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?

I haven't seen much of WDU but my impression is that the participants are not selling high end London property.
Agree that the dreary McMansion in a dreary suburb is not the aspiration of anyone I know. In the inner cities there is much more interesting housing stock, such as cottages, Victorian mansions and terraces, lovely solid art deco apartment s etc. These are probably too expensive for the show and don't look like what the participants have seen on Neighbours. Don't judge life in Australia on the narrow slice you see on the show.
And yes, melbourne is a fascinating and multicultural city with a really vibrant arts and food scene.

While I really appreciate that Australia and NZ are lovely places to live (if you don’t mind the wildlife) the basic problem for me is that they are on the other side of the world to all my family and friends. How do people reconcile themselves to dismissing these precious relationships? Especially as we are already living in a country with perfectly reasonable standards of living, and with the amazing cultures of Europe on our doorstep.

They don’t dismiss family and friends but it is a huge move, not always realised by some at the time they do it what it entails which is why a good proportion return.

It’s up to the migrant to stay in touch as much as they can.

For me this has meant doing the Aus-Uk trip almost annually. After you’ve done it ten or more times it doesn’t seem so far and you start to view distances and intercontinental travel in a different way to most people in the uk.

The rest of the time Skype and FaceTime have to suffice. I call family in uk more than some relatives that actually live there call each other.

There definitely are still opportunities to have a much better standard of living here. We moved out 6 years ago from Yorkshire, and we've gone from our income is now more than 3 times what it was in UK, no way they'd have increased that much if we'd stayed home. My commute to Perth CBD is less than 30 mins door to door, the trains are every 4 to 5 mins in the mornings and I can park all day for $2 in station car park. I get in office by around 7, but am home by 4.30 and never work weekends any more.

There's definite seasons, at moment it's middle of winter and we've had our wettest June. Summer is hot, but it's a dry heat so I find it much more bearable even at 35+ than when it's humid but lower temperatures. We have the Fremantle doctor come in in the afternoons which cools it down, and beach always has a nice breeze to it.

The wine regions down south are spectacularly beautiful to me, the Boranup forest is one of my favourite places for walking, and there's miles of unspoilt beaches, amazing restaurants and fantastic winerys. In fact Lonely Planet has just named Margaret River has number 1 place to visit in Asia / Australasia. Further North in WA has some of the most amazing coral for diving and snorkelling, and due to it's remoteness it's so far managed to remain relatively untouched (check out Ningaloo Reef as an example).

I'm lucky in that my family come out once a year, and all my close friends have been to visit, and we are currently planning to catch up somewhere in between, but we've also made close friends here.

I do think there's no where better to bring up kids if they're sporty (mine are) and into the outdoors. I'm not a fan of religious or private education so mine are in state schools and are flying so no complaints on education system either.

You don’t dismiss your relationships with friends and family, don’t be so silly!

I still speak to my parents almost daily on the phone and we will spend about 4 full weeks this year either holidaying together or staying at each other’s houses.

I am going to a wedding ‘back home’ at the end of this month, we have a friend from Germany currently visiting, friends visiting in November and friends staying with us over NY.

When I’m home for the wedding I have umpteen dinners and drinks planned. It will be tiring but fun. I’ll then spend a week chilling in France before flying back to Aus.

I remember chatting to an old dear at a bus stop once when I was making the decision to move the other way - Aus to UK. We moved because it's cheaper to live here in UK. I was concerned about leaving family.
The old dear said, "well, think about it this way dear, it's only a day away".

This thread is funny, I wish it aired on free to air, here (Australia 🤔). It should do, we have every other type of home/relocation show known to man - Texas flip, house hunters and all its variations, one about Alaska and cabins and small homes, the list goes on. Living in Australia I quite fancy moving to England or Ireland. Life would just be sitting in quant country pubs sipping pints wouldn’t it?

Quaint*

Living in Australia I quite fancy moving to England or Ireland. Life would just be sitting in quant country pubs sipping pints wouldn’t it?

Yes That'§ exactly how the show does it! Takes only the ideal elements and presents it as the total lifestyle.

I have never watched “the show”. Sounds dreadful.

I have never watched “the show”. Sounds dreadful

So you've come an thread about a show you've never seen and demonstrated colossal ignorance about some quite basic facts about Australia.

For me this has meant doing the Aus-Uk trip almost annually. After you’ve done it ten or more times it doesn’t seem so far and you start to view distances and intercontinental travel in a different way to most people in the uk.

The rest of the time Skype and FaceTime have to suffice. I call family in uk more than some relatives that actually live there call each other.

This is very true. My kids talk to my parents more than their UK-based grandparents.

Actually I having lived here years now I've come to realise that Aussies generally tend to have quite a different take on travel and distance than many other nationalities. Just so many people here have roots from all over the place and of course it takes hours just to fly out of the country.

You rarely hear Aussies moan about how far it is to travel somewhere overseas - they just go and do it and get used to it. That's why you see them cropping up pretty much anywhere you go in the world.

Everywhere is a long way from OZ, not just the uk.

Many brits won't travel without big fuss further than the Costas or the Caribbean. No issue with that per se, just saying that long haul doesn't need to be this big intimidating thing.

I've lost count how many people in the uk have said to me but it's such a long way (to visit). it is, but that hasn't stopped me going for holidays to New York, Europe, South America since I've lived here. It's not a prison sentence... it does mean though that I go back to the uk a lot probably more than I anticipated I would when we moved here , as many relatives and friends aren't inclined to travel very long distances to here, or not regularly.

So It's something you just need to do if you want to see some people you love.

I quite like that I just rock up at their houses after travelling from here and get treated exactly just like I've just popped back in from the shop. It's funny. But to do it the other way...oh no, way too far

I’ve made the move the other way, Janista, and you’re right about attitudes to distance and travel. We try to go to Australia at least once a year and my parents come here once a year. No fuss about it at all. I know they’ll reach a point where the journey gets too much, but hopefully by then we’ll have a bit more flexibility with work and kids as well.

Meanwhile, the suggestion that my PIL might visit more than once every five years (3 hour drive, 2.5 hours on the train) is met with utter horror. It’s too far and too difficult. But of course we should visit more often.

I think lots of people in the UK are pretty relaxed about international travel.I mentioned before that my sister is in Australia so I know that the schools there (hers at least) are really relaxed about taking kids out of school for visits to the UK or whatever. Here they fine, send you offensive letters and threaten court action. Which, if you have kids, means that international travel is out of many people's reach. I think that's what the differences might be about rather than attitudes to distance. The fuss for me about going there is that it costs so much - we just simply don't have the money. It's interesting how many people on WDU assume that others will visit them and don't seem to consider the massive expense of that and whether the people they expect to visit them will get anything out of the trip other than seeing people they used to be able to see a lot more easily. I guess I'm suggesting that the being unrealistic is not just about house prices and jobs! I'm sure there are some people who have realistically appraised how much contact they will really have with their family/ friends and aren't fussed about not seeing them much but there are others who seem to be basing their dreams on other people paying (indirectly) for some of it!

there are others who seem to be basing their dreams on other people paying (indirectly) for some of it!

Yes! They say it soo casually on the show, he/she/they can 'always' come and visit us....without factoring in the expense to those people, its totally self-absorbed.

Totally agree CatherineOfAragonsPrayerBoo! It would be different if they said 'I've talked to my family/ friends and they are delighted at the idea of visiting us' but that's never it (though I'm sure a percentage of family and friends are delighted of course).

My husband is Australian and we are lucky enough to go back every other year or so. The culture is really different, I was taken aback by the bluntness. Gorgeous country but prospects are limited - theres a reason there are so many young aussie expats over here. It can also be hard to adjust to the weather. And the spiders. Dear god...the spiders !

We didn't 'dismiss' our relationships with our friends and family, but we lived 500km away from our nearest family and the rest of the family were in the North Island - it was cheaper to go to Aussie than to where they lived!

So we had relationships already built around distance when it came to family. When it came to friends, many of them were people we caught up with a couple of times of year - so it'll be a couple of times every couple of years.

Kids friendships are very changeable - no way would I base our lives around that. As it turned out, they've made some great friends over here, one has kept strong friendships from over there, the other, not so much, which I saw coming. Because she had a fairly toxic friend group anyway, that was about to start secondary school, so it was always going to change.

Our strongest relationship ties are with each other. We're a very tight unit. So long as we have the four of us (until the girls strike out on their own and create their own units), and the cat, we've got what we need in terms of every day contact.

(Actually, we never get on so well with our families than when we're longer distance - and it's amazing how many ex-pats and immigrants I speak to have the same dynamic)