Mercedes

No, but you will have more variety, you will be able to actually be rude about other people countries as you will either be there or have been, and their natives can then insult you for a change for not liking their country Besides you can have a holiday from the forum and then be able to come back and participate in saying which countries you liked and the ones you weren't too sure on blah blah blah, and say hey did you go to xyz wow so did I wasn't.......(fill in your own gaps)

dunroving

Off the wall question.

Having never been to Australia, I'm curious. From the TV programs and some photos I've seen, Australian houses and neighborhoods look very similar to the "brick ranch" style house I see all over the SE United States. Other aspects of the neighborhood design also look similar - no sidewalks, wide streets (in comparison to the UK).

Has anyone been to both places (SE USA, and Oz), and if so, do the houses and neighborhoods look similar?

neverland

I have been. Older suburbs here have Uk style brick houses (which I personally find very unappealing), the newer suburbs look exactly like US suburbs. Look alike houses, wide streets, big shopping centre in the middle. The Australian character houses (elevated houses) are almost non-existant anymore.

wombat42

They say that if you live in Darwin for more then 6 months you go insane, they call it going" troppo" a combination of the tropical heat and the high alcohol consumpion up there. Darwin has a very high murder rate. Its a bit like that Stephen King film " the shining" the place turns normal people into mad axe murderers.

Badge

It depends. Rural, semi-rural areas and established areas around small towns have houses to die for, detached, roomy, all different and unique. it's great visiting people, you get ideas on how to renovate! Even cottage in style with decks etc. Established areas say c1970s, and, within 25k of city you get the same, but smaller block sizes. Others, in nice areas within 10k would be like living in a Georgian house - in fact some look like fashionable London suburbs.

Others look almost UK Victorian/ London 1930s semi, but without the uglyiness (in my opinion) of the 1930s semi.

New estates are on the edge of every urban sprawl since c1990, as you say, bang out of Stepford wives. I live in a 3 bed villa semi-rural - its not obvious you are in Australia looking at pictures of the front - if you disregard the flora and fauna.

The thing is, give it 10 years; once the trees grow, and the bricks fade, alot of Aussie suburbs will actually improve. But you can't improve a 600m2 block size. I have a 4000m2 block.

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wombat42

The waters of my local beach are crysal clear and there are no crocs or Box jellyfish, they are only in the waters of far North of the country where few people live. l have been swimming at the beach for 30 years and have never seen a shark, according to the statisics you are more likely to be struck by lightning while swimming at the beach then killed by a shark. Sharks don't come into shallow water, most people attacked by sharks are skuba divers deep out in the ocean.

neverland

Lucky you. I lived near Brisbane and did see a shark swimming next to me in the water. Great. I have never seen crystal clear waters anywhere in Australia and have been around the continent so many times. At least nowhere as crystal clear as in Greece etc. The beaches in Kenya beat the beaches in Australia any day. But how would you know?

neverland

Yeah, wonderful Australia, ey? By the way you don't just go insane in Darwin, you also go insane in Alice and Cairns and most towns in Qld. You certainly go insane in the outback.....

Badge

Wombat - the important thing is, you like where you live. This is more important than travelling elsewhere so you can say you like where you live; in fact you don't have to travel anywhere at all to say you like where you live. I have never been to the Moon but I know I like living on Earth (!)

What people have been saying is you can't necesssarily 'compare' (in the strictest sense of the word), but you can't have it all. What you have done is compare with anectodal evidence, which is risky. Based on anectodal evidence, I believe that I would rather live on Earth, in comparison....(!)

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wombat42

Yes thats true, but thats why most of the population lives in the Eastern and Southern parts of the country, not the outback or the middle of nowhere.
Just like most Canadians live in the warmer southern part of the country and few live up in the frozen northern wastelands.

steandleigh

And some of us DO live in Cairns and we're quite happy, ta very much.

Never heard such generalised drivel before in my whole life.

Mercedes

Oh wow thats what happened when I lived there. Have they found all those bodies yet....go to Dickward Drive 1Km into Fanny Bay and they're under that big Tree that I can't remember the name of but had a lot of flies around it when I left.

Mercedes

. Sharks don't come into shallow water, most people attacked by sharks are skuba divers deep out in the ocean.[/QUOTE]

Hate to tell you but sharks do come into shallow water.

dunroving

I agree. Saw loads of sharks when I lived in the Bahamas (which get their name from the Spanish for "shallow seas").

wombat42

l agree it, it was Neverland that named Cairns, not me.