Vim Fuego

Especially if posts that are only trying to inject a bit of balance are knocked-back because they don't reinforce the original poster's point of view.

As Polly rightly pointed out there, no forum should be immune from free speech and the right to reply to obviously deluded or misguided opinions.

gobbyjock

As a responsible dog owner I find that despite there being plenty of doggy bags provided in parks & beaches some people still don`t clean up, why on earth would any expat move to Australia , purely so their dog could crap everywhere - has the skills in demand list really changed that much??

NedKelly

I wasn't suggesting for one minute that people would come over here purely so their dog could crap everywhere. That's plain stupid.

gobbyjock

I see Im not the only sarcastic one here.

moneypenny20

Get to the end of the queue hon

NedKelly

I think that forum should have a health warning:

"Those that enter here abandon all hope"

on a mission

you know talking off going off topic, dogs crapping in Parks, is definatley a british issue and problem, .....

just found this funny, of how we have started to talk about this, maybe this should be moved to MBTTUK forum, but mind you the suicide rate may rise, as Im sure thos guys loitering in that dont believe dogs crap, and it smell of strawberries.

gillysm

I think you make a valid point, as already said, and I am often amused by some of the threads/posts on here. However, we are all different and sometimes homesickness can make us say or feel things that are a little irrational and when we don't feel so down we change our minds! You may understand that a bit better once you get here),

In answer to your question - we completely changed our lives when we moved over here, have completely inegrated and are very happy. We have Aussie, South African and Austrian and British friends. However I have only recently found BE and although I don't NEED it, I really enjoy reading some of the posts and also - hopefully - helping people. I have lived in Oz for nearly 11 years and will be going to my first BE meet soon where I hope to make new friends as I have found that my pommie friends are extremely important to me. We share something that no-one else can, but I don't live in a "Little Britain".

Gill

Nu-Shooz

Perth gets called 'little Britain', but only because there are lots of English here.
But the culture is still very Aussie, not British at all. Which is a good thing for some people.
I didn't come here hoping for the same, but that doesn't mean i miss it.

Wol

Having worked in Australia for a total of a year or thereabouts, visited the place - most of the capital cities - several dozen times and vacationed here several times I thought I was well prepared fo immigration.

I was not: the reality of actually *living* permanently was, I found, completely different. The rose tinted specs were truly stripped away.

Integrating? well, *all* my friends are Australian: none English (Unless you count those who came out on their £10 tickets an age ago).

We all make of a country what we will: just because we may see big defects and deficiencies doesn't mean that we are unhappy with our decision, it means that we are realistic. If anyone comes here thinking that there's a pot of gold at the rainbow's end just waiting to be snatched up they are living in a fool's paradise.

Timber Floor Au

How true is that !!!

further..

ask any 10 pound pom, if they miss the uk, and the majority in my experience, do not.

Doesnt mean its an easy life, at times quite the contrary, but like everything in life, work hard at it, work thru issues, and take everything one day at a time... and your half way there

BadgeIsBack

I actually posted my reply then got called away during it so didn't have the time to frame it properly.

The original points of assimilation (made by the OP) is key and that was the part I wanted to concentrate on. I'm convinced our success is down to integrating in the community, and even more importantly, the fact a community existed in the first place. I'm not sure whether we would have wavered by now if we had been elsewhere. I believe strongly that mixing with only Brits is not likely to help much in the long term.

About the tips on this site - take it or leave them! There are many people who live to regret such comments - it can be saddening to watch people change their minds over a period of months. And Jad does hit the nail on the head - about some topics are hot debates for all - an election is coming and is now just around the corner.

Weirdstone

Sorry, but why would anyone pay out thousands of $$$ to come here, and expect/want anything similar to the UK ??

I couldn't wait to get out - and if I had found it was like the UK...then I'd be heading somewhere else.

As it is ...Melbourne is very multi-cultural, and so has influences from various countries, but essentially it is very different culturally from the UK ....as you would expect.
It is up the the Expat to go out, make friends, fit in at work, find an alternative if you can't buy what you 'usually do' etc - and certainly not expect it to be handed out on a plate.

GaryKristensen

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

I didn't mean to offend anyone, but having re-read my second post, it does come across as slightly aggressive, so for that I apologise. In my defence, it was late and I have man flu!!! Lack of sleep in the last 3 days has done my (tiny) brain in obviously.

The original post was a serious question as to why people move to Oz and how they expect to live once they get there as I am genuinely interested. I was genuinely hoping for a different attitude to the Sapnish expats, which I believe has been the case from the answers given.

I've no intention of not helping to give back information to those who ask questions, but we tend to PM people rather than engage on the forum publicly because often innocent meaning comments can be taken out of context. I just said I would not be posting, which I mean't publicly of course! If my wife decides to, then I won't stop her, she does what she wants.

The post someone makes about waiting until we get out there is very, very good and very, very true. No-one has any idea how they'll cope until they are there and doing it. We know that better than most as we've lived a nomadic lifestyle with me being in the Forces for 22 years, moving on average every 3!!! Belize, Northern Ireland, Germany, UK SW, SE and various other places!

The fact is, I don't want anyone to fail in their move to establish a new and (hopefully) better life, it would be great if everyone succeeded.

Good luck and stay happy, focussed and determined.

bridie