Avid

Must have been asked a thousand times before but, having just come back from a week over there, why are we all in NZ?

I know why I am...because Australia is just a horrible place to contemplate living in (great for a holiday, though)...

They think they are the centre of the universe, the men laugh at their own jokes, they have a terrible, terrible leader...they play Australian Football (a game that looks like something school children could invent in their lunch break)

and then there's the spiders...

But how about you? Why not OZ?

karonious

Steve's take on it is:

No big bush fires here in New Zealand
No indigenous poisonous beasties here in New zealand
No huge serial killer stories making the papers here in New Zealand
I wasn't keen on USA or Canada but it had to be an English speaking country for us to continue to work.
So that left New Zealand

Avid

Yeah...but Canada's quite similar and only 6 hours from the UK....

I'VE SENT MY OWN THREAD OFF-TOPIC IN JUST THREE POSTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

karonious

Well done
Do you like strawberry jam............
even more off topic I believe
Anyway, seeing as we are miles off now: You have been quiet recently Mr Avid, I hope Mrs Avid feeling better

Avid

shit....somebody's remembered that my wife is ill and connected it to my recent holiday...

let's call it 'tough love'

Avid

you can say 'shit' without it getting censored???

That's a surprise...

karonious

You are more likley to get censored for being a heartless b@st@rd than for saying 'shit', you heartless b@st@rd

Avid

Am I right in thinking that you are a nurse?

You know only too well how patients can become lazy and dependant on their carers.

Not so in my wife's case!

karonious

Yeah but I'm not a real nurse, just a 'nut nurse' as they say in York But I could pin you down for an injection "to calm you down" quicker than you could imagine!!
That would teach you to leave poor Mrs Avid all on her own, ailing and defenceless.........
Did you have a good holiday? (apart from deciding not to stay there long-term?)

Avid

Saw the Opera House and Penguin Parade.....excellent.

Mrs Avid made good progress in my absence.....absence makes the ribs grow stronger...

ned

Isn't the place full of convicts

Avid

It's in the blood....

even in Sydney's CBD they need mounted police to stop the rampaging drunks at the weekend..

karonious

Nice

Maz

Canada? "Heat me up a beer, eh". I went to Montréal way back in 1992. Nice enough place, shame about the Québecers. Gets super-hot there in summer and super-super-cold in winter.

Except in Vancouver which is supposed to be about the best place to live on the planet. Full of asians, it is, too. One-third of the population is from the Far East (get used to sushi!).

Anyway...

Why not Australia?

Well, it's full of Australians for a start. The ones I've met have all been brash and loud, always bragging about how many sunshine hours they get in Oz and the seemingly constant barbecues they have there.

A Kiwi friend of mine who lived in NSW for 17 years put it thus: a great big desert with an extremely expensive strip of green around the edge.

Seeing as how I LIKE the rain, and hate deserts (we didn't move to Phoenix, Arizona in 2001 as I knew I'd miss the rain too much!), Oz was always out of the running for us.

Beachcombers

Mel and I did a 13,000km road trip around OZ and saw alot of the country. The sheer size is mind boggling! After a day of driving, it's a bit disappointing to have moved a couple of inches on the map.

Saw some incredible stuff and visited some lovely places. If someone put gun against my head, I would say we could live in South West Australia, around Esperance/Albany.

On the whole, there was nothing about OZ that made me think, this is the place for me! Australia has a lot going for it, weather, beaches, great cities, strong economy. Yet there is something intangible about Australia, that does not move me.

I think alot of it is to do with the vibe and culture (or lack of).