Is Australia to boring?
 

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Interesting this one, particularly the comments at the bottom: lots of people criticising Australia - interesting that some people are saying exactly which some people say Australians never do....and how familiar they all sound..

My thoughts on the angst seen:

i) Many of these are young - and it is inevitable they will criticise their home country - I remember thinking the same when I was a teen. There is a tendency for people to redefine boring as they get older. (Personally I think that in a place like Sydney or Melbourne you can choose how to live and you will find your niche/own level - obviously if you want to join x institution or do y then you might limit yourself but this is not Australia's fault).
ii) Many of them lament Australians as being loud and bogan - but so are many of their peers in similar cultures - nothing new. These sentiments could be of people anywhere.
iii) Many recognise the fact that whilst Australia is a vast place, the landscape does not change as much as it does in Europe.
iv) The Australian tourist industry is attacked. I believe it is set up like it is and geared for a purpose - to give people from parts of the world a specific experience which it is good at, but needs an overhaul.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

"Is Australia to boring"

If you don't get off your a**

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

My mother used to say 'only boring people get bored'. Used to piss me off no end because I defy anyone with no possessions, dumped in the middle of nowhere, not to get bored.

Australia isn't boring though, well not for us. Can't speak for others.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

This is an interesting one. TBH very few places on Earth are "all that." Every country has its negatives. I remember my last trip around Europe a few years ago... it was cold, crowded and there was not much on offer that you can't get in Australia. (except old buildings, and to be honest once you have seen an old church, well you know the rest) My husband and I thought how overated it was. Asia is nice for a one week or two week holiday, but that is not "real life" and would you want to be born there? 99.9 per cent of Asians do not get to travel overseas. Aussies, like Brits, get up and go like a rite of passage... but don't realise how lucky they are. That said, there is problem amongst the Y gen here regarding disrespectful behaviour and alcoholism, and generally a lack of class. But hey this is pretty bad in the UK also. Service in Perth is atrocious, and that needs to change pronto. The comments on that page just sounded like a bunch of whingers but wanting a country to be better is a good thing.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Cheaper flights, more money and more time: people are choosing to holiday abroad. Who'd have thunk? You don't see that in any other country!


But wait! According to many experts on here, Aussies never leave the country. So how come the report says 30% have been abroad? That can't be right! :tongue-in-cheek:

Also, again, many experts on here tell me that the UK is more interesting than Aus because you are able to leave the country easily and visit another country. But with Aus it's the other way around??? Oh now that is confusing! :tongue-still-firmly-in-cheek:


:lol:

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Yeh I agree, Florence is horrible (such awful architecture).

Why would you want that when you can live in Perth. Same can be said of Barcelona (yuck) give me the delights of Brisbane everyday of the week.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Suppose it depends what you want out of life. Australia is definately geared for people with kids. If you are a young (ish) professional couple without kids, after a while I can see why people get bored.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Agree.
People in the UK holiday in Spain and France
People in America holiday in Mexico and the Caribbean
People in Australia holiday in Thailand and Bali

Where's the problem with this? Why is this even worthy of a thread?

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Well, you replied to it?

For the record it's cheaper to go to Thailand from the UK than it is from Australia.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Not true at all, You can get to Thailand for £150 from Australia these days.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

From where and with who?

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Air Asia from Melbourne.

But alternatively Jetstar, Malaysian and Thai have all recently had fares around the $700 mark, which would be around £350 and that is close to the cheapest in the UK too.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Fair enough not much difference.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

When I first came to Perth I must admit that I fell into the 'Perth is boring' category. After coming from south London it was a bit of a culture shock, to see so little 'culture' I guess.

I'm a little better now, and realise that Perth has a fairly good live music scene (which I enjoy thoroughly), and there are things out there to do.

In saying that though, I do still miss the history and culture of the UK. But a big downer for me is simply how far Perth is from anywhere in terms of going away for hols. I really don't think people appreciate how amazing it is to have Europe on your doorstep when in the UK. Having so many different cultures within a few hours cheap flight away is fantastic, and something I miss hugely.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

The natural landscape of Australia is far from boring, but once you've seen one Australian city you've seen them all, once you've seen one Australian country town you've seen them all, once you've seen one Australian sea side resort you've seen them all.

The problem, if there is one, is that Australia doesn't have very many people, and they all pretty much the same. There's no variation in culture. There's more cultural change between Sunderland and Newcastle 30 miles up the road than there is between Perth and Brisbane.

Unless you count the aboriginal Australians, whom most Australians seem to ignore.

It's not their fault, of course, the country (politically speaking) is only 200 years old.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

For the record you're wrong.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

certainly not boring. I've had a great time. spent some time on the east coast and met tons of great people. also spent a few day in Darwin. There is something for everyone here. you just got to travel around and find it. I'm in western oz now and actually prefer this side. I like space and western oz certainly has it.

I think you can be bored if you want to be bored but I've been having such a great time so far. Heading to Perth today. Broome is really nice but a little too small townish for me. I think Perth might just be Perthfect. :)

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Yup that's the point I'm making I guess.

But I certainly don't hold with people who say there's no social activity in Perth etc. It's most certainly there if you bother going to look for it.

The only area where it may fall down is theatre.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

For the record, you basically proved there wasn't much difference.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Absolutely! I mean who would want that yucky Italian pasta or Spanish tapas :thumbdown:when you can go to Hungry Jacks?

And I personaly think that concrete bungalows with a tin roof are splendid!

Who needs lush green meadows, or olive groves when you have brown desert?

Come on people! Put on some Cold chisel and crack open a tinny!.....

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Nice to see someone gets my humour!

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

It wasn't lost on me...

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Just makes me laugh when people say things like "once you seen one church you've seen them all" I think Europe is slighty more diverse than that.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Just been in woolworth, broke free from the usual check out banter, how are you/good/how are you:blink:............ and engaged in a conversation with people doing a trip around OZ. Said I had done most of that and would like to do another trip around USA, :eek: check out chick looked at me like I had 2heads skin and says why on earth would you want to do that, whats there you cant get here:lol:

I restrained from answering:lol:

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

And if you'd gone to the next checkout the conversation could have gone completely the other way. I know people who have never left the UK, South Africa, USA.

You get this kind of attitude everywhere.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

But then you have Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand etc which are only several hours away and it would take a lifetime to explore just those countries in detail.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

So why not move there, why waste all the time and money involved in coming to Australia when you have a passport that automatically gives you the right to live in any of these fantastic European countries? What's the point in living in Australia if you are bitter or don't like it. I certainly couldn't do that.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

I think this is the main point of a lot of what is posted on BE. So many people unhappy/pissed off with life/conditions in Australia yet still continuing to live here.

It's a bizarre situation. I could never live in a place where I was unhappy.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Lets be fair, they're more than just 'several' hours away. Singapore is around 5 hours, Thailand more than that. They're not exactly places you can pop to for a weekend without having a fair bit of travelling.

A couple of months ago we went to Singapore for a few days. Flying out Thur night and coming back Sunday. Now I love Singapore, but the amount of time you are flying (around 11 or 12 hours) simply defeats the purpose of going. Getting to various countries in Europe is a lot quicker, you can get pretty much anywhere in under 4 hours.

As I say, that's the one 'real' thing that I don't really enjoy about living in Perth/Australia.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Some people don't have the option to just move out of Australia, it isn't that simple.

I certainly don't. The only reason I moved to Perth was for my wife, so she could be closer to her family. I am however trying to make the best of it. That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to voice things that I don't like about being here.

What I find bizarre is people who imply that they are totally happy with living somewhere, and can find absolutely no fault at all. I just find that slightly unrealistic.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

I can relate to a lot of the sentiments in the article and a lot of the comments. I've been back in Australia for 18 months after about 10 years overseas and I'm finding it fairly boring. Travel/culture is my main issue - it is really expensive to travel within Australia and time consuming travelling overseas.

I have some English friends here and they are all shocked at me saying that I may return to the UK but I remind them that they have only been here 5 minutes whilst I have done over 20 years here and ofcourse everything is great (beach & weather) for awhile........

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Who's bitter?

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

I agree, if people are so happy surely they wouldn't care if someone thought it was boring.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

It comes across sometimes in various posts.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

From whom?

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

thanks for your views as a local
I did not mean this thread to be a slanging match on is it or isnt it boring but was just trying to show what many locals feel, i think many replying to this thread did not read the link, it was posted on an aussie site with comments by australians, and i was just trying to show that many locals especialy younger ones dont think that Australia is some kind of utopia on earth unlike many new migrants or people wanting to migrate.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Not engaging your main point but not sure I agree with your example. :) Perth and Brisbane have totally different geography, weather, government, location, history etc so while they are still homogeneous, it makes for more cultural difference than Newcastle v Sunderland 30 miles up the road (though I'm sure they would beg to differ). Of course it all depends how you wish to define cultural difference.

I think the range of people and places in oz is still great despite the similarities in the city people due to developing during the era of modern communications - many people don't see the differences though as they limit themselves to the same type of places because they want to be comfortable, familiar, don't have the time, money or even know about the other places that exist.

Country victoria is very different from country qld vs country wa vs north qld vs northern territory vs tasmania vs torres strait vs northern wa - and the people are too.

There is so much of the sameness that sometimes people forget that difference exists as well - it is just further away which is the problem.

Cooktown is different to Noosa is different to St Kilda and Darwin and monkey mia vs western tassie vs norfolk island vs fraser etc

The people in the UK have had a long history of difference which has been often removed by living in a modern era so physically close to each other - in Australia we have had a short history of sameness in the cities but will foster difference in the people and places far longer than the UK into the future because of the totally different natural environments, the differing personalities needed to live in them and the huge distances involved.

So both have something to offer in my book.

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

As for it being cheap to fly to asia its not in the vast majority of cases, Bali wich is right on our doorstop can regulary cost the same amount as flying from europe if you try and fly at peak periods, miss the deals and fly on a scheduled flight and not low cost without luggage although this year has seen the best prices ever..

Re: Is Australia to boring?
 

Fair point....though as an aside I think you would find a thread like that even in utopia itself....we are all born to whinge, especially it seems young males sitting in front of their computer :)