pob

My wife had a 457 visa about six years ago I was on the spouse entitlement. She was 44 six years ago. We only stayed about two years. I loved it, but she wasn't happy. I haven't been happy since we left.

My wife had a 457 visa about six years ago I was on the spouse entitlement. She was 44 six years ago. We only stayed about two years. I loved it, but she wasn't happy. I haven't been happy since we left.

Hi We lived in Australia a few years ago, we moved back to England and now we are looking to get back out there again. The problem is that I am now 46 years old. Am I just too old for trying to find someone to sponsor me? I was looking at the visa requirements and they all say must be under 45 years old. Have I missed the boat now? I wouldn't want to be there temporaryily, I would want to get my citazenship. I have been applying for FIFO jobs in WA as a chef. I have had some interest from people. To be honest I could do the job very easily, I work hard and would fit in. I'd buy my ticket tomorrow if I had a visa, getting a job would be easy. Am I too old?

I think it is called Kikuyu. :cool: Thanks.

Well Australian grass isn't like a grass, it is not like any other type of grass that I have seen. If you look at it, it has creepers and isn't at all like English grass. So what is it called? Is the seed available in Bunnings? I need to plant a lawn.

I have lived in Canada, I hated it. To be honest it is very similar to Australia, by the way the people think and their love of bureaucracy and the way they just sheepishly follow authority. Their Healthcare is slightly better, but only slightly. Winters are harsh, but so is Summer in Australia. Canada is a diluted America, just different enough to be irritating. But maybe you had some problems before you came to Australia and you thought that being in a new country would solve them. A wise man once said "Remember, no matter where you go, there you are" You can move anywhere in the world and you will always have the same old problems and you will probably have the stress of the move included in that, as a little cherry on the cake. Maybe you should talk things through calmly and ask your Husband lots of questions, find out where the problems really come from. Just be honest with him And yourself.

Tell her the truth. In a year and a half she will leave all these so called friends behind her. She will be getting a job or going to University, be getting a boyfriend or a girlfriend, maybe both? Her social circle will be much larger, she will have friends with more common interests who will love to include her. They will want to include her because she is a funny and interesting person. Her school mates are most likely a bunch of dicks and she will be glad to put them in her past. Just be aware that school can be a horrible place for some people and some people are just glad to leave. But when you are sixteen it is your whole world. Make her realise that the world is a fantastic place and there is a special and happy place for her in the world.

I would go with a backpack. It is easier to travel with, no lugging some wheeled bag around. But and this is so important make sure the bag fits you! Make sure that you do all the straps up properly. If you do this it will be so comfortable you won't know it is there. Get it wrong and it will be unwieldy and uncomfortable. Go to a shop in the UK called Cotswold outdoor, just ask questions try on the backpacks, see if you like one. Go to blacks and Kathmandu as well. I believe Kathmandu is just off Oxford Street in London. Look at a pack that is about 65 litres for a start, it should be a good starting point for a lady. But don't pack the bag full! you will buy things, leave a little space for them. Remember you can buy your deodorant and shower gel when you get here, they take up a lot of space. There is a shop called Big W here it's like Wallart in the States or Asda back home. It sells cheap clothes and shoes and deodorant and what not. The quality isn't fantastic, but you get what you pay for in life. Ask someone where a big shopping mall is and have a walk around it, Rhodes or maquarie park all have lots of shops and everything you will need. If you go to Rhodes you can take a break from shopping and take a stroll down the Parramatta river which is nice.

Fabric softener and washing powder are bargains there! If you pick through some of the stuff there are bargains to be found for the garden and garage. Just watch out for the tools they are made of cheese. Just do your homework as some things are more expensive there.

NO, again you are not reading posts correctly are you. You said you have not seen much racism, I then said I'm guess you are white. As a white fellow and I see one side, when I am with my wife who is not white I see another side to the country. A less tolerant side than what I had hoped for. And the further you move away from the CBD or thereabouts there just seems to be less tolerance and more bigots.

Do you mean I would have to take my Pith helmet off?

Happy to be unconsciously ill? Happy to be deluded? Happy to lead a blinkered life.

Or I could put it another way, just to clarify it for you because I don't seem to be easily understood. If you are at the bottom of the ladder you are more likely to be abused, when rising up that ladder you will find that the more obvious forms of abuse start to fade away and they become more veiled. But I said this in the next quote that you didn't choose to quote me on. I never mentioned the "caste" system either.

As I said before I am a tradie and I don't mix in high flying circles. Maybe the racism is more veiled as you move up the socio-economic ladder? You stop hearing derogatory comments as much and it happens in more subtle ways. To be honest I hope that as each year goes by, as more children get born into this world, racism or any kind of "ISM" starts to fade away a little more as each year passes and the children become educated. But I can always hope for a better world carn't I.

You do not seem to read my posts very well do you? Or maybe my posts are a little misty? You seem to be nit picking on who can be racists, yes any one can. I never said any different. You have plucked this little one out of the sky haven't you. But let me spell out for you what the "Island" mentality is, you seem a little confused. Due to it's distance from other countries and the xenophobic attitudes, the natives of this Isle have a sense of self superiority, narrow mindedness and a hostility towards foreigners that basically comes from fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of difference and the most feared of them all change! This is why I have likened Australians to Americans, they are both insular countries, they are also similar in may other ways too. So would you really say that All of Australia is multi-cultural? Or would you say that only tiny parts are. I would have to say that it only exists in tiny pockets here in Australia and the rest is just a throwback to the 1970's. Maybe you live in a pocket of multi-culturalism, maybe you have a blinkered view of Australia? But not everybody does. The rest of the population gets to see a very different side to the country.

Sorry for the use of red, I just wanted my response to stand out, it's not meant to be a teachers mark or any thing. But you yourself will have to agree that racism and peoples perception of racism will come from their socio-economic group, the lower down on the scale the more likely they are to experience it and the higher up they will experience less.

I draw their attention to the fact that they are all recent immigrants to this country in a friendly joking way to try and stop them behaving like racist arseholes.

I personally have found Australian to be very xenophobic. I am a tradie, my wife is a business lady. My wife has found that people are very patronising towards tradies, They make jokes and have assumptions that are not true. They presume I know nothing about food, literature, etc and all I want to do is drink VB till I can not stand any more and eat meat pies. Then they see pictures of me and ask if I am a Bikie and in a club. Some people are even scared of me that have never even met me, just from their own misconceptions. We have been invited out by people and they have cancelled later on when they found out I was a tradie because they didn't want any "trouble" at their house. I mean "Trouble" I'm house trained and everything! But I find my fellow tradies to be a friendly bunch. But then again I am white and I fit in pretty good. If you have some colour to your skin you do see a different side to them though. So I wonder how many of the people who say Australians aren't racist are white? We have the Australian argument often though... Someone will talk about immigrants and I will say aren't you an immigrant? They will say no that they are true Australian through and through, they then proudly tell me that they can trace their history right back to the convict ships. They don't seem to like it when I ask if their great great granddaddy was a sheep thief or a rapist? I tell then this land belongs to the Aboriginals and every one else is a immigrant. People do comment on other skin tones here. But it is more out of ignorance than any thing else. I find that Australians have a very ignorant "island" mentality similar to the Americans. They lack cultural awareness. Sometimes they say quite hurtful things, but they mainly do this out of ignorance.

We have table tennis at work. It was surprising, but now I like to watch the people play.

The MOT or pink slip is a joke about $22 and it took the guy three minutes to do, hardly checked a thing! I asked him if I could watch him as I used to be an MOT tester in the UK and he told me he was nearly finished! The MOT checks for many more defects and is a better tests in my opinion. Fully comp insurance was £98 for Mrs Pob and I on a Harley, Here for just me on a Triumph it costs over $400 for the minimum cover. You cannot make modifications to a bike as most are against the law and require engineering certificates!

You need a special sticker on your helmet saying that it is Australian approved. You can buy these stickers for about $15 each. Ask around bike shows, helmet painters. Or if you get pulled over, just take your helmet off put it chin guard up on your handle bars so the police cannot see the back. Your £400 lid will be better quality than a $50 Aldi job, just because it has a different sticker on it, doesn't make it a worse helmet.

I get the feeling Flag that you run against the herd quite a lot! I think it's a good thing, makes the forum a more well rounded place.

Sometimes leaving somewhere that you have emigrated to can be harder than actually emigrating. I remember when Mrs Pob and I left Canada, we had such high hopes and dreams of the future. They were frozen out of our grasp and swept away in a flurry of snow! We were embarrassed to leave after saying all our goodbyes in England (again). Coming to a decision that you don't like somewhere, is a difficult decision to make, assuming it is a mature decision and not a petulant one. It can be heart wrenching to realise you have gone to the other side of the world, only to realise that you could have stayed right where you were and been happy. For me, Australia giveth and Australia taketh away. What it gives to me, it takes away in equal amounts. I think it takes away more from other people that I know. I personally would be happy staying for a few years, I would also be just as happy leaving too. I wouldn't want to get old here though, not with the current healthcare business that is in place.

It's good to experience different countries, you learn about life and people. Sometimes it takes living in a place to really appreciate what it is like to be there. Well if you love the cold and mist, you are in the wrong place. I miss the pub too, the place not just the beer. I took my dog into the pub here, they nearly had a fit! Kicked me out! I always used to take my dog into the pub in Blighty, for every pint I had he got some water and crisps. He is a quiet fella and would just sit next to me. But if you like drinking, Try here Absinthe Salon 87 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010. It's not a pub, but it will be an interesting experience if you have never done it before. Something to remember.

Just out of interest what were the other countries that you have lived in? What were their good and bad points? Everywhere has good and bad points, nowhere is all bad or all good either.