Tell me the bad things about living in Australia.

[ilovepixie]

Following on from the USA thread what's the worst thing about living in Australia.

The culture question is an interesting one. I’ve never been to Aus (would love to go) but when I was in my 20s at art school I was obsessed with Australian films and music from the counter cultural movements in the 70s and 80s, like Peter Weir (esp Picnic at Hanging Rock), Jane Campion, the Go Betweens, the Triffids, The Birthday Patty then Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Wow I really don't recognise much of my experience of Australia in these posts

We loved it there and the only thing that ever bothered me was the distance from family back home - it's so far no matter what way you travel.

Other than that we loved it and found it a fascinating place

These threads bashing places always make me feel sad

I have cousins in Perth. One told me once it was stupid to think about there being a world outside Perth (other than Bali for a holiday) because everything was so fucking far away it might not exist at all :) Some things my family tell me make me think, that sounds ace I would love to be there, other things I think, god no that sounds awful. So on balance probably like every other fucking country in the world- has good points and bad points and you just have to see if it works for you because we all like different things.

@chatwoo - well you know garlic helps to protect you against germs, so maybe you should try and find it It certainly makes my life here happier, being able to buy it!

caperclips I'm sure many of us are sorry that what has been posted has made you feel sad 😉

As for 'the wildlife', in not seeing any for '36 years'- you have a thing in itself.

Many Australians live in inner suburbia, places carved out of erstwhile bush land, wildlife driven either far away or towards extinction. That's why you've never seen it.

85% of Australians live within 30 miles of the coast.

I, personally, in my 15 years in Queensland, outer suburbs... saw pythons (on top of the fridge...), Goannas trampling a Noosa picnic, brown snakes in my back yard, redbacks on my kids' toybox handle, sharks in the waves around me. Oh, and huntsmen spiders 5" across on my bedroom wall.

The huge flying cockroaches are a Sydney thing. Ugh.

Going all 'Oh no! That isn't MY experience thus Can't Be True!' -is daft.

Not everyone else is going to have the same experiences living (or visiting) a different country. Some are good, some bad, some indifferent. What one loved about one place another may hate. I would wholly recommend living in a different culture though.

Not everyone lives in Queensland. So no, it's not my experience, and my experience is true. I live in the Adelaide Hills. Yes I see red backs, no I don't get snakes. We have a shack on the Yorke peninsula. Haven't seen sharks.

Plenty of wildlife though. Just not the snakes and sharks everyone is carrying on about. In my '36 years' I've seen plenty of koalas and echnidas in my backyard, kangaroos travel around the street at times. But perhaps that's not the wildlife you want to hear about.

As with everything, accepting other people's experience AS their experience, without belittling it because it's not the same as yours, is the key.

As I've said before, I'm in semi rural NSW, not QLD, and our saltwater lake, Lake Macquarie, has sharks in it. The boys used to swim in it but they're less inclined to now because last time they were there they saw a shark. Hammerhead sharks have been washed up on a nearby beach.
We've seen a red-bellied black snake on our kindling-collecting bush walk out back of our place, and a brown snake in our yard. These are common as anything in our area.
Redbacks, white tails and Huntsman spiders are our most common tricky spiders (plus the daddy long legs spider, and the black house spider) although occasionally we have wolf spiders in the house too. Not seen a funnel web yet, although the husband has.
We have the fuck-off huge cockroaches, and the tiny ones too (oh yay) which are bastards to get rid of.

Although this isn't a thread about the good things, we also get in our backyard:
ringtail and brush tail possums
bandicoots
rats (ugh)
antechinus mice
and so many birds! lorikeets, galahs, corellas, sulphur crested cockatoos, king parrots, eastern rosellas and we once even had a gang gang. We have kookaburras, satin bower birds, spinebills, mynah birds(native) and many more - and then, to my delight, we once had a tawny frogmouth!
It's all area dependent. But if you don't like wildlife much, especially wildlife that likes to come into your house (had a possum in the house at least 3 times, and I mean in the HOUSE, not the loft) then it's not ideal for you.

I haven't read through all the pages of comments but the first few pages i skimmed though..omg...what crap load of stereotyping bullshit. Im australian, i live in south Western Australia and I love it. Not even going to bother challenging anything said because much of it CAN be true but there is so so much more on the opposing side of what is good about this country. I love the freedom, the open spaces, the people, the wildlife..the healthcare system!..the oceans, the beaches. I dont even mind the snakes cos its not like they are slithering around on the friggin sidewalks!

oh and ive never seen a shark and i dont personally know anyone who has, and i dont even think about it when we go swimming.

Whinging UK tourists visiting but fortunately that won’t happen at least the rest of this year.

I live in Queensland in a middle ring city suburb and I’ve never seen a snake or a spider. I’ve also lived in Noosa for a number of years and never even heard of these picnic snatching goannas.

@ThumbWitchesAbroad that sounds amazing! I love Australian wildlife. Even the scary bits!

I know we are a totally racist country, but personally when went to London found them quite overtly / proudly racist. I remember asking my colleagues cluelessly what a “packy” was ! You wouldn’t go around here using the word “abo” at least not where I’m from...

@Miljea, my racist, sexist, sports-mad, and completely cultureless BIL wants to move to Queensland. Sounds like he'd fit right in!

So many pps (most British expats) excusing the blatant racism.

Sydney is dreary as is Perth. Queensland feels like you're on holiday so that's better. The lasting feeling is that the people are overbearing and not very bright. The fashion is waaaay behind 

Posters like @Ozgirl75 and @ScotsinOz (why do you both make "Oz" your identity? You probably like it because you're both blissfully unaware of what's going on in plain sight around you!

"People always assume you are part of the wedding party if you wear a kilt or a morning suit to a wedding. People don’t change for the evening reception and we are always questioned as to why we have changed (because it’s after 6pm!)"

You turned up to someone's wedding in a morning suit then changed at 6pm? God I'm cringing for you.

‘I remember asking my colleagues cluelessly what a “packy” was ! You wouldn’t go around here using the word “abo” at least not where I’m from...‘

People don’t go round saying ‘paki’ here either! It’s incredibly racist and ignorant and I have NEVER said that word in my life, nor can I think of anyone I know who would. FFS

"So I'm feeling a bit defensive as a colonial expat- the British view of Australian racism is, I think, a distortion and reading a British mentality into Australian culture. This is, I think, because in Britain you largely do not have alienated cultures that haven't adapted to post industrialised society."

Uh huh, you sound defensive. But no, that's not what it is at all. I didn't need to "adapt" to society yet I am a subject of ridicule in bars and public places in Australia. Sydney was particularly grim. The people are horrid

Deadly nature and sexism.

Erm @vikingwife that didn't happen

I think it’s so good that people all like different places, part of what’s nice about Australia is that it isn’t as packed as other places I’ve been to - plenty of room for people who do want to come. It must be horrible to live somewhere if you really hate it.

I must say, I know it’s a thread about generalisations but it’s funny to hear people saying “the people are horrid”. It’s unfortunate that everyone you met was “horrid” but if you are finding that everyone you meet is awful, maybe you’re the common denominator and you should look at how you react to people.

'The people are overbearing and not very bright.'
Wow that's quite a statement about a population of 25 million. How very insightful and nuanced.

Pros: Good gun laws
Cons: All the animals are designed to kill you....