Would you rather stay in U.K. or aus

UK for me

I'm English, living in Australia and would never, ever contemplate moving back. The lifestyle here is amazing. Even if you're on the bare bones of your butt, you can go outside pretty much every day of the year and enjoy a walk, a trip to the park, the beach etc. It's glorious. Wages match living costs, but we do have a rental crisis at present, so buying a house is the best option. Healthy food is cheap, exercise is cheap, healthcare is easily accessible (and mostly free or you can get health insurance to go private), you can choose what school your children go to and move them easily if you want. Plenty of people are moving here right now, for the reasons above (partly why we have a rental problem). Lots of space, you don't have to live in your neighbour's pocket and most people have large gardens with beautiful parks nearby. Most places have good public transport (we're at the beach on holidays at present and my nephew and niece will be catching the train down shortly - pretty much door to door, plus safe, quick, reliable and cheap). Contrary to popular opinion, we're not inundated with snakes, spiders and sharks, they are an incredibly rare occurrence. Honestly, the best place to live, I wouldn't be anywhere else.

Lovely. Another Australia bashing thread. Thanks.

We're completely different but comparable. Each country has its own benefits. So please stop the superiority rubbish.

We might be a long way from Europe but have NZ and the South Pacific, but don't need to get on a plane for diversity. We have stunning - and deserted - white sand beaches, or rural getaways where you don't see another soul. All within easy driving distance for most of us. Bliss.

I live on a mountain in Southern QLD and it's rarely baking hot.

I'm in Aus and would never move back to the U.K.
The heat is only very hot Jan/feb and even then most places have aircon and you can still get out morning and later afternoon. We tend to stay in during the hottest part of the day. The rest of the year is bloody beautiful.

I can get a gp appointment the next day, investigations within a week or two and the healthcare system is not crumbling.
The schools have enough teachers.

Cost of living is high but petrol is half the price and wages are a lot higher. We have bought a place here which we couldn't afford to do in the U.K.
People are a lot nicer, generally look on the brighter side of life, not constantly complaining. People exercise more and get outside a lot more. I also find people are a lot more open to adult friendships and making new friends because there are a lot of expats here.

We are far from Europe but 4 hours by plane to Fiji, New Zealand, Bali, Indonesia. 9 hours to Thailand and Hawaii etc. Plus so many beautiful places to see within Australia too.

If you can do a working holiday for six month, I'd go for it. You only live once.

I spent 10 years in London and would never go back to live. You don't appreciate how fucking dirty, noisy, rude and overcrowded the place is until you step away.

I moved home to Aus 4 years ago, live just out of Melbourne and love it. But I'm glad to be near family and friends mostly.

To the previous dickish posts slagging Aus, I'll just clarify some things

• Amazon is brilliant. Same service we got in London
• Everyone has streaming services, otherwise yes same shit tv as the UK
• Weather is 1000 times better than UK
• We are a long way from other places. Lucky us 🙂
• Our accents are no better or worse than some accents I came across in the UK. What an Aussie would never do is fake an accent like I knew a few British people do so their true accent wasn't judged

I think we managed a whole week before the next Australia bashing thread.
I would never consider leaving in the uk. The attitude to anything even slightly different to what is considered normal or acceptable, the superiority complex and the talking down to us peasants in other countries.

Lived in the UK for about a year. Didnt like it at all, so we left again. We have no ties there though, so maybe thats why.
Moved to Aus and stayed 4 years. It was just wonderful. Great people, lifestyle, weather, beautiful landscapes. Everything is quite spread out, so you do need to drive to get around easily.
The only thing i missed was my family and short city trips to other countries. Europe is just much better for that obviously. There are lots of weekend getaway options within Aus though!
We moved back when my second child was born, because i wanted to be with my family. But every time we go back to visit it just feels like home again.

I’m currently in Australia.

If you can get a working holiday visa, go for it! It is a great way to see another part of the world and experience a similar but different lifestyle.

Your initial post didn’t reference a working holiday which is quite different to a permanent move and that might explain some of the more negative responses upthread.

I need to comment on the weather though - Australia is a huge country and it gets both much hotter and much colder than in the UK. The Australian snowfields are fantastic and make Aviemore and the Cairngorms(as lovely as they are) look like a joke. Houses tend to be poorly insulated so you will feel the cold here far more than in the UK. And it is currently lunchtime and too hot for me to go out. So…extremes.

Exactly, the damage caused by British invasion has taken way too long to repair, but there's been a huge amount of progress lately, with the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and a referendum on an indigenous voice to Parliament coming very soon.

The majority of Australians voted for a new government who promised to make these things happen.

The minority whose party lost the election? Well they're same sort of people who'd vote for a right wing, racist, self serving government in the UK too - and did.

No need to be afraid. We don't want you here judging by that post.

FFS Could we stop with the spiders? I lived for decades on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Prime funnel web location ( that's a venomous spider) Never even saw one.
Nobody has died from a funnel web spider in decades. I actually don't know of anyone dying from a spider bite since anti-venom was devised decades ago.
You are much more likely to get killed by driving to the local stables ( car accident) and if that doesn't get you being thrown off a horse. Pretty sure that is just as likely in the UK.
If you think it is a horrible place - fine - don't come - but please stop pretending we are all being killed by spiders! Gah!

I love that it's just like the U.K. but sunny

OP if you are serious about moving you need to get this idea out your head, Australia is not the UK with sun, it is a completely different way of life and culture, this is why so many expats end up coming back to the UK because they think like you do and are blindsided when the penny drops.

I lived in Oz for two years in Perth WA. I was glad to be back, I found it very difficult to settle there. It was bloody expensive. The cost of living was difficult, I found it better in the UK. Even though dhs work paid ok, it wasn’t brilliant and not one of his better ideas. We seemed to struggle money wise there, but not here in the UK. Same job.
Weather was great and yes, you need to be able to drive as that makes life easier.

It really depends where you are - you are much more likely to see those in the warmer parts of the country.

In inner city Melbourne, I get the odd bug inside. I've never seen a snake and most spiders are not very big. The worst thing I get inside are flies.

As for how the Indigenous people are treated, we are voting and changing where we can. Education is important for anyone entering Australia and you should take it on yourself to learn the truth and experience of the Indigenous population of the area you want to live.

Send me some of your spray for the baddies we get here sometimes!!

What @KnickerlessParsons said about them being not very nice to the indigenous populations. That’s why I couldn’t stay. The UK is bloody fantastic in comparison. Also weather. Actually far easier to have a healthy outdoor lifestyle here in our temperate climate than in Oz

I've lived in London and Melbourne so...

I often don't recognise Australia from the snide comments on here - maybe they went to Queensland and didn't like it? I have a very nice quality of life here and overall spend less on rent, transport etc than I did in London.

Compared to London, it's cleaner, less rubbish and dirt around. I get into the GP when I want and public transport is clean. Food quality is great. People tend to finish work at 5ish and take their lunch break, so there is a decent work life balance.

It all comes down to what you want. If you want to be popping across to Europe frequently, don't come here. If you want an easy going life, with lots of opportunity to spend time outdoors, Aus will suit you. Its not some kind of paradise but I feel my quality of life is better as a single person.

If you don't like baking heat, don't go to Queensland - try Melbourne or Tasmania. What have you got to lose?

I’ve never seen a wild snake 🐍 and while there are plenty of spiders, you need to understand them and how to stop the bad ones. My kids learn all about them in kindy and school and tell me which are good and bad etc. we do a spider spray every 6 months to stop them coming in the house.

We have kangaroos living at the end of our street so that’s pretty great.

I absolutely could not cope with the spiders

I am in Australia. have been for 12 years from Devon. I have lived in Far North Queensland, country Victoria and now Northern suburbs of Adelaide.

The cost of living was a huge shock seeing as I came from minimum wage/benefits in UK. We have worked hard and now DH is in defence so are doing ok.

I had to stop comparing prices as £ to $ and instead as % of hourly rate or similar. It really helped change that mindset.

If you come over don’t imagine it will be the same. Brands are different but equally good. Fresh food is amazing so I don’t know why pp said food is crap.

Generally it is what you make of it. It can get unbelievably hot but winters depending on where you are can be quite nice. Qld was like mild uk summer but Vic was rather chilly but not freezing.

I will probably never go back to uk to live unless something awful happens. It’s been hard being away from family but again make the most of any phone calls/ visits.

if you can get a work visa you should try it.

Not sure about the hate for Australia is, as a PP said?

I spent a year there eon a working holiday visa that the op is looking into and could not have enjoyed it more.

Do it op, apply and go.

As for this comment :

Horrible weather, horrible accents, horrible animals, horrible lifestyle, horrible everything

^

Really?? Bit unnecessary

No way. Eight legged monsters are plentiful there.

Can I pick the UK please.
For no other reason that Australia has lots of horrible spiders and snakes ( other creepy-crawlies available ) which terrified me of coming across when I holidayed there.

The UK is screwed if I could leave taking my family I would.