Each year, many Australians choose to leave the hot weather and beaming sun behind for a new life in Britain – where our winters tend to be cold, damp and windy.
And although a study in The Times found that life expectancy in Australia is two years longer than in the UK, it seems some prefer the rainy Island.
FEMAIL spoke to both Brits and Australians who traded the slower pace of life in Australia for the rat-race in the UK.
Some said that while some people despise the fast-moving culture that London has, they enjoy being on the go constantly.
A Brit said she missed the proximity to Europe and experiencing different cultures, and added that although the sun shines almost constantly Down Under, there is ‘nowhere like London in the sunshine’.
‘London’s been the best time of my life’
Angus – an Australian – said he prefers London to Melbourne and enjoys the fast pace of life (pictured with his sister’s Chihuahua, Gio)
Angus Dunn has lived in north London for the past two years, after he moved from Melbourne and says it has been the ‘best time of his life’.
The 29-year-old, who works for CoursesOnline, a course comparison platform, was given the opportunity to move over by parent company Candlefox and has now renewed his contract to stay for a third year.
Although many people get overwhelmed with London’s rapid, hustle and bustle culture, Angus says he quite enjoys it.
He told FEMAIL: ‘I actually love the fast pace. I think it’s just really exciting here in a city of almost ten million people.
‘With my job, you’re always on the go and you need that hustle. You just need that attitude of getting up early and getting moving.’
‘I like the challenge of being in a new city, I think people generally like Australians in London, we feel pretty at home and welcome.’
He added that the proximity to Europe is a massive benefit to living in Britain and says he even drove to Paris for the Olympics last month, which he described as ‘surreal’.
‘From Melbourne to Paris it’s a 22-hour flight. I was able to drive onto the ferry and drive over to Paris in six hours, that was pretty incredible,’ he said.
Angus is enjoying going to sports games. Pictured: Angus at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium game with his pal Sebastian Button
Angus – a footballer lover – is pictured outside Anfield stadium in Liverpool
From a career perspective, Angus said he feels as though he is furthering his employability by being in the UK.
He said: ‘If you can do well in the UK and go back to Australia, you’ve kind of proven yourself. It’s a difficult market here, it’s three times harder to get a job here.
‘But if you can prove yourself here, you kind of go back to Australia [and be] very employable, because it’s seen as you’ve done well in a difficult market, in a European market, and that you get a lot of a lot of credit for that.
‘I actually think it’s a really good time to be in the UK as a young person as well. It’s really fun, I’ve got a lot of friends here, both Australians and British people, it’s probably taken a couple of years to build that social group.
‘I’m doing things like playing tag rugby and that’s helped build a social scene. In terms of work reasons, we’re a startup so I can work my way up the corporate ladder a little bit faster too.’
Angus believes that the NHS gets a ‘lot of heat’ but he had a positive experience using the health service.
‘I hurt my ankle playing squash towards the end of last year. I went to a hospital in Belsize Park and they were fantastic. I had three months of physio on my ankle and that fixed it, they were great. I really do think the NHS cops it unfairly a little bit.’
From a career perspective, Angus said he feels as though he is furthering his employability by being in the UK. Pictured at his house with James Delahunt and Gio
Angus is snapped enjoying dinner on a balcony in Vauxhall with his friends Claudia Graves, and Nick Biggs
However Angus admits that he is paying double the rent he would pay if he lived in Melbourne.
‘I used to pay about 1,000 Australian dollars for rent and now I pay £1,000 which is the equivalent of 2,000 Australian dollars.
‘Rent is very unaffordable, that’s for sure. But it’s just making those sacrifices like not going out for dinner as much, trying not to go to the pub too much. It can be difficult. Other than that it’s a great place live.’
When he feels things are getting too much, he goes for swims in Margate and leaves London for fresh air.
He said: ‘Winter here is very difficult, it takes a lot of time to adjust to. But I think you’ve just got to get over it. You need a good winter jacket, I had my parents send over a few extra winter jackets. I think I wasn’t prepared for how cold it [gets].’
‘I think these have been two of the best years of my life being over here. It’s a new chapter for me.’
Angus once had his phone snatched by a boy but he ‘chased after him’ and got it back, adding that going after the thief was a ‘very Australian thing to do’.
‘There’s nowhere like London in the sunshine’
Jessica Silver moved back to the UK in 2017 after five years living in Sydney and says that although Australia has nice beaches, there is ‘nowhere like London in the sunshine’.
She moved to Sydney aged 27 and said she was ‘so happy’ to have a change after working in London for five years.
The 40-year-old, who runs a footwear company named Friendly Shoes, said she has a brother who lived there so she knew she’d have a ‘ready-made support network’.
Jessica Silver moved back to the UK in 2017 after five years living in Sydney
She says that although Australia has nice beaches, there is ‘nowhere like London in the sunshine’ (pictured with her son)
She said: ‘The move was exciting and I am so grateful I got the chance for it – there was a time I wasn’t sure if I would move back but it just became apparent to me when my time felt like it was up there.’
Jessica initially knew she wanted to move back after a visit back home and she felt ‘more of a pull to be back here versus there’.
She added: ‘From a financial perspective, you earn slightly more there but the cost of living was high – I was living in Bondi however which is an expensive part of the country.
‘Moving back to the UK really wasn’t on my radar – in fact, when other expat friends left over my time I would question why they would leave.
‘Until suddenly it just felt like it was my turn to leave. I felt like I’d had a wonderful time in Oz but ultimately I wanted to be back in London and Sydney was lacking what I wanted.’
Jessica said she wanted to experience more culture and be close to Europe again. Within a couple of months of her moving back, she met her husband and started up her footwear business with her best friend.
Jessica initially knew she wanted to move back after a visit back home and she felt ‘more of a pull to be back here versus there’
Jessica is snapped with Nancy, who she runs the business Friendly Shoes with
‘Whilst these things weren’t intentional it made the decision even more worthwhile. I can’t wait to take my husband and son back to Australia soon and show them round,’ she said.
‘I have only fond memories of it there but it’s very much the end of that chapter. I love being back in the UK, close to lots of family, having a busy career and feeling settled.
‘I’m at a different stage of life now, Sydney was great for me in my late 20s and early 30s but now I’m older, I’m happy to be back home.
‘The weather is obviously better most of the time in Sydney, but coming to the end of summer here, there’s nowhere like London in the sunshine.’
The outdoor culture in Australia made Jessica appreciate getting out into nature more when back in the UK.
She added: ‘That’s something about London which is great – yes the weather isn’t always on your side but the green space here is gorgeous and abundant and we also spend a lot of time visiting family on the south coast.
‘I would say that my time in Sydney has made me more of a coffee snob so I always search out the Aussie coffee spots here.’
Jessica said she feels happier living in Britain, but believes that it is only because she had such a ‘full five years’ living in Australia and set out to do things she’d never thought she would achieve – such as running a half marathon.
‘It’s easier to travel to Europe’
Simba Riva said he decided to move to London in 2022, as he was frustrated with Australia’s Covid-19 rules.
The 30-year-old, who is the founder of Hemy Elevate, a brand that sells waterproof products such as gloves and socks, said that when things were opening up again in parts of the UK, Australians were still scanning QR codes to get into restaurants.
However, Simba said he also wanted to move across to England because his business had been booming for waterproof productions in the country, as opposed to Australia.
He said: ‘A lot of my customers were in Melbourne simply because that’s the only place in Victoria that rained all year long.
‘The rest of Australia is warm so I started to get a lot of orders in the UK as well. But shopping from Australia was a bit [difficult].’
Simba Riva said he decided to move to London in 2022, as he was frustrated with Australia’s Covid-19 rules (pictured at Wimbledon)
Simba said the UK weather is ‘perfect’ for his business as Britain is rainy, which he added was a ‘massive blessing’.
He said: ‘Launching my business here was a massive game changer, the market is bigger, you have access to Europe and easy access to the USA and that has been fantastic. I have no intentions of going back home.’
The entrepreneur said that to even leave Australia, you have to take your full four weeks annual leave at a time to deal with the jet lag of flying anywhere out of the country.
‘The Australian dollar is not as strong as the Euro or the Pound so it’s expensive to come out, book your hotel and stay anywhere in Europe,’ he added.
He said the amount of freedom people have to travel to different countries without the hassle is ‘mind blowing’.
During his time living in England, Simba has travelled to Spain, Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Amsterdam, Portugal and Sweden.
When asked about the weather change, Simba said from a business perspective he likes the damp UK, as it ‘pays his bills’.
However, from a personal perspective, he enjoys the more obvious season change between summer and winter.
Simba said he also wanted to move across to England because his business had been booming for waterproof productions in the country, as opposed to Australia
‘I kind of like the idea. I’ve never owned a puffer coat and I’ve never cared about Christmas in Australia because I just used to go to the beach with my mates,’ Simba said.
‘But here, there’s a massive Christmas spirit during that winter period and everyone is all jolly.’
He said that while the sun sets very early in the darker months, it has actually made him appreciate the sun more.
Like Jessica, Simba also believes that London becomes a ‘different place’ when the sun shines.
‘I’ve always told everyone summer in London is more vibrant than summer in Sydney. I think we definitely take the sun for granted back home, whereas here, when it comes out everyone in the Underground is smiling, you never see that,’ he added.
In terms of the working day, Simba believes that time flies when you’re in the capital city and like Angus, he enjoys the busy lifestyle of London, as opposed to Sydney and Melbourne.
‘The transport in London is far superior to Sydney’
Hannah Zaslawski moved to the UK from Sydney after the Covid lockdown and said it had ‘always been her dream to move to London.’
Aged 29, she moved to the Hackney area and enjoyed spending time in the capital city and especially liked the passionate arts and culture scene.
Speaking about the differences between the two countries, she said: ‘Australia is slow. So slow. In terms of the lifestyle, Sydney is such an early bird city, everyone’s up early working out, going for coffee, swimming or catching the sunrise.
‘But you won’t catch a coffee anywhere after 2pm, and you’ll be in bed by 9.30pm Whereas I found London a very snoozy city in the morning, probably cause the weather isn’t there for it, it is a lot quicker paced. Everyone’s on the move with places to be and things to do.’
Hannah Zaslawski moved to the UK from Sydney after the Covid lockdown and said it had ‘always been her dream to move to London’
She said that work-life balance was very prevalent in Sydney, whereas she noticed many of her housemates would ‘work until 8pm to climb the corporate ladder’ in London.
Hannah is now back in Sydney and while she does not necessarily prefer London, she admits the transport in the capital city is ‘far, far, far superior’.
She added: ‘It’s so easy, run every two minutes, and there are stops everywhere, and I never got over the double decker buses.
‘I’m back in Sydney and the idea of missing my train and having to wait 15 minutes for the next one haunts me. Sydneysiders drive a lot more, I would say driving is more essential here as we aren’t so well connected.’
Like Simba, Hannah said she experienced her first cold winter in Britain and said that although she experienced SAD during her time here, she got to experience a ‘real Christmas’ for the first time.
The customer service compliant manager said: ‘Living in London [was the first time] I experienced snowfall, and my first year living there we had that beautiful snow day, I was absolutely giddy.
‘I took myself to Hampstead Heath, and that’s still one of my favourite days in London. I also loved my first cold Christmas, I finally felt like I was experiencing the right Christmas, wearing cozy jumpers and drinking hot chocolate and mulled wine.
‘In Australia for Christmas it’s a lot of bikinis and fake snow outside of houses. I also found that when Summer came along in London it completely changed the atmosphere, I don’t think we have that huge shift in Sydney because we have good weather all year round.’
The 32-year-old added: ‘I have my highs and lows in both. I wish I could have the weather and lifestyle of Sydney but with the atmosphere and business of London.’
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