Whitsundays, one of the most coveted places for billionaires
And we are not saying this because **a coffee and an avocado toast are worth $22 (about 20 euros)**, but because the consulting firm New World Wealth has published a report detailing the migratory movements of billionaires . Approximately 11,000 of them immigrated to Australia in 2016 (compared to 8,000 in previous years), displacing the United States and the United Kingdom as the new favorite residence . However, this has not always been the case. The origins of the country have a much less glamorous past.
Between 1788 and 1868 Australia received more than 162,000 convicts from England. Only in recent years has the young country come to terms with its infamous criminal past and many speak with some pride of great-grandfathers sent from London for stealing cloth or for civil disobedience . They were the so-called petty crimes either unimportant crimes , but which were beginning to pose a problem in overcrowded British prisons.
Furthermore, sending prisoners to Australia was the perfect excuse to colonize the new country , although it should be noted that there was already an indigenous population that they practically annihilated. With this action, the British stopped the explorations of French and Dutch navigators, who had already baptized the continent as New Holland in the 17th century.
When Australia started attracting billionaires
And that was how he January 20 that first fleet arrived Botany Bay in Sydney . The panorama was as beautiful as it was terrifying. Everything was to be done: build a city where there was only forest and fauna . The early settlers suffered famine, disease, and went to war with the Aborigines. But they survived. And other penal colonies flourished, like the one in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) and Queensland. Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia they were established as colonies of free men who arrived from England seduced by the promises of land and the prospect of work.
Some of those who could not afford the passage committed crimes on purpose so that they could be sent to the land of Down Under ( Down there) . Once they had served their sentences, many took over large tracts of land , they started businesses like taverns or butcher shops and completely remade their lives, like the famous james squire . Squire was one of the first, if not the first, to successfully brew and grow hops in Australia.
Yacht lover, this is your new place in the world
Today, just over 200 years later, the country attracts another type of migrant. In 2016 the number of millionaires who moved increased 28% compared to last year. Growth has been 60% since 2013. But why Australia?
According to the same report prepared by the consultancy New World Wealth , there are several reasons. First of all there is a high quality health care , followed by a prestigious educational system for the sons of these fortunes. In addition, due to its location, Australia is a gateway to do business with emerging economies: Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, China, India, etc. . Inheritance taxes are much lower than those in the United States and England and their economic system has spent more than 25 years without knowing what the crisis is. Not so bad...
And beyond tangible values, we enter another dimension that takes into account its natural beauty, being the beaches one of the main claims for all those looking for a piece of paradise! Or the ideal place for yacht lovers , with the Pacific Islands just a stone's throw away. In addition, it is a country far from the main European migratory crises and that offers a great sense of security.
Beaches that serve to define paradise
The truth is that Australia seems to be a great country if you have money. In a recent report published by Deutsche Bank , it occupies the First position in the ranking of the most expensive states to live in , followed by New Zealand and the United Kingdom. "Public transport costs more than anywhere else in the world, as does tobacco and accommodation in cities like Sydney," according to the report.
Imagine if this were a video game and by amassing a certain fortune you level up, unlocking achievements -or experiences- unknown to most. Just watch a few episodes of The Real Housewives of Sydney and let your eyes pop out of your head with the bills of a restaurant with a view, the price of a getaway to the Whitsundays or a facial.
Life is sweet and relaxed, bathed by the crystal clear waters of its beaches, with a wild and completely different nature just a few kilometers away, while skyscrapers are erected in the cities in the image and likeness of any other large city . It is as if you mixed London with the beaches of Acapulco, or New York with the nature of Costa Rica. . Who wouldn't like something like that? Polymorphic Australia, made of tropical forests, arid deserts, crystal clear waters with colorful fish, large cities and rural towns where Priscilla, queen of the desert left her mark.
Uluru
THE OTHER FACE
And in these many facets of the continental country there is also room for those who do not have so many zeros in their checking account, despite the fact that the gap between rich and poor here is also widening and that the middle class has less access to wealth. Australia offers a thousand ways to enjoy it with little in your pockets. The roads are filled with beat-up vans and smiling students posing in front of them, retirees criss-crossing the country in a motorhome, and backpack-wielding travelers hitting every corner that's still free.
The list becomes endless if we think of all those national parks -despite the fact that many require a small entry- such as Litchfield and Kakadu, in Darwin; the Blue Mountains or Frazer Park, around Sydney; the waterfalls of Josephine Falls or the Daintree Forest, in Queensland; Uluru and Kata Tjuta, in the Northern Territory; or the Great Ocean Road, outside of Melbourne...
Just to name some of the best known. Cans of caviar can be exchanged for cans of tuna, feta cheese and avocado or fish and chips by the sea. And we already knew that, but it remains true that some of the best things in the world are free. And at the end of the day, Australia has us all captivated.
Road and blanket?