I Guess after 53 years of living in the UK, you gain a reasonable insight into culture, modern society, business prospects and the general "feel" of the country.

Running our own business (Media Answers) has taken us (that's me and Tracey - the real brains behind the company) to all four corners of the globe and we've seen first hand the contrast between wealth and poverty in locations as diverse as Nigeria, Egypt, West Africa, India, the Australian outback and the Asia Pacific region.

I once met a man in Lagos who lived in a hole in the ground!  Seriously, he had no home, no job and no prospects yet he wasn't bitter, didn't feel that the worldowed him a living and accepted that this was his life so he made the best of it. On the same trip, there was a fuel shortage and I saw the same cars parked in the petrol queue for an entire week! There was no protest, no riots no civil unrest just an acceptance of the way things were at that time. Just about 500 metres away were the high rise buildings belonging to the Multi-National corporations (I was working for one of them), chauffeur driven cars, armed guards and obvious wealth. The same story can be repeated in Angola where the shanty towns are just minutes away from the huge re-generation of a country recovering from years of civil unrest. In India we were driven from Delhi through the chaos of the city out into the North of the country where time has stood still and our pasty white faces, cameras and boom mics resulted in much interest from a handful of onlookers who, 15 minutes later had turned into almost 1000 locals who wanted to know what all the fuss was about!
We were later told that most of the locals would never have seen Westerners before - let alone a full TV crew. Back in Delhi and it was 5 star hotels and room service while outside most locals used a tuk tuk for transportation, taxis or removal service.  

The site of a tuk tuk containing 3 passengers, a mattress, a crate of live chickens and a large dog had to be seen to be believed! 

I feel very privileged that my work has taken me to counties
that would not be on a top 10 list of holiday destinations, has introduced me to cultures, characters and a range of people who I would never have expected to meet, interview or film had I stayed in the comparative safety of my Norfolk base.

Setting all that aside, it's now time to take the leap and engage in our biggest and potentially toughest challenge to date. . . the application for the correct visa to allow Media Answers to operate in Australia and for us to ultimately settle there. Over the next few months I'll keep you up to date with the progress but would welcome your experiences,  

Mike Bennett is the director of Media Answers limited and has worked in broadcast media since leaving school almost 125 years ago! Radio broadcaster, interviewer, TV News cameraman, sports producer, live sports arena presenter and media trainer.