'Stralyan?

So, it's been 7 years, 6 months and 21 days since I first moved to this sunburnt country as a pissed-off 14 year old who had just been ripped from the "best country in the world", my friends, and the boy I was then infatuated with.

Present day: I am the only one of my family who has not returned to live in New Zealand. I consider both of the countries "home", and though I always said I'd wait until I married an Australian before I got dual citizenship, I am considering doing it earlier.

Why?

NOT being a citizen has already posed enough problems - number one being when I was applying for Centrelink payments during my first year of uni. Turned out you had to be a citizen, or at least a permanent resident, for a minimum of 2 years before you were entitled to any support. I'd been a permanent resident for only a year - so this resulted in me only getting the payments half way through my second year. (What rubbish. I'd worked, lived, and been educated here for 5 years by this point.)

I want to travel a lot, soon, while still having Melbourne as my base place. Travelling between NZ and Aus is easy as a citizen of either country - you didn't even need a passport to do it, until quite recently. But I think travelling over the world, obtaining visas, going through Aussie insurance companies, and ultimately returning to Aus, would be easier if I were actually a citizen of this country.

Also, this Australian man I'm gonna marry one day is yet to show up in my life, he could be years. Screw waiting around for that!

So with that said, I may soon apply for dual citizenship. Then I can call myself both an Aussie and a Kiwi... but don't think I'll EVER put on gold and green over the beloved all black!

Side note: I posed this question (to become or not to become) to my Facebook friends. Best response? "Even if you don't, we'll claim you as our own when you do something good, and disown you when you do something bad. Aussie tradition right there." Haha, so so true. 

Now, it's almost time for netball. The weather is rotten and I have a severe case of CBF. But the game must be played, and being a player is fun! x