1. IN FEBRUARY 2015 Ian wrote:

It is now over 18 months since we arrived in Australia on 02 July 2013. The first year was the most difficult with most of it spent separated from Miranda who returned to England after 3 weeks with a plan to return in 3 to 4 months time. It was much longer than we planned Miranda returned arriving at Sydney Airport on 5th March 2014.

The first 3 weeks in Australia we lived out of motels having hired a Toyota Corolla that we picked-up at the airport. Then we rented a detached bungalow in Umina Beach until the first week of July 2014. Miranda supported me during this time by pay paying the rent and half the costs of the furniture etc. The rent was $350 per week. I initialy worked at the Royal North Shore Hospital at St. Leonards, Sydney until November 2023. Miranda and I kept in daily contact using Skype which at that time I thought was a wonderful free to use product that enabled us to communicate in sound and vision.

In August 2013 together we established this Australian proprietary Company MRCX Pty Ltd.

We had travelled to Australian on a Quantas "Spirit of Australia" flight that departed to Melbourne Australian from London's Heathrow Airport on 30th June 2013. We then travelled on a domestic flight that took us to Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport.

Sydneys first airport is named after Sir Charles Kingford Smith. Kingsford-Smith was an early Aviator, known as Smithy to his friends. He was born in Brisbane, then moved to Sydney where he grew up. After leaving school at the age of 16 he become an engineering apprentice. He joined the Australian Army in 1915 and was a motorcycle despatch rider on the Gallipoli campaign. He later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and was awarded the Military Cross in 1917 after being shot down.

In 1928 Australian pilots Charles Kingsford-Smith and Charles Ulm, along with two US crewmen, became the first people to cross the Pacific Ocean by air in their three-engine Fokker aircraft, the Southern Cross. The Southern Cross aircraft is on display at Brisbane airport. Charles Kingsford-Smith was knighted in 1932.

 

3. AND THERES MORE ...

People who don’t protect themselves from UV light get melanoma (skin cancer) and macular degeneration (they go blind). There are also many deadly poisonous snakes and spiders around so we have to take care and watch out for these creatures.

The Kincumber acreage property has a semi-tropical rainforest which is an interesting feature and there are walks within it. We feel like we own a nature reserve; we are for a time the "Custodians of a Rain Forest".

We used this property as our first real base in Australia. I worked on several contract assignments for NSW Government Health. I travelled each day initilly to Blacktown Hospital and then to Westmead Hospital.I applied the experience I gained working in UK hospitals to help Western Sydney Health with the development of Finance and Information reporting and budgetary control systems.

Miranda worked from her home office on sensor and data logging innovation development projects. Miranda is the Software Architect who created 3 dimensional bone manufacturing software system.

Miranda and I and the companies that we are the shareholder directors of relocated to Inverell, NSW 2360 in 2021 we currently work in the Business and Investment Sectors. Predominantly we work from our home office, we are no longer work as employees or contractors in other organisations.

2. THE STORY CONTINUES ...

We originally stayed in a motel in Campbelltown which is south of Sydney and stayed in touch with the world by using the internet at the library. We were not impressed with too much with Campbelltown but used it as a base for around 10 days to familiarise ourselves with life in New South Wales and to find a car to buy. I eventually bought a white 7 year old 2 litre VW Golf Turbo-Diesel car. We had a drive up to Gosford which is north mid-way between Sydney and the next east coast city Newcastle. We liked the layout of the square in Gosford, had a good walk around, and visited a pub and the waterfront. We also went up to Port Macquarie and Miranda met with a guy called Michael who showed us his UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). Michael offered Miranda a job at a very low rate of pay. She told him quite firmly what she thought of that. We stayed in Port Macquarie for a couple of days and met our friends from Queensland Vanessa and her children Melissa and Louise. They had driven down from the Gold Coast in Queensland which is a long journey and stayed for a couple of days in the same motel.

David Mumford came over for 6 weeks at the end of June 2014 to help us move our furniture and belongings from Umina Beach to a lovely house we had decided to buy in Kincumber near Gosford. Miranda despatched a 40 foot shipping container to me in December 2013 and it arrived in February 2014. We own 20% of the property 80% is owned by the National Bank of Australia and we pay them a shed load of interest each month for the privilege of living in this property. We brought David over and paid for his flight and hired a truck for 2 days instead of paying a removal company. Moving from the rented accommodation and getting organised in our new home was a lot of hard work and David worked hard and more than repaid the cost of his flight. Miranda liked having David around and is happy for him to join us here when he has finished his university Business Studies degree, if he wants to. We still haven’t sold our Bungalow on Hayling Island yet but are hopeful that this will happen in the spring before election fever and uncertainty starts to influence the UK housing market.

Life in Australia is not as you may believe a place “where the grass is greener”. The climate is warmer and we get a lot of Sun but the levels of ultra violet light we get is often a problem and dark sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat are an essential.

 

4. HISTORY IN THE UK

Miranda was able to obtain the permanent residency visa that enabled us both to reloacate to New South Wales. It was a difficult choice as to which skills in demand code applied since Miranda is a Software Architect, Software Engineer, Software and Electronics Engineer. To satisfy the code requirement Miranda opted for the Software Engineer code

In the UK we were the shareholder directors of a Software company and a Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Member in Practice Finance and Information Services Company specialising in Relational Database Management Systems and Business Intelligence.

Ian and Miranda met and began started working together 2004 working through two Limited Companies that Ian set up.

Ian had worked through employment agencies on many project assignments from 1997 to 2003 in the Public and Private Sectors travelling to assist organisations in UK locations as directed.

Ian was previously employed in the NHS Public Sector National Health Service as a Senior Manager / Assitant Director of Finance. Prior to this Ian worked in Industry for Ferranti Measurement Ltd (a Joint Venture with Siemens AG), Ferrant Instrumentation, BNFL and at James Stott a Catering Equipment Manufacturer.

Ian started employment in the Textile Industry and for a few months after leaving school working in a woolen mill in the blending process department.

Ian started to study to become a Cost & Management Account during his time at James Stotts before this he spent two years at the University of Huddersfied studying Marketing Engineering. Ian left the course after spending 6 months working in a work experience placement as an Assistant Lighting Engineer at Thorn Lighting Limimited in Manchester.

Miranda gained a great deal of C++ programing experience beginning writting Games Graphic Engines, later travelling overseas in her role as the Technical Director of a World-wide Telecommuniations Company.