FOR some it is the chance to work overseas. For others it is the lure of free accommodation, free private schooling for their children, return airfares home each year and the chance to pay the mortgage quickly. And for others, it is a tax-free salary equal to about $200,000 in Australia.
For more than 400 Australians teaching in the United Arab Emirates and their families, the opportunity to work in the desert nation was just too good to passup.
Higher Colleges of Technology Dean of Education Matthew Clarke and his wife Liz Maxwell stumbled in to the UAE capital Abu Dhabi nearly seven years ago almost by accident and have since made the country their home.
"I came over on secondment with Melbourne University," Dr Clarke told The Australian. "The work opportunity has been the most important thing, the travel and then the money."
Ms Maxwell said they had at first thought they would stay for six months.
"We thought Middle East, God knows what it's going to be like, we don't know anyone here," Ms Maxwell said. "We thought we were going to come and live in the desert, there wouldn't be fresh milk. Six months turned into six years."
Dr Clarke was soon offered a job at the Higher Colleges of Technology - an Australian equivalent of TAFE, which also offers bachelor degrees. It is only open to Emiratis.
Ms Maxwell, also a lecturer, was also offered a HCT position, a spacious fourth-floor apartment overlooking parks and the gulf, and settled in with her husband, dog and cat.
"In teaching, the opportunities are just fabulous overseas," Ms Maxwell said. "In Australia it's just not attractive for people who are looking for more in their career."
Leaving teaching last year, Ms Maxwell now manages their investment apartment and holiday house in a small village in Turkey. The Melbourne couple has also upgraded and bought a home in North Carlton, which Ms Maxwell also plans to manage as a corporate rental property.
The UAE has a population of close to three million people, about 90 per cent of whom are expats. Many Australians, Europeans, Americans and Canadians work in white collar teaching, management or engineering positions, profiting from the fertile economy, while most expats - from India, Pakistan and the other gulf countries - prop up the economy working on construction sites, driving taxis and in service industries.
For Australian expats living in the UAE, life in the upper rung of society is quite comfortable.
Many Australian university lecturers in Abu Dhabi have servants or maids, good social networks and many are members of the British Club.
The country club provides tennis courts, a private beach, swimming pools, tennis and ballet lessons for the children.
