When I left south-west London for Sydney a year ago, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect – at least, I thought I did. It was the city I’d fallen in love with as a backpacker in 2020, the place I’d fallen in love with my now-partner (also British) four years later. In the nine long months I was back in the UK before I officially moved to Sydney in September 2024, I had a picture of our new beachside flat saved as my phone background and a picture of my new life of sea swims and sunrise coffees etched into my brain.

That mental picture turned out to be pretty accurate, as Instagram expat cliches go. Australians really do walk around barefoot (yes, even in the supermarket). You really can get the ferry to work, and leave your front door unlocked while you’re out all day. The Aussi

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