Ceri

I did not think you were a migrant wombat. Or are you speaking for yourself?


I would not say "Most" anything, like Most migrants dislike , or like it . Nobody can speak for others, or indviduals . when did all these Migrants elect you for their spokesman?

Ceri

1% diff of Poms .horary for google

No wonder Brisbane is F*d.

ShozInOz

NOTE:

Wombat is neither:
A) British
nor
B) An ex-pat

Someone remind me of the name of this website...

G'Day

Very interesting! How do you like Brissie ABCDiamond? Is it as boring as Ceri claims or is it just she?

ShozInOz

Based on the populations of Melb and Bris, Melb does indeed have a higher number of British migrants in absolute terms.

PommieLeague

Perth
Country of Origin
Australian born 50%
Born Overseas - Top 5
United Kingdom 42%
New Zealand 3%
South Africa 3%
Viet Nam 1%
Germany 1%

Is this true? The smeg it is!

G'Day

How would you know? Half the world lived in the UK at some time or another.

ShozInOz

1. Because I and others asked him/her
2. Clearly false, and in any case "lived in the UK" does not equal "British"

G'Day

So? What's a "Brit"?

I don't know, there's a barrelful of "Brits" in Africa and Europe who've never even been in the UK certainly then someone who has lived in the UK for long enough to attain citizenship is a "Brit"? And how about someone who is part of the Commonwealth and answers to the Queen? Aren't they also British "subjects"?

Anyway, I don't mind if wombat isn't an expat, I've got enough passports to get me onto half a dozen forums and I'm glad he's over here giving moaners a go. To be fair, someone has to speak up for the ozzies since us expats can't dare to do it for fear of being told we're wearing "rose-tinted glasses".

ShozInOz

I'm not going to argue about the nmber of British citizens in the world...the information is clearly available on UK Gov't websites if you want to find the facts. Needless to say it isn't 50% of the world! Anyway...

My objection is with people who have purely one-sided views of a place, such as UK or Aus. There are pro's and con's of each, which should be put forward (I certainly try to do that). However, some posters are mindlessly one-sided (in either direction), and, frankly, boring. Furthermore, it presents a very biased and confusing message to potential ex-pats.

Ceri

I'd also like to ask , How long has ABC been here in Brisbane? just 2 years maybe ?

P.S I was always taught "she" is the cat's mother


.................................................. .................................................
I find it odd that nobody ( This is not relating to ABC) , that many of these so - called long time locals, the ones that pass themselves off as locals can not remember the storms we had southside ( besides the Northside - we all had it) a few years ago. They would remember if they were here with the storms , believe me.
Or even a landlord of a certain pub in a certain area.

I find a lot of things odd mind you, many, many things.

some things are not what they seem that's for sure.

Larissa

Hmmm some interesting issues...
I can see why people call areas of Perth bland... but I would prefer to call them "quiet". Although not particularly fond of suburbia I would say that it offers more people a decent sized house than the UK and hence is more equitable. Since everywhere is spread out, you don't get so many people walking around and it can make the actual suburb seem quiet dead, particularly on hot days, when they're all indoors with the aircon. Some of the suburbs here are very new and there aren't the families that have lived there for 10 years plus, so perhaps that's another reason why they don't feel that welcoming... but who knows what they will be like in time? I don't see that people are living on top of one another - in the UK I had a terraced house and could hear the neighbours' TV, but here we are renting a detached house. There isn't much of a community feel here in rental land though - perhaps it is just the street I'm living in, plus I haven't gone out of my way to meet the neighbours as we're just here for a short time.
At the moment we are still chewing over whether to stay in a suburb or go semi-rural... at least here we can walk to the school and the local kids play out in the cul de sacs, but it feels a bit "sterile"... good to have the choice though, which we wouldn't have had in the Uk.
RE Scrapbooking - yes, there are lots of bored housewives doing that but it isn't exclusively them; my 7 year old likes putting her photos together and doing all the cutting and sticking etc. I go to a craft group on wednesdays and there are quite a few women who enjoy that hobby. I'm currently on "home duties" myself at the moment but hoping to return to work part-time shortly... hope my assessments hurry up and go through as I can't do the bored housewife thing much longer, it's driving me nuts. Fortunately my job would mean that I can work flexibly, but there are loads of women out there whose main excitement in life is what scrapbooking embellishments are availiable at Kmart! That may be alright for them, but it's just not for me and my family. There is quite a large culture of women-staying-at-home here and I've already encountered some negativity about my plans to go back to work, but I haven't taken that on board lol.
I totally understand how some people can get bored in suburbia, and that many have felt the need to return to the UK. Sometimes it's hard to get to know people and it takes a lot of work - I would argue that it's also harder for women at home, who aren't making friends in the workplace or having that stimulation.

G'Day

Sorry Ceri, didn't mean to imply that your gorgeous dragoness is the cat's mother. Really I realise now reading it that it sounds rude, so really I apologize.
As for asking ABCDiamond I am asking the opinion of someone who is neither homesick nor using their Australian passport as a tablestop, so I was just wondering how someone a little more pro-Aus feels about a place I've never been to.

Well ShozInOz, if there weren't so many expats on here with purely one-sided views (like Ceri above who has made it very clear that she cannot stand the country) then I might have conceded the point. As it is there are a number of people on this site who are very biased one way or another and who will not give an inch of ground either way. So what's one more to the meltingpot? Besides which Wombat isn't the only poster on here that isn't a Brit, what about Pascale? Toontje? and several others who pop in here from time to time but who are definitely NOT Brits.

I myself try to be honest about my experiences, but because they are mostly positive a host of idiots are always bashing me for wearing rose-tinted specs. Fact is I came over here and it's worked for me. Ask me about the negatives and I will tell you about them, but I find myself hard pressed upon to defend myself and my opinions on a regular basis to such an extent that I almost never get a chance to say anything that's negative on this forum as I'm expending too much energy defending the positive statements.

G'Day

Hi Larissa,

Nice to see a well-balanced post on Perth. Not my favourite city(too hot ), but then to each his own.

As for working, yes you are right. The worst time for me in Australia was whilst I was waiting to have my qualifications assesed so I can go back to work. I was devastated to hear I had to write two extra subjects before my qualifications would be accepted, especially as I didn't have the money for it at the time. It was really lonely and horrible living in this nice subburb all by myself and feeling like everyone knew each other but not me...but once I started working it all changed. If I could work part time I probably will and as soon as I've finished these subjects (which I'm finally completing) I'll be back out there part-time in my chosen profession, so I understand about the Aussie moms not wanting to work away from home, but then they've never had the experience we've had of losing whole social network in one whack.

ShozInOz

I agree with you entirely. I just ask that people try to achieve some kind of balance in their posts. Of course people want to hear about positive experiences, but that is very different to and more useful than very generalised and patently untrue statements about Australia being the best country in the world etc. It has pro's and con's, and it just depends how they all stack up.

As for non-Brits, or (more importantly) non-ex-pats on here... I just say take them with a very large portion of salt. They are coming from an *entirely* different position, and often are just provocative/inflamatory (or try to be, in fact they are hilarious). For instance, Wombat's views come from a self-confessed background of never having visited Europe, never mind never having lived there!!! (And I really don't get WHY a non-Brit or non-ex-pat would be on a British Expats forum! Quite bizarre! I am open to explanation. Answers on a post-card please)