Australia seems to be doing better than the rest of the developed countries, USA, Europe, etc.; the Oz $ is running at about 1.5 at the moment ..... last year it was 1.75 and the year before that 2.0 to the £ . It's recently overtaken the USA $ which currently stands at 1.64 to the £.
My son is in Oz working for Ford as a design engineer, and a few friends have sons/daughters working over there; all doing well after going over during the current recession. The country has lots of resources (uranium, metal ores etc.) and the Chinese want them, so I guess that's why they're doing better than most. If I was a young man again I would certainly look into it.
Get your other half on a hairdressing course, they're in big demand too. (no offence to your other half if she doesn't fancy hairdressing)