By Fiona Blick
SHEPPARTON attracts key professionals from all over the world, from Sri Lanka and India to Canada and the UK.
One such couple, Shannon and Angharad, arrived in Shepparton from England in February after Shannon accepted a position in the allied health industry.
Angharad said they decided as a couple to explore new opportunities and lifestyles options and regional Australia was the best fit for them.
“The work is more in demand in regional areas but while the job was on the skills list for migration, it was difficult to find a sponsor initially,” she said. “We didn’t know anything about Shepparton until we saw the job but after a bit of Google research, it seemed like a good fit.
“I’m not a city girl and it seemed like a good accessible area.”
Moving to a new country and not knowing anyone, leaving all their friends and family was a big stress factor for the couple.
“However, we have been proactive to be social and go to Shannon’s work functions and I’ve been going to coffee mornings and walks and just putting myself out there.
“It is tough, and we haven’t really made many friends yet, but we will get there. It is early days.”
Angharad said she couldn’t understand why some people aren’t keen on moving to regional areas.
“I love being regional, there’s so many nice places to see and things to do outdoors,” she said.
“Also, Greater Shepparton is not really as ‘in the middle of nowhere’ as people think and make out, which has been the vibe from some Facebook groups.
“We generally found the community to be so friendly and helpful, so much more than we expected.
“Everywhere I have been in Shepparton, I felt people were kind and chatty and genuinely interested to talk to me.
“This is really nice because for the first few months I didn’t have a job and was on my own all day while Shannon was at work and feeling overwhelmed with even just simple things like grocery shopping, which takes three times longer than usual because I didn’t know any of the brands or things have different names or you can’t get something you usually get.
“We’ve been to Melbourne a couple of times and the friendliness factor definitely wasn’t the same!”
Angharad and Shannon are settled now and Angharad has found job in the critical social work sector.
Not only that but their belongings have finally arrived from the UK, and they have a new addition to their family – a rescue puppy – so the house feels a bit more like home now.
“We knew housing would be difficult but luckily our employer supported us for the first few weeks until we secured a rental,” Angharad said.
“Fiona from the C4GS Community Connector Program provided us with loads of useful info before we moved, on all sorts of things even down to which shops to buy furniture.
“She also acted as a reference for our rental application as we are new to Australia and renting.
“We’ve also had a few coffees and chats which kept me sane having someone else to talk to and she told me about lots of lovely places to visit.”
For more information on the Committee for Greater Shepparton Community Connector Program please phone Fiona Blick on 0499 351 441.
