A Year in Pictures 2018

On 17th December 2016, Rich and I made the move to Australia and since it was our two year ‘Australia-versary’ I thought I would recap the year with another ‘year in pictures’ blog. I did this last year so would like to make it a little bit of a tradition. It just so happens that the anniversary of when we arrived in Australia falls in December so it’s a good time of year to reminisce about the last 12 months.

So just as I posted the blog last year, I’d started a new job and I think that was the last major event to happen of 2017… until we got engaged! This happened at the end of the year on our actual anniversary and didn’t quite make it to last year’s blog, so let’s start off with recapping one of the best days of my life, let alone 2017!

Moving to Australia has meant making new traditions. Our anniversary is on 23rd December so when we lived in the UK, we used to celebrate by going to Winter Wonderland in London, drinking mulled wine, ice skating and wrapping up warm in the cold winter weather. Move to the southern hemisphere and you’ve got yourself a totally different situation and tradition; beautiful summer sunshine and cheese and wine picnics in the park. So Rich popped the question last year on our anniversary whilst having said picnic and it was so wonderful. A year later and I am still in awe at my beautiful ring.

We spent Christmas on the beach of course! Something I am still trying to get used to.

And New Year’s Eve in the city, where I fell over and hurt my knee and had to be patched up in the First Aid Tent before 8pm. Great way to end 2017! We were however, very excited for what 2018 would bring after such an amazing 2017.

Before moving to Australia having a January birthday meant celebrating in the deepest, darkest depths of winter (sometimes in the snow), everyone was skint and on a come-down after Christmas – it was just not a good time to have a birthday! Birthdays in January in Australia on the other hand – so much fun. Holiday mode is still in full swing and it’s the middle of summer and glorious weather. I spent my 29th birthday on the beach with a great group of ladies, which was fab!

Rich and I celebrated my birthday a few weeks later by going for a weekend away to Pemberton, where we stayed in an old train carriage and had our own hot tub and sauna. It was the most amazing weekend, full of relaxation and the best part was that there was no phone coverage and no Wi-Fi, so we resorted to actually talking to each other!

We booked our wedding for July 2019! Wedding planning had officially commenced! I also said yes to the dress!

We had a friend come and stay from the UK and of course that meant a trip down to Margaret River – we were becoming regulars!

After applying for my visa in October and thinking I’d have to wait up to two years for a decision, I heard back around 4 months later to say it had been approved. I was so excited to be a temporary resident of Australia and have no more visa issues! All our hard work applying for the visa had paid off – I can relax…for now! In October 2019 I can apply to be a permanent resident – after a lot more paperwork of course!

Rich was away for Easter so I decided to go away for the weekend on my own, something I’d always wanted to do. I went down to Busselton and had the most amazing weekend, reading my book, going for walks, enjoying some me-time and drinking rather a lot of wine on my own!

My sister came to stay from the UK for a few weeks and it was so amazing to show her where I live and for her to understand our love for Australia. She certainly loved it too.

She and I went to Sydney for a weekend, which was incredible. It was so amazing to go back to the city that started this love for this country and the place where I first met Rich. I couldn’t believe that we’d met in a 32 bed dorm and now we were engaged to be married. It was so lovely to revisit some of the places that hold so many memories for me and to show my sister the sights.

When we returned to Perth and Rich was home from work, we of course went down to Margaret River – again!

We’d asked our property manager of our rental property if we could get a cat. I’ve wanted one for a long time and we both agreed it would help with Rich working away and provide me with some company. The property manager agreed to let us have one and we visited Cat Haven adoption centre, where I fell in love with every single kitty there. I wanted to bring them all home, so Rich made the final decision on which cat we chose. We brought our gorgeous ginger Fudge home the same day – I think Fudge chose us actually as he flirted and showed off in front of us to win us over. I was so happy to finally have a cat and it was all the better for knowing we had given an adult cat a better life. He settled in so quickly and he really is the best kitty ever, he is so snugly and friendly. Definitely a crazy cat lady now!

Somehow it had got to a year to go before our wedding – where was the year going? I couldn’t believe it was only a year away!

My dad then arrived for a few weeks. I was so excited to have him come and stay because I know he doesn’t like flying so much, so it was amazing that he was actually here in Australia with us. I unfortunately couldn’t take any time off work but he was more than happy to occupy himself, going for walks into Freo, riding Rich’s bike and exploring. It was winter and therefore rained a fair bit, but he had such a lovely time and was amazed that on a clear day it was around 18°C – not bad for a winter’s day! It was lovely to spend the evenings and weekends with him and show him the sights. It was again nice for him to see why we loved it so much here.

And guess what - Dad and I went down to Margaret River. I lost count of how many times I have been down there. What can I say, we love wine!

Rich’s 40th birthday was upon us and that meant many celebratory occasions – including a trip to the UK! Our main reason for flying home was so that Rich could spend his actual birthday at Oktoberfest in Munich. We flew home and caught up with family and friends before heading over to Europe. Instead of just flying to Munich, we wanted to make a holiday out of it since we use all our annual leave on going to the UK, so we decided to fly to Switzerland first before heading to Liechtenstein and Austria and finally Germany. It was such an amazing trip where we ate and drank so much sausage and beer. We got the train through each country and the scenery was spectacular. It made me wonder why we did not take advantage of having Europe on our doorstep when we lived there as we definitely did not explore it enough.

We returned back to the UK where we spent the next few weeks catching up with friends and family and celebrating Rich’s 40th even more – think even he was sick of his birthday after a while! He had a joint birthday party with his mum who turned 70 this year, it was great to celebrate with his family. It was such an amazing trip where we caught up with loads of people as well as sorted loads of stuff out for our wedding, since that’s the only time we’ll be there before the day.

I came back to Perth and settled back into my daily routine. I made the decision upon my return to become a vegetarian. For the best part of the year I have been trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle and trying to reduce my plastic usage after hearing that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. This really opened my eyes about plastic and it has become my mission this year to adopt a zero-waste lifestyle (or as much as possible anyway). To go hand in hand with my mission to do my bit for the planet, I decided to stop eating meat. I've started to realise the impact the meat industry has on our planet and I decided I did not want to contribute towards it anymore. I'm loving being a vegetarian, and to reduce my plastic, I'm now finding I'm cooking everything from scratch and I am really enjoying it!

Rich had an extra two weeks in the UK and then flew straight back to work for another two weeks so it had been a while since we had seen each other. We decided to go camping for the weekend so we could spend some quality time together after a month apart. We had no camping stuff but borrowed essentials from friends and went down to Nannup, which is a couple of hours south of Perth. We camped in the back of the Tesla which was actually amazing.

Christmas was soon upon us once more and since I am late in posting this blog after our anniversary of being in Australia, I may as well include the whole year up to Christmas. Rich was flying back to work on Christmas Eve so we had our own little Christmas on the 22nd. We had such a lovely day, exchanging gifts, going down to the beach and I cooked us a (veggie!) roast dinner. We both said it actually did feel like Christmas Day, which was great!

We then had our 5 year anniversary traditional picnic in Kings Park on the 23rd - a whole year since we got engaged! This year has absolutely flown.

Rich went back to work and I spent Christmas with friends in the sunshine. It was a fantastic few days with lots of eating, drinking and celebrating.

It's been such a great year and I am very much looking forward to what the next 12 months brings for us. Now that we're well and truly settled here in Australia, it's easy to get caught up in the everyday mundane routine, but to look back on what you've achieved in the year is so nice as you realise a lot did happen and that it's another year full of amazing memories, good times and laughs. Another year of health to look back on with gratitude. This is one thing I am trying to practice now - to be grateful for every day and see the good and positive in everything. I definitely feel less homesick now and feel more than ever that Perth is my home and I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to set up a life here. I am also trying to change my attitude about Rich working away and see it now as a positive thing for our relationship, allowing us the life we want to live, a dream car and a dream wedding next year as well hopefully buying a house very soon.

2019 is going to be a good one!