A Journey to Australia

It has been a while since my last writing on moving to Australia. It takes time as we wait for hard-working government officials to go through the paperwork to see what they need from us and vice versa.

Thus far, we have had a medical exam that included a chest x-ray, seeing if I can work once moved to Australia, and providing details of my mental health. This was a success--passing by like wind through your hair...or for my husband’s case, a beat from the sunshine and wind to cool his beautiful, hairless scalp.

We needed to provide a character letter in which we asked my Australian parents to provide for us. If anyone knows my character that is an Australian citizen, it would be my beautiful mother-in-law who visited her grandchildren every chance she got during their birthday celebrations. My father-in-law loves me for being who I am and being a veteran he can get along with. Enjoys my banter just like I do him and how blunt that stubborn man can be. I don't know any Australian who isn't blunt as we converse trivial matters of weather, frustrations, and delicious food to partake in once we are closer.

We also had to show that we are 100% committed to our love for one another. From the wise words of my grandmother so many years ago, no marriage is perfect nor is it easy. One minute you want to throw food at your much-loved partner, the next you can't stop laughing from slipping on noodles. It's a great way to order some pizza by my personal experience...waste of food? No, I ended up feeding the noodles to our giant horse dog since they were made from vegetables with no seasonings.

Not only do we need to show how much love and lust we have for one another, but financially committed to one another. Lucky for me, I have my life insurance towards my handsome Aussie and vice versa--easy peasy lemon squeezy. Not to mention have a bottomless pit for a stomach—so if that isn’t financially committed…I don’t know what is.

For our children, they have dual citizenship, so we had to pay for proof of this and get their passports taken care of on both sides. Seeing that it's easier to see family when you have both passports, the queue isn't as long to get in and out of the USA unlike Australia...they are marvelous and have a short queue even on a busy day.

We researched dog flights to Australia and how long it will be to quarantine our horse with paws. Prepared her for immigration with training so she is used to being in a kennel, minding her manners, and going through extensive times without food. With my Irish Wolfhound, I have an open bowl food policy to help grow her big and strong. With her nibbling throughout the day, even at almost 1-year old, she slowly migrated to 3 large portions.

We are then asked about the Australian husbands' background which we couldn't get on time. We turned in our paperwork a couple of months ago--finally hearing back. They are amazing (we turned in a receipt of actually trying to get a background check for him in Australia). They extended our time to get an Australian Police background check until the middle of next month (September). Funny enough, the letter we have been waiting a few months for, has finally arrived in our mailbox. As soon as I received it, I scanned that baby into my computer and uploaded it to the Australian website. Happy day, happy day!

We are now waiting once again for the news we would like to hear--approved.

With that, we end with the famous military saying “hurry up and wait” as we allow time to pass by as immigration does their hard work to make sure both my family and Australia...stay safe.