When Grant Dewsbury returned to the Territory after 10 years living and working overseas, he gave his wife Lisa the casting vote.

“I wanted to return to Darwin, where I grew up,” said Grant, now 48. “My parents moved here from Adelaide when I was eight and they never left. I had my sister here, and her two kids, and my mates, but it wasn’t just my decision to make.”

Grant met his wife-to-be, Lisa, on a mates’ trip to Melbourne in November 1998. “It was love at first sight,” he said. “I moved down to Melbourne for a couple of months and Lisa, who’s originally from Newcastle, came up for a visit. It was quite the whirlwind romance.”

Within a year the couple moved to London where Grant, newly qualified as an accountant, landed work in the finance world.

“We spent most of the time in the UK, with a year in Canada and Singapore on the way back to Australia. Our oldest, Thomas, was born in London and shortly afterward we moved with work to Singapore which brought us a lot closer to home.

“I certainly missed the weather and the laidback lifestyle when we were in London. There’s not a lot of sunlight over there. I also missed the thunderstorms in the wet season. They are so spectacular. There’s nothing quite like it anywhere else.”

When Grant and his family arrived back in Australia in 2009, his wife Lisa was heavily pregnant with their second child, Isabel. “We drove back to Darwin from Sydney and literally arrived only a few weeks before Isabel was born.

“I was so glad to be back. Darwin is home for me. My family and my friends are here, and I love the outdoorsy, laidback lifestyle, but I had other people to consider.

“I had a job opportunity here in Darwin and one in Sydney, and I let my wife have the final say.”

Fortunately, Lisa loved Darwin, too. They bought the family bottled-water business, Territory Springwater, from Grant’s parents three years ago and haven’t looked back since. 

“We go camping and fishing, and it’s a great place for kids. It’s funny though, Thomas who was born in London, goes around everywhere with shoes and socks, and Territory-born Isabel kicks off her thongs and goes barefoot whenever she can.

“We all love the Territory and proudly call ourselves Territorians but Isabel clearly stands out as the born and bred Territorian in the family.

“We’ve had itchy feet a few times since coming back, but the next place would have to offer a significant improvement on our lives here to get us to move again.”