10 Months in Sidney
Dec 31st 2010, 12:41 am
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Camperdown Massive
Posts: 20
10 Months in Sidney
So, arrived in Sydney on 24th February, after a 5 day stop over in Singapore. Stayed in a Short Term let for the first 17 nights and finally found a rental and moved in there on 13th March.
To give you an idea I’m 39, from Edinburgh, moved with my missus (age variable, depending who’s asking). Not married, no nippers.
I used to live for the updates to see what other peoples experiences of Oz were, so figured I’d post my experiences.
As with everything in life, this is all subjective opinion. I try to be objective, but what works for me, wont work for others.
The Good:
‘Straaaaaylian Punters: On the whole, open, friendly and genuine. As with any place you get a small number of troglodytes but these seem few and far between, especially in the rarefied circles I move in.
Vandalism: Or more accurately the lack of it. Every time I go to a public space, it’s clean, there are BBQ’s available for use and haven’t been nicked or vandalised within 10 minutes of the sun going down by pre-pubescent ne’erdowells who roam parks drinking White Lightning trying to stab people. I haven’t seen a Burberry cap for months now. People genuinely seem to care that they will not be the only person who uses this stuff and therefore tidy up after themselves. I still can’t quite believe it.
Summer Festivals: Seems like something is going on every weekend. Was at the Newtown Festival a wee while ago. 80,000 people sitting around drinking beer, listening to music, eating great food possibly buying a bong or other such hippy tat that seems to be purveyed at any sort of market. Again no roving gangs of f**kwits. Doesn’t seem real somehow, people can enjoy themselves in peace. It’ll never catch on I tells ya.
Beer: The only beers I’d tried before coming to Oz were VB, Crown , XXXX and Fosters, quite frankly they all tasted like arse. However, there are loadsa different varieties of Looney Juice to choose from. Coopers is my bevy of choice at the moment, and if you genuinely cant find anything you like in the pub, I guarantee you’ll get what you want down the Bottle Shop. OK that’s not strictly true, a good Guinness aint happening and I haven’t seen any Cobra (I thought this was an Indian beer, but I’m beginning to suspect* it may be a bit UK-centric after I asked for it in the Indian Restaurant I was in today and the wee waitress looked at me like I’d asked for the moon on a stick)
* and by “suspect”, I mean I cant be arsed Googling it.
Vegemite – Friggin love it. On toast every Morning.
Coffee – Had with Vegemite on Toast
Sushi – Fishing bait wrapped in Rice with Seaweed. When it’s 90 degrees in the shade. Accept no substitute…….Well apart from maybe beer, although this doesn’t tend to be as nutritious and has a much lower fish content.
Sydney CBD Thursday Night Drinks: Genius. Feeling lonely? Struggling to make friends? Looking for a bit of familiarity with people who remember when Den and Angie ran the Vic, know who the ***** Benny and Miss Diane were, and remember vividly when Amos and Mr Wilks finally came out of their Narnia like Closet on Emmerdale by wearing ass-less chaps and explaining that Amos’s well kept Sideboards were in fact buggers grips? If you need to get out and meet people, and lets face it, you’ve just moved to a brand new country and you don’t know anyone, it’s a genuinely brilliant way to do it. So if it’s all feeling a bit weird this is group therapy with as much bevy as you can handle on a Thursday night.**
** Generally I mean any expats meet up……..and *eh* I may have dreamt/made up the bit about Amos and Mr Wilks
Scenery: Devastatingly beautiful, and to be fair I’ve only seen little bits of NSW. Really looking forward to seeing what the rest of what Australia has to offer.
The Music Scene: Vibrant and different, way better than I expected. I’ve quite an eclectic taste in music, from Indie to Hip Hop. Triple J and Radar Radio takes care of all my needs on this score, as well as loads of music venues catering for every musical taste. Obviously if you stay in a city, you’re also still going to get the opportunity to see your favourite bands.
The Bad:
Expensive: $4.80 for a loaf of bread from the local shop, which appears to consist of 75% sawdust and 25% bread scrapings. Which translates, at a very generous ForEx rate of $1.6, 3 quid. Bringing me nicely to:
Exchange Rate: Gertcha!!! (to coin a Chas and Dave-ism) Currently about $1.53. Nightmare if you’re emigrating, but once you’re earning AUD (and it’s been said many a time on BE) it costs what it costs in relation to that salary. Never, and I repeat never convert back to Sterling/Euro once that happens. However, if when you started planning your trip to Oz, like we did and the ForEx rate was $2.4 to the Pound, it’s a bit of a sore one.
Rent: See Expensive, although it’s considerably dearer the bread, but cheaper than a Mortgage (at least it is for us)
Traffic: I live in Siderney so, Yep loads of it. This is offset due to the fact there’s roughly the population of Scotland living in 1 city.
Chuggers (Charity Muggers): Look, I’m a good person, I don’t need to feel like I’m an insensitive murderer when I’m trying to get some lunch. As discussed last night (dans la Boozer). When the woman said to me, can you spare 5 minutes of your time for Cancer Research, I said yes, but I don’t think we’ll get much done (Think it mighta been a Jimmy Carr gag).
Wildlife: Only two encounters with the dangerous indigenous wildlife. Saw a snake on Manly Heads 3 days after we arrived (although it was a Green Tree Snake and I’m struggling to justify this as a “dangerous” *ahem* encounter) and a Spider that accosted me on the bus the other day as I was heading to work. Again it was probably harmless, but I didn’t like the way it was looking at me.
Sooooo, In Summary
All in all it seems to be working out for us and generally the good outweighs the bad, although I do miss my Family and Friends greatly, and this is the only real downside to moving to Oz as far as I can tell.
It ain’t England/Scotland/Ireland or Wales in the sun (although you’d be forgiven for thinking that down Bondi) and I’m happy it isn’t. It ain’t Nirvana, Navan or Northampton and with all things in life, generally you will get out what you put in. You will get frustrated by bureaucracy, crap driving, banking/supermarket monopolies and a multitude of other shoite (Wishing for Tesco’s, Next or Marks and Spencers equally ain’t going to help). But every place has it’s problems. We didn’t leave Edinburgh or the UK coz it was knackered (Daily Mail readers insert reason for Broken Britain here), we just fancied a change so this doesn’t bother us so much, you accept it and move on. Equally the UK has its problems too, for now we prefer to deal with Australia’s foibles and enjoy what she has to offer.
To give you an idea I’m 39, from Edinburgh, moved with my missus (age variable, depending who’s asking). Not married, no nippers.
I used to live for the updates to see what other peoples experiences of Oz were, so figured I’d post my experiences.
As with everything in life, this is all subjective opinion. I try to be objective, but what works for me, wont work for others.
The Good:
‘Straaaaaylian Punters: On the whole, open, friendly and genuine. As with any place you get a small number of troglodytes but these seem few and far between, especially in the rarefied circles I move in.
Vandalism: Or more accurately the lack of it. Every time I go to a public space, it’s clean, there are BBQ’s available for use and haven’t been nicked or vandalised within 10 minutes of the sun going down by pre-pubescent ne’erdowells who roam parks drinking White Lightning trying to stab people. I haven’t seen a Burberry cap for months now. People genuinely seem to care that they will not be the only person who uses this stuff and therefore tidy up after themselves. I still can’t quite believe it.
Summer Festivals: Seems like something is going on every weekend. Was at the Newtown Festival a wee while ago. 80,000 people sitting around drinking beer, listening to music, eating great food possibly buying a bong or other such hippy tat that seems to be purveyed at any sort of market. Again no roving gangs of f**kwits. Doesn’t seem real somehow, people can enjoy themselves in peace. It’ll never catch on I tells ya.
Beer: The only beers I’d tried before coming to Oz were VB, Crown , XXXX and Fosters, quite frankly they all tasted like arse. However, there are loadsa different varieties of Looney Juice to choose from. Coopers is my bevy of choice at the moment, and if you genuinely cant find anything you like in the pub, I guarantee you’ll get what you want down the Bottle Shop. OK that’s not strictly true, a good Guinness aint happening and I haven’t seen any Cobra (I thought this was an Indian beer, but I’m beginning to suspect* it may be a bit UK-centric after I asked for it in the Indian Restaurant I was in today and the wee waitress looked at me like I’d asked for the moon on a stick)
* and by “suspect”, I mean I cant be arsed Googling it.
Vegemite – Friggin love it. On toast every Morning.
Coffee – Had with Vegemite on Toast
Sushi – Fishing bait wrapped in Rice with Seaweed. When it’s 90 degrees in the shade. Accept no substitute…….Well apart from maybe beer, although this doesn’t tend to be as nutritious and has a much lower fish content.
Sydney CBD Thursday Night Drinks: Genius. Feeling lonely? Struggling to make friends? Looking for a bit of familiarity with people who remember when Den and Angie ran the Vic, know who the ***** Benny and Miss Diane were, and remember vividly when Amos and Mr Wilks finally came out of their Narnia like Closet on Emmerdale by wearing ass-less chaps and explaining that Amos’s well kept Sideboards were in fact buggers grips? If you need to get out and meet people, and lets face it, you’ve just moved to a brand new country and you don’t know anyone, it’s a genuinely brilliant way to do it. So if it’s all feeling a bit weird this is group therapy with as much bevy as you can handle on a Thursday night.**
** Generally I mean any expats meet up……..and *eh* I may have dreamt/made up the bit about Amos and Mr Wilks
Scenery: Devastatingly beautiful, and to be fair I’ve only seen little bits of NSW. Really looking forward to seeing what the rest of what Australia has to offer.
The Music Scene: Vibrant and different, way better than I expected. I’ve quite an eclectic taste in music, from Indie to Hip Hop. Triple J and Radar Radio takes care of all my needs on this score, as well as loads of music venues catering for every musical taste. Obviously if you stay in a city, you’re also still going to get the opportunity to see your favourite bands.
The Bad:
Expensive: $4.80 for a loaf of bread from the local shop, which appears to consist of 75% sawdust and 25% bread scrapings. Which translates, at a very generous ForEx rate of $1.6, 3 quid. Bringing me nicely to:
Exchange Rate: Gertcha!!! (to coin a Chas and Dave-ism) Currently about $1.53. Nightmare if you’re emigrating, but once you’re earning AUD (and it’s been said many a time on BE) it costs what it costs in relation to that salary. Never, and I repeat never convert back to Sterling/Euro once that happens. However, if when you started planning your trip to Oz, like we did and the ForEx rate was $2.4 to the Pound, it’s a bit of a sore one.
Rent: See Expensive, although it’s considerably dearer the bread, but cheaper than a Mortgage (at least it is for us)
Traffic: I live in Siderney so, Yep loads of it. This is offset due to the fact there’s roughly the population of Scotland living in 1 city.
Chuggers (Charity Muggers): Look, I’m a good person, I don’t need to feel like I’m an insensitive murderer when I’m trying to get some lunch. As discussed last night (dans la Boozer). When the woman said to me, can you spare 5 minutes of your time for Cancer Research, I said yes, but I don’t think we’ll get much done (Think it mighta been a Jimmy Carr gag).
Wildlife: Only two encounters with the dangerous indigenous wildlife. Saw a snake on Manly Heads 3 days after we arrived (although it was a Green Tree Snake and I’m struggling to justify this as a “dangerous” *ahem* encounter) and a Spider that accosted me on the bus the other day as I was heading to work. Again it was probably harmless, but I didn’t like the way it was looking at me.
Sooooo, In Summary
All in all it seems to be working out for us and generally the good outweighs the bad, although I do miss my Family and Friends greatly, and this is the only real downside to moving to Oz as far as I can tell.
It ain’t England/Scotland/Ireland or Wales in the sun (although you’d be forgiven for thinking that down Bondi) and I’m happy it isn’t. It ain’t Nirvana, Navan or Northampton and with all things in life, generally you will get out what you put in. You will get frustrated by bureaucracy, crap driving, banking/supermarket monopolies and a multitude of other shoite (Wishing for Tesco’s, Next or Marks and Spencers equally ain’t going to help). But every place has it’s problems. We didn’t leave Edinburgh or the UK coz it was knackered (Daily Mail readers insert reason for Broken Britain here), we just fancied a change so this doesn’t bother us so much, you accept it and move on. Equally the UK has its problems too, for now we prefer to deal with Australia’s foibles and enjoy what she has to offer.
Dec 31st 2010, 2:16 am
#2
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 14,284
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
Thank you for your write up, you should contribute more often. 
I can relate to much of what you say.
I have only had good experiences with Australians
Vegemite was a pleasant surprise
Agree on vandalism, my cat went missing six weeks ago
and we put a home made poster up in a bus shelter at the weekend. On Monday morning I headed down there and I felt sure somebody would have ripped it down or scrawled something horrible over it, in fact it remained intact for weeks.
Not been to the Thursday CBD meetings yet, I thought they might all be younger than me.
Driving standards are bad, I have had more near misses in the last six months than in my entire life before.
I can relate to much of what you say.
I have only had good experiences with Australians
Vegemite was a pleasant surprise
Agree on vandalism, my cat went missing six weeks ago
and we put a home made poster up in a bus shelter at the weekend. On Monday morning I headed down there and I felt sure somebody would have ripped it down or scrawled something horrible over it, in fact it remained intact for weeks.Not been to the Thursday CBD meetings yet, I thought they might all be younger than me.
Driving standards are bad, I have had more near misses in the last six months than in my entire life before.
Dec 31st 2010, 2:30 am
#3
Mostly Harmless
Joined: Jan 2010
Location: Semi-rural wonderworld, Brisbane
Posts: 15,109
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
So, arrived in Sydney on 24th February, after a 5 day stop over in Singapore. Stayed in a Short Term let for the first 17 nights and finally found a rental and moved in there on 13th March.
To give you an idea I’m 39, from Edinburgh, moved with my missus (age variable, depending who’s asking). Not married, no nippers.
I used to live for the updates to see what other peoples experiences of Oz were, so figured I’d post my experiences.
As with everything in life, this is all subjective opinion. I try to be objective, but what works for me, wont work for others.
The Good:
‘Straaaaaylian Punters: On the whole, open, friendly and genuine. As with any place you get a small number of troglodytes but these seem few and far between, especially in the rarefied circles I move in.
Vandalism: Or more accurately the lack of it. Every time I go to a public space, it’s clean, there are BBQ’s available for use and haven’t been nicked or vandalised within 10 minutes of the sun going down by pre-pubescent ne’erdowells who roam parks drinking White Lightning trying to stab people. I haven’t seen a Burberry cap for months now. People genuinely seem to care that they will not be the only person who uses this stuff and therefore tidy up after themselves. I still can’t quite believe it.
Summer Festivals: Seems like something is going on every weekend. Was at the Newtown Festival a wee while ago. 80,000 people sitting around drinking beer, listening to music, eating great food possibly buying a bong or other such hippy tat that seems to be purveyed at any sort of market. Again no roving gangs of f**kwits. Doesn’t seem real somehow, people can enjoy themselves in peace. It’ll never catch on I tells ya.
Beer: The only beers I’d tried before coming to Oz were VB, Crown , XXXX and Fosters, quite frankly they all tasted like arse. However, there are loadsa different varieties of Looney Juice to choose from. Coopers is my bevy of choice at the moment, and if you genuinely cant find anything you like in the pub, I guarantee you’ll get what you want down the Bottle Shop. OK that’s not strictly true, a good Guinness aint happening and I haven’t seen any Cobra (I thought this was an Indian beer, but I’m beginning to suspect* it may be a bit UK-centric after I asked for it in the Indian Restaurant I was in today and the wee waitress looked at me like I’d asked for the moon on a stick)
* and by “suspect”, I mean I cant be arsed Googling it.
Vegemite – Friggin love it. On toast every Morning.
Coffee – Had with Vegemite on Toast
Sushi – Fishing bait wrapped in Rice with Seaweed. When it’s 90 degrees in the shade. Accept no substitute…….Well apart from maybe beer, although this doesn’t tend to be as nutritious and has a much lower fish content.
Sydney CBD Thursday Night Drinks: Genius. Feeling lonely? Struggling to make friends? Looking for a bit of familiarity with people who remember when Den and Angie ran the Vic, know who the ***** Benny and Miss Diane were, and remember vividly when Amos and Mr Wilks finally came out of their Narnia like Closet on Emmerdale by wearing ass-less chaps and explaining that Amos’s well kept Sideboards were in fact buggers grips? If you need to get out and meet people, and lets face it, you’ve just moved to a brand new country and you don’t know anyone, it’s a genuinely brilliant way to do it. So if it’s all feeling a bit weird this is group therapy with as much bevy as you can handle on a Thursday night.**
** Generally I mean any expats meet up……..and *eh* I may have dreamt/made up the bit about Amos and Mr Wilks
Scenery: Devastatingly beautiful, and to be fair I’ve only seen little bits of NSW. Really looking forward to seeing what the rest of what Australia has to offer.
The Music Scene: Vibrant and different, way better than I expected. I’ve quite an eclectic taste in music, from Indie to Hip Hop. Triple J and Radar Radio takes care of all my needs on this score, as well as loads of music venues catering for every musical taste. Obviously if you stay in a city, you’re also still going to get the opportunity to see your favourite bands.
The Bad:
Expensive: $4.80 for a loaf of bread from the local shop, which appears to consist of 75% sawdust and 25% bread scrapings. Which translates, at a very generous ForEx rate of $1.6, 3 quid. Bringing me nicely to:
Exchange Rate: Gertcha!!! (to coin a Chas and Dave-ism) Currently about $1.53. Nightmare if you’re emigrating, but once you’re earning AUD (and it’s been said many a time on BE) it costs what it costs in relation to that salary. Never, and I repeat never convert back to Sterling/Euro once that happens. However, if when you started planning your trip to Oz, like we did and the ForEx rate was $2.4 to the Pound, it’s a bit of a sore one.
Rent: See Expensive, although it’s considerably dearer the bread, but cheaper than a Mortgage (at least it is for us)
Traffic: I live in Siderney so, Yep loads of it. This is offset due to the fact there’s roughly the population of Scotland living in 1 city.
Chuggers (Charity Muggers): Look, I’m a good person, I don’t need to feel like I’m an insensitive murderer when I’m trying to get some lunch. As discussed last night (dans la Boozer). When the woman said to me, can you spare 5 minutes of your time for Cancer Research, I said yes, but I don’t think we’ll get much done (Think it mighta been a Jimmy Carr gag).
Wildlife: Only two encounters with the dangerous indigenous wildlife. Saw a snake on Manly Heads 3 days after we arrived (although it was a Green Tree Snake and I’m struggling to justify this as a “dangerous” *ahem* encounter) and a Spider that accosted me on the bus the other day as I was heading to work. Again it was probably harmless, but I didn’t like the way it was looking at me.
Sooooo, In Summary
All in all it seems to be working out for us and generally the good outweighs the bad, although I do miss my Family and Friends greatly, and this is the only real downside to moving to Oz as far as I can tell.
It ain’t England/Scotland/Ireland or Wales in the sun (although you’d be forgiven for thinking that down Bondi) and I’m happy it isn’t. It ain’t Nirvana, Navan or Northampton and with all things in life, generally you will get out what you put in. You will get frustrated by bureaucracy, crap driving, banking/supermarket monopolies and a multitude of other shoite (Wishing for Tesco’s, Next or Marks and Spencers equally ain’t going to help). But every place has it’s problems. We didn’t leave Edinburgh or the UK coz it was knackered (Daily Mail readers insert reason for Broken Britain here), we just fancied a change so this doesn’t bother us so much, you accept it and move on. Equally the UK has its problems too, for now we prefer to deal with Australia’s foibles and enjoy what she has to offer.
To give you an idea I’m 39, from Edinburgh, moved with my missus (age variable, depending who’s asking). Not married, no nippers.
I used to live for the updates to see what other peoples experiences of Oz were, so figured I’d post my experiences.
As with everything in life, this is all subjective opinion. I try to be objective, but what works for me, wont work for others.
The Good:
‘Straaaaaylian Punters: On the whole, open, friendly and genuine. As with any place you get a small number of troglodytes but these seem few and far between, especially in the rarefied circles I move in.
Vandalism: Or more accurately the lack of it. Every time I go to a public space, it’s clean, there are BBQ’s available for use and haven’t been nicked or vandalised within 10 minutes of the sun going down by pre-pubescent ne’erdowells who roam parks drinking White Lightning trying to stab people. I haven’t seen a Burberry cap for months now. People genuinely seem to care that they will not be the only person who uses this stuff and therefore tidy up after themselves. I still can’t quite believe it.
Summer Festivals: Seems like something is going on every weekend. Was at the Newtown Festival a wee while ago. 80,000 people sitting around drinking beer, listening to music, eating great food possibly buying a bong or other such hippy tat that seems to be purveyed at any sort of market. Again no roving gangs of f**kwits. Doesn’t seem real somehow, people can enjoy themselves in peace. It’ll never catch on I tells ya.
Beer: The only beers I’d tried before coming to Oz were VB, Crown , XXXX and Fosters, quite frankly they all tasted like arse. However, there are loadsa different varieties of Looney Juice to choose from. Coopers is my bevy of choice at the moment, and if you genuinely cant find anything you like in the pub, I guarantee you’ll get what you want down the Bottle Shop. OK that’s not strictly true, a good Guinness aint happening and I haven’t seen any Cobra (I thought this was an Indian beer, but I’m beginning to suspect* it may be a bit UK-centric after I asked for it in the Indian Restaurant I was in today and the wee waitress looked at me like I’d asked for the moon on a stick)
* and by “suspect”, I mean I cant be arsed Googling it.
Vegemite – Friggin love it. On toast every Morning.
Coffee – Had with Vegemite on Toast
Sushi – Fishing bait wrapped in Rice with Seaweed. When it’s 90 degrees in the shade. Accept no substitute…….Well apart from maybe beer, although this doesn’t tend to be as nutritious and has a much lower fish content.
Sydney CBD Thursday Night Drinks: Genius. Feeling lonely? Struggling to make friends? Looking for a bit of familiarity with people who remember when Den and Angie ran the Vic, know who the ***** Benny and Miss Diane were, and remember vividly when Amos and Mr Wilks finally came out of their Narnia like Closet on Emmerdale by wearing ass-less chaps and explaining that Amos’s well kept Sideboards were in fact buggers grips? If you need to get out and meet people, and lets face it, you’ve just moved to a brand new country and you don’t know anyone, it’s a genuinely brilliant way to do it. So if it’s all feeling a bit weird this is group therapy with as much bevy as you can handle on a Thursday night.**
** Generally I mean any expats meet up……..and *eh* I may have dreamt/made up the bit about Amos and Mr Wilks
Scenery: Devastatingly beautiful, and to be fair I’ve only seen little bits of NSW. Really looking forward to seeing what the rest of what Australia has to offer.
The Music Scene: Vibrant and different, way better than I expected. I’ve quite an eclectic taste in music, from Indie to Hip Hop. Triple J and Radar Radio takes care of all my needs on this score, as well as loads of music venues catering for every musical taste. Obviously if you stay in a city, you’re also still going to get the opportunity to see your favourite bands.
The Bad:
Expensive: $4.80 for a loaf of bread from the local shop, which appears to consist of 75% sawdust and 25% bread scrapings. Which translates, at a very generous ForEx rate of $1.6, 3 quid. Bringing me nicely to:
Exchange Rate: Gertcha!!! (to coin a Chas and Dave-ism) Currently about $1.53. Nightmare if you’re emigrating, but once you’re earning AUD (and it’s been said many a time on BE) it costs what it costs in relation to that salary. Never, and I repeat never convert back to Sterling/Euro once that happens. However, if when you started planning your trip to Oz, like we did and the ForEx rate was $2.4 to the Pound, it’s a bit of a sore one.
Rent: See Expensive, although it’s considerably dearer the bread, but cheaper than a Mortgage (at least it is for us)
Traffic: I live in Siderney so, Yep loads of it. This is offset due to the fact there’s roughly the population of Scotland living in 1 city.
Chuggers (Charity Muggers): Look, I’m a good person, I don’t need to feel like I’m an insensitive murderer when I’m trying to get some lunch. As discussed last night (dans la Boozer). When the woman said to me, can you spare 5 minutes of your time for Cancer Research, I said yes, but I don’t think we’ll get much done (Think it mighta been a Jimmy Carr gag).
Wildlife: Only two encounters with the dangerous indigenous wildlife. Saw a snake on Manly Heads 3 days after we arrived (although it was a Green Tree Snake and I’m struggling to justify this as a “dangerous” *ahem* encounter) and a Spider that accosted me on the bus the other day as I was heading to work. Again it was probably harmless, but I didn’t like the way it was looking at me.
Sooooo, In Summary
All in all it seems to be working out for us and generally the good outweighs the bad, although I do miss my Family and Friends greatly, and this is the only real downside to moving to Oz as far as I can tell.
It ain’t England/Scotland/Ireland or Wales in the sun (although you’d be forgiven for thinking that down Bondi) and I’m happy it isn’t. It ain’t Nirvana, Navan or Northampton and with all things in life, generally you will get out what you put in. You will get frustrated by bureaucracy, crap driving, banking/supermarket monopolies and a multitude of other shoite (Wishing for Tesco’s, Next or Marks and Spencers equally ain’t going to help). But every place has it’s problems. We didn’t leave Edinburgh or the UK coz it was knackered (Daily Mail readers insert reason for Broken Britain here), we just fancied a change so this doesn’t bother us so much, you accept it and move on. Equally the UK has its problems too, for now we prefer to deal with Australia’s foibles and enjoy what she has to offer.
$4.80 for a loaf of bread, Lordy, under $2 here according to my Woolies docket circa yesterday.
<Cue wide-ranging discussion on bread prices around Australia and relative quality compared to UK that answers no questions and ends up with 4 distinct slanging matches on topics entirely unconnected with foodstuffs and the outright banning of a poster>
Dec 31st 2010, 2:32 am
#4
Account Closed
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 14,188
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
Did you ask Sidney's permission first?
Dec 31st 2010, 2:46 am
#5
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Camperdown Massive
Posts: 20
Dec 31st 2010, 2:54 am
#7
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Camperdown Massive
Posts: 20
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
Well written, nice update, from a Brisbane perspective I can widely agree with the vast majority of what you say.
$4.80 for a loaf of bread, Lordy, under $2 here according to my Woolies docket circa yesterday.
<Cue wide-ranging discussion on bread prices around Australia and relative quality compared to UK that answers no questions and ends up with 4 distinct slanging matches on topics entirely unconnected with foodstuffs and the outright banning of a poster>
$4.80 for a loaf of bread, Lordy, under $2 here according to my Woolies docket circa yesterday.
<Cue wide-ranging discussion on bread prices around Australia and relative quality compared to UK that answers no questions and ends up with 4 distinct slanging matches on topics entirely unconnected with foodstuffs and the outright banning of a poster>
To be fair the $4.80 is the convenience store price, when you can't (for can't, read can't be arsed) going to Coles or Woolies. I pay for the convenience, before we get 10 pages of inane bread price chat.
Dec 31st 2010, 3:11 am
#8
Mostly Harmless
Joined: Jan 2010
Location: Semi-rural wonderworld, Brisbane
Posts: 15,109
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
Then there's the IGA vs Big Store debate which can <drifts off into a coma due to the realisation that it really is all swings and roundabouts when it comes to the cost of living>
Enjoy Sydney
Dec 31st 2010, 4:12 am
#9
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 213
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
Very accurate sentiments about Oz life...
Dec 31st 2010, 10:32 pm
#10
Officially Bewildered
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW
Posts: 5,523
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
Great update - please increase your post count immediately and significantly 
Jan 1st 2011, 5:18 am
#11
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2007
Location: Watford, UK and now Hervey Bay
Posts: 446
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
Love it, love it!!
Anything that literally makes me laugh out loud (that bloody LOL expression is completely overused) has my vote, and your description of sushi as "fishing bait wrapped in rice with seaweed" made me chuckle loudly. I'm going to use it and pretend its my quote, so please keep posting on here cos I need more witty gems.
One of the the most realistic and funny posts I've read on here.
Anything that literally makes me laugh out loud (that bloody LOL expression is completely overused) has my vote, and your description of sushi as "fishing bait wrapped in rice with seaweed" made me chuckle loudly. I'm going to use it and pretend its my quote, so please keep posting on here cos I need more witty gems.
One of the the most realistic and funny posts I've read on here.
Jan 1st 2011, 7:22 am
#12
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Camperdown Massive
Posts: 20
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
Thanks very much for the feedback folks.
I would promise to post more, but then you'd see through me as not being that witty or amusing, coz as people that know me will attest.....it just aint the case.
:P
I would promise to post more, but then you'd see through me as not being that witty or amusing, coz as people that know me will attest.....it just aint the case.
:P
Jan 1st 2011, 7:57 pm
#13
Just Joined
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 16
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
Great read, glad it is working...12,000 mils to discover Vegemite eh!
All the best....get writing ppplease. Happy New Year all.
Jan 1st 2011, 8:22 pm
#14
Auntie Fa
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Seattle
Posts: 7,344
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
Nice one, Andy.
Suspect you've yet to notice all the graffiti and witness shoplifting, get your car keyed or thumped, etc., but on the whole I agree with your very realistic, no rose-tinted glasses, views.
Bread - serves you right if you buy it from the corner shop or supermarket! Go to the baker's or Thomas Dux, or any other of the huge number of delis in Sydney.
Newtown's great - we can often be found in Cafe C on a Sunday, having brunch/hangover fodder.
Chuggers - yes they're a pain in the arse but give them a break, they do a very hard job for very little pay. A lot of them will be Brit WHV kids - stop and have a chat about Tesco's. (I'm a Fundraising Data Analyst who occasionally helps man the phones and that's bad enough - I couldn't do the face-to-face stuff to save my life.)
Sydney drinks - I only made them once but they were a welcoming bunch and tolerated an old lady like me (who was very stressed and downing gin like it was going out of fashion) so, Bermuda Shorts, I'm sure you're a lot younger so get yourself there. I really must keep an eye on the threads, get off my lazy backside and come again some time.
Suspect you've yet to notice all the graffiti and witness shoplifting, get your car keyed or thumped, etc., but on the whole I agree with your very realistic, no rose-tinted glasses, views.
Bread - serves you right if you buy it from the corner shop or supermarket! Go to the baker's or Thomas Dux, or any other of the huge number of delis in Sydney.
Newtown's great - we can often be found in Cafe C on a Sunday, having brunch/hangover fodder.
Chuggers - yes they're a pain in the arse but give them a break, they do a very hard job for very little pay. A lot of them will be Brit WHV kids - stop and have a chat about Tesco's. (I'm a Fundraising Data Analyst who occasionally helps man the phones and that's bad enough - I couldn't do the face-to-face stuff to save my life.)
Sydney drinks - I only made them once but they were a welcoming bunch and tolerated an old lady like me (who was very stressed and downing gin like it was going out of fashion) so, Bermuda Shorts, I'm sure you're a lot younger so get yourself there. I really must keep an eye on the threads, get off my lazy backside and come again some time.
Jan 2nd 2011, 2:42 pm
#15
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
Posts: 1,119
Re: 10 Months in Sidney
