She already loves "avo", says "g'day" and adds extra vowels to the word "no", but Tina Oakes could not wait to make her status as an Australian official.
The Argentinian native took the oath alongside more than 200 people from 40 countries at the Civic Theatre on Tuesday, September 19.
Ms Oakes relocated to Australia from South America in October 2015. She had long-wanted to move down under and was in the process of saving when she met Australian Paul, her now husband, while he was visiting Argentina in March of that year.
While she didn't speak much English, the pair connected straight away.
"I decided I needed a change in my life and Australia just seemed like the perfect place," she said.
"It was going to be my first time travelling by myself and I was a little bit nervous, but meeting Paulie if I had any doubts they were gone."
After making the move across the Pacific, she got a real taste of her new country by moving to Broken Hill.
She said she had to not only learn English, but how to "speak Australian".
"You could not get a more Australian place than that," she said. "It was so hot, but there was so much beautiful Aboriginal art and the people were so beautiful."
Tina and Paul then moved to Newcastle, and since then have married and welcomed a daughter Oceana.
"I feel like Newcastle is the perfect combination of town and city," she said. "For me being a parent, it's such a great place to raise a kid.
"I wouldn't want to live anywhere else."
Ms Oakes said becoming a citizen would complete long process and would mean her little family were all officially Australians.
"All of us will have the same rights and I will be able to be a little bit more involved and immersed in Australian society, being able to vote and that kind of thing," she said.
"It was a lot of work to get here with all the documents, but it's so worth it."
