MeganEkno

If people come to any country to live thinking it will be perfect then they are naive. What country in this day and age is? The answer is none.
For everyone coming or those of you that are here and continue to be disappointed read and take notes:
Each State or Territory is different. Some have all the seasons so naturally get cold (winter, summer, autumn, spring). Some just have two, the Dry and the Wet. Research the area you are moving to. You cannot expect it not to ever rain. We all need water.
Our economy is not as strong as the UK. We survive. If you cannot and wish to make your fortune then do not come. You can be "rich" in Australia but only in Australian Dollars. This is a fact.
We have crime. Just like everywhere else in the World. Some places you will experience it, others you will not. Just like in England do some research. Don't buy in a State or a suburb before you have seen it and lived it.
Our schooling and health care systems vary. Transport system can be terrible. You will experience this anywhere in the World. It depends again where you are. Your experiences may be better or worse than at home.
Since living in England I have realised Australia is the best place in the world for me to live. I am sure than most people who move from the UK will move to Oz and think the UK is the best. Most people become much more patriotic when they have lived away for a while.
However don't dismiss the country you live in. Try and enjoy what you have. Live the lifestyle, enjoy it while you can. You won't be there for ever, or need not be there forever, so make the most of it.

chippy

Please explain why/how you have 'realised' this.

BlackBlack

I wholeheartedly agree, if you haven't lived in EVERY country in the world and can only base your opion on the UK (or Australia) then that is too shallow an opinion to share. There are good and bad points to both countries, that's life. If you don't like one, try the other, if you don't like that one, then sod off back to the one you came from if you prefer it - or try somewhere new. Hey, there are hundreds - thousands of countries out there, don't sit here wasting time slagging off Australia or England you said bastards, get out there and find somewhere you like!

MeganEkno

I married someone from the UK. I moved here because that was the way we were headed. I stil reside in the UK. I have made friends (all of whom are English), I love the house I have purchased.

However, at home I find it (in my opinion) much more relaxed, laid back and the pace slower. That is what "I" like. Not what everyone likes. I enjoy space between my neighbours and me. I love Melbourne over London.

One day I will move back. While here, I will make a point of not moaning about everything that isn't "as good as it is in Australia". I am not in Australia. I am here. I will enjoy my time here. If I complain, it will not be "the transport in this country is sh*t", it will be "the tube ran a sh*t service today" because quite frankly, it would be impossilbe to say that the MET in Melbourne ran a perfect service every day.

BlackBlack

MeganEkno - you are well within your rights to say that the tube service in this country is sh*t - IT IS! anyone that pays a ticket to ride on this out of date crap is well within their rights to claim it is sh*t - no matter where you were born! Martians would claim our public transport is crap, not a problem! I have yet to experience the pleasures of the Melbourne public transport system but when I do - no doubt I will be commenting on it here!

Don

Wise words, indeed. You get the Forum's Big Hat of Substance - but only for today.

chippy

Fair enough.

Sounds like you are a little bit home sick.

chippy

Perhaps you don't realise this Black, but you can't just 'live' in any country you feel like, not legally anyway.

BTW, whats a 'said bastard' apart from one that can't spell.

BlackBlack

A 'said bastard' Chippy is typed by someone that has been in the pub all afternoon because they have something better to do than try and impose their views on anyone else.

I'm sorry if I have offended you with my wrongly typed comments. I will change them to please you.

I am fully aware that you cannot just go and live in any country that you choose as it is illegal. So further to my previous comments, I'm sorry but there are merely just HUNDREDS (not thousdands) of countries that you can live in and try out.

Suit you any better Chippy???? Have a lovely weekend

MeganEkno

I am not home sick at all. Perhaps I am one of the few who can adapt to their current environment. I just think that when the time comes to go home, I will know. Hopefully before I start sounding like some of the bitter and twisted people on this particular site.

chippy

I accept your humble apology. (this time)

chippy

Good luck to you.

I think if you look a bit deeper you will find that a lot of the
so-called bitterness is humour based, and therefore not really bitter at all.

Don

Hmmn. Pot - kettle - black (mean anything to you?) Those things you posted about 3 of the posters here were nasty. If you deleted your own post, fine. (Aide memoire: prune, afterbirth - ring any bells?)

Simone

I think this is a very good post. I agree. Except I can't talk about the UK.
Every country has good an bad points.
I'm not migrating because I think Australia is better than the Netherlands. I am migrating there because I think a change of scenery would be nice, and a bit of an adventure. I chose Australia because I've been there before (I'm not that adventurous!!), liked it, and still have some friends there.

I think Australia has good points like space (between houses, towns) and the nature. And the weather.
But these can also be bad points. Like sweltering heat!
Good points about The Netherlands are for example that there's more cultural stuff (theaters, concerts, old towns) and that everything is closer together (notice how this contradicts my previous point about Australian space) And you have snow in the winter. But the cold isn't nice, and the slipperyness isn't either!

You can't visit heaps of countries, and I wouldn't want to. I'm gonna just chose out of the ones I've lived in and pick the best. Maybe. Or I won't pick, I'll just move between. And even if I think after a while that Oz is the better country, it doesn't mean I'll live there for the rest of my life, because I might want to be near my parents when I have their grankids! I'll just have to compromise! And as if I'll find a prefect country anyway. It's a ridiculous thought. And everyone likes different things, so the discussions about which country is better on this site are truly ridiculous. Of course they are good for showing good and bad points, but nobody can ever say which is better because it depends how and by whom it is judged!

And what Maganekno said about being 'patriotic' I agree with too. I'm quite sure that when I'll be in Australia I'll miss rain (in the summer) and short distances (10 mins to the next town) and snow, and nice autums with falling leaves sometimes. But if this is just sometimes it doesn't matter. I think it's very natural!
And if it does take over, we'll just come back. Of course this is easy for me to say when I don't have kids etc, but my parents also came back after 9 years, and this hasn't affected us kids in anyway negative (except that I now wanna go!) I just see it as a great experience that I have lived in WA for 9 years. In WA we also moved a few times, so I've experienced Perth, the Kimberleys, the Pilbara and the South West.

Well, I have no idea how I will really find Australia as a grown up working person, but I'll just see. No amount of internet researching will truly prepare us, but it will help.
And that's why we're saying, we're going for a minimal of 2 years, then we'll see.
How can we make a definite decision without really experiencing it??????????

Well, good luck to you all!



(wonder who's read this huge post? I would like to know what everyone thinks about this?)

SteveBannister

I don't think anyboby on this website thinks that Australia is paradise. But we obviously think that it has something better to offer otherwise we wouldn't be spending all this money and time on it. From first thinking about it to going, will take us about 4 years from start to finish and a hell of a lot of research is being done in that time, I can tell you.

The idiots who think that we are chasing a dream, haven't got the brain cells to think that maybe we're feed up of the nightmare.