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Very first impression of Oz

Very first impression of Oz

Old Oct 15th 2010, 11:36 pm
  #46  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

Originally Posted by expatasia
Never lived there but I first visited Australia in the mid 90s, in the admittedly attractive one-horse town of Toowoomba I couldn't believe they were selling sausage rolls & chips on a blistering hot day at the cricket ground where England were playing a warm-up match. The feller on the gate asked me where I was from. When I said I'd just flown in from Tokyo he said something like 'aww there's loadsa slopes up on the Gold Coast'

Remember a stunning catch from Athers then chatting with an elapsed Pom who told me about the effects of the Oz sun on his body over time. Also got acquainted with the BYO system for the first time that night. Bumped into Darren Gough at the breakfast table next morn asking for his toast to be done with the crusts left on.

Funny the things that stick in your mind.

What was your first memory, first thing that struck you about the country? Brief impressions please.
Meeting my future wife in hospital straight from the arrivals lounge.

The country? How blues the blues are and how greens the greens are. And how many stars you can see out in the sticks. Still appreciate it, in fact.
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Old Oct 16th 2010, 2:31 am
  #47  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

December 2004 - arrived in Darwin on my round the world backpacking trip and couldn't believe how hot and humid it was. I like Darwin though.

June 2004 - validation trip. Driving from Brisbane airport and being distinctly underwhelmed. Remember telling my wife that if this was what Australia is like then we ain't coming. Fortunately, we then flew over to Perth and saw what a decent Australian city looks like.
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Old Oct 16th 2010, 4:48 am
  #48  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

October 2006 arrived at melbourne airport at 8pm coming out of the airport felt like we had just walked into an oven. Got picked up by a mini bus and taken to our motel for the night. AS soon as we got in had a shower and straight to bed, awoke at 6am to the sound of birds and explored the area after waking OH up. After breckie OH's aunt and uncle picked us for the drive to theirs in Albury . We had never met but he showed us the time of our lives spent a week exploring NSW with them before flying back to Mellie from a little airport that i thought was a public toilet it was so small lol. The views from the plane coming over the saphire coast took my breathe away.
I must say i loved my time in oz and made me more determined to live in oz.
Arrived in Darwin in June at 4am to 25c this year with 3 kids who had never flown or been to oz, when we got into our transport to the apartment in the city the kids were full of amazement and delight that there were some familar sights.
will always remember at 6am the sun appearing over the harbour and my 8 year old saying mummy that looks just like your oz&nz magazine. For my kids arriving to a warm welcome(freinds organised a barbie for our first night) really has helped them feel that oz is home
Mandy

Last edited by geordie mandy; Oct 16th 2010 at 4:50 am.
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Old Oct 16th 2010, 5:07 am
  #49  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

We arrived late at night from the airport, the cabbie was friendly.

The sun shone the next day and it was warm.
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Old Oct 16th 2010, 8:47 am
  #50  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

Originally Posted by Pollyana
Very first impression, back in 1999, landing at Hobart - was that the landscape was stunningly beautiful, blue sky, mountains, sunshine and the air was so clear and clean, almost enough to make you dizzy if you took a deep breath.........I relive that moment every time I go back to Hobart

In those days you could travel jumpseat in the cockpit, so I flew over Tassie with the 737 Captain saying to me that it was "Hobbitland" down below, and the landscape really did look magical - this was in the days before the Lord of the Rings films.
Eh - I thought it was En Zud that was where the Hobbits lived, like?

Originally Posted by Pollyana
On that first trip I also had the jumpseat across the Black Sea - sunrise was fantastic - and over India for a while - stunning towering green thunderclouds off to both sides - and for the last three hours as we came into Melbourne, it was April so it was dark and the towns stuck out so clearly in the rural areas. Crew were great at pointing things out (I Qantas) and I sat in the cockpit for the landing in Melbourne as well - they let themselves down at that point by being so busy pointing stuff out to me that they forgot to advise Qantas that they had landed and got a reprimand on the company frequency
See - you don't worry about about airline mishaps - it's the experiences that count!

My distinct impression has sort of faded but still remains. And it has long since been overwritten by every other impression.

Not quite being able to work Sydney out leaving the aiport. I could not see a beach. I could not see a harbour. I could not see houses just like the ones in Neighbours (silly me - that's in Melbourne, not Sydney). All I could see was funny little rows of shops with awnings over them. Not quite London. Not quite Europe. So where? The impression that the car I had hired was standard enough. How big an engine did you say?

The way Australian girls, after seperation seemed to orgasm so aggressively. Gee I was stuffed.
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Old Oct 16th 2010, 10:31 am
  #51  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

Originally Posted by BadgeIsBack
Eh - I thought it was En Zud that was where the Hobbits lived, like?

As iI said, this was the days before the films of Lord of the Rings, and having grown up with my own image of Hobbit-land from reading the books, Tassie fitted the bill perfectly.
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Old Oct 16th 2010, 10:39 am
  #52  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

Originally Posted by Pollyana
As iI said, this was the days before the films of Lord of the Rings, and having grown up with my own image of Hobbit-land from reading the books, Tassie fitted the bill perfectly.
Indeed - but the Cap'n said it which I thought was interesting!
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Old Oct 16th 2010, 1:50 pm
  #53  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

Originally Posted by BadgeIsBack
......The way Australian girls, after seperation seemed to orgasm so aggressively. Gee I was stuffed.
TMI....

Last edited by sonlymewalter; Oct 16th 2010 at 1:53 pm.
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Old Oct 16th 2010, 2:35 pm
  #54  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

My first thought was how normal it seemed - we had just spent 5 weeks in SE Asia.
My second thought was how friendly the transvestite prostitute, outside our hostel in Kings cross, was. Looking back though he was definitely friendlier to my OH
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Old Oct 16th 2010, 11:14 pm
  #55  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

We came on holiday in 2004 and were picked up at the airport by the brother in law. We walked out of Brissie airport to the biggest and noisiest electrical storm I had ever seen

Celebrated our arrival with a first taste of Bundy rum (quite a lot of it in fact) and tried to sleep through the storm.

Woke up to find everything fresh and green and the air clean and clear. Made our minds up then that this was where we wanted to live.

Been here 4 years now and loved every minute of it.
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Old Oct 17th 2010, 6:13 am
  #56  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

1970 arrived in Sydney and very disappointed with the drive from the airport - looked just like any other industrial area I had been in and the run down houses with wrought iron decoration on the front looked more like slums than they do now (although they are still not a great recommendation for the welcome to Sydney). Arriving in Melbourne shortly afterwards - still more industrial areas to work through before the city. The city itself - was bloody cold, with the wind whipping straight up from the South Pole through Flinders St station where I had to wait to get the train to Footscray where I was working. That was the holiday bit.

Coming back to live in 1979 - driving into Canberra and thinking "who the hell put that bloody great monstrosity on the top of the mountain" I have got used to the Telstra tower over the years but I still swear it isnt totally vertical.
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Old Oct 17th 2010, 7:41 am
  #57  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

Originally Posted by Pollyana
As iI said, this was the days before the films of Lord of the Rings, and having grown up with my own image of Hobbit-land from reading the books, Tassie fitted the bill perfectly.
Anyway mate, how easy is to get into the cockpits these days? Do you have to have friends in high places?
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Old Oct 17th 2010, 8:10 am
  #58  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

My first impression of Oz felt like a smack in the face with a wet blanket as the force of Darwin's humidity said hello. After a brief stop over there we flew on to Brisbane. Our plane had to circle over Brisbane for a while due to some landing problem and my little brother loudly inquired, in a very quiet and troubled aircraft, "are we going to crash"? When we finally landed I remember travelling along wide roads, through a barren landscape, littered with big American-type billboards. Spent a couple of nights in the Salvo's People's Palace, travelled around in a clapped out van, up and down the Queensland coast. Kept tropical fish in an ordinary unheated tank in Townsville and slept on the floor on a mattress getting prickly heat and waiting for the next snake to climb into the laundry tub. I thought Australia sucked.
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Old Oct 17th 2010, 10:40 am
  #59  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

The whole trip was a bit surreal. I'd travelled a lot and, as a couple, we'd been as far as Bali, but this was a biggy for both of us in more ways than one.

We left the UK on Christmas Eve and had a short hop to a very snowy Frankfurt - touch and go for a while if we could land. Frankfurt airport was basically shut down - there was one little coffee stall open and he was doing a roaring trade. We took off from there about 10pm, IIRC, and saw midnight in drinking Business Class champagne we'd scrounged from the hostie as the Economy stuff was crap. Then we slept.

Rang home from Changi and wished the folks Merry Christmas. (First time we'd been to Changi, and no idea that six months later we'd be arriving there again to live in Singapore.) Got on another plane, landed in Sydney about 6am on Boxing Day. The descent over the Blue Mountains was interrupted by the pilot reassuring us that the burning smell was not coming from the plane, but the bush fires.

We were coming for a month and had a lot of luggage. We were staying for the first week at a boutique hotel on Castlereagh Street, in the shopping district, and the cabbie had no idea where it was. (No change there then.) We eventually got there, checked in, crashed for a few hours. Woke up and went to explore. Man, it was hot.

TBH I can't really remember what we did that first day, too jetlagged I guess. We probably called my best friend and our rellies who live here. Walked down to the harbour and had a cocktail at Cruise, wondering what all the fuss was about with regard to the Opera House. Ate in Circular Quay at somewhere touristy, with the pristine white tablecloths covered in ash from the fires. The whole sky was orangey and filled with smoke (I now know the Opera House looks a lot brigher without those conditions.)

The next few days we didn't really have time to explore or absorb either, as we had to meet somebody to do some paperwork, meet up with my GBF, take a train to Campbelltown for a barbie at the rellies (my first time meeting them), check out the Botanic Gardens, do a bit of shopping, get myself to a spa - The Geek did the Bridge Climb while I was there - and get married.

That was New Year's Eve morning and we had lunch with our witnesses (GBF and rellies) at Watsons Bay, went back for a quick snooze, rang our families and told them we'd got married (that went down well!) then went out on the harbour in a boat my GBF and his mates had chartered. They all made us feel very special and we had a fab time. Confirmed our desire to do our best to move here within the year (well we got half way and then got stuck for six years )

I think we probably slept most of the next day and then we started touring before leaving out of Brisbane. So I guess, really, our first week in Sydney was a bit of a blur.
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Old Oct 17th 2010, 10:48 am
  #60  
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Default Re: Very first impression of Oz

Originally Posted by sonlymewalter
TMI....
I know...look I really can't resist it - but after a 24 hour flight and a long day, I really didn't know whether I was coming or going myself..it now all seems quite bizarre.

I also remember going down the Parramattar road and thinking how American it looked.

All those impressions were still overwritten once I actually got into this country and got around.
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