The 10 Year Itch

In the fall of 2011, Wife and I decided it would be a good idea to move to Australia. Well, truthfully, she finally caved after a decade of me pleading, but I digress. A year later, I had been granted permanent Australian residence, we'd sold our lovely home and acreage near Nelson, had disposed of most of our worldly possessions, and up-and-moved down under.

Here is something I'll tell you for free: moving countries is a major hassle. I way underestimated what was involved. The 90 page residency application was only the beginning. There was also the need to acquire drivers licenses, health care insurance, an automobile, etc. Everything is just different enough to be really confusing – two years on and I still haven't really figured out the Australian health care system.

On the Nadgee Howe

And then there is banking and investing. Oh my, what fun it was dealing with those. In Australia, your credit worthiness is based on your income, not your assets. If, like me, you've just arrived in country (and thus have no Australian income history), you could literally be Bill Gates (literally!), and you could not, for love nor money, get a credit card. No chance. Nada. Without a credit card or a credit rating, just try getting a mobile phone. Good luck to you – you'll need it. And despite their promises to the contrary, once I left Canada, TD Canada/TD Waterhouse has made my life a living hell – OK, maybe I am prone to a bit of exaggeration, but calling my experience a huge (and expensive) pain in the arse would understate the fun. And don't get me started on dealing with Revenue Canada.

So then why the heck did we do it? My favourite flippant answer is “because I couldn't bear living under Stephen Harper's rule.” I wish I had that sort of conviction to my political opinions, but sadly I don't, and if I did, I suppose I would have stayed in the Frozen North to fight the good fight for the end of his tyrannical rule, rather than gone paddling on the Great Barrier Reef. But my hedonistic nature aside, things haven't worked out so well in that regard anyway, as Harper's evil brother, Tony Abbott, was recently elected as Australian PM. Abbott, the ALP, and their neo-con agenda is just so deja vu all over again, that I sometimes feel like I'm stuck in a bad dream. Canada was too stupid to learn from the mistakes of the Americans, so I don't know why I imagined the Aussie's would be any different.

Burrawarra Point, NSW

The truth is, I seem to be a sort of 10-year guy. As Sandy is Australian by birth, most folk are surprised to learn that I was the one who was agitating to move to the Antipodes, but it is true. After ten years of living in the same place and doing basically the same stuff, I am bored and want something different. Something to stir things up a bit, and get me out of my comfort zone. We'd been in Nelson for going on 11 years ...

OK, so I wanted a change, but why Oz? Why not Saskatchewan? Or the Maritimes? I have lived my whole life, up until 2012, in Canada, and since my mid-20s have been fanatical about mountaineering, rock climbing, and backcountry ski touring. This basically means I have been freezing cold most of my adult life, and the rest of the time I was only moderately cold, wet, and miserable. As they say, in Canada there are 10 months of winter and then 2 months of crappy skiing. To me, Australia seemed like a fairy tale land: the sun always shines, the air is always warm, the beaches are amazing, and the landscapes are stunning (mostly true, not as true as I thought, true, true). Not that Canada is such a bad place – it isn't, it is a wonderful place, and there are many things I love about the place. But Oz just seemed so different (and comfortable) as an outdoor playground – different forests, different (and whacky!) creatures, and different outdoor sports to learn (I'm talking sea kayaking and surfing and the like, not footie and cricket, which the Aussie's are mad about). What's not to like?

That bloody itch!

We've been in Australia for going on two years now, and it has pretty much been one long, grand adventure. The climate really is a dream compared to Canada. It makes camping and travelling – which we've been doing pretty much continuously – so much more pleasant. The beaches ... I don't think I'll ever get tired of the beaches ... walking barefoot on an endless perfect sand beach with the surf rolling in: magical. The warm water, salt and fresh, is lovely – we swam more times in our first month in Oz than 20 years in Canada. And the place is stuffed with truly wonderful places to discover. I find it amazing to think we've driven from the Snowy Mountains to the tropics without leaving the country. I'm old now, so was ready to let mountaineering go as an activity, but sea kayaking Australia's beautiful coastlines is a perfect replacement.

In some ways Australia has been very much like I had imagined, and other ways it has been very different, but overall, I am loving the place.

Hinchinbrook

And the ten year thing? I highly recommend it – life is too short to get stuck in a rut, and getting stuck is so easy.