I moved to Australia to be with my boyfriend and for a better quality of life. I was nervous, but I'

• Gabriella Ferlita, a writer, moved to Queensland, Australia, from the UK at the end of 2023.
• She was tired of expensive rent and bad weather and had visited Australia only once before flying.
• She's unsure how long she'll be able to stay but is enjoying every minute of her life in Australia.

Just over a year ago, I was crying into my build-your-own salad bowl at Lyon airport in France after a holiday with my boyfriend, trying to process the news I'd just received. He told me, teary-eyed, that he was moving to Australia at the end of 2023.

His decision didn't come out of the blue. When we first started dating 2 ½ years ago, he told me about his plans to move to Australia and travel. I just didn't realize it would come around so soon.

I had to choose between following my partner 10,000 miles from home or saying goodbye. At the time, I had a steady, full-time journalism job in London and wasn't in a position to leave. The stinging tears in my eyes confirmed what I didn't need to say: The life we both knew would change in a matter of months.

Fast forward three months, and I had left my job to freelance. After the late-night slogs on the news desk, I craved freedom. I wanted flexible working hours, to engage in journalism I truly believed in, and to be able to work anywhere in the world.

My partner had already asked me to join him in Australia, but I didn't want to make the decision to move across the world based on feelings alone — which are, at times, fickle.

I'd already had to move out of London to live more affordably

City living had become increasingly impossible to obtain despite working full-time, freelancing, and babysitting while living in London.

Two years before the cost-of-living crisis, private-rental prices in the city were on the rise. I was paying £650, or about $825, a month for a room in a cramped shared apartment, a one-hour commute away from central London with no outdoor space. When my lease ended, similar rooms to rent in the same area were going for upwards of £900, or about $1,100, a month, without utilities.

After three years of renting in London, I tucked my tail between my legs and moved back in with my parents in Surrey in 2021. I was still working full time at this point and had to commute to London some three days a week.

The cost of living in the UK had reached an all-time high by winter 2023 — the price of energy bills, food shops, and public transport continued to soar.

I had the opportunity to see Australia for myself

Six months before my partner was set to leave, the opportunity came up for me to go to Australia on a freelance trip. I flew 23 hours on my own to scope out what could be my new life.

After living my whole life in the UK, the lifestyle that greeted me was beyond my imagination. I found myself tucking into farm-to-table dishes in aesthetic cafés and snorkeling among loggerhead turtles off the Great Barrier Reef.

The ability to enjoy the outdoors all year round in Australia drew me to living there, as well as how much cheaper life would be. I sat with the idea of following my partner to Australia for a while, and I finally decided to go.

Brits ages 18 to 35 can travel and work in Australia for up to 3 years

We applied for the Working Holiday Visa, which gives 18 to 30-year-olds (up to age 35 for some nationalities) up to three years of travel and work, and we arrived in October 2023. With prior visa restrictions lifting for Brits, we didn't need to put in our mandatory regional work to apply for a second and third year.

Applicants must have a passport from an eligible country to apply, and travelers on the visa are free to work in Australia for the duration of their visa. But some nationalities must do specified work — such as farm work or hospitality in a regional part of Australia — to qualify for their second and third years on the visa.

Previously, WHV-holders wouldn't be able to work for the same employer for more than six months. Recent visa changes mean people working with older or disabled people or in childcare can continue to work with the same employer. Other workers can apply for permission to work with their employer for more than six months.

Life in Queensland is year-round beaches and sunshine

We now live on the Gold Coast, a city region in Queensland that spans 44 miles of soft-sand beaches and is home to year-round sunshine. After traveling along the east coast of Australia together, we decided to settle in a beautiful resort-style complex in the city, with a swimming pool, supermarket, and restaurants right on our doorstep.

We spend our weekends on the beach or exploring the nearby national parks and no longer have to wait for the British summer to show its face to embrace the outdoors.

While I'm still freelancing on a decent wage, my rent is now only 990 Australian dollars a month, or about $650, including utilities, giving me more spending money to fund the lifestyle I want here. As for my boyfriend, his weekly wages as a barber have increased by about $190 a week.

I may not be able to stay in Australia forever due to the current visas we've traveled on, but I'm making every second count. I already feel so settled here, but I know when the time to return to the UK comes, my family will welcome us back with open arms.

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