Last updated at 14:20, Sunday, 08 April 2012

IMAGINE the stress of quitting your job, packing up all your possessions and flying 10,200 miles to start a completely new life in a foreign country.

SONS AND DAUGHTERS: The Jones family, who are leaving for Australia. From left, Charlotte, 12, Melissa, 16, dad Dave, 42, Callum, 18, Lydia, four, Jayden, six, Liam, eight, Hayley, 17, Shay, three, mum Jackie, 43, holding baby Lily, aged four months, Bradley, 10, Stephanie, 15 and Chelsie, 14 MILTON HAWORTH

Now imagine doing all that with 12 children in tow.

That was the unenviable challenge facing parents David and Jackie Jones this morning when the family said goodbye to Barrow and prepared to say “G’day” to Brisbane, Australia.

But if Mr and Mrs Jones were daunted by the prospect of herding a dozen children aged between four months and 18 years through a maze of airports, security screenings and customs checks, they were not showing it yesterday.

“It doesn’t really faze us, to be honest,” Mr Jones, 42, said ahead of the impending 25-hour flight.

“We’ve been to Majorca for the last five years and we’ve just got back from Euro Disney on the Eurostar and it all went smoothly, so we’ll call those practice runs.”

Mr Jones, who finished after 15 years at the Kimberly-Clark paper mill in Barrow earlier this week, said the big move was first floated in May 2010.

“I’ve got to do the best for my kids and I feel like the way the UK is at the moment that the opportunities I want for my children are not going to be there,” he said.

“So what we did initially was all sit down together as a family and told them what we were thinking and asked who wants to move and who doesn’t want to. And they all wanted to.

“It was unanimous.”

The one-way air fare alone has cost the family £8,000.

The Joneses will initially stay with friends – fellow former Barrow residents Frank and Mandy Tucker – in Brisbane until Mr Jones can find work and Mrs Jones, 43, a house big enough for their brood.

“What I’ve said to everyone is that I don’t want any tears because it’s a happy time,” Mr Jones said.

“It’s not a bereavement and no-one’s died and nothing bad has happened.

“It’s a happy time because it’s a new life and a new opportunity for all of us.”

First published at 10:38, Saturday, 07 April 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk