AussieSMP is a survival server that is hosted in Sydney Australia and it feels really chill. It is whitelisted so you have to send an application before you can join. This is done so people feel safe and so builds do not get ruined by random griefers.

The server is mostly vanilla but it has some quality of life stuff. There are teleport commands and features that help trading between players. There is also a diamond based economy so diamonds are super important if you want to buy or sell things.

There is a decent shopping district where players build their own shops. It makes the server feel like a little town and it is easy to trade with other players. The owner tries not to change the normal Minecraft mechanics so things like villagers mobs and terrain act like they do in regular survival.

If you want totally pure vanilla with no teleports or economy then this is probably not for you. But if you like almost vanilla with some helpful extras and a small friendly community that actually cares about protecting builds then it is a good choice.

The server runs the latest Minecraft version so you can play with the newest stuff. It is best if you are in Australia or New Zealand because the ping will be low. People from other countries can still join but your latency might be higher and the time zones might be different so players might not always be online when you are.