Irish expat issues stern warning to travellers dreaming of a new life Down Under

An Irish woman says moving to Australia is “the best thing she’s ever done”. But she warns anyone considering following in her footsteps that the idealised dream of Down Under as a “Peter Pan country” doesn’t always match reality.

Shannon Sulliman, 27, quit her marketing job in Limerick in June last year to move to Perth with her partner, having previously ‘fallen in love’ with the city.

She has found a full-time job in marketing and is being sponsored for a residency that will extend her current two-year visa, but she says it is not easy.

“In Ireland we have this dream that we’re going to make so much money here and that life is so easy here,” Sulliman said.

‘I don’t know what country we were living in, but we literally thought we would come here and we would be able to socialize as much as we wanted and still have savings and still be able to travel. But you have to sacrifice more to move here.

‘People think that when you move here it’s really easy, that everything will be fine, but it’s a lot harder than people think.’

Mrs. Sullivan said Yahoo News that the Irish have such a rosy view of Australia that they ‘‘Peter Pan’ country’ and expect to ‘get a magic wage by doing a regular job’.

However, she found that what she earned in Perth was only ‘a little bit more’ than her wage in Ireland, and the extra money she earned was easily offset by the higher prices in Australia.

Irish woman Shannon Sulliman, 27, says she had unrealistic expectations of what life would be like after moving to Australia (she’s pictured enjoying an acai bowl on the beach)

Before moving to Perth, Ms Sullivan expected to use the city as a base to travel every two weeks.

However, she has discovered that this is not realistic, especially as flights from the remote capital can cost as much as $800 for a weekend getaway.

Luckily, she and her partner were still able to enjoy camping trips and even traveled to Bali and the Maldives.

Ms. Sullivan said she has had to make sacrifices to make these trips and strict saving is one of them.

She said eating out in Australia is similar to eating out in Ireland, but a night out drinking is more expensive than at home.

Last financial year, 21,000 Irish citizens were granted a two-year working holiday visa in Australia

While the reality doesn’t quite match the idealised image of life in Australia, Ms Sullivan said she would advise people considering moving Down Under to “just do it”.

“If you’re going to move, just be open-minded. When you first move out, it’s the most stressful, but after that, everything falls into place,” she said.

It appears that Australia continues to appeal to many Irish travellers looking to stay abroad for longer periods of time.

Last financial year, 21,000 Irish citizens were granted two-year working holiday visas in Australia, the highest number in 16 years.