We left Australia to live in the Netherlands. From property prices to the best schools and cheaper European holidays – here’s why our lives are so much better than before

Liana and James Hakim uprooted their family life in Australia to live in the Netherlands – with no plans to return home.

The couple, both aged 37, dreamt of giving their two young children – eight-year-old son Johnny and six-year-old daughter Penny – a ‘worldly experience’ in Europe.

What started as a spontaneous idea to move abroad ‘just for fun’ for 12 months has turned into a permanent life in the European country, renowned for its beautiful canals, tulip fields, windmills and cycling routes.

The young family of four have now called it home for the past three years after packing up their lives in Sydney. 

‘It has changed our lives in so many ways,’ Liana told Daily Mail.

Freedom, work-life balance, a sense of community, weather and proximity to Europe were the five main drawcards that attracted the couple to the Netherlands.

‘My children are thriving in school. They come home at 2pm and they just play on the street like it’s 1955,’ the mum-of-two said. 

‘We’ve moved to an area with a genuine sense of community I never experienced in Sydney. Everything is rideable by bike, so we’re outside our house far more than we ever were in Australia. 

‘Some people say you can find this in rural Australia but I don’t want to live rural. This is small village living in the city, and it’s amazing.’

Before moving abroad, life in Australia was ‘pretty standard’ for the family of four. 

‘We mainly just went through our day-to-day as most families do – work, school, activities, playdates, seeing family and scheduling in time with friends,’ she said. 

‘We had a $1million mortgage, regular electricity and water bills and I would say a pretty high grocery bill as we tried to eat fresh and organic produce where possible.’

When their son Johnny turned six, his parents decided they wanted him to have a Waldorf Steiner education. 

The approach, founded by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in 1919, focuses on nurturing children’s intellectual, artistic and social development through a balanced, creative curriculum. Unlike mainstream schools, Waldorf education delays formal academics in favour of creativity, play and holistic growth. 

Research found that Waldorf graduates often excel in creative and analytical thinking, problem-solving, and social intelligence. 

‘We realised the Dutch government offers Steiner education as part of the free education system for taxpayers,’ Liana said. 

As European passport holders, the couple thought it made sense for the family to consider moving to the Netherlands.

Within five weeks, they had put their family home up for rent, hired a removal company to transport their belongings from Sydney and set off for their new life abroad in 2023.

‘We temporarily rented out our Australian home furnished, leaving behind the items we didn’t want to bring immediately because we weren’t sure whether the move would last one year or many,’ Liana said. 

‘However, we have since sold all the items that were left on Gumtree, which my father-in-law helped.’

Cost of living and housing

The couple decided to buy their own property in the Netherlands as they found the rent was ‘almost higher than a mortgage similar to Australia’.  

‘It seemed silly not to buy because in the Netherlands you can buy with a zero per cent deposit if you qualify, and so we did just that,’ Liana said. 

She said properties are cheaper than Sydney, with houses ranging between €300,000 and €1.5million (AU$485,000-$2.4million) depending on the size and location.

‘It’s very rare to see something over these figures here,’ she said.

The median house price in Sydney now sits at a record $1.76million, with properties in the Inner West and Eastern Suburbs ranging between $2.5million to $4million.

To support their family financially, James was able to keep his creative director job in Australia, working remotely for two years before switching to freelancing. 

‘The pay is fairly similar to Australia but the Euro is worth more and is more stable so it translates better economically,’ Liana said. 

The mum worked as a freelance art director and artist in Australia before growing her clientele after arriving in Europe. 

‘The work-life balance where we are in the Netherlands is so much better than Australia. Most people that have kids are working part-time or they’re working from home mostly and they are generally available,’ she said.

Liana – who documents her life abroad on TikTok and Instagram – recently launched a life coaching business with a friend she met abroad called Out of Mind Space.

‘We coach people on how to become a leader of your own life. We have 50 per cent Australian clients though, which is so nice for me, I love hearing a true Australian accent over Google Meet on a weekly basis,’ she said. 

Taxes and the cost of living are quite similar to Sydney – but the family is spending far less in the Netherlands. 

‘We ride bicycles everywhere, barely use petrol, we don’t use air conditioning, we heat with a stove fire, and we don’t need childcare past the age of four because school is compulsory from the day you turn four,’ she said. 

Schooling and learning Dutch

The kids started school just four weeks after relocating to Europe.

‘We purposely put them in a local school so they were forced to speak Dutch. They had zero knowledge of Dutch prior, despite having Dutch passports,’ Liana said. 

‘My son was speaking fluently within two months and my daughter took around six months. They speak so well, people are shocked when they switch to English.

‘They are losing their Australian accents so we have some evenings where we practice “G’day Mate” just to make sure it’s not all gone.’

The mum said her kids ‘absolutely adore’ their school system. 

‘It was confirmation that my gut was right to move here,’ Liana said.

‘They are thriving in many ways and in comparison to kids I know still in Australia, I feel they’ve matured quite quickly.

‘I think this not only comes from the Waldorf system but also the problem solving that needs to come when they’ve decided to go somewhere alone. 

‘Most kids are allowed to play on the streets here, so a lot happens without full supervision. They need to work things out for themselves, which I think is brilliant – it’s a tiny pack mentality.’

Liana said she never felt a strong ‘sense of community’ where she lived in Sydney, so it was refreshing to feel she could trust everyone on their street in the Netherlands.

‘I could knock on any single one of the houses lined up in a row on our street and be welcomed inside for a coffee or a tea,’ she said. 

‘In Australia, I did not feel this way. I was surrounded by people who were so uptight and helicopter parents with their kids.

‘It also made me feel like I didn’t belong because I was not like that with my kids.’

European holidays

Living closer to Europe means their family holidays are now much cheaper than having to book long-haul flights from Sydney.  

‘To experience a European holiday, all we need is a car and not AU$15,000 in flights for the whole family. Experiences like this are so much more accessible to us now,’ she said. 

‘I want my kids to be able to experience Europe without having to get on a plane for 26 hours or me having to save $20,000 so that they can just experience another country, another culture, another land.

‘Now we go on holidays all the time, we just jump in our car and we just drive to Germany, Denmark, France or Greece, it’s all so close, it doesn’t feel like a stretch to have an experience like that, and that’s one of the reasons why we moved.’

Culture shocks

Starting a new life abroad meant they had to adjust to everyday life and culture shocks, including daylight hours, transport habits, parenting, and weather.

‘When we first arrived, everyone warned us about the “Dutch directness” and how people can seem rude,’ she explained. 

‘But actually, I found it quite refreshing to just know what someone wants. Everyone says what they think and, on most days, it’s tolerable – just not when I haven’t had much sleep.

‘Speaking of sleep, in summer it doesn’t get dark until 10pm so I have become very good at sleeping in the light.’

The family barely use their car as they now ride bikes everywhere. 

‘It has been the greatest shift of all, we are outside exercising on a regular daily basis,’ she said.

‘Sometimes I have three kids piled into a bike at once to come to ours for a playdate. Parents are very relaxed here, kids have a lot of freedom. 

‘There is a real sense of community around children and a mentality of “small village” living, where we’re all just looking out for one another.’

Interestingly, Liana said the weather was one of the biggest factors in preferring the Netherlands over Australia. 

‘This is strange for so many people but in the Netherlands, the weather is so mild. When it’s cold, it’s like -5C at the coldest I’ve experienced. Yes, it snows, but then in summer, it’s tops of 30C,’ she said. 

‘In Australia, when it’s hot, it can be 40C. And when it’s cold, it’s still cold, but none of the houses are insulated. So it’s freezing. I was colder inside my house in Australia than I am here in the Netherlands, even when it’s snowing outside.’

When it comes to rain, she said Australia’s wet weather was so intense that it could lead to severe flooding, fatalities, and ‘insane’ storms. 

‘Here in the Netherlands, when it rains, the kids are still playing in the park,’ she said.

‘My daughter had a birthday party the other week and it rained the whole time and nobody even blinked, because it’s so mild.’

Better life abroad

It has now been three years of calling the Netherlands home – and the family don’t have any plans to move back to Australia. 

‘We are planning to stay long term, we have European passports so this is quite a simple choice for us, no admin required,’ she said. 

Back in Australia, Liana said she felt unfulfilled in her mundane life in Sydney. 

She now feels the move has changed something deep inside her and her husband, giving them more trust in life and reducing fear about things going wrong. 

‘I came here determined to step into who I know I am and not repeat my boring, monotonous life back home. I really did that, and I’ve just seen the rewards of it positively explode in front of my eyes,’ she said. 

‘When you’re struggling with how you’re feeling, it sometimes isn’t about you at all. It’s about the environments you’re choosing to put yourself in. 

‘The act of moving shifted something fundamental in us. We have landed in a place with so much more trust and inherently I now trust everything going on so much more. The fear of it not working out has left the building.’

The one thing she feels ‘most proud’ of is what the move has taught her kids. 

‘It stretched the capacity of our nervous systems in terrifying but beautiful ways, and that resilience won’t be lost on them,’ she said. 

‘They faced real challenges moving here, and with our support, they pushed through. That’s something they’ll carry forever. 

‘The only thing I wish didn’t have to change is being so close to family. I’m grateful my brother lives in Spain, so we see him often – that helps fill that gap.

Move abroad 

For anyone considering moving abroad but doesn’t know where to start, Liana said you should just go for it, especially if the timing is right.

‘A majority of people will never act on the things they truly desire because they’re too afraid. Too afraid it’ll be too hard, that they’ll be rejected by the process, or that they don’t have enough to begin with,’ she said. 

‘But once you take that first step, you send the signal that you’re ready. I believe that if the timing is right, everything you need to continue walking in the right direction will be presented to you.’

She pointed out that it all comes down to whether you’re brave enough to say ‘yes’ to it and actually follow through.

‘If more people said “yes” to the ideas without immediately questioning them, we’d all be living the novels we love to read, and what a beautiful life experience that would be,’ Liana said.