Living in Australia vs living in the UK. If you’re facing this dilemma then all I can say is, lucky you! What a wonderful predicament to have. It means you have choice, and that’s not always guaranteed in life.
Having spent many years living in both Australia and the UK, I have extensive experience in comparing the two and have compiled a list of the pros that each has to offer.
Before we dive in, it’s worth noting that I’m not going to dwell too much on the weather. It’s important yes, but you don’t need me to tell you who takes out the weather crown in this battle. I’m also not here to debate the healthcare systems, political situations, or the current energy crisis. It’s not that I don’t care about these things, they’re just nuanced, subjective, and there’s loads of other content out there digging into the nitty gritty of these. This is an article about the little pros of living in Australia vs the UK. The less documented, day to day advantages of life in each.
As both countries are very close to my heart it felt disloyal to write any cons. So, in alphabetical order, and with a flourish, I present:
The little pros of living in Australia vs the pros of living in the UK
Bypass Australia and jump to the pros of living in the UK by clicking here.
Pros of living in Australia
- Better quality fruit and veg
The difference in quality is chalk and cheese. It’s bigger, juicier, fresher. Mango season in Australia is akin to heaven on Earth.
- Parking
City centre aside, you can basically park for free all over the place in Australia. Beaches, parks, shopping malls, streets. It’s more uncommon for a street not to have free and available parking. Just make sure you park in the direction of traffic on the street. No higgledy piggledy, this way that way parking like you’d find in the UK.
- Early morning lifestyle
I’d say this one won’t be popular with night owls, but for us morning people it’s a wonderful pro of Aussie life. It’s common to see people up and about before 7am exercising, surfing, carpe diem-ing. The sun is up early year-round so early mornings don’t have to be seasonal.
- Al fresco dining
It’s a country built to embrace indoor outdoor living, which means that the opportunities for al fresco dining (and drinking) are plentiful. It’s (seasonally) warm at night so having dinner outdoors is pleasant. This pro covers picnics and BBQs as well. Basically, eating any meal outside is a consistently enjoyable option and can be confidently planned in advance.
- Variety and quality of gyms
With a lot of beautiful people comes a lot of beautiful gyms. There are so many gyms in Australia offering all sorts of unique and exciting work out options. Whatever type of exercise you prefer, it’s almost certainly an option.
- The dip selection
I am not kidding when I say that the dip section of Australian supermarkets makes me giddy with excitement. The range of choice, the flavour combinations, the imagination! Off the charts. 10/10 dip selection.
- Low cost wine and bubbly
Wine is comparatively inexpensive – particularly, and understandably, Australian wine. You can’t buy wine in supermarkets in all parts of Australia, but you can get it from giant booze warehouses that offer constant deals and promotions.
- Cigarettes are really expensive
Really expensive cigarettes = less people smoking = less second hand smoke and less cigarette butt litter.
Pros of living in the UK
- Postage
The postage situation in the UK is great. SAME DAY DELIVERY? Let’s ponder over that for a moment. I once ordered a Tupperware box at 8am and it was with me by dinner time. Who needs a Tupperware box that urgently?? I didn’t! But I got it that urgently anyway BECAUSE I COULD. (Thank you Amazon workers for your service).
It’s just generally cheaper to post things in the UK. Free delivery for online shopping is more widely offered too and we all know that can be a make or break decision-maker for a purchase.
Cheaper, better, faster, stronger. #accidentalKanye.
- Christmas
There is no ifs, whats, or buts about it – the UK just does Christmas better. All the things that people normally complain about winter (cold, dark, frosty, snowy etc) are all of the things that make Christmas time in the UK so wonderful. The general feeling of December is significantly more festive.
- National rail system
It’s absolutely lovely to be able to zip about (basically) the whole nation by train. Sure, there may be gripes sometimes about the cost of tickets, the quality of coffee, or the functionality of the aircon. But, hello? At least those things exist in the first place to complain about!
- Eating out is cheaper, eating in is cheaper
This one is pretty self explanatory but I’ll explain anyway. It’s cheaper to dine out at a restaurant in the UK, and groceries are cheaper too. It’s just all round cheaper to eat, if you’re that way inclined.
- Cheaper international and national travel
You already know how I feel about the national rail system, but the flight opportunities from the UK are awesome as well. With direct flights to THE ENTIRE CONTINENT OF EUROPE plus plenty of hubs in America, South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, the UK is hella connected. By my calculations the only continent you can’t easily get to by hopping on a plane is Antarctica. And, quite frankly, that says more about Antarctica than it does the UK. Not only is it well connected but air fares are also relatively cheap. Win win.
- Crisps
Australia has the dips but the UK has the crisps. This either means that they’re a match made in heaven, or that the universe has a cruel sense of humour at times.
- Walking everywhere
Granted this probably differs a bit depending where you are in the UK, but in my experience people can and will walk places. It’s like there’s an internal walking limit before which one wouldn’t even consider taking a car and that limit is about 30 minutes in the UK, and about 5 minutes in Australia.
- Cadbury chocolate
It would be completely remiss of me to include a list of pros of living in the UK and not mention the Cadbury chocolate. Sure, you can get Cadbury internationally. But you can’t get UK Cadbury internationally. It is so far superior to the Cadbury of other nations that it’s not even in the same race. Whatever they’re doing over there in the UK factory, they’re doing it well. MVP.
The cost of coffee is about the same in both countries.
To summarise living in Australia vs the UK: they’re both lovely in their own little ways.
Have you lived in Australia and the UK? If so, what other little pros would you add to this list?
- READ MORE: A One Way Ticket to Australia
- READ MORE: Moving Back to an Old, New City
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