Ibon wrote:SeaGypsy wrote:After a few years of extreme angst in my family brought on by wife's post natal depression & profound cultural adjustment issues, it appears we just dodged the big D. The work contract I began in April last year has been extended to a town called Katherine in the remote Northern Territory, where I lived for several years & have excellent work contacts. Our eldest daughter is in full time school this year, her little sister is pre schooling & the wife has 3 job offers as soon as she lands in the new town. Between us we will be making some pretty serious bucks, I am buying acreage on the river, she is building her culturally mandatory dream house back in the Philippines. Ups, downs & roundabouts.
That's some good news SeaGypsy. Some calm water after the white water!
Thanks Ibon, you & I got ourselves into some similar situations, as we have discussed, personal economic circumstances & cultural complexities add up to an often challenging puzzle. The year and a bit my wife has been living as a single mum hasn't done her any harm, probably a lot of good. Realising life on social security in a first world country is just survival, that one wage doesn't cut it for a family with 2 young kids, that by cooperating & working together we can both achieve our personal goals & do right by our little ones.
The transition for my wife, who until she met me had never slept on a mattress, who had shared tiny houses with piles of people on tiny wages, to wrapping her head around reality in Australia has been huge. Things I thought self evident, have taken 5 years for her of coming and going to realise.
Anyway most of all I am excited to be brining my daughters from a big city life to a place where there is plenty of space, wild land & rivers, proximity to amazingly rich ancient culture, yet still with the full spectrum of educational opportunities & loads of career options. The magic of Katherine is being located where it is, it serves a vast catchment of remote tribal people, farms, mines, tourism. Very remote but economically viable.
I'm not sure where we will end up, I have a thing for the cloud forests of the Daintree in North Queensland, but for the time being economics rule & the opportunities are not there.
