To think the people on Wanted Down Under have unrealistic expectations?

[CatherineOfAragonsPrayerBook]

Just watching this morning, as have a late shift. It's a 'revisted' episode so idea when it first aired. Mum has a small budget of £150,000 but wants a 'dream home' in Australia. First apartment too small, as is the second. You only have a budget of £150,000!! Eventually last house hits all the right notes, but is £60,000 overbudget. So she'll just work harder.

Planning to do Social Work, so goes to an experience day. The SW's are dealing with the case of an indigenous Aboriginal family. They work with a lot of indigenous families and their customs. Does she know anything about the Aboriginal people? No. Not done any research So what view of Australia does she have?

Everytime I watch this program the participants seem to have massive unrealistic expectations. AIBU to think they should at least know something about the Aboriginal people if they plan to move there?

Just catching up.

@HicDraconis Thanks for your reply it's very interesting. I guess learning about Maori culture beyond the minimum wouldn't necessarily occur to many people but at least in NZ favour they actually require emigrants learn something before settling.

It's interesting that even being a health consultant your work life balance in NZ is better than the UK - I'm interested in why that difference occurs, is it less demands, better funding, lesser workload/responsibility more even distribution of services etc. It sounds great, all the best to you!

Crocodile Dundee has a lot to answer for.

Why do they always take them to Perth? How can they get an accurate picture based on one week in one Australian city.

Probably because it's the nearest Australian city?

Why do they always take them to Perth?

The way I look at at it at the outside Perth looks hot and beach-y, never mind it's regarded as a shithole by Melbourne/Sydney snobs. :o
It's about the apparent lifestyle of Australia, as opposed to the reality.

Sydney figures largely because of the bridge and Opera House of popular imagination. Though they can't afford to live there.

No-one knows what the Melbs looks like, its access to beaches or culture. Meh.
Disclaimer: I live in the Melbs, the shit-hot soul of culture, food, art, fashion, and music of this wide brown land

Brisbane...sometimes.

Darwin... ever??

Hobart...ever???

Canberra?.....ever? When diplomats get posted there, it's designated as a hardship posting so attracts extra money.

@Paperplain arbitration!

Apparently historical re enactors are not selected for 1900 house type programmes because they are not going to kick off about cooking without an electric oven, dressing in strange clothes etc.

I know we originally were looking at Queenstown but the show took us to a Auckland. For the activity/lifestyle day they took us surfing at a West Coast beach and we feel in love and moved there. They came back 2 years later for a revisited. It's interesting to watch how we settled and changed. They are coming back to us in April for a 2nd revisited. We have 2 more children now!

We moved from an affluent south coast city, so were used to a high cost of living.

My kids are learning te reo and I've enjoyed learning about Tikanga Maori.

We lived in Sydney in 2004. I found it racist and closed minded. NZ is certainly not perfect but having leaders like Jacinda Ardern make it much more palatable politically then Aus and even the UK.

We always said 2 yrs. Brexit happened and we've been here 5 now. We get our citizenship this year.

Apparantly the conversion rate of people who are on the show and then move is 7 in 10 (we are still friends with the camera man who filmed us. He is from the UK but also lives here).

I love where we live. Other parts of Ayckland are too similar to Clapham and/or Fulham for my liking. We live in a rural area surrounded by Bush.

The people on Wanted Down Under want a free holiday

@Amanduh

That's just not true. The selection process is rigorous and the move rate is high.

After living in Sydney, NZ being a Bi-cultural nation was part of what attracted us to live here.

There's nothing in the world that would make me leave the UK, and especially not for an overrated pit like Australia. The vast majority of it is inhabitable, it's too hot, and too dry, and there are way too many scary, dangerous reptiles and insects and arachnids. In addition, it's a very conservative (and quite racist and bigoted) place with very little tolerance. It's also a million miles away from most of the rest of the world. (Well it may as well be.)

 biggest load of shit I've ever read.

*And Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders face such high rates of disadvantage because of the sustained 200+ year genocide initiated by the British colonial forces. It was written into the constitution. Learning the true history of Australia would benefit so many on this thread.

The reason you perceive it to be racist in Australia is dripping from your posts on this thread. Paternalistic, racist and condescending views of a country with the longest surviving cultures on the planet. That have survived despite massacres, forced child removals and incarceration for observing traditional practices.

The Queen is still our head of state. It's certainly nowhere near post-colonial while the colonisers are still in charge.

I'm so glad I can't watch Wanted Down Under. It sounds like the producers are exploiting our country for laffs*. . 

This ^

I live in S.A. Can't say I've come across any scary insects or reptiles lately. I'm mixed race, happily living here despite how conservative and racist it apparently is!
Here's the uninhabitable pit I live in

Great now I have found another distraction from the studying I should be doing

I think a lot of people have unrealistic expectations of life in Australia -probably fueled by watching tv programmes like home and away when they were teenagers - and think they're going to spend most of their time on the beach, surfing and having barbecues with good friends.

Australia is a large country so it really does depend on where you live. I live on the coast in QLD for example and we do have BBQ's on the beach or by one of our pools most weekends with friends. Actually have two planned for this weekend. Most houses where I live have pools because it's warm 10 months of the year. It's common for people to keep their surfboards and a wetsuit in their cars and go for a surf during their lunch break. I take the kids to the beach most afternoons after school if they don't have sport. If I lived in certain parts of Sydney or Melbourne however I could go months without seeing the ocean. I totally get that Australia soaps show only a very small part of what Australia is.

The same happens to people when they come here. I am in a couple of ex-pat groups on Facebook and we get people wanting to join because they want to live in the US. Most of them have been here on holiday and think they know what life here is like. What makes me laugh is when they say they “love the lifestyle”. What do they know about living and working here when they’ve only been on holiday here? Of course we all love the holiday lifestyle wherever we go in holiday. That’s what holidays are for. And they gave no clue about the visa requirements. So I suppose it happens with lots of places, not just Australia and New Zealand.

For those who think people emigrating to Australia should understand “aboriginal culture” - what do you think that means? Here in the US there’s no such thing as “Native American culture” as a definitive term as they are all different tribes with their own languages, cultures, traditions, dress, etc. And to “bundle” them all together like that under one vague term is a bit disrespectful. You could study all you want about the Cherokee tribe but there are none in this state. We have other tribes here. That’s like saying you could fit right in when you move to Poland because you know all about Spanish culture. That’s about how similar they are.

We live 50km south of Perth CBD and have done for the last 10 years. We love it here. Public transport is much better and cheaper than what we had in the UK. Class sizes are smaller and both kids are in schools they want to be in. No more than 6 miles away and the bus route is great. Ds 2 is austic and in year 8. He is in a class of 20 with a teacher and a TA. It’s fantastic and he gets to see the school psychologist every other week.
Ds 1 is bright . He to seems it’s strange that there would be more than 28 kids to a class.
We visit the beach often ( we live 800mtrs from the beach). But don’t stay all day like you would in the uk . Shops are close by and I don’t pay for parking!
Work hours for us are like the uk .
We have BBQ only in the summer.
We are able to get to see great sporting events at Optus Stadium cheaply . ( ok ok we are Dockers supporters , so some would say we don’t see great games😂).
I had a mid life crisis at 40 and did my surf bronze ( I had previously never been on a surf board!!).
I don’t miss my family. We never lived close to them in the uk , so the move was easy. We have been back once , for a 3 week visit.
As for doctors, I could phone up now and get an appointment later today. Not necessarily with my doctor but could see one .
We actually know someone who went on WDU . They love it here as much as we do

A few points:

I think I would find the relentless sun tiresome and the heat/threat of out of control fires must have such an adverse effect on the fauna and flora.

There is also something special about living in a country - the UK - which is easy to traverse and access and which is close to Europe and its fabulous architectural and artistic heritage.

I also love and value the multiculturalism of the UK. I tend to think Australia is not so welcoming which is sad.

I also love and value the multiculturalism of the UK. I tend to think Australia is not so welcoming which is sad

You do realise that the ENTIRE country (Aboriginal people and traditional owners of the land aside of course ) is made up of welcome immigrants and was formed by multiculturalism don't you?
What an odd comment.

I would love to see what people would describe if asked what and Australian looks like.

My sister moved to Oz with her 2 kids, one with her current OH, one with a previous. She was really angry that her ex-OH took time to consider before he signed the papers to let his daughter go. He continues to pay child maintenance like he did here. My sister expects him to pay for the daughter's airflights when she comes to the UK to visit family. I've always thought this was totally narcissistic. They bought a house in Melbourne. Much the same as the one they had here in the home counties and they've never really been able to explain why they wanted to move (not that anyone pushed them to, they don't have to justify themselves). Marriage trouble is the real reason we think - unrealistic hopes that you leave your problems behind. Removing the kids from all their extended family and leaving them never really a part of things with that family is a high price to pay IMO. The idea of Skype contact being some sort of replacement for real contact is laughable.

WDU makes me alternately shout at the telly and laugh derisively, mostly for reasons already given. Every time I see the 'friends and family' vids, however - with elderly parents crying and saying how much they'll miss them (especially the DGC, who've they've been minding for free five days a week for several years) - I always say "Wait for it - the couple planning to move to Oz will weep and wail and then say - 'still going!', even if elderly Mum is suffering from terminal illness."

There was another episode in which the couple wanted to run their own coffee shop in Australia, despite neither of them having any experience whatsoever in this area. They were sent to speak to the owner of a coffee shop who told them about the high fail rate of such business and if they expected to be shutting up at 5pm and heading for the beach, they were very much mistaken. They just didn't have a clue!

I saw that one and it reminded me of many of the 'Place in the sun' type programmes when it's a couple who aren't retired and are going to have to make a living. Inevitably, they want to either run a bar (Spain being short of bars run by Brit expats, of course...) or a B & B in Spain (demand for B & B in much of Spain is low, because there are so many low-priced hotels).

I always honk with laughter when the wannabe bar-owners say they want to do it so they'll have 'more quality time together' - as if they're not going to be working their arses off 18 hours a day, seven days a week just to break even.

Good luck to anyone with no "knowhow" trying to start a coffee shop in Oz. Even Starbucks failed there. Aussies LOVE coffee and are major coffee snobs (in a good way).

Some of the immigrants to Oz were convicts. They didn’t choose the place!

I also love and value the multiculturalism of the UK. I tend to think Australia is not so welcoming which is sad*

You don't know anything much about Australia do you, NoTeresa?

This is just Melbourne:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Melbourne

@iamozzie looks like the lovely Fleurieu?