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.

Anyone tell me the good things about NZ?? Or the bad? We were actually meant to be emigrating next month (DH has an exceptionally good job out there - well it's based out there but he already works for the country so he's started it from here - that's temporary until border open). Only I don't want to go. We have children of various ages and I'm financially dependent on DH (don't say anything - if I could have my time again I'd do it rather differently). I don't know anyone there. Sorry for hijacking the post!

Country should be company!! 🤦🏽‍♀️

Just check the house prices in Sydney and Melbourne. Just not doable. Very expensive country. Bushfires, so if you live on the outskirts of a city in a leafy suburb your house may go up in flames. Tv is shit. It's easy to become poor there.

It is stunningly beautiful though. I love visiting. Living is a step too far though.

I traveled from Sydney to Darwin and the casual racism was just shocking. Such a shame for such a diverse country.

I have heard the men are more shallow than British men. Generalising of course - but I heard this from someone who had lived in Australia for several years.

I found it really expensive when I was there. And I live in London so have a fairly high baseline of ‘expensive’! I paid £28 for an omelette and I’ve never forgotten how pissed off I was.

There’s not a huge cultural scene and I’ve only ever met two Australians with a good taste in music (although there are possibly more! Haha).

Fair bit of drinking and drugs on a night out. A lot of my friends were pretty strung out by the time they all left and came back home.

I honestly couldn’t be doing with the weather. Melbourne in particular was a ballache, hotter than the centre of the sun one minute then freezing rain the next.

My least favourite thing about it is how far away from most other countries in the world it is. I couldn’t stay there for any length of time because of that reason. My favourite thing about it was that I found everyone friendly, and there were LOADS of attractive men.

The racism and sexism I experienced put me off

TV used to be absolutely awful but guess it's marginally better with more streaming sevices

Desperately visited museums/galleries etc but nothing had a patch on those in europe.

No old buildings! sounds strange but the oldest buildings were Victorian era, really missed old castles and houses in Europe.

The snakes and spiders were always a consideration

Bloody freezing in the winter but accommodation not setup for warmth.

Hated seeing 'pokies' everywhere

A long way from anywhere!

Oh and....

everyone told me I'd love Melbourne, that it was like London. Was it bollocks! distinctly unimpressed. Expensive and overated.

Sydney was good, loved the harbour but after a while got bored.

Queensland had lovely weather and was like being on holiday but the mozzies were a pain in the bum. Everything was so spread out and gave me a new perspective on distance!

To me Australia is good for a visit but not to live.

I lived in Aus for 7 years. Here are some downsides (but this was early noughties):

My husband was mocked incessantly for being British. Ok, some see it as banter, but it became tiresome. He’s pretty thick skinned too.

For me, I never felt I was really accepted. I lived in a major city, but not Sydney or Melbourne. I have lived as a foreigner in London and felt more welcome and at home. Many Aussies seem to mistrust, or at least not fully embrace, anyone with a different accent. Something in the culture was off.

Road rage. A major problem. So many angry drivers.

Rage in general. Aussies love giving someone a ‘telling off’.

Ants. You will never enjoy picnic without getting invaded.

Mosquitos. Sitting outside at night means wearing a shedload of repellent.

Getting honked at, leered at and shouted at by men in cars. That has never happened to me in the UK but was common in Australia.

Getting groped by men in clubs and bars. I realise it happens in the UK too, but was way more common in Australia.
The other things like snakes and spiders weren’t a huge deal for me.

Spiders which are HUGE
Lots of animals that can kill you
Australia is at least ten years behind the UK
Did I mention the huge spiders?

For me:
The racism.
The green ants.
The incessant interest in sport. Sports news took up one third of the overall news broadcast, and some petty local issue took up another third.
The lack of history and culture.
If you are British, you have to have a very thick skin to put up with all the Pommie jibes.
The sheer mind blowing distance you have to travel to get to anywhere else in the world.

Other than that, it's a nice country. Friendly people.

The thing I noticed was the lack of richness and variety in the built environment. Because it is a ‘young’ country, there isn’t the depth and history and this (in my view) made some places look bland. I missed the richness of the history that can be found in most towns and cities within the uk.

Climate. Already an outlier for habitation - it is only going to get worse.

Location - so far from pretty much every other centre

Racism, sexism. Folk I have known who know it well say it's like stepping back 50 years in terms of attitude.

Suprisingly expensive to live.

Outdoor lifestyle... but with SO many constraints. Snakes, spiders, sharks...

Sharks

And if they are keeping people from the water, then sharks are going to be more comfortable cruising towards shore.

Oh yes the xenophobia, called a "whingeing pom" (and not in a nice tone either) if you dared say anything, normally uttered by the most overdramatic, complaining aussie ever. I also experienced this in NZ.

I lived in Sydney for a while. I adore Sydney, in fact I adore Australia, but I didn’t want to live there. I found it very two dimensional and....the flying cockroaches in the bedroom. My god.

No decent radio shows, and it's all commercial.
Cockroaches
Price of fruit
Rail travel beyond the city centres
Housing prices
Public school system
*Based on NSW, can't comment on other states. However my list FOR Australia would be longer, and against the UK would be significantly longer.

A friend of mine lived in Australia for 10 years, which she says was the worst 10 years of her life.

She is adamant that unless you're into sport, you won't be able to have a conversation with the Australians because "That's all they can fucking talk about". She was in Perth though, which I think is a bit provincial compared to some of the other cities.

Weak beer: it's very hard to find decent beer, it's all lager type shite, and outside of big cities it's hard to get a nice meal out.

Racism is accepted, which is why my racist BIL wanted to live there. Even SIL, who is less overtly racist than BIL, was shocked by the way they talk about BAME people. Homophobic jokes are acceptable.

Casual racism, ditto sexism.
Obsession with sport.
Awful food in supermarkets.
The weather, yes, really.
The cost of living.
Driving culture.
The lack of decent heating.
That even when you integrate, you'll always be a Pom, it gets old, very quickly.

@onlyreadingneverposting8, your situation is probably different, but can I suggest you look in the relationship section for 'just need to share - no solution'. Sorry can't link.

I'm shocked to hear about racism and sexism. I've never been to Australia but I literally had no idea it was so bad there!
Why do you think that is?

just came back after 25 years living in Sydney
The distance and the flights that gone on for ever
very expensive
the local sport and the endless coverage
awful TV
very hot over the summer months
flying cockroaches that Land on your pillow

Mind you Sydney is a very beautiful city and the cafes and restaurants are great

The heat- my dsis says it’s regularly 40c in summer- expensive to eat/buy property- everyone always imagines it as everything is so much cheaper over there but in reality in big cities it is expensive- she has also lived on edge of outback- dry,desert heat and as everyone mentioned before-snakes spiders-insects- my poor niece didn’t put her sandals on one time in their Sydney garden and trod on some fire ants!