Originally Posted by
Wozza16
Great thread!
I share the views about ex-pat with other posters, never considered myself to be one.
I grew up and spent a lot of my teens working and playing around up at Pontypool Ski Centre, I was a ski and snowboard instructor there and my older brother had done similar a few years before me. I was desperate to go and spend a winter season at a ski resort to sample the real thing, I went to Canada at 19 to spend a season with my brother before he returned to Wales to live a 'normal' life, I original plan was for one 6 month season and to return home. I ended up spending 12 months in Whistler, BC and loved every minute. When I was home I spent two years thinking and dreaming about Canada so decided to go back for another season, I ended up spending two years. When I arrived the company I worked for put me with with an Australian girl in a shared house and we hit it off straight away. After two years there we have moved all around, we spent a winter (bad idea but the timing was right) back in Wales and have since been in Queenstown, NZ for around a year, Adelaide (her home city) for 2 years and we are now in Melbourne and have been for the past year or two.
How come you're expats?
Ski and Snowboard instructing started it off, can't recommend getting into it enough. Incredible way to see the world.
Do you miss Wales? I miss Wales a lot, I left planning short a gap year style trip but just enjoyed moving around so much. I think it's worse at the moment as haven't seen most of my family since April 19 and with Australia's current position very unlikely to be in a position to leave this year. I miss the greenery, football, the community feel, easy access to europe and the comfort food. The cuisine is incredible in Melbourne as it's such a diverse place but we just don't get the same quality comfort stuff, probably the nostalgia helps too.
Do you think you'll ever move back? I would love to, I like Australia and the group of people that I know now but originally it was always the one place I never wanted to end up (bad experiences with Aussies I met on my first time in Canada). Canada was the best place I've ever been but not sure I could live there. Queenstown is incredible but extremely expensive and it's an even more ridiculous trip to get home. We were planning on moving back at the end of last year but Boris' complete f up of covid made us stay put in Australia and I'm now a Permanent resident so who knows. That being said, Melbourne is a great city and reminds me a lot of the UK in terms of weather, architecture, variety sport etc so it is definitely easier to settle here.
Interesting to read the views and experiences of others being from Wales and explaining it to people. I left and I couldn't care less about Wales, our history, politics etc. I soon became more pro-Wales when I would have to explain on a daily basis that Wales and England isn't the same place, I'm used to people getting the accent wrong now but it's irritating when people just don't acknowledge it. Wales has done a great deal for the world throughout history and it's crazy just how many people haven't even heard of Wales and how England and the UK are regarded as the same thing. Living in Canada, NZ and Australia who are all thriving countries since independence, I noticed how many things Wales could do differently. I'm not trying to turn this thread political so I hope it doesn't, it's just interesting how travelling can change your perceptions and opinions on things that you didn't think twice about a few years before.
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