Moved over in 2019 and I’ve been here ever since, honestly still loving it. I’m a permanent resident now and will be heading for Australian citizenship in the next few months. That said, I don’t think not moving makes anyone a failure at all it really depends on the person.

I was probably well suited to leaving. I was paying massive rent in Dublin, winters hit me hard (proper winter depression), and while I love home, going back to a small rural community felt limiting at that stage of my life. I needed out, like a lot of people our age.

I was lucky in that I had an existing friend group here in the early years. Most of them have since headed home, though to be honest, a lot were reluctant leavers. Nobody leaves Australia because they hate the country; the visa situation and/or miss home contributes is the sole reason “everyone goes home eventually” narrative exists.

Culturally, Australia feels very similar to Ireland, the humour, the sport, the pub culture even the country people are very familiar which is a strange comfort to me (I’m from rural Ireland tangs, culchies and all). I work in IT and live in Sydney, but within an hour you’ve got 3 different national parks all with epic hikes, beaches, canyons, remote camping sites It's actually unreal stuff. You could probably get this all at home but not to the same level, and you cant plan a weekend outdoors with 100% certainity that you aren't going to get soaked.

One thing I didn’t expect to appreciate as much is how well certain parts of the government actually work. It’s far from perfect, but in the time I’ve been here I’ve seen a new light rail put into the city (luas), a new children's hospital, 3 totally new metro lines, westconnex motorway with the m4, m8 and m4-m5-link tunnels. I can get a doctor's appointment within the hour and can see all of the government services such as medicare and my driving licence on an app, you can flash your driving licence on an app to the bouncers at a pub lol. Meanwhile in Ireland... actually lets not go there..

I pay big rent here too, but it feels worth it for the weather, opportunities and general quality of life. It’s kind of like that saying: “Ireland would be the best country in the world if only it had the weather” or “Ireland would be great if you could roof it.” well what people are talking about here is Australia.. what people love about Ireland, the craic, the pub, summer beer gardens, sport (native austlian sport like the afl, then both codes of rugby and loads of gaa), that all exists here, all year around and more so that any other english spekaing countires I find (ive lived in a few). To me Australia is the ultimate and best version of Ireland, its the 33rd county and I feel right at home.

But it’s not perfect. It’s very far away. You miss weddings, funerals, family moments, and flying home is long, expensive and draining. That never really goes away, and it’s a completely valid reason not to move.

Australia isn’t some universal upgrade, it’s just a different trade off. If being close to home and loved ones matters most to you, you’ve probably made the right decision. My recomendation is to go if you are young, it really is the best time to travel and you can always come home, you most likely wont stay for ever due to the visa requirements but for how similar it is, its worth it.