A young mother has revealed she and her partner decided to ditch living in Australia and return to New Zealand because Kiwis value the work-life balance much more.
Cassidy Skelton, 28, moved into an apartment in Melbourne’s CBD in December with her one-week-old son, affectionately known by his online persona Nugget, and partner Nicolas, 32, so he could start a new job.
Ms Skelton told Daily Mail Australia that while the city was big and beautiful, it lacked the ‘fun culture’ they were seeking, not to mention they were spending very little time together as a family.
Nicolas’s Melbourne job offered a pay package worth a whopping $120,000 more than what he was earning in New Zealand and provided an ideal oppourtunity for Ms Skelton to raise their child without working.
But despite the windfall, the couple’s ‘honeymoon period’ as new Melburnians wore off after about six months.
The young parents realised separately they weren’t enjoying life in the concrete jungle – but were hiding it from each other.
‘We both realised we just weren’t excited about our future in Melbourne,’ Ms Skelton said.
‘We realised we would be happy to go back to less money if it meant we could spend more time together.’
Kiwi mother, Cassidy Skelton (pictured), has revealed why she and her young family decided to ditch life in Melbourne and return to New Zealand
Ms Skelton said both she and Nicholas loved the country on prior trips and had their foreseeable future all mapped out.
‘Our plan was to move out to the suburbs; buy a car, furniture, set up a life and we both just kept putting it off,’ she said.
‘I thought Nic was feeling happy and fulfilled by his new job and Nic thought I was happy with the financial freedom of not needing to go back to work but when we talked about it we realised we weren’t happy.
‘All we wanted was to work from home so we could share every moment of our son.’
They both ‘felt like little kids’ after arriving in Melbourne, enticed by the broad culinary options and better access to cheaper groceries and health care.
The first six months of Nugget’s life and their time in the city shot by however, and the ugly parts of Aussie culture started to become more apparent.
‘I didn’t realise how much I took Kiwi culture for granted until we moved,’ she said.
‘I also felt like staff were always grumpy and treated poorly, I witnessed multiple men speak so badly to their staff.
‘My cousin worked temporarily at a bagel shop and her boss said to her on the first day ‘if you don’t fit with my vision you need to get the f*** out’.’
Ms Skelton and her partner, Nicolas (both pictured), jumped at the opportunity to move to Melbourne after he was offered a new job with a huge salary
They were initially happy after starting their life across the ditch with a one-week-old baby in tow, but it all started to fall apart about six months later
The couple were also shocked by the lack of mate-ship in Australia after Nicolas was attacked by a drunk man in the middle of the city.
‘Like, it’s 6pm in Melbourne CBD with hundreds of people walking past and this dude just attacks him out of no where and not a single person stopped or saw if Nic was okay,’ Ms Skelton said.
‘This was wild to Nic cause he was raised in a little town in NZ and he would never just walk by something like that so it was this real feeling of being like this is not our forever home.’
To make matters worse, Nicolas’ full bonus structure they had uprooted their lives for ‘wasn’t honoured’ because his employer later said it wasn’t in his contract.
There were some positives to their time in Melbourne however, that Ms Skelton said ‘really helped us grow as a couple and a family’.
Separated from their families by the Tasman Sea, they would spend more time together on weekends and would splurge on items thanks to the larger salary.
‘We really leaned into the city living … we tried to embrace and enjoy the differences of living in Australia,’ Ms Skelton said.
The family’s poor experience in Australia also helped them weigh up what they cherished in life and chase financial independence on their own terms
‘I think the main reason we moved home was to just start living the life we wanted and stop talking about it,’ the young mum said.
‘We decided to bet on ourselves and start our marketing agency we’d been talking about for so long.’
Ms Skelton said they were put off by the lack of culture compared to New Zealand and quickly became homesick while separated from their families
Their poor experience with employers and Aussie culture did however spur the young couple into starting their own marketing agency
Having returned to New Zealand, the young family are now enjoying a road trip and have to ‘keep pinching ourselves’ in disbelief of how much better their lives are
She noted the couple may have been able to juggle living in Melbourne while starting Nugget Creative but added they wouldn’t have enjoyed it.
‘We needed our support system to ensure this journey into business ownership was enjoyable. It’s also so motivating living in a beautiful place surrounded by your family,’ Ms Skelton said.
The happy family have since returned to New Zealand and enjoying a road trip to become reacquainted with their home country.
‘We start each day with a walk on the beach then take turns having our son while the other works and finish up around 3pm for another walk on the beach or dinner at a family member’s,’ the mum said.
‘We just keep pinching ourselves that this is our life now.’
She added that returning to New Zealand instilled them with a ‘new found faith’ and are now motivated to run their agency with their ‘baby boy being at the sweetest age, we don’t want to miss a second’.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk