Patrick Dockhorn
| First name | Patrick |
|---|---|
| Last name | Dockhorn |
| Country of Origin | Germany |
| Date of Birth | 1967 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 2000 |
| Submitted by | Patrick Dockhorn |
Story
My parents were both teachers in Germany, and my mother gave me one of those old maps from her classfrom to hang up in my room. It was a map of Australia, and I’ve been looking at it from my bed ever since I was 10 years old. I always loved the fact that it was surrounded by the sea – at home we had to travel almost 1000km to get to the next beach in France, and I liked being near the sea very much.
We holidayed a lot across Europe when I was young, and ventured to the US twice, but I had to wait until the end of my university degree to finally lay eyes on Australia. My mother paid for my round the world ticket – and I spent 10 wonderful months in Tasmania. I went back to Germany and worked there for a couple of years, visiting Australia twice as a tourist, but I wanted more. I wanted to know what it was like to live there. In 1997 I had all intentions to migrate; my girlfriend and I had planned to travel up the East Coast, then come back to settle for a job in Melbourne or Sydney. When we got to Cairns where we planned to go diving it turned out that she was pregnant with Kay, and it was all getting a bit too much. We went back to Germany, organised our Visas, and in October 2000, just after the Olympics, arrived in Sydney with our two year old daughter.
After our arrival we first wanted to travel a bit. We bought a campervan from a priest in Maroubra who had used it to go surfing with his sons; we all sat in the front seats and Kay used to eat Avocados like there was no tomorrow on these trips. We loved the friendliness of the people on the campgrounds, where we met lots of other families from around Australia.
But we still wanted to do the diving we missed out on the previous trip – this time we made it to Airlie Beach, when our son JJ (Jeremy Julius) announced his upcoming arrival. He was born in Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital on August 1st 2001.
My marriage broke down in 2004, we both remarried in 2007, and we now look after Kay and JJ in a shared care arrangement in Sydney.
I always felt that the lucky country has treated me very well – and even though I never planned to stay forever when I first came here, I have no doubts that I will. I have started several successful little businesses and enjoy a great degree of independence and freedom, which allows me to spend lots of time with my wife Jenny, Kay, JJ and our dogs, with the sea never more than a 15 minute drive away.