Two Pommie Sheilas: The true sign a Brit has ‘turned Aussie’

For every Pom who has ever put a big black cross in box A on their arrivals cards, there’s a moment.

That box being the one where you declare you’re “migrating permanently” Down Under, and that moment being the one where you realise “by ‘eck, I fit in here!”

Despite what those at your leaving drinks tell you, swapping Marmite for Vegemite doesn’t count, not even offering your guests a “coldie” instead of a cuppa cuts it.

What does qualify, however, is being confident enough to yodel an Aussie national anthem at the top of your voice with the rest of them.

No, I’m not talking about muttering the second verse of the pompous official version. I’m talking national anthems in the style of an Aussie pubgoer.

For me, that moment came in 2010, five years after arriving Down Under on a night drinking Aussie cuppas in the city.

It was the early hours, with a British visitor, we stumbled into the end spot of all good nights out – the karaoke bar.

And so, one rendition of Karma Chameleon led to another before the biggest test of my Aussieness yet.

Men At Work’s Land Down Under was plugged into the system and I was to be locked in battle with an Aussie over who could sing the words with their back to their screen the longest without stuffing up.

The Pom, surely was bound to lose – wrong! From the “man in Brussells” to the “den in Bombay” and the very last “hear the thunder”, Pommie old me nailed it and earned my spot as honourary Aussie.

We celebrated, naturally, by busting out John Farnham’s You’re The Voice and “wooooooaaah-ing” all the way home.

At Telethon last weekend, Daryl Braithwaite didn’t have a word of The Horses to himself as we all sung along, arms raised in our living rooms.

So, Poms, if found yourself yodelling “that’s the waaay it’s gonna beeeee li’l darliiiing” on either version of a cuppa, congratulations.

That’s what it really takes to earn your stripes Down Under.