Oz: Perception of distance
 

Found myself thinking about the perception of distances in Oz.

In the UK I live within 45 mins drive of one of the UK’s most vibrant seaside towns.
If someone told me they wanted to move to the UK and loved the seaside I wouldn’t suggest that they moved to my area.
I’d tell them to go and live within 10 minutes of the sea.

Yet in Oz people will say this is a great area and only 45 mins to the beach.

(Feel free to insert all puns regarding the comparison of the UK and Oz beach here).

It still amuses me whilst I’m visiting my relatives in Oz that occasionally one will ask if anyone would like any donuts because they’ll nip out and get some.
They’ll nip out and be gone for an hour! My relatives do not bat an eye lid.
Nipping out to me is walking down the road to the shops!

Same for commuting distances.
Commutes of an hour plus seem far more acceptable in the Oz city psyche than they do in the UK.

I understand the why, big country, cheap petrol etc (same mind set in the US).

I guess I’m wondering when does the switch flick for Brits moving to Oz?
When do you go from “there’s no way I’ll drive 30 mins to buy my favourite brand of cheese” to “get off the highway ‘cos here comes my 4x4”.

Is there anyone out there still suffering with the distances or anyone like to say how long it takes to embrace the Ozzie mind-set on this one?

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Takes me 45-60 mins to commute to work now....5-10 in the UK. About the same distance from the beach, but have been more times here. Wouldn't think twice about driving 1.5-2hrs for a day out now. Cost me $50 to fill the car up today....

I've been here 4 months, so I guess I've got that mind set pretty quickly.

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Can't comment on commute times, but it's around 3277Km great circle from Sydney to Perth compared with 2508Km London to Moscow or 3520Km London to Cairo.

Biggish place!

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

I do miss having mates just up the road and popping in. My friends are mostly 30 mins + away.

Also, cabs can be very expensive for nights out given we're 10ish kms from the city.

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

I commute 3 hours a day in the UK and it's certainly high up there on my "better life" list to reduce this on moving to Oz.

Worries me that anyone complaining of a 3 hour commute in Oz though would be seen as a soft whinging pom!

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

My parents in the UK keep forgetting the massive difference in size between the UK and Oz. When they are here they make comments about 'popping up to Townsville', or maybe a drive to Cairns for the weekend.

They look at a map and go 'oh, that looks about the distance of Glasgow to London'... :rolleyes:

***look at the scale of the map***

I still think 1 hour is a long commute by car, and anything further than 5 minutes from the beach, means you are not on the coast.

JTL

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

We consider 4 hours to be within easy distance for things here for a day trip but would have stopped overnight in UK if somewhere was 2 hours away.

Journey to work twice as long here for both me and my husband but would say we are getting out and about here in general more than UK for all sorts of stuff as we'd done all the intersting UK places nearby.

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

It's amazing how quick you adapt though. The company I work for has a very strict driving policy - no mobile phone use including hands free while driving and you must take a 15 minute break every 2 hours,
failure to comply is Instant dismissal !
I did a 5 hour drive + 2 stops for coffee today ( Melbourne to Swan Hill) just to quote for some work and back home again tonight :eek:

It beats working for a living :D

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

When I first came out here, I had a friend from the UK phone me up in the middle of the night and tell me he was coming to Australia. He was visiting Perth and Darwin and that we should meet up. Not bad since I was living in Canberra. He had no idea how far apart these cities are.

Barney:thumbup:

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Remember that driving in Oz is a hundred percent more pleasurable than the UK,

It rarely pisses down, never has "major roadworks ahead - expect delays" or has fifty thousand people all trying to use the North Circular ring road at the same time! :mad:

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Takes me around 40 mins to get to work now and hubby uses public transport and takes him 1hour 30 mins each way:eek: Use to be only 10 mins to work.

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Do people really want too compare

25 min crammed in like sardines tube journey to a 40 min door to door AC controlled car journey?


In my case 2 hour commute one way in UK (Leave at 5am arrive 7am to work, Depart 7pm arrive home 9pm)

In Oz leave 8.58 arrive 9.25 (after school drop off)

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

One advantage of having an Aussie view of distance is that when you go home for a holiday you can do a hell of a lot! Last month we drove about 2500 miles and didnt really make an effort. I'd think nothing of driving from Cambridge to Edinburgh for a couple of days and actually I did enjoy driving in UK immensely - the variation in scenery over 100 miles was just awesome. When you are on holiday even the traffic jams arent an issue cos it just gives you more time to contemplate the gorgeous scenery. Contrast that with the 5+ hour drive to my granddaughter's birthday party at the weekend with very little variation in scenery and a good deal of it along dirt roads - nah.

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

OMG when you put it like that...:blink::blink:

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

exactly my view. Driving in OZ (westcoast) from A to B is the most boring experience I made in my life. Absolutely nothing to see, half dead trees and that for hours.

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

When I first came to Sydney I was 10k from the CBD but it took me 2 hours and 2 trains to get to work and the same back (worked in Parramatta and lived south of Sydney). Nipping out meant a train ride to the nearest shops and would usually take 1 to 2 hours (because of the waiting for trains).

I solved that problem by moving into the CBD and moving jobs, I now take 2 min to walk to work (my apartment building is next to my office building) and I go home for lunch, means I get to sleep in and get home early too. I haven’t seen a train in months and don’t think I could ever do the commute again. Also save on transport now seeing as I don't have any, lol.

Mikey

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

I disagree with this. :D

In our experience, we are the only ones who travel 45 mins to a beach and all the rellies stay in the same little patch and never do anything different. We have moved from being 15 mins away to 30 mins away and we rarely see them now unless we drive to them.

In WA it's all NOR SOR bulls**t and it makes no sense cos you could drive as far east/west as north/south but they don't see that. :confused:

I used to drive 50 mins to work in UK but don't know of anyone who does the same here. i am sure there are some, i just don't know of any. They catch the train, sure, but they wont drive it.

I find I am willing to drive a good distance for a day out cos i am wanting to see different places. We used to drive 4/5 hours to see in laws in UK for 36 hours. Again rellies here are like " it's a long way to Geraldton you know"........what? 5 hours......................... :zzz:

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

It does depend on where you live.

When I was living in one part of the UK, it was a 20 minute drive to get to the decent shops.

Now .. well, as an example:
I can get to the local shops and home again in 18 minutes, BUT...

During that 18 minutes, on Saturday night at about 9pm, I fitted in:
Ringing the doctors surgery in the shopping centre area, to check they were open.
driving to the doctors
waiting for the doctor who had a patient ahead of me
seeing the doctor
getting a prescription
driving home

I was told that the nearest open chemist was 10 minutes away, but decided to leave it till the next day, as that was too far to go.

I think I have become a Queenslander :thumbup:

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

I find there are reasonable scenery changes here, dramatic in different ways to UK though and occasionally there are even UK style rolling hills. It depends if you are looking for UK scenery Aus is the wrong place as even the Aus idea of a Mountain isn't the same height as UK but then again we didn't have lots of local volcanic plugs that look impressive in the UK.

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Hmm. I had it the other way, Portsmouth to London on the train - door to door it was 2 hours. I am still waiting to get a job, so can't comment on my commute now, but if I work in the CBD it will be well under an hour. My fiance's dad and step mum lived in the UK for about a year, and while all 4 of us were over there would meet up, they couldn't understand the amount that British people were prepared to commute for their jobs; while they were happy enough to drive for miles to go for lunch.

We drove from Melbourne to Brisbane on my first trip out here, took 4 days to do it, driving from Lands End to John O'Groats in mileage everyday, again we didn't bat an eyelid doing it. I know it is all relative, but I think it depends on what you do outside of work that has the main impact on your day, the standard of living is so much better over here, (in 2 weeks I've noticed that!).

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Takes me 40-45 minutes right now in the UK. When we get to Perth (37 days and counting) I'll be working from home for the first couple of months. So a zero time commute :)

Actually, after that I'm likely to have to commute to the CBD, but anything under 45 minutes isn't an issue (and it'll probably be less than that). And I can't believe the fact that they call the slow traffic on the Mitchell Freeway a "jam" - have they never seen the M56 in the morning?

Cheers
b

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Ha, i know - rush hour is not actually that bad in WA is it??!!! But it's still pretty rammed for a tiny amount of time. Its the bad driving makes it hard to deal with :lol:

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Maybe there's a difference between states.

Here I find Aussies don't want a commute more than 30-45 minutes but the Brits are prepared (or maybe used to) longer commutes. I reckon this is why you get so many poms in Frankston, Mt Eliza and Mornington.

Down here I've only come across Brits describing 30-40 minutes drive to the beach as close to the beach. I'm 20 minutes from the beach and nobody around here would describe it as close to the beach (including me).

On the other hand Aussies seem to think nothing of driving long distances for holidays.

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

I live south Sydney in the shopping centre and 2 mins walk from the beach its ace :thumbsup:

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Is it not odd living in a shopping centre:confused:

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Still in UK at moment, I show my dogs up and down the country 2 hours is a close show, would go up to about 4 1/2 hours to a show and back in a day, travelling with friend/s chatting all the way having a good time. My parents when they were alive used to be horrified and many work colleagues can't understand it and see it as massive distances. I'll drive an hour to see a friend regulary and pick up dog food or use her hydro pool - distances don't worry me. The Ozzies often fly dogs to dog shows not quite sure I'd put go that far though :)

Can't wait to just take off and travel though :thumbsup:

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Talking of traffic jams, did you see any of the pictures of the tail back from Dover after the Channel Tunnel fire? The stupid bint on Channel 9 was saying that it can't be as bad as the traffic in Melbourne! They have NO idea what a traffic jam is do they really?!

I drove from Portsmouth to Camberley every Monday morning, and would have to be at my desk by 7.30am otherwise it could take me over 2 hours just sitting in first or second gear, banging my head on the steering wheel... :huh:

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

These days a bad traffic jam for me is 20 cars in front of me at the lights !!

And yes, I do remember driving around the M25 car park.

Funny how we change :thumbup:

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Great thing about the Dandenongs, and Yarra Valley in Victoria's climate is that you get those rolling hills and trees, without some of the bleakness of the UK equivalent - green all year round. I really must get around to posting some photos of just our village.

Most states have mountains twice or 1.5 times the height of Mt Snowdon. The High Country...

Spot on. Driving interstate to tour and camp is the norm for many people we know.

People often complain that Australians think that they have better conditions, but the grass roots opinion talking to people or reading the Mx is that Melbournians, for example, think their transport is pretty bad, I think it ain't too bad.

My blood pressure rises slightly if there is more than one car waiting at the junction at the end of our lane.:p

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

That made me laugh, as yesterday, when I was heading for the school, I took a detour, to avoid a junction that I know has about 3 or 4 cars waiting to get out, at about that time of day. I took the detour as I now hate traffic queues.

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

I think living in the UK you get very comfortable in your comfort zone.

I know loads of people that have never ventured out of their own city and others that think driving 100 miles to see/visit things is stupid.

Our beach is about a 20 minute drive away and quite often we drive down just for a walk in the evening.

We on the other hand quite regally drive places so we can see new things.

Doesn't bother us sitting in traffic as we are all together and enjoying each other. If you put a blindfold on you wouldn't even know you were in traffic.


Its all down to your mind set.

Re: Oz: Perception of distance
 

Got to get my mind outa the gutter :rofl::rofl: