{"id":653590,"date":"2026-08-24T09:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T09:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/653590\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T09:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T09:55:17","slug":"australia-isnt-a-magic-golden-ticket-heres-what-ive-learned-13-years-in-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/653590\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia isn\u2019t a magic golden ticket. Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned 13 years in \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I arrived in Australia<\/a> from Blackrock in Cork<\/a> with a backpack and a yearning for adventure, I had no idea what lay ahead. I never imagined I\u2019d still be here 13 years later with an Australian wife, two daughters (with another baby on the way), a business of my own and calling the Blue Mountains home.<\/p>\n

Last year was probably the biggest of my life. My business partner and I left our secure jobs to launch our own construction recruitment business. At the same time, my wife and I bought a house in the Blue Mountains which, as it turned out, needed a lot more work than we\u2019d expected.<\/p>\n

In impeccable timing, I tore my anterior cruciate ligament during the first week of the business. So I had a new business, a new mortgage, a renovation project, two kids and one useless leg. Thankfully, my wife has the patience of a saint, as does my business partner. <\/p>\n

As well as forcing me to finally hang up my football boots, it\u2019s given me pause to reflect on some of the main things I\u2019ve learned since moving from Ireland to Australia. <\/p>\n

First, I don\u2019t think people back home appreciate how strong and deep the Irish community is in Australia enough.<\/p>\n

\"Abroad:Abroad: Steve Guerin and friends in Kimba, South Australia <\/p>\n

During my early days here, I moved to do my regional work in a tiny town in South Australia with a good friend from home, Brian O\u2019Sullivan. Pasty-skinned under the blaring September sun, we did a grain harvest in Kimba with other seasonal visa workers. Along with three lads from Clare, some boys from Mayo and a few UK fellows, we worked the silos and bunkers in the stinking 34-degree heat. In these months we gained two things \u2013 the nickname \u201cthe bunker rats\u201d and friendships for life. Although we are now scattered, we still catch up to this day. <\/p>\n

The Irish are all over this vast country. I\u2019ve had four operations on my knee and my excellent surgeon Dr David Broe is another Irishman who, in true Irish fashion, is an old friend of my uncle\u2019s. You can travel 17,000km across the world and still end up being looked after by someone who knows your family.<\/p>\n

Our first employee at Common Good Partners is another example. Eoin is from Togher in Cork, barely 9km from where I grew up. We\u2019d never met before being introduced through someone else, but within minutes we realised we had countless mutual friends. That\u2019s Ireland. You somehow leave home only to find it again on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irishman in Sydney: The reality of building a life – it\u2019s bloody hard to afford anythingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Construction is full of stories like that. We work with some of Australia\u2019s biggest contractors and developers, many of which have Irish founders, directors and senior leaders. At the same time, we spend a huge amount of our time helping Irish professionals make the move themselves, from graduates and engineers through to project directors, commercial managers and executives.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to my second lesson learned since moving here. Australia isn\u2019t the golden ticket many people think it is. I\u2019ve probably talked as many people out of moving to Australia as I have encouraged.<\/p>\n

\"Abroad:Abroad: Steve Guerin camping at Coorongooba New South Wales <\/p>\n

If someone thinks Australia will magically solve every problem in their life, it won\u2019t. Life here still takes hard work, sacrifice and resilience.<\/p>\n

Sydney is an incredible city, but it\u2019s expensive, and nothing comes easy. Housing is hard and raising a family isn\u2019t cheap. <\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re prepared to work hard, back yourself and take a few risks, it can also be an unbelievable place to build a life. With the right expectations, there are opportunities here that are difficult to find anywhere else.<\/p>\n

My sister was one of those who moved from Ireland this year to start her own Australian adventure. Having family from Ireland here changes everything. Being able to grab a coffee or a quick lunch in Sydney\u2019s central business district without weeks of planning still feels surreal. Watching her build a relationship with my two little girls is something I never thought would happen when I boarded a plane all those years ago.<\/p>\n

And having my sister here has reminded me of the third thing I\u2019ve learned since moving to Australia: although Ireland will always be home, the idea of what home is can grow.<\/p>\n

My daughters will grow up Australian, but they\u2019ll know where Blackrock is. They\u2019ll know why Cork matters and will hear plenty of stories from home. Whether they like it or not, they\u2019ll probably end up supporting Cork too.<\/p>\n

I still miss Ireland and feel the pain of not being there for birthdays and weddings or visits home for a cup of tea with my parents. But I also love the life I have built in Australia. And if anything, living so far away has made me appreciate both places even more.<\/p>\n

Steve Guerin is from Blackrock, Cork. He lives in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales and runs construction recruitment business Common Good Partners<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When I arrived in Australia from Blackrock in Cork with a backpack and a yearning for adventure, I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[1128,79,1877,18,14189,19,17,2213],"class_list":["post-653590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-cork","tag-eire","tag-emigration","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-abroad"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117149887764684538","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}