A beginning and an end

I've been away from "home" for a long time. When you grow up in one place and move to another, it's exciting at first, and then the drudgery of grocery shopping, paying bills and doing the laundry takes over from the excitement of being in a new place and it becomes just another place that you live.

"Home" is a relative concept. It means different things to different people.  To me, it's something ethereal and not easily explained. It's a pull to a place, and to people and to a way of life. It's not so much about location, but about attitude.

I moved to the  UK in 2003. I was 28 and had no reason to stay in Melbourne. I wanted to travel and see Europe, and my job as a teacher gave me the means to do that. I was offered a couple of jobs and went with one that would allow me an instant social circle. They were employing a number of Australians and I thought it would be nice to be around others in the same situation, rather than stranded in a strange city by myself.

It was a heady time. Hey Ya! by Outkast and Are You Ready for Love by Elton John were the songs of the summer. Beyonce's Crazy in Love was filling the dance floors. I shared a house with 3 Australians and an American. We went out drinking two or three nights a week. One of my housemates got involved with the local rugby club, so we socialised a lot with them. We travelled to Paris in the half term and spent weekends in London. But soon the novelty wore off and one by one my housemates moved on. One went back to America, a couple moved to London and one went back to Melbourne. By then I had a local boyfriend, so I moved in with him and started a job in a different school.

That was over 9 years ago now and all that time I've been saying I'll go back to Australia "in a couple of years". My boyfriend became my husband and we had two children. We bought a house and built a life here, and going back to Australia became harder and harder to imagine. Our eldest daughter started school in 2011 and that was difficult, as I'd always said I wanted to be back in Australia before she started school.

When, in September 2011, friends of ours here in England upped sticks and moved to Queensland very suddenly, we decided that we'd spent enough time making excuses and it was time to do something about it. We downloaded all the forms and started collecting evidence for my husband's spouse visa application. We finally submitted the application in June 2012 and we are currently waiting for his visa to be granted.

We've purchased one way tickets to Melbourne and our house is on the market. So this is where my time in England ends, and my journey home begins.