dotty

One thing I will really miss when I do leave here is how straightforward it is to buy a house. Contracts on paper, clauses are clear with dates, deposit posted with solicitors, chains are rare people just wont accept them. UK system is a nightmare no denying it.

List what you have found is way better in OZ.

Oh and Mangoes, they are heaven.

jayr

I think the tomatoes taste better, the lamb is cheaper (not sure, my wife buys it) and the meat, including chicken tastes better. i thnik the UK supermarkets specify their requirments so much that the taste has disappeared.

dracupg

A mate of mine was gazumped by his own estate agent in Maidenhead, who decided that he liked the property too. Wasn’t a damn thing my mate could do about it. Crazy.

Situation slightly better in Scotland with sealed bids and stuff, but by no means perfect their either.

Not bought a house here yet, so haven’t tried to get to grips with the process. Waiting in hope for the house prices to calm down a bit in Sydney. Sods law they wont though, and I’ll be left a year from now wishing I had bought now.

What is way better in Oz? … for me it is the trains. Been commuting since April, and only had one or two delays and those were only for 15-30 minutes. Get a seat every time too. Was stuck on the drain in London for 3 hours once. :scared:

And to be balanced, what is way worse in Oz? …. The sense of humour. Get a group of ex-pats together (Scots, English, Irish Welsh) and the banter starts quite easily, but get a group of locals together and its hard work. Perhaps they don’t understand my accent. It can’t be that I am not amusing.

Wilf

Excellent idea dotty.

I think second hand dealers are much better in Oz than the UK, and have used them a lot in the past. The cheaper commercial rents here make it possible for second hand to be quite big and so you can get all sorts of furniture, fridges, freezers, washing machines, beds, etc., and some of it is good stuff if you are not above second hand gear. I like buying second hand if I can and, luckily for me, my wife is even more keen on it than I am, and so that is something that is a pleasure to us here, especially when we were younger and more skint.

I would advise anyone who does not look down on second hand gear to try this as a way of getting started here if you are coming with nothing much like I did. It can all be replaced a year or two on if you do settle here but will have been a bloody good saving if you decide to pack up and return to the UK.

renth

weather
beaches
people more laid back
less aggressive drivers
public transport
flora & fauna
OP bundy & coke in cans
Utes
V8 cars
skimpies

oh my god I've become an ocker!

Florida_03

I found a five cent piece once.

Did I tell you about the boss of my local nick getting shot the other day. Good aussie bloke and father, shot dead by some drugged-up victim of society. Sorry I digress.

What's good about Australia?

Sorry can't think of anything. Get the ouija board out and ask my Scottish grandparents. They had a dream...

PeteY

Do you nomally pick stuff up from papers and the like, or are there a good range of secondhand shops?

PeteY

The fishing.

Oz has the best, and most varied fishing i have encountered anywhere....and its cheap too !!

welshpom

Yeah, but we're made to pay for all that with "footy" (aussie rules).

I could happily ignore the game itself, but the media coverage of it is relentless.

Things to add to the "better" list:

- wider roads
- quieter roads
- eftpos (v signing a receipt)
- friendlier strangers
- fixed price local calls
- no tabloid press manipulating the news instead of reporting it.
- converted to metric already (not the half-arsed effort in the UK).
- the open spaces.
- the choice of climates.
- more blonde eye-candy
- far more variety in house designs.
- the price of petrol/diesel
- slow speed limits around school crossings.

worse:

- fewer motorways/dual carriageways without traffic lights.
- no alcohol for sale in the supermarket.
- lower speed limits. Fine in built-up areas, but 62mph on the main Adelaide to Melbourne highway ????
- subscription only internet, no real pay-as-you-use option for light users.
- timezones, they are a nuisance for live events on tv that get shifted or dropped.
- digital + widescreen tv - 5+ years behind the UK.
- shite quality of tv programming
- lack of main water/sewerage in many satellite towns.
- quoting of mobile phone rates in "per 30 seconds" rather than per minute.
- no postal deliveries on Saturday
- if you live 1 metre outside the metro area, add a day to parcel deliveries.
- registration requirements for things like a car trailer.
- poor sound proofing of houses due to single pain windows and thinner walls.
- more complicated health system with confusing fees etc.
- no nationwide law on testing roadworthyness of cars. Lots of junk cars driving the roads waiting to cause accidents.
- the price of bread. Aye carrumba.
- graffiti everywhere.
- the naff selection of paint colours at K-mart etc. You can have any colour as long as it's white.

bondipom

Sydney Taxis are cheap but the drivers have no idea where anything is. Good luck when you arrive at the airport!

Florida_03

Good luck with the fishing. I've fished the Bribie passage since my teenage years. You can still get a couple of bream and the odd Jew.

The trips that stick in my mind, and the best, were the night trips.

We would go out in the boat at around 5:00 pm on a slack tide, pump a few yabbies in Ningi creek and head under the bridge for the night. A flask of coffee or tea and a couple of sandwiches. Tie up to number 7 pylon. Hang the tilley lamp over the side and get the bait net ready. As the water laps the side of the boat the night gets quieter, cooler and the plovers would pipe up (it's a sound I will remember all my life, the dead still of night, the rush of water, and the plovers).

You watch the rods for a touch and see what floats past under the tilley. Some kids walk over the Bribie bridge and at 10:30 pm the usual calls come.

"Hey mate caught anything yet"?

"No mate..."

"Then catch this..."

A hail of pebbles descends on the boat and in the still of a Bribie night we tell the little (expletive deleted) to (expetive deleted) off. It's a rite of passage and I did the same in my youth, but the little buggers can still scare the crap out of you (the drop from bridge to boat is about 80" in the boat channel and a few pebbles can hurt).

The night goes on and the gar, hardie heads and squid are scooting past the tilley light hanging over the side of the boat. We scoop a few for bait and talk about this and that. We fish to the top of the tide and move down the passge and anchor in Ningi for a bit of sleep. But as always a catfish or bream takes the rod we chucked out the back.

The morning comes and we move out of Ningi and fish the wreck or Toorbul for a few hours. Tired, happy we go home and clean a few fish and sleep for the rest of the day.

I miss those days. Dux Creek ran past our house on Bribie, I used to get poddy mullet for bait. They filled it in with a housing developement. Mangroves, poddy mullet all gone.

Anyway, enjoy the fishing, and please try a night tied up to pylon 7 under the Bribie bridge one night. I have some pebbles in my pocket.

mr mover

Chill out W/P you will Adapt........ MM

mr mover

yeah , we heard that , and in Florida, stay away from german tourists , a favorite target ,or have they changed the plates on HIRE vehicles??...... MM

Florida_03

Old news mixed with urban myth? You must know me by now?

I am not defending Florida or my decisions in any way. Never have on this forum.

Australia is no utopia. Nor is the USA.

By the way I kept the five cents...

mr mover

Would you work for $10-$12 or 6quid an hour ..... plenty do but the aussies on the dole get ,more...........begs an answer??.. MM