Horn Family Wanted Down Under Revisited

Imagine if, after years of discussion,

you'd finally persuaded your partner to consider emigrating

to the other side of the world,

only to discover your teenaged children

still needed to be convinced.

That's the situation Lyn Horn was in back in 2010

when her family set off on a trial week to Adelaide.

Six years later, we'll find out where and how the Horns are now.

For 30 years, Lyn Horn believed in a life down under,

but her children didn't share that dream.

I'm not only losing a boyfriend, but I'm losing a friend.

And the thought of splitting the family in two

was hard for everyone to comprehend.

I couldn't stay in England

and have these three out in Australia, I couldn't do it.

Today, we'll find out if the Horns stayed in the UK or, together,

made the leap to the other side of the world.

You just don't know what to do when it gets to that stage.

You know, is it worth then going?

Lyn Horn had dreamt of moving to Australia ever since childhood.

After years of discussion,

husband Andy was finally in agreement

the country could be somewhere they could call home.

But with two teenaged children less than convinced,

the family's future was far from certain.

A trial week in Adelaide in 2010

gave the whole family a taste of what life could be like

and the chance to decide once and for all

whether to stay in the UK or make the move down under.

Back then, glazier Andy and preschool teacher Lyn Horn

lived in Herne Bay in Kent.

Their son Chris was aged 18 and daughter Kirsty, 17.

They had built a good life for themselves,

but it wasn't enough for Lyn and she was desperate for change.

I have wanted to go since I was about nine.

My mum went to Australia on a cricket tour with my dad

and they came back absolutely raving about the place,

and I told Andy that when I met him

and we've tried a couple of times, we've looked into it,

but we've always thought that something wasn't quite right,

timings weren't right.

She talked Andy into giving Australia a try,

but he wasn't convinced.

It's been a long, long time since she first dreamed about going,

but I'm not sure whether she is really committed

to leaving everything she's got to make that big move.

There were two other potential problems.

Chris and Kirsty.

They were old enough to stay at home on their own,

but Lyn wouldn't contemplate splitting the family up.

We want more for the children, for their futures,

which we don't think they're going to get over here.

About to leave school,

the timing couldn't have been worse for Chris.

He needed some serious persuading.

For me, I feel a bit confused as to where I am and what could happen

within the next couple of years.

It's going to have a massive impact on all of us.

For Kirsty, leaving a group of friends and her boyfriend behind

was unthinkable.

If we did make the move, we'd be leaving so much behind.

I love life as it is now.

I'm not sure if it's worth giving up.

But Andy could see the possibilities down under and had grand plans.

If I do get any time off work, then I'm out on the golf course.

Playing somewhere.

I've always wanted to build myself a small crazy golf centre.

Yeah, that would be my ultimate dream.

Even so, he was heading out to Australia with some doubts.

There's still a lot of convincing for me to go as well, I think.

If things don't work out this side, for us to make that initial move,

then no, we don't go, basically.

Still believing it was the right move, for Lyn,

there was only one barrier.

Finances are the only thing

that could actually stop it from occurring, I think.

Selling Andy's business, selling the house,

getting the money we need for the house

to then make the move over,

it's purely financial.

To find out where their future lay, the Horns visited Adelaide.

After a 23-hour journey across two continents,

Kirsty was feeling a little emotional.

We've had tears on the way. But...

-Don't, because I'll start again.

-No, you won't.

Lyn and Andy were more positive.

Really looking forward to it.

Yeah, here we come, Adelaide.

Lyn had to persuade the whole family Australia was for them,

if she was to realise her dream.

Their home for the week was in Henley Beach,

and it was the perfect place to explore the area.

They were soon feeling the effects of a long journey.

Being on the flight for 23 hours overall...

..definitely made me realise how far Australia is away from home.

Kirsty had a lot to leave behind,

so Andy and Lyn had a huge challenge ahead to persuade her to move.

We're going to try really hard throughout this week...

..to try and make a point that this is going to be a really good idea

and there's going to be everything for her that she wants here.

Which is why the week is so important for us.

Yeah, not just for us, but for Kirsty as well.

With so much to consider,

the week ahead would be full of difficult decisions

as they found out if Australia really was for them.

Back in the UK,

the Horn family lived in a three-bedroom end terrace property

in Herne Bay.

They love their home, but ideally wanted something a little bigger.

If they got the £175,000 they hoped their house was worth,

they would have a budget of £230,000 to spend in Australia.

We showed them three properties in Adelaide

to give them an idea of what they could afford.

Property one was in Seaton,

a busy suburb 25 minutes from the city centre

and only ten minutes from the beach.

This Tudor style three-bedroom property was under budget

at £210,000.

It needed some updating,

but would the Horns see its potential?

-About the size...

-Yeah, about the same size as ours, really.

I like the small room as well.

I've always wanted the kitchen and diner combined.

-Yeah, the open-plan.

-Yeah.

-Nice size.

-Yeah. It's not bad, is it?

I'd be happy with this view as well.

Outside was an alfresco dining area, very typical of Australian homes.

This is nice, I like this.

You probably get about three days a year in the UK for barbecues.

Here, it's probably three days a week.

I really like the house. It's a good size.

The driveway space is a bit limited, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-There'd be a big fight for the last spot each night.

The bijou driveway had ruled out property one.

Could property two win them over?

It was in the suburb of Queenstown, where property prices were generally

lower than the city average.

This huge house offered four good-sized bedrooms

and a massive living space.

All for £233,000.

Estate agent Sean O'Hara was waiting to show them around.

It definitely had the space they wanted,

but would it impress the Horn family?

Wow!

Kirst, I would be in my element.

-I want this room.

-Do you?

-Yeah.

-You can't have it.

-Dad, you can be in the other room.

Wow!

You could fit our house in this space.

And I'm not joking. Seriously.

-So it's big enough for you, then?

-Just a little bit.

The property seemed to be going down well until Andy spotted a problem.

It hasn't got any air con at all, has it?

No, it doesn't. There is an air conditioner in the lounge,

but you'd probably still want that upgraded.

Would the final house be more in line with what they were after?

On the market for £255,000,

this four-bedroom,

two-bathroom house was £25,000 over budget.

With a large garden and spectacular views,

could they be persuaded to stretch their finances?

-This is nice.

-That's huge. You can see the sea from here.

-Beautiful, isn't it?

-It is lovely.

This house had impressed everyone so far.

-It's nice.

-Oh, wow!

You wouldn't have to do anything here, would you?

No, you could just move in.

And the garden really hit the spot.

Stunning, isn't it? There's not much maintenance really.

-Not at all.

-Cutting the grass and watering the plants.

There was just the master bedroom to seal the deal.

Oh, my Lord!

-Look at this.

-Oh, wow.

-Now this...

-..is the bee's knees.

Oh, wow. Look at those views.

The views...all the way round, by the looks of it.

Who wouldn't want to live in this house?

This is just mad.

I would do anything to have this house.

This is absolutely amazing.

Andy had fallen in love with the place,

but would need a well-paid job to be able to afford it.

The Horn family liked property one, but lack of parking was a problem.

Property two had the floor space,

but they couldn't see themselves living there.

While over budget, property three was the dream house.

But giving up their home in Herne Bay wouldn't be easy.

Had they seen enough in Australia to make it worthwhile?

It was time to vote on property.

Based on the houses we've seen today,

our vote is going to be...

-Australia.

-Australia.

-Australia.

-Can't compare, really, can you?

-No.

-No.

We're at that vital stage now,

we really need to know our budget, what we can afford.

Yeah, the dream is to sell the house and the business,

make a bit of profit on both of them

and then have that as a set-up, really,

for coming out here and starting a new life.

Back in the UK, Lyn was a preschool supervisor.

I do actually love my job.

I don't get up in the morning and think,

"I don't want to go to work."

She had been working with young children for 24 years.

Lyn would have to work more hours in Australia,

but hoped that would mean a decent hike on her annual £14,000 earnings.

Lyn visited a preschool in the heart of Adelaide

to find out more about working in Australia.

I'm a little bit nervous at the minute and a bit excited.

I really just want to get an overall view of how the systems work.

An idea of wages and hours would be good.

She met with preschool director Melissa Ray for a rapid introduction

into teaching down under.

Do you want to come through and I'll show you the classroom?

It was straight in at the deep end for Lyn,

but there was a great reception waiting for her.

-ALL:

-Hi, Lyn.

-Hello.

With creative learning a key philosophy at this school,

she seemed to have fitted in perfectly.

Have they all gone? You did good pinning.

As Lyn settled into a day at work,

Andy was determined to find out

if his dream of owning a mini golf course

could be viable in Australia.

He met course owner Brian to discuss the pros and cons of the business

over a quick game.

There you go. Look at that. Oh, excuse me!

Andy was planning to sell his glazing business back in the UK

to help fund the set-up for a mini golf course like Brian's,

but there were some costs he hadn't even thought of.

The maintenance involved in mini golf

is obviously keeping the greens nice and clean.

Probably to carpet, something like this

is going to cost you probably 30 or 40,000, it's not cheap.

But before he even considered that,

Andy would need to find a plot of land on which to build his business.

If you're starting from scratch, you've obviously got to buy land

and it's got to be in the right place, too.

It would properly make 85% of your income

during school holidays.

The only day we close here is Christmas Day.

The more he heard, the more Andy realised

his plans were out of reach.

Well, my dream for this golf, mini golf,

I think, is going to stay a dream, to be quite honest with you.

It looks like he would have to find an alternative income,

so it was even more important Lyn was happy teaching in Australia.

Back at the school, she was curious to find out if she could earn

enough money to stretch their property budget.

If she couldn't, the whole move could be off.

What would be the sort of start pay?

If you were to work at our centre, it's about 880 a week,

so it's about 46,000 a year to come and work here as a team leader.

That was about £27,000 a year,

almost double what Lyn was earning back in the UK.

-Thank you very much.

-It's been lovely to meet you.

-Thank you.

-All right.

The wages would be better, but she'd have to work longer hours.

Had it been enough to convince her to leave behind the school she loved

in the UK?

Based on what I've experienced today at the preschool,

my vote for jobs would be...

..Australia.

I could really work in a place like that.

The setting was lovely, the people were nice,

that's sort of the setting that I would really fit into, I think.

Lyn had been impressed with work,

but if Andy was unable to subsidise the income,

it would impact on their finances.

For the Horn family to achieve their dream home in Australia,

they needed not only to secure good jobs,

but also a decent price for their house in the UK.

So we sent two estate agents round to give them valuations.

-Look at that snow on the ground.

-Here's our house!

Not a large kitchen, but adequate.

Hob, oven, could do with a bit of a clean.

Quite a good size.

Now, conservatory.

The only problem being, maybe, it's not double-glazed.

It IS double-glazed.

It was an interesting start. Was the second opinion any better?

Very usable space for a modern family.

Nice, usable conservatory.

Nice to see timber construction for a change.

Not a large bathroom.

And the master bedroom, yeah, it's a nice room.

The family had believed it was worth £175,000.

Ideal family house, modern end terrace, recently built.

If I was to put this property on the market today,

I would value it around about 160,000.

If the family were looking for a quick sale,

I would recommend they put it on the market at, say, 154,950.

In the current market, I would value this house at £169,000.

If we wanted

to get a queue at the door,

if it was going to go on the market

at between 160 and £165,000,

then I feel it would go very quickly.

We were hoping to come to Australia with a budget,

and we've just watched that crumble, basically.

But the house was only part of the package.

They had to make a comparison between their UK finances

and what they could afford in Australia.

If they were going to struggle to have the life they wanted,

Lyn's dream could be over.

-Right, should we start with salary, then?

-Yeah.

That's your wage.

Yeah. Before tax.

So we bring home 42.4.

If I worked 40 hours, I'd be bringing home 26,

nearly 26.5, and you'd be bringing home 27.

-That's a 4,000 drop.

-Yeah.

-But look, they clobber you for tax.

-So, 6,000 a year.

So, we'd be £500 a month worse off.

Mortgage, we pay 450.

Repayments...would be 969.

We're doing it on property three, then?

And groceries.

-That's a bit small, look.

-A bit small.

-There we go.

-That's perfect.

Chicken's expensive, look.

5.72 to 6.79.

-That's quite a jump.

-It's about a pound.

-Yeah.

Let's add up these monthly figures.

UK is 1,855.

And Australia is 2,605.

That's 750 higher in Australia.

-It almost looks like we've got to work...

-Harder to...

-To pay for that.

-It would be tight, though.

-Very tight.

-Hm.

Discovering they'd be £750 a month worse off in Australia

was disappointing.

The finances have got to start going

the correct way now...to keep our dream alive.

If they keep dipping and dipping, then our dream is fading with it.

SHE SOBS

Just realising that it might not ever happen.

Lyn's worst nightmare had come true.

So would they choose finances at home or away?

That was a really hard exercise going through them figures.

But our decision on cost of living is going to be...

..UK.

Australia.

I thought you'd go the over way.

You can think what you want to do.

I think the cost of living is definitely better in the UK.

The cost of living is better in the UK,

but we looked at the most dearest house of the three.

-I think, definitely, the dream is still on.

-Yeah.

And we're going to have to delve a little bit deeper

to find that dream.

I'm not backing down. The dream is still on for me.

It's still on for me, even though I went that way.

With so much to leave behind,

socialising and making new friends was essential for the Horn family,

so we arranged for them to make up with Paul Durgin,

his wife, Lisa, and teenage children,

Brittany and Henry, at a park in Adelaide.

A little bit hot, is it?

While the parents got to know each other better,

the youngsters all headed off to explore the park.

Chris and Kirsty were both worried they couldn't cope without

their friends in the UK,

so it was crucial they found out if they would fit in here.

They used a leisurely paddle as a chance to get some answers

from their new pals.

I think we need to go that way.

Kirsty had some serious issues to discuss with Brittany.

-Have you got a boyfriend?

-No.

-Oh.

-I hear you do, though.

-Yeah. Back in England.

-What's his name?

-Callum.

-Callum?

-Yeah.

-It's a nice name.

-Bless him.

-THEY LAUGH

Yeah, tears at the airport.

Oh, really?

The boys had other priorities.

And then most people play footy, for school and club footy.

And then some other people play for league sides.

-Right.

-So, a lot of people play three lots of footy

in, like, one week.

After all that exercise,

it was time to see if the local tucker would go down a treat.

What have you got?

We have goat's cheese, we have sheep's cheese, we have...

Kangaroo cheese?

If you can work out a way to milk a kangaroo,

you're doing better than us.

The family had had a fantastic time,

but was their day sampling lifestyle down under enough to secure

a unanimous vote for Australia?

Our vote is going to be...

-Halfway.

-Halfway.

Australia.

Australia.

A great family today.

They're really sociable out here.

And made us feel like part of a group already, in one day.

So, really looking forward to meeting lots more people like that

if we ever do get the move over here.

While they had enjoyed their day out,

the family were no closer to an agreement.

Yes. Here we go.

Messages from friends and family back home would make things

even harder for the Horns.

Hi, Lyn, Andy, Chris and Kirsty.

Hello, Chris and Kirsty, Lyn and family.

Lyn's a very responsible person, and as far as the family are

concerned, well, I couldn't fault

any of her way of bringing up, bringing the children.

I've been very close to her all my life.

When she met Andy, I felt that I was losing the closest thing I'd got,

but realised that, in actual fact,

I had actually gained a brother, not lost a sister.

He is good company, good friend, good fun to be with.

You just enjoy his company. No-one's got a bad word for him.

I mean, he's one of the legends,

one of the kingpins of the club, ex-captain.

Chris is my closest and best friend because he's always there

and he's always kind, and he'll always go out of his way

more than my other friends will for me.

Kirsty's just, she's really easy to like,

a really likeable person.

Funny, loves to shop.

She's just constantly happy, talking to her friends.

Bubbly person, always knows when to have a laugh.

And cheers me up whenever I'm a bit unhappy.

I want her to enjoy herself, but I don't want her to, like,

love it that much that she stays over there.

Yeah, we don't want her to leave.

Kirsty belongs here with us, so...

Naturally, I'd like to hope

that they didn't make that decision to go permanently.

I'd like to think that they would stay here.

I'm really going to miss you if you go to Oz.

Even though I'm going to miss you, I think it's a brave decision,

and I'm going to really miss you.

Hearing from loved ones made the pain of leaving even more real.

It does make it hard to think about actually leaving Mum and Sue.

Like, if we miss our friends after a week,

imagine after, like, a month.

It's going to be so hard.

It hits you in the heart, doesn't it?

Shows you how close they really are.

And it would be the hardest decision, I think,

to leave behind.

But splitting up the family wasn't an option.

I couldn't stay in Australia...

Stay in England and have these three out in Australia.

-And vice versa.

-I couldn't do it.

The week had been emotionally draining for the whole family,

but for Chris, it was the extreme heat that worried him the most.

I've had really bad headaches, stomach pains.

It will affect my decision,

because I'd have to deal with it all the time, obviously,

because it's so hot.

For Kirsty, the emotional pain was just as strong.

I think I'm the one that would stop this move from happening.

But the thing is, like, with Callum, I'm not only losing a boyfriend,

but I'm losing a friend.

Would the children stop Lyn fulfilling her dream?

Potentially, either of them could say "no", to be fair.

To lose one of them, one of them to say,

"I want to stay in the UK," would break my heart, I think.

We may have to face up to that, mightn't we?

It might be a reality. That could happen, yeah.

Yeah, it's just, you know,

-we'll just have to take it a step at a time.

-Yeah.

When it came to the final decision, which way did they vote?

This has been my dream, but now, it's time for the family to vote,

and based on what we've experienced in Australia this week,

our vote is going to be...

Australia.

Australia.

Australia.

Halfway.

-I'm surprised at you, Christopher.

-Yeah.

I thought it was going to be a half, or...

You've been ill virtually since you've been here.

And you've looked over that. Well done. Hats off to you.

That's a bit better than what I expected.

-I thought...

-You were going to go UK.

Thank you. That's peace of mind for us.

Thumbs up to Australia, and we'll work on that one.

Yeah.

-You can try.

-OK.

When we caught up with the Horns in 2011,

the family were still living in the UK,

but after their experience down under,

Lyn was more convinced than ever Australia was right for them.

The trip to Australia was amazing.

It just showed us the life we could have.

Just the lifestyle in general, wasn't it?

Just convinced us that that's definitely what we want to do.

Then, just as they were getting ready to make the move,

their plans were brought to a standstill.

We applied when the recession kicked in in the UK.

We just watched our finances crumble.

So the budget we wanted to go with, we've just seen disappear.

We've sort of been on hold for a few months,

purely because of the financial situation.

But better news was just around the corner.

Just out of the blue,

someone's offered to buy my business,

which really has given us the golden ticket

to go to Australia.

We then approached Christopher and Kirsty,

and that's when it all kicked off with them,

and actually finding out their true decisions

of whether they wanted to go or not.

Selling the business opened the door to emigrating all over again,

and despite her original doubts,

changes in daughter Kirsty's life made moving more realistic.

I voted undecided because of the boyfriend I was with,

but as soon as I split up with my boyfriend,

I was ready to go to Australia straightaway.

Since then, it's changed, and it was...

Well, it was my brother that was indecisive,

because he got a girlfriend...

and it's just flipped.

As one relationship ended,

another had left the Horns in exactly the same position

they faced in Australia.

We started seeing each other just before we went to Adelaide.

I was a bit worried about Mum and Dad

giving up their lives here, and then leaving Olivia,

I didn't want to do that.

The reluctance from Chris had thrown a spanner in the works.

We all had a long chat,

just talked about everything, really, to do with the whole move.

Just... Yeah, it was a long discussion.

Chris just said he didn't want to go,

and that was hard for all of us,

because it's either all of us going out there or none of us.

If he didn't want to come with us, we just basically wouldn't go.

It looked as if they were right back at square one, but as it turned out,

facing their true feelings was exactly what the family needed.

We came up with the solution of possibly asking Olivia

and seeing if she wanted to come out with us,

and that seemed to sort of sway him the other way,

so then he made the decision that he wanted to come.

I mean, it's a good quality of life out there.

It's something that you can only experience once,

and I'd like to give it a go.

After a total turnaround, the entire family were finally up for moving.

All that was holding them back was affording it.

It is still about the finance.

Obviously, if the business sells and then the house sells, we can go.

The crux of the matter was Andy selling his business.

18 months ago, the work was very slack and the price of the business

was dipping and dipping.

But now it's picking up again, I've got this potential buyer.

So if it all goes well, we're obviously not going

to get the money we want for the business,

but it is still an offer

and it is money that could get us to Australia.

The potential to sell the business had given the family fresh hope,

but Andy was still concerned.

I can't get excited yet.

You've got to be reserved with your emotions, I think.

Until you've actually seen the signatures, you've got the finances there

and you've got the flights all booked,

then I'll start getting excited.

With the final piece of the puzzle almost in place,

Lynn's dreams seem to be closer than ever.

-We've been waiting for it for about two or three years now.

-It's very exciting.

It is very, very exciting.

But scary at the same time.

People think it is really easy, that especially once you've experienced the life

that there's no comparison, but there is still a lot of ties that are

pulling us this way even though we've made the decision that we want to go.

Leaving family and friends, I think, definitely the hardest part.

Especially for Olivia, cos she's going to be joining my family and

leaving her whole family really.

Yeah, it is a huge step, just leaving everything I've known behind.

But you have to take risks and it is a risk that I'm willing to take, really.

Australia can provide a great place for my kids to grow up

and their kids to grow up, whereas here it's...

Just nothing here for us.

Even though we've got a lot to leave behind this side...

..we know we've got a lot more to get the other side of the world.

In life you've got to grab what you can

and if that dream's there for us, then go for it.

With everyone finally on the same page,

a move to Australia seemed closer than ever for the family but there was

still some work to be done to secure the dream life they wanted.

Now five years on it's time to find out what happened next.

It is May 2016 and the Horns are living in...

Adelaide, Australia.

Having emigrated in 2012,

the family bought and moved into this house in the coastal suburb of

Seaford Rise, 20 miles south of central Adelaide.

We use this in the evenings to just relax and watch a bit of telly,

but we do enjoy watching the view out the window, don't we?

Yeah, it's a stunning view.

Watching the sunsets in the evening as well is magic.

How many photographs have we taken?

Just a few of the sunset!

They're finally where they want to be,

but they had to overcome some major emotional and financial

stumbling blocks to get here.

With the move hinging on the sale of Andy's glazing business, he realised

to get things going he'd have to drastically reduce the price.

Who wants to buy a business in the middle of a recession?

So we knocked the price down and then down again, then down again

and I think we ended up with...

Not a lot.

Fortunately, it was still enough to fund the move and the family set

about planning their return down under.

But things took an unexpected twist when Lynne received devastating news.

I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and had to have...

They wouldn't let me fly unless I'd had an operation.

My first thought was, "But I'm flying to Australia!"

And the consultant said, "When are you coming back?" And I said, "I'm not, we're emigrating."

And that's when he said, "You're not flying, Lynn, until we've done it."

'When you're going through all the emotions of moving to Australia,'

just literally weeks before you're due to come here you get told that you've got,

you know, tumours the size of tennis balls...

That just set all four of us upside down.

It was a harrowing time for the whole family and, unsurprisingly,

they found themselves questioning the move.

We nearly got to the point where we was just going to cancel everything and just stay put.

And you just don't know what to do when it gets to that stage.

You know, is it worth then going?

We only had a year to do it, so it was either go now or not go

and we just decided to go for it, didn't we?

Yeah. If we didn't go then, then we wouldn't be here.

Determined to keep their Australian dream alive,

the couple postponed their flight to give Lynne time to recover, and

fortunately, it wasn't long before she had the green light she needed.

I got the news that everything was OK,

it came back that it was all borderline, which is good,

the week after the house had been packed up.

In the back of my mind, we were going to get here no matter what, whatever happened.

-There was just a few hurdles that we had to go over to actually make it.

-Hurdles?

THEY LAUGH

-High jumps.

-High jump.

That's fair enough.

A matter of weeks later,

the family were touching down for a new life on the other side of the world.

I felt like we were coming home when we landed.

I don't know why, cos I'd only been here once before, but it just felt like home.

But one person didn't make the journey.

Chris's former girlfriend Olivia.

So, the plan was to bring my girlfriend at the time out with us, but the

relationship broke up just before and she didn't come.

And we just came out with the four of us.

The family remember those first few weeks in Australia as a bit of a blur.

When we finally got to Adelaide you're like, "Relax!"

You know, but there's still lots to do.

None of us had jobs.

We didn't have sort of tax file numbers, bank accounts, nothing like that.

We soon sort of settled in and started job-hunting,

house-hunting and all of that.

So it was busy but, you know,

I was still recovering from my operation as well, so I couldn't really do too much.

I think because there was just so much going on I didn't even think

about the fact that we had left the UK for good.

Just three weeks after arriving,

Lynn landed herself a job at a childcare centre.

For Andy, though, things didn't move so quickly.

It was bad timing. We got out here when the construction trade was dipping a bit.

So I spent the first six months here looking for work.

He just looked every day.

He just kept going online, looking on all the sites and whatever.

Going for interviews, applying for jobs until he found one.

Andy's determination eventually paid off.

SCRAPING

Yeah, after six months I phoned these guys up,

they took me on and three and a half years later I'm still here.

They are a very big company in Adelaide.

We do some really big jobs in the city.

It's a lot of hours, a lot of hard work, but the money's good and,

you know, if you want a good living, then you don't mind working hard.

For Chris and Kirsty,

starting afresh 10,000 miles from where they'd grown up seemed to come naturally.

The kids settled in really quickly, actually.

They just seemed to take it in their stride.

After putting herself through college,

Kirsty's working as a medical receptionist and now aged 23 she's

fled the family nest to move in with her fiance.

I came to Australia and found a Geordie.

He's lovely. And now we've finally moved out of home,

which is a huge thing for both of us.

I can't imagine you in chinos!

Chinos and a white shirt!

And we don't live that far either, so it's about a three-minute drive.

SHE LAUGHS

So I'm still close.

She's never been happier, which is just the main thing for us.

I was quite sad when she moved out, but I actually see her more now that

she doesn't live here than when she did live here.

Chris is also in a new relationship and is enjoying his final year as a

student of international studies.

I worked for a year and a half before I started university to try and save as much money

as I could to be able to put myself through it,

which has been tough, but for the long term I've come out of university

debt-free, which is great.

After over two years in her role,

Lynn fancied a change and is now working as a nursery team leader.

The job that I have now is everything I wanted it to be.

It's a bit different from the UK, cos obviously I was term-time there

and only did about 32 and a half hours a week.

Here I'm full-time and I do 37 and a half a week.

Cranberry and apricot muesli bars. No, that doesn't sound...

'Doing the equivalent in the UK I'd be on about 35 grand,'

but here I'm on over 50, so it's quite dramatically different.

New things are on the horizon for Andy too,

with his dream of opening a mini-golf course back on the cards.

The couple have put their house on the market in the hope they can

downsize and release enough money for Andy to set up his business.

I've actually found a plot of land absolutely perfect for a mini-golf centre,

cos there's no other mini-golf centre around here.

To finance that we'll go back to a rental for maybe a couple of years,

cos the financing in this house will get that business built up.

The plan is, two or three years' time we should get all that money back

and then we can start looking at houses again, you know,

a beautiful house like this.

I'm hoping by next February that it'll be up and running.

That'll be a perfect way to end my working life, I think.

It's the final piece in the puzzle for our dreams.

With everyone settled and doing well,

Lynn had all she'd wished for, but during a routine medical checkup she

was heartbroken to discover the cancer had returned.

All of a sudden one of my blood tests came back with higher cancer markers,

and I had to have CT scans, then they found another cyst and they basically told me I'd

have to have it removed again.

Having major surgery for the second time has been incredibly difficult,

but thankfully Lynn's now on the road to recovery.

I'm about seven weeks post-op now.

The results all came back borderline again.

Yeah, I'm just weaning myself back into work now.

With mum Lynn in better health,

the family are looking forward to enjoying more of the Australian lifestyle they've fallen for.

'We're just out every weekend, exploring.

'There's always something to do.'

It's an absolutely huge country and there's so much here to see.

So we've been to Sydney twice now and been to Melbourne twice.

You know, when we get our next holiday we'll think of another trip,

we'll probably go to the Gold Coast.

There's just so much to do in Australia.

They've also enjoyed hosting family and friends from England over the past four years.

Since we've been here we've had nine lots of visitors.

It's been amazing having them here.

We try and take them to all the places that we like down here, don't we?

Try and show them the way we live.

It's been really good.

The airport runs are horrible when we say goodbye, but there we go.

-But brilliant when we say hello and they turn up.

-Yeah. Exactly.

-It's... Yeah.

Chris and Kirsty have been back to the UK too.

Most recently Chris took his girlfriend there to show her where he'd grown up.

We spent three weeks in the UK.

It was weird to be back,

cos it felt like I was going home almost.

But then when we came back here it was weird because I was going home,

so it's a bit strange.

I see both as home now.

For Lynn and Andy there's been no rush to return.

'We originally decided that we would have five years here before we even thought about going back,'

just so that we knew we were settled.

So we haven't gone back yet, but we are thinking, possibly, we've got a family

wedding next year, so we might be going back for that.

'Yeah, I think it would be strange going back.'

But our passion is here in Australia.

I don't think going back's going to...

It certainly won't change our minds.

Ultimately, the whole family are confident down under is where their future lies.

The children, they are really settled,

they are really happy in what they're doing and I can see them settling down,

getting married, having kids of their own

and living the rest of their days here.

And it looks like Australia has exceeded everyone's expectations.

It's all been worth it, cos we just love it here.

It's beautiful.

I do still get homesick and I do have days where I really,

really miss people, but this is our life now and homesick passes.

And you realise how much better your life is here.

As a family I think we've made the right decision to move to Australia.

Yeah, life's been great since we moved here.

You could say we have settled down perfectly here, all four of us.

This is the dream. We are living the dream.

Almost four years into their new life in Adelaide,

Lynn and Andy are proof that dreams really can come true.

And with Chris and Kirsty both in new relationships down under,

it looks like the whole family's future lies firmly in Australia.

We wish them all continued health and happiness in the country they now call home.