A Year in Pictures: 12 Months in Straya

A whole year in Australia and what a year it's been! Again, I'm not quite sure where that year has gone, but here are a few of our highlights from our first 12 months in 'Straya'...

We arrived in Perth on 17th December; a week before Christmas and we were SO excited to be back after an awesome nine weeks travelling in Asia.

We moved in with Stacey, Mike, Molly and Evie who put us up and fed us for six weeks... They were amazing and we felt so lucky to have had a soft landing of our move to Australia. I can't imagine how much more of a struggle it would have been if it wasn't for them and other friends who lent us money and cars and generally made our lives easier.

We enjoyed Stacey and Mike's pool a lot. Would be rude not to right?

I'd never even been to Western Australia before I moved here, so Rich thought he better show me around its capital city, Perth.

Two days before Christmas, it's our anniversary. In 2016, we spent it having a picnic in the wonderful King's Park on a glorious sunny day.

Rich had a job interview on Christmas Eve, while I sat on Cottesloe Beach - I even saw a dolphin and I was so excited! Rich soon joined me and we rocked our Christmas hats in the sunshine.

Christmas Day was spent with friends in the pool. Christmas in the sunshine is still so bizarre - not sure if I will ever get used to it!

We went to Rockingham Beach on Boxing Day - I was blown away by the colour of the water and had to keep pinching myself that this place was my new home.

We spent the last few hours of 2016 in the pool. We were ridiculously excited for 2017 and what it would bring for us in Australia.

I was already beginning to love this city and to start to think of it as home.

Rich got a job as a Solar Production Manager and we started to look at places we could live near to his work.

We chose Freo and spent the day there for my birthday, having a picnic on the beach and eating and drinking in one of Rich's favourite old haunts, Little Creatures. I was loving the fact that my birthday in Australia is now in the middle of summer after always being in the darkest depths of miserable winter in the UK.

We moved into our first, lovely little home together in Freo and I started temp work on the same day.

We slowly start to make our little house a home.

We went camping in Lake Navarino - my first experience of camping in Australia.

Rich kayaked to Rottnest Island - I joined him too, but I took the relaxing ferry over rather than kayaking! It took him ALL day to get there, so I just explored - and met some furry friends!

We explored our lovely Freo and got outside as much as possible, loving the gorgeous weather and how much was on our doorstep.

I started missing home A LOT and started to question why I was in Australia.

Rich started working away on the mine sites, meaning my homesickness reached an all-time high. I missed my life back home, but always made an effort to explore my surroundings and make the most of where I was. I was super proud of Rich though for landing this job that he really wanted.

I started walking A LOT. It became my new favourite hobby. It was something to keep me busy whilst Rich was away as well as exploring my surroundings, getting out in the sunshine and keeping fit.

Richard finally achieved his lifelong goal and bought a Tesla.

We went for a drive down to Albany and spent the weekend exploring.

I treated my hair to a chop - quite a big change after years of growing it and having it long!

We hosted BBQs at ours - in winter!

We flew to Melbourne for Rich's cousin's wedding. And met up with his family for drinks in the city.

We did a day tour of the Great Ocean Road - it was beautiful but absolutely freezing!

I flew home to the UK, while Rich stayed in Aus - he had to earn us some dollar, you know?

I enjoyed five weeks at home seeing my friends and family.

I went to Paris for a hen weekend with my best friends and had the most amazing time.

I watched my best friend marry the man of her dreams as her bridesmaid.

I was so excited to get back to Perth though - seems as if the homesickness had died down - it now seemed like I was homesick for Australia!

I got back to Perth to a well stocked fridge from Rich...

It was winter and wouldn't stop raining!

But we still had some glorious sunny days amongst it all.

Perth winters aren't so bad.

I got straight back into temp work, exploring and joining a Meetup group to try and meet new people. Spring was on its way!

We went down to Margaret River for some wine tasting for Rich's belated birthday celebrations.

Oh and we went up north to see the Pinnacles.

We FINALLY applied for my visa after a lot of research, paperwork and a lengthy application. Now I sit and wait for two years to hear back on the verdict. I can at least remain in Australia and work while it's processing.

(Here's me celebrating all things Australian on Australia Day earlier in the year).

Christmas (and summer) started to creep up on us again.

We had friends staying with us for a couple of weeks so we went up north on a road trip to Coral Bay and Exmouth. It was an experience to drive through the outback -

something I'd not done before!

Coral Bay was just paradise. Amazing beaches and crystal clear water.

We went on a snorkelling/diving trip and we swam with manta rays, turtles, reef sharks (the others saw tiger sharks too). We even saw dolphins from the boat.

It was incredible!

The others went scuba diving in Exmouth and the lady from the dive shop took me to feed her rescue kangaroo joeys as I didn't fancy the diving.

What an experience!

Rich flew back up to site and I took the others to Rottnest Island. We cycled around on a really hot day, met some quokkas and enjoyed incredible beaches, one of which, we had all to ourselves.

To top it all off, I was offered a long term contract job two days before my Working Holiday Visa expired. My main worry about moving to Australia was finding work on this visa. I did a lot of temp work throughout the year but I wanted to find something long term to settle into. Now I'm finally on a new visa and a new job to go with it.

What a way to end the year!

I celebrated with a few glasses of wine, of course!

It's been a wonderful year setting up home in a new country and though I was feeling homesick some months ago, those feelings have most definitely gone away and I couldn't be happier at where we live. I love it so much and couldn't imagine living anywhere else at the moment. Moving abroad was the best thing I have ever done. It has taught me so much about myself and what I am capable of. I have been completely pushed out of my comfort zone, but that has been amazing for me and I have gained so much from this whole experience. I feel like my life is in Perth now and I am starting to make friends and that it isn't just about moving here because Rich is an Australian citizen, it's something for me too.

We've achieved so much in that one year and we're super excited for what's to come as we really start to call Perth our home.

Everything really is starting to fall into place.