People & Places
Happy in Bunbury
David Fuller caught up with Karen and Stephen Harkness to find out how life is currently treating the couple Down Under
"It's quite cold over here at the moment," notes Karen Harkness when I speak to her on the phone just 11 days before Christmas. 'How cold?' I enquire, trying to cheer myself up as I sit at my desk, radiator turned up full blast in a futile attempt to keep me warm, on a crisp December morning. "About 20oC," she answers. It would seem that in the two years Karen and her husband Stephen have been living in Western Australia they have become more than used to the often searing summer temperatures of south-west Australia. When I point out that 20oC would be considered a rather warm day in her native Northern Ireland, Karen simply replies, "yes but the average out here for this time of year is 26oC." Not that she is complaining, mind you. With Christmas fast approaching Karen is more than happy for the temperatures to be slightly below the summer norm. "It's not Christmas if the sun's shining and the weather's hot," she remarks. "It's a strange time of year out here. Christmas should be cold not hot. Even Stephen, who is not particularly a big fan of Christmas, said to me the other day that he misses the cold, traditional British Christmases."
Seasonal gripes aside, Karen and Stephen now appear to be far more integrated into Australian life than they were the last time this publication spoke to them in April 2004. Back then Karen was still out of work, and was waiting for confirmation on a job she had applied for, while Stephen was fixing and spray-painting lorries – an occupation he wasn't particularly enjoying.
Today, Karen is currently working as a credit controller at the hospital in Bunbury (around a two-hour drive south of Perth), while Stephen is a postman. But while they're both happy in their current jobs, Karen points out that getting employed was harder than she had imagined it would be. "Finding work is not as easy as it's made out to be, particularly outside of the bigger cities," she says. "There was a lot of trial and error involved in finding jobs we wanted to do, and once you do have a job you really have to prove yourself to your new colleagues."
There have also been a number of issues which have stopped the Harknesses from finding employment in the fields they worked in back in the UK. Firstly, in order for Stephen to continue his trade – he was a lorry salesman – he would have had to take a time-consuming course and sit an exam, while Karen was prohibited from applying to the Australian Social Security agency – she had worked for the British equivalent in Northern Ireland – as only Australian citizens, not permanent residents, can be employed by the Oz government. Not that this second hurdle should remain a problem for too much longer. "We had our citizenship interview on 7th November – exactly two years after we arrived in Australia," a clearly delighted Karen informs me. "And what's more, if all goes to plan we'll be attending our citizenship ceremony on 26th January, 2006 – Australia Day," she adds. Upon noting that this should make for quite a celebration, Karen laughs and says "I know. We're all ready making plans to celebrate."
So is this application for citizenship an indication as to just how well life is now going for the couple Down Under? "Well," answers Karen "we were always going to try and gain Australian citizenship, even if we had been looking at returning to the UK. "It's extremely hard work to get this far, so it's a waste not to take citizenship. Imagine leaving Australia before becoming a citizen, then realising you had made a mistake and having to re-apply to emigrate back again. That would be terrible."
Not that Karen and Stephen are planning on returning to live in the UK. "We're well settled now," she says, "but it took me a long time to feel like this. The whole emigrating experience is a learning curve, and the truth is if you had have offered me a ticket to return to the UK after three months, I probably would have taken it." A feeling of finally belonging in Australia has no doubt helped the Harknesses feel settled Down Under. While Karen has always been a huge advocate of Bunbury itself – "from the moment we arrived here I knew it was the place for us," she says – fitting into a social group in the tiny city was difficult. "It took a lot of time and effort to form a close circle of friends like the one we have now," she explains. "The onus is totally on you to go out there and meet people as everyone else already has friends. We had loads of barbecues in the first few months of moving here, I can tell you."
Another factor which has undoubtedly helped set her mind at ease was a visit from her parents last Christmas. "When they visited us they finally understood what I had been going on about in my phone calls home," says Karen, laughing. "I think that I had painted such a rosey picture of how laid-back and amazing my new life was that they thought I must have been imagining some of it. However, when they finally visited they agreed with everything I had told them about Bunbury and told me I had done the right thing. This was a massive boost."
So taken is Karen with life in Bunbury that she admits to being somewhat surprised that more Brits don't move out there. "Bunbury is crying out for more construction workers, so anybody in the building industry who is interested in moving Down Under should definitely consider south-west Australia," she says. "There is a new road currently being constructed between Perth and Bunbury which will make driving times between the two cities far shorter, while a new railway line is also being laid. This will make it possible to reach Perth in around 45 minutes."
In late April, the Harknesses will be returning to the UK for four weeks – the first time in almost two-and-a-half years they will have returned to Blighty. While Karen admits it will be hard seeing friends and family again, not to mention highly emotional, she is adamant that doing so will provide further evidence that their decision to move to Australia was the correct one. It will also probably be the last visit they pay to their former homeland for a few years. "After this trip it may be six or seven years before we return," Karen tells me. "We don't really want to go back to the UK every year or two. After all, there's a whole world out there and plenty more to see yet."
Just before I hang up the phone Karen informs me that yet another advantage of their new life is that it has enabled Stephen to fulfil a long-held dream. "Stephen's just bought a boat. He's always wanted one and now he's got one. We're just ten minutes away from the Indian Ocean, while Bunbury itself has a harbour and a number of estuaries, so there are plenty of places to sail it. I'm sure it will prove to be just one further thing to argue about though," she jokes. "Who's going to steer it, park it and what have you?" In the last article in which the Harknesses featured, Karen signed off by mentioning that "although we're not sorted just yet, we're sure it will work itself out." Twenty-one months on, I'm pleased to announce that from the sounds of it, it certainly has.
Bunbury facts
The city of Bunbury is currently home to 29,000 residents, although the Greater Bunbury Region – which encompasses Dalyellup and Gelorup, Eaton, and Australind has a total population of 54,000.
Bunbury is the third-largest city in Western Australia, behind Perth and Fremantle.
The city is located 175 kilometres south of Western Australia's state capital, Perth.
According to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the average price of a property in the south-west region of Western Australia, where Bunbury is located, is AUS$300,000. In Perth the median price of a house is AUS$430,000
The average annual temperature in Bunbury is 16oC, compared to 18.2oC in Perth.
Bunbury was awarded city status in 1979.
Bunbury is named after Lieutenant Henry William St. Pierre Bunbury, who developed the very difficult inland route from Pinjarra to Bunbury.
Before being known as Bunbury the town had previously been called Leschenault.
Bunbury's port is currently the ninth-largest in Australia by volume, and should be rated within the nation's top five by 2020.
There are nine secondary schools in the central Bunbury area, and a campus of the Edith Cowan University.
Farming and agriculture, wine production, woodchips, alumina, mining and tourism are among the city's major industries.
The city is bordered by the Indian Ocean, Koombana Bay and Leschenault inlet. Unsuprisingly, therefore, water sports, port and harbour facilities as well as a growing seafood industry, feature highly in the local lifestyle and economy.
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