I am 31, and considering moving to Australia…

Yes! Don’t overthink it! This could be your last opportunity to do something like this.

As a Brit who is the happiest Australian citizen living my best life in Perth, here are my answers to your questions -

Pros?

The lifestyle and the opportunity. The weather is glorious too - it’s not about summer, it’s about the beautiful springs and autumns, and winter not being ridiculously cold either!

Cons?

It’s a long way from the UK - the flight seems to feel more out of reach the older I get (distance and time wise).

Cities:

Everyone has their own opinion, but Melbourne and Sydney are must sees. Sydney is my favourite of the two. Perth is incredible too - but I’d say it’s more the day to day lifestyle that makes it. It is a lot smaller and quieter, so might not be the best place to start your adventure, but perhaps the place to end it! 😊

Spiders and snakes:

No! Not at all. I’ve barely seen any snakes in the last 15 years, and when I have, they’ve been in places you’d expect them - sand dunes (not the beach) and out in the bush.

I never knew that!

I think NZ sounds lovely. I've never met a Kiwi I haven't liked and a (a very well-travelled) friend, whose judgment I very much respect, said that if she ever had to leave the UK, it's the place she'd most like to settle in.

No poisonous bitey things is a definite plus imo.

Many more people travel from the UK to Australia than vice versa. The number of people born in the UK currently living in Australia is more than 10 times the number of people born in Australia currently living in the UK. (And the UK population is only around 3x that of Australia).

Yeah but SE Asia is worth the expense. When you're helping feed the elephants at a no-ride Thai elephant sanctuary that rescues these beautiful gentle darlings, or ordering pancit in your broken Tagalog then joyriding in a tuktuk around Manila with five new friends, you're not thinking, "Gosh, I wish I lived in Luton. I could have got a Sleazyjet flight to Latvia. It would have been cheaper."

You do realise that hundreds of people leave Britain and come to Australia just as people leave Australia for Britain? I mean , why do you have such a biased view that the ticket should only be set for Britain . Have you ever been ? Who cares what Joe blow down the road thinks . Glad you are giving op your permission though .

How are people's experiences of relocating in the other direction relevant to the OP's question?

You desperately want to believe the UK is better but you have zero personal knowledge or experience to go on, so you're relying on third hand accounts from people you haven't even met. And the fact that everyone's clamouring to get on a plane and get the fuck out of there at every opportunity.

Been a few times to Australia, didn't find any of those. Just for balance.

If OP wants to go, fine with me. It's her life

Arf.

DS being a working professional in London has met numerous Aussies who have shifted to London. He's met many from major Australia cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth etc.... ) and they all find the pace of life too boring in Australia.

They also love having access to cheap flights to Europe. A lot cheaper than Australian flights to SE Asia.

If OP wants to go, fine with me. It's her life.

Barcelona was the only place I've been where you have to disappoint your mugger because the previous mugger completely cleaned you out ten steps before.

The Eurocentricity on display from some here is always a bit sad and narrow. The world is a lot bigger and more varied and interesting than just places to get to by Wizz Air.

Since Brexit, it has not been at all easy to go on working holidays or stay for longer than 180 days in the 27 EU countries. Also, I would imagine, language would make a difference to the OP?

Not meaning to be rude OP- you're bored in your area in the UK - that's fine - we've all done that - BUT what's wrong with with Europe - Barcelona, Seville, Rome, Greece, Bulgaria (SOME beautiful places there - believe me!), Croatia - Split is fantastic - you don't need to go so far!

Calling 65,000+ years of Indigenous culture “not much history” and mocking Acknowledgements of Country as “random pronouncements” is peak uneducated racism. You went to Australia and didn't bother to educate yourself? You should be ashamed.

😂😂😂😂😂😂 Australia absolutely has history — just not the white, colonial kind you're clearly craving. It’s the land of the oldest continuing cultures on Earth, with over 65,000 years of rich Indigenous knowledge, art, and connection to place. If you didn’t notice any of that while you were there, maybe the issue isn’t that Australia lacks history, just that you weren’t looking beyond buildings that resemble Europe?!

OP do it. You're thinking of going for just one year out of your entire life... Go and have an adventure!!!

I think Mudsca forgot that there are places in the world that don't have such miserable summers that people need to fly somewhere else to enjoy them.

@Mudsca

Most of Australia is uninhabitable and where do you go for summer holidays?

A beach if that’s your thing? There’s so, so many to choose from. Tropical, semi-tropical, temperate. Or camping! And a little secret - we don’t just holiday in the summer as our climate is generally fairly forgiving. We holiday any time of the year.

I'm glad you told us about that one guy your DS knows who moved from Melbourne to London 15 years ago. That's definitely something the OP needs to weigh up when deciding if she should move.

What do Australians do in the Summer! Poor them - they go to a local beach! Particularly if they live in Adelaide, Sydney or Perth! If they live in Melbourne they would probably travel down the coast a bit to go the beach - about an hour away generally at most and if they live in Brisbane they have the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coasts not far away either. If they live in Canberra they either go to Sydney or to the NSW coast and they have some of the best beaches anywhere in the world from Pambula to Newcastle - those poor Aussies! Nothing to do and nowhere to go in Summer - without even getting on a plane!

Possibly Mudsca is confusing uninhabited with uninhabitable.

Wow, just wow! Such utter ignorance - you should be embarrassed.

(Laughing out loud at the thought of all the poor Australians wondering what on earth they should do for their summer holidays!!).

Just because YOU don’t see the appeal , means nothing . Millions do .

Yes, Australians famously never travel anywhere for the summer holidays. There is literally nothing to see or experience in a country 35 times larger than the UK with 6 distinct climate zones.

We never go anywhere else either. Mostly we just sit at home and sigh “Well, other countries are more than two hours away, kids, so it looks like we can’t go anywhere. Three hours to New Zealand and four to Indonesia, you say? No, the human body wasn’t designed to withstand such suffering.We’ll have to just stay here.”

The continent... lol.

There's another, more interesting continent above Oz.

One of DS's work colleagues (a man in his 40s) moved from Melbourne to London in 2010 and has now started a life here..

Most of Australia is uninhabitable and where do you go for summer holidays?

No under 2hr flights to anywhere. Unlike in the UK where a 2 hour flight allows you access to the continent.

I just don't see the appeal.

I’m Australian, living in Melbourne and I love it here but most of my family here and it’s home to me so I will have a very different perspective.

I’m a bit younger than you, but most of my friends are 30s and some have come out here from the UK and Ireland. Most say they came for the weather, jobs, nature and because it’s a great place to raise kids (we all have babies).

Australian society is generally very multicultural and welcoming of others.

The worst part is how far away Australia is from the rest of the world - travelling home would be a huge effort. It is expensive here, depends where you settle but cheaper than London. Dangerous animals generally don’t live where people live, unless you’re talking about far North Queensland.