[melissa]

Firstly, i get on well with my family, i don't feel overly close to them but then i was always quite independent even as a kid.

As for Mel, she can't stand her mum, gets on okay with her dad but there's a few issue's, and will miss her sister. But she has a bigger family in Adelaide than over here. We don't know them that well but do get on with them just fine. I think for her, they will provide the family relationship she has always missed out on; ie. no arguing at every family meeting.

But a dilemma now is that our 16 1/2 year old son says he's not coming now. And though the little s##t drives me up the wall, i love him and we have good laugh together. The thought of leaving him breaks my heart, but i'll still go anyway. He's growing up fast and will leave one day anyway. He's coming to validate and stay for a while, so i just hope he changes his mind once he's out there. He loved it when we visited last year.

So leaving behind my parents and sisters will be easy compared to leaving him. They are old enough to look after themselves. But this is my only chance, and i struggle with working out how i feel about the whole thing.

Darren.