13 Things That'll Make You Seriously Consider Moving To Australia Rather Than Just Visiting It

You won't wake up one day and wish you were back in Australia — because you'll still be here.

Ever get sick of seeing everyone else's Instagram posts about how amazing life Down Under is? I bet you're thinking of jacking in your life at home, packing a suitcase and jetting off to Australia.

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Trust me, I understand. Five years ago, finally fed up with the endlessly grey clouds that lingered over London, I packed up my life and did the very same thing.

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What I didn't know was that, five years later, I'd still be here.

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See, I'd been travelling before. In fact, travelling was (and still is) something I love to do.

The way I saw it at the time was that I'd probably come to Australia, have a little adventure and before long be sat back at a desk in London, staring out of the window asking myself how I got there again — and already planning my next trip.

I remember someone telling me during my first few months in the country that the longer you stay in Australia, the harder it is to leave — and that's something I've found to be very true.

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In fact, I'm going to go a step further and say that if you're thinking about travelling around Australia, you should really consider moving here instead. Here's why.

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1. You don't have to rush to see everything all at once.

BuzzFeed / Nick Arnold

If you meet people who are travelling around Australia, they might tell you something like this: "We saw the Sydney Opera House, then went to Bondi Beach. Then we drove the Great Ocean Road and got a snap of the Twelve Apostles. After that we flew to Byron and drove all the way up to Darwin, but via Uluru, so we didn't skip that. Oh, and that was in our first two weeks."

I totally get it — more often than not when you travel you want to squeeze as much as you can into your trip. But sometimes rushing to see everything can take away from the experience itself, because you can become so preoccupied by where you've got to get to next.

When you move to Australia, you realise that there's no urgency to see everything all at once. Sure, there's loads to see. But you'll have heaps more time to see it all instead of rushing through the tickbox of sites you've made for yourself.

2. Which means you appreciate everything you get to do.

BuzzFeed / Nick Arnold

When you travel, if you're on the road day after day, you might reach a certain level of saturation. Oh, another important historical site? Oh, another really impressive beach? Oh, another stunning sunrise?

As incredible as the things are that you're seeing, if you're seeing them every single day you might start to become a little complacent.

If you move to Australia, instead of just travelling — and instead, spread your trips out, you'll become far more appreciative of all the cool stuff that you get to do.

3. You can take the time to figure out where you like best.

BuzzFeed / Nick Arnold

Sydney or Melbourne? Perth or Brisbane? Adelaide or Darwin? What about Canberra?

One decision a lot of people can't get out of their heads when they come to travel around Australia is where they should base themselves. 

When you live here you get to explore everywhere, which means having the time to work out where you actually like the best.

4. You won't have any 12-person-dorm hostel horror stories.

Forgot how much "fun" sharing a dorm room with strangers is! #travelling pic.twitter.com/mudrOHRTyv

— 🐊 Josh Gater (@joshgater) April 20, 2017

Picture this: You're lying in your bunk just about to fall asleep when a group of drunkards get back to the dorm room and wake everybody up. Disruptions like these are something you'll have to get used to if you're staying in a hostel.

Don't get me wrong — staying in hostels and dorms when you travel can be lots of fun, and great for your budget. But it has its cons as much as its pros.  

When you move somewhere more long-term, you get to wave goodbye to the hostel horror stories and swap it for the luxury of your own place.

5. And then you actually feel settled.

BuzzFeed / Nick Arnold

Spending all your time on the road going from one place to another can get pretty draining. 

But in contrast, if you do manage to pick a city and find a house that you like, then you get to start to making yourself a new home.

You start to feel settled, you get to know the neighbours, find your local coffee spots and soak in all of the good things that come with being based somewhere for a longer amount of time.

6. You get to experience Aussie life as a local.

BuzzFeed / Nick Arnold

And that means experiencing life the same way that the locals do which if, like me, you're from the UK, will look nothing like your life back home.

7. And it really is the lifestyle you dreamt about before you came.

BuzzFeed / Nick Arnold / Via Nick Arnold

You know when you go on holiday, you force yourself to wake up, get to the beach and have a sunrise dip as much as you can, while you can? 

Well, when you live in Australia, that becomes something you just do every day before work  — imagine that!

8. You don't just spend all your money, you can actually make some too.

BuzzFeed / Nick Arnold

A common story amongst travellers is that they spent a period of time busting a gut and saving every penny possible to be able to fund their trip. Then, when months later the money's run dry, they go back home to do it all again.

But when you move to Australia, not only will you end up living somewhere that you can boundlessly explore until the cows come home, but you can do it whilst earning money at the same time.

The Aussie minimum wage is, coincidentally, higher than what we have in the UK, so you might even make more than you would back home!

9. Plus you can get a job doing something that you love.

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If you've been thinking of making a career change, moving to Australia might not have been the first thing to pop into your head.

I have a friend who wanted to become a professional lifestyle photographer. So when she moved to Sydney, she decided that that's what she was going to try and work as — and she succeeded!

If you move to Australia on a working holiday visa, you're not confined to working in a specific industry — which means you have the freedom to find something that you actually love doing.

10. If you do your farm work, you get to try something completely different.

One of the perks of the working holiday visa is that it's pretty easy to turn it from one year into two. And once you get here, even a whole year won't seem like long enough.

If you do 88 days of regional work, then it's likely the government could grant you a second year on your working holiday visa. 

A lot of people opt to do fruit picking or farm work which — while it's probably not something you ever thought you'd be doing — might turn out to be an unforgettable experience.

11. AND you get money back when you do leave the country.

BuzzFeed / Nick Arnold

Australia has something called superannuation, which is essentially similar to a pension in the UK. Even if you move to Australia on a working holiday visa, an employer will pay you an amount into a super and, if you end up leaving Australia, you get it back when you go.

It's called the Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP), and it means that even if you have rinsed your money dry by the time you leave, you might get a few extra $$ in your account when you get home...if you ever go home that is.

12. You get to find your people.

BuzzFeed / Nick Arnold

One of the best things about travelling is all the people that you meet along the way. But more often than not they're normally other travellers too, which means they often leave your life as fast as they came into it.

Moving to Australia, on the other hand, gives you the chance to build deeper relationships — to meet new people who you can form longer-lasting friendships with, until you can't imagine your life without them.

13. And finally, it's not all over in the blink of an eye.

BuzzFeed / Nick Arnold

If I haven't managed to convince you already, consider this my last attempt.

When you go travelling, one day you wake up in your bed back home and it feels like your whole trip never even happened.

By moving to Australia, settling in a bit more and having the time, money and people to enjoy exploring the country with, you feel a lot more present while it's all actually happening.

You won't wake up one day and wish you were back in Australia, because you'll still be here!