People in Europe and USA frequently mention “the long flights” to Australia as a deterrent, nevertheless, Aussies and Kiwis do those same flights in the other direction and it doesn’t seem to be so much of a deterrent.
Are we just hardier souls?
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@CatStaff So true! When visiting the USA & UK I heard people continually say they would love to visit Australia but it’s so far away! I always say, no it’s not, I made it here ok!! Anyway, it’s their loss 
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That’s because everything is relative. When you have many other options for flights and destinations, there will be long flights vs. short ones, etc. Australians have fewer options. As an American based on the East Coast, I can be in Europe in under six hours and Australia is more than twice that, so I’d say Australia is a long flight. But so are destinations in Asia and the Mideast. That hasn’t stopped me from going.
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I’ll be in Wollongong end of July, will you still be around? It would be if. To catch up with a fellow sitter for a cuppa.
I’ve done long haul flights all over the world since a young age- I’m so used to flying that its the cost of the flight that interests me more than the flight time! We always search out the best deals. E.g The following one stands out!- During Covid we spent one winter in Mexico as it had remained open. We stayed 5 months and our flight back to Europe (in thus case Germany) was determined by an unbeatable flight deal we spotted- one day only!!- for €89 pp one way!! For a 14 hour direct flight!! The days before & after were €300+ pp!
Regarding Australia- I’ve been there several times in different ways. The first time was in my 20s- in 1989/90 -my sister and I spent one year there on the famous Working Holiday Visa (which still exists and I recommend it to all young people!) We had the time of our lives! I worked & travelled all around the country including Tasmania. Loved it all!
In my 30s I went again- this time I flew out from UK specifically for (an amazing!) three week Voice/sound healing training in Byron Bay. Life changing.
In more recent years -with the hubby- we’ve been 3 times to Western Australia. The first time we’d been in Bali & picked up a $50 flights to Perth (4 hours from Bali) so spent a month airbnb/camping up & down the coast. Loved it!
Then we discovered housesitting! So the last 2 trips we did lots of amazing sits in WA. The most recent trip started immediately pre Covid where we’d booked 3 months back to back sits. We arrived from Bali to Perth for the first one and then came lockdown! All the rest of the sits cancelled and we were stranded in Australia- for 5 months! The 1st 3 months restricted to 100km radius of Perth. Scary times on the other side of the world!
Everyone has their own experience of the drama of lockdown. For many it was a horror story but our experience was amazing! But that’s a whole other story! We experienced massive generosity and care and what could have been a devastating experience (financially and otherwise) became full of unexpected blessings.
So this long ramble was not planned! But my advice to all considering Australia, or anywhere else- is just grab every opportunity offered to you to do the things you dream of- while you can! Don’t wait! If you can afford it do it! If you are healthy- but can’t really afford it -do it anyway! You just don’t know what’s around the corner. We’ve lost too many friends in recent years to delay anything now. We just go with the flow and things unfold like magic 
Happy travels everyone!
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It’s big. We cycled from Perth to Brisbane around the coast 10 years ago, with a little 500km deviation to visit our mums in Broken Hill. All up 7000km. Cycling the Nullarbor was one of the most surreal experiences. 1200km of sooooo much nothing. And that’s coming from someone born and bred in the outback. We had ‘grey nomads’ drop water at specific point along the road so we didn’t have to carry so much. What an adventure!!!
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This is just like the U.S., LOL. One of my many jobs during college was at a rental car agency in San Francisco. Tourists from overseas often had little idea about the distances, time and costs of seeing places. We’d be asked about what visitors often thought were day trips, but actually weren’t at all.
Personally, I’ve road tripped a lot over decades, so have consumed decades of info about road-tripping in various continents. One way that people see a lot of various countries is to ship their RVs or rent one. (Long rentals are expensive, which is why some people ship. Or they buy used, use and then resell.)
However people travel, I’d say don’t wait, don’t worry about seeing “everything,” because it’s delusional. You can live in a place and still not see everything. I’m sure I’ve seen more of Australia even in limited time as a tourist than many Australians. Likewise many tourists from abroad have seen more of the U.S. than many Americans.
One thing that’s served me: I realized early that we will all die never having seen everything. I enjoy what I can, when I can.
One of the things I’ve realized with age and more money: If you can afford to have someone else handle all of your logistics and shuttle and tour you around, you can see and do so much more. And it’s not anywhere as taxing as vacationing on your own if you want to cover a lot of territory.
Personally, my work involves making countless decisions and overseeing things. I’ve found that cruising with say Viking is effortless and highly comfortable and relaxing. They take care of everything. And you avoid noisy partiers, children and such, because the cruises are aimed at low-key folks who enjoy things like cultural or historic lectures on at-sea days. The food is tasty and you get to socialize with nice people. They’re all relaxed, because there’s no planning to juggle, no one is worrying about what they can afford or not, etc.
Even jet lag is easy in such circumstances. Because you arrive and are taken directly to nice hotels without effort and are checked in as a group. All you do is relax while other people handle details. And you can nap on the way to whatever, knowing that your belongings and you will be looked after. Refreshments are plentiful and handled. When I was younger and more carefree, I didn’t realize what a difference such travel can make.
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Proud Aussie here. Australia certainly is a big country with a surprisingly small population in comparison to many others, currently it has 26,439,111 inhabitants, give or take a few 
Gings, I’ve been to cities that have almost that population!
The biggest difference between geographical habitation in Australia and a lot of other countries though is this…
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