Amazulu

This is today's sunday times:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspap...975995,00.html

might interest someone.

The Koalas

There is no way I could go and live in the outback, to isolated for me. I love to be near a sea for easy trips to the fishing venues. Imagine bieng single and having to marry a local red neck... the mind boggles.

Megalania

Imagine being single and having to marry a ... a ... a POM !!!

Buster

I dunno what the link had to say as im not a member but i'll soon be finding out about outback life as we're moving from the Gold Coast to Charleville in SW Qld on Wed, BTW - Charleville is about 1000 km west of Brissie. I'm looking foward to it, It's like any big change really, as long as you look on it with the right frame of mind then you can only gain from the expirience.

I think it's good to see all sides of life if you want to have an opinion about it. Seems there's to many arseholes around these days that have too much to say and not enough to back it up with (example - "women on the front line" thread).

By The Way, what did that link say?

Buster.

Pollyana

I know!! My Bloke keeps saying he wishes he'd found an Aussie instead cos it'd be easier than coping with a homesick Pom! He's also muttering about phoning some woman called Amanda Vanstone (or something like that....) - must be pre-wedding nerves!

Bix

Here it is Buster:-


The Sunday Times - World



January 25, 2004

Poms welcome – in outback only
Paul Ham, Sydney



FOR poms who are man — or woman — enough, it’s about to become easier to emigrate to Australia. The drawback is that applicants for new fast-track visas must promise to live in the outback.
In a plan to repopulate Australia’s interior the country’s state governments will invite skilled migrants under 45 to eschew Sydney’s sun and surf and Melbourne’s elegance.



Instead, they will be legally bound to stay in the bush for at least three years, perhaps battling the blowflies of Boggabri in rural New South Wales or soaking up the scorching heat of Mt Isa in far western Queensland.

The Australian government hopes the British, lured by images of indigenous culture, will take to the idea of a life in the outback when the scheme begins in July. The visas could be given to those who miss out under present rules.

In the post-war years, Australia expected skilled Britons to join a wave of migration. But it received many unskilled, non-English speaking settlers and the so-called “ten-pound poms�, who were offered a passage for £10 in the 1950s, and who then stayed in the cities.

Some Brits who live in the outback commend the lifestyle, although they warn that it may take some getting used to. Fiona Scott from Northamptonshire emigrated to Sydney just over 10 years ago, married a farmer-cum-polo player and moved to a cattle ranch near Willowtree, 250 miles to the northwest.

She found herself in a “one-pub, one-store� town amid a drought that killed 360 cattle out of 400. “The stench at night of dead bodies was horrible, and my children got so immune to death,� she said. “It’s the survival of the fittest in country Australia.�

For those with the gumption to stay, there are compensations. “I’m here on the mountain with the most beautiful views,� she said. “My children have just been riding their horses this morning. What more can you ask for?� Gordon Crisp, a retired academic who was born in east London, said the outback could be a pleasant surprise. His adopted home of Bathurst, four hours west of Sydney, “had a bit of redneck approach� when he moved in 1976, but now boasted a university and a school of music.

“It could be quite a decent environment even for Londoners,� he said. “But some say they couldn’t live without listening to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at least once a month. Those people obviously would be very unhappy in regional Australia.�

Buster

Thanks Bix.

Jeez, is it just me or is that the biggest load of crap. IMO it just means they'll be more Brits coming over for 5 min flat and returning with their tails between their legs coz they found out we weren't all covering our selves in cow shit and sitting around playing the Doo all day! I bet they'll be some too.

Buster.

Megalania

Each to their own:

The Old Australian Ways

Simone

So, anybody know what is classes as outback?
I mean, how far out back?

Anyway, I think a lot of trades people could live outside the cities, in small country towns, but really outback(like the pilbara in WA) you'd have to usually have work that has to do with mining to survive.
I don't really see why nearly everyone is going to a city. People like carpenters, electricians, machanics, nurses could all find work outside the cities I would think.

Anyway, I think the heat in the outback would be the worst factor, but some people can get used to it. Though I'd think you'd have to gradually, so start of down south, and move upwards!

Badge

Interesting actually..

in NSW they said its past Bourke but there are plenty of places that are very much in the middle of nowhere say very much rural at least..towns like Dubbo are very simple and backward to a european but quite built up in some ways..

Badge

The Koalas

Reckon they would jump at the chance if it meant breeding inteligence back into the population. Oh and of course good looks, get rid of the red hair, third eye in the forhead and humps. Then there would be the dress sense no more flanels and tight ball hugging shorts and flip flops.....

Megalania

Oh, think I see the cause of your bitterness - your chances are slim?

bondipom

The phrase goes
I am going "back of Bourke".

Megalania

Outback Staff

Nursing Jobs in Australia Rural / Outback / Coastal

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...

grubelice

Outback NSW/Victoria and Queensland can be very beautiful and I can appreciate the sentiments addressed in the Banjo poem and totally agree. However up here in Nw Western Australia it ain't so pretty. The pluses are that the sun shines all the time (apart from when you get cyclones) and the beauty of the landscape is very stark, no traffic on the roads and nothing to stress you out except the heat and the long hours. I have met lots of people working up here and it is not for the faint hearted. Opinion is that you either love it or hate it (or love to hate it)It is too hot to go on the beach during the day and people will all avoid the sun at all costs - unless you have to work out in it all day and that really is the pits. Most days at this time of year are over 40 degrees and that may sound good when you are in freezing UK but many of us working and living up here long for a cool frosty morning. Know heaps of people with skin cancer - I make sure and cover up and wear a hat at all times. People seem to get by on a couple of hours sleep a night - sun up and its another long hot day.The sun rots your clothes and your car. When you get in the car you can't hold the wheel or fasten your seatbelt as it is so hot. The beach is ant infested as is everywhere else, or there are sand flies to bite you and cockroaches are 2 inches long and get everwhere. It is a tough battle to keep insect life at bay. It is much more expensive up here as well - I am renting a small house with a metal roof and unless you have air con going most of the time it's as hot as sin. Electric bill works out at 300 bucks a month (small house not at home all day as I work a 65 to 70 week). Rent for aforementioned house is 500 bucks a week and there are many that are up to 1000 bucks a week - and these are not luxury pads but very basic - question of supply and demand, unleaded is 110 to 135 cents a litre, fresh fruit and veggies all pricey, even add an extra dollar or two on the cover price of a newspaper or magazine. Talking to people who have KFCs flown up here (Port HEdland). Happiness is getting in the car with the sound system and driving into those endless landscapes (preferably with Radiohead) I am having to pay 1900 bucks for a return flight to Adelaide as flights from here to Perth are really expensive and it takes forever to get anywhere. I am looking forward to that - it means I can take my boots off and get into some sexy sandals and skirts.Lots of people fly in and fly out and there seems to be plenty of work around. I think that perhaps if the government wants to populate the remote areas they need to make sure that people know what to expect. It won't suit everyone. However I wouldn't have missed it for the world. It is incredibly remote and unless you are very resilient or have good family/partner support you might go a bit doolally - I suspect that's a given. I'm no expert and I know that I will never forget this place but I also know that I couldn't stay too long.
E