After 12 years working and building her family in Australia, Katrin Alexander became an Australian citizen and says she intends to stay "for the rest of my life".
Born in the central north of Germany, the 48-year-old first arrived on Australian shores 12 years ago to visit a friend.
Ms Alexander spent a year working as a translator, and "really liked it here".
She looked into work pathways to allow her to stay, but it wasn't an option.
"I did look into [work visas] when I was just visiting my friend and I really liked it here," Ms Alexander said.
"But, for me, there wasn't any pathway.
"But then I met my husband ... He was the reason for me to stay."
She now lives in the Break O'Day municipality, working as a therapist for a local clinic, with her husband and 10-year-old daughter.
"I've decided to live here and I've started a family here, and I don't think I want to live anywhere else now, for the rest of my life," Ms Alexander said.
Applying for citizenship just made sense.
"My daughter's an Australian citizen because she was born here, and I do like the possibility to vote and take part in the voting process and politics and governance," she said.
She said becoming a citizen was an honour and a big day.
"It does make a difference to how you view things. It was a bit of a special day."
Despite her joy at becoming a citizen, Ms Alexander said she misses people back in Germany - friends and family.
"I've gotten used to not having the things I haven't had in Germany, so I don't really miss anything much right now, apart from the people."
But she prefers the "free-spirited" Australian way of life.
"It seems freer and [more] free-spirited than in other places where there's a lot of constraints, financially or spatially or morally or whatever," Ms Alexander said.
"It feels like a really free country with a lot of opportunity."
She said Australians were the type of people to give something a crack if they wanted to try something and just "see what happens".