northernbird

I would say it wouldn't be worth sticking it out. The things that irritate you are not going away and from your post you are not likely to start tolerating them all of a sudden. Make a decision, stick with it and move on. You will be so much happier when you do.

moneypenny20

Maybe it depends on what you expected or what you're measuring your experiences against. I'm on the GC and can honestly say I don't recognise one single thing you mention. But obviously just because we love it, doesn't mean that other people will feel the same.

Life is too short to be living somewhere you apparently hate so much. It's just not worth it.

Ozzy dog

Still angry then.

I will do my best to share my take on this.

I have days when I hated it, so much so that I carried my past port in my handbag - and no I'm not joking.

I have days when I'm so homesick that I think I can't go on and I find everything about Australia irritating and annoying.

I have days when seeing one of my kids have a really positive experience has lifted me, or someone has been really kind. These are the kind of things that have bought balance to my experience.

I'm not wanting to sound glib, but it can all be part of the migration process, its really does take time. In the early years (1 - 2) a few bad experiences can put you right back to the beginning feeling really awful. This is often bought home to me when I meet new-comers who are struggling. I have often thought, gosh I'm glad I'm through that now.

Three years in - its easier but not fantastic.

I really do wish you well, in my experience it has got better, but can be a bit of one step forward and two back.

T x

Peed_Off

Cheers for the reply and your frank post. It sounds quite honest...."Three years in - its easier but not fantastic" ...What are the parts that still get you.

Will you ever feel at home here?

Sheff_Sparky

If you feel that you can stick it out for a while longer I would.

If you feel the same in a years time then try a different state. It takes a long time to feel "at home and settled" anywhere, including the UK.

Only you can decide if an area is right for you and if you will be happy there.

Good luck

aussielot

Bloody hell i thought i get pissed off every now and then but you have taken it to a new level, i do agree with alot you said but i can't help laughing as i wrire this, i take my hat off to you for being honest, you do not seem like the typical stereotype British person, the nation who just smile and wave and mumble whilst walking away.

you have made my day, i think you have said what alot of people think, i would not go into politics if i was you, or maybe politics need a little of what you have who knows

WA is laid back but we do not have the humidity that you have so it may be worth giving it ago.

Good luck

Robbo66

Well i am the plane at the end of the Month been in Oz since 2005, first two in melbourne, and the last year on the Sunshine Coast.
I have lived the dream and i have attempted to settle in to the lifestyle, but its not for me ... really hard sorting out what which way to go .. but is back to blighty for me (warts and all)...
In the end i think you will know which way to go. now where did i pack my brolley

quoll

OP I agree with you wholeheartedly!

The longer you are here the more you realize how shallow things really are here. I have spent half my life here (heavens help me) and still, after all this time, I dont belong and I never really have - not for want of trying either, I have worked most of that time, participated in the community, travelled widely etc, all the things which should make me feel like this is home. I dont think my kids have had any advantages in growing up here - none that stand out from those that my friends' kids in UK have had anyway. One of my sons has gone back to UK for better career opportunities and lifestyle. He isnt talking about coming back any time soon!

If I could go home I would go home tomorrow and never look back - well, perhaps not quite true, I now have a granddaughter here with one son and I would come and visit them. (I am married to an Aussie and he wont go and live in UK with me so I am somewhat stymied)

Whatever you do, dont allow yourself to get "stuck here" . It's a soul-less and thankless place to grow old in.

Vash the Stampede

Very easily.

You can be subjective about the way something makes you feel. But in order to explain why it makes you feel that way, you must deal with the facts.

When you say things like...

...these observations are either factual or not. Even if they only refer to the Australians you've met during your time in SE QLD, they have to be either true or false. You can't stand in front of a red car and say "Well in my subjective experience, this car is blue". Simply adding the word "subjective" doesn't justify your claim.

You allege that most Australians (in your experience) go to bed at 8 o'clock. Speaking as an Australian, that just sounds ridiculous to me. I've never known anyone who goes to bed that early. What time do they get up in the morning? Do they sleep for 12 hours straight? And how would you know what time they go to bed, anyway? Do you visit them to check that they're safely tucked up in bed for the night? Next you'll be telling us what time they all have sex in the evenings.

When I lived in WA, I rarely went to bed before 11, and didn't know anyone who turned in before 10:30. 8 o'clock would have been utterly nonsensical; who would go to bed that early, and why? It's statements like these that make people think you're a troll; they just can't take you seriously when you write things which the average Aussie knows to be patently false.

I appreciate that you haven't enjoyed your time in SE QLD, and that's fair enough; Australia isn't for everyone. Maybe you were in a bad suburb (perhaps you couldn't afford anything better?); maybe you had bad neighbours; maybe the local school did indeed have very poor standards.

But generalising about all Australians (and all Australian facilities) on the basis of your limited experience (one year in one tiny part of a continent five times the size of Western Europe is very limited) doesn't do anyone any favours, least of all yourself.

Having spent more than 4 years in the West Midlands, I could very easily generalise about Poms, as if they're all identical to the shuffling blimps I see every day on the Walsall high street; or the scruffy, foul-mouthed chavs crammed into the tired, tumbledown 1960s tower blocks; or the cocky, ignorant brats who attend the filthy, cramped little schools with the spike-tipped security fencing and facilities stuck in the Victorian era.

But that would be a tremendous disservice to the UK as a whole. One small area does not a nation make, and a handful of locals are not representative of an population.

Yes, there days when I long to be home in Australia, far from this tiny little island, its tiny, cramped little streets, its tiny, shabby little houses, its grubby little high streets, its tiny, sad little clone towns and its ubiquitous crumbling brickwork. I can't wait for January 2009, when I can finally return Down Under. But I have an English wife and other commitments here, so I must stick it out. And despite all its faults, the UK is a very nice place; like anywhere, you just have to know where to look!

Wherever you go in the future, I hope you're happier than you are now - shouldn't be too hard, I imagine!

Peed_Off

Thanks. I think there's no point posting and looking for feedback if people dont have the plain truth in front of them.

I've had a few pm's from people since this thread started saying as much as 'oh, yes, I understand where you are'.

I mentioned that I keep thinking will I ever feel like I belong here? Will I ever feel at home? Will the perceptions I have transform themselves and suddenly I will feel differently?

sunbather

There was your first mistake then.

Peed_Off

thanks for your feedback. I dont expect half of the people to agree with me; but some of the answers here have given me food for though, especially quoll's. Yep, it's not for everyone and yep my experience is limited. However if you ask any Australian visiting the UK, whats it like in Australia, they will only be able to give you the same small geographical experience generally.

Cheers

paddyo

exactly.....as per the International date line, isn't Australia classed as eastern???

chris and farideh

I think its just GC, I totally hate it here, I dont care what anybody say how wonderful it is here, because its not, I found most Queenslanders are just so rude.
The state primary school are rubbish, I was just talking to my next door neighbour an Aussie today, she told me how badly run is the State school in GC, they only provide child minding services here, they dont teach anything useful to your children, so parents can go to work.
She said she would never dream of putting her children to any state primary school on the GC.
I know exactly what she meant we had to take our youngest out as all he did was to watch DVD, & colouring in.
I never had any problem in Adelaide, people were just so nice,
state schools were so good, all the Brits I met were so nice.
Here I get one Brit coming to my house when I first move here, then she totally ignore me after that on BE, how rude is she.
last week I met loads really nice girls, they were so normal I thought I moved State.
Before any of you make any comments why I am out of here, just waiting for
my son finishes his year12 & I'm out of here, not long now.
So to the OP, move to another State, you'll be surprise with how different life could be in another state.
I never thought I could hate a place this much, but I do.

Vash the Stampede

Possibly true, though you will find that Aussies move house more frequently than Poms and often travel interstate; so their experience tends to be wider.

Take me, for example; I've lived in three different states, travelled to four, and moved house more than 18 times in 35 years.

Anyway, I hope you get things sorted. I know what it's like to be miserable in a foreign country, so you have my sympathy.