I met the only man in the whole of England who wanted to emigrate to Australia. So off we went. And we got to Sydney. And all I could see was the Pacific Ocean on the left of me, and all these palm trees on the left of me and the sun was shining, and it was absolutely glorious and I just burst into tears. I was absolutely homesick right from the word go.

So we moved into a flat. And we had a baby at the time. So we moved into this flat and I just looked out the window. And my husband got a job the next day, so I was sort of left by myself. So what I thought, I thought well, I’ve got to make the most of it. So I started going out and trying to see what the culture was like and what the people were like. And I met some people and they invited me to a barbecue and they said, bring a plate. So I thought well that’s an odd custom. So I stuffed a plate down the pushchair and a few knives and forks just in case. So when I go to this barbecue and hold out a plate they all started laughing and I couldn’t understand.

They said “you know, in Australia, when we say, bring a plate, we expect you to bring something on it.”