Daniel and Ciera

I’m so excited! Yesterday, Ciera woke up to find that she had an email from our case officer. She opened it, and… It was a visa grant letter! She forwarded it to me, and when I woke up I was SO EXCITED for her! She’s now officially an Australian resident (well, once she arrives here anyways). Tomorrow is our three-year anniversary, and this is quite possibly the best anniversary present we could have gotten. I’m ecstatic

After being extremely overwhelmed with happiness and calming down a little bit, we booked her flight back to Australia. It ended up being pretty expensive since it’s coming up to summer here, but we did manage to get a flight with Air New Zealand again (since they’re awesome). She’s staying with her family for Christmas, and getting here on New Years Day. Having my girlfriend with me to start the new year is the best New Year’s present EVER! I hope these next 57 days pass quickly, I really can’t wait until I see her again!

No more waiting and wondering when things will happen. Now we have solid plans, and our life plans feel a whole lot more real. I’m quite possibly happier than I have ever been before! In 57 days, our long-distance relationship will no longer be long-distance. I’m counting down the days.

Things are amazing right now. I just finished my last university class ever, and all I’ve got left are exams. Then I start working again, and Ciera gets here shortly afterwards.

I love life.

Until next time,
— Daniel

We’ve been asked by others going through the USA – Australia move to give details about applying for the Australian Partner Visa. This post is basically an overview of all the main parts of the application process. You will be able to find more information in the Partner Migration Booklet 1. Eventually we’ll write a post on our experiences, but for now, this post is just about the process itself.

While we were in the USA, we applied for the Offshore Partner Temporary Visa (Subclass 309). The visa is valid for two years, and if the relationship is still standing after these two years, a Partner Permanent Visa (Subclass 100) is granted. The one application covers both visas. While the visa application process isn’t very difficult, it does involve a lot of work and time. In our case, we applied in a de-facto relationship, although it’s a very similar application process if you’re applying as a married couple. [...]

OH MY GOSH GUYS! I’m sorry it’s been so long. I have no legitimate excuses for it but Daniel does. He’s been super busy with Uni and work. I’ve just been busy keeping myself mentally healthy. I guess that is kind of a big deal, huh? Anyways, I’m sure you guys would love to hear about the trip we took to the Gold Coast. Even if it was… 4 months ago! I got some footage of everything but I don’t know how to video edit and the clips I took aren’t that great just by themselves. We did upload a whole bunch of photos though, which can be found in our photo gallery.

It was Daniel’s first time out of Victoria and on a plane so he was really excited (and super cute to watch!!). The flight there was alright. It got a lot better when we were getting close to landing. If you looked out the window you could see the ocean and the shore line. We were lucky that no one sat close to us so Daniel and I scooted over one seat to look out. It was beautiful! [...]

As you can tell by the title, this week was the actual half-way point. We were counting months by four weeks but, since a year has 52 weeks, we messed it up a little. 26 weeks = half a year… blahblahblah. You get the point!

On Tuesday of this week, the business Daniel works at (PageUp People) had a Christmas party. His manager insisted that he go and even offered to pay for me to join. We accepted the offer and ended up having a great time! It was held at Richmond Union Bowling Club, a place to play lawn bowls. The party started with drinks and food (mostly BBQ). It later moved out to the lawn where we bowled… simple enough xD. It was great to meet all the people Daniel works with. I know some people were excited to meet me, too.

Nothing else happened during thing week until Friday. I got some bad news that day and Daniel got to get off work early!  I got a text during the day from work. They were informing me and my coworkers that there wouldn’t be any available shifts until AFTER 31 January. The break was originally supposed to be two weeks. [...]

This was originally posted to Ciera’s blog on 18th June 2010

---

That’s right! In just a few more days I will no longer be in a long distance relationship! I’m heading to Australia to be with Daniel for a year.

The nine months, that are now behind us, have been so difficult for me! Before we met, chatting was always a fun experience. After meeting and spending three months together, I started getting really frustrated and taking things he said the wrong way. I partly blame the distance. I was so unhappy that I couldn’t be there; my overall mood has changed from relaxed and happy, to stressed and discontent. I miss the way I felt before. Although, I have faith that when I’m there my mood will change drastically again.

More has gone on in life, as well. Along with the stress of the distance: I live in this disgusting house (daily stressor); my family has made me feel used, neglected, and just disrespected; and my moms ex-husband, and my brother and sisters father, had an incident that has left him with no movement on his right side and possible one blind eye. Sound like a good nine months to you?! Now, I know I could have things a lot worse… it just feels like bad things have been happening one things after another, after another, for the past three years. [...]

This was originally posted to Ciera’s blog on 25th October 2009

---

You know when you’re reading something you totally agree with and you get this uplifting feeling? That happened to me when I read the above proverb! The way I interpret it may be different from others but I think it means: “No distance is too far if you’re in love.”

About a month ago I arrived home from a three month trip to Australia. I had traveled over there to meet Daniel, my one and only (as mentioned in my last blog post). We had met online nine months prior when he sent me a friend request on Myspace. We started talking through comments and, just a few days later, we were chatting hours upon hours on Windows Live Messenger! It was, and still is, amazing that I could talk to him the whole day without getting bored or having an awkward pause in the conversation. I have never been able to do that with anyone else! [...]