This month we will discuss Living in Queensland, Australia.
Queensland – great one day – perfect the next. I am living in one of the most comfortable areas of Queensland.,
I was born in Canada but found when I was in my 50s I could no longer stand the cold weather and decided to emigrate to a warmer climate and get used to the climate before I retired. I’d had an office in Maui Hawaii for twelve years but decided not to emigrate there because I would have to forfeit my Canadian and British passports. I am also grateful that I didn’t emigrate there because of the
fiasco that is set for November 2024 when two undesirables – both very senior
men – would fight to lead one of the major countries in the world.
I had worked in many warm countries for many years and considered whether I wanted to emigrate there.
South Africa – not suitable because I am white.
Middle East – no – I am a woman.
Southeast Asia – no I would be a foreigner there and I would be taller than most of the population
I considered New Zealand but decided that the weather was still too cool. I chose Queensland Australia because most of it was tropical much of the year. In my travels, I had met a woman from the Gold Coast of Queensland, and she encouraged me to emigrate there. I decided to take her advice and began the long process of emigrating to Australia.
In 1996, a ‘Bureaucrat from Hell’ at the Vancouver Australian Immigration
office, refused to send me the paperwork to complete to emigrate under the ‘Distinguished Talent’ entry – she said that I wouldn’t qualify. It took more than two years until I obtained my residency. Someone in the Sydney office noted that I was a best-selling author, and in December 1997 I was granted a visa under the ‘Distinguished Talent’ entry even though I had not completed that set of paperwork.
It normally takes ten days for the paperwork to arrive so I could emigrate, so I sold most of my belongings in Canada and moved in with my son. However, the ‘Bureaucrat from Hell’ waited until early March 1998 to send the paperwork. I later spoke with the manager of the immigration office in Sydney – told him my story and got the Vancouver woman fired.
I arrived in Australia on March 22nd 1998 and I was so happy to finally be back in a warm climate. But I ran into another huge glitch. The stevedores on the Sydney wharfs went on strike in early April 1998, just as my office and personal effects arrived via ship in Sydney. They were slated to be delivered from there to the Gold Coast of Queensland shortly after they landed. They could not tell me when they would be forwarded.
While waiting for my belongings to arrive, I rented an apartment and concentrated on opening another branch of my company, buying
office furniture, kitchen and living room suites and everything else I needed
that I had not shipped to Australia. My belongings finally arrived in mid-June
of that year.
I feel that the Gold Coast is the best place to live in Australia. We don’t have the terrible floods other parts have, nor the raging fires and only an occasional drought. Cyclone Debbie did not injure my home. I live in paradise!
Roberta Cava is a best-selling author of non-fiction books. She has written over 70+ books that can be ordered via Amazon Books worldwide. She lives on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia.
To order her books:
Go to ‘amazon.com’ then click ‘Books’ and under ‘search’ put ‘Roberta Cava’ (which will bring up all her books).
To contact Roberta Cava or Cava Consulting, please send an e-mail to cavaconsulting@ozemail.com.au