jandjuk

I'm intrigued by the fact lots of people here are of the opinion that NZ and Aus are 20 years behind the UK, (eg 'like the UK was 20 years ago'), or 'old fashioned'?

No one ever really explains why they say this. What exactly about NZ/Aus is 20 years behind?

Is it any more or less 'behind' than somewhere like Scotland? (NB I don't believe Scotland is behind at all, I simply believe people confuse being 'behind' with being more sparsely populated.)

Any thoughts?

Jon

bondipom

The big one is fashion

Look for the mullet and speedo threads. Very scary when you come across something that you thought was extinct.

Things have got better recently. last year we got the wheel which has helped the car run much better.

It is very hard keeping the string taught on the yoghurt pot to London.

Electricity is just a distance dream. Anyway I am off to stoke the stove.

deedee

NZ isn't behind,we have that electramatricity magic stuff and we don't have a yoghurt pot....we have bean cans and a 9k line speed The grass grows as fast here as it does in the UK and the sky is bluer with the same golden blob up there....what more could you want.
NZ is actually 400 years behind,yep,at least that in population compared to the UK.Sometimes when i'm out on the farm i think no one else lives in NZ,no planes flying over,no lights,no engine noise,no neighbours to see,miles to the post box ,yep we're behind times,but the the question should be is the UK really infront,I think not.

lynnj

In scotland too things are moving on, someone in dundee has one of those radiogram thingys and i've even heard talk of a box with moving pictures although it will be a long time before someone manages to climb hadrians wall carrying one

Lynn

deedee

well we've got a gas tellyvision thing here in the rural outback

lynnj

Yes Deedee but do you have to run it off your muck heap? sorry dont know the nz term for muck heap

We wouldnt have time to watch one though, by the time we've got through our washing with our bucket and scrubbing board

Lynn

jandjuk

actually now I think about it, I can think of a couple of silly little things that are 'behind'...

like broadband take up (But again that has to do with population and terrain as much as anything)

or overhead telephone and electricity wires. all buried in UK but not in NZ...

(incidentally, people thinking of emigrating to NZ would do well to go and take a good look at Scotland eg Highlands, & Isle of Skye - very similar to NZ and would give you a good idea of what large portions of NZ's rural areas are like. eg roading, shops, lifestyle, amenities etc. The cities are a bit different however.)

WBB

and i thought they were 10 hours ahead

Simone

I think Australia is less and less behind.
Of course it's all generalization.
First of all it depends where you are, which state, but also city or rural or outback. for example NT is prob on some levels behind NSW. And the Pilbara (sort of outback area in WA) in some ways behind Perth.

And of course, what is behind? Fashion, technology, movies, etc.

When we lived in WA around 1990 WA was behind (in comparison to Holland) with fashion and movies for example. Movies came out later in Oz than in Europe. But it probably depends on the movie too!
But nowadays, it seems that movies come out same time, and some, maybe American ones, come out even before europe.

Another thing is music.
In the beginning of1996 in WA, grunge was still big, and rock in general was big. Nobody listened to techno/dance where I was. Also boybands weren't popular.
Then I came back to Holland in July 1996, and here House/techno/dance was huge, and Spice Girls and Backstreet boys. (I was devestated....)
Of course you have all that in Oz now too, but it took a bit longer.
But it's also taste of course. Oz has better!
Now still, if you look at album charts, and generalise, there's more 'rock'.
And of course England is different than Holland, so can't compare that much either.

Anyway, it's very dangerous all these comments, because whatever you (I, we) say, it'll always be generalizing...

And even if we do admit, in some areas Oz is behind, well, it's definetely NOT 20 years!

Oh, another thing. I'm not entirely sure about this one, but my idea was, here in Holland practically everyone has internet at home, and even heaps with ADSL, while in for example the southwest of WA it's not like that. Of course there is heaps who do, but not 'everybody' like here. Probably different in NSW, but I don't know.

Oh, and I think that Oz probably has lots of things that they are ahead with compared to Europe. Can't think of any, but sure there are.
Oh, like airco!

Oh, thought of another thing.
In Holland we have all got cable tv.
In WA, the rural area, a few years ago you only had 2/3 channels. (ABC and a combined one with 7/9/10) Now you have a few more, and probably more people with cable, but it's still different.

sully4441

Yes it's behind. Behind in all the nasty petty things that people are fed up to teeth with in the UK. But, and it's a big but, it is on course for making exactly the same mistakes we made. 20 years should do it. See you then. But on the other hand................

jandjuk

Yes

a few years back there was some chap who wanted to build a new road in the south island to link the west coast with the nelson region....

having a lack of roads is precisely what a love about NZ (though I didn't realise it before come to the UK - where there's roads and motorways everywhere

dugongs

Having lived and worked in Oz I think it is behind in several key areas all related to the smallness of the population, the isolation and the very conservative nature of the people.

You have to accept that OZ / NZ are small in market terms and isolated countries without the populations to support the level of competition and commerce that is taken for granted in UK. Consequently, a lot of services are still provided by government and therefore do not have any incentive to takeup new initiatives or change rapidly. OZ is the home of the monopoly and comfy duopoly and it will take years and 20 more million people to change that. Even areas such as banks are limited in Oz by government policy i.e. four pillars which result in the highest bank charges in the world. The comfy supermarket duopoly of woolworths and coles is only just beginning to be touched as a result of aldi arriving and ripping their fat margins to shreds.

One area which is behind by choice is government regulation etc as they always will sit back and try and copy successful us/uk/european legislation. Very few firsts in oz as they cannot afford to blaze a trail and attitude is too conservative generally to allow it anyway.

The smallness of the countries means you also get some terrible fudges as government try and appease overly powerful individuals and corporations i.e packer in the case of digital tv and qantas in the case of ansett debacle for example with little regard for the electorate. This will not happen in uk etc anywhere near the way it does at all levels of oz society simply because big fish in small ponds have more clout than big fish in large ponds full of other equally large big fish.

ADELAIDE BOUND

Yabadabadooooooo.

Cheers.

robernelli

I never got the feeling that NZ was behind really, at least not in any of the things they can help. If anything, they try harder due to the perceived isolation of the country. Truth is, they wouldn't be missing that much anyway.

Rob