We knew it was time to leave Australia when we were living ‘week-to-week’ on six-figure salaries. So we packed up and moved to Wales… and don’t regret a thing

The journey between Australia and the UK has been treated like a rite of passage for generations.

Young Australians move to London for work, travel and the novelty of having Paris a train ride away. Britons head in the opposite direction for better weather, higher salaries and the promise of a life built around beaches, backyards, and sunshine.

But as housing costs and everyday expenses reshape what young families can afford, the reasons for moving between the two countries are changing.

For Jade Lennard, leaving Australia wasn’t about chasing adventure or escaping a life she disliked. The 29-year-old marketing manager and her Welsh partner had built a successful life in Perth and were earning more than $250,000 between them.

Yet after welcoming their daughter in August 2025, they began to question what all that work was actually buying them.

Their families were scattered across Australia and the UK, buying a home felt increasingly out of reach and even visiting Jade’s mother and sister on the east coast could cost more than $1,000 in return flights for one person.

With a baby to raise and a house deposit to save, life began to feel smaller rather than bigger.

‘We didn’t want that daunting feeling of living week-to-week, and we started to feel that pressure even as a family earning in surplus of $250,000,’ Jade told the Daily Mail.

Earlier this year, the couple packed up their lives and moved with their baby daughter to just outside Cardiff, the capital of Wales with a population of 383,000. 

The decision was initially driven by a simple need for family support. But once they arrived, Jade realised they had also been searching for something less tangible: the ability to enjoy their lives now, rather than working towards a point in the future when they could finally afford to.

A $250,000 income still didn’t make life feel easy

Jade was born in Sydney and spent much of her adult life in Melbourne before eventually settling in Perth.

From the outside, the family’s life in Western Australia looked comfortable. They had good careers, a healthy household income, and lived in one of the country’s most desirable cities.

The arrival of their daughter, however, changed the calculation.

‘We lived in Perth and my sister and mother live on the east coast. Even being able to travel to them was over $1,000 for a return flight for just one of us,’ Jade said.

‘Factor that in with trying to save for a home and having a baby and life starts to feel pretty expensive.’

For Australians, distance has always been part of the national bargain. The country’s enormous size means moving interstate for work can put families thousands of kilometres apart.

For young parents, that distance can become particularly stark as grandparents can’t casually drop in for an afternoon, a sibling can’t easily take the baby for a few hours, and family Christmas requires flights booked months in advance. Visiting home can quickly become a four-figure expense.

Jade and her partner had started looking at buying a home in Perth, but the prospect felt increasingly remote.

‘We’d just had a baby and wanted to settle down and build a home, but the idea of doing that in the Perth or Melbourne housing market felt impossible,’ she said.

‘You start to think about everything, but predominantly it was driven by the cost-of-living factor. That plays into buying a home, your weekly spending, and saving for a baby. It all starts to add up.

‘Then you have the pressure of maternity leave and its limited capacity from the government. I felt like we weren’t being supported properly in any aspect. We were just constantly stressed.’

The couple began to feel they had to choose between the milestones they wanted rather than building them alongside one another.

‘I feel like in Australia you have to choose your path,’ Jade said.

‘If you’re buying your home, you’re probably not having kids just yet, and vice versa.’

For her, the prospect of waiting until 35 or 40 to feel established held little appeal.

‘People are waking up to the idea that there isn’t much support for being young in Australia and getting ahead or being successful.’

Why Wales offered them something Australia couldn’t

Family support initially pulled the couple towards Wales, but Jade said the financial difference became apparent once they settled into everyday life.

There are certainly expenses she finds higher in the UK. Eating out, for example, can cost noticeably more.

But when she looks at the largest items in a family’s budget, she feels their money stretches further.

‘When you talk about paying for a mortgage and paying for your weekly grocery shop, I feel like it is considerably cheaper here,’ Jade said.

‘We’re not having to worry about putting 30 to 40 per cent of our salary towards a mortgage each month. We’re able to save a bit more, but also use it more enjoyably.’

That distinction has become increasingly important for young people considering life abroad.

Australia’s traditionally higher wages remain a powerful drawcard for migrants, while its weather, beaches, and outdoor lifestyle continue to give it an enviable international reputation.

But a high salary can feel less impressive when so much of it disappears into housing, childcare, groceries, and domestic travel.

For Jade, Wales has offered a different balance.

The couple can pursue home ownership while still travelling, spending time with family, and enjoying their daughter’s early years.

There is also a stronger sense, she believes, that families exist within a wider network rather than operating as isolated units.

‘In Perth, it was noticeable that there weren’t as many young families,’ she said.

‘We were in our late 20s when we had our daughter and it felt like there was no one our age actively having children. It felt like there was too much financial pressure and constraint.

‘So much emphasis was placed on working hard to get somewhere, and people were constantly living in that week-to-week frame. I think that made us feel a bit isolated.’

In Wales, she regularly sees multiple generations of families spending time together.

‘There are often grandparents and great-grandparents around and other young families that are willingly there to support you.’

The climate change

Of all the things Jade misses about Australia, one answer was inevitable.

‘Is it cliché to say the weather?’ she said.

The family arrived during the British summer and was welcomed by a heatwave that reminded her of Perth, although almost everyone she meets has warned her that winter will be a very different experience.

Surprisingly, she’s looking forward to it.

‘There’s something about experiencing seasons that’s kind of exciting,’ she said.

‘I feel like life here supports the seasonal change as well.’

It is an unexpected observation from someone who left one of the sunniest cities in the world for Wales, a country hardly known for reliable blue skies.

But Jade said Perth’s spectacular weather wasn’t always as easy to enjoy with a baby as outsiders might imagine.

‘Most days are well above 30C and taking a baby outside after 8am is not really possible,’ she said.

‘It feels like in Australia your life revolves around the outdoors, which is great, but when you have a young family and a baby, and the weather is above 35C, you can’t really spend the day at the beach every day.

‘There are only so many times you can walk around a supermarket or shopping centre.’

In Wales, she has been surprised by the number of places designed to accommodate families regardless of the weather.

‘Places here are dog-friendly, they’re baby-friendly, and they’re family-friendly,’ she said.

‘It feels like culturally the idea of the traditional family narrative and supporting parents and young families is actually favoured.’

The independence holding Australians back

One of the greatest differences Jade has noticed has little to do with supermarket prices or property listings.

She believes Australia has an intense culture of independence that can make building a life unnecessarily difficult for young adults.

‘Australia has this weird unspoken independence to it,’ she said.

‘When you turn 18, you move out of home and do your own thing. Here that doesn’t happen. So many kids stay at home until they can buy a house for themselves.’

While multigenerational living is common across much of the world, Australians have traditionally placed enormous cultural value on leaving home and establishing independence.

For previous generations, that transition was supported by cheaper housing. Today, young adults can find themselves paying high rents while simultaneously being told to save an increasingly enormous deposit.

Jade believes the family-centred culture she has found in Wales offers young people a softer landing.

‘There’s an emphasis on that community and family narrative that Australia doesn’t see.’

Her experience reflects a complicated reality for Australians considering leaving and migrants considering arriving: lifestyle is deeply personal.

For some people, Australia’s salaries, space and climate will always win. For others, the ability to buy a modest home, live close to family and travel internationally without spending thousands of dollars on flights can outweigh a higher pay packet.

Increasingly, the question isn’t simply where someone can earn the most money – but also where that money can buy the life they actually want.

Why Jade would still consider returning to Australia

Despite everything the family has gained from the move, Jade has not fallen out of love with Australia.

‘Absolutely,’ she said when asked whether she would consider moving back.

‘We’ve come here for the period in our lives that we’re in right now.’

For the moment, the family’s priorities are clear.

‘We wanted to buy a home, build some equity, spend time with family and enjoy a slower routine,’ she said.

‘We wanted to be able to travel and enjoy this process.’

Australia may become more appealing again as their daughter grows older.

‘The schooling system is incredible. There is, of course, the weather,’ Jade said.

‘We wanted to enjoy seeing our daughter grow up and not just be there for parts of it. But there will come a point when she’s in school and our life will change.’

For now, the couple hopes that entering the property market in Wales could eventually put them in a stronger position if they decide to return.

‘I don’t really see the housing market in Australia changing, but being able to afford a home here means we will hopefully be in a better position to re-mortgage and buy a home in Australia in the future.

‘Right now Wales is home for us, but we’ll just have to wait and see.’

It is perhaps the most modern part of Jade’s story. For a generation priced out of traditional timelines, moving overseas no longer has to mean choosing one country forever.

A young family might build equity in Wales, raise a baby close to grandparents, and later return to Australia for schools and sunshine. The old expectation that adulthood unfolds in one city, with one career and one home, is becoming less realistic for many people.

Jade would encourage others who have the opportunity to experience life elsewhere, even if they eventually return.

‘I feel like so much has opened up for us since moving here,’ she said.

‘It gives you perspective that you definitely don’t get in Australia. There is that narrow-mindedness that that’s just the way life is and that’s just what you have to do.’

For her family, moving to Wales created options they had struggled to see while caught in the cycle of working, spending, and saving in Perth.

‘Being here, if you have the opportunity to travel, you have the opportunity to enjoy your life. You have the opportunity to buy a home,’ she said.

‘Not necessarily in the big capital cities, but if you go just outside them, affordability is real. There’s a slower pace to life.’

For now, that slower pace is exactly what the family wanted. Australia hasn’t disappeared from their future, nor has Jade decided one country is perfect and the other impossible.

Instead, moving across the world has allowed them to stop treating life as something that will begin once they finally earn enough, save enough, or buy the right house.

For this stage of their daughter’s childhood, the life they wanted happened to be waiting just outside Cardiff.