Aibu to wonder about the perception of life in Australia?

[TheVoiceWithin]

im British living in Australia.
Everybody seems to think the Australian way of life is constant BBQ's/swimming with dolphins/working 10hrs a week and bringing home $300k a year. Everybody spends everyday at the beach. Nobody can't surf. Etc.
It's ridiculous. So, Aibu to wonder what gives people this idea?

Is it the TV shows? I've seen wanted down under (once) and I have to admit I was a bit at the whole thing, because the particular family hadn't seemed to have done a bit of research, figured out they'd be financially worse off AND she'd have to go back to work too. but they wanted to go anyway. But couldn't because neither would qualify for a visa anyway. if not that, then what?

We went to Australia for a month. I could not believe the level of casual racism.

When I lived in Sydney, I never hung out at the beach but that's because I'm not a "beach person".

I'm now in rural NSW. Instead, we ski in winter, ride horses, hike, walk to Mt Kosciuszko, kayak on the lake, fish in the rivers. No beaches but we still live a very outdoors-centric lifestyle.

Re: sexism : when I was there in 1999 it was a big thing in WA to hire 'skimpies'(girls in bras etc) in bars and a lot of backpackers did this to earn extra money. A quick google showed me this is still alive and kicking

I'm english and have lived here for nine years, I can't imagine moving back to England being stuck indoors for months at a time and everyone is always moaning!

Don't get me wrong I miss my family but couldn't give up the outdoor life.

I'm healthier here, I walk everywhere because the weather is fine for 10 months a year, I do pick up my son and go to the beach for a quick swim after work, we do bbq most nights, there is probably some racism outside of the cities but I find Sydney extremely multicultural and accepting of immigrants, I'm sitting in the lunch room at work and can see sydney harbour bridge and the opera house as I type this, it's autumn but I'm still wearing sandals and a dress.

Property prices are high but I live in the equivalent of central London, by the beach.

Salaries are higher here, in my experience.

An equivalent job would mean commuting up to 3 hours a day from where my family live to London where's here it's 1 hour a day.

There aren't any giant beasts waiting to eat you unless you are off in the outback,

They also take drink driving very seriously, every Saturday and Sunday morning there are random breath test police checking on people still over the limit. It's absolutely unacceptable.

Oh great another Australia bashing thread.

We spent 3 weeks at the beach in Jan. We've been back every weekend. (Holiday house).
We have regular bbq's.
We earn well.
Unless you live in the sticks, there are not creepy crawlies everywhere.
I am mixed race and do not come across racism. I have lived here a long time.

@AjasLipstick

Trolley if you're hearing casual racism in Oz, it's likely the people you're mixing with.

I live in South Australia....I am British. I never hear any racism and in fact I have never lived anywhere where so much attention is paid to the rights of black people than here.

Indigenous people are first in the queue as they should be for all sorts of things here....grants, arts opportunities, jobs.....everyone I know is well informed and politically aware.

(Sorry I couldn't bold your text) Here here Ajas. I am quite frankly sick of hearing about how racist Australia is.

I live in Australia. Our family is so much better off finianicially than if we lived in the UK. The whole beach thing doesn't happen in our lives. We go maybe once a fortnight between late spring and early autumn. Too cold the rest of the year.

But it's just like most places in that you get up go to work and school, do errands, watch telly, go to bed and repeat. Just nicer

MummsCL: her tyres get ruined by melted tarmac

For goodness sake - I think your cousin might be perpetuating an urban myth, perhaps along the lines of "drop bears". I have NEVER EVER heard of this happening, not once.

I am Australian and live in Australia

Do you have long, wavy, blond hair, and is your name Brad?

We have been in Australia for nearly 7 years. No intention of going back to Ireland. The area we live in is very multicultural so haven't come across any racism. We don't have a pool but live 5 mins from the beach. My kids have the most amazing lifestyle, its normal for them to head of to a friends house for a swim in their pool or go down to the beach for a swim. The parks are all amazing and everywhere. I have seen 1 snake in the whole time we have been here. My dad has been here since Christmas and he has been breathalysed 5 times. He finds it hilarious as a non drinker.

My friend just moved to Brisbane and by god her life looks a million times better than it was in London and it certainly is very beech and outdoor focused!

I think it depends where in Australia you live. Tassie or Vic - no. Most other places - yes. For you to think it’s ridiculous I’m gathering you are living in Vic or inland?

I’m in Sydney and the description you supplied is pretty much life for us and most people we know.

BBQ’s with friends most weekends. We would spend a full day at the beach most weekends in summer when the kids were younger. You meet up with friends with kids the same age, stay the day, eat fish and chips or bring portable BBQ’s/food depending on the beach. Now our kids are teens it’s probably only twice a month at the beach due to their school workload and extracurricular commitments. Social BBQs still occur though irrespective. We don’t even live near a beach, 25km away but takes no time on motorways on weekends.

Funnily we do swim with dolphins, not all the time though. We are not a surfing family, others I know who are do interact regularly with dolphins as they are pretty prolific in the surf. We get our dolphin fix every 18mths or so holidaying at Byron, Monkey Mia etc. We go specifically for whale watching/dolphins etc.

Also holidaying at the Reef every so often, visiting the Daintree, crocodile country etc. It’s all good, not sure what but if it is a fantasy?

I think the things people don’t touch on when banging on about Australia are the house prices in certain states/areas which are pretty crippling. High cost of living in general. Commuter times in certain cities. Public transport completely crap in Sydney and commuter traffic like one big car park. It will take you a tenth of the time to get somewhere on a weekend than it will take during the week though. Also work challenges due to time differences and overseas travel. For instance tonight I have conference calls with people overseas scheduled from midnight to 4am. It’s pretty common so sleep is in short supply for most people who work with overseas contacts.

SuperBeagle: Ah fab, another "shit all over Australia" thread. It's been at least a week since the last one.

It wouldn't be so nonsensical if people tried for some sort of accuracy, instead of making patently ridiculous claims. Take the following claim which was made earlier in the thread, for example: for instance a pizza in a supermarket that would cost say £2-3 here would be £9-12. I was having a break here whilst doing a Coles on-line order. This week, their pizzas range from $3.75 (2GBP) to $8.25 (4.61GBP) for semi-artisan style pizzas with a large range in between.

I've seen claims on here of people regularly paying $12/kg for bananas (yeah, if there's a cyclone and no supplies are available for a few weeks, otherwise $2-4) and that they know someone who claims that they HAVE to pay $8.00 for a loaf of ordinary bread.

Make what claims you like, but at least try to give them some basis in reality. It reminds me of Hillaire Belloc's "Matilda".

By the way, the most extreme casual racism I have ever experienced was when I worked for a year in a medium sized UK city.

It depends where you live, we live within walking distance to a gorgeous beach and we spend a lot of time there. Its a small coastal town, there is no traffic (or even traffic lights), we have galahs and cockatoos in our front yard and the Kangaroos visit at night. It's a very relaxed, beachy lifestyle. We have a bbq on our family webber most weekends and we have a smaller one that you can take to the beach.

In contrast we spent a year in county Victoria and while it was beautiful and close to amazing Melbourne, we didn't set foot on as beach because it was too damn cold.

SuperBeagle: I love the Snowy Mountains. I used to spend a lot of time in Tumbarumba. Now I live in the Blue Mountains - just as nice, and close to the facilities I now need.

Lots of my cousins live in Australia, some emigrated there from India, some via the UK first. A few school friends moved too. The lifestyle looks brilliant. Housing looks expensive.

I've not heard complaints about racism but they all live in big cities. One shares sexist 'banter' to FB regularly, the rest are normal, decent, kind people.

I'm not great in the heat (and have no money!) so have never been, my grandparents loved it though (made their aches and pains go).

ICladivs I remember the $8 bread comment.

On the topic of pizzas, I just had a squiz at Coles and there's nothing over $8.25. Granted, I don't know which supermarkets that poster is shopping in, but considering Coles and Woolies dominate the market, and even Harris Farm isn't that absurd, I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that they're bullshitting.

As for tyres melting because the tarmac is so hot. Pull the other one. What a crack up.

ICladivs Oh, I have family in the Blue Mountains. Leura and Wentworth Falls. Gorgeous place!

It's funny how these threads on Mumsnet treat UK v Down Under as a zero sum game.

I am a Kiwi, lived in London, now back in NZ, travel often to Australia for work.

The weather and the lifestyle was a big factor in moving back to NZ - if London had a reliable 4/5 month summer and we could have bought a house with a pool I'd have been much more keen to stay permanently.

We spend lots of time at the beach, BBQ-ing etc and I do think it's easier/better quality of life with kids, having seen relations with young kids in London/lived in London pre kids & travelled back with a toddler. In my experience Sydney is similar - it's all contingent on having good salaries of course (housing is astronomical in Auckland & Sydney) but isn't everywhere?

That said I'll always love London and think it's the greatest city in the world!

How kind of Australia to give the ME mners a break. I have to say I work with many South African and Aus engineers and SA people only ever show kindness and as a bonus, rescue animals on site when they are in distress. One colleague fed a pigeon chewed up food and it follows him when we go to onshore meetings. Aus engineers and Fire are always on time, always come to meetings and are fairly intolerant of bullshit. Not racist but harsher than others generally. Both (and 99% are either) are great to work with, sociable, friendly and generally have an open house for everyone.

That's my own total generalisation opinion based on 15 years.

Living in Australia is shit. Australians are so aggressive. They are also tight with their money to another level, it gets really really cold but they're all too bloody tight to put their heating on. So wherever you are in the winter it's freezing. The kids are savages and bullying is accepted as part of Australian school culture. There's spiders and cockroaches everywhere. As I said... it's shit.

SuperBeagle: Pull the other one. What a crack up.

Maybe it's meant to be tongue in cheek, and the poster just failed to get the right ironic tone. Doubt it though.

So many people are showing such provincial attitudes - which was also something I experienced in my time working, and during extensive travels over more than a decade, in the UK.

I'm the pizza poster. It wasn't me, it was my DD. She had an Oz boyfriend and was over there for a while. I thought that's what she told me, maybe I or her got it wrong. She used to cook for her boyfriend and his flatmates and found supermarket food expensive.

Can I just say, I don't consider this an Australia bashing thread. Every country has fors and againsts, posters are just talking of their experiences or perceptions which was what the thread title was.

However, I stand corrected on pizzas

Forgiven Roussette

I went to Melbourne. Pissed Dow rain for a week. Just like being at home in Scotland!