People & Places
The life of a Sydneysider
Andy Coupe moved to Sydney three years ago after spending some time there as a backpacker
Here he tells his friend, Andrew Collier, all about what it's like to be a Sydneysider. Sydney has long been a place travellers fall in love with due to its beaches, restaurants, culture and atmosphere – and Andy Coupe is no exception. Andy has been in Sydney for three years now, initially as a backpacker, then a temporary resident, and has recently applied for residency. Although he still has time left on his temporary visa, Andy has decided to apply before he turns 30 so that he can maximise the points awarded for age on his permanent visa application.
When I spoke to Andy last month I wanted to find out what he felt were his best reasons for upping sticks and moving to Sydney and what his plans are for the future. I also wanted to know what he misses about living in the UK. Believe me, speaking to a friend about all of this whilst trying to hide my insane jealousy at his choice of home was not easy! I first met Andy in 2005 when we were both staying at the same hostel in Glebe. He had been to Oz before this trip and knew the city better than I did, so therefore became the perfect tour guide for me on my fledgling trip. We have remained long-distance friends ever since, even though hearing his stories about our old haunts in Sydney makes me want to jump on a plane and join him out there as soon as possible. We spent many an afternoon strolling from our hostel in Glebe to Balmain for a coffee or for cocktails in Newtown. On one particularly memorable day we walked to the Botanical Gardens, over the Harbour Bridge to the North Shore and back again via Darling Harbour, all in all a distance of about 12 kilometres – the sofas in the hostel have never looked so good!
Fast forward three years and I am back in the UK, while Andy, a trained chemist, spent last Christmas in the sunshine, whilst working at his job in Penrith, to the west of Sydney. Well, perhaps this is not strictly true: "It hasn't been sunny here for the last two Christmases", Andy tells me ruefully, "We've had some fantastic weather but Christmas was a complete washout." A surprise considering the sweltering temperatures of the Christmas we spent together on the roof of the hostel, eating a Christmas dinner of kangaroo kebabs and crocodile burgers, washed down with a beer or two. Despite this, Andy has no regrets about his decision to move to NSW permanently, although his reasons are not all about the place itself: "Basically it all comes down to jobs," he explains. "In the UK I sent my CV off to loads of prospective employers, and heard back from just one. When I decided to apply for Australia I heard back straight away and for twice the salary."
Talking to Andy on the phone I noticed two things: Firstly he has developed a slight accent, one that goes up at the end of a sentence, and secondly he has acclimatised to his new home with the minimum of fuss. I realised this when Andy began to talk about all the places he had recently visited, such as Canberra, Port Stephens, and Palm Beach. "I think one of the good things you adapt to in Australia is the sense of distance," he says. "I can now drive up to Port Stephens, a distance of several hundred kilometres, overnight. I guess you just adapt to the fact that the distances between places are far greater than in the UK." Whilst on the phone, Andy also tells me about some of the other things he likes about Sydney. "I live on the north shore of the city, yet it still only takes 20 minutes by train to reach the main stations. Sydney may be spread out, but it still has the transport to get you into the city quickly."
On the subject of suburbs, Andy also likes the variety of different cultures represented by the different areas of Sydney. "Sometimes I like to go to Leichhardt because it has the Italian restaurants, while other times I'll go to Newtown where there is a fantastic Thai place and a good bar for cocktails in the evening." When I ask him about the advice he would give others wanting to live in Sydney, Andy says that: "You need to know for sure that this is the right place for you. There were plenty of other jobs available to me in the Melbourne area [the west of Melbourne and Geelong are industrial areas with a high demand for people in the chemical field] but I always knew that I wanted to live in Sydney." He also adds that those who fear they will miss home comforts should not fret: "I have the Internet in my apartment so I can catch up with all the TV I'm missing from home!"
Andy stresses that the distance between the UK and Oz is not as far as it at first seems when you put everything into perspective. "If I need to be, I can be home in 24 hours, which sounds like a long time but you can be travelling for hours and hours to get from one place to the other in the UK and the transport is not exactly reliable all the time.
"There is a big difference from staying somewhere as a backpacker, like I was, to living somewhere on a permanent basis," he goes on to say. "But in many ways it's now even better for me because I really feel like I'm a true Sydneysider, rather than a temporary resident."
Andy has been lucky with his move to Sydney due to the career path he has chosen to follow. He was sponsored by the company he now works for and is currently working his way up the ladder whilst living his life in a new and exciting destination. Andy is also honest about his choices, noting that he does miss the days when he had a ready-made friendship group of other back-packers all in one place. "I miss the days when everybody was around and the hostel had loads of new faces, but you still meet new people through work and socialising." Overall, he says that with a little bit of effort and patience, and coping with some costs along the way, the process of moving over to Australia is something he has no regrets about whatsoever. Even if it did rain over christmas last year.
Related articles:
Sydney city guide
Living and working in Sydney
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