Moving Down Under: Former Spice Girl Mel B is hoping to become an Australian citizen and live in the country permanently

Former Spice Girl Mel B - aka Scary Spice - revealed today that she wants to become an Aussie.

The 36-year-old Briton who was part of the hit all-girls group has spent much of the past 18 months flying between London, Los Angeles and Sydney - before finally deciding that Sydney was the place she wanted to live permanently.

Melanie Brown - her real name - has just signed up with local label EMI, but she has also become a popular face on Australia TV, appearing as a judge on their version of talent show The X Factor.
'We've set up shop': The singer has settled in the country with her three daughters and husband Stephen Belefonte since signing up to judge The X Factor
Scary has already enrolled her eldest daughter, 13-year-old Phoenix, at a Sydney school and she and her husband Stephen Belefonte have moved into a rented harbourside apartment in Sydney's posh eastern suburbs as they continue to hunt around for a place to buy.

'We've set up shop here,' she told Sydney's Sunday Telegraph.

'We are all really happy and settled.

Beach life: Melanie lapped up the sun as she enjoyed a day out with her two youngest daughters over the weekend
Addressing Australians, she added: 'Hopefully they are going to want me here for a long time.'

Her love of Australia almost got her into serious trouble with immigration official last October due to a problem with her visa.

She is said to have come close to being deported back to the UK after she revealed that she had signed on as an ambassador for weight-loss company Jenny Craig in a deal reputed to be worth about £100,000.
Settled in Sydney: She has signed up with local record label EMI and to co-host TV show Dancing With the Stars

Melanie had been sponsored by the Channel Seven TV network to come to Australia to work as a judge for the X Factor, but under the terms of her visa she was not permitted to work for other organisations without securing further sponsorships.

It was only after her management met immigration officials that her representatives were able to announce that the problem had been resolved.
Family first: Mel has already signed up her eldest daughter, 13-year-old Phoenix. to a school in the country

Last year she told Sydney's Sunday Telegraph that with her husband she had been to a number of strip clubs in the red light King's Cross district of Sydney.

'We live an exciting life and we like to let off a bit of steam,' she told the paper.

'It keeps the marriage spiced up and alive.'
And she certainly looked at home as she spent the day on the beach in Sydney with her daughters yesterday.

Mel was spotted as she enjoyed the sunshine and sat on the sand as she attended to little Madison, her daughter with husband Belefonte.

And the singer, who was dressed modestly in a white vest and yellow skirt, also played around with daughter Angel Iris.

Although her eldest daughter Phoenix was nowhere to be seen for the sunny day out.