Thank you everyone for the warm welcome.   Aaaaah....I thnk I've gotten myself into a bit of a muddle with my Nexus. 
I thought I'd take the suggested path of:  settings, advanced, wi-fi region, Australia.  However, I can only get through settings and then advanced.  I cannot see "wi-fi region' (location and anything similar) on any screen or drop down menu.
Bit of background:  My laptop has a wireless connection to an Austarlian internet server - Telstra.  Then I downloaded from Mhotspot and set-up a hotspot for my Nexus 7 to use my laptop as a hotspot for the Nexus wifi connection.  All was going good......until......I did the factory reset.  Now on my nexus my personal hotspot claims to be saved, secured with _ _ _.  But now I cannot get a connection. 
As for my google account: I am trying to get the nexus to recognize my account but to no avail. 
When I press another button, the screen reads: press wi-fi protection button on wi-fi router or WPS symbol.  Well, I have searched on the various screens of my internet wireless connector but cannot find any symbol of arrows going in either direction. Nor can I find the letters WPS.
So I though I'd do another factory reset to try and get back to first base. I'm still in a muddle.  and now...would you believe, I cannot open up mhotspot on my laptop. 
It is nearly 4pm here, so I think I'll get that wine glass out of the fridge. 
BYW, any of you from my home state of New jersey?
Cheers,
Bobbie