Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
Aug 6th 2007 | 9:53 am
#241
Has left the building
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,079
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
I don't know anyone who would sneer at anybody trying to better themselves. There well may be those type of people out there but luckily I have either not run in to them or have avoided them because of other traits.
Aug 7th 2007 | 2:35 am
#242
You sip .... I glug !!!
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 2,790
From: Over the hill!
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
My great great great great grandfather emigrated rather than be part of the highland clearances.
From what I can determine of his story he was a tenant farmer & had a choice of leaving the Isle of Skye during the clearances for either Glasgow or Australia.
He chose Australia against the wishes of the rest of his family (thats speculation but based on the fact that all his siblings & cousins went to Glasgow) and ended up owning thousands of acres as a very sucessfull farmer and one of his childern ended up marrying the daughter of the (then) Governer of Australia.
The odds of a similar lifestyle if he had chosen Glasgow instead of Australia were slightly smaller (said with huge understatement!)
He took a risk and it paid off big time! ..... Especially for me as I wouldnt have been born if he hadnt moved to Australia & great x2 (or was it 3 - I get confused) grandpappy hadn't married who he did
Aug 9th 2007 | 11:16 am
#243
Thread Starter
---
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,994
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
Presuming your final sentence is an insult to me, I would be interested to know who showed you my bank books. Making (incorrect) judgements about someone's finances and disseminating them on public talkbards just because they state that not everything in this world has to be about material gain is a bit off, frankly.
But, que sera sera. Like I said earlier, if to some people immigration is just a zero sum game of gains and losses, there's nothing I can do to change that sad misperception.
But, que sera sera. Like I said earlier, if to some people immigration is just a zero sum game of gains and losses, there's nothing I can do to change that sad misperception.
All the talk of mortgages and interest rates and jobs and all the whinging about the house prices completely murders the spirit of the pioneering immigrant who basically is a chancer. On the clippers, they understood that failure was more likely than not, yet they still went, and those were the people that built Australia. Today, interest rates go up a quarter point and everyone wets their pants and decides to stay in Hull.
My mum is in her 50s and recently made the move to Oz alone. When we were kids there was talk of moving to Australia (she was a nurse then) but with four kids, absolutely no money and a reluctant (for good reasons) husband, it wasn't to be. My little sister did her gap year in OZ and while she was there my husband, daughter and I made our first trip over backpacking the east coast. My mum came over then for the first time and we all spent a couple of weeks together. She returned to Oz almost annnually thereafter, building stronger and stronger working links until last year when we decided to commit to moving to NZ, she decided to realise the dream of her 20's and make the move to Oz. She's there on a work visa, which she is in the process of turning into PR and sorting through the subsequent paperwork mountain.
She found this that she had written about that first trip with us and with her permission I am sharing the last paragraph. It brought back lovely memories of the places we visited but mostly of how much I enjoyed my mum literally 'drinking' in Australia. Since then she has travelled in Oz extensively and has quite a passion for bush camping and photography.
Before, I had no Australia in my life. Only absent daughters, e-mails and other people’s photos. Now I have a view from the Glasshouse Mountains, swimming in a pool in Noosa Heads, whales off Hervey Bay; I can walk on the beach on Fraser Island in the very early morning and sit by a beach fire at night, see the Southern Cross, slam over Eli Creek, swim in Lake Waddi or Lake Mackenzie and stroll through temperate rainforest. I can feel the temperature drop as I walk down from eucalypt to rainforest in the Blue Mountains; swing over the valley in the skyrail and see it open in front of me as I drop through rock chasm in the cable car at Katoomba. The sea can knock me over at Noosa, I can dive in surf till I sun burn at Agnes Water, I can snorkel with fish and coral off Lady Musgrave. I’m on a wide veranda at Agnes Water, walk out of the lift at Sydney AMP Centrepoint Tower – the view makes me gasp; watch the Bridge and the Opera House as the ferry pulls away from Luna Park; skim up and down the river on the Brisbane River Cat; look back across the bay from Taronga Zoo; from the top of the Bridge see Sydney light up as night falls. Plants in pots at home, I’ve seen what they really grow like – peplum, hibiscus, goosefoot and monstera. Flying through the trees above them I can hear whip birds and cat birds, cockatoo and lorikeet. And best of all, and most of all, we all shared this. Back in also-beautiful but very familiar England, we all have some of the same Australia in our lives.
Aug 15th 2007 | 1:29 am
#244
You sip .... I glug !!!
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 2,790
From: Over the hill!
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
Originally Posted by bourbon-biscuit's Mum
Before, I had no Australia in my life. Only absent daughters, e-mails and other people’s photos. Now I have a view from the Glasshouse Mountains, swimming in a pool in Noosa Heads, whales off Hervey Bay; I can walk on the beach on Fraser Island in the very early morning and sit by a beach fire at night, see the Southern Cross, slam over Eli Creek, swim in Lake Waddi or Lake Mackenzie and stroll through temperate rainforest. I can feel the temperature drop as I walk down from eucalypt to rainforest in the Blue Mountains; swing over the valley in the skyrail and see it open in front of me as I drop through rock chasm in the cable car at Katoomba. The sea can knock me over at Noosa, I can dive in surf till I sun burn at Agnes Water, I can snorkel with fish and coral off Lady Musgrave. I’m on a wide veranda at Agnes Water, walk out of the lift at Sydney AMP Centrepoint Tower – the view makes me gasp; watch the Bridge and the Opera House as the ferry pulls away from Luna Park; skim up and down the river on the Brisbane River Cat; look back across the bay from Taronga Zoo; from the top of the Bridge see Sydney light up as night falls. Plants in pots at home, I’ve seen what they really grow like – peplum, hibiscus, goosefoot and monstera. Flying through the trees above them I can hear whip birds and cat birds, cockatoo and lorikeet. And best of all, and most of all, we all shared this. Back in also-beautiful but very familiar England, we all have some of the same Australia in our lives.
Aug 15th 2007 | 5:29 am
#245
Just Joined
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1
From: Leeds, UK
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
But we're not moving for financial reasons. We're moving for the weather, the lifestyle, being able to find places to rollerblade and swim and bike and walk. The lower population density, the (real) camping (none of this UK field stuff). Etc, etc, etc.
I spent my first 30 years in Canada and the last 8 in the UK and the lifestyle differences are HUGE. I've never had a higher standard of living in my life as I do now in the UK - in terms of money. But I've also never had such a low standard of living in terms of general lifestyle. I'm actually looking forward to driving an older car and spending less time shopping (there's not been much else to do this summer as it hasn't stopped raining - and yes, I'm a non-rain outdoors activity person...) and more time outdoors like I used to do in Canada (even at -30 - at least it wasn't RAINING).
I can't wait. I'm going to make MY Australian dream happen. :-D
Last edited by minigrrl; Aug 15th 2007 at 5:31 am.
Aug 15th 2007 | 6:25 am
#246
Just Joined
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 4
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
I spent my first 30 years in Canada and the last 8 in the UK and the lifestyle differences are HUGE. I've never had a higher standard of living in my life as I do now in the UK - in terms of money. But I've also never had such a low standard of living in terms of general lifestyle. I'm actually looking forward to driving an older car and spending less time shopping (there's not been much else to do this summer as it hasn't stopped raining - and yes, I'm a non-rain outdoors activity person...) and more time outdoors like I used to do in Canada (even at -30 - at least it wasn't RAINING).
I can't wait. I'm going to make MY Australian dream happen. :-D
I can't wait. I'm going to make MY Australian dream happen. :-D
Really like your statement about making your Australian dream happen. Good point about (material) standard of living versus what you might call quality of life.
Aug 15th 2007 | 12:16 pm
#247
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 16,623
From: Hill overlooking the SE Melbourne suburbs
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
We're moving at the end of October. We KNOW we'll be poorer - we're both IT Contractors in the UK and there's no way we'll be making anything close to what we're making now.
But we're not moving for financial reasons. We're moving for the weather, the lifestyle, being able to find places to rollerblade and swim and bike and walk. The lower population density, the (real) camping (none of this UK field stuff). Etc, etc, etc.
I spent my first 30 years in Canada and the last 8 in the UK and the lifestyle differences are HUGE. I've never had a higher standard of living in my life as I do now in the UK - in terms of money. But I've also never had such a low standard of living in terms of general lifestyle. I'm actually looking forward to driving an older car and spending less time shopping (there's not been much else to do this summer as it hasn't stopped raining - and yes, I'm a non-rain outdoors activity person...) and more time outdoors like I used to do in Canada (even at -30 - at least it wasn't RAINING).
I can't wait. I'm going to make MY Australian dream happen. :-D
But we're not moving for financial reasons. We're moving for the weather, the lifestyle, being able to find places to rollerblade and swim and bike and walk. The lower population density, the (real) camping (none of this UK field stuff). Etc, etc, etc.
I spent my first 30 years in Canada and the last 8 in the UK and the lifestyle differences are HUGE. I've never had a higher standard of living in my life as I do now in the UK - in terms of money. But I've also never had such a low standard of living in terms of general lifestyle. I'm actually looking forward to driving an older car and spending less time shopping (there's not been much else to do this summer as it hasn't stopped raining - and yes, I'm a non-rain outdoors activity person...) and more time outdoors like I used to do in Canada (even at -30 - at least it wasn't RAINING).
I can't wait. I'm going to make MY Australian dream happen. :-D
Last edited by BadgeIsBack; Aug 15th 2007 at 12:20 pm.
Aug 17th 2007 | 11:32 am
#248
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 38
From: Cheltenham Vic
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
do we or don't we?
we have a good business that pays us well. but are stuck in the english rut!!!!!
we are going to oz chrismas to visit our niece.
they keep on telling us how well we could do down under......
have we missed the boat or could we still make a go of it in Oz
we have a good business that pays us well. but are stuck in the english rut!!!!!
we are going to oz chrismas to visit our niece.
they keep on telling us how well we could do down under......
have we missed the boat or could we still make a go of it in Oz
Aug 17th 2007 | 2:41 pm
#249
BE Enthusiast
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 480
From: Gold Coast
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
What do you mean by the "English Rut"?
Dont think you have missed the boat by a long chalk, but a lot of people in Australia are in a rut as well, life is what you make it
Have a great holiday, whereabouts will you be staying?
Dont think you have missed the boat by a long chalk, but a lot of people in Australia are in a rut as well, life is what you make it
Have a great holiday, whereabouts will you be staying?
Aug 17th 2007 | 2:46 pm
#250
Hussy
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,035
From: Australia...for now
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
There is no doubt that the most popular regions are experiencing a property boom at the moment, but if you move somewher like Geelong (near Melbourne, city of 200,000) you will easily get a 4 bed house in a pretty good area for $350,000 or less (a friend of mine just bought admitidly an old house in need of renovation for $220,000)
It just depends if you are willing to settle for a smaller city
Mel
PS you can buy my house if you want, I am going home soon. Nothing to do with the lack of Australian dream, just sick of the heat and we only live in Victoria!
It just depends if you are willing to settle for a smaller city
Mel
PS you can buy my house if you want, I am going home soon. Nothing to do with the lack of Australian dream, just sick of the heat and we only live in Victoria!
Aug 17th 2007 | 3:23 pm
#251
Banned
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 47
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
There is no doubt that the most popular regions are experiencing a property boom at the moment, but if you move somewher like Geelong (near Melbourne, city of 200,000) you will easily get a 4 bed house in a pretty good area for $350,000 or less (a friend of mine just bought admitidly an old house in need of renovation for $220,000)
It just depends if you are willing to settle for a smaller city
Mel
PS you can buy my house if you want, I am going home soon. Nothing to do with the lack of Australian dream, just sick of the heat and we only live in Victoria!
It just depends if you are willing to settle for a smaller city
Mel
PS you can buy my house if you want, I am going home soon. Nothing to do with the lack of Australian dream, just sick of the heat and we only live in Victoria!
Aug 19th 2007 | 11:10 am
#252
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 38
From: Cheltenham Vic
Re: Is the Australian 'dream' dead?
cheers
Rex
