We are a country known for our love of tea, fish and chips, the royal family… and miserable weather.
Now that the sun has gone into hibernation for another nine months, Britons looking to escape the incessant rain may be toying with the idea of packing their bags and moving to paradise.
For many, Australia’s beautiful beaches and year-round heat are a true paradise.
Every year, thousands of people move Down Under because they can boast better salaries, friendlier people and an incredibly relaxed lifestyle.
Yet the truth is not so clear-cut, especially when it comes to the cost of living, as MailOnline can confirm.
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According to crowdsourced data collected by Numbeo, London and Australia’s largest city, Sydney, are virtually neck-and-neck in terms of cost.
For example, you will pay 32.3 percent more for a three-course meal for two people in London: £85 instead of £61.39.
However, coffee in Australia can be 33.8 percent more expensive, with a cappuccino in Sydney costing you £2.65, compared to £3.74 in London.
However, beer is more expensive for Londoners than for Sydney, costing around 90p more per pint.
The biggest difference between the two cities concerns energy bills.
Londoners face a staggering 49.6 percent increase in monthly water, gas and electricity bills bill averaging £254.74, compared to £153.43 in Sydney.
A daycare centre in London can cost almost £300 more, at £1,809 per month. A gym membership costs around the same on average, at £45.
Living in London can generally be around £500 more expensive per month, according to MailOnline’s analysis of realistic spending based on data from Numbeo.
But on balance, Londoners earn more, taking home £3,573, up from £3,232.
Although the cost of living is roughly the same in both countries, Australians have a higher life expectancy.
Data suggests that men in Australia live to be 81, while women can live to be 85. In contrast, British men die before the age of 80 on average, while women live to be 83 on average.
Surprisingly, London seems to get more sun than Sydney.
Weather forecasters estimate that London gets an average of 12 hours, 26 minutes and 26 seconds of daylight – ten minutes more than Down Under. That works out to an extra 2.5 hours of daylight per year.
But there’s little debate that Sydney is the best when it comes to temperature.
According to Google Weather, average temperatures in Sydney range from 8C at their winter peak in July to 19C in January. This beats the UK’s corresponding scores of 4C in January and 15C in July and August.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that 32,070 Britons made the switch in the 2022-23 budget year.
The number is much lower than in 2006-2012, when the number of participants in the trip exceeded 50,000 twice (2007-2008 and 2011-2012).
But experts say the demand is still there and perhaps even greater than ever.
Grahame Igglesden, director of visa consultancy Concept Australia, told MailOnline that the Australian government itself is taking measures to curb the number of applications for both temporary and permanent visas.
“The Australian government runs the program for its own benefit and so will not apologize if people’s visas are not accepted. They want to select the best and the brightest,” he said.
Compared to pre-pandemic levels, applications for temporary visas globally rose by 57.8 per cent in 2022-23 to over half a million (553,000).
‘It’s a lot harder to get in these days. In the past, your skills were recognised, your marks were calculated and you applied and you went to the top of the list and got a visa,’ Mr Igglesden explains.
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“But nowadays, in many cases, if you apply for a skilled labor job, you have to submit a letter of interest and then wait for the government to ask you to apply.”
Mr Igglesden added that the criteria by which certain professions are favoured are also changing.
‘In recent years, you were given priority if you were a nurse, medical professional or teacher.
“But in the last round of invitations they changed it so that nurses and teachers were put on the back burner and trades people like plumbers and plasterers were introduced with a more favourable points score,” he said.
Whatever the reason for moving Down Under, Brits are likely to compare it to their home country and will likely choose between ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’.
A woman who moved from London to Sydney, known online only as ‘Blond’, said all the changes had been positive, apart from a harrowing experience with wildlife during a storm.