Over a million British expats live in Australia with many Britons drawn by sunny weather, job opportunities and beautiful beaches.
However, life Down Under isn’t always everything it’s cracked up to be, according to one British expat who shared their experience on Reddit.
They claimed: “Australians are very insular. It’s very hard to break into a friendship group and become a real ‘friend’. If you don’t have friends from school, it’s hard to make new ones.”
It can be tricky for expats to make friends but this can be different for everyone as Australia has previously been named as one of the friendliest countries in the world.
The expat added: “It’s so far away from everything. I know that doesn’t seem like a problem but travel becomes expensive and that’s a big problem for me.
“Bali is six hours away from Melbourne. Bangkok is nine plus and that’s assuming you get a direct flight. London to Bangkok is only about 90 minutes longer!
“It’s not feasible to do a weekend away like it would be in Europe. Holidays within Australia are very expensive. I really miss being able to go to Europe and experience a whole new culture for cheap.”
Australia is one of the world’s most remote destinations so expats will find it’s very expensive to travel abroad.
The expat added that the distance also means there’s less choice of things to buy than in the UK and the timezone made it hard to communicate with people back home.
But it wasn’t all bad news as the expat said they felt their salary was good in Australia and they didn’t have to work overtime.
Of course, the weather is much better than in the UK. They said: “Weather is pretty good… it never really gets cold.
“I spend so much more time outside here which is so good for my mental health. We eat dinner on a warm balcony probably seven months of the year. It’s really lovely.”
Although the expat said that housing could be hard to find in Australia, they said London was much more unaffordable when it came to the cost of rent.
Despite the positives, they added: “I think we will definitely move back to Europe at some point due to the isolation.”
