Fed up with the NHS? Try emigrating to Australia
There are now more than 5.5 million British-born people living abroad; Australasia is one of the most popular emigrant destinations in recent years.
Kate Mitchell was a Paramedic with the Scottish Ambulance Service working 10 hour shifts in Glasgow before she embarked on the adventure of a lifetime, leaving her home to start a new life on Australia’s Sunshine Coast.
Kate, her partner Barbara Allan and their adopted son Liam Allan jetted off to new beginnings on Australia’s Sunshine Coast near Brisbane.
“We had a month’s holiday and while we were there, we realised that we were really keen to try something different that would alter the course of our lives. We wanted more, for all our futures, especially Liam’s, so we started to think about our options.”
Liam is Barbara’s great nephew; the couple adopted him after his mother died of leukaemia when he was aged 1½. Kate added: “He was paramount in our decision to emigrate.”
Kate and Barbara from Cumbernauld, near Glasgow, first got the idea to emigrate when a colleague at another ambulance station told Kate about her plans to move to Australia. “We did a lot of research and spoke to people who had made the move or were planning to emigrate. We really liked the idea and the potential for us to build a different, more exciting future.”
Kate applied to work for the Queensland Ambulance Service, and following an interview in London she found out that her application had been successful. Once the visas were sorted, it was all systems go. Kate and Barbara got organised straight away and used Crown Relocations to help with the packing and shipping arrangements for all their belongings.
“Crown Relocations were recommended to us by colleagues who had already emigrated. They said Crown had helped them to arrange everything and made the move go smoothly. Crown was quick and adept in answering our many questions, the paperwork was comprehensive and the customer service was excellent so we felt completely confident in the team’s ability from the start; which is important as we were entrusting them to ship all our worldly goods half way across the world as our preferred international removals!
“Everyone at Crown was really helpful and took away the pain of us having to pack up all our belongings,” added Kate. “We were confident that Crown’s experience would ensure our move ran without a hitch.”
Crown Relocations packed up all the family’s belongings, including most of Liam’s toys and games and his beloved PS2, ready to be shipped to the Sunshine Coast. Kate said: “We realised how important it was to make sure that Liam was involved in the process. Crown Relocations has special guides, written for kids by kids, and Liam was given one all about Australia which he loved. It had information about the weather, food and customs so he knew more about what to expect. He also had special bright red truck boxes to pack up his toys into.”
The family’s belongings went into storage while they waited to hear from the Queensland Ambulance Service about where they were going to be based.
“We house shared with friends for about a month until we knew where I was going be based and then began to look for a home and finalise Liam’s school. We looked at prospective schools on the internet for a few months and then narrowed the search to two or three.”
Australasia has long been one of the most popular emigrant destinations and, due to the demand, health care workers considering emigrating in search of better prospects could find themselves better placed in the immigration application process.
“We decided to make the move because we wanted a better quality of life for the future. We were thinking long-term, about our retirement in twenty or so years, but more about making sure Liam had a bright future. We miss the rest of our families, but they are all keen to come and visit.”
Kate has the following words of advice for anyone thinking about emigrating and starting a new life abroad: “Do your research and think carefully about your reasons for moving and what you hope to achieve. You need to be patient when arranging the visas and permits as this can take a while. We intend to take it as it comes, day by day. We can come back if we decide it’s not for us, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.”