5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Moving to Australia

5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Moving to Australia

I landed in Melbourne in February 2023 with two overweight suitcases, a scholarship letter I'd read fifty times, and approximately zero understanding of how Australian life actually worked. Three years later, I'm finishing my Master's in Public Health and I've made peace with the things that blindsided me in those first weeks. Here's my honest list.

1. Australians are friendly to everyone, close friends with fewer people

This is the one that confused me most in the first few months. Australians are genuinely warm and easy to talk to — strangers chat at bus stops, lecturers use first names, shopkeepers make conversation. I thought I was making friends quickly. Then I realised that friendliness and friendship are different things here.

Australians tend to socialise in established groups that take time to penetrate. The good news: they're not exclusionary, just slow to deepen. Keep showing up. Be specific with invitations ("do you want to grab coffee Thursday?" works far better than "we should hang out sometime"). It takes 3–6 months of consistent contact to move from friendly to genuinely close with most Australians.

2. The weather will genuinely shock you

I'm from Jaipur, so I thought I understood heat. I did not understand a 42-degree Melbourne day followed by 18 degrees the next afternoon. Melbourne's weather infamy is entirely deserved. I now own a rain jacket, a light down puffer, a cotton top, and sunscreen — and I might need all of them in the same week.

More importantly: Australian UV is brutal. SPF 50+ is not optional here. I got sunburned at a sporting event in March because I didn't think overcast skies could burn me. They absolutely can.

3. You will need to learn a whole new vocabulary

I speak English fluently, but Australian English is its own experience. 'Arvo' for afternoon, 'servo' for petrol station, 'bottle-o' for bottle shop (liquor store), 'thongs' for flip-flops (yes, really), 'brekkie' for breakfast. Nobody told me 'how ya going' is a greeting and not a literal question about transportation. I answered it earnestly for about two months.

The humour is dry, deadpan, and often hard to distinguish from sincerity. Australians will say something absurd with a completely straight face and wait for your reaction. Once you get it, it's genuinely funny. Until then, nod and smile.

4. Rent is competitive and moves fast

I thought I had time to look for housing. I did not. Sydney and Melbourne rentals are listed and gone within days. I ended up paying for an extra two weeks of temporary accommodation because I wasn't ready to apply the moment I found a good listing.

Have your documents ready before you start looking: bank statements, your scholarship or CoE letter, passport copy, and two references if possible. Show up to inspections prepared to apply on the spot. And always check the price against similar listings on Domain or Flatmates — if it's significantly cheaper than everything around it, something is wrong.

5. Your mental health will take a hit — and that's normal

I wasn't prepared for how exhausting it is to do everything in a new cultural context. Shopping, navigating bureaucracy, making small talk, following lectures — all of it costs more energy when you're not on home turf. The loneliness in the first couple of months was more intense than I expected, even though I was meeting people every day.

Every major Australian university has free student counselling. I used it at month two and it helped enormously — not because I was in crisis, but because having a space to process the adjustment made the process faster. Don't wait until you're struggling badly. Go early.