Australia was built on migrants.  The first migrants to set foot ashore in Australia were British and today it is home to 2.2 million migrants from almost every conceivable corner of the world!

It’s no co-incidence that Australia wins the popularity contest year after year – it’s a really good place to live, work and raise a family.  The trusted travel and entertainment magazine, Time Out, agrees – pointing out that 2 Aussie cities, Melbourne and Sydney, ranked in the top 25 of their City Life Index.  The results are based on the responses of 15,000 city-dwellers about the places they live.  The survey included questions about food, drink, culture, friendliness, affordability, happiness and livability.

So here they are; the 25 reasons people say they love life Down Under!

• Most of Australia’s cities do exceptionally well in world rankings when it comes to most livable cities but Melbourne, Sydney and Victoria are almost always voted among the top 50.
• There’s enough space!  In fact Australia is home to a cattle ranch larger than the whole of Belgium – with lots of space to spare.  Australia is the sixth largest country in the world.
• If you visited a new Australian beach every day it would take 27 years to see them all!  That’s nearly 11 000 beaches!  Hyam’s Beach in NSW has the world’s whitest sand. Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsunday Islands is continuously voted as the most beautiful beach on the planet.
• Aussies like a good party as much as anyone. The average Aussie drinks 96 litres of beer each year.  Even their statesmen love a good throw down.   Australia’s former Prime Minister Bob Hawke set a world record for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds!
• If it isn’t enough that Tasmania is super pretty  - it also has the world’s cleanest air!
• You’ll have access to First World entertainment standards.  Sydney’s IMAX theater is the largest cinema screen in the world.  Melbourne’s Attica is the 20^th best restaurant in the world.
• Nature lovers have access to more than 500 national parks, 19 UNESCO World Heritage sites and 8,222 islands.
• If you are into wine you should move to Australia straight away.  There you can visit 60 Wine regions – some of the best in the world.
• If you are an adrenaline junky Australia is the place to be thrilled! You can swim with Great White Sharks in Port Lincoln or if that’s not thrilling enough you can splash with the Crocodiles at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin.
• Most Australians are the most laid back and friendliest people in the world (head beyond the cities and you will know what we are talking about)!
• Australia is an extremely multicultural country and is home to the largest Greek population outside of Greece.  It is believed that nearly 200,000 live in Australia permanently.
• It is home to the world’s longest fence and largest rock. Mt Augustus in Western Australia – yes Uluru is the second largest monolith in the world.  The Aussies erected a Dingo fence in south-east Australia which is 5,614 km long. That, my friends, is a fence from Nairobi to Cape Town!
• You heard the Outback is hot and you are more of a winter person – that’s okay!  The Australian Alps receive more annual snowfall than Switzerland.

• Australia is the only country in the world without an active volcano (but it does have a lot of animals that can kill you including the world’s deadliest animal the Box Jellyfish).  Luckily their medical guys are top notch (and free) and although there a number of deadly spiders in Australia – there has not been a death from a spider bite since 1979.
• Australians tend to be quite attractive – mostly thanks to the Hemsworth brothers.  The 'Fourth Annual Sexiest Nationality List', released by MissTravel.com, showed that more than 49,000 women rated Aussie men as third sexiest in the world and the men rated Aussie girls 8^th best looking in the world.
• Aussies love sport (perhaps) more than we do.  Melbourne is the sporting capital of the world with more top level sporting events than anywhere else in the world.
• The Aussie answer to Marmite and Weetbix is acceptable
• The Aussie sense of humour is like nowhere else on the planet. Did you know that an Australian man once tried to sell New Zealand on Ebay?
• It is the only country where the citizens often and happily eat their national animals (kangaroo and emu) which also appears on the country’s crest.
• The Whale migration along Australia’s East Coast is absolutely amazing!
• It’s a pretty safe country.  The 2018 World Peace Index rated Australia is the 13^th most peaceful country in the world!
• According to the Legatum Institute, a London-based research institute released its 10th annual global Prosperity Index in November 2018.  Aussies have the 8^th best medical care in the world.
• With great weather and low pollution, it is not surprising that Australia is ranked as the healthiest nation in the southern hemisphere. Its average life expectancy is 82.8, the 4th highest in the world.
• According to the World Bank Australia has the 14^th strongest economy in the world.  That means that the country has very little debt and a low unemployment rate.
• Australia has an impressive number of study options for international students with more than 1,200 institutions and 22,000 courses to choose from. Australia has the third highest number of international students in the world behind the UK and US even though we have a much smaller population than those countries.

Sources: Nomad’s World, Wikipedia, Time Out, Life Down Under, Sydney Morning Herald, Business Insider, Gourmet Traveller