Grayling

When we were over on the central NSW coast a few weeks ago the weather was beautiful (dry and warm-I know about the drought).
The area was very nice (beaches etc.). However it was completely dead

Most people were at work and it was winter. There was just very little to do.

As I am retired I am concerned about whether I could cope with this. I will work a bit but most of the week I will not.
I am concerned about what we will do. I go fishing but not 24 hours a day.
It may well be different as we will have our own house and things,but something was lacking. The TV was dire and although I don't watch it a great deal I do like to see decent programmes.

I can't put my finger on what was missing but it did not feel right.Maybe friends, my local pub, I don't know.

It is something we are thinking about seriously.

G

Grayling

So why are you going?

G

Hels

Perhaps its not Australia that isnt for you, perhaps its just Brisbane? Have you tried living in other areas of Australia?

chocaholic

The funny thing is, jad n rich, that some people will be leaving the UK because of a lack of ooomph (or similar) in their lives and the question is - is that a sufficient reason to emigrate? Shouldn't they be looking at alternatives before taking the big step. The danger being that wherever they move to - after the newness has worn off - they are still the same people with the same interests and they are likely to be bored quickly.

cagandchris

we have a good life here but think we can have an even better one there - more work opportunties, more SUN! more beautiful place (in our personal view) to live....
can't understand how people find time to get bored - you only live one very short life and there's so much to see and do - I never have time to be bored!!

Grayling

I was not having a dig at you.

I just thought it a sweeping statement.

I have had a pretty interesting life and career and don't consider myself boring.
I was VERY bored on our recent trip.
Despite the Sun and the beautiful places.

I think where I live in the Peak district is just as beautiful as much of what Australia has to offer.
This is difficult for us as we already have our visa. However we have to face the reality of what we feel.

Good luck to you.

G

MikeStanton

Once you get bored of the '4 Bs' in Oz - there is relatively little to do. It comes back to the relative lack of stimulation and variety in Oz.

kong

My view of Australia is obviously not a favorable one.

I went over with the idea that it would be a great country to live in. I did not expect paradise unlike most poms, yet I expected more than what was on offer. The lack of "oomph" is so true, something that you feel, yet is hard to define.

Apart from the beaches and more sunny days than Britain I could not find any improvement to my life back home. Sure there is more "space" but that is due to areas of Oz that are populated being mostly suburban sprawl. The burbs are souless, dead, dead places. Banality rules alongside the BBQ/RSL type culture. I live in a town of 40000 here in England and it has 25 or so pubs, half are shit yet there is life in them any night of the week, try finding that in an Aussie suburb of Syd/Mel/Bris.

The winter in Sydney is intolerable, no warm beaches, just early cold nights and Aussie TV, suicide season. The cost of living I found to be the same or more pricy than UK when compared to local wages. Petrol is cheap but cars are big engined and distances longer.

I found Sydney a dull place, Brisbane is a joke of a city sod all character and humid as hell. I personally think anyone who is moving to Oz without visiting first is in for one hell of a shock (and much poorer).

I have said before that I would consider retirement in Oz, as it is suitable for that, but at the age of 30, theres pleny of living to be done yet.

As another poster said you only live once. So why turn your life into a groundhog day scenario of BBQs in Nowheresville, Blandshire, Godzone postcode 666??

Pollyana

Can't understand how anyone can be bored here - according to the "Swinging" post there is lots of activity going on.....

MikeStanton

'Tis the $64,000 question (roughly 23p)

chocaholic

I like it here in Sydney, Kong, and it seems the longer I'm here, the more I like it because I'm getting to know more people, slowly but surely.

Having been used to seasons, the winter doesn't bother me here at all.

I don't have time or need to go to a pub during the week. But an English pub is one thing that I miss occasionally.

The cost of living is lower for us and petrol is remarkably cheap - you can always buy a compact Japanese car if you want to be efficient.

Nowheresville exists in every country for certain types of people. Life is what you make of it.

kong

In Australia Nowheresville is the Strylian dream, Blandness and mediocrity is something Aussies aspire to. All far, far too UK 1950s Suburban utopian dream for an Englishman whose idea of heaven is not a deadville town where washing the Falcon is the highlight of the weekend.

As for buying a Jap car?Jeez mate thats just un Australian!! Gotta be a commodore or a falcon.

jayr

I'll give you a list that should keep you busy for a while within couple of hours of Brissy.

downunderpom

Depends on what you're looking for. I've had 'oomph' up to my back teeth. Also, getting back to Oz has been a real struggle. We're still struggling! Maybe that's what you're missing - the struggle? How can you gain a sense of achievement, of overcoming obstacles to 'win' if there are no obstacles to surmount?

From what you said, you had a holiday in the UK, made pots of money, came back easily, and bought a house for cash. Where's the achievement in that? It's like these lottery winners - go mad, buy everything in sight for a while, and then they're bored.

I'll never be bored. I have far too many interests for that. What I'm looking for in Tassie, when we get there, is a decent chunk of land, build our 'dream home' (which won't be boring, in and of itself), then do all the 'projects' I've had on hold for so many years becasue I've been too busy struggling. That should keep my head down for the next ten - fifteen years, at which point I can look around for something new. That is, if nothing new has caught my eye over the next ten years....

Have you thought about reading a book?

ABCDiamond

I found that the more I lived in Sydney, the "Less" I liked it, but the longer I am here in Brisbane, the more I like it here.

Like many others, chocaholic and I have different views on what we want from life, but we both seem happy in our "different" parts of Australia

Until anyone tries it, they won't really know what its like, for "themselves".