Guest Fraser Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 This follows from an exchange between myself and IanL over the fact that not everything in Australia is great... Ian is right...and maybe we need a place where the existing ex-pats can enlighted the others so that they come fully prepared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fraser Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 My experiences only... based on my memory of the UK when I left...and my visits back there since then... My whinges.: Public transport (except for major towns and cities) can be very ropey. Australian tabloid televison can be woeful (Channels 7, 8 and 10 in major cities, Imparja, Gold and Southern Cross in regional areas)...ABC and SBS are still pretty good. ABC shows a lot of BBC stuff. Driving manners can occasionally be attrocious... particularly in Vic and NSW. Strangely enough Queensland, Tas and WA seem a bit more courteous. Cars in Vic do not need an MOT (or equivalent) unless you are going to sell them Schools in Australia seem to teach kids at approximately 6 months behind the UK (Our daughter was in Primary 3 in the UK and was well equivalent of Year 4 here).... Health Services here can be variable until you learn how to navigate the system. Doctors are not always "free at the point of access" like the NHS, and some (not all) charge a fee that you can claim back part of from Medicare (typical out-of pocket balance is about a fiver). There are no free dentists. The place is sport mad. ...and insular... during the olympics we saw very little other than sports in which Ausralians were involved. Internet services are not as advanced as the UK (yet) Chocolate (basic Cadbury-type stuff) is not as nice as in the UK (but I think the same about the US stuff...prolly 'cos I was brought up on UK chocolate. Same about potato crisps...the ones here are too oily...like spanish or Greek ones. ...and there seems to be fewer flavours too. Big film releases can sometimes be later than the US Europe. Crazes and fashions get here about 4 - 6 months after they have rampaged across Europe (...not always a bad thing)... lack of big bands and big shows touring... they do come...but for a distributed population of 20million...why would they do so very often? Two major supermarket chains (Coles & Safeway / Woolworth) carry 75% of the market. The sheer distance from anywhere else of consequence... yes you can have great fun touring Australia, but to go overseas is certainly a big trip... 4 hours to NZ, 7 hours to Singapore. You can't buy hazelnut yoghurt ...or Lilt (with the totally tropical taste). Almost all beers are lager-type (few dark beers other than imports). Fewer public / bank holidays (8 per year in most states) Banks in General...we hate them. They charge fees. (Very few fee-free accounts like the UK... but there are some emerging). ...but probably most of all...Australian who have never been outside australia (except for maybe NZ or Bali) have this strange (but misled) idea that Australia is a world leader in so many things..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Fraser, Good post, but we only get 8 BH's here in the UK too. I did find that when we visited last year, the supermarkets certainly didn't have the same sort of choice as we have in the UK - hubby doesn't think that's going to be a bad thing as it may keep my shopping bill down :wink: Ali Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fraser Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 I've really never found choice a problem... in fact far from it... Just get beyond Coles and Safeway / Woolworth and into the local shopping strips and markets. ...we are, however, beginning to suffer from globalisation...McDonalds, Starbucks, Gloria Jeans type stuff... but there are still more than enough good local choices for everything.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IanL Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 They do have Hungry Jacks!!!! Burger King with a different name, apparently because in Australia somebody already used that name so when Burger King began in Oz they were sued by this other company and so had to change thier name to Hungry Jacks... I can only speak for NSW but we have both Hungry Jacks and Burger King here (or at last did a couple of years ago). I must confess I don't take much notice as I never eat at those type of places. Things that dissapoint me are: Television,,commecial channels are woeful, and none of them 'take a chance' on doing anything different. Movies are on at the same time, so is news, and they seem to even schedule their ad breaks at the same time (btw Oz are allowed 19mins of ads per hour :shock: :shock: ) Driving is shocking. Modus operandi seems to be. Buy big Aussie car (ute scores bonus points), then make it faster, install hyperloud stereo, giving way to another driver is a sign of weakness, driving whilst on the mobile is compulsory, use as little space to brake as you can get away with and you must race to each set of lights as if your life depends on it, and killing cyclists gets you an free beer at the pub. Speaking for Sydney. Infrastructure. The publich transport is very bad and not intergrated or at all user friendly because all points head to the City with little crossover, imagine it like a bike wheel with straight spokes. (Melbourne is light years ahed of Sydney in this regard). Electricity, quite unreliable in Sydney and getting worse as summers heat up and more and more households install air con. Water, Oz is the driest continent on earth but Aussies hate the idea of recycled water. They'd rather flush drinking water down the toilet. I don't get this mentality at all. Supermarkets. They're not that bad in terms of choice, until you either go home for a holiday, or have just arrived and the choice of the UK is fresh in your mind. I know the service in my local Coles has gone way downhill in the last couple of years and I think Coles have been bought by Walmart now so it'll probably get worse as they are squeezed for more profit. I think one of the reasons people seem insular here is that high street shopping doesn't really exist here. I'm not tto bad in Lane Cove, but generally shopping means driving to a Westfield or a large Coles on the edge of town, so there is no central communal point for real social interaction. Could be different in regional Oz though. Sweets are rubbish, so are crisps, but your teeth will thank you :lol: I could go on for ages but that's put me in a worse mood but I'll leave you with one message, and anyone who uses public transport will know what I mean. HEY AUSTRALIA, IT'S CALLED DEODORANT, USE IT! :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest choobs Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Things that dissapoint me are: <snip> Jesus! And I thought *I* was in a bad mood :-) Choobs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fraser Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 .... :wink: Too right about the movies on commercial telly... as you near the climax scenes...four minutes of movie - 4 minute of ads... even half hour sit-coms... opening ttitles, ads - ten mins - ads - ten mins - ads closing titles - ads... That's why ABC and SBS are better... and why I have satellite TV (which also has ads...but a lot less..and mostly for their own programming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest austibeach Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Has anyone watched Sky TV here in the UK ?........or maybe it should be called REPEAT TV.......as the same programs are shown continuously and not necessarily in the order advertised. The adverts, which usually run for 6 minutes a time, are even the same set of ads. over and over again. If it wasn't for the sport I doubt I would watch at all.......but hey! what do I know I don't like TV anyway. The beauty of living in Oz is that the weather is good enough to be out more......so who cares what's on the telly. Eric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Sounds a bit like the US - they run the opening titles then cut to a break. Ali Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fraser Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 The beauty of living in Oz is that the weather is good enough to be out more......so who cares what's on the telly. Eric. Funnily enough... the one thing I *do* miss about UK telly is the blockbuster films and christmas specials ... and buying the Christmas edition of teh TV times and Radio Times... (Ah Nostalgia... :roll: ) ..Here... Christmas is in summer...and so few people are indoors watching telly that they even stop collecting the ratings of who is watching what on which channel... :shock: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Missiemo Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 The beauty of living in Oz is that the weather is good enough to be out more......so who cares what's on the telly. Eric. Funnily enough... the one thing I *do* miss about UK telly is the blockbuster films and christmas specials ... and buying the Christmas edition of teh TV times and Radio Times... (Ah Nostalgia... :roll: ) ..Here... Christmas is in summer...and so few people are indoors watching telly that they even stop collecting the ratings of who is watching what on which channel... :shock: Only fools and horses , need I say more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 Fraser, I can help you with the chocolate. I Oz, they put an additive into it to stop it rom melting. The fact that it then tastes like rat-poison is considered irrelevant, I was told. Gil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fraser Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 ....The fact that it then tastes like rat-poison is considered irrelevant, I was told. Gil :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest daisydeeds Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 hiyah Ok Im a chocoholic here - always have been. If the chocolate tastes foul over there what am I going to do???? booohooo. Choobs said that I ll just have to buy organic chocolate that wont have the additive you mentioned. Is there such a thing? If not Im just going to have to pig out on cream cakes and pavlova to help with the withdrawals.......;-Z Daisydeeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fraser Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 hiyah Ok Im a chocoholic here - always have been. If the chocolate tastes foul over there what am I going to do???? booohooo. Daisydeeds. Don't worry Daisydeeds. You *CAN* buy decent chocolate... Jsut don't buy the local cadbury or Mras stuff. You can buy Lindt, or loits of other european stuff...and it is just fine... Aldi supermarkets bring in German stuuf and Belgian stuff... And in Tasmania there is a Belgian Chocolatier called "Chocolat D'Anvers" which is just sublime. 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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