My husband, Manfred, our daughter Steffi and I emigrated to Tasmania from the UK in 1987.
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We have always been fairly impulsive and, while I wouldn’t call our move sudden, if we had thought about it too much we may not have taken the leap.
There were, however, a few factors that clinched it for us.
We had a cafe/patisserie in south London and on a holiday to Tasmania, we saw how affordable houses were in relation to the UK.
I also have a brother here who emigrated some years earlier, and we also already had one or two Tasmanian friends which undoubtedly made the move easier.
Ultimately though we felt Tasmania offered a more relaxed lifestyle, a much better environment for our daughter to grow up in and the possibility of better opportunities for our business.
The years have well and truly borne that out.
Not long after we moved here, we opened a patisserie/bakery in Youngtown which eventually evolved into Café Manfred in central Launceston. It was a great time in our lives.
In 1992 we became Australian citizens.
In 2004, we sold our cafe and started a new business; the manufacturing and export of espresso machine accessories, which we still operate. We found that being in Tasmania proved no barrier to business.
But whether it’s through our business, our many friends or our passion for animals, we always feel like we contribute, make a difference and most importantly, we belong.
Launceston is a very friendly place with a close-knit community which makes it so easy to meet people. We all settled very quickly into the lifestyle Tasmania offered, in fact that lifestyle has been a bit of a magnet for my family.
In addition to many dozens of relatives visiting over the years, my parents actually packed up - lock stock and barrel - and moved here from the UK in 2000 at the grand old age of 80.
We love living here and believe it offers us many experiences that just aren’t available in other places.
That welcome we first encountered has continued unabated throughout the years and our connection with this lovely place has only grown stronger.