GreenMan72

I am not British, but lived in the Uk for 8 years and are now settled here so I'll add my 2c worth (been living in Sydney almost two years):

- maybe I didn't do my research thoroughly, but Sydney's climate is massively overhyped . The brochures, internet snippets and Aussies living in the UK gave the impression it is warm and sunny year round. Should have investigated more thoroughly so my fault here.
Strangely the winters exceed my expectations (although I am over this one), but most summer weekends are washed out with constant showers. We can get long stretches of cloudy spells also which do not impress.

- the drivers in eastern Sydney are appalling . Too many idiots driving Chelsea tractors like buffons. Random people pulling out without indicating. They seem to drive like 90 year olds - slow and indecisive. Out west it is a different story though - same dog, different set of fleas...

- Am tired of hearing that a bad bahaviour is "so un-Australian"

- my wife is English and she is tired of hearing about the "Pom" references on mainstream TV. As this offends her, it annoys me. What do you guys think? Is it derogatory to you?? I guess it relates to context...

- the cost of goods and services. We are now big on internet shopping and making the most of the weak US and UK currencies. Yahoo for buying online!

- in Sydney you cannot take you pets on public transport. A small niggle, but would be nice

- the massive cost of real estate. My theory is it is a consequence of the Aussie gambling mentality. Let's all turn up to auctions and outbid each other as that releases our competitive, gambling streak huh? I have no data or evidence to back it up, but I think (apart from supply and demand issues) one factor for high house prices are over bidding at auctions fueled by the gambling nature of Australians

Grumble over. There is plenty we like about living here, just had to air my grievances on this thread!

Mr Grumpy

You will find at most auctions in Sydney it is actually Asians who are the majority. I have stood at some and I was the only white person around.

Again people blaming Australians. When in reality over 25% of the population is foreign born, and in Sydney it is now around 40%.

Wol

We were sitting in a cafe last year listening to a girl and a fellow having an argument: she said that she was well off *because* she owned a property worth $xxx. He was saying (and this from an Aussie!!) that no, the *bank* owned the property, and her share of it was only $yyy. She got quite heated, couldn't accept this and they went their different ways.

I agree that, in a property-owning society, it makes sense to buy as soon as one can realistically afford to. But when the sole objective is to aquire more and more property and make oodles of cash from doing so, it is, frankly, sick. And sooner or later it will cause grief - it just has to.

Wol

>>- the massive cost of real estate. My theory is it is a consequence of the Aussie gambling mentality. Let's all turn up to auctions and outbid each other as that releases our competitive, gambling streak huh? I have no data or evidence to back it up, but I think (apart from supply and demand issues) one factor for high house prices are over bidding at auctions fueled by the gambling nature of Australians<<

Exactly right. And governments help this along with the tax breaks for "investment" properties.

Officer Dibble

Nah, its just greed by middle aged men in suits. So many people profit from it that it'll never go away.

Wol

Matter of opinion, but just about everyone I know has a handful of "investment" properties, many of which lose money overall, and expect to make a mint on rising prices.

In the past many if not most *have* made money, but that's not my point, which is that the whole spiral is pretty sick and cannot continue indefinitely.

moneypenny20

I only know one person with an investment property and they're Kiwis and the property is their old home in NZ. One Australian couple are thinking about it but have nearly paid off their current mortgage. Loads of (Australian) people I know are in rentals because they don't want to own property, prefer to use their money for 'today'. I obviously mix with the wrong people, or you do.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

He lives in the Beverly Hills of the Southern Highlands. They are all minted up there.

I guess you must be more like the Beverly Hillbillies.

moneypenny20

More than likely

folic

I describe Sydney weather as being similar to an incontinent old person --- dribble, dribble, dribble

As for the overcast days, well, I've made a note to myself to start noting down those overcast days, beginning in the New Year. I cannot believe the number of miserable, day-long GREY days in Sydney ! It would rival the UK. Yet Brits come to Australia for the alleged sunshine ! Well, if it's sunshine you crave, you might be wise to give Sydney a miss and head to Queensland

Of course, both Sydney and Queensland seem to have cornered the world market on humidity (greasy-skin, limp greasy hair, damp wrinked clothes, super-strength deodorant, mould-growing, cockroach-breeding humidity). And the combination of high temperatures and high humidity (add to that the dribbly, incontinent rain factor) and you have a climate suited to those who've always longed to live in a Burmese jungle --- and are prepared to spend a fortune on a scratty piece of real estate in order to enjoy that jungle climate

As to the 'Poms' references sprinkled so liberally throughout mainstream media -- it claims to be 'good natured'. You're told you shouldn't take offence - and you're supposed to pretend you find it funny. If you don't, all the better, because the alleged 'good naturedness' is actually intended to insult in a passive-aggressive way. So you can't win. Same with those brutally loud and offensive tv-commercials which use broad Pommie accents - they're intentionally abrasive in order to gain the viewers' attention. But they're deliberately annoying. And Aussie annoyance is aimed at the bloody awful and grating Pommie accents. So what's that about ? Pommies are advised to 'fit in' and 'adapt'. Yet at the same time, Aussie marketing companies deliberately lampoon British regional accents, thus generating Aussie resistance (annoyance for sure. Anger as well ? Resentment ? ) towards British migrants who've paid a fortune to migrate to Australia

Would tv and radio commercials featuring strong Asian, American, Middle-Eastern or Mediterranean accents be deemed acceptable by the 'race relations' and 'politically correct' crowd ? I doubt it. I've only seen one set of commercials featuring Italian accents and that was for Italian pasta sauce and pizzas, both of which portrayed 'warm, family-centred, colourful and likable' Italian family-group. Oh, and the 'Stavros' commerical where the Greek couple have a cute home-made alarm set-up to frighten birds of the vegetable plot. But for sure, they don't make commercials for mattress or car-part sales which feature strong Lebanese or Asian accents in the background. Clearly, 'Poms' alone are considered fair-game. And Poms tolerate it or struggle to find what they're sure must be the 'good naturedness' behind it - not wanting to accept it at face-value, which is deliberate insult and Aussie ignorance and 'getting away with it' mentality

No, bad behaviour is not 'un Australian'. But they repeat the lie so often (as they do with the wrongly-applied 'Lucky Country', also 'Best Sportsmen in the World' and 'fabulous scenery') that they come (choose) to accept it as truth. Bad behaviour is as typical of Australians as it is of any other nation. One day, Aussies will mature to the point they're prepared to acknowledge and accept that. Until then, they like to regard themselves as 'larrikins' - as in, 'Duncan's out murdering kangaroos and stuff this week with a bunch of his equally sadistic and drunken mates', or ' There were ten of us and this one sheila, mate, but we filled her with grog and she was sweet'.

That's what happens when a fledgling nation, huge in size and tiny in population, realises it needs more consumers and more breeders to protect it against Great Big Asia, and so embarks on a non-stop immigration policy. That policy requires the organisers to talk-up the Big Empty Land -- stuff about 'space' and 'sunshine' and 'mateship'. To the point the natives come to believe the propaganda too

Buzzy--Bee

Try Melbourne. It's weather is massively under-hyped, I reckon a lot of people do not consider living here because of the "weather", yet our summer weekends are almost always sunny and dry, and we don't get long cloudy spells at any time of year, maybe 1 day or max 2.

BB

Mr Grumpy

Biggest load of bullshit in existence.

GreenMan72

Agree 100%. I am an analyst by trade and have been doing a lot of data analytics around Australian weather (should have started this project a couple of years ago before we arrived :curse.

Sydney has more 100% cloudy days (ie no sunshine at all) than any of the main centres, Melbourne included. In 2008, 15.3% of all days across the year had < 2 hours sun, i.e. overcast and cloudy - that is one in seven days on average. 2009 was marginally better (14.2%).

I was doing some training at work to some new starters and used BOM climate data as sample data and started unearthing these facts.

It really does fly in the face of the glossy brochures and numerous Aussies overseas describing Sydney. When I queried them about their 1,300mm or so of annual rain the reply was of the sort "well it only happens at night" and "it is short and quick often with thunderstorms". The reality is it drizzles a lot.

Hey I am mostly happy with our move, and we get some stunning days in winter (which are ironically the sunniest months (esp July and August) on a percentage of available light basis), but my prior perception of it against the actual reality was a bit of a shock.

Agree with Folic - if you want to come to Australia purely for sunshine, Queensland is a good option, but WA wins hands down (especially up around the Port Hedland). Check out the link from BOM:

http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/climat...ours/index.jsp

bcworld

LOL...that's a classic BE godzoner statement!

I don't live in Sydney but would certainly agree with the wet & gloomy thing based on the time I have spent there. Reckon summer is probably the worst time and winter better. Was working in Sydney between Feb and May this year in an office in Chatswood with a full city view...couldn't see the city a lot of the time though as it was shrouded in low cloud or heavy rain rolling off the ocean (except April which was very nice).

Rainydaze

There's so much that I love about Australia. It's cold in Sydney at the moment and I'm looking forward to summer and I'm happy because I know there'll actually be a summer.

Still i agree with a lot of other posters about the high cost of living, atrocious driving, poor quality and choice of goods, complete lack of customer service etc.

However the 2 things that really hack me off are 1) I miss decent newspapers and magazines about something other than trucks and knitting, and 2) it's nigh impossible to get pale foundation/makeup if you're of pale Celtic complexion like me - apparently Australia doesn't do sell either pale shades or very dark shades.

Ok, rant over