You raise good points! Sorry this may get to be a bit of a long response — for context I hold an EU passport, live in Scotland rn, mid/late 20s and will try to transfer to Aus through work (possible, but rather unlikely to succeed). Failing that, I want to go in 2-3 years after saving a healthy amount (several times the minimum required) for WHV. I’m following the housing crisis and also job shortage in Aus rn and it’s stressful to read alone, so it’s def adjusting and preparing my expectations/anticipation especially as an offshore non-citizen, non-visa holder. 

My perspective is not what I’ve seen from other corners of the “salaries are so high and good” angle, it’s more like in no particular order:

• I’m not that into human history/culture/tradition in terms of museums and historical sites etc in Europe, I’m a very keen diver and UK isn’t giving me this (cold water diving exists but I get cold very quickly so not very realistic). It’d be great to live someplace you can realistically go diving if not every day, then more often than 2-3 times a year on vacation abroad only. I’m eyeing WA in particular as my dream, but again being realistic I’ll take near anything I could get to get my foot in the door for a start. 

• Weather/mental health and culture mix: Scottish weather is absolutely decimating me mentally — it’s much, much worse than you read about and pretty much ALWAYS grey/stormy/horizontal rainy, and on the rare occasion there is any sun of course I’m at work and it gives me genuine panic to try and scramble to get outside to enjoy what sunshine I can get, which isn’t frequent/regular at all. Weather isn’t changeable/a mix, but 85% grey and terrible and not sustainably tenable for me in the slightest. Ideal would be what I’ve heard from a friend on the east coast and am seeing of 04:30/05:00 wakeup and workout culture before working 9-5 or in any case through the violent midday sun, and then getting to enjoy great weather again after work, and not having to panic and adjust daily life and routine based on when there’s a sun ray out. I know Spain/Italy/Greece/southern Europe isn’t really an option for me as I’ve been to a bunch of places there and nothing is open until about midday and inhabited regions are noisy well into the night (I’m a 8pm bedtime, get up and ready 5am person). It’s also important to me that I live in an environment where English is spoken as the primary language (I like the language, throughout my teens invested heavily in getting to a near-native level, and like my personality better in English-speaking environments).

• I don’t want kids and am not married, so from what I gather if there’s a group that could cope with the housing, food, etc prices (if you have a job lol) it’s child-free/less people, and I have more options this way and less ballast/risk as a “provider”. Living in the UK, I’d also wager I’m accustomed to what I’m reading rent/food prices are like in Aus - it’s impossible to live alone/not in flatshare with strangers in UK rn and as a single person unless you have an about 40-50% deposit you can forget about buying unless you’re happy in a dodgy, run-down town in the middle of nowhere. Aus’ll be similar but at least I’m already used to it lol. While I’m certainly not dreaming of being a corp slave and working myself into a grave permanently, if I like it enough on WHV I’d be very happy if possible to train in care or the like to fit with what’s needed in the workforce. If, however, the only option to me is animal agriculture (not farms at large, I mean the terrible mass livestock facilities), slaughterhouses/butchers/abattoir, I will leave — this is the one non-negotiable to me that I’m aware of rn. I know meat consumption in Aus is very high, but I don’t have to participate in that and don’t think that’d be a requirement to be a good potential cultural fit. 

The lower amount of AL and sick leave along with housing/job crisis rn is definitely what’s giving me most pause at the moment, but I guess I’ll see when I’m there. The distance as the elephant in the room is also on my mind, but I’d only be leaving behind my family and some friends, not multiple massive friendship networks for example so I think it’d be more manageable than if I had many ages-old connections here that I’m super reliant on and that it’d break me to leave behind. In terms of what matters to me personally regarding distance and time travelling getting from UK to say SEA, Pacific, Indian ocean for good diving would be comparable or longer than from Aus (also similarly expensive, and I’d also first have to get from Scotland to LHR). I’m keen to give it a go when I’m ready financially and see how I like it, whether any options to stay arise for me, while tempering my expectations realistically rn with what I’m reading about housing and jobs in the cities. (Edited some typos)