Plenty of sunshine and beaches in the Mediterranean region, I would even go as far as saying you get far more sunshine in Italy, South of France, Spain and Greece.
We had three insanely wet years with La Niña and even this year, Christmas New Year was pretty wet and still is. Very cloudy again today, and it has been far too windy lately to be pleasant to be on the beach.
The downside for me is the distance. Not only for the price of flights but also the amount of time it takes you to go anywhere. Unless your final destination is a major city with an intercontinental airport, you might have to take 3 flights.
Since COVID, every time I have been back to Europe, shit happened, be it losing luggage, leg cancelled, flight diverted, which all take time to fix.
You can't really move on impulse. There is a nice exhibition at Palazzo Ducale in Venice? pop in a plane from anywhere in Europe, and go and spend the weekend in Venice.
I am not sure I share the view of those saying there is great access to culture. There is very little if one wants to do something even weekend, especially museums wise. The visiting exhibitions are often extremely tiny and compacted in a very small space which steals some of their value.
Music, yes, we get artists but no way as much as Europe or USA. The opera calendar has been on repeat, and theatre wise, the Sydney Theatre Company is great, the Biennale is cool as well.
Most people however are not into arts in any way or form. They go to work during the week, take the kids to soccer or nippers in the weekend, then maybe have a BBQ and a beer. I guess this is what you mean with lad culture?
Plenty of bush walking if this is something you are into. There are many National parks.
Skiing is crap compared to the Alps and Dolomites. Most people go to New Zealand or Japan.
The beaches are pretty. I live on the Northern Beaches and can walk to the beach. Houses come in every size, from huge mansions to small townhouses. Pretty expensive at every level.
The knowledge about general culture, geography, international affairs is shockingly low. Even recent history. Geography at school is a lot focused on agriculture, soil, water more than studying the world countries, capitals, rivers and mountains.
Health is another surprising one. Following my husband through his postings we have used several health systems and the Australian one is not great, or it is great if you are either very healthy or very sick. Private health insurance here doesn't cover specialist visits or exam such as MRI, Ultra sound and so on. It covers hospital stays, and might include partial private surgery (the fund will reimburse what Medicare would have paid) , so specialist visits are quite expensive. Here you do not see an Ob/GYN for yearly checks, or other specialties for preventative screenings and medicine. You pay for PCP, even if you can still find some free doctors,(called bulk billing) z but most are dreadful, so I'd rather pay the 50$ gap and see a regular.
Private funds will cover for dental or glasses and partially other things such as physio, but no way worth what you would get for the same amount of private even in UK.
If you have/want kids, no paediatrician, unless they are very sick or have a disorder.
Elective surgeries have sky high waiting lists even for very essential ones, unless you go private with several thousands out of pocket expenses.
I come from Monaco, where there is plenty of sun and beaches. For nature, I have to step into France or Italy, but salaries are quite high.
Australia is pretty, but also pretty boring if you are not nature crazy. Very quiet and laid back life which suits many.
And bloody hell, do people go to bed early here!!!!