Fair enough Wow. What does Mrs Wow think of you don’t mind my asking?
Neither of us fancies 24 hours cooped up in a hermetically sealed container in each direction. It woud be a journey of duty more than pleasure. A trip to Aus hasn't ever really appealed to me to be honest. If we go (and we may well do, simply because I think it would really upset our daughter if we didn't) we wouldn't go for less than 6 weeks and I would also want to go to NZ, which has appealed to me.
The fact is that we would both have preferred our daughter to have stayed in this country, but our reasons are purely selfish. Her academic qualifications are as good as anyone's as is her ability to promote herself for work. She's got a fantastic job - well, two, actually, because she's teaching at Melbourne Uni as well as her normal job, and she was always going to be able to pick her city to live. Being a Global Mover & Shaker was what her Masters prepared her for. She was having a shitty time in London, at the mercy of bloody landlords, so, having spent 6 weeks in Melbourne as part of her Masters, she decided to settle there. That was 4 years ago and now she's got permanent residency and will probably have dual citizenship within the next year.
She will be coming to Europe (Belgium, I think) for a conference early next year, and I hope that we will be able to see her then.