miz

I moved to Sydney in May 2004 with my husband and two year old child and its been a fantastic learning curve and experience. We both have good jobs, my husband in finance and i work part-time in law in the CBD and rent a semi in North Bondi about 7 minutes to the beach. We've had a second child here, who is australian, our three year old is at pre-school we have met loads of people, and we are living our life. Living in Sydney is fantastic, interesting and beautiful.On all acounts its been a success.

So its been a lucky and easy move compared to some but I do struggle in Australia.

Why? well, look at the previous posts and they sum it up.

But mainly:-

Isolation from the rest of the world
"how are ya" culture - Despite having australian friends,we find most australians superficial and insular.
Inability to engage on a political level
No sense of humour.
You go away for a weekend and you end up by yet another beach -boring
Same issues with healthcare + education
Travel ridiculously expensive.
TV shocking
News - what world news?
Professionals are paid badly
Tall poppy syndrome i.e everyone has to be at the same mediocre level

and mainly, we really miss family and friends. This is not to be underestimated. We have loads of acquaintances, not difficult wiht two kids but nothing compensates for your mates and your family. Its really very far away......

Anyway, we are deciding whether to move back to blighty at the end of the year and resume our life.

Anyone who is emigrating - take off those rose coloured glasses and see australia for what it is. We've had a successful experience but the grass certainly isn't greener

miz

Wol

Ban her!

sasbear

Obviously your experience and viewpoint is personal to you own particular circumstances. I agree with you on maybe 2 or 3 points however, not all of them.

Oz isn't exactly asd I anticipated ( I emigrated here to Canberra without ever having set foot on Oz soil - stupid some people will be shouting now!!) but it is certainly not a disappointment.

I am glad we decided to live in Canberra. It has all the four seasons so similar to UK but not as extreme and still lots of sunshine. No beaches in sight - we travel if we want to go to one. We are mid way between the snowy mountains and the coast - perfect!!

We do miss our friends and family - but to put a point on it - the people we miss are the ones we still keep in touch with - funny how you lose touch in such a short space of time. I found myself making all the effort to remain in contact - but in the end I let it go.

I haven't made that many oz friends - I have made a couple of Pommie mates - but I knew before I came out here (research) that it wasn't going to be like UK. Social life is different here - more informal and no one hardly dresses up ever. Lots of what we in the UK would call 'tacky' restaurants - food excellent but decor shocking!

But my OH and I spend a lot of time doing our hobbies - so our lifestyle has changed in the way that we can enjoy more of an outside lifestyle without the weather getting us down.

I think a good guide for people who are awaiting their visa or at the start of the process is:-
1.look at how you spend your free time now
2. look at how you would spend your time in the UK IF the weather was good
3. If you find that number 1 involves spending a great deal of time with family or friends and the answer to number two is no - then Oz won't really improve your present lifestyle.

Sarah

Wol

>>I think a good guide for people who are awaiting their visa or at the start of the process is:-
1.look at how you spend your free time now
2. look at how you would spend your time in the UK IF the weather was good
3. If you find that number 1 involves spending a great deal of time with family or friends and the answer to number two is no - then Oz won't really improve your present lifestyle.<<

A perceptive post and accurate conclusions.

sasbear

Many thanks - I am a happy pomm abroad - not a perfect lifestyle - but then again it wasn't back in the UK - but one thing is for sure - It is much more laid back and I don't stress half as much as before. In my opinion it is better out here - but then I suppose I am anti-social and keep very few freinds close - and when i get lonely i talk to strange people on BE

kiwichild

[QUOTE=miz]
"how are ya" culture - Despite having australian friends,we find most australians superficial and insular.
Inability to engage on a political level
No sense of humour.

Spot On, couldn't agree more.

Wol

And if you have the odd hour to spend you can try navigating from one Canberra place to another!

(Delete"hour": insert "day" <g>)

gedge

Well done for coming and sticking a post on here. For a first post it might set you up for some criticism, but if you have been reading 'previous posts' I'd think you knew that anyway.

I can agree with some of the points you mention, but none of them carry much weight when deciding to emigrate do they? Perhaps taken as a whole they don't paint such a nice picture, but this is just your picture. Mine has got a brighter shade of green for the grass

One point I wholeheartedly agree with you on is missing family, more pertinant for my OH than me. There ain't nothing that's going to replace them.

Good luck in whatever you decide.
You're better to enjoy living your life, than spend the time wishing the days away.

lauralollipop

After a year and 2 months, I am enjoying it here still, and would never go back, but totally agree with the superficialness etc... I am fed up of going out, to "meet new friends" we are certainly not short of the invites, but I am sick of having the same superfical conversations and have started choosing not to socialise instead of socializing.......I have friends here but they are nothing like what I had in UK. Just small talk and there is so much thery dont know about me and I cant even be bothered to try and tell them.

On the whole I have a better lifestyle here, as in that I live on the beach, the weather is heaps better and I can do more surfing etc here.... We have a lot more money here as bills are cheeper and I love the city and living close enough to have access to the city as well as the beach and mountians etc...

But I still face same issues as I did in Blighty, I hate my job (as I did in England) and I hate gettin up every morning in the cold and dark at 6.30am and having to go there.... Also we still have the same issues as in trying to buy a property here, cos of prices, think its harder here too cos of stamp duty etc....

Still prefer it here to England, but really is same shit different bucket tho and you really have got to make the most of it as you soon can easily fall back into the same rut you may have been in in England.

Laura
x

playbunny75

I can relate to what Laura has said especially the part about friends. The people I knew back home had known me for a long time
(10+) years so you can't replace that really. I still feel at the moment that I would rather be here in Oz though but homesickness is still an issue but for family/friends not for UK our lifestyle here suits us as a family better.

lauralollipop

Yea its so hard to explain as well. cos all the people I have met here are all really nice and that, but I just feel like I dont "click" with them and dont really look forward to sspending any time with them... Its like an effort to go out somewhere and we have to make the effort cos we have been invited.

Then I spend the night being bored out of my brians trying to think of things to talk about to these nice poeple as they dont get me and I dont "get them". It sounds so horrible, but sometimes I feel like I can have an intelligant conversation if ya know what I mean, where as in UK even if you met someone at a party or in a bar, there seams to be a bit more to talk about than here.... If anyone can relate to this.....



Laura

steve`o

very nice words
but don`t you really mean

that they are iether thick or shallow


lets be honest theres loads of people over here just he same
with the same mind numbing conversations
the wheather - why do so many people go on about it
also its pointing out the bloody obvious

ie its cold today isn`t it ??
wtf i`m stood here on site at minus 2 and your only topic of conversation is to tell me that its bloody cold

sorry laura the worlds full of them

chels

A lot of your post sums up many of my feelings, especially about meeting new people. I have Australian friends but haven't moved past a superficial level of friendship and I can't see that changing. I can tell pretty quickly if I click with someone, if they've got the same interests, sense of humour, life experiences etc. I have friends in England who I met at parties, or through shared interests, who went on to be close friends. Here, I just can't find that spark. I'll keep looking, my new bessie chum is out there somewhere (and in the meantime, my other half will just have to put up with me nattering away at him )

The OP point re beaches made me laugh too - I never thought I'd get over the beauty of seeing a stretch of sand and a blue sea. But now I'm like, do we have to drive an hour or so to visit a new beach - which will look like all the other beaches - can't we do something urban instead? We're thinking about a weekend away in the opposite direction, in the mountains, and I'm looking forward to some cooler weather too

coolie

Two words: Whinging poms!

Is that all you can ever do. Moan, moan, moan. I feel sorry for you, miz, it's not nice being unhappy. But for once, can everybody stop moaning.
Nowehere you go is going to be perfect. No, not even blighty! Look at all the sh*t that goes on here! Now I don't think anybody thinks that Oz is some sort of problem free haven, but those of us who choose to go there do it because of our own reasons.
You've been given the opportunity to experience living in a foreign country. If you dont like it go back home. But mark my words, after six months being back you'll realise what you had in oz and be on the next plane out!

If you think your current friends are mind numbing, unintelligent morons, make new ones. Not that difficult.
I'll tell you a story. I've been living in England for almost 8 years now and dont have one English friend. The reason for that is that you lot are the most difficult people to make friends with. Try as you will, once a friendship circle is in place, it's very difficult to get into if you're not english. All of my friends are either Kiwi, Aussie or south African. They are the nicest people around. Always friendly, and willing to accept new friends!

I CANT wait to get to Oz.

ABCDiamond

I was lying in bed this morning, watching the morning TV news, with presenters from Melbourne, (these games etc) and was surprised to see how dark it was down there, at 7am, It was light here at 5.50am and it was 18.6 °C at that time