I’m Going Home – Finally Moving Back to Australia.

So, I have some big news. After seven years back in the UK, I’m moving back to Australia. I was born and raised in the home counties of England, and Surrey will always be my home, but I think most of you know by now how in love I am with the place I lived for two years as a teenager. I’ve let out hints on the blog here and there, and some of you will already know, but I’m only allowed to properly ‘announce’ it now due to work. So let me tell you more…

I was originally going to move back to Perth when I finished Uni in 2012, but a year beforehand, just after I started this blog five years ago, I decided I wanted to stay and work in London for a while. Four years later and I’m finally making the big move back. I feel like I’ve had the most incredible few years in London, but lately I’ve been disenchanted with it and feel like I need a new adventure. 

The thing is that over the past few years, I’ve had the most incredible time. I’ve made some great friends, loved spending lots of time with my old friends, had the most insane and unbelievable experiences, and loved every minute. But, lately I’ve been feeling tired, exhausted, and just a bit over London. I long for the smell of the peppermint trees, the crows waking me up with their droning call, and the soft white sand of the beach. My girls, my happy place, the place I can run to and just be alone, and the place where I can be 100% myself. Also the amazing food.
There are so many people I will miss, friends for life who have been there through thick and thin, and although I’m SUPER excited to be going back to my happy place and back with my girls over there, there have been a fair few tears shed over leaving my friends here behind. But I have to do what’s best for me, and right now this is it.
So, the details? Well, originally I was going to transfer with work as I was working for a rather large media group, but then I realized how exhausted I was, how burnt out I was becoming, and I just realized that my health and happiness is more important than going from one job straight to another. At the end of the day I’m 25 years old and should not be burning out. I have a decent amount of savings, so I’ve set myself a budget (hello, I don’t want to use ALL my savings), and am taking a couple of months off then I’ll start to look for a job out there.

I handed in my notice at work as soon as I got back from Antigua at the beginning of June, as my visa was approved while I was out there, and as I had a two month notice period, my last day at work was 4th August (hence my leaving drinks that meant I was super hungover when I went to Geneva the next day, haha).

So what’ve I been up to since then and what are my plans? Well August is full of travels – I started with 24 hours in Geneva visiting Peter and Adam the day after my last day. And right now I’m currently back in the USA with Jasiminne for a week, with 4 nights in NYC and 3 nights in Orlando. Originally I was planning NYC and Miami, but then I got way too excited about the prospect of Disney World and Jasiminne was up for it so WOOHOO! We’re basically gonna be kids again. Control freak travel planning Catherine is back with powerpoints and excel sheets 😉 
I’ll be back for the August bank holiday weekend, and then September is friends and family time. Apart from a few days in Devon with the family I’m planning to be in London the majority of the month. I want to soak it all up and make the most of being in my home city. I want to eat at all the restaurants on my ‘to visit’ list and see the things I’ve wanted to see for ages (silly little things like going up the St Paul’s Dome which I finally did last Monday, and seeing Jersey Boys). 
Then is the big move. I’m heading to Perth at the end of September, stopping off in Dubai, Doha, and Muscat enroute. I’ll be spending 10 days in the middle east, and then I’ll be home by mid-October. Ideally I’d love to spend a couple of weeks relaxing in Perth before starting the job search, but we’ll see. I’ll be looking for a job over in Sydney because with what I do (Content Marketing), there aren’t really any jobs in Perth, and…well…I’ve never been to Melbs so I’d rather not move to a city I’ve never visited haha, I’m not that brave and adventurous 😉

I’m so excited! I really need this break, I never had a gap year and I’ve never had any time off work where I could actually afford to travel or do anything. But it certainly hasn’t been without it’s stresses that’s for sure; I was a nervous wreck while I was waiting for my visa application to be approved. It took a little longer than usual, which I was prepared for, as I had some issues with the my old visa. I was on my Dad’s 457 visa when I lived there as a teenager, and I was still in Australia when it expired in 2010 and had to be put on an emergency visa. This wasn’t my fault – I was due to fly out of Australia two days before it expired, but the volcano in Iceland erupted and my flight was cancelled – I couldn’t get on another flight out of the country for two weeks.

Anyway, so basically on my new visa application form I had to answer ‘yes’ to ‘have you ever overstayed a visa?’ and so I knew it would take longer to process while they checked out what happened before. I gave them as much information as I could and thankfully it was approved with no problems, but oh man it was so stressful waiting to find out if it would be OK or not!

Then handing in my notice at work was so. hard. I loved my work place and my amazing team, so it was so hard leaving them and knowing I might never have it so lucky again. They’re all awesome and I miss them all already, even though it’s only been two weeks since I left!

And then there was the health problems. As you may know my cryotherapy operation on my lingual tonsils didn’t work, so I had another operation in July. The problem was it meant taking two weeks out from work, seeing friends, and making the most of London. It was so frustrating! Also there have been a fair few mini freakouts when I’ve counted how many times I’m likely to see certain friends before I go. I overthink way too much ha! It’s also scaring the hell outta me that I have zero free weekends between now and when I leave – eek! So if you’re a friend of mine and want to see me before I go, please do tell me when you’re free ASAP so I can save you a date!

I’m not entirely sure how long I’ll be gone for, it probably won’t be forever and will most likely be just for a year, but we’ll see how it goes. I have a feeling I’m going to miss London far too much haha, but I really just need to get this whole Australia thing out of my system so I can come back and actually feel settled in the UK instead of constantly planning to move away ASAP. But who knows, maybe I’ll fall in love with Australia even more and end up staying there 😉  


Oh, and if you’re friends/family, COME VISIT ME! I’m also welcoming people at Christmas, as my parents have already told me they won’t be visiting me for Christmas :'( sad times.

So, any questions just ask, and if you want to know why I love Perth so much, check out this post! And hopefully I’ll see most of you before I go! Oh, and I can’t WAIT to be back on the beach swimming around in this ocean again….

C x

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Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux

Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.

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16 Comments

  1. Shikha (whywasteannualleave)
    August 20, 2016 / 11:45 am

    Congratulations on this exciting news and wishing you all the best for your move down under!

  2. Lisa
    August 20, 2016 / 3:23 pm

    It sounds like you have definitely got a plan to make the most of your time left here. Best of luck for the move and enjoy your travels before then!

    Lisa | Not Quite Enough

  3. Stephanie Hartley
    August 20, 2016 / 4:41 pm

    This is so exciting! It sounds like you've got an amazing couple of months coming up, especially with visiting all of your 'bucket list' London places. Good luck and don't stress too much about leaving!

    Steph – http://www.nourishmeblog.co.uk

  4. Emma @ AdventuresofaLondonKiwi
    August 20, 2016 / 5:26 pm

    YAY! Though selfishly, we will get to see you a heck of a lot less!

  5. Unknown
    August 21, 2016 / 8:11 am

    I'm going to miss you so much C, but i'm going to take the opportunity and come and visit you. I need to tick Aus off my bucket list!

    X

  6. Tamsin @ A Certain Adventure
    August 21, 2016 / 9:25 am

    Congrats on the amazing news Catherine! I hope the move goes really smoothly – sounds like you've had your heart set on Australia for years so you must be very happy 🙂 Your travel plans this summer sound super exciting, too – hope you and J are having a great time! x

    Tamsin / A Certain Adventure

  7. LuxuryColumnist
    August 21, 2016 / 7:26 pm

    I'm glad to hear that all is sorted although you'll be missed. I have a friend who is moving to Melbourne with her husband at the same time, she's got a lot of admin to sort! Good luck with all of that

  8. Elle Bloggs
    August 23, 2016 / 1:11 pm

    Amazing news, congrats and good luck with the big move!!
    Lauren x
    Elle Bloggs

  9. Catherine Lux
    August 25, 2016 / 8:44 pm

    Thanks so much Elle! 🙂 x

  10. Catherine Lux
    August 25, 2016 / 8:44 pm

    Thanks so much Lauren! 🙂 x

  11. Catherine Lux
    August 25, 2016 / 8:45 pm

    Thanks Tamsin! I'm so excited!! Jas and I had the BEST time in the US, I can't wait to write up all the posts now and edit the vlogs 😀 x

  12. Catherine Lux
    August 25, 2016 / 8:46 pm

    Hehe aw, imma miss you guys heaps! x

  13. Catherine Lux
    August 25, 2016 / 8:46 pm

    Thanks Steph, I'm so excited for my big new adventure but the time is going by so quickly haha! x

  14. Catherine Lux
    August 25, 2016 / 8:47 pm

    Thank you Lisa! Super excited for all the travels and the big move! x

  15. Catherine Lux
    August 25, 2016 / 8:47 pm

    Thank you Shikha!! I'm so excited! x

  16. MissLilly
    August 30, 2016 / 11:27 am

    Amazing news!!!! Congratulations and good luck, I'm sure everything will be really good

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