I am 31, and considering moving to Australia…

[WhereamIgoing25]

So, as the title says: I am 31 years old, currently living in London, single (actually just been dumped by someone I was dating for a few months!), no dependents and a bit fed up with life here / in the UK… and thinking of moving to Aus for a year or so.

Don’t get me wrong - I have a pretty active social life, and I am close to my family and friends - but apart from that I don’t feel like anything is keeping me here. Especially not my job / career! It wouldn’t be a permanent move (I don’t think) but I am ready for a change.

Thought I would turn to MN for some advice! I’ve never been to Aus / NZ but I’ve always had it in the back of my mind to visit / move there.

Pros? Cons? Did you do it? Would you do it if you could? Best cities to move to? Are there really spiders and snakes everywhere?

Look into a working holiday visa - UK citizens can apply unto 35. It will also to travel around as well. https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/work-holiday-417/first-working-holiday-417#Eligibility

Sydney is nice but preferred Melbourne. Perth & Freemantle are lovely - definite go there. West coast is stunning.

@WhereamIgoing25
Pro
Con
Have you done it
Yes NZ and OZ
Would you do it
See above
Best cities
Depends on the experience you want, I wouldn’t go WA - it limits your options if you don’t like it.
Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane are very different in their own right all are in the top 15 most expensive cities to live in the world
Snakes and Spiders
It’s really not anything to worry about - you’ll see snakes out walking and you’ll get bugs in your house.
Key considerations
WHV - can be hard to get a job, and in your early 30’s you’ll be competing with younger (cheaper) labour. So consider your employment options. Loads of employers will sponsor, loads won’t
Lifestyle is great, everyone is up early outside, exercising enjoying what OZ has to offer
Depending on what you do for work you can earn really well here.
Can it be sexist and racist - yes (so is the UK imo)
Housing is expensive, be prepared to pay London like prices.
Its cold in winter and houses are not built for it, I live in a brand new house in QLD and can find it cold (NSW and VIC are far worse)
Overall you wont regret it (I haven’t) and if you don’t like it go back!
You’ll miss some UK culture and Idiosyncrasies, like a pint in a proper pub, M&S snack food and a cold Christmas - and family!
Good Luck OP

Men can say they are women and get access to women's bodies = women officially seen as less important, silly sausage.

Our daughter is in her 2nd year of a 3 year working visa, going out after her graduation. I’m so pleased she is having this adventure and with technology it’s easy to keep in touch. She came back last year for 5 weeks and we are going out to visit later this year. If she chooses to stay it will be with our blessing. Go for it, life’s to short to have regrets.

Make sure you understand the visa conditions- https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/work-holiday-417

You can have a year of a lovely working holiday, but to extend your visa you have to work in certain areas or roles. How are your farming skills? Are you happy to be working somewhere v v v rural? I know a number of young people who did 3 months on sheep stations and hated every second.

There are people like that everywhere in the world indeed. So living in Saudi Arabia is just the same as living in Sweden.
And living in Knightbridge is the same as living in Dagenham.
Do some thinking before blurting stuff out.

It’s only a year (or three!) - what’s the worst that would happen? You don’t like it and come back. I did a gap year there in my early 20s and loved it but was happy to come back - for me, it’s too far from everywhere else (France, Italy, Greece… old places with history) and it all felt a bit like Ramsey Street to me, but it was brilliant for a year. The friend I went with stayed there and has just got her citizenship, over 20 years later.

How old are the oldest buildings in the "neighbourhood"? What was before that?
Yes nothing, so no history

So you'd include the USA in this definition?

Or try this:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/history

I wouldn’t move to somewhere I haven’t been before, no. I went to Australia for a year when I was 18 and was surprised how much of a culture shock it was, and how far away it felt. It’s REALLY far. Burger King is called Hungry Jacks for god’s sake. WTF! It’s another world 😆

But seriously I did find the culture so different, everything was kind of very flat and cookie cutter. Coming from London you’ll find it VERY white too. And I didn’t find it the eternally positive and fun and nice atmosphere people imagine it to be.

Honestly, do it. Worst case scenario, you come back to England. In your situation, I feel like you’ll always wonder what if. My partner did this then came home and we got together and had kids and he is so glad he did it. On the other hand, I have two friends who went abroad “for a year”, one is settled in Australia with a family and another is living life in Spain on her own

I can't comment on living in Australia, although I have visited and loved it.

I can definitely recommend living abroad though. I lived in an Eastern European country and then a South East Asian country in my 20s and early 30s. It was a great experience, and even the tricky parts helped me grow up and become more independent.

Very white? It really isn’t at all, the only other place if lived that is as multicultural is London.

Anyone who describes Australia as “very white” has never been to western Sydney. Or the equivalent in Melbourne. Just ridiculous.

But Australia flights might damage your budgetting

As for the comments about Australian(s) being very white and not very diverse, roughly one third of us were born overseas and nearly 50% have a parent born overseas. In a country of 25 million. Frankly it’s astounding how the armchair critics sit back in good old mother England and decry how backward we are here and fail to see how they are themselves being raciest, smug and small minded.

What?? Clearly living in different places won't be the same but racism, misogyny and exists the world over.

Very different culture. Much more free and easy, so if things not being done "properly" is going to wind you up, don't go.. The australian government created a little character called "Norm" and the ad campaign was "sometimes near enough isn't good enough"

Work out the things that are going to make you miserable and take steps to mitigate.. invest in airconditioning, or a fabulous view if you need to remind yourself why you came.

Stick to the edges of the country if you want a sea breeze.

The tap water is lovely. What's limescale?

Work out what sort of feel you want the city to have. Brisbane is much more shorts and T shirt than Sydney, which is more cospopolitan and laid back than melbourne, which is more vibrant but more straight laced (more British if you like - people will queue in melbourne. They won't in sydney). Adelaide is more of a backwater, and Perth is like Sydney was 40 years ago. Darwin is bloody hot and full of men.

The sense of humour is very different, very dry and very pervasive. People let things go more and care less than the british about most things.

Don't underestmate how bewildering it is when you know what you want at the supermarket but have no idea what it's called.

Be prepared to travel.. everywhere is a long way away, except that isn't far in australian terms. You can drive for 2 hours in sydney, and still be in sydney.

Always keep enough in your bank account so if it all gets too much you can get on a plane home. Just knowing it's there is probably enough to stop you needing to use it.

Go with the right frame of mind, and you'll have a fantastic time. Underestimate how different every single thing is, and you'll dissolve in a pool of frustration.

It is national reconciliation week in Australia, so it is a particularly offensive week for you to be spouting 'terra nullius'. Please stop.

You are being very racist. Your “nothing” is the land, rock carvings, art. You are being extremely offensive.

It is in the same league as 'I am going travelling on my gap yah to show how independent and strong I am' - mum, mum, can you Facetime me and wire some money to me? Google-maps, can you please build a route for me? Accommodation aggregator, can you please book accommodation for me? Google translate, can you please translate what I am about to say into google and translate it for me? To experience 'different' you don't go to a country with the same language, same legal system, same customs, same system of medical care (only paid for). You just hop on a bus in Victoria and go and try it in a really different country - Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria. Learn the language and try to figure out life in a totally different paradigm - like a trip to the early 20th century culturally.

Visit for a year on a working/holiday visa and see how you like the country. Too many people move to other countries without every really visiting or because they think the 'grass is greener'. Australia has it's plus points but equally it has it's minus too (like any other country). Don't go thinking it's Utopia. I have family out in Australia who emigrated in the early 70's as 'Ten pound Poms', back then life was tough. The Australian government wanted the Brits going there to settle but the people didn't, and it was incredibly hard to find someone who would employ you! Obviously things have moved on since then. Look at different areas in Australia, to see where you can afford/like. Living somewhere permanently is vastly different to being on holiday. Look at the rules for emigration. For example you can't apply to Citizenship after you are 45, so you need to do this well before. They don't want people draining their medical system. Do you have a skill they require, to live there permanently? Research research research!!

Wow so there was noting in Australia before the British invasion? So incredibly offensive.

I'd take a beachfront cafe at Byron Bay or a Greek restaurant in Melbourne over an overpriced and unimaginative National Trust cafe any day.

This is incredibly racist, ignorant and offensive. There was and is a complex Indigenous culture living in Australia for tens of thousands of years before they were colonised.