123 days ago we embarked on a journey for the long way home and now with 16 450 kms between us and our former life in England (as the crow flies), we are taking our time to catch our breath in our favourite place. The Sunshine Coast, Queensland has long been where our heart lies and in the moments we have with our family and friends, or listening to the ocean we have felt that familiar sense of home.

Reflecting on our five year adventure abroad has been an interesting exercise in finding gratititude amongst all the challenges and successes we experienced.

I’ve previously mentioned a Steve Jobs quote reminding us that connecting the dots cannot be done before they are formed, it can only be done by looking back. I have endeavoured to live this and although figuring out the next one thousand steps makes me feel in control, living the expat/returned expat life requires us to act on faith by focussing on the next right step.

Our expectations on this returning home experience was fairly well advised after talking to our daughter Lauren who made this return journey a couple of years ago, and our expat friends who have done the same. We knew that the journey home would feel a little uncertain with no set abode, and a little overwhelming with so many people to reconnect with so we have tried to space it out and set realistic boundaries on that. The hardest task has been saying no or cancelling some events purely because we don’t have the physical or emotional capacity at this time, and I am reminded that boundaries and realistic expectations are an important part of adult relationships.

We were blessed to have taken the opportunity of flying into Melbourne to take a slow journey home, exploring our much loved east coast of Australia, and so many wonderful people in our lives made this possible as well. Once we arrived in Melbourne we were surprised by our eldest daughter Lauren at the airport, and we spent the good part of a week in a lush hotel to recover from jetlag and reconnect. Once she headed back to Queensland we spent the next few weeks with our niece and nephew and their children, making the most wonderful memories and ensuring our youngest Mackenzie and two of their children got their learners permit together – the first driving lessons were a sight! As we drove the east coast we stopped in to see my husbands family and my father and step-mother, but not without visiting Summer Bay, Byron Bay, and my childhood home of Woolgoolga. Once in Queensland it was a flurry of visiting with our family and friends who were incredibly hospitable, before settling for a few weeks with friends in Hervey Bay. It was nice to be able to unpack and have our own rooms to feel a little normalcy whilst we navigated the education system, work, and the lengthy process of reinstating my Australian nursing registration.

Coming home hasn’t been without its own challenges and difficulties though, it’s as if coming home opened a door to a plethora of important things to deal with. In our time away we have missed the death of some of our loved ones, a few of our friends have had significant health challenges, and I have been absent from the court proceedings for my brothers murderer which has left my mother and daughter to manage themselves. Whilst I have had my own health challenges since leaving, my worry is my youngests recent health challenges and that is one of our main priorities now.

In anticipation of our arrival we explored our accommodation options, especially in light of the global rental crisis and discussions that the Sunshine Coast was in a bad state. We did have to apply for many houses and were willing to take something cheap and cheerful with just two rooms just to get settled and whilst we were turned down for many, we were blessed to have been approved for an enormous brand new home in the perfect location for our needs and very close to my dear sister-in-law and her family.

Whats next? My husband has commenced a job in a great little family business and whilst I could readily just jump into a nursing job again, we decided that my focus needs to be on growing my nurse educator/coaching business whilst I had the opportunities that have been presented to me including an opportunity to provide resilience/culture training to a school of 60 educators. As a family we are exhausted and in need of a good rest, but excited for what the future holds for us. Who knew five years ago this week, the adventures that were to come – and I am proud that through it all we stuck together and came out the other side.

Cheers from the Sunshine Coast, Tams.