5 GOOD THINGS ABOUT LIVING IN AUSTRALIA
Australia has a reputation as one of the best countries to live in and one of the most popular countries for immigration. Almost 200 000 migrants move to Australia every year, and obtaining a visa can be a very lengthy and expensive process.
After two years in this country, I miss many things from back home, but in this post, you can find out what makes Australia a good country to live in.
1. WEATHER
Australia is famous for its warm weather, but this largely depends on where in Australia you live. For example, in the capital city, Canberra, temperatures in winter can drop below 0 degrees celsius. However, most of Australia experiences a warm to tropical climate, which I really like as I’m not a big fan of cold weather. I sometimes used to wear a t-shirt during the day in winter in Sydney since the temperatures can reach over 20 degrees! During the warm winter days you can sunbathe in your swimwear on the beach! Since I moved to Australia, I don’t hate winter anymore!
2. HIGH STANDARD OF LIVING
Australia is a land of opportunity. It’s one of the countries with the highest standard of living and salaries in the world. Currently, the minimum hourly wage is 20.33AUD. What I like about Australia are numerous educational, job opportunities, flexible work and study options. For example, if you want to work full-time while studying at the university, you can study part-time and attend lectures in the evening after work. If you don’t like school and you want to choose a trade job, you can leave school at the age of 16 and enroll in a vocational training course or start working. There are also options to enroll in a university as a mature age student and different options for a career change. Various educational and job opportunities provide career progression opportunities and good income.With an average salary, you can afford to buy a car, the latest iPhone and MacBook, eat out once or twice a month and travel once a year. Of course, this depends on your individual lifestyle and spending.
3. REGULATED COUNTRY
Australian public service is efficient compared to many other countries in the world. From strict speed limits and parking rules to laws for selling alcoholic drinks in bars and stores. Australia has clear regulations and laws for almost everything, there are restrictions for almost everything. For example, you can only buy alcoholic drinks in liquor stores and if you want to order shots in a bar after midnight, forget about it because it’s forbidden to sell strong alcoholic drinks after midnight. Although some laws and regulations can seem a bit excessive if you didn’t grow up in Australia, a regulated country means less bureaucracy headache as you can do most things online. Almost everything is digitized and you can pay by card everywhere. If you need to renew your driver’s license or change your home address you can do it online. To transfer my international driver license, I had to go to one of the offices, but the process was very quick. I got my number from the machine at the entrance and when my number was shown on the screen, I went to the counter where I provided all required documents, got my eyes checked and was photographed for the drivers license. I also paid my driver license fee at the counter and the license was sent to my home address within two weeks.
4. MULTICULTURALISM
Australia is a multicultural country with lots of opportunities to meet people from different cultures and parts of the world. Living with people from different cultures opens up your horizons and teaches you to accept people with different views and way of living. Something that’s completely normal for you might be unusual to people around you, but you learn to accept and respect cultural differences. In big cities in Australia, it’s normal to see people from different cultures wearing their traditional clothes, LGBT+couples and generally people with different fashion styles and life beliefs. When you encounter people different from you every day, it reminds you that there are so many different cultures and ways of living and makes you understand there is no reason to judge other people because they look or live differently than you. Unfortunately, people who look different or live differently than the majority are being judged and excluded from society in many parts of the world. In Australia, you can be who you are and no one will judge you for that. Multicultural society also means there are many different restaurants and bars to go out, perfect for those who love trying different cuisines. Mexican, Vietnamese, Japanese, Greek, Italian restaurants…it’s up to you to choose! In big cities, like Sydney and Melbourne, you’ll never run out of new and interesting places to go out.
5. NATURE
Did you know Australia is the country with the most national parks in the world, with as many as 685 national parks? There are more than 10 national parks in the near proximity of Sydney alone! Australia is a perfect country if you like spending time outdoors, are a nature-lover or love hiking. With eight different climates, nature is very diverse, so you can see different flora and fauna, from deserts, Mediterranean vegetation, tropical rainforests to deciduous forests. Here you can find some animals that you can’t find anywhere else in the world, with kangaroos, koalas, dingoes and Tasmanian devils being just one of those. Due to its size and natural diversity, you won’t be short of new options for hiking and exploring nature. People from all over the world come to see nature and travel around Australia in a campervan. Nature is not only beautiful outside of the cities but you can also enjoy nature in many big city parks. Sydney was ranked the third greenest city in the world, behind Moscow and Singapore. Parks cover almost 46% of the urban area, so you don’t have to travel far away if you want to enjoy peace and quiet in nature.
Here I’ve listed some of the most positive aspects of living in Down Under. In one of the next posts, I’ll write about the negative aspects of living in this country. If you’ve ever been to Australia or moved to a different country, are you finding some things better than in the country you were born in? Feel free to write about your experience in the comments!
