To Oz or not to Oz?

[whatsitallabout]

Having lived in OZ for 3 years, I really don't think Oz is better than the UK, they have the same problems here like they did at home, but we didn't have much family around us, so it made the decision to come here, so glad we did as we totally love living here. We have seen alot of friends go home there reasons was missing family, you don't realise how far away you are from loved ones. So if you do have a great support network & are close to your family, then that might make your stay here very lonely & you very sad. Most of our friends that did return was due to the wife not being happy!Even thou I like it here, I really don't think it much different to life back home.

I just wanted to say that I have read most of Ghosts post & I don't think that you have ever been disrespectful about your time in Oz! You have just given a your honest opinion which I have enjoyed reading!!!

[Lindsay Catalano]

Thanks guys! You've given me a lot to think about while I'm reading the ceilings looking for inspiration at 3am.
I have many expat friends, mainly in the Middle East. Having lived abroad myself, a common theme I can see with us all is an inability to settle back down to life in the UK, or as I prefer to call it, "itchy feet syndrome"! This is especially true of teachers who have children themselves. The main reason both myself and my husband feel we need to move, is the British drink culture which is ruining society here (sorry to sound like a politician!). Our restaurant is on a notorious "vomit alley" in Swansea. The things my husband sees going on there on an evening are quite disgusting. What is frightening is that in 10 years time my daughter will be the age these girls are. And yes I know we raise our children up well and trust them to be sensible, but I bet that's what the parents of the 16 year old covered in vomit performing a sex act on a total stranger outside think too!
As a teacher Im seeing increasingly scary things too. I had to do a course last week to learn how to protect myself from physical attacks in the classroom. So many kids here now have behavioural and emotional problems. Surely I'm not being unreasonable in not wanting my children growing up in this society?
Maybe I'm being naive in thinking these things don't exist in Australia. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But there's a reason surely why the UK is ranked well down the list of best places to raise kids and Australia is near the top.
Rant over!

[harpodom]

Thanks guys! You've given me a lot to think about while I'm reading the ceilings looking for inspiration at 3am.
I have many expat friends, mainly in the Middle East. Having lived abroad myself, a common theme I can see with us all is an inability to settle back down to life in the UK, or as I prefer to call it, "itchy feet syndrome"! This is especially true of teachers who have children themselves. The main reason both myself and my husband feel we need to move, is the British drink culture which is ruining society here (sorry to sound like a politician!). Our restaurant is on a notorious "vomit alley" in Swansea. The things my husband sees going on there on an evening are quite disgusting. What is frightening is that in 10 years time my daughter will be the age these girls are. And yes I know we raise our children up well and trust them to be sensible, but I bet that's what the parents of the 16 year old covered in vomit performing a sex act on a total stranger outside think too!
As a teacher Im seeing increasingly scary things too. I had to do a course last week to learn how to protect myself from physical attacks in the classroom. So many kids here now have behavioural and emotional problems. Surely I'm not being unreasonable in not wanting my children growing up in this society?
Maybe I'm being naive in thinking these things don't exist in Australia. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But there's a reason surely why the UK is ranked well down the list of best places to raise kids and Australia is near the top.
Rant over!

I think you are a bit naive to think these things dont exist in australia. There is a drinking culture, and with that goes all the drunken antisocial and violent behaviour you would expect. Just ask any nurse or doctor who works in any emergency department.

Wrt to teaching kids, well theres no shortage of ADHD, behavioural and emotional issues I can assure you. A lot of that is dependent on socio-economic class as I'm sure you know: in deprived areas you get much more social and behavioural problems than in more well to do areas. You get deprived areas in Oz...

[whatsitallabout]

Thanks guys! You've given me a lot to think about while I'm reading the ceilings looking for inspiration at 3am.
I have many expat friends, mainly in the Middle East. Having lived abroad myself, a common theme I can see with us all is an inability to settle back down to life in the UK, or as I prefer to call it, "itchy feet syndrome"! This is especially true of teachers who have children themselves. The main reason both myself and my husband feel we need to move, is the British drink culture which is ruining society here (sorry to sound like a politician!). Our restaurant is on a notorious "vomit alley" in Swansea. The things my husband sees going on there on an evening are quite disgusting. What is frightening is that in 10 years time my daughter will be the age these girls are. And yes I know we raise our children up well and trust them to be sensible, but I bet that's what the parents of the 16 year old covered in vomit performing a sex act on a total stranger outside think too!
As a teacher Im seeing increasingly scary things too. I had to do a course last week to learn how to protect myself from physical attacks in the classroom. So many kids here now have behavioural and emotional problems. Surely I'm not being unreasonable in not wanting my children growing up in this society?
Maybe I'm being naive in thinking these things don't exist in Australia. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But there's a reason surely why the UK is ranked well down the list of best places to raise kids and Australia is near the top.
Rant over!

Hi Lindsay,
I can understand your concerns about giving your kids a better life, but like I have said before all what goes on back home goes on here too!!! Drinking culture here is MASSIVE!!! & just my opinion I think the education is far much better back in the UK than here, unless you can afford private schools (which we can't). Kids drink a lot here ( I think alot more) Whatever country you chose to live in all have the same problems. It amuses me that people back home think it all so rosy here!!!
We came here for the same reasons to give our kids a better life & it has been really hard emtionally & it has been really expensive too!No-ones saying don't come but the rose tinted glasses need to come off if you think that its so wonderful here, like I said before they have the same problems here. I wish you well on your decision but having such a close famiy around will be hard for you & we make your journey here hard.My kids miss family & we only have a small family back home. All the best.

[Rupert]

Thanks guys! You've given me a lot to think about while I'm reading the ceilings looking for inspiration at 3am.
I have many expat friends, mainly in the Middle East. Having lived abroad myself, a common theme I can see with us all is an inability to settle back down to life in the UK, or as I prefer to call it, "itchy feet syndrome"! This is especially true of teachers who have children themselves. The main reason both myself and my husband feel we need to move, is the British drink culture which is ruining society here (sorry to sound like a politician!). Our restaurant is on a notorious "vomit alley" in Swansea. The things my husband sees going on there on an evening are quite disgusting. What is frightening is that in 10 years time my daughter will be the age these girls are. And yes I know we raise our children up well and trust them to be sensible, but I bet that's what the parents of the 16 year old covered in vomit performing a sex act on a total stranger outside think too!
As a teacher Im seeing increasingly scary things too. I had to do a course last week to learn how to protect myself from physical attacks in the classroom. So many kids here now have behavioural and emotional problems. Surely I'm not being unreasonable in not wanting my children growing up in this society?
Maybe I'm being naive in thinking these things don't exist in Australia. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But there's a reason surely why the UK is ranked well down the list of best places to raise kids and Australia is near the top.
Rant over!

Well I have just had a quick re-read of your thead and I didn't see anyone who has actualy lived in both countries saying that they had noticed that Australia and UK are different in these ways. I think you are being very niave, but you seem to have already made up your mind that nothing bad happens in Australia.

[Petals]

Well I have just had a quick re-read of your thead and I didn't see anyone who has actualy lived in both countries saying that they had noticed that Australia and UK are different in these ways. I think you are being very niave, but you seem to have already made up your mind that nothing bad happens in Australia.

I have to agree, it goes on here in Melbourne, just have to walk around the city early in the morning, need a nose peg sometimes. Its the same in all countries now with extended liquor hours. I worked in Dandenong and we were about four doors up from a pub, we had stairs up to the office, however so many people used it as a toilet, it was disgusting and that was in day time. Sign of the times, no-one cares now, anything goes. Fortunately we did move from that office but we were there for many years. Building on the corner most of the floors were vacant and there is a watchmaker in there, when the druggies woke after lunch they used to go in there to shoot up, said hi to Mr Watchmaker.

This is very very sad but please do not think it does not exist in Australia that is truly having rose tinted glasses.

[Locksley]

Drinking and drugs culture: UK, USA, Oz, France, etc etc...every country today has the same problems.
I'd have to say that drinking to excess is much more a social pastime in Oz than in the UK or the USA and other places.
Unless it's a country pub, you don't go to a pub here to have a nice meal and a quiet chat, you go to drink.

[VERYSTORMY]

We have lived in Sydney and now in Perth and can say that having lived in some pretty tough parts of the UK, such as Middlesbrough, both are just as bad. Australia has a massive problem with booze. I have seen things in Oz that would make a sailors toes curl in the city centres in Oz. In fact i would say in some respects it is worse. I have seen all the sort of things you descibe in the Cross (centre of Sydney) and in Northbridge (Perth) on a weekend. Though, i think there is more violence here. Several of the clubs and bars are associated with biker gangs such as the hells angels. Every monday the papers are full of stories about the weekends violence and things.

If you think young girls in Oz are better behaved, you will be in for a shock. Heck, there was even a story in all the press a while back about school girls wearing bracelets that advertised what they were into and covered everything from group sex, anal and everything in between.

[Lambethlad]

As a child of 10 pound poms, growing up in Oz was magical. We were never indoors. We were always camping, hunting, ferreting, fishing, or at the beach. After school we would play Aussie Rules or cricket till dark. These days kids seems to prefer staying indoors Facebooking or playing Xbox so it would make no difference where they lived. Last week plans were announced for six new suburbs on Melbourne's outskirts - every one of them would need a good Italian Restaurant so there would be plenty of business opportunities for your husband. Teachers are always in demand.

[littlesarah]

You could try a move within the UK (or even Wales) first. I moved from a small Midlands town (pretty respectable, but in a large urban conurbation) to a rural market town in East Anglia, and it was like starting a new life! So much quieter and so nice to feel like I was in the countryside!

If it turns out that you're not happy, it's a lot less hassle to go and see family, and even to move back to your old town, than it is to uproot your kids and move to the other side of the world.

If having family around is important to you, I think moving to Australia could be disastrous for your mental well-being. I am very independent, have no kids, and saw my parents about 6 times a year (my sister probably about 4); and sometimes I just really miss them and wish I could just visit for a few days like I used to (at the moment I'm in that headspace, actually). So how I'd feel if I'd come here having stayed in my hometown and had kids there who saw their extended family regularly, I can only guess. My guess is that I'd find it really hard to settle.

I'm not saying don't do it, because the final decision comes to you and your husband, but please don't think that Australia is perfect - as others say, there are social problems (just as there are in most developed countries). I love living here, but I can see similar problems to the UK with drinking and antisocial behaviour.

I would also echo the sentiments of those who point out that what happens in a big city or deprived area isn't necessarily representative of what happens everywhere. I found Norwich very quiet compared to Wolverhampton or Birmingham, but it's really busy compared to a small village!