I am an Australian expat who wears multiple hats: mother, trailing spouse, marketer and blogger. Our family have done the 'ultimate' travel trip: living for eight years as expats in New Jersey, USA. Although we had to relocate back to Australia, I have documented our adventures and relocation trials in this blog, and continue to write about these memories, until there's no more to tell!
EXPAT LIFE IN AMERICA: Cultural differences. This may be the single hardest challenge to overcome when moving to a new country as an expat. Hard to prepare for but even harder to anticipate. Sure, if you’re moving from Miami to Myanmar, you should be expecting that there’d be significant cultural differences, so you would plan […] Continue reading → 
LIVING IN NEW JERSEY: One of the scariest things that can happen perhaps, as an expat driving in NJ for the first time, is suddenly realizing you don’t know what to do if your car breaks down. Sometimes as a new expat, it’s not until you are in the situation that you get this dreaded […] Continue reading → 
THINGS TO DO IN NEW JERSEY: Just as Australia Day is close to many Australians’ hearts, Independence Day on the Fourth of July is a huge day on the American calendar. It is a national holiday around the USA and marked by a wide array of patriotic displays. If you have been living in a […] Continue reading → 
LIVING IN NEW JERSEY: When you think of American High school, there are lots of images that are conjured up from TV shows, movies and news stories that have been shown around the world including in Australia. Shows such as ‘Mean Girls’, ‘High School Musical’, ‘Heathers’ and ‘Clueless’, help to develop biases and pre-conceptions about […] Continue reading → 
BEING AN EXPAT: As we come to the year’s end, I am thinking of my expat life in NJ over the last eight years, at a height of many thousand feet, in a plane on my way to Australia. It has been a long while since my last blog post, and much has happened in […] Continue reading → 
EXPAT LIFE IN AMERICA: As much as I have tried to avoid sounding American in my own parochial way, it’s almost impossible. After seven years, there are many routine words from the local’s vocabulary that have crept into my everyday speech. Here are a few examples of common American expressions that I say frequently: Candy A very […] Continue reading → 
LIVING IN NEW JERSEY: NJ drivers have been voted the worst in the USA, in some previous polls (2008 US News). As recently as 2010, they were rated 48th out of 50 states, for their lack of driving rule knowledge. Potential new drivers are required to learn the full contents of the NJ MVC Driver manual before […] Continue reading → 
EXPAT LIFE IN AMERICA: After six years here, I can say that life as an expat in NJ has been pretty good overall. Once you are settled in, not feeling homesick any more, and your kids adapt to their schools, then life gets a lot easier. In fact, most of the time, it is quite enjoyable. But even living […] Continue reading → 
LIVING IN NEW JERSEY: For many new expats, working out what clothing you will need to buy for winter in New Jersey can be a bit of a guess. Many Australians and others from warmer climates often have no real experience with the bitter cold that accompanies a Northeast USA winter. You know that it’s […] Continue reading → 
MOVING TO NEW JERSEY: For expats moving to New Jersey or elsewhere in the USA, a common problem that arises is inconsistent spellings and presentation of their names in key documents. Avoiding this can be critical for a smooth relocation process. This may sound a bit trite but I come across expats regularly who experience […] Continue reading →