From Melbourne to Abu Dhabi: Navigating a Monumental Move as a Mum of Triplets
Shinta’s expat adventure began over a decade ago in London, where she and her husband moved for a working holiday. Starting out in a cozy flat in Bayswater before settling into a flatshare in Brixton, she spent her weekends embracing the city’s rich culinary scene and hopping over to explore Europe. After a couple of years, they returned to Melbourne to start a family, and shortly after, received some exciting news - they were expecting triplets!
After an unexpected opportunity came their way in 2022, Shinta and her husband made the bold decision to move their family to Abu Dhabi. She shares her journey and daily life on her Instagram, @mama_and_triplets, where she offers a glimpse into her unique experiences as a mum of triplets in a new culture.
Here, she talks us through her big decision, and why she has no regrets about it.
Can you tell us the story of how you ended up where you are?
My husband was head hunted by a company in the UAE. When he first found out about the job offer, we honestly weren’t sure if it was for real! He was not looking for work and was happy where he was. But he was getting a couple of offers from overseas in locations such as Singapore, and Abu Dhabi just randomly came up. It was like-for-like with what he did in Melbourne, and it soon became pretty clear that it was the real deal, so he went for it — and got the job!
We weren’t really hesitant about the decision. After enduring the world’s longest COVID lockdown, we didn’t mind taking the risk to try life outside of Australia, even if it meant uprooting our lives. We’ve now been in Abu Dhabi a little over two years.
What was the most challenging part of the move?
Finding the right school for the kids was probably the most challenging seeing as we had no idea about the UAE. Plus, my husband’s hiring process took a year. My kids had at that time just finished 4-year-old kinder and were moving up into prep. In Melbourne, finding a place is a big challenge, so while we were waiting for the hiring process to be completed, we were applying for both local schools and schools in Abu Dhabi.
A lot of the schools that were in the area we wanted had a massive waiting list, and we didn’t know how many schools to sign up for — to be put on a waiting list involves fees, and the costs were obviously multiplied with three kids! Plus, was it worth putting them on lists in Abu Dhabi if we didn’t 100% know we were moving? That part was really challenging.
Apart from that, obviously we needed to find a place to rent. A lot of the paperwork and formalities were taken care of by my husband’s employers, and they also gave us one month’s accommodation in a hotel so we weren’t in a rush to find a place, but when we started the search we came up against a few surprises.
We found that a lot of the places didn’t come with essentials like curtains, or even stovetops or ovens. And you had to get gas and electricity connected. So that was different!
When we did find a place, we found installing these things was also a challenge because of language and communication barriers. Handymen would tell you what you wanted to hear but never pull through on it. A lot of them assume you have in-house help who could wait at home for them to arrive, which we didn’t. So it felt like we were just waiting around forever.
But overall, there were more pros than cons. We were just focused on the idea of being closer to everywhere else, being in the middle of Europe and Asia.
What kind of support do you have? How did you go about finding it?
Coming from Australia where cleaning services and nannies are quite expensive, I didn’t want to step into that world of getting used to having paid help here, even though it’s a lot more affordable. It’s also very easy to get hold of help — you’ve got agencies, and word of mouth from friends, or friends of friends.
Generally though, I was happy to take things on board myself. In Melbourne, I was used to looking after the triplets on my own while my husband was working full time. I figured that now the kids were going to school, things would be a lot easier.
So I didn’t actually have help for almost a year. I eventually found one from a friend and had her come in for about a year, although things didn’t work out with her.
I wasn’t planning on getting a replacement but a friend of mine who was moving to Saudi Arabia used to rave about her nanny/helper. I went to my friend’s farewell party and was blown away by the spread - there were so many dishes and they were all delicious, and it turned out it had all been prepared by her helper. When my friend mentioned that she also did a lot of activities and art with her child, I thought, “That’s the dream!”. So she now helps me Monday to Friday for 4 hours a day, and it’s been wonderful.
Because the UAE is such a transient place, there are so many expats coming in and out. They all want to have that family surrounding, so it’s very easy to meet people. Networking here is so easy through Whatsapp, Facebook, gym, school and the kids’ extra curricular activities — I’ve met so many other people I now call friends.
There are times where I’ve had to take my cat to the vet in an emergency and couldn’t pick up my kids. The amount of people that put up their hand up to help you out is just crazy. In my experience, there’s definitely been no shortage of help.
How do you find getting around the city?
The main mode of transportation for expats is driving. My view on driving in the UAE is very skewed — I’ve realised it’s so different to the attitudes of other expat women that drive, and some of the men! It’s a lot faster here — speeds can get up to 160kms per hour.
I personally find it fun! Coming from Melbourne where most of the freeway is 80kms, I love driving in Abu Dhabi — you get to places so much quicker!
It can get a bit crazy, although having an Indonesian background, I’m used to seeing people drive without absolutely any rules - it’s definitely not as crazy as that! Here the roads are wide and most of the time are clear (not sure how long it’ll stay clear for as a lot more expats are coming in).
The biggest challenge was driving on the other side of the road. In the beginning I would only realise I was driving on the wrong side because there’d be oncoming traffic! So that took a while to get used to. Two years later I’m still opening the door to the passenger’s seat instead of the driver’s.
I’d recommend just trying it out and getting behind the wheel, because it’s such a different perspective when you’re on the passenger side. However, if you’re not a confident driver, you can take a taxi — they’re quite convenient and affordable, unlike back home. For example a 15-minute drive costs the equivalent of $5.
There are a lot of buses as well. They’ve introduced an electric bus, which looks like a tram without rails or cables, but the problem with that is the bus stops - there’s just not many of them and they’re not in air-conditioned waiting rooms. It’s not exactly convenient waiting for the bus when you’re stuck in 40-50 degree heat!
What do you love about living in Abu Dhabi?
Where do I begin? I love everything about Abu Dhabi. First and foremost, the safety — I feel comfortable leaving my doors unlocked. I’ve seen people leave their designer bag on a table to reserve it. You’ll see people leave their phones charging unattended at powerpoints.
Accessibility to children’s entertainment. We have world-class theme parks only a 20 minute drive away. There’s malls on either side of where we live, supermarkets just downstairs - everything is convenient. If you live in the area where school and work is, you probably don’t even need a car.
The service. If you can’t be bothered leaving the house, you can even get petrol delivered to you. Amazon is usually one-day delivery, unless you’re ordering from abroad, which can take a week (I can remember during COVID in Melbourne, it could take up to a month for express deliveries!).
To be honest, coming from Melbourne, I was the biggest coffee snob, but after being here a few months, I discovered all these amazing coffee shops (not as many as you’d find in Melbourne, but still pretty good!). There’s food from all over the world.
A one-hour flight takes you to Oman. A three-hour flight takes you to Sri Lanka. The travel opportunities here are insane.
It’s so multicultural — you meet people from all over the world. You make friendships with such ease. I just love it here.
I thankfully haven’t really had a chance to feel homesick. We’ve been blessed to have found and been a part of an amazing community. We made the choice to move abroad as a family, knowing that our family and friends would visit us regularly and that would keep us from getting homesick. We also plan to visit Australia annually.
Overall, my advice to others looking to do the same is to weigh out the pros and cons. If things don’t work out abroad then you will always have a home to go back to in Australia. The worst would be to regret missing out on an opportunity and wondering ‘what if’.
Have any questions for Shinta about living in Abu Dhabi? Let us know in the comments below!
