A Decade of Living In Australia

It seems scarcely believable to me that one day I would live in Sydney, but the longer I've been here the more I feel I am right where I belong. Today is 10 years since I arrived here on a permanent basis, and though it is 16 and a half years since I first set foot in Australia this milestone seems to mean something more to me.

Jess and I on Fraser Island, 2013

When I look back on the last 10 years at what I have achieved, what Jess and I have achieved and some of the things we have done and places we have been I am very proud and feel very fortunate. I do feel like a completely different person and I can't help but wonder what my life would have been like had I been born and raised here. I definitely feel like I'm a better and more positive person than before I moved here.

Make no mistake, I am very proud to be from Devon, very proud to be British and though I will never ever be a native to these shores I take great pride in my Australian Citizenship. There is something strange about the fact I can now legitimately say that I am an Australian though there is always the urge to add the word "Citizen" to it.

Rosie the American Alligator

So what has happened over the last decade? To summarise, I arrived in 2013 and immediately began looking for work. I ended up working for a small packaging company as a Sales Rep and at the end of 2014 they were bought out by a bigger company, where I worked until 2016. I did not enjoy that job, though I made some friends and would attend the Bathurst 1000 with them each year I don't think anyone could begrudge me saying that I had absolutely no passion for selling cardboard boxes or timber pallets.
Through that time I was also working at the Australian Reptile Park and getting hands on with a range of animals, so with that and cricket it wasn't like I wasn't doing things I enjoyed. But leaving the packaging industry is something I should have done sooner. Isn't hindsight wonderful?

Our wedding, 2015

In 2015, Jess and I got married. Our wedding was spectacularly special with a backdrop of Sydney Harbour, we could not have asked for more than to share with family and friends from across the globe. We got that. In late 2016 and early 2017 we bought our first home, and gaining that independence has been an important step in building our lives together. I was working at a cricket store by this time and enjoying myself professionally again, which was important.

In September 2017 on the one day I chose not to drive to work, I got a lift with my mate (and boss) and we were struck from behind while sitting stationary at traffic lights. The next 12-18 months was physically a challenge, coupled with getting older and putting on some weight I was told by an orthapaedic surgeon that I needed to seriously consider how long I should continue playing cricket if I wanted to be physically able into the future. 

Hitting a 6 in my last innings for MUCC, 2019

For someone who had put a high importance on playing cricket since the age of 12 that was tough to hear, but given the rapid decline of facilities, talent and performances at Macquarie University Cricket Club I was beginning to feel that taking some time away from the game may be prudent. I had been fortunate enough on occasions to be a net bowler at the SCG for Australia on a number of occasions, West Indies and England. I'm sure I mentioned knocking David Warner's off stump out, but if I haven't I'll gladly explain it! I owe cricket a lot, and it owes me nothing.

1st Grade MVP 2018

Having achieved some personal milestones at MUCC (a 1st Grade hundred, captained 1st Grade and 2nd Grade, 2nd and 3rd Grade hundreds, a Captain Of The Year award from Sydney Shires Cricket, Leading Run Scorer in 2nd Grade Shires Competition 2016/17 despite only playing 7 games, 2nd Grade and 1st Grade MVP Awards) I played my last game in 2019 thinking I'd have a year or two away, but in that first
season off I didn't miss it. And at the end of the 2019/2020 season the club collapsed due to the
University's bureaucracy and was no longer able to enter teams in the Shires competition, though they still exist in park cricket. I don't pretend to have been a particularly good player, but I am proud of those personal achievements but mostly I am disappointed to have not won a team trophy, namely a Premiership. I only list those achievements because to this day my self-doubt of my cricket ability takes over, and I need to reassure myself that the years playing the game were somehow worth it.

I suppose the biggest professional event for me came in 2019 when I applied for and finally got back into the aviation industry and began flying again. The last entry in my logbook from the UK was in May 2008, and the next entry was May 2019. An 11 year gap from my biggest passion is something that should never have happened. Working in aviation and achieving a pilots licence (featured on my YouTube channel) is something I am supremely proud of as I had almost given up on it ever being a possibility. Now I have an RPL, am working on a PPL and have not discounted the possibility of a CPL in future.

Jess and I, Top Of The Rock, New York City, 2019

We have visited some wonderful places that I doubt I would have been able to do had my life stayed in the UK; as well as travelling around Australia (Hervey Bay, Brisbane, Noosa, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Port Macquarie, Hobart and Tasmania, Adelaide, Canberra, Echuca and more) we have spent a month in the USA (Dallas, Washington DC, New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Neverland, Los Angeles and
Disneyland) which was outstanding. I went to the F1 in China with my Best Man. Jess and I have made two trips to the UK (2016 and 2022) and later this year we have a trip to Hawaii to look forward to. I seriously doubt that I would have made anywhere near this many trips to various locations had I stayed in Devon.

None of this is to say I don't love Devon, I do. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the UK, all I am saying is that Australia has offered so much opportunity to me, to us. The mentality of Australians is to be happy for others to succeed and help them to do so. I found that while a lot of people in the UK share that same mentality, purely from the sheer number of people in the UK competition for jobs is more intense and any mistakes are pounced on by those wishing to advance themselves. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but I have found it much easier to succeed and be happy in Australia.

Surprise visit to Devon 2022! The moment my parents met Josie
(without knowing we were in the UK)was captured on video HERE

These days I am professionally content. From the moment I first came to Australia I held a thought that one day it would be great to work for Qantas. Never thought it would happen, I was only in Australia for a cricket season. Yet as of 2022 I work for Australia's biggest airline, one of the world's biggest airlines and though they seem to be a target for tabloid media I take great pride in having the Qantas logo on my uniform. I still dream that one day I'll fly for Qantas as a pilot, but financially that's going to take a long long time and a lot more hard work. Never say never!

My first passenger as a licenced pilot! 2022

I'm never doing nothing, and though since COVID I haven't worked at the Australian Reptile Park, I am doing other projects. I have my YouTube channel for my own flying, my own photography, I produce the audio and occasionally co-present a podcast (The MJCast) and also occasionally appear with my friend Kurt on the SYDSquad livestreams from Sydney Airport.

Kurt and I streaming from the
Control Tower at Sydney Airport, 2023

One thing I never want to do is have anyone feel that I am ungrateful for anything. I've made so many great friends over the last 10 years, and though there are hundreds I should list I want to give special thanks to:

My Best Man Paul Clift for your support, friendship and continued laughs.

Glen, Kim and Jamison McFadden for being as close to family as I can get since 2006.

Ranger Mick Tate for entertaining us for years at the ARP, for the great laughs and the even more entertaining references! For looking after all of my friends and family that have visited from all over the globe.

Dan Foster for continuing to bring laughs and being a wonderful friend. It was a pleasure to have also had the opportunity to work with you and to support each other through triumph and tragedy.

My flight instructor Luke Tevaga for getting me through to a Pilots Licence and continuing to take me through the next stages.

Simon and Laura Dodwell for your continued friendship (Simon I have known since 2006 in our native Devon).

Kurt Ams and the entire SYDSquad crew for inviting me on to share our passion for aviation and planespotting at Sydney Airport. 

My MJCast colleagues Jamon Bull, Elise Capron and Charlie Thomson for bringing me onto the team and giving me a huge insight into the world of Michael Jackson and the Jackson family.

By far and away though, the biggest pride I have is my family. I love them all, regardless of distance. I love my in-laws, my nieces and nephew, and I am so proud of my wife and daughter. I won't lie, I'd almost reached the point of wondering if we would ever have our own child(ren) and when Josie came along in 2021 I was overwhelmed with emotions and the knowledge that I had kept a promise to my late grandparents, especially my Grandad who wanted nothing more than the Carter name to continue. Whether you believe they are watching down on us or not, the promise has been kept and Josie is such a beautiful gift to us. We hope to give her a brother or sister in future.

Can't wait to travel on more adventures with these two!