Great to hear everyone's stories, thanks. My great uncle moved to Queensland in the 60s and we have distant relatives and friends in Melbourne and Sydney. Otherwise no other ties in Australia. I am from Betws y Coed in North Wales and my OH is Albanian- living in Enfield North London. It's crazy expensive here- 2 bed flats have increased £100k in a few months to approx £330k in our area. We both miss having the great outdoors on our doorsteps but there are no suitable jobs paying enough in either Wales or Albania. If we could earn $25 an hour in Snowdonia I would move back tomorrow! We have 3 kids aged 2,4 and 6 and my poor husband spends 3/4 of his life in work and the other 1/4 in traffic on the dreaded A406.
Having outright dismissed it at first, our favourite city is Perth now. This is based on a combination of house prices, weather, family friendliness and what we have heard from friends about jobs in the vehicle body repair industry. Our neighbour is a retired policeman and his family are in Perth. He said not to waste any more time thinking about moving and just go for it