A year of Aussies

Today it’s been a year since I arrived in Australia. In fact, yesterday marked the day that my visa expired and would have had to leave the country. If I was still using that same visa that is. Which I’m not.

Yes, I have a so-called 457 or Temporary Business Entry (Class UC) Work (Skilled) (Subclass 457) visa now for Australia. Regardless of the strange bureaucratic behaviour of using a crazy name and then only focusing on the number, this means that I (and Kelsey as she was the secondary applicant on it) can stay here for 4 years as long as there is a company sponsoring me. Obviously that’s the case right now, as I’m still working at the great Evolution 7.

So, why have I decided to stay here in Melbourne? First of all, I have to admit there is a limit to how long I can do the backpacking thing without getting bored and tired of living out of a suitcase. Maybe I’m getting old, or just got fed up with that lifestyle. Either way, I wanted to have a place to call home again.

That doesn’t explain why I want to stay here in Melbourne, Australia instead of coming back to The Netherlands. Mostly it’s because I feel like it. Melbourne is a great city to live in, and in many ways actually reminds me of Amsterdam. Not completely of course, for example there aren’t any canals around here and Melbourne has 4 times as many people living in it.

Another big factor is that while I don’t really feel like backpacking continuously anymore, I do still want to keep exploring and Australia is perfectly situated for that. First of all, there are big parts of this huge country I haven’t even come close to. So far I’ve only seen the east coast and Tasmania which leaves about 90% of the country. Sure, most of it is like a desert but there’s quite a bit of interesting stuff as well.

And of course, it’s pretty good as a gateway into Asia. Flights from here into Asia are cheap and often on special so there’s a good opportunity to explore there a couple of weeks at a time.

Speaking of traveling, while I’m staying here that doesn’t mean I won’t be visiting The Netherlands. As a matter of fact, I’ll be heading there very soon. As in one month from now soon. In September Kelsey and I will be catching up with our families and friends. First we’ll go to The Netherlands for about 3 weeks, and this will be followed by Hong Kong. To make things easier for everyone, at the bottom of this post are our flight plans, as always times are in the local time of the airport/city.

A lot has happened since I’ve left The Netherlands, most notable for me increases in the family with the births of both my nephew Jesse and my cousin’s baby girl Jasmijn as well as my other cousin getting married today (Congratulations Eelco and Krista!). So, despite saying how much I like it here I’m really looking forward to catching up with both family and friends in September.

To The Netherlands

Flight QF29, Qantas
From: Melbourne, Sunday September 1 09:45
To: Hong Kong, Sunday September 1 17:10

Flight 4121, Etihad
From: Hong Kong, Monday September 2 18:55
To: Abu Dhabi, Monday September 2 23:25

Flight 7308, KLM flying for Etihad
From: Abu Dhabi, Tuesday September 3 01:55
To: Amsterdam, Tuesday September 3 07:00

To Hong Kong

Flight 7307, KLM flying for Etihad
From: Amsterdam, Sunday September 22 11:35
To: Abu Dhabi, Sunday September 22 20:05

Flight 4122, Etihad
From: Abu Dhabi, Sunday September 22 21:40
To: Hong Kong, Monday September 23 09:40

Back to Melbourne

Flight QF128
From: Hong Kong, Friday October 4 20:15
To: Sydney, Saturday October 5 07:25

Flight QF419
From: Sydney, Saturday October 5 09:00
To: Melbourne, Saturday October 5 10:35