for their advice and support, and to all my clients for their custom during 2008-2009.

Due to my own emigration, this website will now remain dormant until further notice.

However, I hope to provide a tailor-made emigration research and advice service in the future.

If you would like to take part in Market Research for this service or have any other feedback, please use the Contact Me page. 

Kind regards,

Jan Ross

27/12/09

Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House at sunset, a great time to climb the bridge and see the harbour lights come on. At the summit you can see 40 miles in each direction.

Couples choose to marry at Lady Macquarie’s Point in the Botanical Gardens with this scene in their wedding photos, then honeymoon in the Whitsundays. 

In 1999, I lived for a couple of weeks with my friend, who had just emigrated to Sydney, and went backpacking alone by Greyhound coach up the east coast through Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Noosa, Byron Bay, Surfer’s Paradise, Brisbane, Hervey Bay, Fraser Island, Rockhampton and lastly to Yeppoon on the Tropic of Capricorn. Backpacking is a fantastic experience and, had I been under 30, I would’ve loved to have spent up to 12 months doing more of it on a Working Holiday Visa.

In 2004, I went with a friend and her son to Perth, where we stayed with her brother and his family in their luxury home. I was stunned at how much house you got for your bucks, and the outdoor lifestyle seemed a million miles away from a cold winter’s night back in Blighty. We toured the west coast up to Kalbarri and down to Cape Leeuwin where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. Across in Sydney, I finally plucked up the courage to make the worthwhile climb over the Harbour Bridge. Then I swam the Reef again, this time from Green Island near Cairns, and visited the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park. By now I’d decided I wanted to emigrate to Western Australia, but I was about to turn 45 so thought I’d missed my chance.

There’s no light polution in the Outback so a zillion stars appeared after this amazing sunset in Western Australia near Geraldton. It’s aptly named the Sunset Coast, and with so few high rise buildings in the cities, the skies seem to be bigger and brighter. There are so many vivid colours in Australia, they make the white, grey, green and brown of the UK seem so drab in comparison.

In 2006, I took a campervan alone from Perth down to Albany and Denmark, then toured the south west coast. As with all my visits Down Under, this was very much a spiritual journey, and I already felt at home. 

In 2007, I took my first serious research trip in Albany & Denmark after going alone by campervan into the Outback from Perth to Esperance via Wave Rock. I managed to find out lots of interesting information from local people and local authorities confirming that the area was experiencing a significant upturn whilst ensuring that the pristine land and marine environment was sustained and protected from the competing needs of increased tourism, house building, mining and other natural resource development. I was so impressed I very nearly purchased some land to try and get my foot on the Australian property ladder. As usual, the Australian people were very welcoming and easy to talk to, and I made some good friends whom I still keep in touch with.

My visit to Western Australia, in January 2009, was both business and pleasure. I conducted some 30 interviews of local people, businesses and state organisations in order to find out information which would help both me and you. I was also privileged to witness some exceedingly lucky people receiving their Australian Citizenship Certificates on Australia Day, and vowed that one day, I would be one of them.

All these trips, together with my experience of living in Singapore and Cyprus for three years each as a child, mean I’m well-acquainted with the needs of new migrants and how important it is to smooth the transition into your new surroundings. The easiest way to do this, is to find out as much as possible about your intended destination before you arrive, and I can help you do this.

You may have seen the BBC1 series “Wanted Down Under” and been tempted with the Aussie outdoor lifestyle, but the burning question is: How can you be sure that Australia is the right choice for you?

I would like to recommend that you subscribe to the Emigrate monthly magazine through

www.emigrate2.co.uk and to come to one of their Emigrate Fairs. You will hear experts recommend taking a research trip before attempting to settle in another country on the far side of the world, and I would certainly endorse that advice, but since Australia is 32 times the size of the UK, you’re spoilt for choice about where to go. So let me help you answer some of the basic questions first.

Australia is particularly interested in skilled professionals from the health, teaching, finance, construction, resource and hospitality industries, and you can checkout other visa types through the Department of Immigration & Citizenship website www.immi.gov.au. I am not a Registered Migration Agent, but they can help you decide the best type of visa to apply for and guide you through the red tape. Even so, you will need to do some research on the internet, but there’s so much information out there that it can almost be mind-boggling. My website focuses on the things you will want or need to know.