15 things you must know before moving to Australia (No.4 will surprise you)
So you think you have what it takes to study in the land of man-eating sharks, venomous snakes and spiders?
You may be filled with excitement about this new adventure, but things work differently here in Australia.
If you are coming to Australia for the first time, these are the 15 things that you must know before moving to Australia.
1. Casual Environment 🙋
Australians are generally quite casual, whether it’s work, study, or any part of their social life. They usually take things easy, and if you are going to study in Australia, you will need to adapt to this casual culture.
To begin with, you don’t need to dress formally when going to university or college, and it’s perfectly okay to call your teachers by their first names.
No one here calls their teacher “sir” or “ma’am,” so you will need to get used to that.
2. Jobs 💼
Finding your first job in Australia as an overseas student can be tough, so you need to be prepared for that, and you might be surprised to know that some blue-collar jobs get paid much better than white-collar jobs.
Someone working as a carpenter, electrician, or plumber gets paid much better than someone working in an entry level office job.
And, if you work in hospitality, don’t expect to get tips, as people in Australia don’t usually tip.
3. Multicultural 👳🏻
Around 26% of the Australian population is from overseas, and that pretty much sums up how multicultural Australia is.
So be prepared to meet people from different backgrounds and cultures that you have never met before.
In certain parts of Australia, especially city areas, you might even feel like you’re not even in Australia, as you will find more overseas visitors or students than Australians.
4.Weather ⛅
The weather in Australia varies a lot depending on the state or region you are coming into.
For example, in cities like Melbourne and Hobart, they are known for their cold winters, while in other cities like Brisbane, Darwin, or Cairns, you may not be getting such cold weather.
When you are coming to Australia, it’s important that you pack your bags accordingly.
If you are visiting cities such as Melbourne, Hobart, or Canberra, you will need to pack some winter clothing, whereas other cities may not require as much winter clothes packing.
Also, the weather in Australia is completely different from that of the Northern Hemisphere. Summer is from December to February, while winter is from June to August.
So if you’re coming from the Northern Hemisphere, expect different weather than in your home country.
Another thing is that the sun in Australia can be extremely harsh, especially in the summer.
If you are planning to go out to the beach and get tanned at 40 degrees, think again.
It can get very hot, and the UV rays can be extremely dangerous, so if you go out, wear sunscreen or prepare to be sunburned.
And in the summer, flies can be really annoying as well.
5. Jaywalking 🚸
Jaywalking means crossing the road without an appropriate pedestrian crossing or just crossing the street in front of traffic.
In Australia, jaywalking is illegal. You could get a penalty of up to $70 if you get caught jaywalking.
So don’t cross the street without a pedestrian crossing sign or zebra crossing; otherwise, if you get caught, you will be fined for jaywalking.
6. Wildlife 🐨
For many people outside Australia, the first picture that comes to their mind are snakes, sharks, and spiders.
While you could see some of these things in Australia, it is not as dangerous as it is portrayed in some countries.
To give you a better idea, the last person who died of a spider bite was in 1979, and on average, only one or two shark accidents happen during the year.
In all honesty, it is a pretty safe place to live in, so don’t stress too much about the wildlife.
7. Shopping Centers 🛍
A great number of shopping centers in Australia provide a unique shopping experience for their customers.
But if you are a late-night shopper, there’s disappointing news for you: most of the Australian shopping centers close by 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., except in a few major cities on Thursdays and Fridays, where the shopping centers might be open till 9:00 p.m.
And you can literally go to the shopping centers in your shorts and thongs and PJs if you want.
Yeah, there is no dress code when going to shopping centers.
8. Coffee ☕
There is no doubt that Australians love their coffee, and we must say that Australian coffee tastes pretty good, especially in larger cities. You will get to see many good cafés with great coffee.
If you are not too much into coffee at the moment, when you arrive in Australia, you might find yourself loving this coffee culture.
9. Standard of Living 💰
A lot of people complain that Australia is an expensive country. Sydney usually ranks in the top five most expensive cities in the world.
While it might be an expensive country when compared to the cost of living in some countries. Australia certainly has good wages as well.
According to government statistics, the average income of an average person in Australia is around $1769.80 per week (May 2022). Source: https://www.abs.gov.au/
That would be around $7666 compared to the cost of living of $3653 per month. So, those are perfect numbers.
The cost of living in Australia is manageable, people can afford to buy things, go on holidays and have a decent lifestyle.
10. Mobile Network 📶
There are three main network providers in Australia: Telstra, Optus, and TPG (formerly known as Vodafone).
There are many other providers that use these networks to provide mobile services, so there are plenty of options to choose from when you come to Australia.
There are plenty of different plans available for both local and international calls.
When it comes to mobile networks, if you are living in the city areas, then you are in luck because most of the time, the networks in those city areas are good.
So you won’t have issues with regular call dropouts or internet dropout issues.
But if you start moving out of the urban areas to regional towns or the bush areas, then it will become a bit of a challenge.
Although we must say that Telstra does a decent job of holding their network in the outer regional areas.
But you might still struggle to get an excellent network with other network providers.
So, if you plan to travel in the regional areas or outside the city, then you might have to carefully choose your network.
11. Dimensions of the Country 📏
Some people don’t realize it, but Australia is a huge country, and most of the major cities are quite far away from each other.
So if you’re traveling from one capital city to another, people usually prefer to take a plane.
It is about the same size as continental USA.
12. Generic Drugs 💊
Let’s hope you don’t get sick, but if you do, you may need to see a doctor, who will write you a prescription that you must buy at a pharmacy.
When you go to the pharmacy and ask for the medicine, the pharmacist might ask if you want a generic medicine or a branded one, and you might be thinking, what does that even mean?
The generic brands are like no-name brands; their drugs are safe to take, otherwise the government will never approve them in the first place.
The only difference you might notice between generic brands and branded medicines is the pricing.
Generic medicine is usually cheaper than the branded medicine.
We don’t think there’s much difference between these two medicines because they are obviously safe to take.
So you might want to choose the generic ones because it will save you some dollars.
13. Speeding 🚓
Speeding while driving in Australia is not a good idea at all. If you get caught, you will be paying very high penalties for that.
There is a demerit point system as well, and you will lose some points when you get caught speeding.
There’s a high possibility of you getting caught speeding because there are so many cameras around the city areas, plus there are lots of mobile cameras that police use in the outer regional and outer city areas as well.
So it’s not worth taking the risk of speeding on the road, and it’s definitely dangerous to do it anyways.
14. Daylight Savings 🕑
Daylight Savings starts in the first week of October and ends in the first week of April. During daylight saving time, we push our clocks by one hour.
It is interesting to note that not all states actually participate in daylight saving. So while some states actually move their clocks by one hour during daylight saving, other states don’t.
This situation is a little weird because half of the country does not follow the system and the other half does.
Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia don’t take part in the daylight savings while other states do.
You can read more about daylight savings in this article.
15. Smoking 🚬
Australia is not known for cheap cigarettes. The Australian government does it on purpose and puts extra taxes on cigarettes, which makes it expensive to discourage people from smoking.
If you are a smoker, you might not like the fact that you will be paying around $25 to $30 for one pack of cigarettes (around 20 cigarettes).
And as a smoker, there are certain rules and regulations you would need to follow in Australia too.
If you are an international student coming to Australia, we highly recommend you download our free overseas guide, where we map the whole journey of an international student.
To end this article, we would say that living in Australia is probably going to be different from your home country, but it will be a unique experience as well.
So these are the 15 things you must know before arriving in Australia.
