As an Englishman, there weren’t many things to know before moving to Australia or so I thought. I didn’t really think it would be that different when I did my Australian working holiday visa. I stupidly thought Australia would be like England but warmer! Well, I was slightly off! I realised this almost as soon as I got off the plane and was travelling to the Gold Coast via a bus. The picture I had in my head of Australia was different to the reality. Expecting to find something similar to England, I instead found a country that bore more resemblance to America! As the year wore on I realised there were a few more things I wish I knew before I travelled to Australia. A few that spring to mind is just how big the country is, it’s gigantic! How hot it can get, it often feels like you’re in an oven during summer. Below are a few tips for relocating to Australia, so you can be prepared for life in this amazing country!
Australia is big, really big!
I knew Australia was a big place before I went there, but I just didn’t realise how big! My first taste of this was when I started my adventure travelling Australia! Once my flight was approaching Darwin, I stupidly assumed it would be another hour, two maximum before we touched down! I was way off! It was another three and a bit hours before we landed in Sydney! I was dumbstruck, Australia was much, much bigger than I thought! The second time that I realised the size of Australia was travelling in Queensland, going up the East Coast to Cairns! Looking at the map I didn’t think the journey from Hervey Bay to Cairns would take that long. They were quite close on the map after all! Nope! Wrong again! The journey from Hervey Bay to Airlie Beach took 10 hours, while the trip onward to Cairns was a whopping 12 hours! Seriously, look at a map, they don’t look that far apart! Australia is huge, really, really huge! This is one of the most important things to know before moving to Australia. Travelling around can take a long, long time!
It’s not like England
Before I went travelling in Australia, I had this image of it being like England in many ways. I imagined the streets would be similar, and the people and way of life not too dissimilar. After all, this was a former British colony! Well, it’s fair to say I was a bit off the mark! Australia does have similarities with England, such as the love of sports, fish and chips and alcohol! However, apart from these things, the country is quite different to England. When I first arrived in the Gold Coast, after my flight to Australia, the differences really struck me. The streets bore no resemblance to England, it was more like America in many ways. As the months wore on, I began to realise that the country was more like America than England. The size of the country, the materialistic nature of some of the people and of course, the weather.
You can earn a lot of money working in Australia
When I first went abroad to start working in Australia, I’ve never really gave much thought to how much I could earn. This was actually far from my mind, as I was mostly concerned with enjoying myself principally! It was only when I started working at IKEA and saw my first pay cheque that I realised just how good the pay can be in Australia. I was earning a lot of money, it’s fair to say. I was working 10 hours a day, but even then, it was much more than I ever earned in England. Australia is an expensive country, there’s no getting away from that. However, if you’re working and earning good money, then it doesn’t really matter. You can easily cover costs and save up a lot of money! It’s fantastic. Construction is a fantastic industry to be in. If you’re a skilled worker and can operate machinery, then you could potentially earn $50 an hour! If you were unsure whether working in Australia was for you, I think I may have just convinced you!
Kangaroos are not as friendly and cute as you might think!
Kangaroos along with koalas are an icon of Australia. They are one of the animals that everyone wants to see up close and personal when they visit Australia. I was no different, I was eager to see a kangaroo up close when I first arrived. However, this is definitely one of the more interesting things to know before moving to Australia, kangaroos aren’t that friendly and cute. Ok, the ones in the zoos and wildlife parks are, they’re tame after all. The ones in the wild though, they’re dangerous and unpredictable creatures! I found this out to my cost during my Adelaide to Melbourne road trip. I got way too close to a pair of Kangaroos in the Grampians, and it nearly resulted in me having a boxing match with the two kangaroos. They were certainly up for it, as they stood up on their hind legs and shook their fists at me! Moral of the story? Don’t get too close to wild kangaroos! Kangaroos meat is widely available in supermarkets (it’s very good by the way!), which wouldn’t be the case if they weren’t a pest! It’s funny that kangaroos are generally seen as a pest in Australia and not the national treasure I assumed them to be. These are a just a selection of things to know before moving to Australia. I certainly wish I had known a few of these before I went backpacking Australia. It would have made my life a little easier! source: www.thetravellingtom.com
