Wexford man shares the positives and negatives to living abroad

Moving abroad at a young age can be both a daunting and wonderful experience….

One young Wexford man who decided to make the leap abroad was 27-year-old County Wexford and Taghmon native, Anthony Doyle.

Like for many people his age, Australia was calling for Anthony. Similar to others in his age group with a thirst to travel and explore the world, he missed out on two years of opportunities due to the outbreak of Covid-19:

“I left Ireland for Australia on the 5th of March 2024. I had planned on leaving following the completion of my undergraduate degree in 2020. However, due to the outbreak of COVID, I had to set my targets elsewhere, so I started a Masters in UCD. Living and working in a different country had always been an ambition of mine as I enjoy travelling. As I didn’t speak a 3rd language very well, and had relatives who are currently, or had previously been based in Australia, it seemed like a good bet,” Anthony told Wexford Weekly.

For most young people who plan on travelling, working, and then living abroad, one of their biggest fears is securing a job. Moving to Australia seems like a great idea, but similar to Ireland, Australia are also enduring a housing crisis. It means that many people who are travelling Down Under are faced with paying high hostel or hotel costs, or sleeping in a family member or friend’s house until they secure employment:

“Luckily, when I arrived I had a cousin to stay with in Melbourne. I had a few friends there too so that helped in getting used to it being over 30 degrees in March and my family being 11 hours behind and a essentially 24 hours of flying away from me. I spent anywhere from 3-8 hours a day filling out job applications. I knew I wanted to continue working in a job related to what I studied.”

“Imagine my surprise in finding out that there were very few jobs related to agriculture within an hours drive of the Melbourne CBD! Even less of these were available to me due to my visa, or at least so I was told twice after long interview processes in the agri-business sector. The fact I would only be available for a maximum of 9 months before a company had to either invest a couple of thousand dollars in sponsoring me, or I would have to leave to complete my 88 days of regional work,” he told us.

For Irish people who go over to Australia, they need to complete their regional work. It’s a necessary component for Irish job-searchers – and can sometimes act as a deterrent for employers. It adds another difficult element to an already difficult job search. Despite that, it’s a vital component for those wanting to go back to Australia – or for those who intend on securing their second year visa. For Anthony, he started to search for jobs in regional areas and eventually landed in a job that was suited for him:

“After the first 5 weeks, I started expanding my search to regional areas in the hope that I could complete my regional work first, and come back to the city for the Australian summer. On the 15th of May, I started a job as the Environmental Officer for a Meat Exports company (chain of abattoirs and feedlots) in the Northern Territory, 100km south of Darwin. This was right up my alley having studied Animal Science for 4 years and completed a Masters in Agricultural Extension,” he said.

“I spent the next 7 months in Darwin. I renewed the company’s Environmental Management Plan, negotiated a 5 -year environmental licence with the NT EPA, developed an irrigation system for the company’s property in the NT and so they asked me to work from their plant in Vicotria, approximately an 1.5 hour drive outside of Melbourne during the wet season as there would be renovations happening on the site in the NT. I drove 4,500 km to Melbourne, via Uluru and the great ocean road in mid December and worked from Melbourne until the end of March. But, now I am back in the Northern Territory,” he told Wexford Weekly.

Moving and living abroad can sound like a dream for many – but it doesn’t come without challenges and pitfalls along the way either. It’s not plain-sailing and Anthony pinpoints some of the major challenges with moving abroad:

“The most difficult thing was probably being somewhat alone. Almost everyone I met had moved out with a friend, or a partner. In Darwin, I was the only Irish person out of over fifty, the only others from Europe were two Italians, who became great friends, despite their English being quite poor to begin with. The nearest friend or relative would be a minimum of a 3.5 hour plane journey away when living in Darwin. I also found talking to my grandfather – who is 86 – incredibly difficult, even though our conversations were quite regular, I could hear how upset he was saying goodbye on the phone each time we spoke,” Anthony told us.

With everything though, it’s never all doom-and-gloom. There are a multitude of positives to also take from it. The experience, the adventure, meeting new people, and exploring different cultures in a brand-new setting are the stand-out positives for most young people who take the leap of faith abroad. For Anthony, that’s no different:

“The best thing about living abroad is the exposure to different cultures, the habits of both natives and fellow nomads. Also, having an opportunity to independently experience something new, travel, rekindle old friendships and start fresh with more people from Ireland that you may never have met back home. The time away is also great for providing perspective and really highlighting what is important to you,” Anthony said.

Although still enjoying the experience – and loving his new life and sense of adventure – there are always some things that he misses about home. Ireland is his home. Wexford is his home. And there’s no doubt that he misses it too:

“I miss being able to wake up and walk the fields at home, seeing my family and my dogs and being able to watch hurling both in person, and at a reasonable hour. I have also never felt anything like the homesickness during the Fleadh last year,” Anthony said.

With everything, there’s always positives and negatives to moving abroad and Anthony’s account of his experience provides an interesting insight into this.

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