Chef69

This one is directed at the people who have been in AUS for a few years now.



We were wondering, for those who have been in AUS for a while now, do you have the same lifestyle now that you did when you first arrived. Our family expects to have a much more active lifestyle when we get there to make the most of the better weather (we are moving to Perth). But does the novelty ware off or do you go back to a similar lifestyle you had in the UK? My husband (click 69) reckons we will get tired of the sun within a few months whereas I think it will fundamentally change the way we spend our leisure time. What are your thoughts?

HUP

Our lifestyle has changed in some ways and not in others. We both work all week etc and we have to deal with the mundane just as we did in the UK.

Making the most of your new life is really a matter of getting up off your ass and doing something. This weekend we speant Saturday gardening but on Sunday we went to Phillip Island for the day and we speant the day in the sea.

Its not such a major change, but we do have more options at the weekend. Also in the summer I can get home from work and jump in the pool with the kids which we could not do in the UK.

As I said your lifestyle will be what you make of it but one thing to bear in mind for a lot of people is that they won't have the family support network that they had in the UK which may effect there social existence beyond the children. Also the beach is great but you will become descencitized to it.

janeyray

Our lifestyle changed it a few ways. I wasn't working so found being at home very boring during the day.

We did get out more, to the beach at weekends but for us the novelty did wear off slightly as no doubt it does, same with having a pool in your back garden we used ours mainly for cooling off when tempretures got to unbearable boiling points!!

Even the sun became irritating during the summer, we longed for the rain and no not due to homesickness but just to have something change in the daily routine and water our dying garden!

We did eat out more at weekends, in the Swan Valley (lovely part of Perth, probably the best bit) and visited a good pub where they had 'a' swing and a lawn for playing cricket which made it our local as we were able to take our daughter and it was the closest thing to a pub that we know.

We spent a lot of time outdoors during spring, siteseeing but I imagine that as time passes, as with anywhere you settle down to a more mundane lifestyle if thats what you are use to. I don't think living in Australia can 'make' a person become more althletic and into sports if you never have been. We enjoyed going to the outdoor pool complex at Morley (great waves there for the kids!) and hubby took up scub diving/snorkling.

NickyC

I've been here for 25 years and the novelty still hasn't worn off. I never get tired of the sun and use the beach just as frequently now as I did back when I arrived. The brilliant blue Sydney skies that you get here in the summer are wonderful and never fail to make me happy to be alive.

The part of Sydney I'm in never gets that hot in the summer and winters are lovely - sunny and mild. I'm lucky enough to live only a couple of blocks from the beach so can make the most of it.

Don't know that I'd feel the same if I lived in Queensland or inland. Maybe the sun would get a bit much after a while.

jayr

My lifestyle has changed, we go out to places more - probably desire to explore the 'new' in SE QLD. Mind if back inthe UK, I would do the same now, go and see all the stuff that I didn't when on the doorstep. Similarly, I think we have seen more of SE QLD than our Brisbanite friends. IMHO, summer is the time for visiting the beach, (and there are loads within 1.5hrs of Brisbane) and the rest of the year for visiting the hinterland (non coastal bits).

Just the other week, for the first time in 2 years, finally drove over the border into NSW and went to Byron Bay for the day - 6 hours driving all in and about 5 hrs in Byron - but worth it.

I also drink more beer, socialise, eat snags and swim more than I did in the UK.

Mandy Bale

I agree totally, we've been here nearly 3 years and never get fed up with the Sydney sun. I don't really go to the beach much as I have never been a 'beach' person, I go about once every couple of months. I spend a lot of time outside, I even work outside, and never get sick of it. we now live on acreage, which would not have been possible in the UK, and I have two horses which I can ride mostly every day as the weather allows, apart from the occasional really hot summers day. There just seems more to do here, I guess that's because the weather allows more options of things to do. It's like being stuck in English summer without the rain, although we get some wicked thunderstorms here!!! There are days though, where it is too hot to do anything and you end up indoors with the aircon on, but not too many days like that, but I guess that could be the case up in Brisbane or more inland. But like someone said, lifestyle is what you make it.

Badge

My life has changed alot.

I have gone from a 1 bed flat in gritty S London to a home on 1 acre in an established
village.

As HUP, says, you still have to get off your milky white bottom.
I run along our road to the MilkBar and back when I can. Mowing the lawn is good for exercise, as
is training with hoses with the CFA.

I still work 9-5.

Badge

bondipom

If you are not inclined to be active in the UK summer then I doubt Australia will make a difference to you. I am physically more active here and the relatively cooler summer this year has made it easier. I've taken up surfing but stopped cycling. Cycling in Sydney is for kamikazes. I live 5 mins walk from the beach so I sometimes go after work for a swim. I used to go to the local pool in Woking although that was always followed with a couple of beers.

The sunnier weather is great but at its worst heat can be tiring and detrimental to doing anything.

If you are an outdoors sporty type then there is a lot of opportunity for you.

Sandra

For us the settling down is really happening now. The first two years have been a flurry of visitors, ups and down of homesickness, trips back to the UK and long business trips for me. Moving rental houses and then buying our own. I did not change my job as I was lucky to get a transfer in mine and as I really love it. My husband changed jobs for a couple of years but is now back in the print industry. The mundane happens really quickly in other ways as without the family network and friends we had to get children organised and supported very quickly, so we possibly did not take time to look around and travel which while I do not really regret jumping into work straight away (obviously the money and security are important) we should have taken some time off and enjoyed ourselves a little more.

We are now making sure we spend more time on family trips and seeing a little more what there is out there.

As far as enjoying the day to day sunshine and activities - I have my first tan in 2.8 yrs here as we went on holiday with our last family visitors, it did become a pain having everyone here and showing them the same sites each time so we met up on the Gold Coast before Christmas and also did another trip to Newcastle and the Hunter Valley before the new year.

I do think about being in the sun too much especially with the kids and slip slop slap is a must. Nothing to do with being in Aus (as it likely happened before coming here but my husband has just had a maligant melanoma removed) therefore as with any sun care but also balanced with skin type we have to keep a check on the kids and hubby.

My 14 yr old has had a week of surf lessons this holiday and is well impressed. He was very active in the UK with rollar blading and still does all that here. lWe have a pool and use it about 4 months of the year, the rest it gets treated and looked after, which can be a bit of bind. We are considering solar heating to hopefully use it a bit longer. We try and go to the beach or do something each weekend and we have now been camping a couple of time but we did all that in the UK anyway.

In case I sound negative because the UK family have now all been on a first visit we now have a bit more time to ourselves and we enjoy being a family together - we have been to the dog pound and got ourselves another family member, something we might not have done in the UK because we always seemed so busy! I also think this is a sign of my commitment to stay at least until the children finish their education. But I doubt if we would return to where we lived in the UK. After managing all this once I believe we have gained an awful lot and that this challenge and experience will get better - even to the point of maybe travelling some more!

So in summary - we did not come for a lifestyle change as such as we liked the one we had in the UK, we came for the challenge and opportunity to know something different and we are now going to make sure we keep doing that and enjoy it.

DianeOZ

We have always made an effort to do things at the weekend, even in the UK - weather permitting. We have a pool here so the kids get full benefit from that, we go to the beach and socialise much more. Nothing major but enough to make a difference.

Chef69

Thanks everyone for your really helpful comments. We are fairly active during the summer (weather permitting) it just seems that the winter weather makes it impossible to do anything outdoors.

On balance I think your comments prove that I was right and hubby was wrong (although that was not the point of the excercise 'honest') it easier to be more active in Aus and not just for the first few months.

mlbonner

Agree with this totally, my main change is WHERE I do my exercise now. Whereas at home I used to go the gym six times a week, only really venturing outdoors for the odd run/race. Here, while I still go to the gym during the week, I'll often finish a session with a swim in the outdoor pool. I play touch footy once a week and am a member of the Brisbane Running Club. Its my weekends that have the biggest change though; last weekend (and this is nothing extraordinary) for me went like this; 11km run Sat morning along Brisbane river, Expats BBQ, camping up at Somerset Dam - Sunday, up and out on the dam at 7am, all day waterskiing/swimming/tubing Paying for it today though!!

Badge

wow!!

mlbonner

Life's what ya make it hey..... but dammit my arms and legs hurt today

Badge

Fair dinkum.

I've just posted on another thread, that its not what you eat, its the exercise you do..

If you've enough time to watch TV, you have enough time to exercise. And you will feel better for it. If you have kids, alternate on a schedule. Over time you will love it.

BM