arkon

I’ve decided to list the things that, if they are important to you in the UK then emigrating to Australia might not be such a good idea or if you must emigrate try and leave the doors open for yourself to return more easily. I’ve also tried to only list things that hopefully not too many people could argue against.

1) Family. If your family live in the UK and are important to you or you have a young family or are planning to start a family in Oz then there really is no substitute here for that loss. The distance and cost to go home is just too great to do regularly and they will be unlikely to come and see you very often.

2) Friends. Same as point 1 really, yes you could and will make new friends but you won’t be able to replace the ones you have. A new friend made here is unlikely to replace one that you’ve had since being a child.

3) Visiting Europe. Can you really give up your cheap flights, weekends away, your skiing in Italy, France, etc? Holidays in the sun, cheap holidays to the states or Canada. The list here is endless; all these destinations are very different from each other, each with a distinct and different culture. You will be unlikely to replace these experiences here. Australia is an island thousands of miles from anywhere and costly to go anywhere very far especially if you have a family. Even within Australia each city is a group of very simular suburbs all effectively islands in their own right. Within a few months you will exhaust the options for a day or weekend out. You will be sitting there asking your self ‘Do we really want to drive for half a day to visit another beach, town or suburb that is exactly the same as the closest one to us?’

4) Culture. An emotive subject as after being here for 18 months now it’s very easy to think that it has none. My wife often says that a Yoghurt has more culture. Well the truth is somewhere in between as it is a different culture so clearly must have a distinct culture of it’s own. Yes they have plays, theatre, music and even an aboriginal culture if you can find it. What Australia doesn’t have is a distinctively different culture. Go anywhere in Europe and you will get strange ceremonies, parades, special days etc. Castles, roman works, Greek works, even the pubs are different. The list is endless and all very different. Here it’s just to same same, seen that, been there, done it. If strong culture and cultural differences and history are important to you then think twice.

5) Eating out. Ok so I didn’t spend long in the cities but long enough I think to have a view. Unless you live right in the middle of a CBD then your choice is nowhere near as wide and the quality nowhere near as good as what you are used to. Yes you will find lots of adequate and fit for purpose places to eat out but nothing like the choice and variety you can find in any of the cities back home. Eating out was a hobby for us and something we no longer do, I know we are rural but the month we spent in Sydney wasn’t much better. Melbourne was much better where food was concerned and seemed proportional to the number of different nationalities there.

6) TV. I hear the screams now, Your new life down under won’t need the fools lantern, All that entertaining and time spent out with the kids must surely mean that telly has become redundant. Well for me the nights are very long and start early for about half the year and without the telly it would have to be a life of jigsaws and games. Ok for a bit but if you spend your long UK winter nights watching the box and it’s important to you then here the TV is so poor and sky isn’t much better you might want to consider just what are you going to do instead. In summery the programming is poor, mostly Oz humour or American humour, Scheduling is unreliable and the overt interruptive adverts are a pain. A 2 hour film can take as much as 4 hours to watch here.

7) Long summer light evenings. It doesn’t happen here, the sun just plummets from the sky and everyone seems to shut down and go home. If you like sitting outside in summer during the evenings then it doesn’t seem to happen much here.

8) Pubs. If you like your pub life in the UK then here it’s nothing even close to it, difficult to explain but it is so far different that they don’t ‘feel’ like pubs, or maybe they do and that’s the problem. No beefeaters, wheatherspoons or other fun pub chains, just smokey, gambling and drinking dens. They even close on days that you would traditionally gone down to the pub on.

9) Good job. If you like your job, if it pays well and your happy in it then why give it up and risk the all too common degrading of your abilities and skills that happens here.

10) Bigots. If you’re a white anglo saxon in the UK you are likely to go your whole life and never be at the receiving end of a racist or other remark based on your colour or heritage. The same is not true here, you will have a pommie accent and they will be able to tell and they can’t help themselves but to pass snide of derogatory comments about you. Or where you come from. NOT ALL of them do it but enough that you should come into contact with it at some time. It starts off cute but soon wears thin.

There are a few more but it’s getting a bit long winded now so I’ll leave the list at 10! If you find a few things above important to you but don’t like your current job or area then consider changing your situation at home first, and the excuse of being able to spend more time with the kids is exactly that, an excuse. You could choose to do the same back home.

NKSK version 2

You're really going for it today aren't you?

Have you been drinking?!


I'm going to settle back with my beer and watch the fun!!

No doubt I'll end up contributing at some point over the next hour before the World Cup opening ceremony...

Hutch

11) If you have have your head shoved up your own arse then you might struggle.

seang

In fairness some valid points.

moneypenny20

I'm not going to go into the rights or wrongs of your post because it's your post and what you believe but I have just one question. How often have you come across people making derogatory comments about you being a Brit and has it been everywhere you have visited or mainly in the area you are living

I have no wish to start an argument, it's just I have not had one negative comment as yet, only positive questions about how and why I am here and then them be happy with the response.

Obviously I have only been here just over six months and I am sure it will happen at some point - human nature at the end of the day, but interested to hear your take on it. I haven't been aware to too many other British accents where I am, so I don't think the lack of comments is because everyone is British

arkon

I see you make a valid point, if having your head up your own ass is important to you then definitely move out here! Best place to keep it, same place as the locals keep their brains.

arkon

Well it's not a daily or weekly occurrence, I’d say I’ve been the brunt about 4 times and the wife a few times more but more savage, Her having a Scottish accent doesn’t seem to help. They think it’s a cool accent and one to be used to speak back to you in. One was a manager in an RTA office! Oh and even our baby got some jibes when he was about 4 months old FFS. That was at our 1st and last visit to a local mother and toddlers group.

Hutch

Come, come, they don't *have* brains remember.

So you're back in the 'United' Kingdom now are you?

moneypenny20

What was said to your son

NKSK version 2

Ooooh, you think you are so just so cute don't you, you little superior-pommy b*gger you!

arkon

Comments were made about his pale pommie skin and what his likely poor pommie complection was going to be like. Luckily only the wife heard it because if I had I would have not been able to stay quiet!

Bworthy

Yeh... but you-unlike Arkon-chose wisely in terms of location.

kevinl

Not had any piss taking that I was offended by, all very give and take.
However in my department there are more poms,jocks and taffies than colonials.

Most of your other points though ring pretty true IMO.

Kevin

Bworthy

Doesnt sound too offensive. I mean "Aussies" arent born with a tan.

iPom

It's nice surroundings and it's got nice people in it ... but I only came here because this is where my MIL lives. No other reason. You think there are jobs here for me? Do you know how the employment is around here? If I want to earn a wage I'd have to become a real estate agent or work for myself. The choices are endless. It's not all good here either - I have Katoomba up the road with it's shit smeared toilet walls and used needles in the bus shelter and KMart doorway. People get killed here on the weekend in drug deals gone wrong. Do not come and tell me we live in a 'nice' place.
I make the best of it and I make an effort and people are nice back to me. That's all. It's no great mystery