Why I built I Wanna Live in Australia

I suppose this website really started more than 20 years ago.

When I was 22, I went travelling around the world and spent about three months in Australia. I went everywhere, did loads and absolutely loved it. The weather, the beaches, the space, the lifestyle — Australia just stuck with me.

Then I met my wife, who loves travelling and trying different places just as much as I do. She already had family in Australia too. Her auntie and uncle moved to the east coast in the 1990s, had their family here, and over the years Australia became somewhere we kept coming back to.

Between about 2010 and 2020, we visited quite a few times with our children.

And every time we came over, we loved it.

When you're here on holiday, Australia can feel almost ridiculously good. Sunshine, beaches, outdoor life, space — it feels like you're permanently on holiday.

We'd often talk about living here.

But talking about moving to Australia and actually moving your whole family to the other side of the world are two completely different things.

We had a business in the UK. We had a house, children, schools, work, family and a whole life that we'd built around us. There was never really a perfect time to just stop everything and move.

So Australia stayed as “one day.”

Until one day started running out.

The visa became the thing that finally pushed us into making a decision. My wife was getting closer to an age point that affected the pathway we were looking at, and suddenly we realised that if we were genuinely going to do this, we couldn't just keep talking about it.

It was becoming now or never.

Then, funnily enough, an Australian company advertised a job on Facebook.

That opportunity was in Geraldton, Western Australia.

We had a Teams meeting with them and instead of immediately uprooting the whole family, my wife and I decided to get on a plane and have a proper look for ourselves.

So in late 2024, just the two of us flew to Perth and travelled up to Geraldton.

It was basically a recce.

We spent a couple of weeks looking around, seeing the business, looking at where we might live, checking out Geraldton and trying to imagine something that is actually quite difficult to imagine:

What would our normal life look like here?

Not a holiday.

Monday morning.

School runs. Work. Shopping. Weekends. Where we'd live. What we'd do.

And we liked it.

The beaches were amazing. The lifestyle was laid-back. It felt right.

So we decided to go for it.

Looking back though, one thing really stands out.

We hadn't actually chosen Geraldton from Australia. The opportunity had chosen Geraldton for us.

We hadn't sat at home and compared Perth with Adelaide, Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, Geraldton or anywhere else.

We hadn't been able to put our family, jobs, income, children's ages, budget and lifestyle into one place and say:

“Right. Based on us, where in Australia should we actually look?”

There wasn't anything that really did that.

Then we started the actual process of moving.

And that's when the questions really started.

Which visa? Which migration company? Who should move our belongings? Where should we live? Could we buy a house? Should we rent? What are the schools like? Where are the jobs?

What's an Australian salary actually worth once you live here? What's rent? What's food? What does it cost to run a family?

Even stupid little things you suddenly want to know when you're sitting 9,000 miles away.

How much is a loaf of bread?

The problem wasn't that there was no information.

There was loads of information. It was everywhere.

One website for visas. Another for jobs. Another for houses. Another for schools. Government websites. Property websites. Migration companies. Facebook groups. Forums. Google searches. People's opinions.

And then you're trying to work out what is current, what is correct and, more importantly, what actually applies to your family.

We got the visa.

Then during 2025 we started dismantling the life we'd built in the UK.

We packed the house up and in July 2025 we moved our family to Western Australia.

And even then, things came up that we hadn't properly expected.

Rules affecting foreign and temporary residents buying established property had changed, which had a big impact on our plans. Suddenly we were trying to understand whether we should rent, build, where we should live and what we could actually do.

So we rented. Then we moved rental again.

And, like most people probably do, we worked quite a lot of it out while we were already here.

We've now been living in Australia for over a year.

We're settled.

The kids have adapted. We've built a life here and Australia genuinely feels like home.

Was moving a family across the world a big culture change?

Absolutely.

Were there moments where everything would have been easier if we'd known more beforehand?

Loads.

And that's really why I Wanna Live in Australia exists.

I didn't build this because I'm a migration agent. I didn't build it because I've spent my career telling other people how to move to Australia.

I built it because I've actually done it.

I've sat in the UK wondering whether we should go. I've worried about the visa. I've searched for jobs. I've tried to work out where my family should live. I've looked at schools. I've tried to understand Australian house prices, rent and the cost of living.

I've packed up a house. I've put the kids on a plane. I've landed here and thought, right — this is our life now.

And I've had to figure things out along the way.

Looking back, I wouldn't change our decision to move to Australia.

I'd change how difficult it was to get all the information we needed to make that decision properly.

That's the website I wanted to build. The website I wish we'd had when Australia was still just an idea.

Somewhere you can start with you. Your family. Your job. Your budget. Your children. The weather you want. The lifestyle you want. Whether you want a city, the coast, space, schools, work, sunshine or something completely different.

And then start answering the questions that actually matter.

Where in Australia could we live? What jobs could we do? What could we afford? What are the schools like? What might our visa options be? What is everyday life really going to cost?

And ultimately: could we actually build the life we're imagining in Australia?

I'm not here to tell anyone they should move to Australia. It's a massive decision and it isn't going to be right for everybody.

I just think that if you're considering changing your entire life and moving your family halfway around the world, you should be able to see the whole picture before you do it.

Because there is a huge amount to gain from living in Australia.

And if I'd had the right information, in the right place, right at the beginning, I genuinely think our transition would have been easier and we would have settled much quicker.

So that's why I built it.

I Wanna Live in Australia is the place I wish I'd found when we first said:

“What if we actually did it?”