Originally Posted by northerner

Amen to THAT brother! K sent!

Graham

Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede

I think this post really hits the nail on the head. The fact that arkon has criticised Canada in the same way he has criticised Australia, speaks volumes about his true motivation. If Canada is rubbish for the same reasons that Australia is rubbish, then the whole issue has very little (if anything) to do with the characteristics of the country in which arkon finds himself, and everything to do with his personal worldview.

I don't think arkon would be unhappy no matter where he lived; I simply think he would be unhappy living anywhere outside the UK.

In my personal opinion, arkon is a homebody. He needs the comforts of a regular routine in familiar surroundings, with everything just as it has been for years. He has a very low tolerance for anything outside his comfort zone.

All his comments about how rubbish Australia (allegedly) is; his extraordinary anecdotes which leave other ex-pats scratching their heads at arkon's relentless stream of unique experiences; his seemingly supernatural levels of incredibly bad luck; his unsubstantiated claims about the allegedly poor quality of Australian schools whose names are mysteriously never mentioned...

All of this this has very little to do with Australia and everything to do with the fact that arkon simply wants to be back home in the UK, where life makes sense to him and the surroundings are comfortably familiar.

There's nothing wrong with this, provided that it doesn't descend into bigotry and xenophobia. For some people, it's a worryingly fine distinction.

I felt exactly the same way after my "honeymoon period" in the UK had worn off. My list of "Things that REALLY bloody bug me about the bloody UK" was a mile long. I began to convince myself that I hated the place, when in fact I merely hated my circumstances and my (temporary) sense of isolation.

It felt very strange, but in fact it was perfectly natural; it was culture shock.

In time, I got over it - and I got over myself.

Life settled down, and so did I. I found myself a permanent job, married a wonderful English woman, had an amazing honeymoon in the Irish Republic, got my head down, worked hard, dropped my old job, found a better one, worked hard, received a promotion to middle management... and here I am, feeling on top of the world.

Some people enjoy living in a different country and embrace all that it has to offer - even if they struggle a bit at the start. For others, it just doesn't click and never will; but they wouldn't have known unless they'd given it a go.

I believe that arkon falls into the latter category.

Fair play to him for giving it a go... even if he had to slag off every aspect of the entire country in the process.

Originally Posted by The Crow

Excellent response - saves me trying something similar.

I think the problem also lies with the fact that sometimes his (mostly amusing) posts come over as a generalisation of Oz as a whole - not the fact that he is in semi-rural NSW owing his own farm (probably not the same situation as the majority of us Expats).

I'm not saying Oz is perfect - as it isn't and not everything is cheap. At the end of the day you need to weigh up what suits you best - I'll be weighing that up after a couple of years! If after that we are still happy, settled, have a good standard of living (not based soley on material wealth) then that's great. If not, I still wouldn't be convinced that the UK is the answer....

Originally Posted by The Crow

Owing his own farm (probably not the same situation as the majority of us Expats).

Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede

I felt exactly the same way after my "honeymoon period" in the UK had worn off. My list of "Things that REALLY bloody bug me about the bloody UK" was a mile long. I began to convince myself that I hated the place, when in fact I merely hated my circumstances and my (temporary) sense of isolation.

It felt very strange, but in fact it was perfectly natural; it was culture shock.

In time, I got over it - and I got over myself.

Originally Posted by northerner

Indeed. There's a reason for everything and although someone will no doubt say that Australia should just bloody well import them to bring costs down (which I happen to agree with) I think there's far more important things to worry about so let's just have a big group hug

Graham

Originally Posted by Toppa

Now the price of bananas in sydney is $14 a kilo and in auckland $89 cents a kilo.
I don't agree that arkon has a poor attitude. I do though think he might focus a bit too much on the negative aspects as he no doubt feels these strongly. I am sure he knows what feels "right" for him and therefore what makes him happier. It's all about comparisons, and all of us make them.

Originally Posted by arkon

How should the thread have gone? Well exactly how it did go. I have just come back from blighty and this particular aspect was still very fresh in my head and with receipts to prove it. Most of the posters responded like adults to it but the usual bunch decided that whatever I post whether true or not needed to be derided. This to me says more about them than me. Fruit is dearer here than home fact, disproportionately so IMO. It’s not one of my reasons to return as I couldn’t really give a toss. My point I was trying to make was how can a country that grows all this stuff by the shed load get away with ripping everyone off?

Originally Posted by sion

I just cannot understand all these discussions on fruit especially bananas,
i wish that was all i had to worry about.
i live in the uk where i struggle to pay all the important bills eg mortgage, council tax , petrol etc and when i have finished paying them I have to sit at home with the wife and kids looking out of the window watching the rain fall.

in the winter a wake up in the dark and go home in the dark the kids watch to much TV as there is not much you can do when its pissing it down.

i know I have never been to Australia and they say the grass is greener and all that stuff but i for one am going to give it a damn good go.

I dont even like bloody bananas,

Oh well rant over maybe in a few years time I will be eating my own words.

but at least I would have tried

Originally Posted by mary1

Ever heard of CYCLONE LARRY -category 5 -wiped out almost whole of banana /fruit crops in QLD!

Originally Posted by northerner

Indeed. There's a reason for everything and although someone will no doubt say that Australia should just bloody well import them to bring costs down (which I happen to agree with) I think there's far more important things to worry about so let's just have a big group hug

Graham

Originally Posted by Ozzidoc

I see that here in the UK a lot of fruit (and veg) is imported from countries where the wages and costs of production are wayyyyyyy lower....

Is this the same in Oz? I imagine that due to the climate, probably less so. Also, are protectionism mechanisms (import tariffs) still in place? I imagine that they are gone?

Has the cost of chicken been mentioned anywhere? I always think that it's amazing that UK supermarkets pay one pence for a whole chicken from South America (un/processed? no idea) yet sell them for a mark-up of a gazillian. Dont know if Oz does the same.

Originally Posted by Ozzidoc

I've not read all of the replies, so this may have been raised already....

I see that here in the UK a lot of fruit (and veg) is imported from countries where the wages and costs of production are wayyyyyyy lower....

Is this the same in Oz? I imagine that due to the climate, probably less so. Also, are protectionism mechanisms (import tariffs) still in place? I imagine that they are gone?

Has the cost of chicken been mentioned anywhere? I always think that it's amazing that UK supermarkets pay one pence for a whole chicken from South America (un/processed? no idea) yet sell them for a mark-up of a gazillian. Dont know if Oz does the same.

Secondly, have you considered renting your home out to film companies?

Originally Posted by arkon

I just wish I had come on a big 6 month holiday first then things might have been different. We have come to realise that most of the reasons we had to move here were in reality all groundless. The biggest pull for us at the time was the idea of a more laid back lifestyle, unfortunately this very thing that we found so appealing turns out to be the biggest negative here for us, all just so frustrating if you are on the receiving end of the laid back attitude, to which read more a don’t give a shit attitude.

Also we now realise we could have made for ourselves a more laid back lifestyle in the UK, there was nothing to stop us getting off the rat race a bit, we didn’t have to have the fancy cars and fancy house and no one actually made us work our nuts off, it was all self inflicted and Oz just replaced a set of unreal problems with some very big real ones instead. Oh for the benefit of hindsight….

Originally Posted by Larry Cammilleri

If I may ask with out causing offense:


2. Do you not eat the produce of your land?