In the depths of London winter, when the grey drizzle and chill is endless, it’s hard to feel fond of our city. Australia, with its warmer climate, higher wages, and no language barrier for English speakers may be far away, but it exerts a strong pull. There are over 46,000 Brits living in Australia on temporary visas as of December 2024, up from just 3,600 in December 2021. But is the sunny, beach-based life all it’s cracked up to be?
Simi is a junior doctor who moved to Melbourne in January of 2024. “What really prompted me to leave was a combination of different factors that I think a lot of young people in the UK are experience at the moment,” Simi tells me. “Number one was this culture of misery that’s been created in the UK over the past five years,” she explains, citing the political climate, a lack of green space and disappearing creative venues.
