Dr Julianne Voelker BDS (Goettengen) living in Mornington Peninsula, Victoria

Previous job in the UK

After a couple of years working in Germany, I moved to the UK in 2006. I was able to work straight away in the UK, only needing to register with the local GDC. I needed to do an English test, but no test of my dental skills, which made it very easy.

I worked as an Associate Dentist in an NHS/ Private practice, but it was mostly NHS work. It was a very different experience to where I had worked in Germany, but we had a lovely team. I really liked all the dentists I worked with, but there was lots of pressure under the NHS system to see as many patients as possible in one day. There was lots of stress and not much time to dedicate to any particular patient and their needs.

Some of the nurses and other dentists had been to Australia and showed me some pictures. So my boyfriend (at the time, now fiancé) and I booked a holiday to Australia in 2006/2007.

What made you take the plunge and move to Australia?

During our month long holiday, we took in lots that Australia has to offer. We visited Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Bundaberg, Adelaide and all up and down the east coast. We just loved the place and had a really great time. After our holiday, we decided that the lifestyle, the weather, the beaches and the pace and standard of dentistry was perfect for us.

Once we got back to the UK, we easily found DJS on the web and made contact with them. It was a pretty easy process from there on to get the visa sorted, however my degree was from Germany I had to sit ADC equivalence exams in order to practice dentistry in Australia (for UK trained dentists, this does not apply).

DJS found me a job before I came out to Australia in August 2009, in the Mornington Peninsula which is a one-hour drive out of Melbourne, and I have been working there ever since.

How does being in a dentist in Australia compare to the other countries that you have worked in?

I am working as a general dentist. It is a much more relaxing work environment than it was for me in the UK, as I can spend much more time on every patient. Australian dentistry seems more oriented to providing good quality service than the UK was.

We get more opportunities to educate the patients and do preventive dentistry and the patients seem more interested to prevent problems and save their teeth, For example an Australian patient would be more interested in a root canal, where a UK patients would have preferred an extraction.

In general, I am roughly seeing half the number of patients in the one day. In many ways the dentistry is similar to Germany: the quality of service and number of patients you would see in a day is similar.

Describe where you live

The Mornington Peninsula is lovely. The people are nice and the landscape is beautiful. There are beaches all around the peninsula and Melbourne, which is the second biggest city in Australia and a cosmopolitan centre is only one-hour away. In summer the weather is lovely.

What visa are you on?

I am on a 457 visa, which is a 4-year sponsored visa. DJS is currently sponsoring me, and my fiancé is on my visa as my spouse. However we are applying for permanent residency at the moment, because we never want to leave...

What are the advantages of working where you do?

It is very lovely weather, and so nice living so close to the beach. I often drive to the beach during my lunch break and have lunch down there. There is a lot to see and cover around this area- lots of tourist attractions, like kangaroo and koala parks and a wonderful coast road which drives past some lovely scenery. We also do a lot of outdoor activities around here, including trekking and exploring to different places to go site seeing. Sometimes we just go to the Tourist Information office and let them tell us where to go, as if we were tourists. And with Melbourne just a 1 hour drive, we often head into town for a spot of shopping.