With cheap, fresh food, trips to the beach and gorgeous weather, the average Australian's weekday is likely to seem like a dream holiday to most Brits!
One of Australia's main selling points is its perceived healthy, outdoors lifestyle, and with so much sunshine, sand, good food and affluence around, it's a reasonably accurate perception. Of course, your lifestyle is going to be influenced by where you live to some extent, but most of Australia's major cities offer the intoxicating combination of sandy beaches, outdoor space, sparkling waterfront, sunshine and fabulous eating. With such a combination, life here can feel like a permanent holiday. Of course, there's work to be done too, but the opportunities to fill your leisure time pleasantly are virtually limitless.
For starters, Australian food is wonderful. In heavily populated areas, cafes and restaurants compete for discerning clientele, and won't survive long unless they offer inexpensive, fresh, well-presented food. Eating out costs barely more than buying the ingredients yourself and cooking, and with the added attraction of BYO (bring your own) wine in many eateries, it's not at all unusual for Aussies to eat out with friends several times a week. Most bars serve great restaurant food, with cafe-bars the norm for socialising at any time of day.
Then there's the water. With the vast majority of the population living within half an hour of the coast, the Aussie way of life is full of beaches, surfing, swimming, fishing, sailing, snorkelling and waterfront barbecuing. Aussie kids learn surf lifesaving in school and are brought up to be confident in the water. People understand the dangers of the sun, though, and factor 30+ is the norm for anyone venturing out into the bright Antipodean sunshine.
Exercise is important even for those who live away from the beach. Among young urbanites especially, where the body beautiful reigns supreme, you'll find a lot of joggers, swimmers, gym-goers and yoga bunnies. Older folk keep fit with walking, golf, tai chi and the like. There really is an emphasis on health and wellbeing in most urban areas, even to the point where you can walk in off the street for a Chinese acupressure massage in your lunch break, and it'll only cost you a few dollars.
Australians watch much less TV than Brits, partly because they're out in the fresh air engaging in social activities. However, sport is one of the most popular things on TV. Like their Kiwi neighbours, Aussies are sports mad. Families flock to AFL, cricket or rugby games en masse to cheer on their local teams, and most get involved in sport from their schooldays, such as netball, swimming, surfing, rugby, cricket and martial arts. Racing is also big, whether it's horses, dogs, crabs or cockroaches! The Aussies are fairly big on gambling and nights out at the casino are also a rite of passage.
Most Australians also take regular weekends away. Bush camping is a cheap option and therefore popular with families - most national parks can offer you a spot of paradise for next to nothing. Aussie garages are stuffed with tents, stoves, caravans, bush showers, awnings, boogie boards and all the comforts of a well-thought-out camping trip.
Wherever you end up in Australia, you're bound to find yourself living a healthier, more outdoorsy lifestyle that improves your feeling of wellbeing no end. When you add to the mix more blue skies than grey, Australia is sure to lift your mind, body and soul to new heights.
A day in the life
Sandra, 32, moved from the UK to Sydney in 2001, and she reveals, I get up at about 7am, to a light-filled apartment with glimpses of the sea. In summer I'll chop up a pile of juicy mangos and have them with yoghurt for breakfast - they're really cheap in season. I also like papaya with lime, or toast and avocado or vegemite. Sometimes I end up sharing my breakfast with the chattering rainbow lorikeets that swarm to my balcony - they love honey and fruit and are really cute!
Once I'm dressed and showered, I head to work. If I'm feeling perky I might walk along the clifftops to the local beach to catch the bus from there, but there's also a bus stop right outside my door as a lazy option. The cliff walk is the best way to start the day though - it keeps me fit, and the sparkling ocean, crashing waves and cheerful people always put me in a great mood for the day.
I read a magazine or book on the bus - if I get a seat, as it can get very crowded and hot - and get off in the city centre, where it's a couple of minutes walk to my office. I keep a coat or jacket at the office to put on when I get there, as our air conditioning makes it freezing! For lunch (and snacks) there's no shortage of food on the doorstep
Central Sydney is full of amazing, cheap, fresh and healthy takeaways, and as a fan of Asian noodles, I probably have some form of fresh Thai or Vietnamese noodle soup three days a week, cooked to order. I also love grabbing sushi, Greek mezze, squeezed-to-order juices and various curries for lunch as I wander around the shops. I usually spend about A$7 (£2.90) on lunch. Sometimes I might go for a swim instead of roaming the shops - there are indoor and outdoor pools throughout the city - and in pleasant weather I might just lie under a palm tree in the park with friends.
After work I tend to hit the city bars with friends or colleagues for a drink or three. There are loads of great wine bars both in the backstreets and around the waterfront. We have maybe a dozen favourites and try new ones out all the time. We might grab some food there too - pizza or mezze to share - but if not I'll head home and cook, or maybe go to a neighbourhood cafe or someone's barbecue. There are loads of barbecues in summer, although it's customary to bring your own food for them.
I rarely stay in and watch TV. It's not very good anyway, and there's so much else to do. On long summer evenings there are movies in the park, or I go for an ocean dip in the evening. I've been known to leap into the ocean at 1am, though it's not recommended! I'm a social animal, and this is a great place for that.
I spend weekends around the beaches, maybe surfing, snorkelling or sunbathing. Alternatively, I'll go sailing on the harbour or out bushwalking, maybe squeezing in the weekly shop, Ikea trips and the like. Probably once a month or so we drive out of town to the mountains or some stunning national park and really get away from it all. Occasionally we hire a yacht for the weekend with some friends and sail ourselves around the endless coves of Pittwater and the Hawkesbury. Those are the best weekends of all.
Want to know about life in Australia? Come to Down Under Live, the UK's number one event for living and working in Australia.
