I actually only found three noticeable differences: 1) Australian drive on the left... 2) Aussie accent... 3) Aussies are more laid back... Other than that, no apparent differences. As far as the weather and landscape are concerned US has its flora and fauna and so does Australia. I've been in Melbourne (San Francisco is a sister city BTW) for 3 yrs now and enjoying every bit of it. Since I grew up in the US and worked professionaly in quite a bit of places- S.F., Houston, N.Y., the salaries for ppl in the software industry at the mid to senior level aren't much different either. In particular if you are a web architect with 3-5 yrs exp an avg payout is around Aus $89K/yr which closely matches a US salary in my opinion. Obviously, salary in your industry may differ. Plus, perks like a 4 week/yr vacation is considered normal.