If you can i appreciate the fact that you may not but please try and visit pubs that are not "touristy"
For example if you were to visit the Par 3 Golf course bar on a sunday midday you will meet your average aussie just out for a beer - bulimba is quite an upmarket place but on a sunday it is delightful in the par 3 - this i can guarantee because apparently i am the only brit to set foot in the place for the past 7 years.
This is what i like most about Brisbane.
Keep off the beaten trackand you will get the most out of brisbane. But you can always go elsewhere to meet brits and expats.
Personally, when i go to another country, i like to meet the locals

Oh yeh iforgot
Do the sunday market ! - fan bloody tastic
Botanical gardens for a bit of hush amongst the rush
the river ride to lone pine - lovely
tangalooma - WOW!
and if you have the time - Coochie-mudlo island -OMG - if i had the money THAT is where i would live for eternity!!!!!

Good thread. We're off to Brisbane on the 31st Oct for a week, then off to Sydney for a week, then off to Melbourne for a week. Anyone got some tips for the other two cities?

I'm not having a go at you Brisbec, but Brits who are already here can show new people round, and introduce them to Aussies, as well as to fellow Brits who are becoming Aussies.

When do you become a local, though? I'm married to an Aussie, and I hate the fact that we are pigeon-holed into "local" and "expat". Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of being British, but I also want to be accepted as living here. I want to be friends with people because they are people not because of which nationality they are. Its hard enough to settle without people saying "Expats go here" and "Aussies go there". I want us to just be accepted as a couple - every shop we went in today, he got treated just like anyone else, I opened my mouth and become the subject of the enquiring looks and the "Oh, are you two married" questions.
It really gets to you after a while, its probably easier if you are a family moving here cos you all have the same accent. Mind you, I'll admit not all immigrants feel the same - The Bloke has a Greek friend, she has been here donkeys years, but one of the first things she said to me a year ago was "You'll never fit, you'll always be an outsider, and you will never be accepted as an Aussie, because you're foreign.Get used to it". When people put us in different pigeon-holes that phrase comes back to haunt me.

Sorry, rant over, off to bed now!

I know where you're coming from Polly. A couple of weeks ago I went to Lone Pine Sanctuary with an English friend, the ticket lady said to my friend, "where are you from?", my friends obvious reply was, England. I then got my ticket and she says, "Oh, you're visiting from England as well." My reply was, "No, I live here". The look on her face wasn't very believing. I also get sick of people assuming I'm on a WHV and just dossing about for 12 months.

It does make an already difficult situation, very difficult to get around. Everyone that makes a comment like the ticket lady always does it in the nicest way, just becomes a bit tiring. Like you've said, shops are a problem. At the weekend, we went round some showhomes as we're looking for a builder. The rep would quite happily talk to us both, as soon as they hear my accent though, all conversation gets directed to blokely.... English make up the highest Expat community in Brisbane, so you'd think they'd be used to it by now

I think the Aus I went to must have been a parallel universe Aus, as I rarely had this problem, and I worked with some people who were as rough as....
Very odd....

I'm not saying it happens everyday.. just that it happens often enough to pick up on. Personally I find it very hard being out here by myself and things that wouldn't affect me in the UK when surrounded by friends and family, seem to be a bigger issue here. Noone is ever horrible or nasty to me, I think its just an automatic reaction. Similar probably to how mine would be in the UK; my first thought of a foreign voice is that they're there on holiday/temp. not that they might actually live there!!!

Thats right, it doesn't happen all the time, I was quite surprised about the looks and reactions to my accent on Sunday, but then we were lookng at fridges, not the sort of thing a tourist would do, so I guess they just didn't expect the accent, especially having heard the Bloke's Aussie one.
It isn't that people are nasty either, its just that feeling you are in a pigeon hole for "non-locals" doesn't help you fit in, and when someone like Brisbec says people visiting should only mix with locals, that just gets to me a bit - after all, what defines you as a local? Don't Michelle and I count as locals - after all, we live here.

Note to Michelle - does this mean we aren't allowed to speak to Aussies we may meet on Friday night?!!!

I don't know, maybe I've just got thick skin. I've had to get used to people calling me names practically every day from passing cars, just because of the way I look. Many people in this part of Kent are rather 'provincial'. My black friends can actually turn heads here! Also, I'm a birder, and as I've said before, we stick together regardless of nationality. As my parents are immigrants, we have also had to get used to racial abuse whilst growing up in London. Unless people are actually insulting you and being aggressive, then take it as a compliment, irrespective of whether it's meant that way or not. That's my approach anyway!

Nope, I think it should be our mission to talk to as many people as possible
Do we know who's going yet??

They're all wimps, I've decided! At present the list is you, me, Wanderlust, AnnMarie, and possibly Debsy! I have pm'ed everyone I can think of, but no joy. We will need to talk to a few "locals" I think!! At present though, I don't care if its just me talkning to a wooden post, I shall be there, consuming a large amount of alcohol!!!