Back from Oz

[Guest Pasty]

Hiya

 

As everyone says there is good and bad everywhere in the world, Australia is no different. We've been here nearly a year and love it, however, we are financially worse off than we were in the UK but haven't let that put us off, we were never big into pub culture which is good as that's not a big way of life over here.

 

If you thoroughly reserch what you are going to and the cost of things, you shouldn't be dissapointed, food and clothes are more expensive and we have to import a load of stuff but if you shop around, things are about on a par with the UK, meat is a lot cheaper and tastes better in my opinion.

 

Good luck to all of those who want to give it a go and to all of those going back to the UK, at least you gave it a go and sorry it wasn't for you. To all of you best of luck

 

Jackie

[Guest vf400]

Hi

 

We are moving to Perth in October. I am really looking forward to it however I do realise things wont always be rosy. It will be a hard slog for the first couple of years without family and friends. I spent a year working in Brisbane, syndey and really enjoyed it. I think its often what you make it. Yes there are pros and cons but I generally think the pace of life is more laid back than England. But Engaland will always be close to my heart as I was brought up here but you only get one life and I would like to experience living in Aus and try it for myself.

P.s anybody moving to Perth in October?

Vicky moving 14th of October:yes:

[Guest alfixie]

Hi Vicky,

 

We hope to be in Perth before christmas have never even been to Oz but hey you only live once and we can always come back.

 

Marina

[Guest Sin Sentido]

La goma de bah de ee, lo que el porrazo de hecky es esto todo acerca de entonces.. usted peoeple debe tener mucho tiempo libre en manos!!

[Guest Sexy Welsh Aussie Bird]

Hola, como estas? Yo no intendo??? Que queires?? ( spelling may be wrong lol, been a lon time since I spoke spanish, and it was Canarian, theres a difference lol )

Hasta Luego Sian xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Guest vf400]

Hello Marina

 

It good to here that you are moving to Perth as well I have not been there but it sounds nice. Have you thought about what area you want to live in? we are just going to rent and see how it goes first. We have our visa and flights booked getting nervous now.

 

regards vicky

[Guest alfixie]

Hi Vicky

 

I get nervous even thinking about it!! Going to head Mindarie way to begin may just get holiday let to begin want to settle quickly as we have a 1 and 2 yr old who will be 2 and 3 when we get there. Also like the prices of secret harbour though and thats SOR. So really have not got a clue. Would love to buy a camper and have a good look around but don't think the kids would cope, they need space.

 

Good Luck and keep in touch let us know how you get on.

 

Marina.

[Guest PAMJ]

Amazon.com: Help*>*Shipping*>*Shipping Rates*>*International Shipping Rates*>*Australia

 

Hiya love - no idea what it does to the prices but you can order off US Amazon and get delivered to Oz (the addtional postaage doesn't look too bad).

 

If you try it, let us know whether it's any good - I'm coming to melbourne in 18 months and am a biiiiig reader - bit gutted to hear about the cost of books (they're blummin' expensive enough in the UK!!) - so if Amazon works I'll use it!! :cute:

 

Isn't there a library?????

[Guest fatpom]

What's wrong Flem old mate. Won't the Aussies listen to your whingeing anymore?

You've tried to do them a favour by constantly telling them what's wrong with their country and they just refuse to listen. You've also done your best to make them as miserable as you and that hasn't worked either.

Yep, nothing else to do now but go back to where you're appreciated and treated with the respect you deserve. And of course, free soap and toilet paper for the kiddies. What more could you want?

A bit uncalled for oldpom? I seem to recall you protested in another thread when someone had go at you.

[Guest Sin Sentido]

Hola, como estas? Yo no intendo??? Que queires?? ( spelling may be wrong lol, been a lon time since I spoke spanish, and it was Canarian, theres a difference lol )

Hasta Luego Sian xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Hola el Pájaro galés, australiano y Atractiva.. ¡Oooh Ilove cuando usted habla atractiva a mí!!

Sin xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:yes:

[Guest IanL]

See it's business as usual here then :err:

[ali]

Sian and Sin - would you mind posting in English. As much as I'd like to speak Spanish I can't and I therefore find it difficult to moderate your threads - it also (although I am making an assumption) means that a large number of members won't be able to read them either.

 

Many thanks

 

Alison

[Guest Sexy Welsh Aussie Bird]

Sian and Sin - would you mind posting in English. As much as I'd like to speak Spanish I can't and I therefore find it difficult to moderate your threads - it also (although I am making an assumption) means that a large number of members won't be able to read them either.

 

Many thanks

 

Alison

 

SORRY ALISON, DIDNT MEAN TO OFFEND ANYONE I WAS JUST HAVING A LAUGH AND TRYING TO REMEMBER MY SPANISH.

 

SIAN

[ali]

No problem Sian - it's just that if people post in different languages then we won't know if a post is offensive to anyone.

 

thanks

Ali

[Guest Koala Konnection]

I grew up in England and moved to Oz with my Australian girlfriend after I graduated . I lived in Melbourne for the next 3 years and had a great time, but towards the end of the 3 years realised that better weather wasn’t everything in life. I had reached a bit of a dead-end career-wise (due in no small part to Aussie bureaucracy) and decided to move home about a year ago.

Coming back to the UK felt like waking up from a deep sleep. The speed with which things happen was really refreshing and things that I’d taken for granted previously suddenly became really appreciated.

Some of the people on this website (and in general) strike me as incredibly naive with regards to Australia, making comments about the place either without ever being there or having just arrived and blinded by sunshine. They seem to think that moving to Oz will result in one big beach party, one never ending barbeque and talk about the place as if it was the garden of eden. Sorry, it isn’t.

Being realistic, you will do essentially the same things as you do here: commute to work, work, commute to home, eat, watch TV, go out, sleep, repeat, repeat, weekend. Having held several jobs in Oz, I worked with a vast number of different of local people, primarily in a similar age bracket (20-30) and of a similar background (relatively middle-class and mostly degree-educated). This pattern generally holds true.

Unless you live in London you are likely to spend longer on your commute in Australian cities. Many of my friends thought nothing of travelling an hour each way to work, in fact several even had longer journeys combining driving to their local train station, catching a train into the city and then tram to their office. Very concentrated CBDs and virtually unchecked suburban sprawl means that people often live huge distances from their place work. I now live on the edge of Leeds, 5 miles from the city centre. In Melbourne this would be classed as an inner suburb. Where I live now is walking distance from rolling hills, cows, sheep, literally a couple of miles to the Dales.

The unemployment rate is higher in Oz and depending on what industry you work in, you are likely to find more job opportunities in the UK and likely to get paid more for the same work, especially if you are a skilled professional. If you don’t live in the South-East of England, the cost of living is very similar. Coming from the Yorkshire, I actually found Sydney expensive and Melbourne comparable. There are overs and unders, sure, but averaged out across a ‘Basket of Goods’ prices were very close – its certainly not as cheap as the States and not nearly as cheap as smug locals would have you believe.

You seem to get more public holidays in Australia but less annual leave. 4 weeks is standard, where many employers in the UK now offer 5 or even 6 weeks (even if it is salary-sacrificed into flexible benefits packages). The holidays are all bunched up around Christmas – that’s also their summer holiday because of the reversed seasons. Apart from Afl, nothing seems to happen there over winter (actually most of the year round come to think of it).

With your time off their is infinitely more things to do in the UK, or at least from the UK. Generally 2 hours travelling time is what you want to arrive at your destination of choice. Within 2 hours I could be in Paris. 2 hours from Melbourne and i’d be driving through never-ending nothingness, on the way to Wolf Creek probably.

Having been back in the UK for about 12 months, I have had a much outdoors lifestyle than in Oz. It may be warmer there, but you seem to spend your life in an air-conditioned cocoon. Since being back I have played more golf, gone walking in the dales and the lake district (there is nothing that I saw in Oz that can compare to these in terms of beauty). From where I now live, I can go on day trips to York and Harrogate and go to lovely country pubs for Sunday dinner. I have only been back a year but have already been for weekends away to Prague and Paris, worked in Chicago for a fortnight and am going to Tuscany in June. These sort of opportunities simply do not exist from Australia. Once you are there, it is very long way to anything else.

Don’t get me started on Australian TV (non-stop American reality show imports littered with adverts). The music scene is awful. The food is strictly Greek/Italian or Viet/Thai. Nobody has heard of Tapas. Curries are almost impossible to find. And French food might as well not exist.

A lot of people cite their children as the prime reason for emigrating which I find quite strange. As if a bigger garden and a bit more sunshine is all kids need!

Did i think my friends and colleagues were any happier or more rounded individuals as a result of growing up in Australia? Certainly not. For most of the people I know in Australia, many have rarely been outside the state of Victoria. The vast majority have only been outside of their home country once or twice, generally on a year out working in a bar in London, ‘doing’ all of Europe in a 3 week contiki tour.

Whilst, I count many Australians amongst my best friends, I have to admit that on the whole, the geographic isolation and inward-focused media leaves them relatively uncultured, often quite narrow-minded and occassionally extremely bigotted when compared to people of similar socio-economic backgrounds in the UK. Those that don’t believe me should have been in Oz when the Shappelle Corby case was in the news. The way people I knew (and the country as a whole) reacted to it made me embarrassed to be in the country at the time.

There is massive problems of drug abuse (especially Crystal Meth and Heroin) and gambling is seen as socially acceptable, normal even. People who think that anti-social behaviour is purely a British problem are absolutely deluding themselves. My ‘neighbours’ in Melbourne used to use our stairwell as a urinal. Fights in pubs and on the street are commonplace, often much more violent than in the UK. My girlfriend’s cousin recently had a freind die in her arms from stab wounds inflicted after a fight out in Perth. Another friends of mine has permanent damage to his eyes after a gang jumped him in St Kilda and kicked and scratched and gouged at him, completely unprovoked. Young people get involved in illegal drag-races out in the suburbs every single weekend. If you keep an eye on the local news you may also have heard about the Cronulla race riots, Premier Brack’s daughter recently being taken to A & E after underage binge-drinking and yobs defacing the ANZAC memorial. People who think this stuff doesn’t happen in Australia are, frankly, living in cloud cuckoo land.

Because of the nature of the work I do, most of the people I worked with had been to University. Because of the financial constraints of tertiary education in Australia, the majority of people I knew had both lived at home and worked part time to fund their studies. University was 3 of the best years of my life, mostly as a result of living away from home and being completely immersed in the student way of life. The Australians I know have a massive void in their experience as a result.

I grew up in a small village in a rural area. As a result we had big a massive garden. Did this make my childhood more enjoyable? No. The things I enjoyed most were trips abroad or knowing that I would be able to do what I wanted in life, going away to University and having the world at my feet.

I used to go on holiday at least once a year either with my family or with school. The furthest kids go in Oz is on school camp to Maloooonlongatta or somewhere else completely irrelevant.

 

For people like myself, young, ambitious and cultured, Australia has very little to offer. From England I may not have the time and money to do everything that I want to do. Trapped in Australia, however, there simply weren’t enough things to keep me occupied. The world is an amazing place, I couldn’t be removed that far removed from it again. People contemplating a move to Oz should really look beyond the beaches and shiny office buildings before they decide to sacrifice all the things they take for granted.

 

Australia isn't for everyone. I'm glad you've found somewhere to call home as there is little point in living a life where you are eternally miserable. I haven't read all of the posts here (it's 11 pages long for God's sake :wacko:) but if what I post makes 1 iota of difference to anyone's viewpoint then I guess I'm not wasting my time.

 

My wife and I emigrated a little more than a couple of years ago. We're older than yourself by about ten years I'd say and perhaps that has made us see things a little differently. We live in Queensland, probably near the rednecks you refer to and whilst I don't take too kindly to such a broad sweeping statement - after all, you are insulting my neighbours - I understand what you are trying to say. Australia is very insulated and despite any claim to the contrary, very much behind the times in most respects. However, I too came from a family background not too dissimilar to the one you describe and I also lived in a beautiful part of the world (in North Wales) before arriving here. Why, many would ask at the time, are you leaving all of this?

 

Like Melbourne, it rains a lot in Wales. We certainly didn't leave because of the weather, although few could argue over the pleasure of a mid-twenties winter in beautiful Queensland instead of another freezing foggy day on the Welsh borders. We didn't move due to our employment prospects as these were clearly LESS in Australia than they were in the UK, and that has proven to be the case. The health system is just the same, the TV worse. Can I put a finger on it?

 

We live in a beautiful part of the world, overlooking a stunning lake in a newly built property on 3/4 acre. I'm not here to brag but, to enjoy this in the UK would put me in a financial bracket I simply have little chance of attaining. We love where we live. In an hour I can drive to Brisbane. In about two hours I can fly to Cairns, and in much less time I can fly to Sydney. The people that make up this special part of the world speak to me like those in the UK rarely did. It's a lovely feeling.

 

Work is a 20 minute country drive away at most. And whilst the TV is crap, the ABC and SBS are showing plenty of UK programs now. I wont list them all but suffice to say that we dont need satellite and rarely watch 7, 9 or 10. If we're penny pinching, no tv licence is a bonus, but I don't want to go down that route as it adds very little to the argument. The beautiful beaches are a stone's throw away and play a big role in our R&R activities - coastal walks, cycling, swimming and surfing.

 

It's not everyone's cup of tea - that's probably why so many Aussies live in London (unfortunately that's what most that go there end up seeing and little else). My good neighbour (one of those rednecks you spoke off earlier) commented to me the other day, reminiscing about his trip to the UK: "You have so many pubs in Britain. There seems to be 5 or 6 along each street." If that's what you like, that's what you'll remember.

 

We've had family injured and pounced upon as innocent people simply walking to the shops - in the UK. I've witnessed first hand a fight between two girls outside a club in Brighton, E. Sussex involving a broken glass bottle. There was blood. It was messy. I've seen idiots driving like they didn't want to live, in the UK, and it scared me. We were about 50 feet from being hit by a vehicle traveling at speed one Sunday afternoon as he lost control along a street with parked vehicles either side and he literally bounced from one side to the other and back and so on like a ping-pong ball, smacking into those parked cars, out of control. Yes, every country in the world has its drug problems and idiot drivers.

 

If I look for it I'll find it in Australia. Fortunately, where we have chosen to live, in perhaps one of the fastest growing areas in Australia, it isn't here. Despite not living in a city I can still recommend to you some great curry houses, a Spanish restaurant, a French one too and even an English pub. These amongst a throng of restaurants offering a huge variety of food tastes. I'm sorry, but you paint a picture that seems inappropriate for Australia generally - just for the part of Melbourne that you clearly saw and not the rest of it. And as for your comments regarding Melbourne's lack of activities, both sporting and otherwise, I, like so may others who have been there and witnessed the city first hand, even dropping in to see Lleyton Hewitt practice just before the Aussie Open in Melbourne by chance (yes, it did happen, and we were right at courtside), simply do not believe you.

 

Bigots? Yes, I've seen a few. Insular? Yes, I'd agree with you. But whenever we return to the UK (I've been back twice so far) we can't wait to get back home. Still love Wales though.

 

Good on you for finding your niche. We've found ours and I hope the rest of us can find theirs. If moving to the other side of the world is what it takes, enjoy the trip. it'll probably be the last 'big' one you ever do. :cute:

 

Paul.

[Guest Koala Konnection]

Peace everyone.

[Guest sportbilly]

Everyone is different and so want different things. You have found what you are happy with and so shall everyone else. My husband and I are from Africa originally and thought the UK was the place to be when we first came....but oh dear it certainly is not the place I want to be in now and not for my children. Thugs now control this place and the government certainly are not trying to make it a better place to live in. The slower we can get life the better....and at least we will enjoy it in decent weather as well!

I'm willing to take our chances!

Clair

[Guest Curlysoo]

:notworthy: Koala ..... I think your reply was eloquent and covered every aspect of the debate.

 

If we were all happy with the same things IN the same places what a crowded place that would be!!!

 

I crave the beautiful open spaces filled with sunshine (and rain!!! ... LOL!) that IS Australia.

 

OK! ..Europe WONT be 2 hours away ..... but so what, I can live with that!

 

There is good and bad everywhere, and there are also people who are never satisfied with what they have. Life is what you make it ..... I want to make mine in Oz

[Herbster]

Hi Koola:

Thank you for taking the time to tell us your positive migration story, which painted a balanced, thoughtful picture of your new life Down Under; a distinctly different picture from Gag's more down-beat tale. To me, the best thing about this Thread is, that it's exposing, exploring, and explaining the positive & negative consequences of our choices & decision-making processes. I'm sure no one wants to end up in a hateful place, wondering why we left the security of what we knew for something equally horrible! Perhaps through this discussion we can uncover the secret, if there is one, to truly successful migration, or at the very least aim to prevent & avoid ending up in a place that is not suitable or makes us miserable. I wonder how much does a successful relocation depend upon how flexible we are, how much research we did ahead of time, or how well we understand our own needs & our ability to meet those needs to create a happy, fulfilling life, wherever that may be?

Further, it demonstrates that everyone really has very different needs, aspirations & expectations. I lived as an immigrant for over 13 years in USA, so feel that it is important that we recognize and identify our personal needs before settling in an area & thinking that's all there is to a whole country! Australia, and even UK, on a smaller scale, has a huge variety of places to live, each quite different & distinct, you may love one area and equally hate another, but are still in the same country, maybe even the same county, but things aren't the same.

 

I've spent years in big cities, like Chicago & London, but I'd hate to live there now, but zillions happily call those places home! I may consider S. Devon the family home, but even the lovely beaches & moors, even the warmer climate & the fact that my family are there can not compensate for the congestion, chaos, exorbitant house prices & other downsides, which have driven me north. I've heard people say Newcastle is a questionable place to live, & others who would live nowhere else, provided it was of their choosing - based on their experience and need. Our rural corner of Northumberland, within 40 minutes of Newcastle is beautiful to us, for its quiet, wide open spaces, full of farm animals but with no urban facilities! My wildlife visitors including red squirrels, pheasants & barn owls who make my day, better than traipsing round glitzy shops or dining in galm restaurants, although I'd have to say I've yet to eat a bad meal up here, that the fresh produce is excellent quality & I can have Tesco's deliver if I wish! But I can imagine this sounds like hell to many people, just as living in Melbourne sounds as appealing to me as being stuck in an endless M25 tailback! But that doesn't mean that some other part of Australia won't be amazing and fantastic, nor that my OH & I won't have a lovely life out there together, eventually...

I think, when we move anywhere new & unfamiliar, that it might help to have a n idea of what we are looking for so that we recognize it when we find it; probably be prepared to hunt around a bit before calling it quits, but equally important, be prepared to honestly recognize where you are happiest, & should that be Melbourne, London, the SA Outback, or Yorkshire Moors, don't fight it and BE HAPPY, BE CONTENT & SPREAD THE LOVE....

 

Herbster X

:jiggy:

 

[Guest Sexy Welsh Aussie Bird]

herbster, words of a wise person, lets hope this topic will RIP !

 

Sian xx

[Guest ed champ]

I think most people would agree on many of the original points, and realise Australia is not 'The garden of Eden' but how come it took 3 years to discover how bad it was. I have been to Kabul Afghanistan and have more positive thoughts about the place than Gags did of Oz. I do agree with the earlier post, that many people are very optimistic about their dream in Australia and Why not! I obviously realise people need to be realistic but I hope nobody would give up their dream because of someone else's bad experience. Think must be more to it, still with the australian girlfriend......or did she run off.....

[Guest traybears]

 

 

WHAT A COOL POST KOALA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Herbster]

herbster, words of a wise person, lets hope this topic will RIP !

 

Sian xx

AAAAAAMENNNNNNNN! :idea:

 

 

LOVE + PEACE

 

HERBSTER x

 

PS: To all LOVERS of all things Oz, who would be happy to share their ACTUAL wonderful, amazing, FAVOURITE AUSSIE THINGS, can I direct you to a thread I have going at http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/expat-arrival-gossip/23148-ultimate-guide-fantastic-oz.html

The aim is to create a virtual map of Ozzy wonderfulness! There are some smashing entries, which for people like myself who are hoping to move there soon, but have actually never visited, is a lovely resource plus a great way to share your positive experiences... However, presently (Aug 18, 07), Australia is around the size of the Isle of Wight - SURELY we can do better??!!! http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/expat-arrival-gossip/23148-ultimate-guide-fantastic-oz.html

:notworthy:

[Guest Jimbob]

Gags

I moved to Australia in June with my partner and our 4 children, We have previously been to Australia on holiday a number of times before. I read your first letter with interest as I have many friend's who have done the gap year travel thing around Australia and would not entertain ever returning to Oz after they came back to Britain. I think what you are looking for from life is completely different from the majority of people on this website. I left a very good job in Construction Management in the Uk which payed me more than what I now earn in Australia, but money is not everything. Run of the mill life is the same weather it is in old blighty or Oz, but Australia does offer a better way of life to bring up children than in the Uk. I presume you do not have children and really you have only yourself to think about. Our eldest son has started school and much prefer's his school here in oz than in Britain. We lived in a safe and pleasant town in Kent and have moved to Australia for that quite life that you seemed to hate. All I would say to anyone on this site is "You only regret the thing's you don't do in life, not the thing's you do do" Come and make your own mind up. We've got no regrets, come find out for yourselves.

[Guest tizzy]

I grew up in England and moved to Oz with my Australian girlfriend after I graduated . I lived in Melbourne for the next 3 years and had a great time, but towards the end of the 3 years realised that better weather wasn’t everything in life. I had reached a bit of a dead-end career-wise (due in no small part to Aussie bureaucracy) and decided to move home about a year ago.

Coming back to the UK felt like waking up from a deep sleep. The speed with which things happen was really refreshing and things that I’d taken for granted previously suddenly became really appreciated.

Some of the people on this website (and in general) strike me as incredibly naive with regards to Australia, making comments about the place either without ever being there or having just arrived and blinded by sunshine. They seem to think that moving to Oz will result in one big beach party, one never ending barbeque and talk about the place as if it was the garden of eden. Sorry, it isn’t.

Being realistic, you will do essentially the same things as you do here: commute to work, work, commute to home, eat, watch TV, go out, sleep, repeat, repeat, weekend. Having held several jobs in Oz, I worked with a vast number of different of local people, primarily in a similar age bracket (20-30) and of a similar background (relatively middle-class and mostly degree-educated). This pattern generally holds true.

Unless you live in London you are likely to spend longer on your commute in Australian cities. Many of my friends thought nothing of travelling an hour each way to work, in fact several even had longer journeys combining driving to their local train station, catching a train into the city and then tram to their office. Very concentrated CBDs and virtually unchecked suburban sprawl means that people often live huge distances from their place work. I now live on the edge of Leeds, 5 miles from the city centre. In Melbourne this would be classed as an inner suburb. Where I live now is walking distance from rolling hills, cows, sheep, literally a couple of miles to the Dales.

The unemployment rate is higher in Oz and depending on what industry you work in, you are likely to find more job opportunities in the UK and likely to get paid more for the same work, especially if you are a skilled professional. If you don’t live in the South-East of England, the cost of living is very similar. Coming from the Yorkshire, I actually found Sydney expensive and Melbourne comparable. There are overs and unders, sure, but averaged out across a ‘Basket of Goods’ prices were very close – its certainly not as cheap as the States and not nearly as cheap as smug locals would have you believe.

You seem to get more public holidays in Australia but less annual leave. 4 weeks is standard, where many employers in the UK now offer 5 or even 6 weeks (even if it is salary-sacrificed into flexible benefits packages). The holidays are all bunched up around Christmas – that’s also their summer holiday because of the reversed seasons. Apart from Afl, nothing seems to happen there over winter (actually most of the year round come to think of it).

With your time off their is infinitely more things to do in the UK, or at least from the UK. Generally 2 hours travelling time is what you want to arrive at your destination of choice. Within 2 hours I could be in Paris. 2 hours from Melbourne and i’d be driving through never-ending nothingness, on the way to Wolf Creek probably.

Having been back in the UK for about 12 months, I have had a much outdoors lifestyle than in Oz. It may be warmer there, but you seem to spend your life in an air-conditioned cocoon. Since being back I have played more golf, gone walking in the dales and the lake district (there is nothing that I saw in Oz that can compare to these in terms of beauty). From where I now live, I can go on day trips to York and Harrogate and go to lovely country pubs for Sunday dinner. I have only been back a year but have already been for weekends away to Prague and Paris, worked in Chicago for a fortnight and am going to Tuscany in June. These sort of opportunities simply do not exist from Australia. Once you are there, it is very long way to anything else.

Don’t get me started on Australian TV (non-stop American reality show imports littered with adverts). The music scene is awful. The food is strictly Greek/Italian or Viet/Thai. Nobody has heard of Tapas. Curries are almost impossible to find. And French food might as well not exist.

A lot of people cite their children as the prime reason for emigrating which I find quite strange. As if a bigger garden and a bit more sunshine is all kids need!

Did i think my friends and colleagues were any happier or more rounded individuals as a result of growing up in Australia? Certainly not. For most of the people I know in Australia, many have rarely been outside the state of Victoria. The vast majority have only been outside of their home country once or twice, generally on a year out working in a bar in London, ‘doing’ all of Europe in a 3 week contiki tour.

Whilst, I count many Australians amongst my best friends, I have to admit that on the whole, the geographic isolation and inward-focused media leaves them relatively uncultured, often quite narrow-minded and occassionally extremely bigotted when compared to people of similar socio-economic backgrounds in the UK. Those that don’t believe me should have been in Oz when the Shappelle Corby case was in the news. The way people I knew (and the country as a whole) reacted to it made me embarrassed to be in the country at the time.

There is massive problems of drug abuse (especially Crystal Meth and Heroin) and gambling is seen as socially acceptable, normal even. People who think that anti-social behaviour is purely a British problem are absolutely deluding themselves. My ‘neighbours’ in Melbourne used to use our stairwell as a urinal. Fights in pubs and on the street are commonplace, often much more violent than in the UK. My girlfriend’s cousin recently had a freind die in her arms from stab wounds inflicted after a fight out in Perth. Another friends of mine has permanent damage to his eyes after a gang jumped him in St Kilda and kicked and scratched and gouged at him, completely unprovoked. Young people get involved in illegal drag-races out in the suburbs every single weekend. If you keep an eye on the local news you may also have heard about the Cronulla race riots, Premier Brack’s daughter recently being taken to A & E after underage binge-drinking and yobs defacing the ANZAC memorial. People who think this stuff doesn’t happen in Australia are, frankly, living in cloud cuckoo land.

Because of the nature of the work I do, most of the people I worked with had been to University. Because of the financial constraints of tertiary education in Australia, the majority of people I knew had both lived at home and worked part time to fund their studies. University was 3 of the best years of my life, mostly as a result of living away from home and being completely immersed in the student way of life. The Australians I know have a massive void in their experience as a result.

I grew up in a small village in a rural area. As a result we had big a massive garden. Did this make my childhood more enjoyable? No. The things I enjoyed most were trips abroad or knowing that I would be able to do what I wanted in life, going away to University and having the world at my feet.

I used to go on holiday at least once a year either with my family or with school. The furthest kids go in Oz is on school camp to Maloooonlongatta or somewhere else completely irrelevant.

 

For people like myself, young, ambitious and cultured, Australia has very little to offer. From England I may not have the time and money to do everything that I want to do. Trapped in Australia, however, there simply weren’t enough things to keep me occupied. The world is an amazing place, I couldn’t be removed that far removed from it again. People contemplating a move to Oz should really look beyond the beaches and shiny office buildings before they decide to sacrifice all the things they take for granted.

I am glad that you are happy and settled back in the UK. Obviously OZ wasnt the place for you but wow what an experience to look back on!

 

We are hoping to emigrate to OZ in the next two years, we have been and stayed with family twice and loved the lifestyle. We would like a better life for ourselves and our children, it may turn out that Oz is not what we expected, but I would hate to lie on my death bed and regret never making that jump, never taking that risk.

 

I think most people view life through rose tinted glasses that is human nature otherwise we would never aspire to do better. Whats the worst that could happen? Having to return, I think I can live with that risk.