We left Scotland in chilly February and landed in Australia in the middle of summer. Unlike many people who emigrate, we were moving to somewhere where we didn’t know anybody and had no family contacts, and initially life in Australia seemed very strange and new. However, we were absolutely determined to make our new life work. We had spent so much time, money and effort to come to this new country, and we couldn’t walk away easily from all of that.

We chose Perth because it’s one of the smaller cities in Australia, and we come from a small village in Scotland and had never lived in a city in before. Plus Western Australia has some of the best beaches, and I really liked it when I had been there before. We had no jobs lined up before we got here, as our plan was to have a holiday and see as much of Australia as we could before settling into our new lives. We got jobs within a couple of days – we knew our skills were in demand so that wasn’t really a worry for us.

Finding somewhere to live was a priority - we made a list of what we wanted, and the beach always came top of the list! We researched different suburbs of Perth, and once we had found the right area we bought the land to build our own house. Fortunately, we were able to rent a property in the same area, which turned out to be a great for building a network of friends. People who were already in the area were very helpful with information in advice, and living and working in the area has made us both feel we have put down roots. Our house, which is going to be a large single-storey house with plenty of garden for us to maintain and an outdoor spa, will be ready in the next few months. We can’t wait to have our first party there!