I've worked in Australia, and compared to the pay of most salaried programmers in the UK, the money on offer was much better. Hell, doing the same damn job for a big corporate over there as I had done in London (same team and everything) netted me a 60% payrise.

Comparing to London contractor money, sure it'll be less and I'm preparing for that, but compared to most salaried work. Look at the averages - Average software engineering salary in Canada $102,866. That average in the UK? £31K. Just over half the Canadian figure.

(I'd allow that the average figure in the UK does not paint an accurate picture because a lot of the higher skilled people opt out of employment to go it alone, like ourselves)

I very much agree on the standard of living aspect, having had direct experience of life in Australia. There's just more space, and more respect for public facilities etc.