In 2016, I have moved from Switzerland to Tasmania #discovertasmania. Well, why Tasmania? Couldn’t it be somewhere closer, somewhere warmer? That was the first reaction from my friends.
No, I said – we have chosen Tasmania or Tasmania has chosen us because I had the chance to immigrate to Australia on a sponsored visa. This is a quite rare opportunity which we would not have missed. And to all readers here as a spoiler – I haven’t regretted it so far.
The preparation started already way earlier. We had to do doctors examination, language skills tests, police checks and supply about a 150 pages for our visa. #visaaustralia Well, that was quite a lot of work, but after only 4 months waiting time, our visas have been granted.
I remember myself very well on the 15th December 2015, when my mobile rang and an Australian number showed up on the display. It was after midnight in Switzerland and obviously the next morning already in Australia when we got the grant message from my former boss here in Hobart. After this we couldn’t sleep anymore and celebrated this next big step with a bottle of bubbles.
Then the real stress has begun. I had to go to my employwe in Switzerland, tell them that I would leave for Tasmania, we had to organise a nice place our lovely cat, Mr. Charlie,
which we were not able to take with us due to the very strict vaccination rules in Australia. Had to organise a shipping container and finally say good-bay to our friends and family.
Upon arrival, we’ve been welcomed with cold weather and plenty of rain. When I think back to this 15th March 2016, my first though was, what the hell are we doing here. But then, we’ve been warm welcomed and had a fantastic start to build up our new life here in Tassie.
