MARYROSE02

I was being, or trying to be sarcastic about SOME Pommies's reactions to Aussie pubs! I may have gone to one bar on Leederville. Back in 1978 I remember a guy at the hostel saying, "Come on Dave, put 2 bucks in. I'm going to the bottlo at the pub in Leederville for some p$%&." Maybe it was Subi I was talking about. I did go to a couple there, one of them where the Perth Ozspurs met. I liked the Windsor when I was there. Bournemouth is nice though I come from near Southampton 30 miles or so to the east. Which has the best hospitals?! I'm in an Irish bar in Surfers, nobody here. I just fancied a last beer. I had a meal earlier then drinks in the Surf Club. I suppose when you go to a pub for the first time you are attracted to the ambiance, atmosphere, the way it looks from the outside and then inside, but I just like a place where I know a few people. After I left the Surf Club I crossed the road and walked along the seafront which is one of the things I like about it here. There are not many places that I can do that whether in England or Oz.

Yes, you are right. If you mean by 'contact' - 'people' whom I know and family, yes. I have done it tough in earlier times. Not quite as 'adaptable' as I could have been. Back in the 80s and 90s I was barely coping with work and on weekends I was lonely and isolated. I used to see my brother and his family every Sunday. Looking back I wish I'd just quit the job and gone back to England to live with my parents. When I lost that job I did go back to England and live with my parents. But they have both passed away now and I came back to Australia where I still have family. My local pub in Sydney used to be not too bad. It's a typical inner city Sydney 19th century building with the ironwork balconies but inside it's absolutely horrible. They moved the pokies from the back bar to the front bar and that mean the windows are all blacked out so the pokies are invisible from the street. The 'drinking bar' is now at the back in a dark, dank, windowlesss room with astroturf for carpet but I know all the staff and most of the people who drink there. There are any number of 'nicer' bars within easy walking distance but why would i want to sit on my own in them when I have friends in the other pub? Actually, I'm in Surfers Paradise now, into my third week here and I've got new local - the Surf Life Savers' Club. I already knew some of the staff from when I was here before. The view over to the promenade is much nicer than the one from the pub in Sydney but I don't go there for the view; I go for the people. If I can be a bit sarcastic. 'Ugh! I don't like Aussie pubs. No atmosphere, no history, no thatched roof, no Tudor beams and the beer! That's not beer.' But my two locals in Marchwood - the snooker club and the Roebuck - were both built in 1986 when the village was being redevloped. They don't sell real ale either but who cares? I was a local and I knew people in both of them. After my Dad died we had the reception in the snooker club.

I've been concentrating on my Open Uni the last few days as it's a "workshopping week" where we post our own assignments - short stories - and comment on each other's work. But I was thinking about what you said all the time, or part of the time anyway! Many of those places that you mention I moved for specific reasons. I moved to Surry Hills because I couldn't cope with the bus from Narrabeen and I wanted to be able to walk to work at Garden Island. Actually, Surry Hills was a little too far to walk comfortably - 40 minutes and then if the caissons were out in the dry dock that meant another ten minutes to walk round the far end of the dry dock. So I moved to a trendy, inner city suburb but not because I wanted to be trendy! I got a job in Penrith otherwise I'd never have gone there. Since I finished working there in 2014 I've been back once. It's 55 kilometres from Central but whilst I was working there I had 40 minutes to wait for the train after work and I started to explore Penrith. I also drove out there sometimes and drove around after work. I began to appreciate it. It's a "proper" town rather than a suburb. It's got a High Street just like in England. It's got a big shopping mall, performing arts centre and the station is half way between Katoomba and Sydney so there's a good train service. But it's also a long, long way from the beach. Did we talk about "living the dream" once? I hate the phrase but for me it means "living on or near a beach." Why move to Australia if you can't live close to the beach?! But unless you owned a house in London, if you move to Sydney you might have to buy a house in Penrith? And they're not cheap now. I suppose you adapt. Build a pool in your back yard, use a public pool and make use of the Nepean river and the Blue Mountains. Then I got a job in Parramatta and I went through the same process. I still hated commuting but Parra is 30-40 minutes instead of 50 to 70 minutes. I had time to kill after work and I explored Parramatta and began to appreciate it as I did Penrith. In both cases, had I been at the start of my career I might have moved there. That's I what I did when I got my first job in Sydney - in Neutral Bay in 1979, moving from Kingsford. Come to think of it, I got to know Kingsford/Randwick because I stayed in residential colleges at the UNSW in Dec/Jan 78/79. Even in the New Forest I was brought up in one village - Blackfield - but after I came to Oz, my parents moved 7 miles north to Marchwood and it took me a while to adjust to Marchwood when I lived there. My memories were almost all of Blackfield where I grew up and went to school. Marchwood is actually a better location because it's seven miles to Soton rather than fourteen. Perhaps it's not so much that I'm adaptable as that I've had to adapt to my situation. I hate commuting especially in the peak hour (which lasts all dau every day in Sydney). So move closer to my workplace or in the case of Penrith, try to get the Blue Mountains train which only stops four times and has a toilet on board! I suppose with regard to other people I guess it's more not being able to understand how someone would prefer the place to the people? I couldn't imagine moving to Marchwood now to live on my own ten thousand miles away from my brothers and nieces and nephews. A pub is a pub. A supermarket is a supermarket. An Indian restaurant is an Indian restaurant, whether they are in Southampton, Sydney or Surfers Paradise. But for others, it's got to be a pub with a thatched roof and Camra approved real ale, ASDA or Tesco, and a 'real' Indian restaurant in England not India!

I've no desire to travel to the Third World but I invariably get on well with other races and peoples. I'm presently learning Japanese though I have no great desire to go to Japan.

I didn't want to face another lockdown on my own. That's why I headed north to Surfers in July, 2020. My brother would not have gone anywhere cold. I would like to see the hoons banned from the promenade.

I was OK in my younger years.

Yes, you are right. I could have taken a ferry to the Continent, as I used to do with my parents in the 1960s. I suppose I was a bit nervous of travelling abroad by car on my own, trying to speak French. Perhaps a lack of confidence in myself combined with a desire not to be too far away from "Home." Fear of flying was/is another facet of it and included flying within the UK. I wasn't afflicted with a phobia about "foreigners" or travelling to foreign lands. I happily travelled on my own in England and Australia (also an island!) Travelling on my own is my default position.

Had my brother chosen The Sunshine Coast I would probably have been enthusing about Noosa. Similarly, he might have gone to Main Beach, Broadbeach, Burleigh, or Coolangatta but he chose Surfers. I ended up in Sydney 43 years ago and both my brothers followed me there. I lived in the Hilton in Surfers for eight months in 20/21 and now I'm back there, presently in a hotel room but they have two bedroom apartments which you can rent for $750 a week if you commit to at least 28 nights and that is very reasonable for Surfers. I've looked on Booking.com. As I've said before, the thing i like about Surfers is the sheer convenience with everything I need within about a 5 minute walk. I went to the supermarket today - 200 metres from the Hilton, no need to do a big shop with a trolley, no need to drive for however it takes. The tram service is excellent, outside my door and stops at the two major shopping centres - Australia Fair at Southport and Pacific Fair at Broadbeach, and also stops by the casino, the specialist doctors in Southport and Gold Coast hospital/Griffith uni. I like seeing all the tourists around but I also like that I can become a "local" eg by joining the Surf Club, or rather rejoining it. Some of the staff know me and I know a young couple who go there. It's the same with two or three restaurants, bars and cafes. so far, more acquaintances than friends but they may develop down the track, as it did in Sydney when I returned there after 12 years in England. The one thing I dislike is the hoons who hire scooters and mopeds and race along the shared path on the Esplanade. As I said to one of the staff in the surf club last night, "I feel safer crossing the road than I do the footpath."

I did a lot of English seaside resorts in the late 90s and early 2000s. I was frightened of flying so I drove down to the West Country. Name a seaside town, and some inland towns and I stayed there - Lyme Regis, Sydmouth, Dartmouth, Falmouth, St Ives, Newquay,, Bude, Port Issac (Doc Martin?"), Ilfracombe, South Moulton. There were some others but I can't think of the names. I liked Newquay because it reminded of me of Australia with its surf beaches, lifeguards, some of them Aussies too. I stayed in Bournemouth one week and in Sandown on the Isle of Wight the next. Some of the hotels did half board which I liked. I went East into Kent once and also to South Wales. I liked to do a bit of walking then and the coastal paths are excellent in most of those places. I'm still trying to think of an inland town down towards St Ives. I stayed in a pub in the main street, one with a well inside the bar (covered by a glass top). There was a brewery in the town - Blue something. Plenty of people don't like to travel abroad. One of my aunties went to Poole every year. I met a bloke in a B and B in Bude who told me he'd been going there every year since 1972 - had been through five different hotel owners.

"Schoolies" is a couple of weeks after the HSC and weekends are big for the clubbers but they "co-exist" with everybody else. It's probably like living in any seaside resort - Bournemouth, Benidorm, Blackpool, Miami, locals, retires, holidaymakers, "snowbirds ",(Escaping the winter). I spoke to a elderly lady from Yorks this morning pushing her stroller to the shops. Later, I went to Woolies myself ie "normality." I've seen more syringes in Surry Hills than in Surfers.

I'm sitting in the Surf Club as I write this. I'm not aware of a high crime rate here. It's 2230 and people are strolling on the promenade. There's always a lot of people about. It's true that in Fri and Sat nights there are huge crowds of young people queuing for the clubs but that's mostly in a little strip of two streets part of Cavill Ave and part of Orchid Ave but it does not mean mass brawls. I find it quite exciting. There are lots of families here and lots of older retired people (me!) I like Surfers because everything I want is within 500 metres with the excellent tram service if I need to go further.

"Atmos" for me means being a "local" - a known "face." My local pub in Sydney is entirely devoid of atmosphere since they turned the front bar into the pokies' room but i know most of the people who go there. Here in Surfers I go to the Surf Club where i can sit on the verandah looking out to the Esplanade and the ocean beyond. But again, I go there because I know a few people and the staff know me.

I know there are "Grey Nomads" who spend their retirement driving round Australia in motor homes. Maybe there are "ungrey nomads" too? I don't know if increasing numbers of people are being forced into caravan parks? There are a couple of caravan parks in my village in England. They've always been there. When I first started going to the pubs in the 70s they opened and closed fourteen times a week at various times according to the day. Australia had its own restrictions according to which state you lived in. Open all day Monday to Saturday in Sydney but mostly closed on Sundays. The shops closed at 1230 on Saturday too. Sundays were dull. The cinemas and Macca were open though.

Except when they close the pubs or don't they do the "last orders" "time gentlemen please" BS any more at 1050pm, 11pm or 1020pm, 1030pm on Sundays? If they treated you like adults you would be able to buy booze whenever you want and pub and restaurant operators would be able to sell it whenever THEY want.

I had the chance to do Aussie history when I started at UNSW in 1982 but I did European History from, I think 16th to 18th centuries. I regret that looking back. Some units cover hundreds of years, others shorter periods, eg Austria and Germany 1919 to 1939 and Germany since 1945 (in 1990). I can't be bothered with it now. I am doing Open University but I do creative writing units so I don't have to bother with writing essays and footnoting. But I might push myself to do an Australian history unit. Van Life?

I'm sure I did read it, or perhaps the other one - Poor Man's Orange? I'll download them to my Kindle. When I had my graduation ceremony at UNSW in 1994 I think Ruth Park was granted an honorary degree. I'm sure there are two "celebrities" there.

There's still a Hart's pub in The Rocks and, annoyingly, I don't recall having been in there. I used to go The Rocks every weekend in 1979/80 with my brothers to meet mostly Pommie friends. There's the Strawberry Hills pub in Surry Hills (which I have been to many times) and that preserves the name, along with the Post Office on the corner of Pitt and Cleveland Streets. My original post was eleven years ago I see, not long after I moved back into Surry Hills after twelve years back in England. I first moved to Surry Hills in 1987 (from Narrabeen) wanting to be closer to my workplace at Garden Island Dockyard.

Of course he hasn't quoted "The Walking Dead" but he regards the rest of Australia as being like the zombies in The Walking Dead judging by the barriers he has put up to keep the rest of us out of WA.

How has Mark McGowan portrayed the people in the rest of Australia?

Isn't that how McGowan regards us!?

I have a friend from Sydney who has moved there - moved BACK there I think because she lived there before. I'll ask her about the pros and cons. It's got a Bunnings I know! I don't know if you have to go to Rockhampton for specialised services.

Is there "correlation" there? Maybe Aussies from the "Land of the Walking Dead" ie "The Eastern States" think "We are not going to Perth. It's the most isolated city on Earth." Whilst "New Chums" are thinking, "If we are going to the ends of the Earth we'd rather be 17 hours' flight from "Home" than 24 hours?!" My original intention was to go to Queensland, to Townsville of all places, and I've still not been there. Then a good deal came up involving a flight from Gatwick to Singapore followed by a week's cruise to Freemantle for 320 quid instead of 370 to fly to Queensland. I liked Perth but I couldn't get a job and I decided to travel east, first to Adelaide and then to Sydney where I finally got a job nearly 3 months after I arrived in Oz. Looking back, I could have just stayed in Perth. A job would have come up eventually but that's with hindsight. Now I'm back in Surfers Paradise wondering if this is where I'll settle. I like it here. I liked Perth. I liked Sydney (though sometimes I think I "endured" it, never having experienced living in a big city before.)

Maybe Perth is "better" than Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane?! I loved Perth from the moment I arrived but I couldn't get a job so I moved east, and ended up in Sydney. I fancy people who are homesick will feel that way regardless of where they live in Australia.

I'm thinking of moving north from NSW to QLD. Actually, I'm already in QLD - the heart of Surfers Paradise but I'm not sure if it's a holiday or more permanent, or an extended holiday. I like Surfers Paradise though I know some people hate it. I like the convenience of having everything I want within a five minute walk, and if it's more than five minutes, there's the excellent tram service. I don't like driving here - like Sydney - all day peak hour. Some of the towns I went through on the way up were like that too - Coffs Harbour, Grafton, Lismore. One of my brothers lives here and a friend from Sydney plus I know a few people from the previous time I was here in 20/21 so I can begin the process of transforming from "tourist" to "local." I wonder if it's the inability to make friends here that makes some people want to go "home?" Surfers could be described as "boring" - no history, nothing over 60 years old, a sea of tower blocks, but whether it's 60 years old or 600, it's the people that make the place home, whether in Surfers, Sydney or Southampton.

I thought Noosa would be busy? I looked on Booking.com for accommodation and there seemed to be plenty, no skyscrapers I guess. I love looking at the towers but I'm scared of heights or rather scared of the balconies so I'll request a low level room if I don't stay in a 3 level place. If my brother had chosen Noosa, or somewhere else I'd have gone there. I don't think he likes Surfers despite going back. He stayed in Redcliffe for a few days and he liked it there. I don't crave crowds and noise but do like having all the services within walking distance of where I live. There's a surf club at Noosa isn't there. Guy I know in Surfers told me it's good. Add in a few restaurants bars, shops, doctors and dentist and I'm set. I don't like having to get into a car to drive to a shopping mall. I use my corner shop here below my unit.