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Emigrating to Australia
Last year nearly 20,000 Brits became permanent residents of Australia. David Fuller takes a look at why you might be thinking about following suit and emigrating to Australia. All you need is a visa!
Sun, sea and sand are just some of the many factors which have for so long made emigrating to Australia so popular amongst British immigrants. In a survey carried out by Outbound Media & Exhibitions last year, Australia's sunny climate was given as the second most popular motivation behind people's decision to swap their old life in Blighty by emigrating to Australia.
Australia's sunny climate
Boasting a national average annual temperature of 22.1oC – ranging from a median 12-month low of 12oC in the Tasmanian capital, Hobart, to a high of 27oC in Darwin in the Northern Territory – the appeal of Australia's climate to Brits should come as no real surprise given that the UK's yearly average hovers just below the 10oC mark - a key reason why Brits often think about emigrating to Australia? However, according to the Outbound survey it would seem that it is the country's lifestyle – the chance to kick back and relax away from the hustle and bustle of the overcrowded, cold and increasingly loutish UK – which Brits find most appealing about emigrating to Australia.
It's almost impossible to think of emigrating to Australia without picturing either people enjoying a leisurely beer at a barbecue, surf dudes strutting their stuff at one of the country's gloriously golden sandy beaches or of afternoons spent just lazily idling away the time in the sun. But don't get too carried away by the stereotypes, well not completely carried away, anyway. While there will almost certainly be plenty of time for enjoying the sun and relaxing in your new surroundings, the unfortunate fact is it won't all be play, play, play Down Under.
According to data released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2005, Aussies work on average more hours in a year than Germans, Canadians and even Brits, putting in 1,816 work hours – 34.9 hours a week without taking the standard 20 days holiday into account – compared to the paltry 1,652 spent at work by Brits. However, before you get too disheartened and start to imagine that, despite your dreams of a more relaxed lifestyle, by emigrating to Australia you will merely be swapping one rat race for another, don't worry. The workplace in Australia is generally far more relaxed than what you will have probably been used to in Britain, with workers not tied to the desk because they have to be there, more because they want to be.
The fact is that people in Australia do have a hard work ethos when it's needed, but they also have the right attitude about leisure time, namely be sure to make the most of it. One need only look at possibly Australia's best known sportsman of the modern era, cricketer Shane Warne, for a case in point. While it's no secret that Warne has been known to enjoy a beer and generally have a good time outside of cricket, when he's working his commitment is second to none. This pretty much sums up the Australian attitude to life – work hard, play hard.
So if you are emigrating to Australia, you will not be disappointed when it is time to play either, however you choose to spend your free time. From hours spent enjoying the sun on one of the country's 11,000 beaches – most of the top migrant destinations in Australia have coastline, so the beach is likely to play an important part in your new life no matter where you settle – to watching or playing sport, meeting up with your new friends at barbecues, wildlife watching or simply just putting your feet up and relaxing with a glass of wine, there are plenty of ways to make the most of your new life. Yet more compelling reasons for emigrating to Australia?
'We have a great lifestyle out here'
As British migrant Debra Littlewood, who emigrated to the small town of Wagin, Western Australia, in November 2005, says: "We have a great lifestyle out here and emigrating to Australia was the best thing we could have done. Don't get me wrong, we do work hard, but not as hard as we did in the UK, and more importantly we enjoy what we're doing for a living. We definitely also spend more time together as a family, which is equally important."
With all that Australia has going for it, it will probably come as no surprise for you to learn that in a survey carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit last year, which ranked 127 worldwide cities in order of best to live in, all five Australian cities included in the study were ranked much higher than any of the British cities surveyed. Melbourne, in second, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney in joint fifth and Brisbane in 11th all finished way ahead of Manchester (41st) and London and Dublin (joint 47th). So will you be emigrating to Australia soon?
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