Katie Strick swapped London for Australia, only to find herself returning to the United Kingdom after just 18 months after discovering what life was really like Down Under
A woman who quit the UK for Australia returned home after 18 months(Image: Getty Images)
A woman who quit the United Kingdom for a sunny life in Australia has decided to move back after realising what life Down Under is truly like. Katie Strick and her partner spent 18 months in Australia before making the decision to move back home.
Katie says she made the decision to swap south London for Sydney after striking up a long-distance relationship with a former university friend. Writing in The Times, she admits the chance to join him in his beachside flat “wasn’t a hard sell”.
With the extension to the age bracket for the working holiday visa being moved from 30 to 35, Katie admits she felt the time was right. She found herself surrounded by “young, free twenty and thirtysomethings” in the Manly area.
But after a year-and-a-half, Katie found herself heading back to London. Her first struggle, she says, was the rental market in Sydney.
She found the cost of a flat is around the same in Australia as London. She also admits “friends and family naturally rank highly when I list the reasons for coming back”.
Katie however says the reasons for the move were much more than that. She wrote: “The reasons are rarely sexy: green space, quality of the press, a low risk of shark attacks and being a short train ride from my parents’ home town don’t quite have the same ring as living next to the beach when you shout them across a pub — but they mattered more than I expected.”
She acknowledges that Australia has “more sunshine” as well as “happier, healthier, more outdoorsy people,” but found herself missing the cobbled streets, country pubs, and British humour. She concedes it’s “hard not to miss those things” when you are “a 24-hour flight away”.
She says the Middle East conflict has also led to a “sense of uncertainty” for Brits flying from Australia. Dubai, once a popular layover, became embroiled in the conflict in March when it was struck by Iran.
Katie expected some “pushback” from her friends in Australia, but admits she was taken aback by the level of confusion from people back home too. She says many joked she would regret it when her boyfriend is “conscripted” or would be making another U-turn soon enough.
While she says it can seem difficult to say “exactly what you feel far away from,” she says “you do”. She accepts she has a “sense of day-to-day belonging” from visiting grandparents or meeting a friend’s baby, things that can’t be replicated through FaceTime.
Having moved back to London, Katie has however found herself wondering if she made a mistake. She recalls one moment she was catcalled by a drunk man at Clapham Junction, and dodging crowds in Soho.
On the other hand, she says there have been “moments of pure nostalgia” as she strolled through her favourite London park on a spring evening, or the appreciation she has for the NHS and architecture of the UK. She says her partner will soon land back in the UK, meaning that she gets to experience the “rollercoaster of emotions” from her return all over again.
Katie isn’t the only Brit who has quit the UK for Australia and found themselves moving back. Manchester-born Jessica McMaster recently made the same move after finding “four problems” with life Down Under.
Jessica cited the cost of living, distance from loved ones, visa and work restrictions, and weather as reasons for her move. Jessica, who lived in Melbourne, said: “Sometimes it would rain for days and be really cold and dark.
“Summer lasted about six months, which was amazing, long, bright days, great cafés, runs by the beach, but people think it’s always 30-degree heat. Melbourne can have four seasons in one day. In winter it was cold and rainy, so at times it felt like being back in Manchester, but without your family and friends.”