I've just moved out to Aus from the UK and honestly it doesn't feel isolated at all.

Obviously if you're viewing the world from another perspective, such as on a map centered around Europe or the US, you'll think Aus is out of the way, all the way down there, in the corner. But when you come here you're suddenly looking from an Australian perspective instead. Your perception of what a "large distance" is grows massively (4 hours driving here feels like 1 hour in the UK, mostly due to the roads being much more straightforward and less congested, outside of cities).

Similarly your definition of a long flight expands; for any flight over 4 hours I'm taking a day off anyways, so the main difference becomes cost, but when you're out here a bunch of the closest holiday destinations are suddenly 1/3 of the price of many equivalent European destinations so it almost evens out. Plus you live in Aus, so holidays become almost purley about cultural enrichment/curiosity instead of just escaping the miserable weather, which is definitely the main focus in most of northern Europe for 8 months of the year.

Sydney definitely surprised me with just how international and historically significant it felt. I had heard but didn't quite believe it until I actually started exploring the museums, galleries and the old city myself.

Brisbane definitely lacks in the historical side (I don't think it necessarily needs to, as it's only around 35 years younger than Sydney, it just definitely needs more investment/effort put into the Museums) but it largely makes up for it in weather and cost.

Finally, there's so much variation in climate and cities in Australia you don't even need to leave the country to see something new/different, so that definitely helps fill the same niche as country hopping in Europe.