Relocation: Australia.

Welcome to my first blog post. My Name is Mariah Joy Cyrus, and I’m 22 from Reading, England.

As many of you already know, it has been just over a month since I left the rainy UK behind. Time’s flown by so quickly, right? All my life I’ve wanted to visit Australia, and who would have thought it? I’m actually living right here, on the Gold Coast, for the next 6 months and I honestly couldn’t be happier at this point in my life.

So, how did I get here? Well, of course, by plane… but shortly after graduating from the University of Sussex last summer, I decided that I definitely deserved a break from education. Having said that, I still wanted to further my experience with children before starting my PGCE. In addition, I wanted to travel, and it would have been difficult to get a temporary TA job, like my mum had suggested for me to do. So, I decided to look into Au Pairing – which would inevitably combine the aspects of travelling and working with children. I mean, a couple of friends had spoken about it before in passing, but it never really appealed to me (where my relationship was holding me back).

Once I had started researching, au-pairing became more and more of interest, and I would never stop talking about it to family and friends. My parents were always so supportive in whatever my decision was, but they realised it had become a bit more serious when I started to Skype with families from the other side of the world, and get doctor’s notes, and all that sorta stuff. I skyped a few families, but something just wasn’t clicking, so I thought maybe this isn’t for me. A couple of days later I came across a family that had 60-70 applicants, and a family I looked and thought ‘wow, I can see why everyone has applied for them’. It was a long-shot, but hey ho I applied.

I was getting heaps of replies, and interviews, but honestly… I was waiting to hear back from this family. I woke up one morning and the mum had sent across their schedule. I knew then, how organised they were, and that I’d fit right in. So, during the interview I got to speak to the two young girls, and their mum too, just to get a feeling of who I’d be living with, and caring for. There was an instant click, but there was also another family I got on with. So, I spent days trying to decide who to choose, and asking friends/family for their opinions. Whilst making this decision, I was sent a video from the two young girls saying how much they want me to be in their family, and how they loved my smile (braces are miracles, believe me). I spoke to their previous au-pairs, and they too, had nothing but good words to say about them.

So I went for it, and that’s how little ol’ me got the job over 60+ applicants. I did it. I was extremely happy and so proud to tell everyone. Fast forwarding 4 months or so, the day came where I had to make the move and say goodbye to all my best friends, family and Steven (yes, I know, I met a guy in these four months and trust me it was really bad timing, but I’m a huge believer of “everything happens for a reason”). Naturally, I felt sick, anxious, nervous, excited – you name it. Travelling to the other side of the world by myself, I felt lonely.

A month later, I am feeling absolutely blessed to be living with the most caring, awesome family you could ask for. They’ve become life-long friends, and I’m so glad I wasn’t put off by seeing the number of applicants. They are the most hard-working family I’ve possibly ever met. Louise and Dan, the mum and dad (and my great friends now), have really welcomed me, not only into their home, but their country and their lifestyle. They’re even taking me to Bali next week!!! The two young girls, Taylor and Havanna, are absolute angels (of course, when they want to be), well-disciplined and I could go on and on and say so many great things about them all, but depending on whether people actually read this stuff, that’s for another post – as are the details on places I’ve been to, friends I’ve made along the way, and how I’m missing certain people back home!

I’m trying not to make this post too long though, so having said that…

Until next time.

Mariah x