16000km

PD is just down the road from where I live, in my 7 years in FNQ I've been 5 or 6 times - and still loking for the excitement of Barcelona ? or in fact ANY excitement....

What brought me here – my Australian husband. I met him when I was travelling around Australia, I had lived in Sydney for a year and been back as a tourist a couple of times. He said he’d visit me in Germany, and he did and ended up staying for 15 years. The deal was that we would move ‘back’ to Australia eventually, so that’s what we did 7 years ago. What keeps me here – my Australian husband. His job prospects are better over here (for now), and this place is his home (although he likes Europe as well). I would move back to Europe in a heartbeat. For me personally, it offers so much more: VARIETY, landscapes no less interesting or beautiful than here, better/cheaper travel opportunities, family & friends. And a feeling of connectedness that I don’t have here – I don’t know why, but most of Australia leaves me totally cold. I like travelling OZ, just don’t want to live here.

I am German and have dual citizenship for AUS and Germany, it is possible. You have to apply for and be granted a document called Beibehaltungsgenehmigung before you take up AUS citizenship. As long as you can prove that you have measurable disadvantages by not becoming a citizen, and that you stil have ties to Germany, you should't have any problems to obtain the BBG certificate. As for children born to migrants in Germany, I think you will find that they have to decide whether they want german or their parents citizenship when they turn 18.

Campervan is the way to go, we drove around the South Island for 4 weeks last September and mainly used the DOC (Department of Conservation) campgrounds, I think we paid around $12 -15 for the van and us three and mostly had the places to ourselves. But make sure to take warm clothing, we stepped out into snow one morning at Mt Cook – loved it ! I didn't find it more expensive than here, maybe for some items but then others were cheaper than in Australia. We totally enjoyed the family experience with our 11yo, being 'stuck' in the campervan of a night, no TV and electronic toys but campfires, walks, games and reading instead, wonderful. And the landscape is that stunningly beautiful (plus we were extremely lucky weatherwise, only had 2 days of rain on the West coast), I could have stayed. In fact, we're still thinking we might move one day, just not sure what on earth people do for work...

I used to live in Cairns and moved to the Atherton Tablelands for work, but also because I find the climate is so much more pleasant up here. Cairns can be extremely humid and very hot, and it usually gets a lot of rain during the wet season. I enjoyed the climate in the beginning, having a pool and balmy nights, until novelty wore off... Personally I don't like Cairns much as a city, it is small if you're used to big city life and full of tourists. I find it lacks character and is somehow a bit “fake”. I also find it too isolated, it's not uncommon among people I know to fly to Brisbane for a show or concert. But this is something we only realised once we'd moved here, on pictures and from memory 10 years earlier it was as you probably imagine it to be The landscape around the city is beautiful though. I would try to visit before you make a decision to move to Cairns. I have never been to Perth so can't comment on it. Good luck !

Thank you everyone for the friendly welcome !

:biggrin: Hi All, I've been reading on here for quite some time and decided it's time to get involved. I'm not from the UK but hope that being European will do :wink: I think this site is great and often very entertaining ! We moved to FNQ a little over 5 years ago, that is my Aussie husband, two children and myself. Coming from a big city, the change has been quite dramatic and also I'm not sure that QLD is for me long term...hoping to move to Tassie in the not too far future. I would say that I'm still getting used to living here, I do miss Europe a lot ! But hubby survived my country for a number of years, so now it's my turn to be homesick I guess. Anyway, I'm looking forward to being part of this community ! Cheers, 16000km