Day 65 of "Figuring it Out" - The Biggest Lessons I Learned Moving Countries

Kia Ora Friends and Fam! Thank you for coming back again for yet another daily blog post from yours truly! I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate it! Melbourne weather is absolutely beautiful today, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and all the cute doggos are out for their afternoon walkies. How am I though? Well, I woke up pretty dizzy this morning but I think that's because I took all my medication really late and then didn't sleep super well BUT I'm starting to feel a tiny bit more rested than I was in the past week or so, so hopefully that continues to improve! It's going to be up and down for a while though me thinks. So we try and find the positives where we can. And being as open as I am about my health right now, is helping me a lot mentally. I remember once a co-worker said being open and transparent is just a part of who I am and some people will like that and others won't. It's really good life advice.

PIN IT

So for today, I've managed to catch up on some washing and a few errands that I missed yesterday. I also cooked Luke and I poached eggs on toast (because that's our weekend brekkie treat), had a chai, and went for a walk. II also (I need a new word for also because I use it WAYYY too much) worked on some creative projects that I'm not quite ready to announce yet but stay tuned for more as we keep writing and creating. It's part of this new chapter.

It's nice and peaceful at home today as Luke's at cricket and I get some alone time - which is super important in a relationship. And as I'm writing this he's just text me to say he's coming home quickly to have a shower before his trivia night, and when he did he stole some of my snacks (typical) although I'd be the same because once we went to Grazeland and Luke ordered an alcoholic ginger beer and I tried some and loved it so much that I kept stealing some, so he even went and got me my own one but it didn't taste as good so food/drinks definitely taste better when they're not yours hahaha.

I'm also a big introvert at times (I call myself an ambivert) but I definitely need a lot of alone time and recharge time and maybe more than others, and even more so after socialising, which we did a little bit last night with some of Luke's extended fam. However, with all the extra health issues and nausea, it can make it difficult to focus on conversations or stick up for yourself when you need to and then feeling dizzy the whole time isn't fun either.

Anyway, let's move on to today's topic! I saw a post on Instagram this morning about someone who wrote a post about the biggest lessons they learned in 2023 so I'ma totally steal their idea and do it about the lessons I learned moving to a new country. I'm not sure how long it will be OR how many lessons I'll write, and I'm definitely still learning as we go, but let's talk about the things I learned moving from Christchurch, NZ to Melbourne, Australia after almost 2 years of living here!

1. You will get lost - make sure your phone is always charged and use Google Maps.

2. How to actually do my tax myself (in New Zealand, it's all automatically done for you, but here, you have to fill out a form on the ATO website). It's pretty intuitive and user friendly but I had no idea that it was a thing until I moved here.

3. CHCH and Auckland Airports were way stricter on checking all your covid documents than Melbourne Airport - I guess because you'd been checked already but I wasn't expecting to get through so quickly when I first came over.

4. People who had no interest in your life before you moved, will suddenly be interested in your life. People who probably had you blocked on social media, unblocked you (so weird, I'm just living my life, pal).

5. You will have to re-evaluate your health conditions because food is different here - like I had no idea that Soy Milk was going to upset my IBS so much (it never did in NZ).

6. Put yourself out there as much as possible with making new friends, dating etc. because you never know what will happen! Go to as many events as you can when you first move and be really open-minded.

7. Stick up for yourself, especially in working situations.

8. Research what suburbs are better to live in than others (and which ones have good access to PT).

9. Make sure you always have an emergency fund.

10. Share more of your life on social media (if you want to).

11. Network where you can.

12. How to build awful Ikea furniture and how to navigate around an Ikea store. Once, Luke and I went to Ikea one Saturday morning and I was about to have a panic attack and go home, and I went to Luke, "let's start again" so we went back to the start of Ikea and managed to get everything we needed - and I didn't panic the second time around. I was very proud. It's such a small thing, but it was so good.

13. The housing market is fucked, the rental market is fucked, and unless you're somehow already rich, it's impossible to get into the buying-a-house domain.

14. Some property managers are really nice and others won't even come to check out mould. It's honestly 50/50 and you don't really know what you're going to get. Trust your gut.

15. How to clean out AC filters and use a dryer. I also got locked in a communal laundry back in my last apartment and figured out how to get out but it was freaky.

16. DON'T let your neighbours use your car park for free. They're just using you.

17. How to use Canva and Design Skills.

18. Professional language and further empathetic skills from my time as a student advisor.

19. Wine tasting is a cool hobby.

20. Adelaide has amazing sunsets but it was just as cold as NZ in winter.

21. Melbourne has like 547 seasons in one day.

22. Your hay fever is going to be BAAD.

23. The scary animals aren't that common to see outside. I still haven't seen a snake!

24. The concept of a Drop Bear HAHAHA.

25. How to write a blog.

26. How to bake really good chocolate chip cookies.

27. How to fall down the stairs and hurt your tailbone.

28. That medical bills are so much more expensive here than NZ and health insurance is important AF. Some hopsital staff are nicer than others and others will treat you like a bloody child when you're not feeling good.

29. That foxes live here and they're really small. I also used to think they ate people when I was little. I have no idea why and I didn't know that they were introduced to Australia until I saw one. And they will go for your chickens if you have any.

30. The bugs are HUGE. Like a cricket in my lounge freaked me the ef out when I saw it first because I wasn't expecting it BUT seeing a huntsman for the first time didn't freak me out.

31. Look after your health, first and foremost, especially when you live with something chronic.

32. Also, look after your mental health, it can be very isolating living by yourself in a new country.

33. Some of the best places to see wildlife and some of the best places to go out to eat. I'll make more posts about these later on, but I've talked about a few on here since I've started this blog.

34. You will see camels in the strangest places.

35. Tattoos don't hurt.

36. Pelicans live here!

37. Kookaburras are out to get me (looking at you, pie-stealer).

38. Melbourne is the best place to live if you're a foodie and live for going out to eat.

39. The footy is SUPER important. Pick a team!

40. Bats sound terrifying at night. Like I legit thought a monster was outside at 3am one night.

41. You need a coin for your trolley or a little button thing? So weird.

42. People are going to make fun of your accent and none of it will be original.

43. There are days where you just have to put yourself first.

44. Not everybody is going to be there for you, and that's okay because the one person who always needs to show up, is you.

45. Malls are called shopping centres and people will give you flack for calling it a mall haha. They're also HUGE. Like it's overwhelming.

46. Halloween is bigger here than in NZ.

47. Everything is cheaper, food, petrol, clothes (maybe not rent), but the small things. Like when I left NZ, a punnet of raspberries was $11 at my local New World but you can get one at Woolies for $4. Like I know we're currently in a cost of living crisis but it's crazy how expensive NZ actually is. You gotta be rich to live in NZ.

48. You will come across a lot more well-travelled people here.

49. There are more celebrities out and about.

50. Creativity and expressing oneself are super important for your well-being.

So there you have it, 50 lessons I've learned since moving countries! I could have probably written more but 50 sounded like a good number to round it off.

For today's question, I want to know, what's one item in your house that was a mindless purchase/something really cheap and it's turned out to be one of your favourite things to use? Let me know in the comments below. For me, we bought a $25 saucepan (down from $90) from Temple and Webster and it's honestly the best thing we ever bought.

Again, thank you for reading today's blog! I'll see you all tomorrow. Much love,

Ash xx