Jealousy of friend emigrating

[Bookridden]

A friend is emigrating to Sydney, Australia in January. I'm pretty envious of her chance for a fresh start, life on the beach, apparently amazing standard of living etc etc. I really want to give my head a wobble and stop feeling jealous. Please point out some reasons why life in the UK might be better. (Should say that I hate the heat, am fat and menopausal, love culture and city life so probably am better suited to UK life. Aren't I? AREN'T I???)

Hit me with your best tips for any of the following:
Loving life in the UK
Not thinking life in Oz is perfect
Not feeling really dull in comparison with her jetsetter lifestyle

Thank you.

Sydney is really expensive and very much beach culture. Personally I'd prefer Melbourne.

The UK is like a slow puncture. On the decline and I'm very disillusioned, especially after brexit. I'd emigrate if I could. Not that it's necessarily better anywhere else but somewhere warmer with a lower cost of living and equally poor healthcare services where going private is affordable would be better imo.

This is about australia, they swear like troopers over there, including on day time telly I heard, and its really awful words too.

@bookridden - we just had 20 months living in Copenhagen in Denmark but now back in Bath -was the lifestyle better in Denmark ? I have to be honest and say on paper yes - standards are higher, society is fairer , it's much cleaner and there are far less feral idiots about---- but at the end of the day I missed my friends and seeing my family that regularly. It's no longer cheap just to nip backwards and forwards unless you do crack of Dawn or late night flights. Nor is it that easy as an adult with no school aged children just to pick up new friends just like that. It also proved to be a real problem in a situation like covid if you needed to support family in the UK- at one point we couldn't come back from Denmark for 10 months due to green lists and tests etc. I've known people in Australia missed siblings weddings and funerals because they simply didn't have the cash to come back at 'that point' . I think a lot of how people feel depends on so many things, family closeness/connections, situation with partner (if any) and their family. How much cash is in the pot for contingencies- Australia is a very expensive place too if you want to live in the nicer bits and eat out a lot etc. i have a lovely friend there- all was good till they had kids but it's clear that they've now had to move a long way out.

DD went travelling after Uni , Australia ( apparently ) is just like the U.K. , only a lot more expensive
She was glad to leave ( and go to Thailand , munch nicer )

Honestly, you can tell half these people haven’t ever even been to Australia, let alone lived here by these comments (snakes and spiders everywhere 😂)…Seems like they’ve watched home and away and then feel like they’re expert enough to comment (make a dig).
Some of these comments are weird as, but the no Jaffa cakes one takes the biscuit…or cake, whatever they are.

I lived in Sydney for eight months and missed London so much. It was picturesque but the nightlife and buzz felt like it was missing something. I also didn’t totally gel with anyone Aussie, even though people were perfectly nice, so all my friends were British and European. I suppose more than anything it just didn’t feel like home.

We have shit maternity pay too...

Please don't take this as a thread bashing Australia. I started it because I'm envious of a friend moving there, and I recognise I'm seeing things through rose-tinted glasses. I'm also realistic about me: as I said in my OP, I'm fat, middle-aged, love city breaks and cultural stuff. I hate heat and outdoor pursuits, but I know this makes me the minority and the odd one out. I want to feel better about my quiet, small life here in the UK, and I want to counteract my envy with some reminders that help, that's all. Peace and love to the Aussies reading this; your country sounds amazing.

My first trip to Australia in the early 90s to see family was made in January. Big mistake. Huge. The day I landed it was 40 degrees in Sydney and staying in Queensland it was 30 degrees at 3am. I now visit in September.

World’s biggest spiders
just focus on that!

Super weird everyone saying how racist Australians. are. Australia is very multicultural, particularly the cities. So likely your friend's work colleagues, and children's school friends etc, will be from all different parts of the world, which in my view is a benefit of living in Australia.

Although WFH has taken off in a big way so can be harder to form workplace friendships.

@Bookridden Just what others have mention already really. I did find it very sexist and racist I’m afraid, especially in the work place. The weather wasn’t as good as I’d imagined (which is my fault but we’re always told it’s sunny all the time but it rained loads in Sydney and was actually cold in winter!!) and I realized I had a much better quality of like back in the UK. I also really missed my friends and family. There are some real positives to Australia of course and I did meet some lovely Australians, but nothing is worth living that far away from the people I love, as far as I’m concerned!

I will say though that my lovely friend looks to have a lovely life and I'm pleased for her-as I said I think it's a really individual thing and depends on many interconnected factors. Everywhere has advantages and disadvantages

@Aintnosupermum I can assure you we swear a lot here. C*t is used as a term of endearment between many younger blokes as in "oi c*t, how are ya?"
OP it's bloody expensive here. Interest rates are shooting up and Sydney has incredibly high property prices. Unless your mate is extremely well off she'll be out in some distant suburb.
Weather goes from one extreme to the other. I've had bushfires scarily close to my home. And this year we were flooded.
Casual racism is everywhere. Violence against women is absolutely rife. We have one of the highest suicide rates of young men in the world.
Cheery stuff! But this is what they don't tell you in the brochures
I've been here nearly 20 years and still miss London and the countryside and the architecture....I could go on.
Australia has been really, really good to me in many ways but I'll always be a Londoner as the old song goes and I actually won't be staying here much longer. Moving on again!
So don't be jealous. Same shit, different country.

I have a lot of family in Australia, inc Sydney - and have visited a few times. One of my nephews is returning soon (after 5yrs) because he's homesick - but I'm shocked tbh because his life out there (Sydney) is so much better than I think he can achieve back here.

My DBro and is family are in W Aus and wouldn't consider moving back. They love it, as do the in-laws in Melbourne. People are different - what suits some doesn't suit others 🤷‍♀️

i know someone emigrating to Australia next month too - is she a teacher! she is insanely excited! shes's lovely though and i hope it all goes well for her.

Is earning 200k Australian dollars a good wage? It sounds good to me, not sure if this is good for cost of living in Sydney or not

For the GC, some states in Australia have anti-conversion laws which mean that affirmation is the only option. My workplace seems to have a trans celebration day every few months and the local high schools have a disproportionate number of transitioning kids. And it's very difficult to be openly GC.

This! And unbearable heat, which is only going to get worse with climate crisis.

I ask because I often hear people talk of wanting to emigrate there, when they've never even visited.

All one side of my family and both my siblings live in Australia. People who've never even visited always seem astonished that I don't want to join them. It's really odd. I've enjoyed Australia on the visits I've made but have never even considered moving.

200k would be a great wage in the suburbs and not so amazing in the city.
Anyway I'm in Melbourne. I've lived elsewhere but I would say the only two places I'd comfortably stay are here and Perth.
When I was in NSW there were tics everywhere. Leeches in the river. But the best was the bird eating spider that crawled onto my brother's friend while I was chatting to him. I noped out of there.
Here really isn't bad with the snakes and spiders, but some years the flies are dreadful as soon as winter is over and we're having a mozzie plague atm.

I have an aunt and uncle, cousins and their children, a DB and SIL and nephew and when they were alive DM and DGM who either all emigrated to Australia from the 1960s onwards or were born there. I have often been asked why I didn't go and apparently 'far too hot for me' isn't a reasonable answer.

'But the beaches!' - I hate sunbathing
'But your family are there!' - yeah, their choice. Not mine.

Australia isn't for everyone, and I'm glad your DF is excited to move to Sydney.

I'm from Melbourne, spent 10 years in London, and am so glad to be back in Aus. I don't miss the UK at all.

But, my family are here, life is very good (both have great jobs, WFH etc) and it's just a total no-brainer for us to be here.

Yeah, my grandma and all my dad's siblings went out as 10 pound poms. My siblings emigrated more recently.

I don't really get your point.

Surely you should be happy for your friend and nothing is stopping you from improving your own life.

I think it is a bit sad that you need people to try to think of negative aspects of life in Sidney just so you can feel better...

It is never a good idea to compare yourself to others like that. Instead just focus on your own life and what can bring your happiness.