork, packing, selling our house and our belongings, we didn't have a chance to worry about what we were letting ourselves in for! We decided to start off fresh, and only took some family mementos and some children's things they couldn't part with. Everything else was sold. In some ways it felt like a completely fresh start and a new beginning. |
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It all went amazingly smoothly. I've worked as a plumber for 14 years, and am still doing the trade out here. Jolene is temping in Gabriella's school until Jack starts school full-time in January, and then she will be looking to get back into proper work hours. The kids are doing really well at school, too
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No, we’re absolutely certain we did the right thing in moving to Brisbane. Our lives have changed dramatically.The time we spend together is better, weekends are family orientated, and we are spoiled as there is so much to do on our doorstep. Plus, Queensland gets approximately 300 days of sunshine a year, and it's even nice in winter time! When we remember those winters when we were freezing cold and huddling round the fire in Arbroath, there's really no comparison. The children are healthier than they have ever been. We exercise more because we live on the bay, and find it easy to walk everywhere in such lovely surroundings. The biggest compliment we've had from our Aussie friends is that after only 13 months living in Australia they already think we are "dinky die Aussies". |
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I honestly don’t think so. Without them, we wouldn't be where we are today and enjoying it so much!
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