Tourism Queensland's 2009 public relations campaign for the 'Best job in the World' attracted a phenomenal 34,000 applications for the position of looking after a paradise island on the Great Barrier Reef.

A $1 million outlay generated $200 million of publicity for the area across the globe painting a picture of Eden. Australia's star as the dream place to live though would appear to be waning. Latest figures show that more than 7000 UK citizens, emigrants who had moved there for a new life, were coming home for good, the highest number ever. 

With the economic situation Down Under relatively buoyant and the Northern Territory relaxing immigration rules to make it easier for skilled workers to move there, it may seem paradoxical that more people than ever are leaving for the grey and recession tainted shores of Britain. But as many discover emigration is not all that the official communications and publicity campaigns paint. Emigrants thinking life will be like one big holiday are often very disappointed to discover that living in Aus is just like living anywhere else with same problems and everyday worries. Even factors that attracted them in the first place, like the weather, turns into a reason for leaving; the heat and humidity, the flies and the constant need to wear sunscreen becomes a burden rather than a pleasure.

 More than 7000 Brits left for home last year

Originally attracted by the outdoor lifestyle sunshine and sense of space they find themselves isolated far from friends and family in a country that just isn't as familiar as they first thought. Another reason more and more are choosing to return when it isn't working out – is because they can. For those making the journey by ship in the 60s and 70s it took three months and without government subsidies would be hugely expensive. Today those who've had enough can be back in 24 hours on a fare that is little more than a week's average wage.

Over the past five years 30,000 Britons who moved for a better life have returned. Many cite cultural and lifestyle differences as the main reasons. Although again this is what may have attracted them in the first place, the reality is so often very different. Outside the main metropolitan centres Australia can be a very lonely, distant and foreign land indeed.

The tourist board triumph in pitching the Great Barrier Reef as paradise on earth is far removed from reality for most. Never believe all you read on the poster no matter how much you want to.