Gbye grey sky Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 I havenever experienced traffic jams like it in Sydney..if you think you won't be stuck in traffic that's crazy..an hours drive can take up to three hours because of the traffic.. I have been stuck in a Sydney traffic jam. I know Sydney has traffic problems of course. I am sure that you can experience traffic issues in any major urban centre anywhere in the world. But by comparison there are many more cars, lorries and other vehicles in the UK than there are in Australia and the UK is a small island and so has traffic issues outside of urban centres. Almost all motorways, small towns and many villages throughout the UK suffer from excessive traffic and lack of parking almost every day. My street has cars parked on both sides all the way down most of the time and I live in an outer suburb many miles from a city. And many of the houses have drives full of cars also. Not to mention the litter in all the streets too. A tour on Google Maps in the Brisbane suburbs shows few if any cars on the street and no litter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wellers and Whitehead Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Try the Brisbane traffic for a while....no traffic jams.......My Arse! think you attached the wrong quote flathead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flathead Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 think you attached the wrong quote flathead. Ooooops!...I did indeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I find there is much more to do in back in the UK especially theme parks- really miss all those loads going on. But which where is the park which is out of this world - that sounds good ? I think the parks here that are free or very cheap to access are of a much higher standard than those in the UK that we had easy access to, yes the Gold Coast has some of the best theme parks in the world but i was talking free / cheap, for example here are 3 links to FREE play parks within 20 mins of me, there was nothing like these within half an hour of us in the UK, if there is any anywhere that are on par and dont cost and arm and leg to get in / use. http://www.mustdobrisbane.com/kids-outdoors-kids-parks/calamvale-district-park-calamvale http://www.greaterspringfield.com.au/robelle-domain.php http://www.yarrabilba.com.au/Living-in-Yarrabilba/Whats-On.aspx and there are quite a few more like the above - http://www.mustdobrisbane.com/features/best-kids-parks-brisbane Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob dc Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 The good weather helps a lot to make you feel good about life, you can make plans for the weekends and know you won't need to cancel free parking fantastic cycling here in the Perth Hills better jobs in the same industry still pay the same bills but have much much more disposable income free bbq's in most open spaces beaches slower pace of life TransPerth trains, Hills to Fremantle, about an hour, $ 3.15 with smartrider Farmers markets with sensible prices not over price stuff you don't need Kings Park Gold lounge at the pictures Coffee shops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny842003 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I haven't read all six pages but has anybody mentioned tim tams? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjgibbs Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Advantage: We are happy. nothing else matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpo1971 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Maybe I should explain a bit more, I was flat broke most of the time I was in Perth and I never felt anyone looked down on me - two of my friends were on the WA 'rich list' others were living hand to mouth as we were. My point is more that your background/profession doesn't matter so much in Australia. To think that there is no divides at all though would be naive - the whole concept of 'bogans' demonstrates that but social mobility is much easier. What I would say is that no-one will look up to you because you've got a string of degrees and why should they? But in the UK there is a respect for the well educated regardless of whether they have actually translated that into a successful career. As a well educated professional I found I earned less in Australia in relative terms and I do think people working in trades have more to gain than professionals in moving to Australia. Just to be absolutely clear I do consider it a positive of Australia and think it is absolutely right that an apprenticeship is valued as highly as a degree and that someone working 12 hour shifts in inhospitable conditions in a mine earns more than I did in an air-conditioned office! I think young people, boys in particular have much more opportunity in Australia if they aren't the intellectual type. Agree with most of that. Australia is blue collar working man's paradise. Less so for Management Consultant types on a grand a day in the UK. Like you say, no bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Berry Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Solar power! We have a 3kw solar system (which is a medium sized system) and since having it installed over 2 years ago we haven't paid an electric or gas bill - that wouldn't happen in the UK! We use the additional credit that is generated to pay our gas bill which is with the same energy company. Obviously we had the initial investment, but we are very happy with the results so far. Long may the sun continue to shine! :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortlepuss Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 There seems to be more acceptance of women doing 'blue collar' work - operating machinery in mines, driving buses etc... I'd agree with poster that people who aren't intellectual seem to get on better here in Oz - more opportunity for a variety of roles instead of forcing everyone into degrees like in the UK which I feel is a bit of a waste of time...and love the 'fake it till you make it' comment.... Met quite a few 20 somethings here who claim to have had many years of senior international management experience etc.... and no-one seems to question exactly when they had time in their brief lives to pick it up! Most of the managers I knew in the UK would suss that out in a shot, but confidence counts for a huge deal here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I like having cricket nets at just about every park. I like the bike paths that allow you to ride endlessly. I like it when you get up in the morning, look out the window, and you can decide what you will wear for the whole day. You know when someone doesn't like you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortlepuss Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I have to add.... lack of dog poo in the streets and on the verges.... Ozzies seem to pick up after their pets - maybe because they are forced to keep 'em on a lead? ooh and clean beaches too - I am heartbroken when I see Brighton, UK beach after a hot summer's day with litter strewn all around. Doesn't stop me missing Brighton beach and the Sussex countryside big time though!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boganbear Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Never known a snobby person or anyone who looked down on anyone else in all my years living in Oz There is a degree of snobbery here but it is rare. I as 'corrected' on my pronunciation of the word Berkshire in a very condescending way but I put her in her place by responding. ' I lived in Berkshire for many years so I think I know how to say it correctly'. It shut her up. However in England, I never had a barrister call me 'mate'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishenka Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 I see your point, but successfull career does not nesseserily mean big salary... Uni lecturers for example have phd's and don't earn all that much... Does this make them failers? In any case I've never ever felt respected in the Uk cos I have a degree and anyway it's not like it's written on your forehead that you have one or you inform every one u meet about it straight away what I am trying to say is that it's all great that trade is well respected in Aus and I agree it should be but as long as kids of white color daddies with average salaries don't get picked on by their peers (that's me trying to reflect it on our family Aus being blue colour men's paradise doesn't nesseserily mean white color men's hell, right? (My hubby is a geotechnical engineer nit a management consultant so Sydney should be full of educated people, right? I grew up in Soviet Union and no one had much but education was of most importance. I remember my dad telling me that I have a freedom to chooce what to study in my degree but I don't have a choice whether to have a degree or not cos "education frees your mind" even if you end up choosing a different career path or don't work at all in the end. I would really like my son to grew up among people who share similar values. We have that in the UK but is it achievable in Sydney? Thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I see your point, but successfull career does not nesseserily mean big salary... Uni lecturers for example have phd's and don't earn all that much... Does this make them failers? In any case I've never ever felt respected in the Uk cos I have a degree and anyway it's not like it's written on your forehead that you have one or you inform every one u meet about it straight away what I am trying to say is that it's all great that trade is well respected in Aus and I agree it should be but as long as kids of white color daddies with average salaries don't get picked on by their peers (that's me trying to reflect it on our family Aus being blue colour men's paradise doesn't nesseserily mean white color men's hell, right? (My hubby is a geotechnical engineer nit a management consultant so Sydney should be full of educated people, right? I grew up in Soviet Union and no one had much but education was of most importance. I remember my dad telling me that I have a freedom to chooce what to study in my degree but I don't have a choice whether to have a degree or not cos "education frees your mind" even if you end up choosing a different career path or don't work at all in the end. I would really like my son to grew up among people who share similar values. We have that in the UK but is it achievable in Sydney? Thx Were you trying to dumb down in that post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest margies Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 People are straight up with you, no tiptoeing around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abz123 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 It's not part of the EU. Our politicians aren't any better but at least we don't have Brussels interfering every two minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flathead Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 People are straight up with you, no tiptoeing around In your dreams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abz123 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 We get a public holiday for the Queen's birthday every year :biggrin: Not sure how many birthdays she actually has in a year as it is taken at different times in different states. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARYROSE02 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I see what you are saying but the fact that you can compare traffic jams in the New Forest with traffic jams getting out of Sydney is really my point. It is linked to that hoary old problem of the weather too. A good weekend forecast is fairly rare in the UK. When you have one everyone jumps in their car and heads to coastal towns and places like The New Forest, Devon and Cornwall to name but a few. Once you get there if you can find a parking space you will often pay heavily. I am not trying to criticise the UK because it is a fabulous place but I find it hard to believe that in Australia you will find traffic jams and little parking everywhere you choose to go on any sunny weekend. To the other poster who has managed to find only 2 traffic jams in the UK in 15 years well, what can be said. Either you are in one of the more remote regions of the UK or you travel everywhere overnight. I have sat in traffic jams for a couple of hours that don't even warrant a mention on a local radio traffic bulletin as it is just par for the course. You would think that when Australia is 32 times bigger than the UK (I think?), with a population 1/3 of the UK, that everybody in Australia has plenty of room, whilst everybody in the UK lives on top of each other. But that is not the case because most of the population of Australia is concentrated in a few large cities, 4 million in Sydney and Melbourne, 3 million in Brisbane. Apart from London, Sydney and Melbourne are bigger than any British city, bigger than Birmingham even. Most people in the UK seem to live in cities, towns, and villages, with relatively easy access to the countryside. I could never get over how easy it was to get on a train at Waterloo, and in 20 minutes or so, be flying through green fields. 20 minutes out of Central, and you are still trudging through the 'burbs. If you want to get out of Sydney, there are only really four main highways - Princes, Hume, Great Western, Pacific, with large stretches of them, still single lane highway. (I think the Hume might be dual carriageway through Albury now? The Pacific Highway is steadily being upgraded.) During Sydney's rush hour, the roads and railways are all clogged, and you can spend an hour, two hours each way commuting. On the rare times I wake early, I might turn the radio on at 5.30am and hear that, as usual, the M5 is at a standstill from Revesby to the Main Tunnel. Maybe it is still far more pleasant than commuting in the UK. Maybe people migrate from the UK, and tell each other how wonderful it is commuting in Sydney, but I've not heard many Aussies telling each other that! I love living in Sydney, but living in the centre, and working mostly outside 9-5, I can avoid most of the jams. There's no way I'm going back to live in England, but I know that commuting to Southampton from my village in The New Forest, and getting out in the countryside was far easier than in Sydney. 12 miles in 20 minutes outside the rush hour from Marchwood to Southampton Mail Centre, by Soton Airport. In the rush hour it was different, of course, but worse than twelve miles in the Sydney rush hour? I doubt it. And as far as the weather goes, well, I continued to cycle and walk right throughout the year. Naturally, I had to adapt to cold or wet weather but that is what 'Long Johns', thermals, and Gore-Tex are for! Of course I could only swim in The Solent for about three months. I always intended to have a swim in October, but I never managed it. Here, I can swim all year round, which is wonderful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ptp113 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 In your dreams Not your weird dreams............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 We get a public holiday for the Queen's birthday every year :biggrin: Not sure how many birthdays she actually has in a year as it is taken at different times in different states. And not one of them is on her actual birthday. :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 what I am trying to say is that it's all great that trade is well respected in Aus and I agree it should be but as long as kids of white color daddies with average salaries don't get picked on by their peers No, they don't. Aus being blue colour men's paradise doesn't nesseserily mean white color men's hell, right? No, it's not. I would really like my son to grew up among people who share similar values. We have that in the UK but is it achievable in Sydney? Of course it is. It's a city of 4 million people. Not all 4 million will share your values...but there will be plenty who do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abz123 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 And not one of them is on her actual birthday. :biggrin: Neither is Trouping the Colour for that matter although it is her "official" birthday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Neither is Trouping the Colour for that matter although it is her "official" birthday Which is very close also to the Queen's Birthday holiday in Oz...which is always the 2nd Monday in June (except for Western Australia). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.