Charlotte Drennan: From London to Sydney
Why did you move to Sydney?
When I came to visit my friends here three years ago, I instantly fell in love with Australia. We travelled the east coast and stayed in Sydney at the end of our trip. It’s such a beautiful city, anyone that visits here would find it difficult not to fall in love with it. Three years later, I finally persuaded my partner to relocate and we applied for our visas.
When I told The SR Group about my plans to relocate, they did everything they could to help me find a job and explored internal options for me too. I ended up being offered the role of Office Manager which made the move much less stressful knowing that I had a role waiting for me when I arrived.
What have you most enjoyed about your new location?
I love travelling and exploring new places so being able to do that has been a highlight for me. I visited Cairns in July, which is a two hour plane ride, snorkelled the Great Barrier reef and saw Minke Whales, hired a car and drove to Mossman Gorge. I have also booked a trip to Bali in October and will hopefully be going to Melbourne in December.
I also love the fact that I live 10 minutes from the beach, I can see the sea from my apartment and I often go down to the beach early to watch the sunrise. My commute to work is so much quicker than London and much more relaxed too, I feel like I have a lot more time here.
How do the cultures from your previous location to your current one impact your profession?
I live a much healthier lifestyle in Sydney and spend a lot more time outdoors, I am always at the beach or going for coastal walks, everyone is really into fitness here which is great! I don’t spend as much time watching TV as I did at home as there’s so much more to do here.
What is the biggest challenge moving to location?
The biggest challenge was finding a place to stay once we arrived and making it feel like home. When we first got here, we stayed in a few Airbnb’s and felt really unsettled. Once we found an apartment and made it our own everything else fell into place. I miss my friends and family a lot, but I call and Facetime them so often that it feels like I see them all the time.
It was definitely a life changing decision that I would recommend to anyone; I wish I had done it sooner!