To think the families on Wanted Down Under are a bit spoilt/delusional?

[Hatchinganegg]

Almost every episode involves a family with pretty average jobs living in your average 3 bedroom semi detached. They go to Australia and turn their noses up at massive houses because they don't have pools and walk in wardrobes. Or they're 10 minutes from the beach rather than right across the road

They never seem to want to start off a few rungs down from their eventual goal, it all has to happen right away.

They all want identikit houses too- those shiny kitchens and acres of cream carpet. I'd like to see one where the family was after something a little different personally!

[nancy75]

Ha ha at Whinging Pom! I'm married to an Australian & have spent a lot of time there, the Aussies could make whinging an Olympic sport (if they ever stop complaining that we got more medals than them in the actual Olympics)
The problem with Wanted Down under is none of the people realize how much the exchange rate has changed in the last 15 years.
15 years ago you got 3 Au dollars to the pound, now you get about 1.5, so 15 years ago your bog standard £150K house bought you a 450K Au house - not anymore!

[loveka]

I used to love it, as I am trying to do a complete life change, though in the UK. So good to see others going through the process.

It is irritating though. 'Dreams in tatters'. 'It's for the opportunities'.

This series a few of them seem to have a lot of children. Four kids and they wonder why money is tight.

[ThumbWitchesAbroad]

If we're going to talk stereotypes, the one that always makes me grin is the "talking about the weather" one - weather here is a hot (sorry) topic! They're always saying how this is the "hottest summer day for 3 years" or "the hottest October day since last century" or "the wettest 1st day of summer [1st Dec] for a decade" or similar.
I'm sure Aussies talk more about the weather than Brits do.

[Sparklingbrook]

I love when they go over for their free holiday and the weather is terrible.

[craigglen]

I once sat next to a couple on a plane who had recently been filmed on A Place in the Sun. They applied to be on the show saying they wanted a place on the Costa Del Sol but they were told that they already had people lined up for there so could they be filmed in Tenerife instead. They had no intention of buying a place in The Canaries but said it was good fun and a free trip. It's all made up for good tv!

[Unfinishedkitchen]

I’m only joking JapaneseBirdPainting!

[JapaneseBirdPainting]

No worries Unfinished ;)

[Excitedforxmas]

My friend lived in Perth Australia. Said it was awful and contrary to it being some holy Mecca- it was the same shit but in the sun!

[KERALA1]

I watch with horrified fascination. I would hate to move away from my lovely family and friends, from a country with lots of history and culture and seasons, where I can access the whole of Europe pretty easily to live in a bleak new build .

The Aussies I know in my profession have a really long hours culture for not higher salaries so no illusions about beach life style either. My friend married an Aussie, they got divorced as when they moved back to Australia he re-embraced the macho laddish aspects of the culture. She's in London now.

[JapaneseBirdPainting]

I've always wondered about Perth. It's literally thousands of miles away of miles from any other major city in Australia, so hard to travel. It's closer to Indonesia than another Australian city, and only has 2 million or so people in it, so it's not huge. I can't help feel Perth must be very very isolating.

[NotEnoughCats]

We lived in Australia for a while, but we were realistic about our expectations before we went. I've not watched WDU for a while, but the people on the ones I have seen seem to be looking for a fix for their lives or something. Like they are unhappy or unsatisfied with life in the UK, and think that by moving to Australia they will suddenly start living this dream life. It isn't like that. Migrating to another country is hard work, particularly if you have kids. People think they will be living this holiday lifestyle, and that they'll be able to clock off work at 2 every afternoon and spend the rest of the day on the beach. For most people it is really a case of same shit, different bucket. Sure, we had a swimming pool, but it wasn't fun cleaning leaves and possum crap out of it in 40 degree heat, or for the eight months of the year when it was too cold to use!

We went because DP's job gave us the opportunity, but we never said it was forever, and always planned to come back at some point. We weren't running away from the UK, which some of the WDU people seem to be.

[Leilaniiii]

I think I remember seeing this a few years ago. A youngish couple moved to Australia and opened a shop. They spent shitloads of money renting a posh apartment and stocking their shop and then... ran out of money and had to go home.

[Leilaniiii]

I've always wondered about Perth.

It's full of English people who moved there to get away from the immigrants in the UK.

[Leilaniiii]

PS: We need an 'ironic' smilie.

[wedontallliveinsydney]

I watch with horrified fascination. I would hate to move away from my lovely family and friends, from a country with lots of history and culture and seasons, where I can access the whole of Europe pretty easily to live in a bleak new build .

The Aussies I know in my profession have a really long hours culture for not higher salaries so no illusions about beach life style either. My friend married an Aussie, they got divorced as when they moved back to Australia he re-embraced the macho laddish aspects of the culture. She's in London now.

What a bloody odd post.
And what a lot of stereotyping from people who seem to have never even been to Australia.

[Leilaniiii]

It’s rubbish to say there’s a long hours work culture in Australia. Indeed, they seem to work a lot less hours than in the UK and most companies completely shut down for 2 weeks over Xmas.

[AgainPlease]

I LOVE this show, but only because I find it hilarious because I'm an Aussie living in the UK.

Some of the comments on this thread have had me in hysterics too

[differentnameforthis]

My friend married an Aussie, they got divorced as when they moved back to Australia he re-embraced the macho laddish aspects of the culture. Well then he is an arse, and ONE man. Hardly an example of what is "wrong" with Australia!

[k2p2k2tog]

Missed the first part of today's - Northern Irish bar man and office worker?? How on earth do they even qualify to move over to Aus?

[Mari50]

Wow, people need to get a grip. It’s entertainment, not a documentary. I imagine that people who have done their research and are really clued up what the move entails wouldn’t be as much fun watching as those who are just believing the hype.

[Sparklingbrook]

Even if Nickypopidol and the BBC told me I wasn't allowed to do any research or get my house valued before filming I still would.

[wifeyhun]

Missed the first part of today's - Northern Irish bar man and office worker?? How on earth do they even qualify to move over to Aus?

She was born in OZ, so I guess no need for visa.

[Thermowoman]

For those wondering about life in Perth, I’ve been here almost 5 years and love it! I still have to pinch myself that I live in such a beautiful place. And dor those who think it’s isolated, well yes, but who cares when you live in paradise. And the flight time is four hours less to the Uk than from the east coast! I’ve lived in London, Ireland ( North and South) And now here. Here is best — by a country mile—. This is the beach at the end of my street.

[ginghamstarfish]

It's not just about Australia - when I've seen any program about people being shown houses, they all have the most amazing delusions of grandeur - wanting 'the wow factor' and turning their noses up at almost everything - then you see the dump they live in now

[zxcvb98]

I think the most delusional are the ones trying to persuade/pressure reluctant adult or almost adult kids to move. That's highly likely to end in tears and/or resentment.

Yesterday's update says they're looking into other countries including the USA. Unless one of them is already a citizen somehow, there's no way a refrigeration engineer and a TA will get a visa for the USA.